The Ivy Ultra Bar on Bay St. opens this Friday, August 22nd. The website describes it as "upscale nightclub meets neighborhood bar" for "when average isn't good enough". Not so upscale as to declare itself "Jacksonville's newest edition[sic] to downtown nightlife!". It's not a newspaper folks!

Probably not my scene but if anyone has a chance to check it out, let me know if it's worth a gander. Any addition to the downtown scene is welcome in my book. Leave your comments on dress code, ambience, prices, etc.

Peace.

Sounds like an awesome community event to mark on the calendar if you are an avid cycling nut. I for one am seriously considering riding the 8.5 miles to work to avoid these gas prices that have nearly doubled since I've been gone.

Friday 8/22
Verve CD Giveaway Party @ The Pearl
3rd Annual Wedding Crashers Party from Jacksonville Scene

Saturday 8/23
Art show at Three Layers
Meet and Greet w/ Hello My Name Is Party @ The Pearl
Summer Jam BBQ w/ Crash The Satellites @ Eclipse

Sunday 8/24
Jacksonville RollerGirls: Heroes vs. Villains @ Mandarin Skate Station

The first Mortal Kombat movie proved that video game movies could work on the big screen and rake in the big bucks, paving the way for some of today's entries into that genre Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Max Payne, Hitman, etc. This one may have been a step back, though.

PLOT:

The evil emperor Shao Kahn illegally opens a portal from Outworld to the Earthrealm and has reclaimed his queen, Sindel, who is Kitana'slong-dead mother. With the portal open, Earthrealm is in danger of being absorbed into Outworld within six days, a fate which Liu Kang and the others must fight to prevent. Johnny Cage is killed by Shao Kahn during the confrontation, and the remaining Earthrealm warriors must regroup. Raiden goes to ask the Elder Gods why Shao Kahn was allowed to break the rules of Mortal Kombat.

Sonya enlists the help of her old partner, Jax. They are ambushed by a group of Shao Kahn's warriors, led by the cyborg Cyrax, all of whom are eventually defeated. Meanwhile, Kitana and Liu Kang search for a Native American shaman named Nightwolf, who they have been told knows the key to defeating Shao Kahn. On the way, they run afoul of the cyborg Smoke. Kitana and Liu Kangdispatch of him with the aid of Sub-Zero, the younger brother of the Sub-Zero Liu Kang had defeated in the previous tournament. Sub-Zero agrees to help Kitana and Liu Kang, but Scorpion suddenly appears, attacks Sub-Zero, and kidnaps Kitana. Knowing that Liu Kang is not yet strong enough to face Shao Kahn, Sub-Zero exhorts him to continue on to Nightwolf before pursuing Scorpion and Kitana, then disappears.

Raidenmeets with the Elder Gods and asks them why Shao Kahn was allowed to break tournament rules and force his way into Earthrealm, and how he can be stopped. The answers he receives are sparse and ambiguous; One Elder God says that reuniting Kitana with her mother, Sindel, is the key to breaking Shao Kahn's hold on Earthrealm, but another Elder God insists that the defeat of Shao Kahn himself is the solution. Raiden is then asked by the Elder Gods about his feelings and obligations towards the mortals, and what he would be willing to do to ensure their survival.

Liu Kang finds Nightwolf, who teaches him about the power of the Animality, a form of shapeshifting which utilizes the caster's strengths and abilities; essential if Liu Kang is to defeat Shao Kahn. To achieve the mindset needed to acquire this power, Liu Kang must pass three tests. The first is a trial of his self-esteem and focus. The second comes in the form of temptation, which manifests itself in the form of Jade, who attempts to seduce Liu Kang and make him forget about Kitana. Liu Kang resists Jade's advances, which impresses her. She offers her assistance in fighting Shao Kahn. Liu Kangaccepts Jade's offer and takes her with him to the Elder Gods' temple, where he and his friends are to meet Raiden.

Sonya and Jax also head to the temple, only to be confronted by Mileena, who Sonya initially mistakes for Kitana, and an unearthly creature. Jax and Sonya defeat their adversaries and continue towards the temple. At the temple, the Earthrealmwarriors reunite with a newly-shorn Raiden, who explains that he has sacrificed his immortality to freely fight alongside them. Together, they head for Outworld to rescue Kitanaand reunite her with Sindel.

With Jade's help, Liu Kang sneaks into Shao Kahn's castle and rescues Kitana, while Raiden, Jax, and Sonya find Sindel. Unfortunately, Sindel remains under Shao Kahn's control, and she escapes while a trio of Raptor warriors ambush the heroes. Jade also steals away, having revealed herself to be a mole sent by Shao Kahn to disrupt the heroes' plans. The Raptors are defeated, but not before Raiden is injured. Raiden then reveals that Shao Kahn is his brother, and that Elder God Shinnok is their father. He realizes that Shinnok had lied to him and is supporting Shao Kahn. With renewed purpose, Raiden and the Earthrealmwarriors make their way to the final showdown with Shao Kahn and his generals.

Liu Kang and his friends openly challenge Shao Kahn and his allies, only to be interrupted by Shinnok, who demands that Raiden submit to him and restore their broken family, at the expense of his mortal friends. Raiden flatly refuses, and is killed by an energy blast from Shao Kahn. Shinnok prepares to wipe out the Earthrealm warriors, but the other two Elder Gods appear, having uncovered Shinnok's treachery. They declare that the fate of Earth shall be decided lawfully, through Mortal Kombat.

Though the early going is rough, Jax, Sonya, and Kitana emerge victorious against their opponents. Liu Kang has a much more difficult time, however, battling against Shao Kahn; he manages to tap into his Animality but he is barely able to hold his own against Shao Kahn's own Animality. Shao Kahn taunts Liu Kang, angering him enough to give him a second wind. Liu Kang defeats the Outworld Emperor once and for all, and Shinnok is banished to the Netherealm by the other Elder Gods.

