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December 31, 2004
2004 : My Life...
...could be a whole lot worse. I was going to do a long rambling journey though the past year, pointing out how my job and other stuff has caused me to spend a great chunk of the year depressed, and how the stress of these things have made me cry far more times than I feel a man should, but recent events have gone far beyond anything I could experience.
Currently south east Asia is still trying to deal with the incredible disaster caused by the tsunami. We are seeing pictures of the area devastated - placed under water - possibly as the land has sunk. Other islands in the area have moved, and are now higher in the water. The Earth wobbled, for God's sake. There are pictures and videos of people being swept away - no-one knows if the people in these pictures survived - one image shows a woman running toward the wave to be with her family. It is no wonder we have given over £45 million to the appeal, and the government have upped their donation to £50 million. And I've just heard that the US has increased it's donation from a pitiful $35 million to $350 Million! Nice of them to catch up with everyone else... This disaster puts everything else in the shade. Remember my 'World' entry earlier this week? It is even worse than that. 125,000+ dead. Fsck.
So, My life. It sucked, for the most part, but next year will be better. I, like James, have got a new telescope - hopefully I'll get to use it! Christmas has been quiet this year so no parties (I'm not going out tonight, even though Nick virtually begged last night on Messenger - shame he didn't get in touch earlier when I could get tickets...) so I'll be here all night - some gaming, some web designing (don't expect the sites to be ready till Monday night!) and some sleep - I may not be around at midnight, so Happy New Year!
So - last year was bad, but this coming year - I intend to make my 35th year mean something one way or another - either in a change of job (oh, please!), the success of one of my comics (ie a regular set of viewers and somemoney in my Paypal account!) or just doing stuff I want to do. Big changes, either way...
My Resolutions:
1: To be teetotal - This will cause problems for some, but I probably won't be going out this year, and if I am convinced to do so, I won't be drinking. Going out just isn't doing it for me at the moment...
1: To lose weight and keep it off - This year I will get back on my diet and do whatever it takes to get down to 13 stone or less. I am currently back at 15st 10lb so I have to get down to it again. This time I won't give up, no matter how depressed I get. And as a mark of how much I want to do it, I won't be getting my heair cut until I am 13st. Not even the straggly bits. I might look like a hippy, but I have to do this.
3: To finally save money - I currently have no credit cards and so I have to live out of my bank. Hopefully this year will see me not having to spend as much money for other people and keep some of it myself. So no going out (after all, it'll be with a fat hippy with no money who doesn't drink) and get my savings account back up and running!
4: To get I.T. out three times a week, and Dark Tidings twice a week while it runs - a personal goal, and one that should happen though I will have to get down to work to get as ahead as I need to be to keep the comics on schedule. This means that (sorry again guys - yes this also manages to affect Andrew, unlike the 'not going out thing'!) I may not be there every Sunday... though how much longer that will go on anyway, I have no idea. And finally...
5: I must not get too excited about Doctor Who coming back - after all, it might be a pile of pants, or a slight let down (which might be worse!). And I don't want to think about the return of Captain Scarlet...
So, that's was the year they called 2004. Let's hope the sequel is better. Happy New Year, and remember those lost. Look to the future guys, it's all we have.
Posted by Badgers at 08:17 PM | Comments (2)
December 30, 2004
2004 : Games
A great year for games, with Burnout 3 and Halo 2 hitting the Xbox, Splinter Cell 2 across formats and others. The big console winner was of course GTA: San Andreas, which is stunning on the PS2, but we PC owners have to wait a while longer... but it does mean ours will be even better!
Of course, my main area is PC games, so let's see...
The first big FPS of the year was Far Cry, which was the first 'next gen' shooter on the shelves. With it's huge outdoor levels, and the brilliant way you could use Rambo-style running and shooting (worked most of the time when Nick played it) or stealth (my way) to get through them depending how you felt (not to mention cool AI and nice physics) make this a damn good game. The ending, though was a let down, though there will no doubt be a sequel that wil fix that little 'bug'!
More outdoor battling in the lacklustre Battlefield Vietnam, with it's anemic jungles (a far cry from those in Far Cry!) not quite making the same splash as the original game. Next Year's Battlefield 2 looks much better... Novalogic did find the BHD community up in arms about the problems in the excellent Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising and it's expansion pack. Some people wanted it to be just like Black Hawk Down (a game I didn't really rate), but it is a different game. The jungles are are least full of trees, and playing on a 150 player server vcan be a fantastic experience - or at least it is when they manages to stop every map becoming a sniper-fest! Currently my online game of choice, JO rocks. It has certainly taken up too much of my time... A shout out to Hellisha, Ladysniff, and other people who I sometimes shoot, and who often shoot me!
