Just to get this off my chest, I haven't been writing any newsies of late because, even though ideas have proped up in my head, I have been doing some serious moarning of late. So much so that I feel like I've become a better person for it in some strange way. Corinne was an upbeat and enthusiastic woman who supported the strips since she laid eyes on them!
She was convinced it would do well!
So I shall endeavour onwards and I'll feel less miserable about it because, well, she showed me what it was like to be so ruddy happy!
Phew!
Now that's out of the way, I'll get back into the spirit of hyping up comics by brinigng up a fantastic one that came to my attention today.
The Zombies that ate my Chilean!
Great title, eh?
This is a new comic made by a mate at work with a group of his very bored friends
Now before you say, "Oh no, not another zombie comic! Boo!" I say, "Nay! This, you naive squirrel, is different for it has a Chliean!"
That's it.
That's my argument.
Aside from that, my mate Rich did it and that should be reason enough to get a copy. It's also three quid so it's well worth the dough.
Also, the drawings in it are ruddy brilliant!
Check out their myspace at www.myspace.com/thezombiesatemychilean and join the craze before everyone else does.
Coz it's wicked and that.

Never say I'm not educational.
Oh go on then.
I've just finished my very first commission work based on a piece called "Superteach".
As the name may suggest, Superteach is a superhero like Superman.
But a girl.
So like Supergirl.
Yes.
Anyway, as part of an education CD-ROM for a university student's project. I'm not sure if she wants to be known by name on the web, thus the vagueness. Superteach's role is to be the helpful guide through the ROM.
My job was to come up with the character. So I did. And thus, she exists. You can see her in my Deviant Art page, skirt and all.
The concept behind her design is, "a muse". She's a teacher so it sort of makes sense. Her hair is round which gives a sense of level headedness as well as making her look like a light bulb. I also gave her a white super suit because I thought it'd look fresh. Like parchment, ready to draw on. Ready to fill in with new ideas. As for the legs and high boots, well, sex appeal is always a good muse in itself!
Go to Deviant Art to see the super lass and feel free to leave comments there! I'm always receptive to feedback.
As for other news, I will be taking a week off work and will be travelling for the week. In this time I will leave you in the trusting hands of Lupus, or Lord Strickland. Or Lord- Oh well you get it. The man with a thousand names but one face. Ooh, profound that. Anyway, the point being that I'll be gone, but my sketchpad will be going with me so I'll be drawing loads. Well, that's the plan.
Adios for now! Barbados, here we come! So long suckers!

Just so you know, I have a new residence. And here it is.
This rather humble looking abode is where I shall now conduct my buisness, meet various members of the artistic community and generally run around the place, skreeching with glee wearing the steel metal armour that came with the place.
It's been a odd week off.
It's safe to say I've enjoyed it, but the most surprising thing I found about it was that I didn't miss London. At all. I missed my computer and my Internet (thanks to Loop for all the updates since I've been gone) connection but that was about it so I'll be giving serious consideration to leaving London all together.
As for the week off itself, I've strolled beaches, visited castles, visited Edinburgh, bought lots of fudge and saw some amazing views.
I wish I never left, so, that is why I bought this castle.
Now, who will volenteer to build me a moat?
Ooh! A moat filled stawberry milkshake!

Poor Loop.
He sends me a text message saying that he is having trouble writing a book.
That is not the reason why I say "Poor Loop"
I say "Poor Loop" because this measn I have to give him advice.
I have just finished writing a rather lengthy e-mail to him with some of the finer points of getting started. It was originally a, "Write the basics, put them in chapters, expand and enjoy" bit of writing, but alsa, I expanded on that a bit.
Obsessed with character development, I wrote a bit more about that and, well, I decided to share it on the website here.
So here is my little ran- er, advice about the starting bits on being a writer. Enjoy!

---

When I started with the Burnsbury Project, I had loads of ideas floating about the place but nothing solid. Then I decided to write them down. What it was about, who the protagonist was, how he knew the other people, that sort of thing.

It's always best to start from the beginning. If the protagonist has a main sidekick or friend, it might be an idea to start the story from when they first meet. For example, in Harry Potter, when Harry meets Ron and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express.