Earthrealm reverts to its former state, and Shao Kahn's hold over Sindelis finally broken, allowing her to reunite with Kitana. Raidenis revived by the other Elder Gods, who bestow upon him his father's former position. With everything right in the universe once again, the Earthrealm heroes return home triumphant.

REVIEW:

After watching the original movie, I was excited to see this one. I have to say, it was a major letdown. Even no 10 yrs later, it is still disappointing.

The plot has potential, but it is ever really given the chance to realize it because every character in the MK universe (at the time) had to be thrown in for some screen time, no matter how little. What's that old saying, "you should never have too many chefs in the kitchen?" Well, this film should have had something like, "You should never have too many MK characters in one movie."

Now, I understand you have to have the major players, and being that this is a sequel add in some new ones, but they could have just picked a few, and maybe mentioned the others or shown them in the background. I mean Kabal and Stryker are 2 characters that only got mentioned. I'm sure they could have done that with many of the others that just took up space and ruined this movie.

Also, I am not a fan of changing actors. Sonya Blade and Rayden were portrayed by different actors in this one than they wee in the first. Not taking away from what other roles they may have had, because they may inded be very talented thespians, but they just didn't stack up to the originals.

***side note Cameron Diaz was originally cast to play SonyaBlade for both movies, but inured her wrist in training. can you imagine Cameron as Sonya?

Not all I have to say is negative. The fight scenes are just as good as the original. The visuals are reminiscent of the old Sinbad movies from the '60s. There's always the awesome MK theme music. I've heard alot of people say its good a work out tune. The more i listen to it, the more I can see what they're talking about.

I am a huge MK fan, and usually give movies (even bad ones) the benefit of the doubt, but it's really hard for me to give this a good rating.

2 1/2 out of 5 stars

[b]Offense[/b]

With David Garrard having a year of full time starting experience under his belt, I expect him to improve vastly, and actually have some composure. He's rarely a problem with interceptions, and that's amazing for someone who's been a perennial backup to Byron Leftwich.

With Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew running the ball for you, your quarterback doesn't have to be stellar. These two really take a load off of Garrard. Taylor's one of only three active running backs to amass 10,000 yards rushing in his career. Maurice Jones-Drew may have a small frame, but he has heart. Which is evident in his running, catching, and blocking (just ask Merriman).

Troy Williamson, Jerry Porter, Dennis Northcutt, and Matt Jones are catching the passes this year. They're an underrated receiving corps. Especially Northcutt, this guy's better than anyone thought he would be, the Browns made a horrible mistake in letting him go. Mercedes Lewis, is a fast guy for a tight end, expect him to be Garrard's security blanket.

The offensive line is anchored by Khalif Barnes, with Tony Pashos on the right side. These two are the most known Jaguars linemen, but all in all it's a solid unit.

[b]Defense[/b]

With Paul Spicer, and Reggie Hayward coming off the edge, and Rob Meier and John Henderson in the middle of the defensive line, they're going to cause nightmares for opposing offensive lines. Even without Marcus Stroud, they're still a formidable group that's going to stop the run. Only problem is their lack of depth here.

The only star at linebacker is Mike Peterson, but with him covering the middle of the field and stopping the run, you don't need much else. I don't see many teams running effectively on the Jaguars this year.

Two good safeties in the secondary with Brian Williams and Reggie Nelson should be adequate enough to shut down some weaker passing games, although when matched up against a high powered passing game, they're going to be dominated. Rashean Mathis is a good corner that's proven himself time and time again to be able to come up with a clutch interception.

[b]Special Teams[/b]

With the tandem of Northcutt, and Maurice Jones-Drew returning kicks, expect this squad to have a few special teams touchdowns.

[size=3][b]Indianapolis Colts[/b][/size]
[i]2007 Record - 13-3[/i]

[b]Offense[/b]

With Peyton Manning under center, you know the Colts will once again be focused on throwing the ball. And for good reason, he threw 31 touchdown passes compared to just 14 interceptions last year, you don't mess with success. He seems to get flustered when he makes mistakes however (Chargers game). And that is the reason the Colts are number two on my list.

Joseph Addai rushed for 1,072 yards and 12 touchdowns, while hanging on to the ball the entire time. That's right, Addai did not fumble once last season. Unfortunately he only averaged 70 yards a game, and his longest run was only 23 yards.

With Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark catching the majority of the passes this year, expect Manning to have yet another great season. Anthony Gonzalez will come in and make some catches as well. Though, Harrison only played in 5 games last year, and is the lone question for this receiving corps.

This offensive line only allowed Peyton Manning to be sacked 21 times all season last year, so expect more of the same as far as they're concerned.

[b]Defense[/b]

The leading man of this defensive front line is Dwight Freeney. He has scary speed for a defensive end, and can beat every single left tackle in the NFL off the edge. He's going to get some sacks, and some hurries. Robert Mathis is a good compliment to him off the other edge, and with Raheem Brock being the role player in the middle this is an adequate line.

Their linebackers are somewhat underachieving compared with the rest of the league's linebackers, and especially the linebackers in the AFC. Gary Brackett led the team in tackles last year, and also picked off 4 passes.

With Bob Sanders at Safety, the linebackers have a safety net, the only question about this secondary is whether or not the corners will be able to do their jobs effectively.

[b]Special Teams[/b]

Kicking the ball for the Colts is King Clutch, Adam Vinatieri. The only time in my recollection that he's missed when he absolutely needed to hit, was in the Chargers games last year. TJ Rushing will be taking the majority of the returns for the Colts.

[size=3][b]Tennesee Titans[/b][/size]
[i]2007 Record - 10-6[/i]

[b]Offense[/b]

Vince Young. What is there to say about him? He's a phenomenal athlete, he can get out of the pocket and create with his legs. As long as the stories about him working on his footwork are true, then I expect better passing numbers out of him this year.

LeDale White is never going to be a star in the NFL, however, he will be adequate enough to be the man in Tennesse, where the playaction rollout will force the linebackers deep, and have the defensive lines spread wide to contain Vince Young.

