The Patent Dragon's Zone of Soul Retraction

ITEM! I'm going with that epilogue I mentioned yesterday for ...Mane-of-Night: Dancers of Freeport, as a way of expanding what happens outside of our heroine's experience. I don't have my "master blueprint" for the whole run-up to *SPOILER?* WORLDS COLLIDE *END_SPOILER?* yet - but I can't really blame any of that on my usual weekend hassle, 'cause there honestly wasn't that much. Just a few small jobs that needed dealt with, and were - I've just not fully readjusted to the concept of an unbuggered-up weekend yet.

ITEM! Have I just found the perfect item for one of my "props" for my Mission 101 Task 88

88 - Create usable stage/screen/cosplay props of three pieces of costume or equipment from my own projects

. The idea is to make a Mane-of-Night energy-whip bracelet THAT LIGHTS UP, but I have utterly failed to find a light source that can be easily switched on and off, ideally through leather, and I may just have found what I need...

ITEM! Oh, and during the same shopping "sprint", I ordered some more flash drives - I already have far more than I could possibly need, but dammit they keep getting smaller, and therefore more desireable...

ITEM! Chalk up another for Mission 101 Task 28 - add Paper Moon (1973) to the "classic movie a month" list!

ITEM! Get this - the book of War Horse (which I'm currently reading and enjoying) has sold more copies in the UK in the last two weeks than it had WORLDWIDE since it was published 25 YEARS AGO. Yay!

ITEM! Time to kick back before NEW CSI New York!

Errands Of Mercy continues, and our heroes come to terms with their discovery, and what it means for the people of Tol'Celpres. But as they weigh up the Herculean task before them, there is hope, as two of the greatest minds in the universe are applied to the matter...

Release Notes... The Author: "The idea simply came out of the blue - or out from under the mat. I don't tend to incorporate elements of my own life in the stories, but this time, it just felt right."

Elsewhat... I would post video of my Mission 101 Task 88 sub-*SCORE*, but I can't work out how to do it.

Meanwhile, I'm sorely pissed about TWO phone-calls I've been expecting today that simply DID NOT HAPPEN. Dammit, people, just about EVERYONE has a phone in their sodding pocket, and they STILL can't keep to a date and time. It's just simply RUDE to keep people waiting!

Now this is more like it. Yes, there have been one or two household jobs to attend to, but I managed to deal with those, and extract another hard drive, this time from a dead computer. Data recovery was a complete success, and there are now two "gutted" machines beside my desk - getting closer to counting Mission 101 Task 59

59 - Learn to upgrade PCs

as a *SCORE* - I know what a graphics card looks like now. However, completing this Task will require me to install a new component into a functioning machine, and return that PC to fully functioning condition, and that's the scary part. Right now, I'm running out of operational computers - they're actually outnumbered by the Game Boys and DSes in my possession (monochrome Game Boy, DS Lite, DSi XL)...

More Mission 101 News... My first "prop" (or more rightly pair of props) for Task 88

88 - Create usable stage/screen/cosplay props of three pieces of costume or equipment from my own projects

are coming along nicely, after a mid-week complete about-turn in design. The main components are ready - just about - and all that's needed now are suitable fastenings, which may require some more knotting research.

Operation Funplex News... Gonna have a look at some potential costume options, after one spectacularly fell through last weekend (and I still have no go-ahead to send the offending item back and get my refund). Hmmm...

And Finally... They've done it again - the Rush song "Face Up" on "Roll The Bones" has "Brighthawk soundtrack" potential!

Wednesday actually started on Tuesday, with a phone-call. Our DIY supplies had arrived, and Yours Truly took a day off to head out of town to get them. At the same time, I got to do some of the shopping I missed out on the last time I went "over the bridge", and picked up some craft supplies, in particular materials for Task 88

88 - Create usable stage/screen/cosplay props of three pieces of costume or equipment from my own projects

Some serious knot-work ahead.

After that, the main event - quite literally. By that I mean taking myself and Parental to the Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers, in town on the final leg of a substantial and almost Gillan-esque magnitude. Those unfamiliar with the troupe (including me) might have expected a Japanese line-up, but this is an all-European outfit, and I'm quite happy to say no-one will view that as a shortcoming. Not for one second!

Six-strong, this is a group able to make one serious wall of sound, one that requires only a modest amount of stage set-up; just the right amount of lighting and martial-arts style coreography to tie the whole show together. The music does the talking, and when it's music that makes your diaphragm vibrate, you can only sit and LISTEN.

It was particularly refreshing to sit and enjoy something different, in a smaller venue that is usual for me, but when you get that kind of reaction from a couple of hundred people, that just doesn't matter. Sometimes you just have to "take the plunge" - trust me, it's worth it.

The Verdict: Devotion to your art + head-spinning exertion = an excellent evening's entertainment! 8 / 10 and a provisional sub-*SCORE* for

27 - See one stage show a year

because it was preceded by dinner at the theatre...