But that can be contradicted. it can work well if they have known each other for a long time. For example, Del boy and Rodney from Only Fools and Horses are brothers, so they don't really need an introduction because they are all ready quite comfortable with each other.

This will add a sense of empathy. People will look at these characters and think (on a very basic level), "Oh, I've met my best friend for the very first time at school" or "I'm just like that with my brother/sister"

I'm stressing the importance of empathy because you will be writing about space aliens with no mouths and horns. A lot of people will find that far-fetched. They would also find the concept of a talking dog and mouse as far-fetched. It's their humanity and their harmony to the human world that makes them that much more believable. He might have floppy ears, but Steve has the personality of a under privilaged pub goer who takes everything in his stride (mainly because everything confuses him).

Also, with aliens, it's natural to have a very clever character. That is why there is usually a somewhat thicker character. He or she will ask all the questions the audience would ask when the clever character says something... er... clever. For example, Rose and the Doctor, Fry and Lela or even, Steve & Bob! :P

But less of the character development!

Back to actually getting this on paper.

You have ideas for stories. Fantastic! Write them down! Personally I'm very organised with my work. I have a note pad for strips, I use the back for ideas, a sketchpad for strips, a scanner for scanning and so on and so forth.

Grab the big ideas and write them down as priorities or main chapter objectives. Like Harry Potter for example...

1. The Boy Who Lived.
Introduction/teaser. Explains what are wizards, what are Muggles, what is a Voldermort, what is Harry Potter, what will happen next

2. The Vanishing Glass.
Harry's life from the Dursleys

3. The Letters from No One.
Teasers of Harry's heritage, is he a wizard? Hiding the truth.

4. Keeper of Keys.
Harry's supposed to be a wizard, the wizard world, the brown bag/philosophers stone

And so on and so forth.

Then, once you've got the objective over with, you can start adding details. The little things.

You'll note that the Introduction doesn't have the full history. Keep in mind that this is a story and not a history lesson. JK Rowling uses the history as a teaser, to keep you reading for more. Sort of like that Doctor Who episode, it starts of with lasers blazing in the TARDIS, The Doctor tells Martha he has to do something drastic. Just when he's about to to us what is going on, it cuts to the main story. Even in Romeo and Juliet, the announcer tells of a story of a woeful story.

It's a huge tease!

It'll make history lessons less tedious. I'm noting this because when my sister wrote her novel, she wrote the history of Japan in the first chapter. I had to remind her that this isn't an essay. It's a novel. Something people will sit down and enjoy. Sure, it shows how clever you are, but if you hint that you know the entire history of your characters world and tease the audience with bits and pieces of information, then you're really clever.

It takes a great amount of skill not to reveal any spoilers.

Trust me.

I want to tell you what is in that temple in S&B, why Witness Protection was an important chapter and who that bear was that ran into the temple, but I can't. Nevermind the big questions like the relevance of the diamonds, Bob's obsession, Steve's connection and D.I. Garfield's plans.

And before you say anything, yes, I do know all these answers! Cheeky monkey.

That's it for now.

Phew!

Rant over! Until I feel the urge to rant some more.

What a strange day.
It was afternoon, it was quite a quiet period and the sun was peeking out. As we looked towards the exit, we saw a couple of men laughing with security. Sales men. I could smell them a mile off. It is highly unprofessional to encourage sales men when you are, well, a sales man in your work place, but, meh.
One of them came over and said, "Would any of you like some free razor blades?"
Well, he said the magic word, 'free' so I was well up for it. I signed his form with my number and signature and they gave me a swanky new shaver with five, that's right, FIVE blades! Four at the front, one at the side and free all over the place. Lovely.
After a few minutes basking in the glory of my new razor blades, I got called to the manager's office. I suspected nothing dubious. If anything I was looking forward to this.
A few days ago, I had an interview to be transferred to the comics department. I'm not sure why, but this department does call to me somewhat. This was my second attempt at getting into this department. The first attempt, well, I didn't know that much about comics. That spurred me somewhat to learn more about it.
So I did my research. I read graphic novels like Kingdom Come, The Boys, The Goon, Red Son, Civil War and The Zombies Ate my Chilean (pah, worth a shot). In fact my interviewer was quite impressed with the volume of comics I had read and the knowledge I had accumulated.
So, I walked into the office, half hoping this would work to my favour.
It didn't. I didn't get the job.
BLUB!
They were very impressed with what I knew and how much I had progressed, but it seems they were looking for more of a processing type person for the comic's job.
BLUB!
Now, on reflection, I'm not sure these razor blades were a good omen.
Hrmph!
On the plus side, my Gallade is levelling up quite well…
Every cloud and all that...