The big game earlier this year was, of course, the long awaited Doom 3 - after the demo that was leaked, everyone was excited. And it didn't disapoint that much! The graphics were something else, way beyond almost eany other game - it was just a shame you couldn't see them due to the game being played in the darkness! A brave move, and one that did make you pop to the shops for a new pair of pants, but oone that alienated many gamers. A good game, but flawed.
And unfortunately a game that was almost immediately lost in the shadow of the next big game. One that had been started again from scratch after the code was leaked a year or so earlier. Yes, it is time to look at the game of the year as far as I'm concerned - Half Life 2! Wow. Another game with incredible graphics, and that manages to make you cack your kecks. Only there is so much more to HL2 - great weapons (the Gravity Gun makes the BFG look sad, especially later!), fun multiplayer when it was patched, and of course Counterstrike. The modeling on the 'normal' NPS is good, but the main character NPC (Barney, Alyx, etc) is stunning - you can almost see them thinking and showing emotion. Stunning. And then there are the mods that are coming along... even when you finish the game, it isn't over yet!
The Sims 2 arrived and proved better than it's predecessor - shame it tends to crash on my PC when people turn up to greet my new family. Los of fun to be had, though especially when you wall them in with a TV and no loo...
One game that appeared and has taken up spare time is Sid Mier's Pirates - a remake of the old C64 game, but done in the right way. With trading, firing broadsides at ships, finding treasure, swordfighting and even dance, this game has it all, and it is lots of fun! Possibly my secoond favourite game after HL2...
This has been the year that there has been a massive explosion in MMORPGs. I spent a while playing Star Wars Galaxies but while I enjoyed it, the incredible lag that started after a major patch and the fact that it took so long to actually build your character to reach a goal (Andrew worked hard with his Wookie chef, and enjoyed it, though he has moved onto Everquest II now) drew me away to other stuff. I did enjoy playing in the beta for Guild Wars, which is more like a massive online version of Dungeon Siege (which is far from a bad thing) and the beta for Knight Online (fun, especially when James joins and goes off to beat up a huge monster that my character would at least have to think about and just falls over dead!). Maybe I prefer to work alone (even in JO I tend to work alone on defence or sniper-hunting) and MMORPGs don't quite work for me. Or perhaps I like to get out of the house unlike some people I know...!
I won't go into the bad games, but some of the disappointments (apart from BF:V) include Men Of Valor (Vietnam 'action' by some of the team who did Call Of Duty - how did it go wrong?), Star Wars Battlefront (Lucasarts' decision to focus on Star Wars games and not finish Sam& Max 2 (Die Lucasarts Die!) paid dividends on this Battlefield ripoff with bad AI but lovely graphics), and Soldner. The demo was stunning for this game, but the game itself was a disaster.
Next Year? Well, a new Rainbow Six game, Battlefront 2 (it has to be better based on the videos) and hopefully the next Operation Flashpoint... Well, that's the shooters sorted then!
Posted by Badgers at 06:55 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2004
2004 : TV & Movies
Well, it's been a topsy-turvy year with some good stuff, and some bad stuff. Let's start with TV... though the fact I don't watch that much means some of the items wil be a little short!
Reality television can be good. Really. Take Big Brother - tired format, but still managing to get lots of people watching all day on E4 to see if they can see a nipple before the watershed. Of course, while I managed not to watch much of this year's series, it was livened up no end by the contestants staging protests, mowing the lawns naked, having a major riot in the house, having people who hate the others, etc. Next year, add chainsaws, please... then we won't have to face the inevitable single by the winner (I didn't mention Nadia's single yesterday, mainly because it is so bad that O-Zone sound better - and that's saying something!). I'm A Celebrity tried something similar too, with added Jacobs munching and mental breakdowns. Thankfully I missed all of that.
Not so X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing - the latter is just pure class, but the former... well, it was fun watching the auditions... Other interesting reality shows (for me at least) were Property Ladder (always fun for two reasons - Sarah Beeny and the sheer delight in watching someone 'develop' a house to sell it and spending way too much on a kitchen and forgetting to fix the roof so water leaks in) and a programme on a week or two ago that I can't remember the name of that followed the local police as they rounded up varous villains in the area I live (like in the next street!).
