This is where I used to drink with colleagues from Ofsted, after work.

I sometimes think my computers have become extra limbs. They are so much a part of my life that I find it difficult to function without them, and it is nearly impossible to both seek work and then do the work once it comes in without them. That is why the last few days have been like hell.

The power supply on my MacBook died on Wednesday, shortly after I finished uploading that day’s nobmouse video. Since then I have been vlogging unedited, which is a difficult process but not without its own sense of fun. It’s as close as I get to “going live” and I’m enjoying it, although I’m also looking forward to getting back the ability to use an autocue.

Yes, that’s right, my more complex videos are done with the benefit of scripts. That’s how I can bring you those in-depth “Applying the law to Batman” videos, as well as some of my faster-spoken rants. I use the autocue to make sure I don’t accidentally flub a legal definition and thus give out the wrong information, and also because when I’m reading off a screen I don’t have a stammer; whereas when I’m unedited and talking direct to the camera without a script, I do.

It’s not as bad as it once was but it’s there. See if you can spot it in today’s video (I know I can).

To keep myself occupied when I’m not either writing or trying to find writing work, I have been playing around with the Discworld MUD, a text-based multiplayer online roleplaying game that has been around for about twenty years. I’ve been playing it since 1998 with a variety of characters (I’ve tried every guild and found a couple that I really enjoy, so now I mostly stick to those) and I still love it. There’s always something new to see and do because there is a large team of programmers who design new parts to the world, and new quests to engage in. It’s a lot of fun, as I mentioned in today’s video for Your Pants Official.

Jennifer is working all the hours she can, which worries me because she gets exhausted when she does this and has ended up in hospital with exhaustion before. I try to warn her but she does not listen. I’m unfortunately the same (I once collapsed on the train on the way to work, discharged myself from hospital and then went to work), so it’s not like I can tell her off for working too hard without sounding like a giant hypocrite. Still, it worries me and I wish there was something I could do to help her feel like she didn’t have to work all the time.

The one way to do that would be to get a regular income again, but since the freelancing work has dried up, that means going back into the regular workforce. I’m looking for work but, as usual, potential employers aren’t even sending a “thanks but no thanks” message. I don’t like rejection any more than the next person but being ignored, as is happening now, is actually even worse.

But I’ll persevere anyway. What other choice do I have?

The 'Reading the Weird' logo

So today I’ve had an enjoyable day off, doing little more than watching a few episodes of Supernatural and also writing some of my forthcoming novel, Curse of the Other World. I have to say the story is coming together very nicely, although there is a long way to go on it yet.

I woke up with a bad back, and by bad I mean agonising. It still hurts now but earlier today I could hardly move. I hope it is back to normal tomorrow because I have videos to produce and comics to draw! Yes, that’s right – everything starts up again tomorrow.

As I now have far more time than I did before, and also far less writing work at the moment, I have decided that the best way to keep myself busy is to create more videos. I have been wanting to do something about weird fiction for a long time now and this seems to be the best time. The first episode of Reading the Weird is therefore going to launch tomorrow. RTW is a new show on the ZJKR channel that will see me reading short stories in the weird fiction genre, with occasional artwork and animation to break up the video so it’s not all just me sat there, reading a book at the camera.

Reading the Weird will be a departure from what I set the ZJKR channel up to be (namely blogs focussing on my life and the things that are going on in it). I think this new content will make the channel more interesting for people to watch, which can only be a good thing. I would be grateful to hear what you think about this change.

In addition, I’m going to try to get The April Kohl Show running again, although that will have to stay weekly for now, if I can schedule filming for it at all. I’m wary of taking on too much at once, so we’ll have to see how it goes.

Anyway, I have to head off and get tomorrow’s comics sketched out so I know what I’m doing with them. I hope you enjoy them all coming back off hiatus. With a bit of luck, the wait has been worth it.