Yes, I am fanatical. I did grab myself a copy of Pokémon Ranger. Basically, instead of catching monsters and wielding them to your own will, you draw circles around them and then set them free. You patrol villages and help old ladies with cats up trees.
Yes, it was riveting.
Why did I bother with this game? For Manaphy of course, a very rare monster. Luckily for me the game did pick up after a while and I started enjoying it. Now I've unlocked the game and got the egg (with Manaphy in it) I can transfer it… as long as I have another DS.
GARGH!
Fright, from gaming nerd news to comic nerd news, I saw the Silver Surfer film. Working in Forbidden Planet, I've heard from many people saying it was dire so naturally I expected the worst.
After I got over the initial badness of it, I actually quite enjoyed it. More so then Spidey 3. The Silver Surfer was a very good character and it had a good twist in the end. Biggest down side was, well, in the words of Marjorie Dawes, "Dust? Anyone? No?"
I've recovered from my illness from Saturday (hooray!) and am ready to rock the mic, watch us rock the mic, well, you get the gist.
God, I can't believe I quoted Ant and Dec…

As the suffocating stench of Edmonton engulfed me and I gagged desperately to regain some oxygen into my lungs, we walked steadily to the hospital. For some reason, pollution and heat and cars don't really bode that well for me.
Anyway, to the point, today I went to the hospital to get a blood test. At this point, a knot of anxiety would build up at the prospect of being stabbed by a needle. If anything could keep off the drugs, it's the abject fear of needles. When I was little and was naughty, my mother would threaten me with a pin. It scared the living daylights out of me. I was only twenty-three.
Bad jokes aside, it didn't strike me odd that I wasn't feeling nervous about the whole experience. Maybe I should have been.
They called my number out and I went in a small cubical with a smiling nurse. I sat down and couldn't help noticing how much this woman was smiling at me. Look down. Look up. Still smiling.
After wrapping a elastic do-dad to my arm, she told me to make a fist and she leaned forward. Leaning forward a lot. Well, let's just say the difference between men and women in the upper body area was resting on my clenched fist.
"Do you mind if I put these tubes here?" Being polite I said, "Not at all." Then I thought, surely there's not need to put them on my lap...
"Have you had a blood test before?"
"Yes."
"What was it like?"
"Quick."
After that I tried not to run out, grabbed my stuff and left. The entire thing was very uncomfortable, but it made my Mum laugh never the less and it made for a good story.
I feel bad now saying all this. I don't mean to turn all Jo like, but I like to be direct when I'm being cold. Don't get me wrong, I'm no oil painting (I'm barely a charcoal sketch) and it's very flattering being flirted with, but I'd rather not have some strange looking woman drape her baps all over me. I believe in being professional. No, not like that, oh great I'm digging a bigger hole now...

Lanky slob! There I was, sitting on the train, bag on floor, coat off and portfolio resting against the seat and there was this guy sitting opposite me, stuffing his face with sweets and throwing the wrappings on the floor!
Ooh the cheek!
I had a right mind to go up to him and give him a right royal biffing, but then someone would have stolen my seat and then I'd have to give that little old lady a biffing too.
That, of course, is a joke.
I know they don't have any money.
This was my day off and I was on the train going to work. What on earth is going on? Have the clocks gone backwards? The swines! No, none of that as it was one of my boss's birthday! Yeay!
Karli Jackson celebrated her fifty-second birthday yesterday! Okay, not fifty-two. Not yet. She had an assortment of prezzies from a Super Mario Goomba toy, Super Mario figures, Super Mario Kart toy, a Super Mario card and a Super Mario Power Up Mushroom Cake!
Yes, you guessed it, she's a huge Sonic fan!
After a few funny tannoy shouts, we all went to the pub, had a sit down and had a bit of a laugh. This pub was being closed down and turning into something new (probably a Chinese) the next day so we were cursing constantly that we forgot out baseball bats.
A good time was had by all and there was some real bonding going on. Except for the people who got questions wrong on the Monopoly games machine there. It was fantastic seeing everyone have such a good time and I wish Karli a fantastic week off.
Week off? WEEK OFF?! Jammy sod!
Take care Karli and enjoy playing Cooking Mama!