Lots of good comedy though - Nighty Night (the darkest comedy this side of - well everything!), season four of Coupling, the insane Green Wing and the brilliant Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (I mean, could you watch Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital with a straight face after that?). Also we saw the end of Friends and Frasier. Only one will be mourned by me (though both had terribly slow bits in the middle seasons when they looked for sharks to jump)
In drama, 24 got going after a slow start to become compulsive viewing, and The West Wing stayed good despite behind the scenes changes (shame I missed the first episodes of the season due to Big Brother taking over the E4 schedules so no repeats!). The year brought some great stuff to a premature end, and gave us some other good stuff. Carnivale arrived and proved that the US can make series which make you think and are intelligent, even if they confuse the hell out of you. Equally as stunning is the new Battlestar Galactica - forget the old series - this is something new, and bold.
The big shock was of course the cancellation of Angel a season early, though it has to be said that Joss Whedon's build up and final episode were just a masterclass in brilliance! From puppet versions of Angel to the his final line, it was just too good for words. A far cry from the finale of Buffy a year earlier! A pox on those who cancelled it! At least Farscape is back with Peacekeeper Wars...! Another shock was the cancellation of the enjoyable Jake 2.0, which as far as I can tell was for no good reason, unless it cost too much (the main reason that the excellent Odyssey 5 was cancelled the year before).
Some existing shows survived the cull, though. Stargate SG1 gave birth to a spinoff (that was much better than the dreadful cartoon Infinity) in the form of Atlantis. And both are now confirmed for the new season... will SG-1 ever end? Enterprise returned and managed to pull itself together (despite some episodes that would have made Voyager cringe), especially when Manny Coto (creator of Odyssey 5!) came aboard towards the end of the season - season for sounds much more like it thanks to him, though the remixed title theme sucks worse than the original!
Of course, in TV there is only one big bit of news this year (besides the announcement of Peacekeeper Wars!), and that was Doctor Who. I know it was announced in 2003, but it is this year that the series went into production, and it caught the attention of the public - I can't wait to see Eccles in the role! Really, I can't!!! And the dalek looks great!!!
Pah - enough TV rubbish - movies now...! Bad stuff included Van Helsing (sorry James!) with it's ropey CGI (this year's LXG!), Troy (overblown but underwhelming), Aliens vs Predator (what have they done?), and of course Thunderbirds. My God, whatever were they thinking? Well, I can see what they were thinking - it was a kids series - here, take a look at (the horrific remixed) Turbo Charged Thunderbirds from the mid '90s and tried to make a movie of that. What is the betting that Frame Store were told to 'speed up the ships - they are to damned slow'? At least the designs of the ships were cool...
Good stuff? Hellboy, Spiderman 2 (of course), Shaun Of The Dead and not too much else. Well, I could mention LOTR: Return Of The King... Next year seems much better though...
2005 will see a flood of superhero and comic movies, many of them looking good... Fantastic Four looks like it will be fun, and Batman Begins looks superb. Filming starts on the next Superman film any time now, but the big ones are out there and waiting to pounce... Obviously, there is Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith which, going by the trailer, is going to be stunning. Serenity should be good too (another insane TV cancellation) - can George bugger it up again? But for me, the big movie I'm waitng for is Sin City. Again, going by the trailer, this is going to be incredible - black and white with CG and spot colours to make it look as much like the classic comics by Frank Miller as possible. I know I'll be visiting the cinema in 2005...!
Posted by Badgers at 06:17 PM | Comments (2)
December 28, 2004
2004: Music
Now, I am not a follower of the charts. Most pop music passes me by and only surfaces on the odd times that I'm on a night out. But since I got cable I find myself doing stuff with The Box or some other channel on the TV to provide some background. Between this and listening to Radio 2 I seem to be hearing a lot. And much of it is still crap!
Lets get Eurovision out of the way. We didn't do well. Decent song - check. Likable entrant in James Fox - check. Production on the night - um - no. Here's a plan - this year the UK gets a good singer, a good song (my own 'Romantic Night' is still available!) and do more than stick the poor singer on the stage playing his guitar all alone. 'Wild Horses' won for various reasons, not all of them being the Baltic states voting 10 for each other! Get it sorted this year!!!
