MY BETTER HALF...

This woman is cleverer, funnier and stronger than I am. So she can certainly kick YOUR ass...

LEAST ACTION HERO...

So many deadlines and dinosaur incursions, so little time...

JOURNEYMAN...

Lay back and think of the air-miles I'm earning...

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Archive for November 2008

Still sleeping more than usual and grabbing forty winks as and when I can (I think there may have been fifty WINKS today, but the exchange rate fluctuates a bit). The legs feel a lot better and only the general fatigue and neck-ache makes me feel yucky. So, all things considered, doing remarkably well. Go, me.

Except. PC World. Yes, true believer, the company only mildly less annoying than a haemorrhage are back to their normal level of ineptitude. When I got this new laptop I took out their extended warranty for which I pay the pricely sum of £7.99 a month. Only today I got a letter saying I wasn't covered because payment had been refused by my bank. I called the bank and they confirmed that a payment had been disallowed, but not by THEM, actually by PC World itself not allowing it to go through. I call PC World and they tell me they don't why it's happened but they need all my info again. I explain that I'm in bed, just out of hospital and don't know where my wallet and credit card details are - but surely they have that info from the original agreement which is less than two months old (and I can answer any security questions they want). But, no. They don't have the credit card number any more because they've CANCELLED my warranty because the payment didn't go through and I'll need to set it up again. Can't they liaise with the department that has the paperwork? No. I'D have to send a letter to that department authorising them to give the other department the info. Or wait until I can find my credit card in the next few days... and not be covered until I do.

Just checking... it was ME who had the brain malfunction, wasn't it?

I've been able to lessen the pain-killers dosage and also walk about a bit, so I'm happy with my progress, even if I still ache. My friend Dina put me onto Diclofenac diethylammonium, but I prefer to refer to it by its brand name which is Voltarol (mainly because I think it sounds like a cool Transformer), It's an anti-inflammatory cream which has really helped with the damage to my sciatic nerve. Add to the dose a couple of basic paracetamol and I'm doing fine-ish.

Also I got a funny card and best wishes from another colleague, Johnny Messias which raised a smile. But the big surprise was a bunch of flowers and a pizza delivery organised by Mark Millar and the lovely people at Millarworld. But this wasn't your ordinary pizza... oh no, this was from the Gourmet CHOCOLATE Pizza company. ( http://www.gourmetchocolatepizza.co.uk/) Slices of crisp, crunchy and just delicious choccy goodness in a pizza box. Almost puts jaffa cakes to shame. Oh, yes.

Thanks, guys. Wish I was with you for the Dublin Comic-Con this weekend, but I'll raise a slice and think of you!

Despite me being off ill for the last two weeks, the latest issue of Impact got off to the printers approximately on time. I'd done most of my existing work prior to Hallowe'en and the only articles I couldn't provide were Thought Bubble coverage and the Leverage piece - both of which will now feature in #205.

The unconventional but stylish cover was a bit of a battle to keep but I think it will work well with genre fans. I generally think Impact needs to tilt to a more older audience and this Watchmen cover actually asks an important question rather than just cut and pastes existing studio images. I think audiences respond to a magazine's efforts to engage debate and be controversial (and Alan Moore is certainly that), so I guess the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, but I hope enough fans pick it up to prove my point to the publishers that we shouldn't just do the easiest, most basic designs.

Credit must go to Neal Molyneaux, Mike Leeder, Kerry Glover, Big John Bierly and Dina Burgess for stepping up to the plate in my absence and helping out in the past two weeks, giving me some breathing space before plunging (plummetting?) into some light work for #205, probably next week.

Anyway, please buy or order Impact #204 (out in about ten days time in the UK ) if you can... (clicketh this link to the official website). You won't regret it.

A week on and the headaches are fading and the pain in my legs is starting to subside a bit (as little as 72hrs ago I could barely get out of bed). However I'm making good progress on my complete West Wing box-set and have given myself over to Jaffa Cakes as the recovery food of choice. I'm also getting to the point where I can type more and start putting together some material for Impact, though I won't physically be going into the office for a while yet.

I've been watching with sadness the wildfires consuming parts of Los Angeles (most of the people I know seem to be sufficently away from the flames for now) and have fallen asleep several times while watching various news-channels (Bill O'Reilly seems particularly effective at helping me with that). I haven't been out of the house in a week and barely out of the room - and I'm slowly going stir crazy, though I'd rather be sensible now than put back the full recovery.

But I did miss the Thought Bubble event at which I was supposed to present a panel and that's damned annoying. I hear it went very well, so congrats to all involved. There'll be a piece by Sabrina Peyton in a forthcoming issue of Impact rather than the one I was originally to write myself. Despite all the chaos, this latest issue apparently looks great.

Okay, time for the daily drugs, drink and jaffa cakes and then sleep. So... not ALL bad then.

Quick update: The headaches have lessened quite a bit, but I'm still having major problems with balance and walking and the whole legs 'not really working the way they're supposed to' thing. The mind is firing on all cylinders, but the body feels like it's taken a beating. Which I guess is exactly what's happened.

