Show-Off

So, just a quick post, as promised, to show you guys (like you care) the images I've created for both 24 007 (above) and Star Trek: Voyager - Tempus Futile (below). Both are going rather well: just about to start Chapter Three of the latter project, while I've planned ahead to the sixth hour of the former. Peace out...

Creative Misadventure

I'm glad I updated Bonkers when I did, madcap fans, otherwise you may have been kept in the dark just like I was.

A massive twenty-one hour loss of power struck Bonkers Headquarters and the surrounding streets on Sunday! Shutting down at 01:00 and not returning until 22:00, all power was completely cut. Of course, this meant I nearly died: no computer, no music, no PlayStation2, no television... thank goodness I've been cutting back, otherwise it would have been unbearable cold turkey. I did learn one rather nice piece of trivia, though: did you know it's almost impossible to have a decent game of I-Spy in the dark, after the first person says "S" and you say "shadow"?

What a summer this has turned out to be! On the plus side, my cooking skills are about to improve (Simon'll be pleased for next year... less ready meals and fried eggs in the new kitchen). Thanks to Mum, who found a great bunch of twenty-minute recipies in one of those yay-for-women-boo-all-men magazines (okay, so the source material is flawed, but I can make the cooking manly... where's my apron? You know, the one with all the flowers...), I shall be competing on Ready Steady Cook in no time! I'll take ten pounds from anyone willing to dare me to polish Ainsley Harriot's head...

So the Middle East is destroying itself again, ignoring the UN Resolution and all. I don't know which side I should be on in this conflict. On the one hand, Hezbollah are being kicked around, which is good: religious extremism of that kind should be seriously discouraged, especially when it results in violence, which Hezbollah can't claim to never have done. On the other hand, however, Israel have been complete fools in the whole thing. Invading Lebanon and blasting civilians is no way to react when you lose one soldier (who wasn't supposed to be behind the lines anyway) and want him back. Any excuse out there, though, will do. I think us Western powers should back off, let the Middle East fight until they've got no fight left and then hopefully they'll realise how stupid it is to battle each other based on something as outdated as religion.

Having just offended millions in that last paragraph, on to my latest projects. Two fan fiction novels I'm working on at the moment for various websites are very exciting (my own original novel series is still ongoing, but has taken a temporary back seat). The first is simply entitled 24 007 and does exactly that: James Bond and the 00 Section travel to Los Angeles and team up with Jack Bauer and CTU to bring down an international company with terrorist connections. The second, called Star Trek: Voyager - Tempus Futile (see what I did there? Clever, eh?), has the crew of the Starship Voyager racing against time to restore crippled systems while trapped in a gigantic net, which just so happens to contain ships from the future, ships from the past and a Borg Cube.

Bonkers isn't letting me upload images, which is a shame, because I've created logos and cover images for both projects. Oh well... you'll have to take my word that they're excellent, then... what do you mean, "yeah right"?

Peace out, ladies and mentalmen. I shall return...

To Boldly Go...

Greetings one and all (and you at the back there)!

Two apologies required: one, for the long gap in posting here in Bonkers. Normal service will resume from this date. Two, for the continuation of the Star Trek theme. Never fear, it won't last long. Just until the end of this entry.

Unfortunately, I've experienced the best of both worlds this summer. On the one hand, I've had some great fun! My birthday kicked things off nicely after the major wedding in June, and then a successful job opportunity lined my pockets with some spare cash (and made me some new friends). More recently, Dad's birthday surprises went off without a hitch: who said a fifty-year-old was incapable of lighting up and getting all excited, eh? I completed The Da Vinci Code with a little help from puzzle-brain Mum and am now looking forward to a triumphant return to Newcastle on the weekend of September 9th.

On the other hand, however... well, let's just say that the next picture sums things up nicely...

...a complete and utter nosedive into disaster, pain and injury for myself and others. First, I attempted to complete some heavy lifting at work on my own. The industrial sacks I was using, capable of carrying tons, ripped under the weight I shifted. My back was in agony, I could barely move. With Mum off work feeling rather unwell, we tried to cheer ourselves up by testing a new garden shredder. When it didn't work, Mum started to investigate with, unwisely, the power still on, and I promptly cut the end off Mum's left index finger (in short order: excuse the pun). Hospital folk are so nice... to attempt to feel better, I decided to take in some sea air, and so sat in a comfortable two-man canoe in Devon with Dad, Matt and the ever-hillarious Uncle Tony. Refusing Dad's so-weak-a-light-breeze-would-wash-it-off Factor 4 sunscreen, I recieved serious burns to my legs which, added to my back injury (which the sea air did sod all for), made sure I missed the end of my temporary work placement. Ankles swollen with fluid, skin still peeling away to expose red raw flesh and back still painful, I sit here, typing to you folks.

What a summer it's been. But now I'm feeling better, and Mum's got a week of holiday starting today! So perhaps there's some more stuff to add to the Good Stuff list before I leave. Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest is on the cards, as is tea and cakes with Jill, Adam and the girls tomorrow.

And on the electronic entertainment front, I'm very excited by the prospect of a new, previously hidden, Star Trek game for the PlayStation2, due out by Christmas! Called Star Trek: Encounters, it will feature all five eras of the television series' and allow players to take control of famous starships such as the Enterprise NX-01, Voyager and Kirk's classic original Enterprise and generally kill dead hoards of alien species that now occupy endangered lists. Oh, happy days!

Look at that... August 19th and I'm already excited about Christmas... anywho, I've got some PlayStation2 time to myself now, so I'm off the claim the tellybox! Live long and prosper, madcap Bonkers fans, and I shall endeavour to return very, very soon (for some political chat)!

Peace out, ladies and mentalmen!