Sunday, June 17, 2007

First Degree Burn

USA Network premieres a brand new series shortly called Burn Notice. From the website:


When spies get fired, they don't get a letter from human resources.

They get BURNED...

While on assignment, agent Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) gets a "Burn Notice" and becomes untouchable. Having no idea what or who triggered his demise, Michael returns to his hometown, Miami, determined to find out the reason for his sudden termination.

Unable to utilize his normal contacts and needing to stay under the spy network radar, he puts his Special Ops training to use to help those who the police can't or won't, in order to fund his ongoing personal investigation.


Sounds interesting. Kinda. But it gets more interesting when you learn than my favourite cult star and yours is involved: Bruce Campbell!! Bruce plays Sam Axe, a former special ops warrior who is enjoying the peace and quiet he finds at the bottom of a row of shot glasses.

All this sounds kinda interesting, especially when described as "a fancy new spy-turned-one-man-A-team". Nice! I'm looking forward to seeing this. And the fact that it's on USA Network, or more importantly, not Fox, means that it's more likely to get it's initial 13 episode run completed. At least we'll have that.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

College, Children, Colds and Customs

It's been an unusually long time since my last update, and so much has happened since then that I know I can't squeeze it all into one post. So instead, lets just grab the highlights, and I'll expand on other matters over the next few days.

College wrapped up on the 30th of May with my final exam. All in all, they went well, though that last one has left me puzzled. With three hours and only three questions to answer, I felt I was finished with some time to spare. I wrote enough on each, and there were a lot of the class that left before the end, so I guess I wrote more than them! I stayed for the full three hours, though by the end I had to resort to doodling on my question sheet to pass the last ten minutes. I'd have to say that only about half of the 98 strong class were left at the final bell, and some were still writing. It unnerved me to see so many getting extra answer books to write more, but a few I spoke to only wrote on one side of the page, or skipped every second line, or whatever, so I'm not too worried now. Still, out of all the exams, I'm very happy with what I did write, so all that's left now is to wait for the results.

As soon as I was out of my exam, I was in to work! I started in the preschool that I've been in and out of on the very next day! And I couldn't be happier! I love working in the setting and get on well with both the adults, the children, and their parents. The parents were just as happy to see me as the children, which is always a confidence boost! I missed seeing the kids while I was studying, and being back there is just great. There is nothing I dislike about my time there, and it is the only job I've ever had that I look forward to on a Sunday evening, and dread the arrival of Friday afternoon. Worse, tomorrow is the final day of term, and one I am not looking forward to. For some, it will be their final day in preschool, as many of the current group will be moving on to Primary school next year. Thankfully there are more than enough returning to guarantee that I'll be popping up now and then when I get the chance in the 2007-2008 school year.

On the other hand, being around young children does have some minor drawbacks. In the last few days I have developed a killer head-cold, complete with pounding head-aches, a nose that thinks it should be flowing like the Nile as a standard, a sanding drum lining my throat, a cough that threatens to eject that previous issue from my neck at high velocity and eyes puffed up like I've just finished up a Bette Midler movie marathon! I've gone through a 24 pack of Uniflu Plus, a packet of extra strength Halls lozenges, a packet of blackcurrant Halls Soothers, and now I'm working through pharmacist recommended Merocets lozenges for "dry, tickly sore throats". And I'm only feeling marginally better. The honey in my tea is yummy, though.

Finally, my freedom from college and the short days in the preschool (I'm home by one o'clock every day) has given me time to catch up with some customs I've been thinking about, as well as make progress on ones I stalled on. Over the coming weeks, I should have more and more done, so keep an eye on my Custom Action Figure set to see how things go!

So that's just the highlights. I'll post some of my doodles from that last exam I mentioned, a review or two and some more stories of illness and hallucinations!

Until then, enjoy your Friday! Remember, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is out this weekend across the world! Expect a review if I feel healthy enough to type out my utter love of Marvels newest cinematic release! Yes, I am preempting my feeling toward this movie, but I'm like that... easily pleased!