It seems that it's most likley that the convulsions last weekend threw something out in my back or trapped a nerve. Didn't notice it at first as the head hurts were the most pressing pressure, but this whole agony thing isn't half what it's cracked up to be.

Takes all the fun out of resting.

I think it was Mark Twain who said “Rumours of my death have been greatly exagge…wait, George Michael? What the heck are you doing in my living room?”

So. Deep breath. Breathe In. Breathe Out. Repeat.

Ignore the half-skulled man in the previous Hallowe'en post below from October 31st. The following day, November 1st, was one of the most f*cking scary moments in my entire life - and remember, I’m a guy who has so far lived through being nearly fatally poisoned, shot, threatened and interviewing Britney Spears.

Let me be blunt: last weekend there were several hours when I literally thought I was going to die (and if you believe everything on Wikipedia, I probably should have). Late Saturday afternoon, I suddenly got a headache that within a few seconds I knew wasn’t JUST a headache. Not even a migraine. Fortunately, I knew my parents weren’t far away and called them - explaining I thought I needed help and if they arrived to find me unconscious (a real possibility) they should call the paramedics. Within an hour, and amidst bouts of pain and vomiting, the ambulance got me to the hospital. Amazingly fast tests were done (God, I love the NHS!) and I was admitted to a ward. The following day I had a further scan (and angiogram) which confirmed I’d had a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage and there were ongoing discussions about the severity and the consequences. While the images were analysed etc I was confined to a bed and unable to even turn my head without more intense pain and body spasms. Hell of a weekend.

On Monday I was told that as far as haemorrhages go, I’d effectively been hit head on by a Ford Cortina rather than an Optimus Prime juggernaut. For those who need to know specifics, this was a bleed outside the actual brain, pushing against the skull (if I’d been more like Eli Stone and his George Michael musical ‘visions’, it would have been an aneurism inside the brain itself) and so the essential efforts were sorting out if this was a one-off, an underlying problem or something that required further surgery. After another twenty-four hours it appeared the first situation was the case - that there was no sign of further bleeding and that there appeared to be no rhyme or reason to the event. Layman terms: shit happens and a mixture of luck, cleanISH living and fast enough reactions meant that after some convalescence I should make a full recovery.

Right now, it looks I’m going to be ensconced at my parentals’ house until Christmas (simply as a sensible precaution), limiting my workload to the minimum and working my way through continued severe headaches/dizziness (safe, if nothing to be sneezed at - literally) and hobbling around (due to similar conditions to meningitis, there’s some linked general swelling and stiffness in the shoulders, back and legs) and for this week at least, largely just confined to bed and hellish Daytime TV - though I could watch that Obama acceptance speech over and over again.

It’s annoying I won’t make the Thought Bubble event and panels with Mark Millar that I was due to host next week (Tamsin, Lisa... give 'em hell!) nor quite likely a long-arranged set-visit later in the month, but I KNOW how lucky I am.

Thanks to EVERYONE at the LGI and their Neurology Department for their care; everyone who sent their best wishes - especially the Facebookers and HLWW listers. I’ll be getting back to you all as my sleep and thinking patterns even out. In the meantime, immediate thanks to Kerry - who knew the real dangers all too well - for immediately jumping in to organise Impact material, Jilly for her sense of humour and Carmel for getting the word out. Thanks to Big Mike, Dina et al for the speedy texts.

And, of course, thanks beyond the telling of it to my mum and dad for just... being there.
You’ll understand, I may not be posting quite as much for a while. But I’ll be around.



So. Breathe In. Breathe Out. Repeat.

I haven't been out for drinks with local friends in quite a while, so when Sabrina Peyton (who I know through Millarworld and Thought Bubble) mentioned a Hallowe'en party at the FAB Cafe in Leeds I decided I might as well let my hair down (while I still can) and even get into the fancy-dress side of it.

One thing I love about Americans is the enthusiastic way that they throw themselves into the holiday spirit. I've always been a bit envious about the fun and gusto that people like Kerry have put into their own costumes and fear-stivities. Hallowe-en in the UK has often been soley for the kiddies and even having said that, nowadays parents are less likley to let their kids knock on strange doors for candy. However there were a lot of adults dressed up for the occasion in Leeds City Centre and my self-applied half-skull face (80p kiddies make-up kit used to best effect proving cheap is cheerful) didn't seem too shabby.

Sabrina got dressed up as Hellboy's Liz Sherman (or was it a fully-armoured Sarah Palin?), Tasmin Isles was a garotted Marie Antionette and Lisa Wood was a bloodied widow (who knew these quiet, unassuming individuals could be so scary? Well, me, actually.). The Travelling Man's comic shop owner Nabil had a bullet-in-the-head, but thankfully no serious injury.

Spent some time at Travelling Man discussing the forthcoming Thought Bubble event, setting the world to rights etc before heading to the FAB Cafe, where alcohol was imbibed, snacks were snacked upon and Superman was dancing with a pumpkin, Torquemada was chatting with the Ghostbusters' Slimer and Sweeney Todd was serving a round of drinks to The Joker. So, pretty much your average night out in Leeds.
Enjoyed a few Coronas, thought didn't get out of my 'skull'...but it was a fun night out and good practise for the TB event in a couple of weeks!