Nicola just dumped me

NaNo seems to have been going slow so far, which was not good, seeing as how I'll only have a couple of hours a day for the next week or so in which to write. But I've just completed my first fight scene, and suddenly, the next bits of plot are all lining up waiting for me to blunder through them. I only hope I can remember things long enough to get them written down.

Since lots of people seem to be posting links to LOLCats recently, here's another one...

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I got a honking huge brown envelope today (which is just the sort of thing one wants on the morning before you go on holiday). It contained the full text of the quack's report that prompted the suspension of my ESA. It's a copy of all the material that is being used at the appeal tribunal, for which we still don't have a hearing date, and another copy has one to the person acting for me in this matter. What the by-the-numbers checklist report basically says, is that since I was not gibbering and climbing the walls or catatonic during the 20 minutes the so-called examination took, I am perfectly societally functional, and can go to work anywhere, anywhen. Just because they haven't seen me stressing out when I miss a train connection, or the reaction caused due to having to fill in one of their vast byzantine and repetitive forms. Now, the important thing to remember is that when I got the original letter saying my ESA was stopped, they said they didn't take into account any information from psychiatrists and mental health specialists. They saw the by-the-numbers report and decided that they didn't need to look at information from someone who knew what they were talking about. And they seem to be saying that the basis of my appeal is not that they didn't base their decision on all relevant information available to them, but that I have been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Well, duh! I have been diagnosed with Asperger's, therefore I am applying for ESA. Not, "I am applying for ESA, and have somehow failed a bureaucratic test so therefore am giving you another bit of information."

I would like to share with you an article in today's Metro:

POLICE are hunting a masked gunman who killed two people and wounded 11 others when he opened fire at a youth club for Arab teenagers.
The attack in Tel Aviv sparked a city-wide clampdown and police warned other Arab clubs to close while the killer was still at large.
'We'll bring him to justice and exercise the full extent of the law against him,' said prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 'This is an unprecedented event for Israel and for the community,' said May Pamel the director of the Tel Aviv Arab and Muslim Association, where the incident took place on Saturday.
'We have joined the roster of "civilised" countries where hatred is the standard.'
President Shimon Peres also condemned the 'despicable murder', which 'a cultured and enlightened people cannot accept.' The victims were a 26-year-old youth counsellor and a 17-year-old girl. They were shot in a basement room where they were holding a community group meeting.
'When I got up it was horrifying, I just saw blood,' said 16-year-old Or Gil, who was shot twice in the legs.
Tel Aviv has a bustling Arab scene but open Arabianess is less welcome in the conservative areas of the Jewish state.
Thousands took to the streets over the weekend to mourn for the victims of the 'hate crime' and call for tolerance.

Unfortunately, that particular article is some years away. Substitute "gay" for "Arab", and you have the actual article. If I can see that there is no difference in the crime committed in each article, why can't Mr Netanyahu, President Peres, and all those thousands of mourners who think nothing of a prolonged campaign of what amounts to anything from racial segregation to ethnic cleansing to a new Holocaust against people they share the same land with, and were probably on it before them.

In the early hours of this morning my grandma died.

The same grandma who spent most of the last four years insulting and belittling me and my career choices.
The same grandma who called me stupid for doing what we had agreed I would do the day before (something which would help me get onto a career path more to her approval).
The same grandma who nearly sent me into Depression with her attitude and comments.
The same grandma who once bit me on the arm at a horse show because I was bored and didn't want to be there, and being 13 wasn't reluctant to make it known.

And I'm supposed to be upset?

And no, I won't be going to the funeral. Partly because it's in London, partly because I don't want to feel morbid (as it inevitably would make me feel), but mainly because I hated the bitch.

Michael Jackson's dead. Big deal. Get over it. Everyone's gushing about how he changed the face of music, how he was such a great performer, and so on. No one seems to be mentioning the fact that he bankrupted himself hiring lawyers to defend him from child molestation charges twice, had maybe three decent hits in his entire career which ended over 15 years ago, and was making a final comeback tour to try and finance his dreamworld lifestyle.

Washed-up celebs die every day, and you don't see this much hype about them. Move on, people.

I am very pissed off.

I got a letter today. From the DWP, or whatever it's calling itself these days. It said that they had sent me a letter on the 31/05/09 (that I haven't received yet) telling me I am no longer eligible to receive ESA. To make this decision they apparently only used information from a all-purpose no-size-fits-all questionnaire that I filled in a couple of months ago, and the report from the DWP quack I went to see a couple of weeks ago to do a capability assessment. They haven't used any information from any of the doctors I've seen who actually know what they're talking about (my GP, the referral psychologist, and the Asperger's specialist at Sheffield), or any of the additional information we gave them. Instead, they've used a points-based system for analysing the pitiful information they have got, and going from the accompanying results sheet, most of that is bollocks!

