patentdragon: (Default)
Moving Matters... I've been busy taking The Move a step closer today, finalising the rough lay-out of my bedroom, and going a good way towards clearing The Office. In the process, I discovered that both rooms I'm going to occupy actually have FOUR power-points each - the observed number in the bedroom went up by 100%! I'll be going to need a fair number of shelf-units, though...

That was the sum total of today's activities, apart from some fun with the new sea-based goodies in Ultima Online. There just hasn't been time to write anything, but there is a Grand Prix (the first-ever Korean GP) tomorrow, and I may just get an opportunity then, if not later tonight.

I'm going to need to do some "prospective shopping", and make a serious effort to investigate the local sales this time round. I might just be able to track down the "treasure chest" I've been trying to find.

Interesting times are dawning...
patentdragon: (Default)
The "For Sale" sign is up.

The Move is most definitely "GO" - and that, dear reader, is why 2010 had been "The Year Of Change". I knew this was coming, but still... coming home to see that sign in the garden made it all a bit more real.

Development News... This should have been my "top of the news" today, but my other, unanticipated (yet still expected) news kinda took precedence - I may just have a 10-chapter "route-map" to the conclusion of Darkhawk Season Six; a route-map that CAN be completed, conclusion included, by year's end. It's time for another "push", Darkhawk fans - just the kind of thing I would have been doing in my student-counting "down-time" if I wasn't otherwise employed (and that's a situation that doesn't look like it's likely to change soon).

In closing... I'm actually glad the sign went up when I wasn't there. That could very easily have been a major freak-out bomb...
patentdragon: (Default)
Thoughts Of A Mission-Related Nature... It's exactly two months to Patent Saturday, and that means I have a related Mission Task to think about...
65 - Celebrate each and every Spiritwalk (May 22) and Patent Saturday (December 1) like they really mean something (which they do!) (1/3, 0/2)
The Landmark Trust, however, offers some interesting and enticing opportunities...

What happens on December 1st depends somewhat on events between then and now. Where will I be living, for a start? What expenditures will The Move require?

It's Uh-Oh Time... Two weeks to go, and eeeep - they just cancelled the first night of the Doctor Who Live show in Glasgow. If they have to lose another show off that end of the stint, I lose my first SCORE for Task 27
27 - See one stage show a year (0/3)
- don't let me down, now.

Please?
patentdragon: (Default)
Remember how last weekend ended up as a complete blow-out, following a last-minute cancellation of Move-related activities?

Consider that delayed mission accomplished. Some good work has been done, with stuff shifted out of the way and prepared for disposal, and to top it all there has been something of a discovery that brought smiles to the faces of all involved. A day well spent - as opposed to the £25 (£30 with batteries) I spent on a radio-controlled R2-D2. Now can I get its sound-chip reprogrammed to play samples of Cleveland from the Star Wars episodes of Family Guy, or have the little guy tricked out with all-terrain tires?

Coming Up, On The "To Do" List... Tuesday is "Two Years To Go" Day on my Mission 101 - not sure I'll have any more Tasks completed by then, but several are getting a boost, one two Fridays from now as I mentioned yesterday. That same trip presents some interesting shopping opportunities, helped by recent good fortune - and I haven't even been paid yet. I clearly have some research and planning to do...
patentdragon: (Default)
It rained. I got soaked. At lunchtime, I said to myself "Fanj it", and got a lift home...

And so, here I am. Home, and blissfully dry. Some times, two towels just ain't enough.

Development News... Nothing much in the way of writing got done as a result, but I have come to an almost-decision concerning events following Reignfall, the conclusion of "Darkhawk Season Six". I'm not going to "wipe the slate clean", but events will set things up nicely for a "clean break" - I really do not want to build up to another sodding cosmic war when there are so many smaller stories to tell. The "Babylon 5"-style cycle will be concluded at the end of the current story-line, but rather than pack in my equivalent of that show's Season 5, I'm going to take a different approach - kind of like the way Doctor Who quasi-rebooted when Matt Smith took over as The Doctor. Everything - well, almost everything - that was laid down as "canon" by previous seasons, and events before The Darkhawk Diaries began, will remain, but the future... "the same as it never was", I suppose you can say.

Elsewhat... Police meeting tonight - now there's a real opportunity for a "clean slate". I just hope the "fans of CLAN" aren't going to show up and kick up a stink. Suppose they might be wanting to have me arrested for my "Nazist atheist tendancies". :P

Meanwhile, The Move edges closer - and even closer is a landmark I hadn't even thought about. In just five days, I will be exactly two years away from the end of my Mission 101...

