The Patent Dragon's Zone of Soul Retraction

Coming soon - the race to plug the gap...!

( The List... )

I'm just about a week away from the end of the Mission 101 "Gap Year", and... well, it hasn't worked out too well. The Move kinda screwed the whole thing - it may shriek "excuses, excuses" to most, but hey, I am still recovering from having my world turned upside down, and that is a solid, take-it-to-the-bank FACT. I got the "five concerts" thing done, when it was seriously looking like that was going to be a huge FAIL, and I paid my charity "debt" off by a sizeable margin...

The remaining Tasks are "things to reach for", I guess - targets that CAN be reached with some effort. Actually GENERATING that effort - now that's the heart of the matter!

Shelling out for a "Hot Ticket" package, I found myself with a pretty sweet seat, (18 rows from) front and centre. The band hit the stage pretty close to the official curtain-up, with Subdivisions, but it took Limelight to get the first big crowd response of the night, and for the SECC to find full voice. It was good to get to hear The Pass live for the first time - for this correspondant - and the songs I didn't recognise, due to niggling gaps in the collection, are already having me on the hunt - Grand Design, Territories - where are you, now...?

As far as more recent albums go - that's Vapour Trails and Snakes And Arrows to the uninitiated - there was little to be heard, just a quite explosive (literally) Far Cry from the latter, and no Workin Them Angels (a personal favourite), but you can't please everybody every time. Not that I'm complaining, for the best was yet to come...

After the now customary mid-set break, it was time to roll out the new material - almost all of the Clockwork Angels album. The previous two tours have been done along similar lines, with much of Snakes And Arrows dotted around that set, and the full anniversary performance of Moving Pictures on the Time Machine tour. Caravan got a strong welcome, but that was easily surpassed by the reaction to Clockwork Angels, with the multiple video screens "flying" in the light-rig, and present throughout the new material. This part of the set, featuring the "Clockwork Angels String Ensemble" as the first performers to share the stage with the band for an extended period, was the most spectacular I'd seen from them in the four shows I've attended - the end of Carnies came very close to surpassing Kiss for pyros! Even so, the real highlight of this set-within-a-set had to be the anthemic Headlong Flight - surely this will feature in sets to come for quite some time!

Next, a return to the classics and semi-classics: Dreamline, with a nice video-screen tribute to Neil Armstrong; a pleasant surprise in the form of Red Sector A, the now almost obligatory YYZ - and no Rush show can truly be complete without The Spirit Of Radio. For encore material, another standard - the glorious Tom Sawyer - and a bit more of 2112 than usual: Overture, Temples Of Syrinx and the highly appropriate Grand Finale to conclude the evening... and a good time had very much been had by all!

Messers Lee, Lifeson and Peart have been in the business for decades, but they were on top form on Thursday night, and show little sign of flagging. It may be something of a challenge to match the recent studio material, but their shows continue to impress. A job well done, gentlemen, and I salute you!

The Final Verdict... An excellent show, maybe just slightly lacking in older and newer material, but showcasing the band's first true concept album in fine style. 8.5/10

Oh, and there was a fantastic surprise in my special package goodie-bag...





Just one more concert, and my "Gap Year" Task 90 can be crossed off the list - B52's, anyone...?

One of my greatest influences has left us.

Writing is suspended for the rest of the day. I just don't have it in me right now.

Update... I have just paid off my Mission 101 missed tasks penalties in one chunk - and then some.

Paid. Maybe not as much as expected, mind, buuuuut still FOUR figures. Sweeeet.

Meanwhile... Oh dear. I'm almost at the end of the first month of the "Gap Year", and I really don't have much to show for it. A bit of materials acquisition, yes (not received as I write), but really very little in the way of planning; I think I need to use this month's report to re-evaluate how I intend to proceed. I clearly have the cash to make things happen, but what good is that if I have 1) bugger all planning and 2) bugger all motivation...?

At least that prototyping material is showing plenty of promise. It cuts, and carves really easily - way more easily than, oh, perhaps oak? We'll have to see. Now, can we perhaps do something about sorting out The Office? That's been on the cards these last two weekends, but nothing happened... *sighs*

I'd like to take a trip this Saturday, and maybe do some Christmas shopping, but come Sunday, maybe I need to stop waiting for things to happen, and... I dunno, make something happen? There's a desk going to be extracted from The Office soon, to be replaced by what I need, namely a desk just like the one I have at work, and there'll be painting to be done, hopefully soon.