Each of the starting two wide receives Justin Gage, and Roydell Williams had 55 receptions for 700 some yards last year. As long as Vince Young can get them the ball, they'll be a nice one-two punch at reciever. And with the addition of Alge Crumpler at tight end, Vince Youngs going to get the chance to rollout and throw dump offs to him. Crumpler's used to playing the game with a mobile Quarterback in Michael Vick.

Kevin Mawae's the leader of the offensive line, and for Vince Young's sake, let's hope that he can help the guys around him. They aren't the best line I've seen, but they really aren't the shabbiest either.

[b]Defense[/b]

So guess who came back to Tennessee's defensive line? That's right, Jevon Kearse. Only problem is that he's listed as the number 3 defensive end behind Bryce Fisher, and Kyle Vanden Bosch. I expect to see Vanden Bosch and Kearse on opposite sides of the line however. It's only a matter of time. With Albert Haynesworth in the middle, it's going to open up some room for the linebackers to roam freely and make the tackles.

Keith Bulluck's getting older, but he's still a great linebacker, expect him to lead the Titans in tackles from the Will linebacker position. Thornton isn't a bad linebacker, he's just not a consistant one.

With former Colt Nick Harper at corner, anything's possible, he's not great, he's actually blown more assignments than he's succeeded in covering. He's a toss up. With Texas star Michael Griffin, and former Steeler Chris Hope at the Safety spots, they'll be able to make up for what the two corners are lacking.

[b]Special Teams[/b]

Not much to say here. Chris Henry and Chris Davis will be returning the balls this year.

[size=3][b]Houston Texans[/b][/size]
2007 Record - 8-8

[b]Offense[/b]

Matt Schaub has yet to prove himself as starting Quarterback material. He spent most of his career as a backup to none other than Michael Vick.

Former Green Bay Packer running back Ahman Green will be the starter heading into the season, but they also have West Virginia's Steve Slaton, though he's listed as the number three back as of now.

Andre Johnson is a Pro-Bowl wide receiver, who's made it without a star quarterback, or even a good offense. They have former Browns receiver Andre Davis as well. The tight end corps is made up of Owen Daniels and Mark Bruener, dont expect too much from those two.

The Texan's have a good offensive line, surprisingly, led by former Miami Hurricane Eric Winston.

[b]Defense[/b]

With two first round picks in Mario Williams and Amobi Okoye on the defensive line, they had better produce some pressure up the middle.

A solid linebacking corps led by DeMeco Ryans should be able to stop most running backs. Morlon Greenwood and Chaun Thompson are both savvy veterans that know how to lead a defense.

Dunta Robinson's going to have to step up and become the leader of this secondary, as he's the best one out there, and one of the best defensive players the Texans have.

[b]Special Teams[/b]

Andre Davis and Jacoby Jones will be taking the kicks back for the Texans.

My predictions for the AFC South :

1. Jaguars
2. Colts
3. Titans
4. Texans

Okay, I kid.

Anyway, I took my laptop over there earlier tonight so that he could type in his damn password so I could use his wireless internet over the weekend.  But something went terribly wrong with my computer as soon as I opened it up over there.  First, it froze up.  So I thought, no problem, I'll restart it and we'll be fine right? 

Wrong.  I start it back up and the screen isn't turning on.  All of the lights are on like it is working but the screen is dark.  Then I notice its not making any noise like it usually does when it is loading up.  I freak out.  We turn it on and off several times and nothing. 

I freak out.  I immediately start thinking about how I've lost all of my documents.  All of my writings from college and oh, God damn, my pictures and videos.  My pictures of my trips and travels, of going out with friends.  Of everything.  But most of all, I freak out because I immediately think that I've lost my pictures of Jax.  I've uploaded some of them to my Flickr account but not nearly half of them because the upload limit was too low and it was something I was going to finish next month.  But now she's gone and I can't get those pictures back. 

Totally freaked out.  I start thinking of places that I could take my computer to, or people that might be able to at least get the data off my computer... and then my brother suggests we just let the computer sit off for a bit. 

I wait and wait, but frankly, I'm impatient.  I try booting it up again after just a few minutes.  Oh, holy hell, please let this work.  Nothing.  Black screen of death.  I'm back to panicking and now Chrissy and Justin are both bothering me, asking me me what I want to drink with dinner and come out and eat.  Eat?  Seriously?  I just lost all my pictures of my dead dog.  Well, the pictures were from my dog when she was actually alive, not dead... anyway, no, not hungry. 

I bang on the computer hoping that maybe whatever jarred loose will miraculously start working again.  When all else fails, hit it, right?  I turn it upside down and I think about taking it apart but knowing just enough to know that I could seriously fuck it up if I take it apart since I know nothing about computers, I leave it be.  I do take out the battery, mainly because I've never before noticed that you could remove the battery by just sliding a switch over.  I pop the battery back in and decide to try it one last time.

Oh, holy schmoley, it's on!... but it quickly reverts to the blue screen of death.  Shit.  Having no idea what to do at this point, I hit enter a few times, followed by ESC and when that fails to elicit a response, I turn the computer back off and then on again.  I breathe a sign of relief when it starts loading up for a second time.  This time it starts loading a system recovery program. 

Success!  Catastrophy averted!

What do you know, sometimes hitting things around apparently does work!  And sometimes, things actually do fix themselves!

About twenty minutes later I was looking at my documents making sure it all looked and worked normally.  Relief.  Utter joy, in fact.

Lesson learned: back everything up.  It doesn't need to be twice daily or anything like that but I do need to back things up every now and then to prevent this from ever actually occurring again.  I would have been beside myself if I lost all of those pictures.  Right now, they are all safe and sound on my iPod.  Yes, I'm using part of my 80gig iPod as disk storage for right now but I'm going to order an external hard drive tomorrow.  I think that would be a much better route than on the iPod, which has been known to hit the floor every now and then.