Scary, but I am close to another Task completion, once the current round of Move-related work is finished.
patentdragon: (Default)
Ever hear about that theoretical experiment about getting from Point A to Point B by covering half the remaining distance with each step (it probably has some deep philosophical name)? You would, essentially, never reach your destination, as you would never span that very last infinitesimal gap - you would always be half of some minuscule distance away from Point B...

There's one piece left in the mosaic of my personal What Comes Next. Today, on my return from work, I thought that piece had finally arrived...

...but no. There has to be yet another hurdle between me and that peace of mind that's been almost a whole year in coming. It could be a small thing, it could be bigger. Please, no more.

And don't, just don't get me started about Cardinal R's Flying Circus. He owes me a fnajing apology, and a weekend's writing time.
patentdragon: (Default)
Yesterday, I posted the latest offering via TO BE CONTINUED, and damn did it feel GOOD. It was quite literally "back to the old days", writing directly into the New Entry window - "winging it", you could say - and even though it was a short introductory piece for an important character for the future, without spell checking facilities or anything like that, I came away from the whole thing feeling really pleased, and even refreshed.

This is how it used to be; that's how you got a couple of hundred story posts a year, not forty or so. The posts were shorter, yes, but oh gods, they flowed like wine around a hobo fire...! (please excuse my attempt at a Seasick Steve-ism ;) )

Change of Plan: Think I'll post the current story when it's done - maybe twelve chapters, long format - then complete the Season as "The Pandemonicum Symphony", in more manageable chunks, as and when the inspiration hits, ideally in "Writing Hour". Yeah, that'll suit me fine. It may take twice as many chapters, but they'll take a whole lot less time to produce. A more streamlined operation overall.

That doesn't mean I'll be discard my entire operation as it currently is - the netbook is just too damn useful, and if I can write half a "new format" chapter at lunchtime then that can only help push things forward. If there's no inspiration on tap at the time, I can still do some work on Mission 101: Task 46...
46 - Continue and complete "The Archive Project"
- I pretty much have everything I need on there.

Move News... I am seriously, seriously thinking of a major change of plan, switching the two available rooms around - if I'm at last going to be able to divide up bedroom and workspace (you really don't want to see it as it is now, oh my brothers), it makes sense to maximise the space where it's really needed, and the current "office" has plenty of room for a bed, wardrobes, all that's necessary, whilst the current "bedroom" is more square, allowing more floor-space, and it has double the number of power-points. That space under the slope of the roof is just perfect for a computer station...

Only real negative: the current "bedroom" has a central heating radiator. - the current "office" does not. Nothing a big floofy bedspread-type thing and a portable heater can't fix. I can see it now - computer under the slope-ceiling, two-seater sofa/chaise in the corner by the window, long-boxes and "costume" wardrobe at the other end, walls replete with art, shelves and hangables... guess I should start pricing furniture, and sourcing small shelves and long wall-hooks - kinda coat-hook things. It'll all make perfect sense when it's all in place, believe me...

This whole moving thing stopped being interesting, and started being FUN. I need to embrace change, and that's just what this is letting me do.

Sweeeet.
patentdragon: (Default)
This just in... According to one of my fellow CLAN Gathering objectors, Environmental Protection officials have told her that the Gathering will not be happening at the school again. If this is confirmed, and local objections are the root cause, it will make my Mission 101 Task
79 - Protest against CLAN
solid, 24-carat WIN. Yes, it's already marked down as completed, but can I possibly stretch it to a "bonus" SCORE, for totally and completly blowing the objective out of the water beyond all expectations...?

In other news... Today's Move preparations were somewhat curtailed by the unexpected heat - it was too glorious an afternoon for gardening - but progress has been made. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with the whole situation, as the first round of "Musical Furniture" takes place. Things are starting to get interesting.

So what's next...? Let's see what Tasks I can focus on next. I still have one task on the verge of completion, that being
52 - Complete some craft projects I've started
- one in particular, I'm thinking, and there isn't much more to do to earn a big, juicy SCORE.

Once an additional matter gets worked out, a lot of things should move closer to the launch pad. Just how big things get... we shall have to see.
patentdragon: (Default)
Am I finding Nacho Libre to be one of Jack Black's more enjoyable films simply because he gets pounded on? He was really good as Carl Denham in King Kong, but everything else... not so much. Is it just the "joke metal" thing? Or is he one of those people who just strike an "off-key" chord somehow, like Mike Myers, and how he seems to wring the life out of the characters he plays? The first two Austin Powers movies were great fun, but the third... naaah; Wayne's World 2 was entirely unnecessary; and four Shreks seems to be too much for just about everyone.

