"On Vacation..."

By Tony Lee

So next week (or this week, as you read this) I’m in Rome. And Pompeii. But mainly Rome. And as such, I’m writing this column at the end of the week before so that it’s all okay before I go away. To Rome. In Europe. It’s apparently where History was created, or something.

There are those who say that having a week away can be suicide for a writer, especially one that’s tied to their PC constantly to write, but you know what? I disagree. I’ve travelled the world, I’ve been to every continent bar one in this decade alone, and I’ve always been able to find an Internet café. I’ve emailed DC editors while in a hostel down from Macha Pichu. I’ve pitched scripts from a Jordanian restaurant. I’ve emailed photos to columns from Europe and Prague. I’ve printed off pages of a comic and arranged meetings at Marvel while in a shanty town off Lima. I love to travel.

But I also like to stay in contact.

I’m the guy who has the Gmail java app on his phone, who will constantly log in even when out for only a couple of hours. Sounds a bit OCD? Yeah, pretty much. But I’ve had times where the big pitch opportunity came in while I was out. By knowing about it as it arrived, I was able to prepare myself for when I got back. I had the email from Marvel (that turned into the eventual Amazing Fantasy MERC gig) turn up while I was about to get on a rollercoaster. By the time I got home I had a vague idea of where I wanted to go with the pitch. By the time I hit the PC I already had the script in my head. It might not seem much, but those hours spent thinking about it saved me countless hours later in the night. And meant that my drug filled hooker orgy could carry on as arranged. Go Tigers.

So I’ll be in Rome, seeing the sites and wishing all the while that I had a blackberry or some such that could enable me to check my emails. And I’ll be driving myself crazy looking for an Internet café every night.

I know, in the real world there’s this thing called WiFi, this mythical creation that hotels have – and I’m going to do my best to steal and utilise this – but then I have my second problem of the day – exactly what gadget do I use?

You see, San Diego I’m going to be a nightmare, like Warren Ellis’s bastard techno lovechild. I have so many electronic items in my carry on case that the chargers alone take up half the space. I have my HP laptop. It’s pretty much my life away from the PC, and faster to boot. I’m finding myself more and more moving away from the desktop and more to the laptop. It has WiFi and Bluetooth on it. I have my Ipaq PDA. It also has WiFi and Bluetooth on it. I can watch TV on it, but it’s a little small. Instead I have my 40 gb 7” screen Achos 700 for watching TV on. I just ram my AVIs on there and Bob’s your uncle. But oh noes! The battery is is dead! No worries, out comes the PSP, I can watch them on there. And play games and stuff. Bored of the PSP? I’ll listen to my ipod again.

I know – I could watch the AVIs on my laptop. But I just love those gadgets.

Dear.God. Do I really need all that? Well, the answer is quite obviously no. I’ll only be taking the ipod and PDA to Rome. Well, and maybe the PSP. And well, I might want to watch some TV, so maybe the Archos…

But Rome is supposed to be a vacation for me. It’s an opportunity for me to walk away from comics, to decide to look at other things, to immerse myself in the history – and to walk around with a copy of Angels and Demons and work out just how much is bollocks. Hell, I might even take Paul Jenkins’ Revelations, too.

And of course, you just know that I won’t be forgetting about writing. This week alone I’ve had to write a script, two treatments and three pitches for children’s books. The week after I get back I’m doing another script. Added to that I’m writing two novels, one work for hire. These things will add up. I’ll start thinking ‘hey, I have three hours on this trip to Pompeii – I can get at least an hour’s worth of typing in’.

God help my sweet workaholic soul. I’ll make sure I don’t take my PDA’s fold out keyboard. That’ll ensure less writing.

Still, it’s okay because if I don’t manage to relax while in Rome, in a month and a half we have another vacation week, otherwise known as the San Diego Comic Con. The latest update came out this week – I’m in the list of guests. This is the first year that I’ve managed to be in the update by now, usually I’m still chasing Pro Registration and crying lots. But this year? I seem to be organised. And not only that, without a booth I have barely any work to do – which gives me more time to sit around with my laptop.

Oh, wait. That means I have more time to write. While I’m at San Diego. That’s not good. Still, at least I don’t have a column to worry about while I’m over there – I’ve checked the diary and SBC have me scheduled to have a column up the day before I fly out – so that’ll be a fun one of stressness and ‘oh god oh god where did I put it’ yuk yuk ness. And of course the one I follow that with will be my jetlagged post-con report, which I’ll probably just cheat on and rip chunks out of my daily con report.

Hell, it’s not like I haven’t done that before, eh kids?