So another night and another good movie: Reign Over Me.  Starts a little slow but gets much better towards the end.  I'm thinking of upgrading to the Blockbuster Unlimited plan.  At this rate, it would save me money.

Exciting life I lead, I know.

I feel okay though.  Like this is the right thing for me to do right now.  I'm not out pretending like nothing happened.  I'm not ignoring it.  Instead, I'm feeling it.  I'm crying when I feel like it, and I'm pissed when I want to be.  It's freeing, to tell you the truth.

I don't think I've ever had such a bad year.  It is like my life is a terrible country song.  I went through a scary breakup and moved in with a roommate that I don't really like.  My grandpa died.  A day later I found out my grandma has cancer.  A once in a lifetime flood occurred in my hometown and the town is going to need a decade to recover. Found out my dog had cancer and she died six weeks later.  

If I had chosen to learn guitar this summer, I could have set it all to music and played it one night in a dirty bar.  Instead, I chose golf and then I found that I rather hate golf.  There is just no sense in wacking at a ball just to go chase after it and wack it again.  What was I thinking?  I'm not Sporty Spice here and when I get enough ambition back, I'm selling those damn clubs.  It was a fun idea and now I can at least cross one thing off that list.  I know now that I hate golfing. 

I picked up Jax's ashes today from the vet.  She's in a much smaller box than I would have believed possible.  Not that I really knew what to expect, mind you, I just would have guessed bigger.  It seems almost insulting to keep her in such a small box when she had a personality that was so much bigger.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with her ashes, I just know that I wanted them back.  And now she is just sitting on top of my tv.

I was once again reminded how terrible of a memory that I have, too.  I would have sworn that Jax's birthdate was 10/31/98 but on the box it says 10/1/98.  Now that I'm thinking of it, I think the vet is right.  I picked up Jax in late November, and she couldn't have been only four weeks old, right?  They don't sell puppies until around eight weeks I think, making her birthday much closer to 10/1/98.  All this time, I thought she was a Scorpio like me, but it turns out she was a Libra.  That explains a lot.

Don't think I'm depressed with all of this happening though.  Sure, I'm crying.  Sure, I'm sad.  Sure, I feel like a walking zombie through my entire workday.  But, I'm really trying to just let it happen right now.  It's not just my dog that is hurting me, its just everything sinking in finally, I think.  I'm sure I'll come out on the other side soon enough, I'm just in no hurry.  Meanwhile, though, I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my life when I do pull through all of this. 

Two movie recommendations for you: Into The Wild, and Feast of Love.  Both are excellent and thought provoking.  Both had me in tears but for very different reasons.

Ok everyone I got a little challenge for all my graphic design friends out there. Im needing my next featured artist but, I want to open it up to those here in Jax who are graphic artists! Heres the challenge: Design a banner to be featured as the header on The Outer Box. You can design it however you see fit. I wanna also conduct a brief interview on who you are, what ya do, and so on. Should be lots of fun. The contest will run til the end of next week. If I dont have anyone participating me & Ed will pick an artist to be our next featured artist. Heres the guidelines:

• The banner will need to be a JPEG or GIF file at 780x200 pixels
• Please include your name somewhere on the banner for credit
• You do not have to include "The Outer Box" in the banner. I can add it myself or you can do it if ya dont like the plain one on the blog now.
• The Deadline will be 07/17
• Entries need to be mailed to bgrayart@bellsouth.net
• This is open to EVERYONE who can design a banner. Graphic artists, traditional artists, illustrators, whoever....as long as you can make a banner for the site...your cool.

Thats prety much it. Depending on how many people get involved I may have each design up for one week or two and then allow the next person to be featured and so on and so on. Just depends on how many folks wanna participate. Lets do it!

.

Yesterday, I had Jax put down.  It was the saddest and hardest thing I've ever had to do.  I wasn't prepared as to how fast it would happen and after she was gone I stayed with her in the room for about 15 - 20 minutes.  Just me and the shell of Jax.  I couldn't leave her.  I just kept petting her and telling her I was sorry.  I tried rationalizing it in my head, telling myself that it was best but all I could see was my dead pet.  My dog of almost ten years.  It is such a cliche but she really was my best friend, and I was the one who had to make the decision.  Gut wrenching.

Sure, she wasn't the perfect dog, she was a pain in the ass at times.  She always did exactly what she wanted to and she never really listened to me.  I think it took about three or four years before I knew that she actually knew her name.  Maybe she didn't really like it.  After all, I had the name picked out before I had her picked out and Jackson was really more intended for a male anyway. 

Jax wasn't a particularly obedient dog; however, she was a character.  She had plenty of attitude and she made me laugh, hysterically at times.  She was so expressive that you could always tell what she was thinking.

I'm not even sure that she loved me as much as I loved her.  What a heartbreaker.  I do know that she loved treats, stuffed animals that she could rip to shreds, hunting invisible mice (just yell Jaxie find it!), bones - especially if there was another dog around who also wanted the bone, bunny rabbits, chasing kitty cats, pooping on a tree (don't ask), kids that would play tug of war with her for hours, soft blankets to snuggle up in, her kennel, walks, playing fetch with her rope toys, and any human food that smelled good.  She only really hated a few things in her life but especially me taking pictures of her - especially if I dressed her up for the picture so Halloween was her least favorite holiday, even though it was her birthday.

I've been scouring through all my pictures of her and have to share a few.

I already miss her.

•Is Randi a hooker? Frankie doesn’t seem to think so
•Annie has a feeling that Ryan is with Greenlee
•Jesse and Angie believe that Frankie is developing a crush on Randi
•Zach scares Richie

General Hospital

•Kate sees her engagement ring from Sonny
•Anthony orders a hit on Jason. Claudia is the one he chooses to do it
•Johnny is asked by Maxie to rub some sunscreen on her back
•Alexis is confessing her feelings for Jerry
•Is Carly pregnant? Jax is wondering
•Patrick ends up babysitting with Jake, thanks to Robin

One Life to Live

•Clint makes Jessica mad
•Jared can’t stop thinking about how Nash died
•Is Addie going back to St. Anne’s?
•Nash’s funeral is on Wednesday
•Cole is thinking about suing Starr for custody of their baby
•Is Tess back? Will she help Jessica plan revenge?

