And Then The Storm Passed.

All's quieting down again at work, and it was about time. I put in two hours of overtime the past two days, which doesn't sound like a big deal except most of that was on Monday and I have to commute across the country to get home, so, despite the Daylights Savings Time (which started here in the Netherlands last Sunday), I managed to get home at the dark time of the evening, again. Yay me. And yesterday I was just too damn tired to do anything anymore when I got home, so I'll just say it here: No Progress On The 'The Grim DotCom' Storyboards. Alright ? Ok.

Might try my hand at them again tonight - I did manage to map out a revised version of the storyline-red-thread for the next 20 episodes or so, so at least I have, per episode, a section of the story to work with. Now for each page itself, with its own wit, pacing and punchline. Ugh. Annnnd of course I have to somehow pull at least one of these unwritten episodes, drawn, edited, lettered and coloured, out of my ass before Sunday if I want to preserve the 2 week backstash that I currently have. I weep and nostalgically remember having had half a year's worth, at some point. I need to get my hands free for a while and kick this comic block out the door. Don't give up on me folks, I'm still ahead of the deadlines (after all, there's still fresh episodes appearing right on time) and I'll rebuild my backstash yet.

I happened upon a few new ideas for Worst Case Scenario that I found intriguing - let's just say they have something to do with finishing reading the Franz Kafka book 'The Metamorphosis' (although I read a Dutch, not an English translation). I'm gonna try and hit the library sometime this week to see if I can find more Kafka books, because I kinda found a pattern that I very willingly mocked. WCS is such a versatile concept. It's great, really.

Tomorrow the Matrix: Revolutions DVD comes out. Also, 'my' bar Cul de Sac celebrates its 5th birthday. Why do these things always happen in months where I have less money to spend ??? Ahwell. I'll work it out by not spending anything anymore on food, toiletries, clothes, and other stuff I really don't need *smirks*.

Sionnain seems to have settled in ok-ishly at her 'new' place so far. I'm glad to see there's at least some stability there now - not just from a friend's point of view, but also because she was making good progress on some of her comics and I can't wait to see what she's going to surprise all of us with.

And finally - it's been ridiculously nice weather here. Like it's July. And I have to spend all that time indoors, with computers and servers and web-applications. Where did I go wrong in life ?
Thank god for smoking. All smokers are banned out of the building so we go sit outside in the sun and celebrate our little habit. Life can be really good sometimes.

Man & Machine: A Match Made In Hell.

Monday morning - well, afternoon by now, but still. All servers and proxies are slow as hell, the web applications produce time-out after time-out, the Internet connection is slow as hell, it's a miracle I'm getting ANY work done, it's bright sunny weather outside and I REALLY DON'T WANT TO BE AT WORK TODAY.
Just thought I'd share that. And if you read any news about server crashes or power outages in our company, I probably snapped. However, before we get to that, I think I'm gonna go outside to smoke for a bit.

Now *THIS* I did want to know.

... I am on the right track, and, after all, five's the ideal number.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Fifth Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very High

Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test

Hhhhhhhhhhhhheadache.

Ouch. Going up half a point on my left eye hurts. Initially the glasses felt wrong and my vision was less clear than with my previous glasses, but I guess they have to get used to glasses that are actually created for my current eyesight. They sort of have to stop working hard to see clearly with my old glasses and let the new glasses do the work for them. It's getting better, but it's definately giving me a headache.
I've also finished a Grim DotCom page I was working on during the week which I'm currently not quite content with. The original idea was overly ambitious considering the format and everything so the end result, though decent looking, kinda irks me because the original drawings look really good - if I say so myself. The resizing left little of that left. It's a shame. I think that, the glasses, and the fact that I'm rather tired, all added up to the headaches I have right now.

The spring hormones are driving me slightly nuts - I have so much work to do and all I see are women on the streets dressed pleasantly to the eye, movies that seem to show nothing but couples doing it... I think I need to turn some evening or weekend soon into one with a little action. It's about time again, too - it's really been too long. Damn the drawing and coding work !
Anyway. I'm off to bed because my head's killing me. Have a friend's birthday tomorrow night and will be busy trying to come up with - and probably drawing - more Grim DotCom pages and probably some Worst Case Scenarios, too, so I kinda doubt I'll be online much tomorrow, let alone post anything. So see ya guys later again. Goodnight.

Damnit - I still have wayyyy too much time left. Apparently.

According to TheSpark.com, I should mark my calendar because I can expect to die on:
July 20, 2044 at the age of 65 years old.
On that date I will most likely die from:
Alcoholism (15%)
Cancer (14%)
Heart Attack (13%)

Alien Abduction (13%)
Homicide (8%)

Horrible Accident (5%)
Loneliness (5%)