16/7/2008     Island Holiday getaway.

I'm back!

Actually I've been back for a week. But with my partner and my kids all on holidays as well the chances of me being able to work on Terinu have been Buckley's and none. (That's 'not a hope in hell' for all you non Aussie readers.)

But I've had a fantastic fortnight regardless. Veg took me on a surprise holiday to the Whitsundays off the coast of Queensland to stay at Daydream Island, a tropical island resort. It was awesome! How many swimming pools do you think can be crammed onto one tiny island... one even had a bar built out in the middle of it so you could drink your cocktails while lazing about in the water. The food was just yum. Veg even insisted that we do the seafood buffet night 'cause I love seafood, though he's allergic to it. He's such a dear *hugs*. I tried stuff I've never had the opportunity to do before. I gotta' say I LOVE parasailing! I am SO coming back as a bird... or a kite. I did not expect it to be so peaceful up there 300 metres above the sea with just a big piece of canvas stopping you from going splash. Parashuting is definately on my next list of things to do.

We hired a jetski an the third day to do an island hopping tour. (The Whitsundays are made up of 94 islands, almost all of which are uninhabited.) Veg sat in front working the thing while I hung on behind. Neither of us had done this before so when the instructor said you need to accellerate when manuevouring the jetski Veg took it to heart and gunned it doing fishtails and 360's. Needless to say we both ended up in the sea within five minutes. I was told by the other couple hiring that it looked quite spectacular from a distance: what with the huge plume of water and the empty jetski, still doing almost 60 km/hr shooting up into the air.

We went scuba diving on the forth day. It felt so good to get back into gear and head down to the reefs. Apart from my face mask, which didn't fit properly meaning I had to keep purging it every five minutes as it would fill with water, and the poor visability, the strong current meant we only had 2 to 2.5 metres, it was good. The coral had taken a pounding from a recent cyclone which was both sad but interesting to look but there was still some sheltered spots. And the fish were amazing. Though I didn't get to see any black tipped reef sharks (small sharks, not big ones lol). Must book in to do some more diving this summer. :)

Another first for me was a trip to the island spa on the last day. Never done the whole massage /skin treatment thing before. It's usually not my thing but I wanted to have a go at everything. The staff were trying to be all serious and creating this relaxing quiet ambience and here was Veg and I hell bent on sabotaging that completely. Well it was funny!

As you can tell by my babble I had a ball. But it was good to get back home to the kids and dogs. I miss 'em if I'm away too long. And my comic. I've had a rush of inspiration on the story and been churing out pencils like a demon. This page commences chapter 23, the second last chapter in this arc. Not much to look at, so, given I've made you all wait so long for an update I will add the next page on Saturday.

 
30/6/2008     Where am I when you read this... I wouldn't have a clue.

You may be wondering why my comic hasn't updated when it should. this is partically because I have lacked the time to even scratch me... well you know. Both my sons had their birthday parties this last month with the requesite sleep overs on top of everything else.

But the still reason you'll all have to wait a bit longer before i can update is that I have been abducted. Yup... stolen away with only an hours notice to pack before a limo pulled up our driveway to take me to the airport. Dear Veg, my soul mate, has arranged a mystery holiday for me for my birthday. He's been teasing me for the last four weeks with cryptic clues about what this present was going to be such as the colours 'red blue red' and that it was going to be spiritual (well duh! of course alcohol was going to be involved.) The there would be a lot of water and that my kids and many of our friends have all had a hand in arranging it... and this was before i even was aware that it was going to be a holiday (a fact i've only just found out.) I still don't know where we're going so i'll update you all when i can. All i know is that I'll be back by next Monday. :)

Best wishes til then.

17/6/2008     OMG Another update!

And only three days after the last one. I found myself with a bit of spare time yesterday and completed inking the last page of this chapter which you see posted above. (If you haven't been here since last friday you'll need to jump back a page.) There will be another update, the first page of chapter 23, posted this week as well! I've been looking forward to doing these last two chapters... here's where the fun and action really begin. (Read: how much can Peta further screw up the already screwed up state of the universe?!)

I had to work on figuring out the construction of Rufus's hands as they appear so many times holding that little vulpine singing spider. Rufus's hands have soft, leathery like dark charcoal coloured pads on the palms and front of each finger and dog like claws at the tips.

Spiders as pets? Not really, they just have an important talent the vulpine exploit. Besides, I like spiders. We sometimes get huntsman spiders living in the house. They look big and scary but they're harmless. We're so used to them my boys like to pick them up and handle them when they're close enough to the floor. They keep all the daddy long legs and other, messier creepycrawlies away. Rufus's spider looks nothing like a huntsman: they're hairy and thick bodied. It probably resembles some species of terran spider somewhere but the truth is I just pulled its design outta' my head.

Next chapter: Princess Titalia puts her scheming into action, Terinu faces down the Gene Mage and makes a promise he knows he will regret and Captain Vellum finally pounces on his prey.