Congratulations are most certainly in order: to our parents for their endless support of our efforts; to our teachers for their tireless commitment to our success; and, of course, to ourselves, for the many a sleepless night spent at the mercy of the seemingly unabating tides of one grueling assignment after the next.

Nevertheless, these four years of our lives have become indelible memories, memories we will undoubtedly cherish, memories always present and forever reassuring.

We have come to know each other as you have come to know us, and during this limited time and in this limited space, we, all of us, have forged unshakable bonds with one another that even in our darkest nights have proved the most comforting solace. We are the intertwining threads that form the fabric of our community. We have thus come to define ourselves by the singularity of heart and mind we find with those who have touched us so profoundly their presence will never be forgotten.

This is the time of our life, quite literally, for now we are fully equipped to experience life for what it truly is: the ebbs and flows on this winding rapid that is the stream of time. We know that, like many before us, and those soon to come after, that our experiences are universal, yet individual in the truest sense.

And as we come to realize that these tears gently rolling down our cheeks mean not fear or pain, but the joy in finally understanding that this time of our lives constitute not an end, but a new beginning, one free of the confines we once formerly faced in our naïve immaturity, we will then be able to appreciate the true significance of our graduation.

We know the past, we love the present, and we are the future.

Congratulations, again, to all. With the deepest love and sincerest gratitude, I say, thank you, God bless, and may we realize our grandest dreams.

I will admit that I've let my portfolio gather dust for about 2 weeks now, but Zach's back and he's not going to take any more crap from that dust (or this hunk of meat between my ears... I mean my brain... perverts)

So, I'm writing and I'm writing, A LOT of writing, and suddenly an idea pops into my head, and Idea for a story on the other end of the spectrum from the story I'm working on. I was working on the Secret of the Stars, which is a Gothic Fantasy, but this is from The Star Chronicles, which is a Sci-Fi starring everyone's favorite star pirate, JAX!

here's the Idea... It's not a stand alone, it's part of a story, but it's slightly entertaining...

***

The SILAS twisted in space, the hull looping gracefully around the moon-sized rocks of the asteroid field. Jax stood on the bridge, staring at the starscape before him.

*TAP*     *TAP*     *TAP*

The noise was unsettling, Jax looked at the bridge's main doorway just in time to see it blast off. When the dust settled his father was standing in the broken opening, flanked by Exo-hunters.

"Hello Jax, time to die..." He said as the Hunters fired their shots. As the rounds impacted Jax jumped...

"Nooo!" he screamed as he sat bolt upright in his bed. He was panting and sweating excessively

"Are you ok Jax?" said Kaylie as she sat up as well. She put her hand on his shoulder and watched him as his breathing slowed,

"Jax... what's wrong?" Said Chris, sitting up from the other side of him. Jax looked at Kaylie, then at Chris. Then he smiled,

"Nothing, just a bad dream..."

"I know a cure for those" Kaylie said, then she ducked under the covers, followed by Chris. Jax only smiled as he was pulled under himself. It was an effective cure.

***

I've previously kept Jax's specific sexuality a mystery, but always known he was bisexual (or as I like to call it, pansexual, he really has no moral restrictions.) Using various Sci-Fi knowledge bases, from BSG through the Doctor Who/Torchwood/SJ, Human sexuality becomes more... flexable as time passes, and I'm pretty sure that I like the Doctor Who/Torchwood Ideal that "As humans expand into the universe, they become infinately more flexable" "You mean the human race goes out into the universe to have sex with everyone?" "It's a great way to meet people..."

So... Whatcha think? Wanna See more of Jax in future blogs? Cause I can do more of these brainstorming blogs... I'm actually liking them.

Hi again everybody.

Well, the more astute of you may have noticed that I am not referring to people by name anymore throughout these emails. I hardly ever call my wife “the wife”, nor am I commonly called Ezra. The reason is simple. These mails are going to be posted on a blog, online, alone and standing amongst the porn and lonely-heart websites out there.

Given that purveyors of the more grisly aspects of the web are unlikely to have your best interests at heart, dear reader, your names will be changed should they appear in the narrative. Likewise the names of me and mine will also be changed. I am sure that those of you who should know will be able to work it out. On with the story.

The Dublin Arrival:

I do many things that incur the wrath of the wife. Most husbands do. Still, the thing that probably most often gets under her skin is my ability to sleep on planes. We have no sooner leveled off, our ears still ringing gently, and I am gone. This means that for the most part that her experiences of long-haul transport include sitting in a cramped seat next to a snoring and drooling husband. She gets understandably crabby, which is why my first introduction to most new countries is a sharp jabbing elbow to the ribs as the plane taxies to a stop. She contends that she loves me nonetheless, but I have noticed that she doesn’t always stop jabbing after I have woken up.

Thus it was with Dublin. My flight from Heathrow consisted of a take-off, safety demonstration, glass of fruit juice and a nap. When the elbow woke me, we had landed, and the pilot was just finishing the traditional thank-you-for-flying schlock. He had no sooner finished than an amateur Enya got on the mike and sang something at us in Gaelic. I gather that it was the same thank you speech in Gaelic, but it sounded far more melodic than any rote-speech has a right to. I decided right then and there that I liked the sound of Gaelic and would definitely make a plan to learn it.

The wife and I were equipped for the Irish winter and burdened with exceedingly heavy carry-on luggage. We had packed an inordinate amount of goods into our carry-on bags in an attempt to reduce the cost of excess baggage. The result of this deceit was that for as long as we had the bags, it was necessary to make out that they weighed almost nothing, that the creaking of the overhead compartment had nothing to do the 16 kilograms that I had jammed into my bag, and that there could nothing easier than to hoist it about with impunity.

