http://www.bluejester.com For those too lazy to type a URL en-ie x86-install-service http://www.bluejester.com/images/rss.png http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/09/05/comic-tester/ 05-09-2010:

It's taken a long time to get to this stage. Mainly because of work, comedy, writing. Half a dozen things really. But I finally managed to finish the first, maybe only, comic for the site.

Read On...]]> 2010-09-05 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/09/04/rambles/ 04-09-2010:

This isn't going to be an all important rant today. A migraine that I've had since Thursday (one which destroyed my Thursday evening might I add) has decided to stick around for the weekend and keep me company. It rolled itself up into a nice little ball and is throbbing just above my eye. Reminding me every few minutes that it is there.

Read On...]]> 2010-09-04 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/09/03/what-i-did-on-my-holidays/ 03-09-2010:

Just back from a week in Spain and man am I relaxed.

Read On...]]> 2010-09-03 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/08/24/arty-farty-2/ 24-08-2010:

Did some work on the comic images the other day, long overdue I might add. I had them scanned in and on the system for days but it was just a matter of getting time to work on them. You'll find changing jobs gives you a bit of free time to work on projects that have been gathering dust ;).

Read On...]]> 2010-08-24 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/08/20/end-of-an-era/ 20-08-2010:

Today was my official last day in the job. As of now I can no longer go into the building, log into the systems, hell I don't even think I get the free parking any more. While I am still technically an employee that is only because I had holidays booked before handing in the notice. But as far as the job is concerned today was my last day.

Read On...]]> 2010-08-20 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/08/18/that-time-again/ 18-08-2010:

Since the book is more or less finished (bar all the work of sending the bastard out to agents) I find that my hobby time has freed up a little bit. I've been working on that comic a little bit each week. Nearly have all the scenes penciled and will be scanning them in soon enough to start the inking and colouring.

Read On...]]> 2010-08-18 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/08/16/its-voluntary/ 16-08-2010:

It's been a while since I've had a good old rant on The Bauble, something that is just posted to get things off my chest. Thankfully, after reading the newspapers today, I have just the thing to rant about. One that I am surprised to learn is still a problem in the education system, nearly ten years after I encountered and ignored the problem myself.

Read On...]]> 2010-08-16 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/08/13/the-submission-letter/ 13-08-2010:

I've gone and slapped all the chapters into one file now. Before this point I was keeping each one separate, one chapter per file. Mainly because it was easier for me when I started writing each night. As the book grew in size it would have taken longer to load and longer to jump down to where I could start adding new stuff in.

Read On...]]> 2010-08-13 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/08/10/nearly-submission-time/ 10-08-2010:

Last night I started the rewrite of chapter twenty of my book. This chapter is nineteen pages. Throw in the epilogue into the mix and you have twenty six pages left to be done.

Read On...]]> 2010-08-10 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/08/04/sunset/ 04-08-2010:

Recently I tweeted that I had something to announce, but wasn't able to at the moment of the tweet. The reason for that little bit of mystery was that everything had not become official. At least it was not official at that moment.

Read On...]]> 2010-08-04 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/08/01/arty-farty/ 01-08-2010:

It's been a while since I've had an update that involved artwork of some description. Probably because the last few weeks have been spent on rewrites of the book, so my sketch pad has been gathering dust on the table. This isn't to sayh that I've not had some ideas floating around for things to draw. I just haven't had the time to get around to draw them

Read On...]]> 2010-08-01 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/07/28/tough-gig/ 28-07-2010:

It's been a while. Over a week in fact. But you can be sure that this rant is going to be a long one.

Read On...]]> 2010-07-28 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/07/20/five-to-go/ 20-07-2010:

I've reached the final five chapters of the book for this phase of the rewrites. Man it is start to become real work to just get through them.

Read On...]]> 2010-07-20 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/07/18/northern-dental/ 18-07-2010:

I was up North this weekend to have a visit with a new dentist. I think I like this new dentist for many reasons, the main one being she didn't find a hundred things wrong with my teeth just to make money. There was no "Oh look, that needs a filling." or "Yep you need to have everything pulled out of your mouth because I need to buy a new car.". Nope, there was none of that.

Read On...]]> 2010-07-18 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/07/12/slowly-but-surely/ 12-07-2010:

Rewrites still going ahead. They are a time consuming part of this whole writing process, let me tell you. You can't just skim over chapters, you really have to read and read. Then read some more. Catch spelling mistakes, see how things flow. Even then you tend to miss stuff. Which is why I reckon I will be starting draft number three by the end of August.

Read On...]]> 2010-07-12 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/07/07/tuesday-i-barely-knew-ya/ 07-07-2010:

It's Wednesday morning, officially. To be precise it is early on Wednesday morning. Why am I ranting so early? Well, because I can't sleep.

Read On...]]> 2010-07-07 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/07/05/the-search-begins/ 05-07-2010:

I'm roughly half way through the rewrites at this stage. Ok, honestly, I am one chapter short of being half way. But it's close enough. Nine chapters down, done and dusted, eleven to go. Enough under my belt to warrant moving onto the next phase of this writing lark.

Read On...]]> 2010-07-05 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/30/sample-for-you/ 30-06-2010:

I'm going out on a limb here folks, so try to not shake the tree all that much.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-30 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/29/the-hard-chapter/ 29-06-2010:

Just finished rewriting chapter seven and noticed that I had been a little quiet on the old Bauble these days. That's what happens when time gets away from you I guess. Of course having a concept of it passing would help but you can't have everything you want. Plus I had a mega migraine yesterday after work, don't you just love the ones that appear after work. Not during work, or before work, but the second you head out the office door on your way home for the evening. I think I literally got in the car and the bastard started to build right behind my eyes, resulting in an early night and a wasted evening.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-29 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/22/rewrites/ 22-06-2010:

The last rant based on the events of the weekend. It only took me three days to chronicle (not the Roommate ones) the events of the weekend. Maybe that's a sign that I pack too much into too short a time frame. Having no concept of time doesn't really help in these matters either.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-22 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/21/up-in-the-air/ 21-06-2010:

As promised the events of the weekend are being told in the order they happened. Today marks the second entry that is actually from Saturday morning.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-21 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/20/the-final-/ 20-06-2010:

Bit of a hectic weekend so this is literally the first moment I have had that could be considered "me" time, time usually required to write on The Bauble.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-20 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/15/pic-e/ 15-06-2010:

Not really a rant with an update today I'm afraid, just some pics that I wanted to upload.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-15 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/14/unto-the-bitter-end/ 14-06-2010:

Right, so, the Semi Final of the Comedy Dublin 2010 Contest was on last night. I ain't going to lie, I wasn't going in with the highest of hopes for my survival into the next round. Of the six acts on I had never heard of two of them, but knew from others in comedy that they both ran their own comedy clubs. To me that sort of signaled that they must be pretty good.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-14 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/12/contest-fun/ 12-06-2010:

It would appear that I am a glutton for punishment. Not content to have one contest going on in my life these days I figure I would go and enter another.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-12 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/10/joke-stealing/ 10-06-2010:

There has been a lot of this floating about in comedy circles the last few days, more discussions than people actually doing it, and I have been reading it with great interest.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-10 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/09/im-behind-you/ 09-06-2010:

I will admit, I am starting to enjoy the bike rides into and out of work these days. Obviously the ones out of work are more enjoyable, but the ones into work aren't entirely devoid of enjoyment either.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-09 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/04/underground-contest/ 04-06-2010:

Last night was my first time performing in "The Underground Comedy Club" running out of the basement of The Oak on Dame Street every Thursday night (do I know how to plug a comedy club or what!).

Read On...]]> 2010-06-04 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/06/02/sunny/ 02-06-2010:

Man alive is that good weather out there today. This coming from a perpetual computer vampire that can't step foot out in normal sunlight because his skin will burst into lobster red.

Read On...]]> 2010-06-02 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/29/da-jester/ 29-05-2010:

Grabbed a little painting time this weekend, finally. The usual rush of social life and work life and comedy had consumed most of the spare time that could be given over to a little bit of painting. But, despite having plans for later in the evening, I was able to get some "Jester" time.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-29 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/28/terrible-thursday/ 28-05-2010:

You know the drill by now, I get migraines. I have done for coming close on fifteen years now. Fifteen years seems a long time to some people when they hear it. They ask the same question every time: "And there is nothing the doctor's can do for you?"

Read On...]]> 2010-05-28 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/26/rotten-dentist/ 26-05-2010:

This morning I went for the second of my fillings. Those that read The Bauble may recall that I recently went down to the dentist for a cleaning, never having any trouble with my teeth for the twenty seven years I have had them (alright I know you loose them at some point but who really keeps track of all that).

