As per requests, here are some pictures of Phoenix the Blade's equipment, about 98% complete.



The flamethrower, now ultimately discarded as it's too heavy to wear with the rest of it, but still mightily pleased with it. It will be substituted for a shield of some sort for the next Expo



The buzzsaw arm, mostly complete at this stage. As you can see, Phoenix has his monogram on it ^__~



The fuel tank for the buzzsaw. Don't ask me exactly how the buzzsaw is fuelled, as I don't know.



His mask. He has allergies



The finished piece (sans mask, which is on the sofa next to it)! I'm very excited about wearing it, although... it'll be really heavy. Let's see how many spinal problems I come back with tomorrow... Plus, more photos with me in them as well! Joy, for... fans of me, anyway ^__^;

Heh, it's been a while since I last updated. Things've been busy, as you might expect :p

Anyway... first and foremost, thank you everyone for all your comments and thoughts and wishes for the last post. It means so much to me, and really helped a lot in bringing me through. I would love to give each of you a decent individual reply, but... I don't know if I can read it again, if I'm honest. I don't think I'm ready to look back on those feelings just yet. I'm glad we were able to make the right decision for him, although it was, and is, still pretty painful to think back to. I mean, there's so much going on it's easy enough to be distracted, but when there's a moment of quiet, and you just remember a tiny thing, it hits harder than you might expect. But even then I never want his passing to be about me; it shouldn't be like that. We've got him back now, in a way- his ashes were returned a couple of weeks back, not that we've done anything with them yet, so he's just sat on the kitchen worktop. Dad commented that he used to always get in the way while we were cooking, and it's a comfort to think he's still doing so now, hehe ^___^

We have a new puppy now, so we're back to three dogs. He's called Kiba, which Mum's telling everyone is Japanese for 'wolf' but it isn't, it's just the name of a wolf in a Japanese anime -____-; Gweh. Still, he's very cute. A cocker/springer spaniel cross, so rather nuts as well. He's getting on fantastically with Merlin and Taiko, and they're all... really happy, I think. In some ways Romulus could get in the way of their interactions with everyohne else. He was always top dog, so any games people were playing had to be with him and nobody else, heh. Now they can all play without being pushed out of the way, and they really love that. merlin's really enjoying his authority as pack leader, although he's still anervous wreck when it comes to strangers in the house. Yes, you're very brave there, crossing your legs and barking from all the way along the corridor. Good job *facepalm*

Aside from that, I've been inordinately busy. My evenings just get stolen from me. I had this whole week planned out, an in... literally an hour on Sunday, I think, it went. Tonight was staff briefing for Goodwood, tomorrow a birthday evening, Wednesday Dan's round, Thursday is press night for Separate Tables at the theatre and Friday is the Revival evening. I WAS GOING TO WRITE. Uuh, it won't be ready this week, just when I'd resolved to complete it. That's making me rather depressed, actually. The only limit I placed was my own, but I wanted to do it. I'm only three chapters from the end of my revisions. So close... I'm hoping I can skive tomorrow afternoon a bit between work and going out to get at least some of it done.

The weekend before last I was in Warwick Castle doing performy, stage combaty things. That was immensely cool ^_________________________^ Show was fantastis, we gained a lot of respect from directors and actors (who'd looked at us rather derisively at first) and got to meet... Bob Anderson! Waaah! He's so cool ^___^ If you don't know who he is then Google him and be amazed. The man is a fencing and stage combat paragon.

Other than that, been working lots. I bought some really cool gloves and lots of flavoured tea today, because I had a real hankering for vanilla tea after someone mentioned it at work the other day. I ended up with their last packet of that, and three tubs of assorted other flavours of instant green teas, eheh ^__^; I will enjoy my drinkies soon. I'm also planning another holiday, and it's coming round rather sooner than I anticipated. I need to tidy my room before I leave. And glurk, is that a big job o_____o; I only has two weeks now.

That's about it. I'm... incredibly tired. I apologise for the disjointedness of this. I've been meaning to update for ages, and this was about everything I needed to say.

I hope everyone's well and safe. Take care.

EDIT: I have discovered 'pariah' is not the word I wanted, nor did I spell it right -__________-; 'Paragon' is much more suitable.

I can't say today's gone exactly as I'd planned.

While the very top of the morning started fine (if rather more quickly than my recently-roused brain was anticipating), things became rather more, um... uneasy. Romulus, our eldest dog, is very sick. He must be... 14, I think now. For a Standard Poodle, it's excellent. But the older he gets, the greater toll these illnesses and events take on him. He threw up a heck of a lot this morning. He wasn't even keeping water down, and for a long time wouldn't move. I had to leave this evening, but apparently he was still throwing up past then, and when I came to see him in the garden it took him ages to raise his head to see me. Typically, Mum would be away all week this week; one of her worst fears would be for him to fall sick the day after she left, as she said earlier. Anyways, Dad phoned the emergency vet, who asked specifically to see Romulus, and my Dad and younger sister are taking him there. I feel guilty for not going, and the only, rather feeble-seeming excuse is that I have work early tomorrow that I can't miss. Since he's retired and she's on school holidays for the moment... I don't know, I still feel like I'm making excuses. I'm sending myself with him as much as I can to keep him safe, and if possible to prevent him throwing up all over my sister and Dad's rather clean car. Of course, valeting clothes and car is nothing in comparison to his well-being, though. Seeing him so weak that he'd lose balance after taking a drink, looking so gaunt, it's soul-destroying.

I'll let you know how he is in the morning, or earlier, depending. Thank you for reading. Please keep him with you.