I'd planned on changing the entire style of this page, to make it rather obvious that this isn't your usual host, but damn this coding... Once again Lupus has taken your favourite webcomic's homepage for a little spin. What? No, not Penny Arcade.

Well, sort of. As it stands I've been quite literally begged to update this site with something, whilst our host is feverishly knocking out artistic masterpieces starring the familiar animal cast, and since I have this week off work, and nothing to occupy my time, I've left it until 2am to wade through this page's terrible coding and foist my own problems unto you.

For you see, gentle Reader, I'm an avid participant of this little game called World of Warcraft. You may have heard of it, maybe you know someone who plays it. Be kind to them, be pleasant, for the game is liable to break a man's spirit in twain. This has almost happened to me. As it transpires, the guild of which I was a long-time member, has decided to remove me. Reasons? Well, insofar as I can uncover, chief amongst these is the Guild's Leader, who I shall not name and shame, simply doesn't like me. It would seem I'm unruly, type too much random nonsense in the Guild's chat, and am not forgiven for a moment's lapse in decency when angered and tired at 4am with roughly three other people present to witness said transgression, which was in fact all healed over in the next five minutes. Oh, and I'm so good at my role I'm apparently eligible to be punished for things I've already BEEN punished for! not that I'm bitter or anything, but it's now dawned on me that being in that guild was the biggest reason for my continued presence in the game whatsoever, lending real credence to the opinion that the game is just like MSN Messenger with monsters.

Of course, the other factor to consider is simply this; I need something to occupy myself with. I've never had much of a social life even before the proliferation of the World Wide Web, preferring instead to stay in reading a great many books, playing early console games, or paying homage to the glowing box in the corner, the one with all those people trapped inside acting out plays for our amusement. 'tis a truly magical device, and how DO those tiny shrunken people live? I've never once fed them. And how they squeeze themselves into those yet-smaller flat screen monitors... devilry!

Anyway, tangents aside, I'm faced with a particularly troublesome crossroads; Do I continue to pay for access to a game in which a good deal of the content is now inaccessible to me, or do I strive to find new ways to fill the voids inhabited by my short attention span? And yes, I really do have precious little else to worry about in my life. Of course, I could see this as a great opportunity to get myself into better shape, a feat I've pondered for many a moon. Indeed, I could instead use this time to steady my resolve and FINALLY get cracking on my own story slash novella slash possible webcomic if I ever become consistent in my sketching or indeed, anything to DO with said storyline. I think the time will soon be nigh regardless of whether I choose to hasten it or nay; ideas for tangents, 'fillers' if you will, have begun to trickle from the mounts up high, the personalities of the characters, or at least the non-human ones, have begun to emerge from the nebulous fog of randomness, and all I wait for now is the Dreaming.

The Dreaming, you see, is how I get some of my more outlandish ideas. For obvious reasons, ideas in the Waking world are rooted in realism, but the Dreaming world has no such limitations. Just in case you never dream, or have one of those boring repetitive jobs that mean you dream about performing those same tasks ad infinitum, or play too many FPS's and can think of only running along endless corridors opening countless doors; You can liken the Dreaming to episodes of Monty Python, one element of a sketch being expanded to feature in the next, though every other feature is completely different. I'm sure they coined a term for this, something with Consciousness and Stream or things akin. And now for another page break.