So, staggering under the weight of winter coats, scarfs, gloves, toboggans and snow-men kits we left the plane. The very first thing that we did in Ireland was avail ourselves of the bathrooms. This was my first experience with public bathrooms that had hot water in the basins, and it was most welcome to have SOME part of the body warm. (Without dwelling on the subject, it would behoove the Dublin Airport to consider heated toilet seats in the future.) So, with freezing posteriors and warm hands, we went to clear customs and enter the country officially.

After the massive queues and boredom of Heathrow, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Irish customs queue was nothing. We literally walked up to a smiling man in a kiosk and slid him our passports. I hold an Irish passport, but my wife does not, and I was truly expecting to have to justify why it was that this South African should be allowed entry. But, the smiling man continued to smile while he looked over our marriage certificate, and took a digital photo of the wife. And then, in a move that endeared him to us no end, he actually looked at me and said “You be sure to take care of her now.”

It was an excellent way to enter the country.

Gus and Jax:

We were met at the gate by my long-standing friend Gus and his girlfriend Jax. Gus and I have been friends for almost twenty years, and this was going to be the first time in a long time that we would be in the same time zone, same country, same city, and indeed… the same house. They had graciously extended an invitation to put up with us for a few nights, until we could find a place for ourselves.

After Gus had gotten us lost in the parking lot looking for his car, we loaded it up and with groaning suspension drove off into Ireland proper. My first sight of Ireland was pleasing. There was the normal detritus that one would associate with airports, but there was also a pleasant “greenness” to the city. They say that Ireland is the Emerald Isle, and even at the end of winter, the city was still covered in trees and foliage.

Gus and Jax live in Lusk, a relatively far-flung town outside the city of Dublin. We would be staying with them instead of my sister (Barb) and brother-in-law (Boet) simply for considerations of space. Barb and Boet live in a spacious but still single bedroomed flat, whilst Gus and Jax had pulled a Nepotism trick and snaffled a relative’s house.

Once we had arrived, drunk some coffee and been shown where the bathroom and kettle were, the wife and I had some shopping to do. The wife and I had left all our toiletries with my mother and father in England. The idea was that when we returned for a visit in the future, we wouldn’t have to bring all our soaps and shampoos and stuff. The only downside of the plan was that our first day in Ireland would have to include a trip to the local supermarket to buy what we had left behind.

Thus it was that only an hour into our time in Ireland, we were scattering Euro notes in our wake like confetti. (Very expensive, EU-approved confetti, but the sentiment is there.)

I am pleased to report that the Irish shopping centres work in exactly the same way as the UK ones. After we had recovered from outrageous prices courtesy of South Africa’s pathetic exchange rate against the Euro, the shopping proceeded well. Within 45 minutes, we were equipped with good smelling things, as well as SIM cards for our cellphones.

We were ready to begin the house and job hunt.

Snow:

A small confession to make. Up until the day that I arrived in Ireland, I had never even seen snow. Of course, endless Hugh Grant Christmas movies set in the endlessly snowy yuletide London had prepared me for the sight. Long discussions with Canadian friends had armed me with a thousand and one helpful hints about handling snowy conditions. (Including a wonderful piece about a cat’s ears being patted off… Thanks Mr. Watermelon.) So… snow was a not a totally alien experience for me, but it had never snowed ON me.

Imagine my joy, when, on returning from our shopping trip… it began to snow. It was a veritable blizzard, a positive dumping down of it. Almost 2mm of it fell. Almost everyone else reacted with the ho-hum attitude of the experienced cold-weather dweller. But not me.

This is why, in the last snowfall of the winter, I was wandering around in jeans and a shirt in the falling snow. My impressions? Snow is cold. Not to stand in, not to catch, not to feel on your skin. (It is surprisingly not so very cold to the touch. No amount of Home Alone reruns would ever have taught me that.) The problem with snow… in my esteemed opinion… is that the stuff melts. And that sucks. Because within seconds, you find yourself wearing damp clothing. Outside. In sub-zero temperatures. Which is not pleasant. Particularly when you are dressed in light-weight jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. J

The snow disappeared as quickly as it came, and has not been seen since.

However, Ireland has not disappointed in terms of weather that is vile, treacherous, freezing cold, and a lot of fun. This is the first place that I have been to where hail falls often. Not the massive golf-ball sized stones that smash things up in South Africa, but tiny little hail stones about the size of a half a Smartie.

But… more about the hail later…. First, news of something else…

The Red-Tape:

Our first evening was spent meeting up with Barbs and Boet in the Malahide Starbucks. Starbucks has successfully created a franchise that smells the same all around the world. (Like MacDonalds.) They all smell awesome. (Not like MacDonalds.)

Hugs, kisses and coffee were had. Gus and Jax got to meet Barbs and Boet, and a pleasant evening was spent over coffee. Once that was done, Gus and Jax took us out to a local pizza place.

Now, the pizza place was called Mario’s. But it was staffed entirely by Polish youngsters. Seriously, given all the Polish in Ireland and England, are there really any left in Poland? There must be ghost towns there now. Mario’s was great, good pizza at good Irish prices. (I say Irish, because if you do the conversion to Rands, you would drink a glass of tap water and call it a night. )

The very next morning, the wife and I went in with Gus and Jax… catching a commuter train to the city. We had important business to do. We were, after all, immigrants. And the one thing that all immigrants dread is paperwork.

We had two tasks to do that day. We needed to get the wife on the system as a South African national married to an Irish national. We then needed to get the both of us on the social welfare system. As nice as this sounds, the social welfare system doesn’t actually give you anything. (Well, not us anyway… no dole unless you have worked before.) What it allowed us to do was actually pay taxes. Which was something we would rather not have signed up for, but had to anyway.

Thus began our quest.

The first stop was the Immigration Bureau. There, we learnt our first lesson for Irish red tape.

They speak English.

When we arrived, there were signs indicating that we should take a number. However, there was a mousy little man in a leather jacket standing in front of the dispensing machine. The wife passed a comment to me, in a VERY penetrating stage whisper.

“Why is this douche-bag standing in front of the machine?”

I cannot be positive, but I am quite sure that the douche-bag in question heard her. More than that, the douche-bag in question turned out to be an immigration bureau employee, and directed us to the correct queue.

Somewhat chagrined, and more than a little resolved to be more careful in the name-calling in government institutions in the future, we meekly took our place in the indicated queue. In the end, the process of getting the wife registered as a resident took all of 25 minutes. We had just settled into some serious people watching when her name was called, and we were free to go… job done, paperwork through. We couldn’t believe our luck, and resolved to call at least one government employee a ‘douche-bag’ in all our future endeavors.

The next stop was the Social Welfare Office. And as government places go, it wasn’t as bad as the Department of Home Affairs in South Africa, but it was close.

Just to set the scene for you foreign types, the Department of Home Affairs in South Africa is not a government institution. No. It is more a form of ritual punishment that all citizens must eventually undergo. For you see, the DHA handles EVERYTHING to do with citizens… birth, death, marriage, identity documents, passports, visa apps for some countries, medical documentation for inoculations, farming claims and rebates, land issues, and finger-printing. (Given the crime in SA, the government has found it easier to simply assume that EVERYONE is a criminal, and thus we are all finger-printed. Often. These records are then meticulously filed in the nearest garbage can, meaning the crime can continue unabated in South Africa.)

And normally.. there is only one DHA per city. Which…..as you can imagine, means that they are insanely busy, and filled to capacity. Also, with that panache that is fast becoming a SA governmental hallmark, they are so badly run as to be an all-day experience for even the simplest of things. The counter-jumpers are uniformly useless, uncaring and often beyond stupid. Sounds bad, doesn’t it? Well… it is. Corruption and bribery have made the DHA a standing joke in South Africa. I know people that have actually had to resort to bribery to get things done for them. Hell… the wife needed her school-end results reprinted. In any civilized country, this is the work of minutes. After 6 months of waiting, with no real results, my mother in law resorted to bribery. One bucket of KFC later, the print-out was ready in a day.

Now… the Social Welfare place in Dublin was better than that. Much better than that. But still, it took us forever. The queue moved incredibly slowly, and the reason for that was pretty easy to see. You see, the social welfare departments in Ireland handle all kinds of tax and welfare claims. So… whilst the immigrants that needed to register with them really only took up a few minutes of counter-time, the locals took forever to get processed. Why? Well… they were all reciting carefully honed stories of why they couldn’t work, why they needed welfare, and why the welfare that they needed wasn’t enough.

It was the first time we had seen the seedier side of Ireland, and to be honest, the only time we have really experienced it that strongly. The Social Welfare offices cater to quite a nasty slice of humanity. While we waited (and waited and waited), there were two incidents that really brought home the ugly side of the Irish. (And the better side too.)

Two nasty little slices of inbred humanity stationed themselves behind the chairs that people were waiting on. (They’re called Knackers in Ireland, Chavs in England, Hicks in Canada, Red-necks in America and assholes EVERYWHERE.) They were dressed in more or less identical bleached jeans, white hoody tops and bling-bling. With their backwards facing caps and hi-top sneakers, they obviously fancied themselves as The Shit. (Nobody there would have disagreed with them. They were the shit.)

Bored out of their single-digit IQ minds, they proceeded to cat-call, whistle and annoy everyone in earshot. Their favourite game was to say “Morning” to someone… then dissolve into addled giggles the moment that anyone responded.

We endured it for a hour, waiting for our numbers to be called on the machine. (Kinda like a very slow lottery, that thing.) After two hours, only the wife’s hand on my arm was stopping me from using my chair to stopper a few mouths. (Bad slice of Ireland.)

Then from behind the counter walked a small man in corduroy trousers.

“Excuse me…”says he.

“But what would your numbers be?”

The twittering idiots ACTUALLY told him their real numbers.

“Aye. Those numbers won’t be called lads. Have a good day.”

And then he walked back behind his counter.

(Good slice of Ireland.)

Their numbers weren’t called, and two sulky little morons had to take new numbers, and begin their 3 hour wait afresh.

Yeah… I like Ireland.

The wife and I walked out of the welfare office about 3 hours after we walked in, proud bearers of our PPS numbers… the number that allowed us to get jobs, pay tax and eventually, get a state pension.

House-hunting:

Well… as nice as Gus and Jax were, the wife and I simply couldn’t stay there forever. And after 4 months of vacationing around the world, we also needed to find our own place to stay too. So we clicked ourselves over to daft.ie, a really good website for finding Irish-based accommodation.

We set our budget, decided on our areas, and started to phone around. Gus and Jax earned themselves eternal thanks by lending us their car for the time we stayed with them (Seriously, many thanks guys) and we were able to cruise around looking at places and areas.

For those of you with no experience of Irish geography…

Dublin city is much like any other city. Noisy, dirty and crowded. It has its fair share of old buildings and museums and stuff, but it is still a city. The magic of Ireland for the wife and I is what lies beyond the city. As you move away from the city, you move into the areas of the villages. Each village is basically a suburb unto its own. However, unlike South African suburbs which really are suburbs, the villages have little village squares, and unique identities.

The villages are sadly mainly dormitories now, with most of the inhabitants commuting into the cities to find work. This is a good thing though, as most of the villages are quiet and affluent. The villages that we were particularly interested in were Malahide, and Portmarnock.

The wife and I did what we usually do, which is do copious amounts of internet research, and plan tons of sites to see. We spent WEEKS going over houses, prices, amenities, areas and the commute. And then we hired the first place that we saw.

We saw a place in Malahide. Technically speaking, it wasn’t actually IN Malahide, but then, we were eager, and the 2 mile walk seemed like a mere trifle. The place was clean, and available immediately. The estate agent was great, and everything seemed fine.

We told her that we would take the place and arranged a time the next day to go and see her.

We went home smug in the knowledge that we had found a place, a spot that we could call our own. And then, my wife, bless her, made a suggestion that saved us a lot of future bother. She suggested that we do an internet search, but increase the amount that we were willing to pay on rent. Just to see what we were missing out on. And we did.

And it turned out that for only 50 Euro more per month, we could get a MUCh better class of home. And… everything that we looked at for 50 Euro more was substantially better than the home we had agreed to take. Which was not good.

So.. the following day saw the wife and I traipse into the estate agents office… to ‘fess up to the fact that although we had said that we would take the place, we didn’t really want it anymore. We told her that we still wanted to use her services, but just not for that place. (Of course, being the duplicitous bastard that I am, we had also contacted their rivals to ask them to look for us in the new price range. And we had contacted a private renter about a place that promised a sea view. Which was rather an attractive option.)

She consented to showing us new places in the new price range, with a smile. She didn’t seem fazed by the fact that we had backed out of an agreement at all. (I guess maybe that happens in Ireland a lot.)

The next place we looked at was the place with the sea view. In Malahide. And by this, I mean in the HEART of the village. Standing outside, wating for the landlord, the wife and I were totally awestruck by the location. The marina swept away in front of the place, and there were literally 13 restaurants in sight of the place. And then we got to go into the place. It wasn’t a bad place… but it was obvious that you were paying the rent for location and view, not amenities. Everything inside had that sort of shop-soiled look, like it had been rescued from a grubby second-hand store, and not properly cleaned. And it was tiny. Still, the view was good enough that we said that we would consider it.

We had another place to look at with the long-suffering agent, but we promised the landlord that we would get back to him with our decision.

Well… as luck would have it, the next place that we saw was actually the place that we took. Our agent, (Her name is Gillian, by the way… super awesome, works for the Malahide branch of O’Farrell Cleare…. You want her number, I can help.) showed us this awesome place in Portmarnock. No sea view, but only a short walk away from the beach. It was also only a 5 minute walk to the train station, and even better, was in the complex literally next door to the complex that Barb and Boet live in. The place was big, spacious, wood flooring through-out, and nicely furnished. We took it.

And thus it was that we had a house, a number, and were registered, all within a week of arriving in Ireland.

All that remained was getting a job, and making some money to afford the house. J

But that… is a story for another time.

Ciao for now guys…

As usual, comments, rants and raves are welcomed. Keep it clean, or keep it off.

J

Next time:

- Hail. The Irish way to stone you slowly.

- Filling the house with expensive crap. (Or as my wife likes to put it “Buying essentials”)

- Finding a job.

- Finding a car.

- The commute.

- Tax and your first salary.

Vision for Software Industry:

Robotic Code Writing:

In present, tools are already starting generating and migrating the code. The future will not be too far when Business Man, Project Manager or Architect would draw a visual diagrams of system using some modeling language and the tool will generate all the code without even touching a single file. I think that future, we developers may not have to switch profession to something else.

Other important thing:

He repetedly mentioned that developer job is a highly creative one and we should take its responsibility. If you think it is work, you can as well work at McDonald's, where scope of creativity is negligible. If you really hell bent on considering it as a job, better ask for really fat pay.

Later on, Johnny and Lulu go to his dad and tells him that he cannot keep them apart. They will be together and then they both leave. Johnny even tops it off by kissing Lulu, just incase Anthony is watching.

Meanwhile Jerry is meeting with Claudia at the waterfront. They are working out an agreement to keep Sonny from discovering how they are involved with Ian. Jerry warns Claudia that he could expose her and she also warns him of the same thing. Then in the heat of the moment Jerry kisses Claudia, but wait just a minute…guess who sees the kiss? Alexis. She is so angry but she does manage to control it while Jerry tries not to make things worse. Claudia tries to make things better by telling Alexis that she and Jerry are doing business together. After Claudia walks away after her brief explanation Jerry tries to talk to Alexis about what just happened. Alexis doesn’t want to hear it and she tells Jerry to get himself another attorney.

Carly and Jax went to a long term care facility last week to check out a room that was available for Michael. While she was there Carly broke down in anger because she resented the fact that she was put in that position to begin with. Today Carly starts to clean up her mess from all the things she broke in the room. Jax starts to help her pick things up. Carly tells Jax that she wants to paint that room blue for Michael. The administrator comes in and seems a little shocked. Both Jax and Carly tell the administrator that they are sorry for the mess. Carly informs the administrator that they will take the room for Michael.

Last week Jason accused Kate of knowing the shooter and that is when Sonny walked in. Sonny speaks up for Kate by telling Jason that there is no way that Kate would have anything to do with it. Kate convinces Sonny to let Jason leave so she could talk to him alone. Jason walks out but doesn’t say anything to either one of them. At first Sonny is apologetic to Kate for Jason’s accusations. Kate finally stops Sonny and confesses that she did indeed send Ian out of town with a lot of money. Sonny is shocked. Kate tells Sonny that she was afraid that Sonny would seek revenge on Ian and things would only get worse. She had to stop the violence somehow. Sonny feels betrayed because he thinks that Kate is protecting Ian instead of him.

Nick gets some really great news from Robin and Patrick. The surgery worked and he will live!

Jason is now at Michael’s side and he keeps Michael informed of what Kate did. Carly comes back from her trip from the long term care facility. Carly tells Jason about the facility and tries to convince both her self and Jason that Michael will get the best care there. She also tells Jason about how she broke down in the room. She begins to cry.

Kate is crying when Jax comes in. He surrenders his hanky and wants to know what she is crying about. She tells Jax that her and Sonny are through. She didn’t tell Jax exactly everything but Jax didn’t pressure her to find out either. He will learn soon enough.

The show is not until May 31st but, check out the line up of artists. Really killer mix of old school and new school artists. Cant wait for the show. Its not til the end of the month but, i guarantee, this is not a show to be missed and I will remind everyone about this one as it gets closer to the show. If ya havent been to a Vestal show before....your really missing out. Nows the time to get out and check it. There is still and open call to artists for the next showing over at TSI in July...check out the call to artists link if you would be interested.