Best thing Myers ever did? So I Married An Axe-Murderer. Total number of films with that character? One.

Yeah, I'm waffling. That's what happems when another weekend crumbles into disarray as what's expected, and what happens follow entirely different paths. Stuff needs done for The Move, but none of it actually manages to happen - and then when you want to sit down and actually do something of your own, all of a sudden that's when the things you'd set time aside for earlier in the day / yesterday / last week has to be done. Last Friday was like that - wasted. It pisses me off sometimes.

I feel like it's "present-time". Oh, and time to decide on another Mission task or two. The first one is
96 - Watch the original version of The Prisoner in its entirety
- that should be interesting...
patentdragon: (Default)
Be right back - daemon-slaying in Ultima Online...

Sorry, I needed that. Just like I'm needing an uninterrupted weekend. Chances are I'll get it, barring any Move preparations that might be conjured up out of thin air.

But first, I'm going to finish watching Bill Bailey on the telly. Mmmm - a stand-up show would certainly fit my Mission 101 Task 27
27 - See one stage show a year (0/3)
- ooooh, it's the "Duelling Sitars" bit again!

Excuse the attention span deficit. I'm measuring it as the interval between incidences of falling asleep and nearly falling off my chair...
patentdragon: (Default)
Heh - our "visitors" may be homeward bound, and the "Dwelling Place" in the process of dismantling, but I'm going to have to wait a while before I get to "take it easy". Of course, I'm talking about my weekend excursion, beginning tomorrow, during which I'll doing some more points-scoring for my Mission 101, by way of
19 - Visit five cities not on my regular "list"
90 - Go to at least five concerts
I really do want to put the last two weeks behind me, and redirect my energies for trying times ahead. The path should be smoothed some by the phone call we received last night, which seems to bring the most difficult chapter of recent years to a close at last. "The Move" draws closer - it may be sooner than I expect, and that may be for the best.

Tomorrow should be fun. I hope. It'll be a stripped-down operation, with no computer or internet access, but I'm okay with going "low-tech". I may even *gasp* get some writing done...!
patentdragon: (Default)
In tonight's headline story... It looks as though outstanding financial matters are finally being addressed, and that takes us closer to The Move.

But what about CLAN? Sorry, but I'm not living solely to complain about that bunch. I have bills to pay, work to go to, it's that simple. They've clearly chosen to play the responsible visitors the first couple of days, then they've cranked it up since - and so we've been reporting infractions to the relevant authorities. Just now, one of our "boys in blue" paid our unwelcome guests a visit - right before my very eyes.

I wonder how many calls about the noise there have been so far.

Right now, I am tired. I want some peace, I want time to think. CLAN provides neither.

And what's this about a Task 102? An entirely unofficial, not-for-the-list item... a real one-off swansong. More nearer the time - and it will be soon.

Development News... It wasn't easy to make much progress this lunctime, but TDD-607 The Endless Dance of Light and Shadow IV, Chapter 4 advances as Chapter 3 gets a momentous extension - an event worthy of the inter-chapter "cliff-hanger"-style treatment. "Writing Hour" is a non-starter this week, given our... guests.

Going to check some email, then a good dose of Ultima Online. I have some scrapes and dents to work out from last night...
patentdragon: (Default)
...8...


Got my "Peace And Quiet Camp" bedding, but that's about all I have to report on the Task 79 front
79 - Protest against CLAN
Remember that letter, and accompanying article last week? This week's response...?

Zero.

Maybe I should've used the religious angle. People would have at least tried to confront the "hate-filled atheist". My letter this time last year was a bit more geared in that direction, and someone criticised me for "wanting to limit the ways people expressed their faith" - my answer to which was along the lines of "not at all - I don't mind what CLAN do if they're too far away to bother me".

No-one can say I haven't tried. I have received an e-mail or two from another concerned resident, confirming my feelings that the Council have had a very snooty attitude about this whole business...

Listen up, neighbourhood: you better get the most out of me while you can, 'cause this time next year, it'll be YOUR problem, not mine. As long as I'm here, I'll fight. Next time, I'll be in my office with headphones. You have been warned.

At least I'll nail another Mission 101 Task, at the very least, maybe even THREE - Task 79 (see above), Task 52 (craft projects - I'm getting to that), and
23 - Camp outside at least once
Better throw together a pre-campaign timetable - but for now, it's back to the craft projects - one of which may be my "NOBODY ASKED US" banner, if the weather holds...
patentdragon: (Default)
There's a reason why I've been calling 2010 "The Year Of Change". It's all to do with my great-aunt's estate and what happens to it when it's all finally dealt with.