Welcome back! While you were gone I flitted into iTunes and put on a lovely little number, named "Burning Angel" by a band called Arch Enemy. I do so hope you buy the album it's contained on, "Wages of Sin". I mention this particular track because it gave me one of the most enduring ideas for my Story, that of resonance. The crux of the matter is, the species my main character belongs to (not human, I can't draw them) has the innate ability to become so emotionally charged by music that they undergo physical changes, making them faster and stronger. Imagine in the epic fight scenes of many Hollywood blockbusters, the pounding drumbeat, the blazing guitars, and the relentless flurry of blows being rained down onscreen. And when the music stops, the action ends and our hero is victorious. Sure, it's not an original idea, but there are so few left nowadays our only hope is to perfect the ones we have. But that one is MY idea, you can't use it. Alright? Alright.

Hm, I don't think anybody barring the most hardened and voracious Reader, of the dedicated dictionary-thumper, will have made it this far so I'll bid you all goodnight. Or good morning. Oh, and if a green cloven-hoofed alien with no mouth visits YOUR dreams instead, email me and tell me what he said. And if it's a lucid dream, tell him he's got the wrong head.

Yep, it's that time of the year again. I've been working on a re-modelled version on the site. Again.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very, very proud of the way the site looks at the moment. It's very quick at loading, has random quotes and the chapter flash thingie works really well, but there is one thing that does bug me about it.
I can't put strips on the main page.
So the new look site now definitely has this feature but with added swish. "Did he really use the word 'Swish' just then?" I hear you cry. Yes. In order to make the site look more appealing and arty, it is going through a dramatic makeover. Even the chapter selection thing is going to change to look more arty-farty.
Progress is good, the basic structure is nearly complete and one of the skins is pretty much complete, but brace yourselves. I could change it anytime.
And rest assured, it will look very nice. Let this link sustain you...

Yes, hello, it's me again. How are you? Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, do you know when it'll clear up? Well that's what happens when you don't use protection, isn't it? Remember, always do it standing up.

Enough about you, more about the site. Yes, woo, look! Different! Steve & Bob has officially had a face lift. Not the characters, the website. God forbid I release another strip.*
This has taken up a lot of time and has been really, REALLY hard work but this is working now and this seems like a good time to reveal everything.
We have a re-jigged curvy volume, a new layout for the Newsie Bits, a new navigation system (including a mini one at the bottom of the page), and a rather posh looking Random Quotes and affiliates section.
New features are the Random comic strips, four skins (giggles) and a Shout Box.
Phew!
I hope you like the new look. You can officially leave feedback in the Shout Box! I really like it and I hope you like it too! You can see the original site layout here and the sketched plans for this website here.
Cheers!

* Joke, joke, joke!!! Honest!

I couldn't help telling, well, everyone I know about the site's new re-fit. So I put up a notice in the staff room about it. Click on the small picture on the left to see an expanded version, but if you don't mind having it spoilt for you, here it is…
"Alone…?
Need some company on those lonely nights? Do you have the Internet? Your salvation is here!
www.stevebob.com
Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Ooh yes!
The best webcomic on the, er, web has had a huge makeover! It looks dead posh and that! With over 500 strips, it's guaranteed to keep you up allllll night!
Aww yeah!
The New Site, www.stevebob.com"
Sad as it may seem, writing that was the highlight of my day.
Well, that and our new telly.
I arrived home today to find our usual telly has been replaced by a 42 inch screen telly! I spluttered profusely! It turns out that we had only won a ruddy raffle and this telly is actually worth more then a few quid.
I knew today was going to be a strange one.
Oh! And I fell over on the stairs at work today. It was hilarious, I completely fell over! It was flipping hilarious, I must have been sitting there laughing like an idiot for about ten minutes. As I was climbing the remainder of the stairs, I was saying to myself, "Must remember, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other…"

Yesterday was Ron's leaving doo. Ron has been working in FP since the shop opened and now he's going to enjoy a long relaxing retirement. Well, I say that, I can't imagine him sitting down for too long. Although I can imagine him enjoying the bottle of plonk that was contributed by everyone working in the shop that day.
It was very strange the day after he left work. I walked by the security desk and I didn't get a cheerful "Hello matey!" or get leaped upon with a big, "MUH!" It's going to be very different without him (especially considering the reign of terror he held against so many of the thieves we have had).
It was funny seeing all the old photos some of the older members of staff brought in. It's strange seeing everyone had hair back then! Needless to say Ron looked as mischievous as ever!
To celebrate his big send off, he hired a big boat for his leaving doo. You can't get much more special then that really! Pretty much everyone from work was there as we all laughed, joked and danced the night away.
Here are a bunch of photos from the doo but for more, you can see them here. Enjoy!