Okay, that's a deal. Time to shift the desks around, and amalgamate some stuff for the minor upheaval ahead. Let's get that piece of the plan off my mind.

Update! Just arrived before dinner...!



And now comes the tricky part...

Right, so I dropped a posting appointment...

However, there is a perfectly good reason. I believe I have just secured some important materials for Task 94

94- Make a PD-worthy pair of boots from scratch!

Now, the next stage is going to be the real fun part...

ITEM! Redskins 38, Vikings 26? Now that's much more like it! Looks like RGIII's minor concussion scare was just what he needed to step things up a notch, but we did still almost squander a big lead. Still, could this be the start of something good?

ITEM! Must turn the heating down a little. The less of my evenings I lose to dropping off in my chair, the better!

ITEM! Almost, I have to take a serious look at the Mission List, and see what I can achieve before Christmas. So far during this "Gap Year", I really haven't done anything, and that really will not do. I should at least put in some planning - it doesn't really matter whether I complete Tasks every month, or *SCORE* a great mass of them in the last few days. I've given myself what's effectively a second chance, and I should grasp the opportunity!

ITEM! There's more and more "buzz" concerning a possible Ant-Man movie to add to the Marvel Cinematic Universe - November 6, 2015 seems to be the intended release date for what's sure to be a quite different type of movie if the superhero genre is to keep drawing in the crowds. I may not be 100% thrilled by this, like I am with the THOR, Iron Man and Captain America movies in production, and of course Guardians Of The Galaxy, but if the "MCU" grows as a result, that'll be most welcome.

Interesting times ahead!

So, Let's See... how the new update page at LiveJournal works out...

...hmmm, not bad.

Now, About... well, stuff... I think this weekend will probably involve a lot of Gap Year...

....ooooooh, I love seeing the Cowboys getting humiliated, especially by a non-NFC East team (and on Monday Night Football, too)! Go Bears!

...anyway: a lot of Gap Year deep-thought. There's a Task that was definitely in the running for a new 101 List - to complete my collection of the Pertwee Doctor Who era, which becomes possible fairly soon as the last story becomes available for home release. Watching all of those episodes could constitute another Task, so maybe I could make a new FULL List happen. I'll give myself until New Year to "yay" or "nay" such a commitment.

Some Gap Year progress would also be nice - maybe some more charity pay-outs. Pity the post-holiday credit card statement is in, and needs addressing (a.k.a. paying). Oh, and there's a Science character in Star Trek Online needing to grind some Dilithium to earn an Atrox Carrier...

ITEM! Are the Packers getting screwed again by the "officials"? Can the Redskins manage not to throw away a win in the last few minutes? Ah, the joy of live radio...

Better that than scrabble around trying to find something to watch.

ITEM! Could I possibly come up with enough Tasks for an entire new Mission 101? I would (sort of) like to add some new stuff - I was going to complete my home release collection of Jon Pertwee Doctor Who...

ITEM! MUST try not to scratch my wounded elbow. The infection seems to have cleared, and it's healing up nicely - no, leave it alone!

Yes, this is how hard I'm struggling for news.

Oh, the Packers got the win, despite the replacement officials.

The List | Previous Updates:
2010
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec
2011
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec
2012
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September...

Backdated: Following in-depth calculation, I've determined that I completed Task 3 - Complete at least 100 worthwhile walks (at least one hour outdoors) a year (165/100, 133/100, 75+/75) in mid-May!

This Month: There has been a good amount of September-specific success, namely *SCORE*s for:-

- 4 - Walk to another town and back in a day (15-09-2012) as I walked to the venue of the local annual air display and back...

- 29 - Buy a book a month from an actual bookshop (33/33) (20-09-2012) - okay, I didn't quite hit the "one a month" target, but I did purchase the total number of books, and I now have a good stock of reading material. Maybe now, I'll have the chance to read some of it...

- 42 - Get comic orders in more promptly, as the September order made it back to the supplier a good week before the deadline. Talking of which... guess what today is?

The Final Round-Up... Was it really 1001 days since I started this? It doesn't feel like it - but before I go into any kind of post-mortem, there are a few Mission-long Tasks that have come to fruition on this day. They are:-

( ...and there's quite a bit to get through... )

And that final score iiiiis...

...46/101.

I'm not counting 82 - Give £1 to charity for every task not completed, and an additional £10 for every 10 not completed as finished because I don't have a final total until the very end, but £37 is already paid out, and the rest will be done by year's end. Promise.

Now, why is my finished total not any higher? That, Dear Reader, is another story...

Next: the round-up...