Right now I want to go down to the DWP offices with a shotgun and an axe and try and put things in perspective for the twat responsible.

Anyone want to buy one? 'Cos I've got one on sale on eBay. 10% of final sale price goes to Alzheimer's Research.

Just thought I'd remind you all about my books.

General information pages

Book I Please Kill the Neighbours (But Don't Piss Them Off)

Most nuisance neighbours can be dealt with by a court order. When your neighbour is a country ruled by an evil wizard, we recommend a demon.
Of course, you need someone ... disposable ... to summon the damn thing.

Meet Cullan and his companions, Alys and Kenyon, and follow their adventures when they're blackmailed into escorting Morgan, a gifted young mage, into a hostile country so that she can fulfil her Destiny.

Book II Finish the Job So We Don't Have To

Whenever you kill an evil wizard, there are three things you should remember:
1. Kill his bodyguards and sidekicks as well;
2. Steal all his treasure;
3. Have an escape route planned in advance.
So... Second time lucky?

A second chance arrives for Cullan and his companions to loot the Tower of Morss - not that they really want to go back there after what happened last time. Especially with an invading army in the way. Oh, and having to kill the three most well-protected people in a besieged city first.

Book III All's Fair in Love and Politics

Inter-monarchial relationships can be tricky things. There are all sorts of things to consider concerning alliances, succession, trade, and so on. Not to mention security - with all the travelling between two countries that will be going on, it makes it easier for someone to, for example, kidnap someone.

When Queen Elspeth is abducted on a state visit to Galorndan, Cullan and his companions are ordered to once again travel several hundred miles to find someone - this time to rescue, not to kill. Although, someone probably will need killing while they're in the area.

 


Lulu.com store
Book I at CreateSpace
Book II at CreateSpace
Book III at CreateSpace
The books on Amazon.com

You know where to get them now - what are you waiting for?

According to the BBC Red Dwarf: Back to Earth pulled in record figures for Dave.

But let's look at it closely. A figure of "over 2m" is quoted as the audience for the first episode. This figure falls to 1.7m for the second episode, and falls further to 1.3m for the third. That's a fall-off of about 35%, which is NotGood, and indicates that the viewers thought it was crap.

The report also quotes a figure of 8m viewers for Red Dwarf at the height of its' popularity, back when it was on BBC2. Now, not all the fans of the originals will have digital TV, and not everyone who watched it last century was a hard-core fan. The specials had quite a bit of advance and pre-broadcast publicity - they weren't hard to find, in other words. So, from the numbers, we can deduce that the revival of Red Dwarf wasn't all-that hotly-anticipated, nor was it warmly received.

And that does not surprise me one bit.

I've just de-activated my Facebook account. I hardly used the bloody thing anyway. The only reason I signed up was to give myself somewhere else to plug my books, and it is now unfit for purpose.

There was a slight delay due to the cover not being ready, but now Book III of the Have Sword & Sorcery: Will Travel™ series is now on sale.

All's Fair in Love and Politics

Inter-monarchial relationships can be tricky things. There are all sorts of things to consider concerning alliances, succession, trade, and so on. Not to mention security - with all the travelling between two countries that will be going on, it makes it easier for someone to, for example, kidnap someone.

When Queen Elspeth is abducted on a state visit to Galorndan, Cullan and his companions are ordered to once again travel several hundred miles to find someone - this time to rescue, not to kill. Although, someone probably will need killing while they're in the area.

Following up to my last post ...

Occasionally over the last few years, my paternal grandmother has seen fit to send me a substantial cheque once a year, partly, in her own words, as a means of avoiding inheritance tax. The year before last, she agreed to fund a couple of OU computer courses in lieu of a direct payment. I got prospectuses, I examined the options, I took all the details to her and explained them carefully, and she agreed to pay the course fees. The next morning she called me and urged me to rethink, as I "didn't have a brilliant track record of finishing things". I told her I'd already registered for the courses, as discussed yesterday, and her response was to call me stupid and put the phone down. Recently, I found out that two of her other grandsons have been diagnosed with mid-range Asperger's and full-on Autism.

This year's cheque arrived this morning, and I opened the letter it came in just a few minutes ago. This is what it says:

Here is a cheque for you for £250, which I expect you will be glad of.
I hope the interview with the Specialist that Elly arranged for you went well, & will be of some help.
Please have a sensible object or goal in life - discard some of the more bizarre ideas you had.

"Bizarre ideas" probably means being a writer and/or theatre worker.

I am literally shaking with anger. I would welcome any suggestions on how to best accept the cheque, and tell her to go fuck herself with a rusty piece of barbed wire in every conceivable orifice whilst being eaten alive by moles in a cesspit.