Today, a decision was made. I've only lived in one place since I was born, but that's now going to change. There's an inescapable logic to the whole thing, but that won't make it any easier to close the door on the house I was born in for the last time...

Focussing on the significant raft of positives now - space for a double bed; an office all my own; closer to the centre of town, and the rest of the family. Oh, and this makes this the last summer I get to spend here, and CLAN ruin that AT THEIR PERIL.

And no, that doesn't mean you can bother the people I leave behind next year. I'll make sure of that...
patentdragon: (Default)
This is the last time we get to see this...



...'cause both of them are now sh8 out of a job - now, let's not give me reason to make a new one with Cameron and Clegg, okay?

The Tories attitude to the unemployed is what I would describe as "confrontational", with talk of "workfare", whilst Clegg's Liberal Democrats were far more moderate, offering hope of a new way of dealing with what is, let's be honest, a significant problem in the country. Hopefully, the LibDems will be a voice of reason in this respect - but will their policies on the matter be sacrificed for electoral modernisation? If so, my vote definitely goes elsewhere.

And I must certainly will not forget this Cameron nugget: "...we don't ask 'what are our entitlements?' but 'what are our responsibilities?'..."

Remember YOUR responsibilities, Mister Prime Minister, Mister Deputy Prime Minister - and never, ever forget that you SERVE, not RULE. The rise in the threshhold for paying income tax will very much be welcomed, particularly should The Year Of Change unfold as expected, and I'm sure the time has finally come for a new electoral system - exactly what we do get, and how long this whole Con-Lib set-up lasts, we shall see in the weeks, and perhaps months to come.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if, in response to a Parliamentary swing to the right, New Labour fractures into New Centre-Left Party and New Socialists - yep, boys and girls, it's back to the Eighties! Just watch how the election of a new Labour leader unfolds - it should, at least, be a good laugh. People are already chanting "Tories suck" - wonder how many of them actually voted...

Development News... I'm not really keeping up with my after dinner "Writing Hour" - stuff has been rather hectic over the two-week birthday slot, but lunchtimes are still busy. I'm getting close to finishing Chapter 5 of MoN-204 "Mane-of-Night And The Hunter's Game" (I'll get back to that once I'm done with this), and Chapter 6 is starting to take preliminary shape - a different shape from what I'd originally envisaged, but more than meeting the needs of the story.

And finally... With my birthday dealt with, I now have less than two weeks to get the next annual event sorted out. Two Saturdays from now, it's Spiritwalk, the anniversary of a very special evening in New York in 1998, and, as Mission 101 Task 65 states:
65 - Celebrate each and every Spiritwalk (May 22) and Patent Saturday (December 1) like they really mean something (which they do!) (0/3, 0/2)
. Exactly what form that celebration might take I haven't really given much thought - although I have some idea what I'd like to do on Patent Saturday this year...

More news on this as it develops.

And finally finally... Oooh - looks like Harajuku comes to town next month...
patentdragon: (Default)
Damn! Missed the posting of my 1500th entry - that was "The Adamantium Bear-Trap Of Logic, or Hey, Vatican, Stop Talking Sh8!" Not much to celebrate, but still, there it is...

AND I'm maintaining a minimum of one post per day, every day this year. Just like this...

Meanwhile... Our CLAN letter has now received responses from four of the officials we contacted - one actually turned out to be the wrong person, but he was kind enough to pass on our letter to the official whose superior we thought the guy was! So far, our "inaccuracy" hasn't become an issue - our personal situation appears to be the main issue, and that's just the way I'd like it to proceed. There's still no indication of a "public meeting" with CLAN, so the next step HAS to be a targeted leaflet campaign in the neighbourhood - people need to know about this, and have their feelings noted.

...NOW HOLD EVERYTHING! The school suffered some roof damage in the recent stormy weather - it had to close just before Easter, and whilst the pupils are back, the repairs are "temporary" at best. The sports block roof has been "made safe", but is it safe enough to have CLAN inflicted upon it...?

Oh dear - do I smell a cancellation? It wouldn't be the total victory I'd been seeking, and that would mean The i-Resist Peace Camp would be cancelled as well - yet it would mean I could cross
79 - Protest against CLAN
off my list...

I still want to kick up a stink. It may be my last chance...