Read On...]]> 2010-05-26 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/25/jester-thumb-up/ 25-05-2010:

So the other day the lady friend handed me a copy of "Sh*t My Dad Says!" by Justin Halpern. For those that don't know it is a book based off a Twitter account.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-25 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/24/the-eircom-bendover/ 24-05-2010:

Word on the street, by street I mean the Irish Times, is that Eircom is now going to do a three-strike rule for illegal downloads.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-24 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/20/fok-yu/ 20-05-2010:

After a little bit of waiting (a bit longer than usual for some reason) my new shirt design arrived in the post. Maybe it took a little longer because it was a dark shirt that got printed on, they do say that it can take five days to print on dark material. But the shipping date was at least two weeks ago, according to the email, and other shirts have appeared on my desk in work a lot faster than two weeks.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-20 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/16/seventeen/ 16-05-2010:

Finished yet another chapter today. Full steam ahead, two chapters left to write and that will be the first full draft of a book that has been nearly ten years in the writing. Some new ideas cropped up in this chapter that I hadn't written down in the plot outline and I slotted them in nicely.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-16 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/12/tag-rants-it/ 12-05-2010:

You can always tell when I am doing a little bit of work on the site. The week (or weeks) leading up to the a new feature usually see less entires going up. I think last week had exactly one rant and that was about the comedy contest.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-12 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/10/the-pen-is-mighty/ 10-05-2010:

For years I have always heard and be told that the 'pen' tool in any of the Adobe art programs is the best thing since the pen in real life. Apparently it is one of the best things to use for drawing shapes, plotting, highlighting, outlining. You name it this thing was able to do it.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-10 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/05/into-the-semi/ 05-05-2010:

You get up on stage, you have that slightly strange feeling in the pit of your stomach. Most of the people in the crowd have seen your set before, the jokes won't be as funny, you just don't think the material stands up to a second viewing.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-05 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/04/pregig/ 04-05-2010:

I always hate the day before a gig that falls during the working week. Not the twenty-four hours before a gig, but the day time before a gig. Mainly because I am sitting in an office, doing work (or what passes for work) and trying to go over in my head what jokes will be pulled out of the hat.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-04 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/05/01/fifteen-down/ 01-05-2010:

Literally just after finishing chapter fifteen of my book ( Fran I swear to god if you make another black belt remark I will kill you ) and it feels good. Real good. It might not be a well written chapter itself, but the feeling that I am closer to finishing the book is a good feeling.

Read On...]]> 2010-05-01 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/04/27/round-2/ 27-04-2010:

Just got an email about the next round of the comedy contest. It will be in Sheehan's again on May 4th. Everyone can expect to be getting the usual text to get your arse into the show.

Read On...]]> 2010-04-27 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/04/26/things-i-learned-in-berlin/ 26-04-2010:

Just back from a long weekend in Berlin with the lady friend (part of her present at Christmas since she loves the city and always wanted to go). I tell you it was fantastic time altogether.

Read On...]]> 2010-04-26 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/04/22/changes-2/ 22-04-2010:

I wonder if any of you even noticed. Did you notice? Did you?

Read On...]]> 2010-04-22 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/04/21/fill-me-drill-me/ 21-04-2010:

I can't feel the left side of my face, the cheek area to be precise. This isn't because I am not touching it, or myself.

Read On...]]> 2010-04-21 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/04/19/ash-ash-berlin/ 19-04-2010:

I reckon if you imagine that incestuous gay twin act that was on X-Factor singing that title you will have it stuck in your head all day.

Read On...]]> 2010-04-19 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/04/16/ash-friday/ 16-04-2010:

Oh come on, you all knew somebody was going to make that pun. Plus, I bet I am not the first person to say it today. Does it count as being blasphemous I wonder? Probably should look into that, just in case a fine is headed my way.

Read On...]]> 2010-04-16 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/04/14/top-of-the-heat/ 14-04-2010:

No, that isn't some fancy pants way of saying I am randy. I would just say that I am randy. That title refers to the fact that last night I went through to the next round of the Comedy Dublin contest for 2010.

Read On...]]> 2010-04-14 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/04/12/always-busy/ 12-04-2010:

It never seems to stop. There is just something constantly cropping up that fills the days and weeks and in the blink of an eye you are booked up for weeks on end. I thought it might get a little quiet after this weekend.

Read On...]]> 2010-04-12 http://www.bluejester.com http://www.bluejester.com/rants/2010/04/09/all-set/ 09-04-2010:

Comedy gig approaches and practice time gets smaller.

Read On...]]> 2010-04-09