One big thing this year has been the sample. Take one from any old song, preferably something from the '80s and then wibble it a bit before adding drums, synth and whatever else you have in your copy of Dance E-Jay and you have yourself a hit. Especially if you have a video full of girls in leotards. Yes, that Eric Prydz video. I'll admit the first couple of times I didn't mind it, but then the fiddling with the Steve Winwood sample began to hurt my head and the video got on my nerves. A lot. Which was a shame, considering it was on every five songs! It isn't the only one, but while late in the year United Nations did the same trick with 'Out Of Time', it works better for me - I like the song (gasp!) and the video is better (probably as although the girls are hot, they are not - so to speak - in your face!)
Censorship on the music channels seems to have grown though. I can understand playing an Eminem song and removing the naughty words, but it really messes up some songs/videos. Take '' by . Cutting 'all the shit that you do' both on the song and the backing really jars. Yet sometimes 'shit' gets through (Good Charlotte and Green Day seem to survive) and even f-words. What really got me is that despite being owned by the same company, different channels edit in different ways. I was happily listening to Maroon 5 and 'This Love' and I was totally not offended by the line 'keep her coming every night'. Someone certainly was, as that and another line were edited on another channel. Yet the videos were not. Take Christina Milian's 'Dip It Low' or the dreaded Khia version of 'My Neck...'. Neither of them have actual swear words in the songs, but come on - the videos? And what are they singing about? Well, we all know the proper words to that song...
Oh, how many more songs are gonna have about sex? Admittedly, they are not anything new (listen to a classic like 'Chain Reaction' and think about it carefully - 'let me hold you for the first explosion' right... - naughty Gibb brothers!), but the number of songs that are explaining the ways of good sex to our children is scary! Waht are thery - songs or the latest edition of The Good Sex Guide? Nelly and Christina have one of the more innocent ones with 'Tilt Your Head Back', which is scary!
Other bad things (though some are so bad they are good) include the novelty songs - not the usual ones we have at this time of year - like O-Zone and that song. Las Ketchup I could stand (the girls were cute) but this? In one word - WTF?!? And 'Chocolate' was almost as bad (though the video was fun). And as for Goldie Looking Chain...
There must be some good bits in music (besides Blue 'not breaking up, just taking break' and Bryan McFadden getting out of Westlife just in time - I mean, 'Let Us Be Frank'?!?) Well yeah.
Well for a start, Dido's songs were not played to death (I like Dido and her songs, but last year she got played to death - this year it seems to be Maroon 5 who are getting this treatment, though they still seem to be good on the umpteenth listen). New acts I kinda like include the teenager Jojo (I mean - where the hell does that voice come from?!? Incredible!) though her second song took a little time to grow on me. Natasha Beddingfield kinda does it for me - good, catchy songs and a whole lot sexier than her brother! The fact that Radio 2 kept playing the 'bullshit dinners' version of 'Real To Me' by Brian McFadden was fun - see censorship above! And Kylie is going to places that are just too scary - I mean, working with the Scissor Sisters? Holy Moley! Eminem is back on his own (the only ones he did with D12 this year that I liked was 'My Band' and 'How Come') and hasn't dropped the ball yet - 'Mosh', while it hit the UK too late, was one of the best anti-Bush songs ever (and that is saying a lot!) with a stunning video. Though his 'Just Lose It' was stunning - he is always fun when he is laughing at himself... One thing that surprised me is that Will Young is actually sounding decent. Maybe I'm just getting old. I mean, I like 'dad-rock' like Keane, Maroon 5 and stuff. Run. Away. Now.
One thing I noticed is that this year Ayumi Hamasaki (to switch onto good music!) has been quite quiet - not for her the huge flurry of albums, singles and remixes this year. Still, her latest album is another good one, and boy does she deserve a break. Good stuff from BoA and Utada Hikaru too. I have been picking up less and less Jpop music lately though - some just doesn't do it for me. Ah well.
Things that I think wwe will see/hear next year include the phasing out of the word 'ho' as every song written for the last year seems to have had it or a variant, and more songs about sex, but next year it will be more biased towards anal sex - expect to hear about 'tossing the salad' in an attempt to totally corrupt your children! More lines sampled and then drummed up with videos full of near-naked women. Even more videos with cute CG characters (gotta love 'Object Of My Desire' and 'Hungry Eyes'). More rappers doing songs complaining about their love lives/how hard it is to be a rapper/ho they like to be f$cked up the arse!
Hmm - Tomorrow, I'll grump about TV and movies, and why Doctor Who will be the savior of TV!
