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19/09/07: Whew, long gap again. A ton of stuff has happened since my last update, so I'll try to be as brief as possible to avoid putting you all (what? readers? surely not - see below) to sleep.
First off, I passed my driving theory test (YAY!) with 35/35 on the written section. I would have been upset if I had scored any lower, given that I memorised the entire book of 500+ set questions (as opposed to, say, actually UNDERSTANDING the subject). I got 56/75 for the "hazard perception" test (for readers not figuratively "up to speed" with the modern test, that's where you watch a grainy, low-quality video of someone driving around and click whenever you see something approaching that could cause them to "slow down or change direction"). I wasn't particularly surprised by this, as I found the whole thing ridiculous. As previously mentioned, the video is so grainy you can't even read the number plates of the car in front of you (if this is supposed to be your driver's-eye-view, you shouldn't even be on the road, 'cos your eyesight is awful).
The definition of "hazard" is inconsistently applied - being forced to stop for a red light ISN'T a hazard, but the car in front stopping for a red light IS. WTF? Parked cars are NOT hazards, despite frequently forcing the driver to slow down AND change direction (and he/she will do so ridiculously fast, as though the mini parked opposite is about to explode). Sometimes the driver will virtually slalom to a halt at a crossroads with no warning or apparent cause, THEN slo-o-o-wly rotate to reveal the truck lumbering from one of the side roads. Apparently you are supposed to click as soon as you see the crossroads, despite nothing being visible. However, if you click too many times outside the one or two "real" hazards per clip you are failed for "cheating", even if the driver was slowing down or changing direction every time you clicked. Come on, people, this is stupid. Still, I got through, so HAH!
Still no job, of course. I'm beginning to suspect Dave Sim-style "blank or double-blank" level conspiracy here. My latest attempt at securing some form of employment came after I was sent an email advertising a position in the library. It was, as these things always are, ideal. I could work any of the hours listed. Not all of them, but I wouldn't HAVE to work all of them, as it was advertising for three people to work in shifts. Immediately after finding it, I fired off an email to the listed address with my CV attached in .pdf and .doc format. I clearly mentioned the vacancy - both the job title and the Jobshop code, and that I could work any of the hours listed. I was a little worried that since the family would be going away to Dorset for the next week I would be unable to answer any reply promptly and thus might miss out, but my parents found me a library with a computer I could use to check my email account. Guess what? No reply whatsoever - not even a cut-and-pasted "due to unprecedented demand this position is closed". Isn't that just sweet.
Anyway, yes, holiday. Dorset was nice, if unseasonably warm. I've gone an odd shade of reddish-yellow - I keep telling people I don't tan and find direct sunlight uncomfortable, but that doesn't stop Certain People from dragging us onto the beach, caterwauling about the "lovely weather". We visited Monkey World, which is apparently excuse enough for the same Certain People to talk, spontaneously and "completely innocently", about how compelling they suddenly find evolutionary theory. Personally, I saw animals. They can't vocalise like parrots, can't problem-solve like octopi, and not to put too fine a point on it, don't look particularly like the race Darwin believed apes evolved into (despite shrill claims to the contrary by the apparent 'theistic evolutionist' race demagogue --Hal Turner-- et al). The holiday did, however, give me some breathing space to do another couple of char sketches for Israel Charlemagne and --"Thought"-- villain Ice, which you can find at my gallery --here-- . The latter isn't coloured or anything, so you'll have to poke around the 'Scraps' section.
On the subject of the site, my latest rant ("Reality And Reason - The Failure Of The Internal Divine") has stalled somewhat - it's not work to cheer the soul, and there's only so much bilious rage you can channel before you actually start feeling sick. I've also started to perceive that subjective-truth-value thinking, although a serious problem in our society, is only a symptom of a far greater malaise. In fact, I find myself rapidly regressing back to the Contagion theory I held as a child (more on that when I work up the stamina). I have however checked all my links, provided mirrors to almost all the files on my --Downloads-- page, and added the Rogue Trader books under a "NEW STUFF" section. There's more to come, although I must again stress you can probably still download most of them from I got them --here-- . Someone actually emailed me to ask when I might get around to putting up the Rogue Trader stuff, which was flattering (I generally suspect I'm talking to myself here).
I've also been working on a new, shiny, EXTREMELY long and in-depth update of Abyss: Scorched Earth (a tabletop wargame I wrote years ago - see my --Settings-- page) which to my mind puts any other wargame out there right now, professional or amateur in the shade and could well be my first published work (if I could only finish the bloody thing and find someone to take it up). I've also been playing around with an --Age Of Mythology-- multi-player map; highly advanced, with triggers absolutely everywhere and various tricks I've created to alter the dynamic drastically. There's a regenerating forest in one corner, a regenerating gold mine in another, and a regenerating berry bush field in another. Players who explore the map will be rewarded with a small army of respawning wraiths, LoS to all four players, a free God Power, a "Favour ATM", and the ability to bring about the apocalypse). Unfortunately, Year 2 of University starts next Wednesday, and I'm already being encouraged to pack up all my worldly possessions, so all that will most likely have to wait :(
Oh dear. I think any readers I may have had are now well and truly comatose. I really don't know how these update things balloon out of control like they tend to do. Signing off, blessings all round, don't stick your head in a meat grinder, etc.