The Patent Dragon's Zone of Soul Retraction

Bloody hell... sh8 just ain't coming together, is it?

I bought a file box for my current documents on my desk... and it was 5mm too tall to fit where I wanted it...

...I bought a new label-printer, to replace the one I had for a couple of years, only for it to vanish just recently - and it needs batteries that we don't have (and the clock is ticking on the 24 hour timer between buying the new one and finding the old one)...

...and finally, Minecraft: I have been having heaps of fun with a mod that allows you to build fully-functioning ships, and flying machines, these last few days, hence the lack of posts. This will definitely make it into Stargazer Season 2, as will another little thing I just added to the mix... which now it seems to be interfering with the ships mod. I should have known I couldn't be so lucky as to have stumbled upon the perfect final piece to the new Season 2 "jigsaw" when it popped up a screwy fake message on my game's start-up screen. Not funny, man.

To my associates in SRG, RAA and RAAM - sorry I missed the cross-guild hunt in Ultima Online last night. It wasn't because of connection trouble, or unexpected patching - although both were involved - it was because I got distracted in Star Trek Online, and lost all track of time. I could've caught up with you, but the patch session when I eventually logged on probably made sure I couldn't. I hope I didn't let you down too much, and it WON'T happen again.

There. Now I feel better. Back to business...

Outstanding Issues... Where's my AVENGERS BluRay refund? Did you actually receive the returned item? I have no idea - and I'm checking it right now.

Ooooohkay... My nephew keeps telling me I can't do things - "you're not allowed to (insert action)", "you've got to stop (insert action)" - maybe because he keeps getting told what he can and can't do, 'cause he's at school now. Hey, buddy, I earned the right to do whatever I choose to do - and live with the consequences sometimes, and maybe I need to assert those rights...

However, I am becoming more and more convinced that I should be exactly who I choose to be, while I still have the time. This was the plan a LOOOOONG time ago, but I never took any major steps along that path. I will give this some thought in the next few weeks and months, especially with Patent Saturday approaching, and perhaps another two-night indulgence like last year.

The Dragon Rises, pehaps...?

Meanwhile... Talking about Star Trek Online, I am now able to easily earn the 8000 Refined Dilithium a day, and more, on the road to earning enough "Dil" to convert into Zen for the Atrox Carrier purchase. 2500 Zen is worth about £16 (Did I mention that before? "Yes, you did." Oh, sorry...), and the going rate is about 160 Dil to 1 Zen, so 8000 Dil is therefore worth... *calculates*

...about £0.32.

( And this is how you do it... )

*eeek* Simples.

A lunchtime appointment changed my usual routine, and it looked as though I'd be getting a mid-week lie-in, but there was some netbook maintenance to attend to, and I took the opportunity to get some type-up done. The rest of the day went pretty well - right up until home-time, and the discovery of the arrival of a parcel that wasn't all I'd thought it would be. The box was big enough to contain my entire LEGO order, but instead of one small set and a bunch of custom-picked pieces... just the small boxed product. DISAPPOINTED.

Looking again, the confirmation of shipping email DOES only say the one item, but dammit.

TV News... Ooooh, look, "new" South Park next week. BUT will I remember it?

Also... US wrestling (from TNA) now seems to be a regular fixture of Freeview. I could get back into that again, if only as research for the upcoming Shadow City stories, featuring the "new order" for the CUWA...

The Plan... Head to my destination town early, take a bus out to the retail park on the edge of town, do some shopping, walk back to my final destination, and do my "little helper" routine...

The Execution... Head to my destination town early, take a bus out to the retail park on the edge of town, do some shopping... walk east instead of south. Ask for directions, without success. Get a taxi. Reach my final destination just in time for my helping appointment, with helpee none the wiser.

Hey, at least I got a good dose of exercise out of it. Seasick wrote a song about something like this...

Early to bed, methinks.