Posted by Badgers at 09:40 AM | Comments (4)
December 27, 2004
2004: The World
2003 saw the world get to a pretty f$cked up place, and generally, 2004 has just picked up the ball and run with it. Between wars accidents and natural disasters, there have been few good things going on. Here is a very brief and quick look at
Just yesterday the news came in that an earthquake just off the coast od Sumatra caused a tidal wave to sweep across much of Asia, leaving thousands dead and unaccounted for. During the summer the Caribbean and Southern states of the US were hit by hurricane after hurricane. Earlier this year, but on a much smaller scale, the town of Boscastle in Cornwall was hit by floods after torrential rain.
It seems that half the planet is currently declared a disaster area. Of course, not all of this is due to global warming, though the fact that if the Americans do nothing, as they seem to want to, it doesn't matter a jot about what the rest of us do. The weather will become more unstable, and one day we will all find ourselves paddling round in little boats.
Accident-wise, things have not been too rosy, either. Trains derailed in suicide attempts,
War. Oh, yes. If there is one business that has grown in size, it's the business of war. And I fear it will only get worse. Whilst Afghanistan is now starting to reap the benefits of democracy (like record opium yealds!), it is now the turn of Iraq. I can't help thinking that it isn't a good idea to hold elections during a war (and war it still is), but they are going ahead anyway. Of course, pulling out isn't the option some people think it is, as leaving them to clean up the mess we made is just plain wrong. We could just pull out now, but watchy the country fall down and go into a bloody, violent civil war. Actually, I think we will see that happen anyway. If after all this time agreement can't happen in Northern Ireland, Iraq has little or no chance, though I am prepared to be wrong. Add to this the abuses in certain prisons over there, and it's been a good year in the middle east. Maybe there will be something like peace now that Arafat is dead, but I doubt it - until Sharon is out of power, too - maybe then the bulldozers will stop rolling over innocents, and bombs will stop blowing up innocents. Makes me wonder how long Ian Paisley has...
And the next place we will invade? Well, it looks like Sudan may be off the list, finally, as peace may be about to break out at last. The country has been in turmoil all year, but finally peace talks seem to be getting going. Of course, there is still the humanitarian crisis to deal with, with thousands and thousands forced to leave their homes due to the fighting. And, as evidenced by Bad Aid 20, starvation is still a powerful enemy in Africa.
Politically the world is not in good shape, either. The northern Ireland peace process is collapsing again, Zimbabwe is just laughing at the rest of us (especially the UK), though it may change it's tune if the UK lead a 'police action' in return for the cricket team having to go there. And to top it all off, the election in the USA returned President Bush for another four wars - um - years. Not that Kerry would have been much better.
As I said, the world is, one way or another, pretty f$cked up at the moment. Maybe 2005 will improve, but it will take some serious intervention. And not US-led intervention. Politics in the UK have sucked too.
I loved all the 'sleaze' stuff that has been heading towards the government since Blunkett's resignation over whatever he really resigned for! Most of it coming from the Conservatives (the party with more sleaze in it that Debbie Does Dallas) in a desperate attempt to get votes. Do they really not remember that a former PM (not mentioning John Major's name) was having an affair and bonking someone (not to mention 's name) in the Commons? And that one major politician ended up in prison? And umpteen others quite due to 'sleaze'? A couple in the Labour Government and they think they are a shoe-in. Maybe if they get some policies. Remember how they said once they would stop just saying the opposite of the government? Remember how they soon founf themselves saying 'Oh no it isn't' in best panto style? Well, the 'no promises we can't keep' plan hatched by Howard seems to have gone the same way... the only promise they can make that is likely to happen is that they promise not to be the opposition after the next elections!
Okay - some good things? I can think of three things that excited me this year. The first is the X-prize - no not the X Factor, the spaceship one. Or to be more exact, Spaceship One. who can fail to be impressed by the first private spacecraft to leave the atmosphere? Especially when it looks so cool - like a Flash Gordon rocket ship come to life? Sticking in space, we go to Mars for something amazing - a NASA mission to the red planet that not only succeeded, but succeeded beyond all expectations! The fact that the rovers are alive again and wandering now is just oo impressive for words. A shame about the British Beagle, but it happens - and at least we didn't waste billions and then realise that someone had used the wrong ruler.... Finaly, the Millau Bridge in France. I have got to drive over that sometime, just for the hell of it.
Oh, I must mention the Olympics. We ruled. 'nuff said!
So, just in case, you missed it, the world is a f$cked up place despite a few nice bits. Next year can only get worse.
Next: The Year in Music!!
Posted by Badgers at 07:15 PM | Comments (2)
December 25, 2004
I'm Looking At A White Christmas
Yes, it's snowing quite nicely here in Burnley, which is nice.