This is rumour control... The protestors are wanting to camp outside St Pauls Cathedral because if they were any closer to the Stock Exchange, they'd be too "out of sight" to draw attention to the police "heavy-handedness". They had a camp in Edinburgh too, and that was hardly on a bank's doorstep either.

I hope that, tomorrow morning, the protestors will be taking their silly masks off. Hallowe'en will be over by then.

Meanwhile, on the sensible side of town... Ooooh - I may just have a third potential cosplay prop in mind, for Task 88

88 - Create usable stage/screen/cosplay props of three pieces of costume or equipment from my own projects

True, it's an item that I only just designed this morning, but I just happen to have most of the necessary components already available.

Development News... Today, I have been doing some more Mane-of-Night type-up, following a good writing opportunity on the Edinburgh bus. MoN-302 Mane-of-Night And The Wild New World should be beginning full production very soon - I have one and a half Brighthawk chapters to complete first, however.

And finally... Bills 23 Redskins 0? Oh holy crap, it's one of THOSE seasons again, and we can't even blame Donovan McNabb this time...

Change of pace - here's a bunch of photos of recent acquisitions and work-in-progress for some of my current Mission Tasks...



Task 88 - Make props of items from my projects... I see the beginnings of an energy whip...




Task 97 - Build a diddley-bow... Guitar innards - now, where do those wires go...?




...here? Hmmm, looks like we may have a problem...




At least the Personal Goddess (Task 91) now has legs - and a shoe size...

Yesterday's music choice should have been 2112 by Rush, that blog entry being number twenty-one twelve. Another thing that hasn't quite gone to plan.

So yeah, Saturday did not meet with expectations. I didn't manage to get much done, but I eventually got to use my handy-dandy new PC tool kit to open up the guitar and examine what goes where, with an eventual view to extracting one of the pick-ups for my diddley-bow...

97 - Build a diddley bow

and I'm not quite getting it. Oh, and then some last-minute shopping was needed - heating for my bedroom, actually. During that brief excursion, I managed to grab an important piece for one of my props

88 - Create usable stage/screen/cosplay props of three pieces of costume or equipment from my own projects

- something else that didn't get advanced today...

Add another to the list.

Yeah, ain't I a miserable bastard... There is, perhaps, a legitimate reason. I haven't had a proper day off since The Move. A whole day of not being hassled, or running to a schedule - either mine OR someone else's. And no, I don't mean my Patent Saturday plan...

UPDATE! Just purchased components for

91 - Create a "personal goddess"

- the adventure begins...!

First Saturday in three weeks that I've had the opportunity to kick back, and properly relax... and we've got a last-minute house-viewing. That'll be the lie-in knackered, then, closely followed by a good dose of afternoon arse-up, and ending with "desperately trying to make up for the start of the day".

All of this will, of course, be preceded by a whole bunch of "fall asleep at the keyboard"...

I'm starting to think that "writing hour" may soon become a necessity.

On a lighter note... Found some very useful foam sheeting on eBay, but I'm wishing I'd ordered TWO sheets, given that I have two projects that would benefit from it, but Item 1 of Task 88

88 - Create usable stage/screen/cosplay props of three pieces of costume or equipment from my own projects

seems far more likely to reach fruition soon than

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

- both of which need some careful preliminary design work, but Task 94 involves some extra issues, such as making/getting made some sole units.

Interesting (and busy) times ahead!

Okay, here goes...

There we go - the official "The Move" header icon, depicting the first thing I hung up in my office-to-be. This cheery face represents a heck of a lot - embracing the key event of The Year Of Change, letting go of the only home I've ever known...

Intense stuff. Moving some stuff in has changed the nature of the whole business, but there's still going to be some difficult moments, and a whole bunch of shipping stuff from one place to another. They say "get one room totally sorted before you do anything else", to give yourself some kind of refuge - well, that's not going to be the office, not by any stretch of the imagination. The bedroom is a better option in that respect...

Meanwhile - on the Mission 101 front... Remember

88 - Create usable stage/screen/cosplay props of three pieces of costume or equipment from my own projects

- well, I'll pushing something special into high gear...



This is going to be fun.

And Finally... Purely by chance, I came across an excellent cover version of Frank Marino's "World Anthem" - the anthem of Dominion!

No. I haven't forgotten...

Development News... Okay, Chapter 6 is done for MoN-204 "Mane-of-Night And The Hunter's Game", and strong progress is being made with the final chapter. Posting will commence on Saturday, no matter what. In a related issue...

Mission 101 News... What makes THIS:

ALMOST a ***SCORE!*** for

88 - Create usable stage/screen/cosplay props of three pieces of costume or equipment from my own projects (0/3)

one might ask?

Answer: THIS

Read MoN-204 to find out why...

Oh, and no, this item doesn't count for Task 88, as adding the inscription can hardly be called "creating" anything. At least you, dear reader, can now see why the book in question showed up on my "book a month from a real bookshop" task (#29) - it's an important reference book. Trust me, all will be explained...