The Patent Dragon's Zone of Soul Retraction

According to rough calculations, I completed Mission 101 Task 3

3 Complete 100 one-hour outdoor walks in each year (and 75 in the partial final year)

sometime in August - and most likely before London and my completion of my "walk to the nearest town and back" Task (Task 4), too!

More details of this, and other *SCORE*s, once I work things out properly...!

Yes - success as I nail Mission 101 Task 4: Walk to another town and back in a day... and it nails me right back, just inside the town boundary on my way back. The pavement-dive was my own fault, not helped by my exhaustion although that is not entirely to blame, and whilst I must say thank you to the couple that came to see that I was okay, I must also say a colossal FUCK YOU to the prick on the bicycle who MUST'VE seen what happened, and just kept on going.

Fucking student. Has to be. Only they would be so self-absorbed to not give a shit about another human being in distress.

I'm not sure it would have really counted as a *SCORE* for Mission 101 Task 74: See an orca on the wild, but I jumped at the chance to go to the harbour this morning and maybe catch a glimpse of a minke whale sighted there. Heh - some hope...

Still, it was a nice day - and Saturday looks like being much the same. Yay!

Meanwhile... Maybe a bit belated by congratulations Andy Murray, the UK (and SCOTLAND's) first Grand Slam champion in 76 years. The Olympics (gold in the singles, silver in the mixed doubles) and that one-step-short Wimbeldon final seem to have done the trick!

Also, I'm still getting to grips with the new phone. I went for Samsung - and no, Apple-maniacs, not just to make Steve Jobs's ghost cry. It was way cheaper than any Apple product, not so smug-ified, and Samsung have routinely shown themselves to be pretty damn reliable - I refer you to the very mahcine I'm typing on...

Anyway, rantlets aside, I'm still picking my way through the touch-screen world. I have Photobucket up and running on it, and just found how to access the rest of my folders there. I may get some decent wallpaper after all...

Oh, and as a little postscript, I might as well take this opportunity to say that I have a £25 iTunes birthday gift card sitting gathering dust, 'cause I refuse to install any of Apple's iffy software on any of my machines... :P

Waiting For... The first installment of NEW Elfquest!

Still Reeling From... - the news that Michael Fassbender will star in a movie based on the life of legendary unique entertainer Frank Sidebottom!!!

...and the fact that the NFL season is now underway ALREADY. GO REDSKINS! (1-0!) Pity I missed the start of the deviantART Pick-'Em AGAIN.

Yup, summer is now officially over, as the first ball is kicked.

Planning On... Walking to the air display on Saturday, no matter what. It'll mean an early start, but at least I have practice now I've been on holiday. Mission 101 Task 4, here I come!

Also, there's writing to be done - and possibly the initial building-blocks of a mainstream novel! I have worked out a possible "jump-on point", and a way to introduce the various worlds of the Confederacy and associated territories all in "a oner".

Disappointed About... the rather uninspiring closing ceremeny of the Paralympics. It's really all over now, bar the victory parade through London later...

Oh, and shame on you, NBC in the States, for not showing ANY live coverage of the Paralympic Games. Channel 4 managed FOUR HUNDRED HOURS - and well done to them!

Rain now, rain later - rain all morning...

My attempt to complete Mission 101 Task 4 - Walk to another town and back in a day is cancelled. It really couldn't be any worse - and it's such a shame for the air-show, too...

Maybe next year - if there's a show next year.

Update - 1049 Surprise FUCKING surprise - the rain is flipping me the bird by holding off, and the sun is now shining. Seriously pissed off right now.

Update - 1150 The BBC weather forecasts are BOLLOCKS. It says "heavy rain 1000 to 1300" - I haven't seen one drop since about 0730. If I try to set foot outside to go and watch the display from the harbour, it willpiss down on me. I can sense it...

Update - 1505 Stayed home. It started raining about 15 minutes ago, and may just be concluding as I write. Lots of low(er) cloud cover may be limiting the display quite a bit. Saw Patrouille de France earlier - bet some not at the base thought it was The Red Arrows...

Update - 1605 The clouds start to break up for the end of The Red Arrows' display. Guess we've had all the rain we were going to get, dammit.

ITEM! Saturday is looking... better (could be about the best day of the "summer"), and that means Mission 101 Task 4 could still be a goer. This time tomorrow, I'll make my decision - and stick by it.

ITEM! And so, Torchwood - Miracle Day nears its conclusion, and whilst the story has thrown up some interesting questions - how do you deal with people who simply will not die? - it's taken too many episodes to do not a whole lot. The very fact that tonight's episode began with "Two months later" and at the end, we still have very few answers, except for the involvement of *SPOILERS* some colossal Earth-penetrating vagina or whatever the hell that was supposed to be *END SPOILERS*. I suspect the last episode will be heavy on decompression, and light on resolution, which is a big shame for such a grand concept.

The previous series, Children Of Earth was better.

ITEM! I rather get the feeling that Apollo 18 and Troll Hunter might not make it to my local cinema at all, just like Monsters last year, and my opinions for seeing Apollo 18 at all are drying up pretty rapidly...

Hey, even late night showings might be worth a go. If I can stay awake, of course - at least I'd have some kind of excuse today, in that there were footsteps on my bedroom roof at around 7am this morning. This was, however, expected...