The good news is that I'm now off work for a few days so I can get down to stuff, like the web sites, the art, and putting up decorations.
Yeah, decorations! As of last night (after midnight!) we had finally got the lights dad wanted on the ceiling of the living room. This year is beating last year into the ground as Xmas 2003 saw us still doing stuff at 11 in the morning on Christmas Day, while this year we will still be doing it tomorrow! And that doesn't include sorting out the lights on the ceiling that are not working... It's enough to make me want to go back to work. Hang on, maybe not...
Work. Just go back to the previous entry. Nuff said!
The good stuff this week is that James' P-90 arrived from Germany yestrday and he rushed over to get it last night! Sadly for him, his shiny new video card is still lurking in Leyland. Even Royal Mail would have got it here by now!
Scary stuff this week includes nearly being sideswiped by a car that hit ice on the first day of real snow, and getting caught in a dip in the snow myself after slowing for a car coming down the hill... and every time I slid back the car kept going towards an open grate...!
So. Christmas. What does it hold? Well, present wise, I got a pair of slippers and a jumper. I guess the universe just caught up with my plans toi not go out at all next year, and have less fun! Still, I am 35 next March, and the shelf has been dusted for me to sit on. Apart from dealing with the inevitable arguements, I'll be drawing the comic stuff, working on the sites (including switching from phpNuke to Mambo) and hopefully getting round to watching the last series of Stargate, Atlantis, Battlestar... I think Return Of The King will have to wait till March!
As far as Badgers goes, I'll hopefully do a series of little rants about the year in my life, music, TV, film, etc. Should keep me out of trouble...!
Posted by Badgers at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2004
It's Nearly Over...
It's been a while since my last confession - um - entry, so what has happened? Let's get the work stuff out of the way first!
Anoyance, a decent Christmas meal, more annoyance and a moment of fun. This last bit came yesterday when I went in to work despite feeling terrible. I went out to fit a loop system for an old lady who had been seen by my opposite number when he was helping to keep my workload down. He thiks he is well into the job and is far quicker than I am. This lady explained a lot... Y'see, she felt that he had treated her like an idiot, and had not been very helpful. Oh dear. I, apparently, was a much better person, explaining and taking the time to talk and not just go in, assess and bugger off. This made me feel much better, that I hadn't lost the skills, even though I still hate the job! I didn't even have to use my mutant power of making people feel sympathy and guilt (with it's +6 modifier)! All this, and I got to see a Tesco delivery van rip a chunk of roof off as it drove way too fast under a gateway!
The previous week had been more like it though. I had accidentlaly doubl-booked and had to be in Padiham and Bacup at the same time. I finally made it to the Padiham client to find them amazed that I had arrived at all - they had called admin and been told that I had not been answering my phone and had gone home. My work mobile phone isn't working - admin know this, and are supposed to be replacing it sometime next year so that I cn stop using my personal phone. Also, I often find myself working till 6.00 and later. Some angry word were said, especially as I had actually tried to deliver before this and the family had not been there - and admin certainly hadn't passed on a message from the week before in answer to one of mine... A brief selection of the past fortnight's emails from admin: "Why haven't you seen to this lady's broken loop system? The diary sheet on the computer said it was urgent!" - well, perhaps if I was telepathic - the entry was made on Friday afternoon, My boss sent it through to me on Monday night, I was out all of Tuesday, and it's only Wednesday!!!; "[Client]'s daughter called - why have you not visited yet?" - probably because she only called yesterday, so my boss hadn't even sent it to me yet?; "[Unknown Client]'s Son-in-law has been in wondering when you will visit his mother in law - she isn't on the system, but he was given your name." - why not pass it to Customer Care who will take details and put it on the system as they are supposed to? I can't just give equipment to people we don't know! And it will be about a month before I see her anyway!; "Please go and see this lady - we are sick of her phone calls!" - me too - I've been four bloody times, and she keeps fiddling with the portable doorbell's frequency switches so it doesn't work! Short of breaking her fingers...