A slightly unconventional week, I must admit.
Tuesday saw me doing a stock take for the shop which is something I've not done before. Basically we had to count all the Graphic Novels when the shop closed. We stayed until about eleven but luckily enough, there were loads and loads of cakes and sweets, so I was well chuffed. I was also running on sugar alone so I felt both buzzing and wearing by the end of the night. Cheers to Andy for all the laughs, bingo calls and humouring me when I was showing him the inked chapter 27.
Wednesday was my day off (luckily enough) and I was looking forward to a nice lie in but I forgot about my sister's childminding. And then there was her using the hair dryer outside my room. Urg. Later I went to see an old friend, talked about 42 inch tellies, moving to Birmingham and adultery. Then we saw the amazing Simon Pegg in 'Run Fat Boy, Run!' ate ice cream and chatted some more.
Yesterday was Anthony's leaving doo. Being the Head of Comics, it was a very big doo and everyone from work was there to wish him good luck. The pub was a bit crowded what with a rugby match on the tellies, but everyone was very jolly. It was good hanging around friends in a relaxed environment and just chatting about normal things. It was really sad seeing Ant going. He's helped out so many people without a second thought for himself and this other company is getting a very committed man.
Relieved as I was about getting home early yesterday, I planned on going to bed early too. The pervious nights were taking their toll and I insisted on a good night's sleep.
A good sleep is something I definitely had. As I woke up to a bang from the front door, I was wondering why people were leaving the house so early in the morning. A creeping sense of dread filled me. I checked my watch. It was 9:25am. I was due in work at 10:00am.
AAAAARGH!!!
Jumping out of bed, I put my clothes on, grabbed my bag and ran out. Didn't have time for breakfast or a shower, there wasn't time. I honestly didn't know I could be THAT motivated in the morning! Ironically, it's probably got to do with having a nice, long sleep!
I got to work quite late but everyone was very understanding (especially since I called before hand to let people know) and spent the day telling the story to anyone who would listen.
So, that for me is hectic. I know what you're thinking, no strip news. Well, I have actually been working on that tonight and I will reveal the news when it becomes official. Honest! But trust me, it's good news...

My advice to anyone is to hesitate before doing a System Recovery. Man, that's been the most stressful experience! Not being able to check e-mails, check myspace or do my strips is quite strange!
After many tantrums, a lot of patience and urging the loading bar to move faster, everything seems to be back on track. THANKFULLY!
Also, I have one more strip to ink before the chapter's finished. The inking process is loads more in-depth in this chapter then any other. There's so much detail for Steve and Radox's journey through this huge temple and there are only so many phallic symbols I can draw!
In other news, we had a big signing in the shop on Saturday. Terry Pratchett started signing at one in the afternoon and finished at seven o'clock! He said it was the longest signing he's ever done and I'm not remotely surprised! The queue reached from behind the shop, round one corner, round another and almost outside the front doors! All the people were so enthusiastic and it was so good to see Terry working so hard to make all this fans so happy! There was even tears of joy from one person at one point!
It's things like that which make going to work a lot easier. Sure, it's easy to be cynical and it was definitely exhausting, but it was also so nice to see so many people so happy to meet the main man! My deepest feelings go to his hand though; by Joe it must have been sore!
Aside from that, everything else is dandy. The computer is back to it's normal, bleeping self and I'm enjoying a relaxing two days off work. Now to look forward to my week off work next week!

