Introducing you to a Hamstring Flex

I will be the first to advocate the need for exercise, especially since it had helped me become the person I am.

Today I want to show you this . . .



That's me, doing a Hamstring Flex on an incline of maybe 45 degrees or thereabouts? As you can see, the right leg is attached to the cable. What you don't see are the actual weights attached as well. With the assistance of my personal trainer, whom I'll introduce you in my next post, we . . . well . . . I (but let's face it, training is a team effort, especially when the person being trained is disabled) did 3 sets of about 15-20 reps per leg (yeah, wasn't counting). Before you ask, yes I did add on weights at the end of the pully. First set per leg was only 11 kg and the remainder at 20 kg. 

Someone actually made a helicarrier

No, seriously. Someone did.

See?

Okay, fine, it's just a model that flies. But come on, it's a helicarrier baby!

Yes, deep down a bit of a nerd. I like my science fiction and yes, still like Marvel and DC. As a kid, I thoroughly fell in love with the idea that was SHIELD and the helicarrier (and it was awesome seeing it on the big screen in the Avengers). Something about both captured my imagination, you know? Like "the good guys are keeping the world safe while you sleep" sort of thing, which goes along how I also view those brave men and women who put on the uniform in real life; regardless if they are military, police, fire fighters or ambulance officers. They watch over us and keep us safe.

Titles and Covers

So I have been busy over the last few days, mostly to get back into the swing of things where actual work is

 

to be concerned. You see, I was doodling with Publisher and a photo editing programme, and trying to come up with a cover for a new series of novelettes, novellas and short novels that are to be set in the same universe (I talked about it last Friday here). I talked about the importance of a good catchy title back then as well, and am still working on it for the first story and for the series itself.

Well, for the last couple of days I was trying to come up with an idea for the first cover. You can see it to

your right. It's not a bad starter, but as you can see the colours

seem to wash into each other . . . or more accurately, the orange just didn't stand out. 

The one on the left?

Well, it's a step away from the first version, and is a spiritial follow-on to what my friends Nigel and Ander had done for me as examples.

What do you guys think?

From Puppets on a String to Collateral - What's in a series title?

Hi all, an welcome to another rendition of my thoughts on something other than what I should be doing! As to what I ought to be doing, you ask? Write and fine tune some ideas, more or else. Nonetheless, I wanted to put my thoughts on what is it that I want to call my series.

In the two draft cover examples to the right of your screen, you see Enemy Within and Collateral. Both sport "A Puppet on a String" in its titles, which were essentially what I wanted to go with from the beginning. But let's face it. As a whole the original title for the series is one heck of a mouthful. Yes, I completely understand that it could be informally known as "Puppets" for short, but you need to ask yourself . . . well, I need to ask myself at least . . . does it reflect what it is that I want to show.

A prime example being Star Trek or Star Wars, both use that in their primary series title.


Some of my favourite series in ebook form normally use the main character's name as the series title, so as to group each of the stories together to be easier to find. My friend Erica uses the name of the ship that inhabit her Callisto series, so there is that too.

So what is my story and proposed series idea all about? Well, it's not about pickles taking over the world. I know, right . . . One of my friends will be deeply disappointed. The series will be contemporary and yet near future-ish (so from five to ten years from now, or a little bit later). The protagonists will be the following people:

• Carl Nicole, who starts of as a Military Police investigator on detached duty to the United Nations Joint Africa Command.
• Papa, a fellow Military Police investigator who too is detached to the purely fictional U.N. regional command.
• Jessica Adams, a spook of sorts.
• Doc, an annoying yet well meaning probationary agent whom I hope to use as a comic relief.

I need to think some more on this.