It hasn't helped that I've felt pretty low for a few weeks, and this past couple of weeks hasn't helped any. Sunday was called off so no Nick's, so I decided to hit Quatermiss (yeah, between Half Life 2 and Pirates, I've been wasting too much time!) but things kept getting in the way. On Saturday I was called away to take the dogs out, move two gas fires and surrounds from a neighbour's house to the local tip, paint, move cupboards and go in the loft. It was quite late when I finally got down to the pecilling, but it was going quite well - Hobbes Horne station looked right. Then a Messenger conversation from Marie, asking me to call James ASAP. This I do, to find that he is driving his bus - he will be home after 1.00am - this isn't a problem as I will still be drawing by then. I draw, and then James pops online. An hour and a half later he goes off, leaving me having bought him a new flashy video card (his love of crappy graphics has finally fallen due to the brilliance of Half Life 2), and him sending me many links to eBay items... During all this I do what I can to draw, and then settle down. Now, usually when I do I.T. I pencil very roughly in non-photo blue then ink with a pen and marker, virtually from scratch. As you can imagine, this is not a good thing to do at 3.00am in the morning. I finished at 4.00 and decided to go to bed - after all I had the whole of Sunday. Next morning I looked at the art. Some bits worked (the first page, the last page) but all the bits in between were crap! I couldn't draw Thankyou's right, and his hat was just plain wrong. I made a decision that I had toyed with earlier that morning, to cancel I.T.!
Oh, and next morning, James let me know that Marie had bumped the car a bit... I'll put the pics in an entry on his side of the site in a few minutes!
Of course, it isn't cancelled forever, just until the end of January! The strip will then continue with the new version of Quatermiss And The Pit, though it will probably look different! Y'see, I want to do Dark Tidings (which still launches in the New Year as planned!) almost entirely in Photoshop, and I have always toyed with the idea of using something like Illustrator to do the art on I.T. Yeah, I know. Something about smooth lines has interested me for a few years, but it is only now that I am able to do something about it. The rest of the year (not much left now!) is to be spent getting down to DT and practicing the new stuff for I.T. by doing 8 Christmas pictures over the Holidays. My first was done one way, the others in other ways until I decide what works best. See them at the site here from Monday.
At least the kitchen is now cleaner and painted with the cabinets on the walls (though we had to call in a neighbour as dad was making a complete hash of it), so the Christmas Decorations will start being dug up in the loft again this week. Oh joy. I guess I'll have to sort out my resolutions for next year... and this year I'll stick to them!
So last weekend was cancelled as far as gaming goes, and this weekend has also been cancelled - Nick is in Wales with family, James is off to Blackpool (he wants me to go too, but as I feel ill, it won't happen) and Andrew is supposed to be dealing with some Americans and so hasn't been seen for a few weeks, so I have a weekend to play with. Well,art wise, at least! Half Life 2 is finished and Pirates is getting harder (those dances are getting evil, though the French Governor's pretty daughter will be mine!). This week I have more work to get through and will try to deliver any presents (though James it seems, will have to wait for his P90 and his video card - which is still at a depot in Leyland according to the tracker) and a lot of art practice!
In case I don't see you all before, Have a happy bout of insane shopping followed by intense heart-burn and hangovers! Remember - Doctor Who is back this coming year!!! Woo-WHO!
Posted by Badgers at 03:04 PM | Comments (1)
December 06, 2004
Cancelled!
I'm annoyed, but I can't say it was unexpected. This morning I went for my pre-op assessment and was poked and prodded, twisted, stuck with a needle (many times as she couldn't get the needle into the vein!) x-rayed and wired to an heart monitor. Everything seemed to be go for Saturday morning. Then I get home from work and find that because my doctor took me off beta blockers a couple of weeks ago, the anaesthetist feels I have a high chance of not waking up. Brilliant, eh? I was taken off the blockers as I was okay and now I'm in the cue again. Hopefully in March I will hear from the hospital again for another pre-op and then go in quickly to finally have the leg dealt with. Ah well.
It wouldn't be so bad if my boss hadn't spent time planning what was going to happen, who was doing my work, etc, while I was off. Now it is all useless, but that isn't the biggest thing that annoys me. Mainly the thing that gets my goat and feeds it to the velociraptor is that I have not got anywhere as much time to do the comics and sites as I want. I also have no excuse for not being dragged out to find an open pub on Christmas Night. Bugger.
The good thing that has come out of it is that I know what they are going to do now - get rid of the bone, and clean up the ankle cartilage, as wel as take a good look at the ankle itself as it is a bit damages, and check the tendons as they seem wrong too. I'll probably have to have my ankle up in the air for a while, but while I may be able to walk soon after with crutches and a large fluffy bandage thing, it will hurt for a few months afterwards. This means I can cancel my holiday next year too. Bum.