Things have been going well lately. I've met this guy whose artwork is amazing, I went to another leaving doo the other night (so long Jimi! Gercha!) and the strips have getting finished one after the other.
Yes, I've found motivation for finishing them off now in the form of yet another Webcomic Convention! This'll be happening next year, but I'm determined to be prepared this time round, and to help with this determination, I'm going to be finishing this chapter, really, really soon.
Really soon!
But there is a snag.
While the motivation to finish them has reached it's peak, something has hindered me. My computer's inability to stay on for longer then ten minutes.
My computer has been crashing a lot. When it crashed more then fifteen times in one day, I knew it was time to get it fixed. Thus the bulletin. I'm not going to be having a computer for a week.
Hopefully this will resolve some long lasting questions such as why don't games work on my machine without it crashing? Why don't anti-virus programs work without crashing? Why can't I kick the machine without it crashing?
So if I don't send you messages via e-mail, MSN, myspace or shoutbox, you'll know why but if I do, be afraid. Be very afraid!
I'll end on a cheery note though, Jimi's leaving doo was fantastic! And it was great to see everyone there and I truly mean everyone! Even people who left FP were there! Take care Jimi and good luck with all the smut.

Howdy guys. Man that was horrible. I've done the whole system recovery thingy on the computer and it's still coming up with the same old errors.
Gah!
A friend suggested just pouring liquid nitrogen on it.
I'm sorely temped.
Anyway, Hi gang! I'm back and in control of my website again! Woo!
Firstly I have to say that after my week long holiday, I have now finished eleven of the thirty six strips for Chapter 27! Okay, I had planned to finish the lot, but progress is progress, no matter how slow and if I keep do a little bit everyday, it'll get finished. Although hopefully I'll get to do a lot everyday!
It was great seeing everyone at work again. My friends there are the best part of the job, they are all fantastic. Even the rubbish ones. I told all of my non-stories of walking into a door in pitch darkness and damaging my big toe. Then relished the squeals as I described taking off my sock and seeing a big bruise on my bit toe, with a cut of skin flapping about.
Who's a sadist? I don't even know what a sadist is…
Everything does seem to be coming together nicely. It is getting together very, very slowly, but it's getting there one piece at a time…
Anyway, how are you? Post in my Shoutbox will ya? It'd be nice to hear from readers!

What a strange day. After spending the entire night trying with all my might to go to sleep, I simply couldn't do it. Apparently waking up when my alarm went off, I was sorely tempted to try and sleep for the rest of the day.
Needless to say, I was ill.
After debating whether I should phone in sick or not (A complete inability to get out of bed was a good enough reason I thought at the time), I decided against it and got ready.
Strange really, arriving at work, the first thing I'm told is that I have an interview for a job opening in the Merchandise department. Head spinning and heart beating with anxiety, I walked to the staff room. The SECOND thing I'm told is that it's happening at two o'clock.
Now my headache is at full pelt. I spent the morning keeping active. Putting stuff out, pulling stuff forward, putting out returns, anything and everything to keep my mind from, well, anything. Considering I was at the hospital yesterday to check out a suspicious lump under my jaw, my anxiety was already quite high.
Just keep busy, keep busy…
After a fellow friend had finished his interview, I went down a minute to two and was quite relieved. The interviewers were people I've worked with or have known since day one (one of which hired me in the first place). The only flaw was that I kept knocking stacks of paper on the floor! Damn swivel chairs and their wheels of doom!
The interview went well. I was enthusiastic (I don't know where that comes from, but I always am at interviews), knowledgeable (stop laughing) and talked about chocolate quite a lot (I used to work in a chocolate shop so it's not THAT random).
Later on in the day during my lunch, The Head of Merch called me into the office with the Manager. I closed the door and sat down.
"We would like to offer you the job."
Woo-****ing-hoo! Oh the sheer luck! Considering the last time it took about a month before someone was announced to have moved departments, WITHIN A DAY was pretty damn special!
Being the constant worrier that I am, I couldn't help thinking of my friend who didn't get the job. I tried to be reassuring, but I'm terrible at that and probably looked like I was rubbing it in. Which I wasn't. Urg.
But I'll stay positive. I got the job! I didn't take a picture of myself getting the job, but I have taken a picture of me talking to a banana, so, enjoy!