"How So...?" As we approach the summer, another spectre looms - the upheaval of moving from the place of my birth to what was my great aunt's house. The move makes sense, from a "family logistics" point of view, but still it's scary, despite the increase in space, the closeness of the rest of the family, and the prospect of gaining an "office", on account of the extra bedroom. As something of a coping mechanism, I've been trying to piece together a "needs" list of equipment and materials this relocation will require - a new desk, for a start, which brings me back to my Mission:
87 - Get a decent computer desk that DOESN'T have a metal frame!
Despite all the plusses, and there are quite a few, the very thought of uprooting myself still rather freaks me out.

That's a matter for another time, however. And so...

...Back To Mission 101! Another impending task is
65 - Celebrate each and every Spiritwalk (May 22) and Patent Saturday (December 1) like they really mean something (which they do!)
with less than a month to go to Spiritwalk 2010. I have been considering booking a night or weekend at one of the more high-class hotels in town for a variety of occasions, but my finances are highly unlikely to stretch to that kind of expense immediately - I still have a debt to pay following the "Pay Malfunction" this month. Patent Saturday 2010 is a far better fit for such an indulgence - and by then, there's a definite chance I will be thoroughly deserving of it.
patentdragon: (Default)
This just in... This fnajing New Liebour Government could be after a slice of an upcoming inheritance. Is there truly no way this bunch of thieves won't try to sodomise my life? If this happens, and I end up claiming benefits again, I will do all I can to ensure this piece of sh8 Government pays me back, one way or another. Suspected terrorists waiting to get booted out of the country manage to get £500 a week - I haven't threatened to blow anything or anyone up, so where's my cut?

I hear Family Guy's Peter Griffin picking up a guitar, and singing a song about something that later on became the basis for an Oscar-winning movie...

/ rant

Development News... Okay, that wasn't quite a two-page writing session, but I did get some meaningful writing typed up directly over lunch, and I had all my archive files to hand, so I could confirm a character's full name, and exactly how involved my main character was in important previous events. Success! Little laptop, I love you.

And finally... That's three weeks done. Sweeeet.
patentdragon: (Default)
Headline News... Yes! Sir Patrick Stewart! And about time too! You can say the same about Francis Rossi (OBE) and Rick Parfitt (OBE) of Status Quo, as well! Shame about Joanna Lumley, who should have been recognised for her work fighting for the rights of Gurkha soldiers - and I'm sure there are many working for charity, or other noble causes that will be viewed as criminal oversights by some, but come on, do we really have to go through the "outrage" EVERY year? There are a whole bunch of scientists and academics on the list, who're hardly "celebrities" - and let's be totally honest; there are people doing "charity work" who should be most thankful they still have jobs...

Meanwhile... Okay, I'm going for it - 101 Things In 1001 Days. I currently have a rough list of 33, and I'll try to have a finalised first 50 list posted in the next week or so, by which time I will have started several of my objectives. Stay tuned for the latest news!

Oh, and Happy New Year, dear reader. Have a good one, get home safe and well, don't be an idiot...
patentdragon: (Default)
...that's how you do a "one-post-a-day month" without even trying.

Anyway, I've been seeing this "101 Things In 1001 Days" thing at The Mission101 LiveJournal Community, and it kinda looks like a good idea, a far better idea than your usual crappy New Year's Resolutions (which I rarely, if ever, manage to keep)... however I don't think I can come up with 101 objectives by tomorrow. I can try and make a start on it, with a view to officially kicking off on it before February 1st, but tomorrow I have my "first art of the year" to prepare - which I complete and sign when the bells ring, as I've done since I don't know when. Pity that, quite often, it's the only art I manage to produce all year. Hmmm, maybe there's one thing to do already.

I may post again later, to "make it official". If I can come up with a decent number of objectives by midnight - say 25 meaningful things I can genuinely achieve - I will actually go ahead with it. Yeah, that would be fun, especially when my world might be about to change substantially in the next six to twelve months, cutting some old ties...
patentdragon: (Default)
To The Fucking System...

If you tell someone they have to be at your offices ten minutes before their appointed time, and they do just that, then you absolutely NO RIGHT to look down your nose at that person FOR BEING EARLY, AND carrying out the exact task they arrived early to do. This particular "customer" is most glad that he doesn't have to put up with your bullsh8 again this year, and not again until near the end of January.

Have a sh8 Christmas, and a worse New Year...

-PD-


Meanwhile... That's it. New computer next year. Maybe plural, to go with a change of address...?

Next: CSI Miami - hankies at the ready...

October 2024

S M T W T F S
  12345
67891011 12
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated 6 Jul 2025 21:25
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios