Panic Attacks and Neurotica

2009-12-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

2009-12-06T05:18:00.000-08:00

Interesting things follow!

2009-03-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

I forgot to update last week. Well, technically, I didn't forget, I just remembered a lot later than I should've.

This hasn't been the greatest couple of weeks, to be honest. I've been having strange mood swings, where I'll be feeling perfectly fine one minute and downright miserable the next. I think I may be bipolar, but that's probably just me being paranoid.

I recently bought a CD by some Canadian band I'd never heard of, and it wasn't really worth the £12 I paid for it. I guess that's what you get when you buy an album by a band called "Holy Fuck".

I also bought a horror/thriller book called Hater, based around a genetic abnormality in various people that causes them to kill others who they perceive to be different. It was pretty good, but I think it could've been a bit longer. The ending was a bit... meh.

I flunked my Printmaking assessment, but I've been given 'til after Easter to catch up with the work I'm missing. I have another assessment for all my other projects, but I'm not doing very well with getting everything done. I can't see myself progressing to the second year. I'd prefer starting over, since I'd have a better idea of what I would be asked to do and work from there.

I can't really think of anything else to type about, so whatever. The end.

Maybe I should just stop trying to update on time

2009-03-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

My autobiographical comic is coming along. I've only done two strips which I'm rather proud of and I've planned out the third. I'm planning on eventually posting them periodically on the internet and such, but at the moment I'm just trying to get the art style to look consistent enough. I had to create a fictional character to use in place of certain people in case someone takes it the wrong way and I get my ass kicked. This character is introduced in the second strip. He looks pretty cool.

In other news, I am still failing to get on top of my college work. I think the main problem is motivating myself to get it done. Maybe when I'm desperate that'll be motivation enough.

My copy of Scott Pilgrim Vol 1 still hasn't appeared, so in a fit of rage and frustration I read the second volume without reading the first. Personally, I think it is one of the best comics I've ever read. I recommend it.

I was officially discharged from the hospital on Wednesday morning following a check-up on my finger scar. Apart from a build-up of scar tissue that can be "massaged away", my finger's doing fine. All I need to watch out for is hyperextension, where the end of my finger bends back slightly. If that happens, the tendon's in danger of being damaged. Here's hoping it doesn't!

I recently got my hands on a copy of Professor Layton and the Curious Village, which has eluded me for many weeks. It does not disappoint, although it does have a nasty habit of making you feel stupid, especially when you spend hours trying to solve a puzzle and eventually solve it with a irritatingly easy answer which you overlooked because of its obviousness. Having the main characters point accusingly at you when you solve a puzzle also has the same effect. J'accuse!

I realised the other day that I have problems explaining my ideas. I discovered this aspect of myself when being questioned by my Fine Art lecturer about the reasons behind my current Fine Art project. Basically, I took the idea that clothes can represent various youth subcultures and decided to go along the "gamer" subculture, since it's something I actually know about. My current idea is painting coloured t-shirts to look like Pac-Man ghosts. However, after talking to my lecturer, I've been thrown into a pit of doubt. It's like I've forgotten what I was supposed to be doing.

My flyers aren't going very well. If you didn't catch the last update, I suggested to my friend that I could design the flyers for the show he's setting up if he gives me the details that need to go on it. After sketching out ideas for said flyer, I have yet to hear back from said friend with said details. Frankly, if he doesn't get a move on, said friend will end up with said boot up said ass. Nuf' said.

That's all that's going on with me at the moment, so check back next week. I'll try to update on time, I will!

Dustville is dead.

2009-02-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I've given up on Dustville. The amount of time and effort it would take for me to get a decent looking comic up and running would take forever so I couldn't really see it going anywhere. But despite that, there is still good news to be had!

I've always wanted to do an autobiographical comic since I was about 14. So, since I wasn't continuing with Dustville, I've started a new comic, which is a bit untidier and easier to draw. I've only drawn an introduction strip and I'm still wondering if I should start posting them on the internet. I shall report back with news on that.

Also in other art-related business, I've been drafted by one of my friends to draw up some cool flyers for the show he's setting up. I'm still getting all the details together but hopefully it'll look awesome. More on that next week.

I discovered I had a small fortune that I didn't know about hiding away in my bank account. So, without any forethought for the consequences, I bought a ton of stuff. Mostly manga and anime. But at least I can watch Haruhi whenever I want now. Yay.

For my Computers class we were supposed to be giving presentations to the rest of the class on these digital portraits we had been drawing using graphics tablets. Unfortunately, I had very little prepared, and so the lecturer made me do a presentation on a painting of a bee. This one. It was rather nerve-wracking and not helped by the fact that I don't do well when I talk to crowds of people I'm not comfortable around. Especially my group, who I'm not overly fond of to begin with.

Most of my group are alright, I guess. The girls are nice enough, but there's the odd douche amongst the guys. This one guy thinks it's hilarious to take the piss out of a certain girl. No matter how irritating a girl talking loudly may be, this guy imitating here for his own humour is much more so. Either come up with some decent insults or go home, man. Your impression of a girl is too real.

I can't really think of anything else to say, so I guess that's it. I'm off to start drawing up my second strip, designing flyers and watching anime goodness. Buh bye. Oh, and sorry for the late update.

One day I'll update on time, I swear.

2009-02-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

Another exciting week of magic and wonder! Read on for more. Or not. I really couldn't give a monkey's.

An e-mail from Amazon.co.uk tells me that my Scott Pilgrim book has yet to shipped at all. I really can't see why they couldn't send both books at the same time. I'm sure there's a good reason, but I just can't see it, probably due to my rage-induced blindness.

However, I did buy another book to tide me over while I wait for my Canadian comic, Gunsmith Cats. After reading it, I was surprised by the graphic violence and nudity that was contained within, but it had cars and guns, so who cares? I was more drawn to it because it was thicker than the Bible. It took me nearly an hour and a half to read the whole thing.

My friend's 360 returned from its holiday in Frankfurt, and we celebrated by playing GTA4 for a good hour or so. I also rediscovered my lack of driving skills in sandbox games. There were some fleeting moments, where I narrowly sped through a tightly packed group of taxis, but the glory was shortlived when I later went on to get shot to death while stealing a people carrier. Personally, I just like shooting helicopter pilots with sniper rifles and laughing evilly and my friend's lack of driving skills.

What I've always found funny is that people seem to think I had just joined deviantART just before I submitted my first hand-drawn artwork. One such person who "welcomed" me had joined three years after I did. Kooky.

For some reason, my week away from college has passed very slowly. Usually (and I'm sure this applies to many people) any time that isn't spent at college seems to zip past faster than a cheetah pumped full of Sunny D. But this past week just seemed to drag on and on. Not that that's a bad thing. Talking to my friends on MSN for a couple of hours makes me forget about my lack of a social and/or romantic life.

I now have access to my old, trustworthy PC, instead of the hellborne piece of bullplop I've been forced to use for the last week. No more restarting the system when the internet disconnects for no apparent reason! Now I'm back to only being able to open a maximum of 3 tabs in my browser, lest the computer stops me from using the right mouse button!

You know what? This computer sucks ass too.

I've started designing a rather repetitive series of designs that could basically be stuck on anything, from t-shirts to a tattoo on a baby's forehead. All it involved is a random object (at the moment, I'm sticking with various foods) and putting "'d!" on the end of it. So "eggplant" becomes "eggplant'd!" as demonstrated below.

Very basic, MS Paint-drawn stuff. But I think it has a certain charm, yes? No? Well screw you then.

Well, that's all the vaguely interesting things I can pull out of the past week. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to talk about very dangerous piers. Buh bye.

Forgot to update again...

2009-02-12T04:37:00.000-08:00

Actually, the computer broke so I wasn't able to. Oh well. No harm done.

It's been an interesting couple of weeks, I guess. Amazon.co.uk decided to ship my two Scott Pilgrim books separately, and only the second in the series has arrived. The first one has yet to turn up, so I'm sat with a book I can't read without spoiling the story. Stupid post office. Stupid Amazon.co.uk. I was actually surprised by how small the book is. I expected it to be graphic novel-sized, not manga-sized. Makes it easier to carry, I guess.

A friend of mine has befriended one of those people who thinks it's cool to have giant speakers in the back of their car. I seriously can't see the point. There's nothing cool about forcing everyone in a 50-foot radius to listen to your collection of rap songs. All it makes you is a obnoxious prat. So don't do it. It makes as much sense as listening to dance club music on a CD player. You're not in a dance club, and that Katy Perry remix sucks, as does the original.

I bought Endless Ocean for the Wii and have yet to play it. I don't know why scuba diving and taking pictures of fish seems so appealing to me, but it does. I shall report back with news on that next week.

Dustville has been set on the back burner for a while, as I still need to catch up with my college work. I think the Informal Review Week we've been having has had a rather bad effect on me. The whole idea of this week is to give us some idea of how well we're doing, although it does seem to put a lot of people in rather bad moods. At least I have a week off to look forward to.

Mario Kart is fun! I'm sure if you own a Wii then you already know this, but I never got around to actually buying the game. However my friend did, so we had some multiplayer fun. Rainbow Road is such a bitch. I also have a habit of pressing the wrong button at the start of a race and hurtling backwards in reverse gear while everyone else takes off down the course. I play too many games that use shoulder buttons to accelerate.

It's been snowing. A lot. I missed two weeks of college because of the two inches of snow that covered everywhere. I like snow and I rarely get to see it, but it's a bastard when you actually have to go anywhere.

I've also dug out my old copy of Driv3r for the PS2. It is incredibly bad, but I get addicted to flying down the streets of Nice in a stolen Renault. I also do some wicked handbrake turns. SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH VROOOM. Also, I do some wicked crashes. VROOOOOOOM BAM.

People on deviantART are crazy fast when it comes to fav'ing artwork. I posted a doodle of a demon and I got two fav's in just over ten minutes. Crazy.

The internet connection on this computer is very, very bad. Every so often it cuts out and I have to restart the system again and connect again. Then I have to prepare for the whole process all over again. Then again, this is the only computer I ever use that still has a big box for a monitor. No flatscreens here, no sirree!

Anyway, I'm off to do some more college work and listen to funny songs.

CELLULAR MODULAR INTERACTIBODULAR!

Buh bye!

Scripts, bumblebees and pee-pee people.

2009-01-29T04:54:00.000-08:00

It's Thursday, you lucky dogs. Get ready for a can full of update-flavoured whoopass.

In Dustville-related happenings this week, I've gotten ahead of myself and written the script for the first comic. I sent it off to a load of people so I could get some other opinions besides my own, because I'm heavily biased towards myself. I'm also awesome, in case you didn't know. Anyway, it seems to have gone down a treat so now I'm finishing off character designs and I've got a fancy lookin' graph paper pad for drawing up the layouts. Woo!

I bought that Animal Crossing Wii game a while ago. It's fun and all, but it's feels a bit stale after spending ages playing the same game for the DS, minus the city. There was always that feeling of dread of returning to my happy little town after months of not playing, just to find the entire place covered in weeds. I half expected to be attacked by rabid town inhabitants.

We've been using fancy graphics tablets in my Computers class. They're lots of fun, but tricky to get the hang of. I play on the DS though, so I'm getting the hang of it pretty quickly. I drew a bee too. He is loved by all.

I recently got a ticket for this big seminar thing at a university. For the serious student, it means learning about what choices can be made after finishing your college education. For nimrods like me, it means buttloads of free pens.

I've also bought the first two volumes of Scott Pilgrim from Amazon.co.uk, and hopefully they'll be here in February. Personally, I can't wait for the Canadian comic goodness.

It was also my friend's birthday on the 28th, where I bet he spent many an hour playing Guitar Hero. I made him a nice birthday card, poking fun at his red jeans. Seriously, they make him look like a baboon. He's gone from dressing up in various shades of black to taking on the appearance of a colour-blind peacock.

I recently heard about how another of my friends got drunk and ended up making a bit of a fool of himself. Apparently, he had had one too many drinks and stumbled back to his house, accompanied by his friend. He was supposed to be watching his younger brother the next day, so he didn't want to let his mother know he was drunk. After telling his friend to "act natural", he enters his home, turns to his mother, lets rip a Fonzie-esque "AAAYYYYYYY!" then falls over. Natural? No. Funny? Yes.

Personally, I can't stand the taste of alcohol, neither can I see the appeal of drinking so much of said alcohol that you slowly take leave of your senses or die when your liver decides that enough is enough. I remember my cousin and I sitting in a bar in a Spanish hotel, where he eventually persuaded me to drink a Bacardi and orange juice. Personally, I think it was just orange juice. He then went on to electrocute himself later that night via a lamp switch.

Whilst browsing the shelves at the local CD shop, there was a rather old man who smelled like a public toilet. It was rather bad, because he kept walking past me all the time. People who smell like pee aren't that much fun.

Anyway, I think I've typed enough for one Thursday. Check back in a week for more updates.

Buh bye.

College, comics and cock jokes.

2009-01-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

For those of you who actually read this junk, I will no longer be updating on Saturdays, so don't check in on your weekends off. You've got better things to do, I'm sure.

Now that I've returned to college, I'm finding myself with less and less free time to do anything other than work. I only recently noticed that the sixth volume of Love Hina which I got for Christmas has yet to be read. I was behind with work due to many weeks of sickness and anxiety attacks, but I think I'm slowly making headway. Apparently though (and this bit of information did come out of nowhere) if anyone fails a single unit in the entire first course, they have to retake the year all over again, which has put a lot of pressure on me. But I'm passing everything by the skin of my teeth, so I'm not that worried. Unless I fail. Then I'm screwed.

It's a lot of work though. I know art students are seen as the lazy, scruffy "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" crowd, but we work our asses off like the rest of you. Although I do derive some pleasure from peeking into the library and seeing every seat occupied by some student desperately revising in order to pass their next exam. That pleasure is then squashed by the realisation that I have nowhere to sit in there, which means I can't waste three quarters of an hour reading Battle Royale in a dark corner of the Arts section (which I do on a regular basis because I am lame). We have ridiculously long amounts of spare time between lectures, and not a lot to do at the college, unless you feel some urge to wander over to the sports centre and take a dip in the pool or catch a bus into town, then catch another one back half an hour later. It's madness.

But it is a lot of work. In fact, a few people from my class changed courses to one of the Art A levels. Little do they know that they'll have to take the first year of the ND course anyway. I heard about that when I was considering the Graphics course, which isn't as fun as it sounded. To me, anyway. There are a lot of different classes though, all which link together in some sort of insidious web of artsy horror. Fine Art, Graphics, 3D Design and Textiles form the core subjects, while Computers, Printmaking, Ceramics (which I find strangely intriguing) and Contextual Studies (which shatters my soul completely) are the secondary subjects. Then there's Life Drawing, which was dumped on us partway through the first half of the year.

On a more positive note, my comic project is making good headway. I've done a couple of character sketches and some more detailed colour artwork, which is quite unusual since I usually work in black and white. The rest of the main cast will be based on this cartoon I drew a few months ago, but I'm simplifying the designs. I discovered a long time ago that I'm not too good at fitting heavily detailed stuff in comic panels, but the new style I'm using is a big help. The comic itself is set in the city of Dustville (which is also the name of the comic) and is based around a group of friends who basically just wander around the town, doing things that normal teens do. The main character is based on myself (not in appearance, though. I can never draw myself properly, nor would I want to) and a few of his storylines will be based on my own experiences, in a sort of autobiographical way. Only the funny experiences, though. I've come up with several ideas for the town, too. I had the idea of not having any cars, meaning the cast either had to walk to places (which means exchanges between characters) or using the trams that will appear in the comics. I can't really draw cars either, and trams just seem to interest me. I don't know why. Other notable (but still unnamed) areas in the city include some very very tall steps that lead onto a small park (where the cast usually go to spend the late afternoon), a coffee shop, despite the fact that I don't like coffee (where one of the characters will work) and the college where the main character resides and attends. I thought having college dorms would be easier than having to come up with ideas for where my main guy could live, and then design various rooms in his house/flat/cardboard box. I also like the idea of the town having a high population of cats. I'm a big fan of cats myself, and one of the main characters is a one-eyed cat, based on a cat I owned some years ago. I'm still a long way away from writing some scripts and storylines for the comics, but I've had some fleeting ideas. Some include a brief conversation about homeless people, falling over on a tram and one of the characters following a cat through the city. I have yet to decide which, but I have a feeling it'll be the only female character in the main cast. I really ought to have more girls, but I have trouble drawing them for reasons I just don't know. All the sketches I do will be showing up on my deviantART page, so check in on there if you have the time, or if you have a dA account, you can watch me (which is less creepier than it sounds). I only have two watchers, and I think one was out of pity.

The thing that has surprised me most about this whole thing is that I'm still keeping with it. I have a low attention span, and I usually lose interest in any long term project. For example, for my Narrative Imagery project I came up with a children's book idea called "The Rabbit and the Treebeast" which centred around a rabbit who had a pet caterpillar, then comes home to find his caterpillar gone, and a "something" flying around the room (which is actually a butterfly). The rabbit then chases the butterfly into some woods, where he meets the Treebeast and together they go off to catch the butterfly, which they don't know is a butterfly and so on and so forth. It looked promising, but it never went anywhere due to extenuating circumstances. And my Graphics lecturer kicking me out of her lesson because I wasn't showing any enthusiasm about trying to express my project idea by splattering ink and paint over a piece of paper. She showed us her example and believe me, large pink vomit swirls don't really scream "Little Red Riding Hood".

My friend seems to be striking back at the oppressive management he works for. And by striking back, I mean photoshopping pictures of the building he works in so it appears to be aflame. Oh, what a rebellious youth he is. He recently got a Wii, and I'm dying for some Mario Strikers multiplayer. I'll kick his ass with my Super Team, with which I have only lost 127 matches.

I've only just realised I've been typing for about an hour, so I'm thinking I should stop. I covered everything listed in the title. College... yeah. Comics... yeah. Cock jokes... ah, right. Uhh...

Penis.

Buh bye.

Buy my upcoming comics so I can buy t-shirts.

2009-01-17T12:16:00.000-08:00

I really ought to update this thing earlier on in the day, but I'm always half-asleep up 'til about 4:30 pm, by which time I'm either on a bus or playing video games on an assortment of consoles.

I recently made an impulse purchase at the local bookstore, Pride of Baghdad. It's a rather short graphic novel based around the bombing of Baghdad, when four lions along with a multitude of other animals escaped and roamed around the city, until they attacked and were killed by a group of U.S. Marines, who helped take care of the animals that were still left in the zoo. It's an interesting story, but I feel it's a bit too short and everything seems to be over very quickly, especially the abrupt (and rather violent) ending.

I've been trying to come up with ideas for comics, which is harder than it sounds. The characters I usually draw are usually too difficult for me to fit into comic panels, so I need to simplify my technique a bit. I've got a setting, some character ideas, some plotline ideas (slice-of-life or semi-biographical) and a possible name so I'm partway there, but I got a way to go. If they seem good enough, I may start printing them and selling them (quite cheap, probably), which has been a dream of mine ever since I read Gashapon Shop, which I consider to be one of the best independent comics I've ever read. You may disagree, but that comic inspired me. Wish me luck.

I think I'm going a bit stir crazy. I guess sitting in a small, square, yellow room with nothing but a heater and "Ocean Man" playing on an infinite loop can do that to you. But it is the best song ever, so I have no regrets.

I end up talking to myself if I'm left to my own devices for too long. It's usually just obvious advice shouted at cartoon characters and Takeshi's Castle contestants. Common examples include "No, don't do that!" and "Well, that was obviously going to happen".

My computer doesn't seem to want to do anything recently. If I have more than one tab open in my Internet Explorer window, it eventually refuses to save files and images, then just stops responding to the right mous button altogether. It gets a bit irritating, especially since I have a habit of opening links up in another tab when I'm concentrating on something else.

Here's an amusing story for you - a few days ago, I entered the room where I keep the computer and saw a green and white box in a clear plastic bag on the floor. For reasons beyond me, I thought it was an Xbox 360 all boxed up. Upon closer inspection, it was actually a paper shredder all boxed up. Stupid thing. Stupid me.

Apparently, that new Lord of the Rings: Conquest is a bit of a disappointment, which is... well, disappointing. It looked the part and I really wanted to kick some hobbit ass. Oh well, I can always wait for Star Wars Battlefront 3. If it does actually exist.

I'd been meaning to get a Gamecube memory card and a controller for my Wii so I can play some of those excellent GC games I never got to play when I had my old PS2. The only game I've got so far is Super Mario Sunshine, which despite some of the more difficult levels that crop up early on (Electric manta ray sillouettes? What the hell?) is light-hearted fun. It's impossible to find Super Smash Bros. Melee anywhere (although I already have Brawl) and all the copies you find on the net are crazy expensive for such old games. It's difficult enough to find GC games anywhere, only one shop I know still sells them, and they're very few even in there.

It's hard to get any good comics or manga in this part of the country too. The only comics they have on show are all superhero comics, which I've never been a huge fan of. I always find them too predictable and similar. I'm more a fan of the slice-of-life genre, or storylines with characters you can relate to. And although the variety and selection of manga is diverse (spanning at least three publishers) they never have the volume you need. I'm making my way through the Love Hina books, and whenever I have a look for the book I need, they seem to have every other one. I know it's easier to buy them off the net or through the shop, but I don't really like doing that unless I have to. The last time I tried to order something through a shop was when I ordered a Domo-kun t-shirt through a certain shop (who for fear of being sued shall remain unnamed) and never came. In fact, the inventory system actually glitched and said that the shirt had arrived, so when I went in to pick it up, it wasn't there and I missed my bus home. And where I live, the delay between buses can stretch a bit. Especially where my friend lives, where there's only two buses a day on weekdays.

I've recently developed a habit of replacing people's middle names with "Sticky Buns". I really don't know why, but it adds some humour to my MSN conversations whenever I'm feigning anger. "You'll regret the day you ever met me, John Sticky Buns Smith!"

Well, I think I've written/typed enough for one Saturday. I may have overused those italics too. Check back on Thursday for the next update. Buh bye.

Meh.

2009-01-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

I've been struck by another less nasty bout of sickness, so I'm too tired to rant on about stuff. Apologies for those of you who wanted to get all "riled up". I'll just ramble on and on about whatever I can think of. Also, for those of you who didn't catch my off-schedule update, scroll on down.

Remember a couple of posts back when I mentioned that guy who collapsed on the bus? Well, I fell over too. When I went to get off the double-decker bus, the driver didn't realise that anyone was coming downstairs, so he took off like a rocket and I ended up landing rather painfully on my back. I have yet to see if there's any bruises. Here's hoping there aren't.

I've become addicted to Eels. That's the band, not the wriggly underwater creatures. Their Greatest Hits album shall sit happily between my dusty old copy of Bowling For Soup's "Drunk Enough To Dance" and Feeder's "The Singles". Yeah, I alphabetise my CD collection, among other things.

I do have an odd taste in music though. My taste ranges from goth metal and punk rock to game soundtracks and Japanese ska. I'm one of those people who just listens to whatever good-sounding junk they find, even if it's not even in the same language.

That new Lord of the Rings game comes out on Friday, and as a fan of Star Wars Battlefront (which the game is modelled on) and an admirer of the whole Lord of the Rings universe thing, I'm gonna get it. There does seem to be some sort of grim satisfaction in wandering around the Shire as some ungodly monster punting hobbits left, right and centre.

I really detest Life Drawing. For those of you not doing an art course in college or wherever, my Life Drawing classes consist of me and a group of other guys and gals sitting and drawing rather unattractive naked people. Usually unattractive naked men who pose in unflattering positions. Add to that the teacher who constantly reinforces the rule of "measured drawing", where you basically hold your arm out and line up the pencil to measure body parts. I try not to do this, because it makes my back hurt and I don't really want to stare at a naked person any longer than I have to. I doubt it's as important as she makes it out to be, since the supply guy we had once thought my measured drawing was quite good, even though I was drawing from eyesight alone and the drawing looks rather bad. Huh, whaddya know. I guess I did have the energy to bitch about something.

My friend broke up with his girlfriend, so I'm a bit pissed about that. He doesn't deserve that sort of shit. Kick her ass, boy. Verbally, not physically of course. I don't endorse violence towards anyone, people.

At this point, I'm struggling to come up with something to write about and basically trying to burn off the sugar rush I've gotten from eating too many soft-centred chocolates so I think I'm gonna call it a day. Check back on Saturday.

Gah! Schedule failure.

2009-01-13T11:15:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have been following this blog (every single one of you, literally) I apologise for the lack of updates last week. I fell victim to the rather nasty flu-like plague that swept the nation recently, which rendered me useless and bed-ridden. Not much fun. I'll be returning to the regular update schedule this Thursday and Saturday.

In other news, one of my favourite webcomic artists has started a new comic, Robot In The City. For those of you who enjoy webcomic goodness, give it a looksee. Go check out his other comics and his blog too, which is regularly updated with homemade games and the like.

Some new multiplayer madness arrived in the form of Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. It's loads of fun, but it's one of those games where you need someone else playing to really enjoy it. There's not really a sense of competition when you're facing off faceless AI with stupid names like "Flameboy".

My finger has been liberated from the confines of the irritating plastic splint thing I'd been wearing for several months. For those of you not aware, I received a rather nasty wound after trying and failing to drill through a piece of thin metal. The metal got caught, spun like a saw and dug a nice chunk out of the tendons in my finger. Followed by several painful injections, surgery, et cetera. Now there's just a nice purple-white line running across my middle finger and it doesn't straighten properly. Fun times.

I've also been reading the fantasy novel "Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville. If you're a fan of gigantic spiders that speak in dream-poetics, hypnotic mothmen that feast on dreams and feed a highly addictive narcotic to their young and criminals who have been mutated and surgically tortured for their crimes, it's definitely the book for you. But it's not for everyone.

Next update's gonna be a rant, so prepare yourself. It'll probably ramble and slide from one subject to another, flitting in between shocking epiphanies and nonsensical gibberish.

Rock on, space cowboys and cowgirls!

Joyous Boxing Day Eve To Ye, Weary Traveller!

2008-12-24T15:09:00.000-08:00

I decided to update today instead of Thursday, what with it being Boxing Day Eve and all.

I, along with the majority of the country have managed to sniff, snort and sneeze my way through the week. It's not been fun, waking up in the wee hours of the morning, coughing my lungs out. To pass the time, I've been sat in front of the computer like the nerdy geekazoid I am, sneezing at frequent intervals and reading the QC archive. I could imagine how awkward it would be if someone walked in at some odd moment, with me sat in front of the monitor, a box of Kleenex on the desk next to me and a small pile of gunky, double-entendre inducing used tissues. However, my luck with the finer sex has yet to deal me any innuendo, sexual or otherwise. What an exciting life I lead.

For some reason, it just doesn't feel like it's going to be Christmas tomorrow. I don't know if it's just a side effect of aging (like wrinkles, bad eyesight and a wandering bladder) or the fact that I'm just happy to be out of college for more than two days, or maybe because I spent a rather hefty amount (or what I'd consider to be a hefty amount, anyway) on gifts and the like, but it's rather odd, since for over a decade it's always been this big thing. I feel so jaded.

I always have trouble with opening presents in front of people. It's not like I'm not happy with the presents I'm given, since people usually just ask me to write a list and buy things from that, but I always feel that my response will sound like I've been assimilated by the Borg.

See that? Star Trek references. I told you I was a nerdy geekazoid. Although I did have to spellcheck "assimilate".

Speaking of words (no duh) I came up with the idea that if I ever became famous, I'd coin a word that would give the highest possible score in Scrabble. It would have to sound completely different than it's spelt, though. All those Q's and Z's, ugh. It'd be like creating a song simply to nark off people who own a copy of Guitar Hero.

I recently learnt how to play Pontoon, which is basically a poor man's version of Blackjack. We gamble with the arsonist's weapon of choice, matches. This basically sums up my weekend, playing complex and irritating word games coupled with dull card games where all I win are oxidized bits of twig.

It's just turned midnight over here, so Joyous Boxing Day Eve To Ye, Weary Traveller!

In order to compensate for this lengthy and probably very mundane entry, here's another Star Trek reference:

So long, you crazy diamonds.

First update! Woo hoos are in order.

2008-12-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

So far, so good. I'm keeping with the update schedule as planned.

As I'm having trouble thinking of anything insightful to type about, I thought I'd just ramble on about recent events.

A guy passed out on the bus the other day, pretty strange. Sat next to some guy who smelled like a barn, spaced out and next thing I know this guy who got on at the stop after mine does a faceplant straight into the bus aisle. Quite spontaneous.

Christmas soon, and I'll be bunking off college to spend my holidays bumbling around town, being scared by pest-infested pigeons and looking at video games I can't buy.

One of my favourite comics, Scott Pilgrim is being made into a movie. But it's not animated, as people had hoped which is a bit lame. Boo.

My friend Tom was tricked into believing that my other friend is bisexual. Contrary to popular belief, he is not, but good at tricking people into thinking he is. Whatever floats his boat.

My finger is healing up nicely after its little jaunt with the 3D design drill, but the end joint doesn't bend properly, which makes it appear to be independent from the rest of my body.

My first shot at Photoshop has been praised and favourited by a fellow deviantART user, which made me rather pleased with myself. Check it out here.

As amazing as my life is, that's all the interesting happenings that's... happening at the moment. Check back next Thursday for the next update.

And so it begins.

2008-12-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

Greetings... you!

My name is Alex, and I am a misfit.

This journal will now be used as a means of emptying my brain mush and giving me more room to think about more important things, like why man decided to start walking or how they get the marshmallow stuff inside teacakes.

I'm going to try to stick to a schedule where I'll update two or three times a week, probably Thursdays and Saturdays. Hopefully this'll put some sense of routine and steadiness in my life.

And now, as I leave you to whittle away your days, consider this:

Thank you, and good night.