Just so you know, I've now finished fifteen strips so far. My days off are now dedicated to finishing off strips one at a time. One in particular was very difficult as it contains a wall with a pivotal wall pattern. Let's just say Alfie would be ecstatic if he came across it as it does have some religious significance.
Saying that, I feel like I should say this isn't a religious comic. Since this temple is ancient, there is going to be a lot of old stuff in there, and since Christianity was a big part of history, this wall with an elaborate cross on it is just to give some background to the workers and people of the time. As well as the master of the temple.
Anyone who has translated the name of the temple will know exactly what the temple's true intentions is...
I apologise for being so vague, but it's necessary. I can say that there are also a lot of long strips in this chapter. Anyone who has read the recent chapter will get an idea of what I mean by long. But imagine it longer, in colour and there being 36 strips instead of 10.
Thus the slow progress.
I must admit, I am happy with the way it's turning out (everything does look very dusty and old) so gimme time and it will all be done soon.
Then I can start working on this exhibition.
Man, it's all go, isn't it?!

Forbidden Planet has many perks. The friends you get to work with, the constant conveyer belt of toys that gets released and the signings.

Today had a big signing.

And I mean Huge.

Enormous.

Like, girls were queuing up since yesterday to see a man about a signing. That's what happens when a rock star writes a comic book.

For those of you not in the know, who don't like skulking in the shadows and write about how chalk makes you sad, Gerard Way is the handsome singer of a band called My Chemical Romance which also features Mikey Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro (wicked surname, I might nick that) and Bob Bryar. He's written a comic called The Umbrella Academy (one girl threw a disgusted look at me when I said that I thought it was written by Rihanna, but luckily, her boyfriend laughed).

It wasn't so much of an exhausting day as it was sheerly bizarre. Girls actually came up to me and just burst into tears! Randomly! These were the girls that couldn't get to meet the guy in person. I did feel sorry for them (so many of them have travelled miles and miles just to meet him) but being a lowly cashier, I really had no power what so ever to let them sneek into the queue.

It came to the point where marauding crowds of girls where creeping up to me, all asking the same question when security said they were closing the shop until the signing!

Blimey!

It was strange to have the shop so devoid of customers without a power cut. But we waited diligently, with our promotional Umbrella Academy t-shirts on and finally saw the first few girls running to the tills, tears streaming down their faces and completely incoherent with tears and breathlessness.

As a person who hasn't really heard any of their songs or know that much about them, I couldn't help feel a surge of adrenaline and feel the excitement of the girls who had just met the guy they had been waiting for for the past, well, 20 hours in some cases.

There were a variety of girls. Some who were just breathless. Some whose hands were trembling and knees like jelly. Some with mascara down their faces. Some with the logos from the comics and the band drawn on their faces. Some with rather vacant and bemused Luna Lovegood-esque expressions. And several rather relieved Dads!

It made me wonder, who would I go crazy for like that? I'm not trying to sound cool or cynical but I'm not sure there are many people I would go crazy for. There's always my friends who I totally love and adore. Possibly JK Rowling or Simon Pegg. Maybe some of the guys from Red Dwarf (mainly because I grew up with that show). I'm also thinking maybe Rik and Ade from Bottom but I'd also like to think that I'd be more comfortable getting them a pint while trying to convince Ade to be the voice of Bob in any future animations…

When the signing finished, the boys had a meander around the shop. I was just relieved of my duties and was waiting to leave the shop (as I had a craving for a sausage sandwich). Just seeing the boys meander around the shop looking at awe at all the toys made me think quite simply, "They're just boys! Completely normal boys! They get as excited at some of the toys in our store as I do. Certainly they are more handsome, more talented and have a lot more money, but they are just normal, fleshy, nerdy boys. Nothing God-like or divine about them."

I sort of feel ashamed for thinking that I would got that mad over some people like those girls after that because, well, they are just people. But I suppose it's nice to have your idols. Whether it's something to aspire to, someone you admire or (in many cases with the girls today) someone you fancy the pants off! Emo girls often get a bad rap for being dowdy and depressed but it is refreshing to see that there is that level of excitement and enthusiasm out there. It shows that no matter what click you're in, our ambitions are what drives us and makes us go crazy.

And it's always good to let go and go a bit crazy every so often!