Ah well, what of other stuff? Manchester was fun (buying presents and a few books!), and Sunday saw Nick up here foir a change. James turned up eventually. Of course, Nick's computer steadfastly refused to connect to the internet for an hour and a half... Still, he enjoyed Joint Ops on a fast connection... until 7.30! I nearly missed Top Gear! I fear he is about to go on another big spend... and not just on the monitors! We must hold him back... otherwise he won't be able to afford his night out (whichj I will probably not be at anyway, considering how much work I have to do!!!)
So, life is giving me lemons - what's new?
Posted by Badgers at 05:55 PM | Comments (1)
December 01, 2004
Sorry, Gotta Talk About Work...
...but not too much! Let's just say that between being given the wrong address (the one I had sent me up a farm track), people breaking their doorbells for thew umpteenth time, relatives ringing up asking when I was going to fit the loop system for their father/mother/aunty/whatever when I hadn't even had it allocated to me by my boss until that morning and they hadn't been assessed, and people being sent straight from Audiology with my name and a request for equipment without being referred to me, I am sick of my job. You might have picked that up from previous entries... All this has led me to be in the office for about 5 hours a week (during which I must check emails, make calls, do paperwork, make entries on the computer, plan appointments, stock check, deal with whinging relatives, etc) and the rest spent out and about running here and there till seven o'clock at night or later. I really don't get paid enough for this. At least certain people who think my job is oh-so-easy gets overtime... I'm not even getting travel expenses at the moment. Since my last entry a week and a half ago I have had to go out to people past 6.00pm almost every day, two of them simply as the relatives were whinging. "We must not create an expectation that we will be there instantly" - in other words, I am not an emergency service!!! Want a loop system for your father? Wait in line! My waiting list is over a month (other areas are higher, but I work fairly quickly and a whole lot later than most of the others, and keep handing great chunks off to a colleague in a quiet area to do) so I'm sorry if you don't get it installed the day after you go into Colne Social Services - and don't panic when a big hairy guy arrives at 7pm to do the assessment due at 5.30 - at least it is getting done! Admittedly, I can't help feeling that we will be running out of money - on average people get over £100.00 of equipment, though some get more or less. Tonight I went to an old woman who has been back and forth for ages - didn't want a loop, then did; didn't want phone amp, then did, etc. Now she will be getting a £400.00 pager system for the doorbell and phone on top of all she has. This comes out of your taxes, people! And I also had to go to B&Q to buy a doorbell for the lady who keeps breaking the doorbell and fit it - I won't see that money again. That comes out of my wages. I won't dsay more, as it might get me in big trouble, though hopefully any problems will be after I quit (which may be very soon if nothing changes - finding myself crying in the toilets three times in a fortnight is just not on!)
(Takes a deep breath)
How are you? Better than me, I think! I'll be fine by the weekend, when I'm pulling a double all-nighter to do the comic stuff and work on the kitchen with mum and dad. My plans for Christmas shopping have been scuppered, though, as I was going a week on Stauday, but apparently I'm having my ankle operated on that day! Yes, finally the hospital got in touch and it seems I will be operated on at last, and so have a working ankle again, once the swelling goes down. I can't wait for the doctor to tell me to rest... they tried that with mum, and she didn't. so why should I? In fact, I'm likely to be at work on the Monday, despite various estimates being given to time off (from one to four weeks - yeah right!) Work has to be done, and I refuse to take sick leave (just imagine how happy I am that the op is on a Saturday!). Of course, it means I can't go out over Christmas, but I can live. The fact that my self-imposed ban on going out next year (and beyond, probably) means that is it - I am on the shelf in damaged condition (and out of warranty at 35 from March!). Sorry girls.
At least my car passed it's MOT. Well, the second time... it failed on the headlights not being aligned. WTF?!? Don't look at me... I didn't pay for the second MOT as it was in for a service at the same time, though that did through up a few things, including the most expensive - something to do with a pulley on the camshaft or something. That wasn't the worst bit, though - the worst bit was spending the day in Blackburn! Cold, wet, boring, and nothing much to look at.
I may be in Manchester his weekend, or not - the remainder of my Christmas shopping looks like it may be internet only... Like James' P90 BB gun. Git.
The good news is that I got my second monitor sorted and I now have a new one, though the bad news is that it does have a dead pixel, though it doesn't bother me in Photoshop, as it is the second monitor not the first! Nick and I got Joint Operations: Escalation which is gun, and I have been slightly into Half Life 2. Life away from work has been peachy, really! Ah well. Maybe things will be brighter soon, but I doubt it. At last I'm not depressed enough not to draw the comic again. Just keep me away from sharp objects...
Posted by Badgers at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)