¦ dialling in from Sky Bunker¦
19:03 GMT, Sunday 22nd March 2009. "Starfleet" by Datashat is playing by choice. Red lava lamp glowing. A faint glimmer of twilight visible through the gaps in the heavy cardboard I've placed over the glass canopy.
It's been a lovely couple of days away from work.
Yesterday I broke one of my golden rules. I'd taken a trip into town, sitting in a cafe with a paper notebook and pen... but instead of writing, I got down to some work...work. I'm taking a professional qualification next week; a whole week of training and exams; a week away from my projects at a critical time for one of them. So I decided to do a brain dump and map out all the ideas I've got in my head regarding the "Dynamic Video Solution."
On a different track, I've finished the Yellow Dawn supplement "GM Guide to NPC Revenge - Occult and Mythos" and pretty darn pleased with it. Rather than a give-away freebie I've decided to make it available as a pay-per-download through lulu. It's taken several weeks of thought and working through so I think it's a bargain at less than a quid.
Jo vanished for the weekend so after getting back from town, I had the house to myself. I started living between the Sky Bunker and the downstairs lounge (I've resurrected my old PS2 and Prince of Persia). I left the house again around 9pm and met up with GBH, and went to see "The International" for the second time. GBH enjoyed it. Indeed GBH paid me a massive compliment, he said it was like watching a film of one of my books, "In fact, you could have written that David."
No wonder I liked the film so much! *grins*
NOTE TO SELF: don't go to see late night showings of films on Saturdays. Reason: a bunch of chavs stumbled in a few minutes after the film started. One girl kept laughing through the death scenes. And at the end, most of them complained about "not understanding it". No wonder. Grow a fekking brain.
Today I woke up to diffused sunlight streaming in through muslin drapes, reflecting and refracting off the brass bed posts. I decided I'd have a day in the house. A mug of tea sitting in the Room With A View, then upstairs into the darkness of the Sky Bunker. 45 minute Da Vinci sessions followed by 15 minute power snoozes... most of them spent lying on the bed in the room next door, with Lovecraft Audio stories (Re-Animator) playing out loud. The day passed slowly. Several small intensely strong coffee's brewed up in the Octagon Caffeine God. Some time spent sitting outside in the back garden, cool breeze and warm sunlight on my face and bare legs... sitting there with hair sticking up in random tufts, wearing nothing but a T-shirt, thick Norwegian socks and wrapped in my wool cardi called Starsky. I got loads done, including some four pages of extra stuff for Shadows of the Quantinex. I've added it to the current Beta version in progress (Beta 8) but I won't publish it until after the next scheduled Yellow Dawn session as there's bound to be further tweaks and changes following play-testing.
Around 4pm I decided to grab a bath, throw on some clothes and drive down to the harbourside for a long solo walk and some coffee. Instead, a couple minutes into my drive, I pulled into a forested car park that sits alongside the river near my house. The river follows a winding route within a wide but deep gorge, similar in some respects to Jesmond Dene but on a much larger scale. The river route connects Bristol to Bath. You can follow the edge of the river on foot, or by water craft, to the centre of either location. I thought "Sod driving all the way into town, I can take a walk here." I've never actually done this particular spot before, despite living only 300 metres or so away. In the afternoon sunlight I descended down to the river edge and began following the gentle but deep curving route. And discovered a little slice of heaven. It's hard to put into words but there was something move-like about the whole experience. The location, the rich golden light... the steep cliffs rising up over a 100 metres either side, the dense tangle of forest and gnarled, torn-up landscape... I discovered a labyrinth of dry mud tracks leading in random directions, through a landscape that looked as if some giant had scooped out great gouges and thrown the slops against the side of the cliffs... a rugged, deeply undulating, wildly overgrown and yet passable terrain. Amongst it all I discovered crumbling 18th century ruins...overgrown and brooding with an edgy atmosphere only kept unthreatening by the beautiful sunlight sloping through the emerald green trees. I can't believe I’ve been living with this on my doorstep for over two years now, and only just discovered it. Brilliant. After an hour I headed back and spent some time on a solid wooden bench near the river, and made notes whilst sitting in the intensifying golden light of the setting sun.
Ooooo, “Forest of Pagodas” by BLAME has just come on via random. I’m whisked away to memories of recent months… snow storms in England, stuck in the house, and a last flight out of Bristol to Newcastle. Good memories.