The exam went well. How well remains to be seen, of course, and I won’t know the outcome until some time in June. For now, I’m just happy that I was able to answer all the questions and I got out of the ordeal without chewing through the table due to nerves.

I celebrated by visiting my in-laws, having a nice meal and generally enjoying having some company for the first time in quite a while. My life has been little more than revision and work for the last few weeks so it was nice to have some free time again.

Yesterday I decided I wanted a day off to relax and unwind. I have been very tightly wound for months now because the exam was looming over me like some monster, ready to strike at any moment and destroy the goal I have been working towards for five years; namely my law degree. I still have to chase up my psychiatrist to get the medical evidence letter I need for my illness to be taken into consideration when the exam is marked (I was hoping to receive the letter and have it sent off before I took the exam but it seems nothing in the NHS works at a decent pace so I’m glad I have up to a month after the exam date to get the evidence in) but aside from that, I’ve done everything I can.

So now I just have to wait.

Today my parents and my cousin came for a visit. We all went out to a restaurant that used to be very nice, for a meal. I say “used to be” because I was very disappointed tonight. Although the place was packed, which is usually an indicator of quality, I was less than impressed with both the choice of dishes and the service. The food was good, but I could have had the same thing at home for a tenth of the price so I’m not prepared to let that outweigh the problems.

Let’s start with the menu. When the restaurant was still Barocco’s I could go in and know there would be a decent selection of vegetarian options to choose from. There would be at least one option in each selection of dishes; be it pizza, pasta, rice or whatever. Tonight there were three choices of meal, and two of them were pizza. I could either have spaghetti, a basic cheese and tomato pizza or an aubergine, tomato, olive and cheese pizza. That was it.

I’m allergic to wheat.

This would not have been a problem before the restaurant changed hands and became Ciao Baby (which I think we can all agree is a front-runner for stupidest name for a restaurant but we’ll leave that to one side for the moment). As I said before, there was a wide range of options available. I usually went for risotto because they did a wonderful one with all kinds of flavours in it. Tonight, I checked the menu and the only risotto available was ‘chicken and cheese’ (which turned out to be so creamy it was practically rice pudding with chicken in it) or ‘seafood’ (which included a whole prawn – and I mean whole).

Jennifer suggested I order the chicken risotto and ask for it without chicken but I was already getting a vibe from the place telling me that would not go well. I ordered the aubergine pizza and resigned myself to the fact that for the next three days or so I was going to be in agony.

Jennifer’s starter arrived so much earlier than everyone else’s that she had finished it long before we were all served. We all had the feeling that it was one that had been cooked in error for another table’s order and they just shipped it out to Jen so as to not waste food. This came from the fact that they brought out an extra serving of garlic mushrooms when serving the starters for the rest of us.

The main meal came and tasted good. The portions were just the right size and, thankfully, they all came at about the same time.

After we finished our meals we were only waiting about 5-6 minutes before anyone asked if we wanted deserts. We decided we would. Jennifer ordered icecream while the rest of us ordered various things, like cheesecake and tiramisu.

Jennifer never got her desert, despite us asking twice. The waitress, in fact, seemed to have completely forgotten Jennifer had even ordered and, after the second time, came back to ask what sort of ice cream she had ordered. When she came back again, we told her to forget it and just bring the bill.

She didn’t come back with the bill either.

So we spoke to the maitre d ‘ and eventually got the bill. They had tried to charge us for the icecream Jennifer never received. We complained and the bill was taken away, then adjusted. Nobody came back to collect it, though; so we ended up just leaving the money on the table and walking out.

Suffice to say I will not be going back.

This just goes to show that poor service and a ‘can’t be bothered’ attitude from the staff is a brilliant way to destroy a nice evening. I had been looking forward to seeing everyone and having a nice night out but, once again, other people not bothering to do their jobs properly ruins the day. At least this time I don’t have to spend the next couple of days wasting my time sorting out their problems. Thank goodness for small mercies.