REAL-TIME 2
~ESHER.FIL~
 
 18:04

The pizzas arrived some time ago and most of them are in us 
now. Only Bonus is still eating. He seems a bit slower than 
the rest. Simultaneously, we are checking each other's hard 
disks for stuff that might be worth copying. Only legal 
stuff, of course, as both DBA and ACC are reknown for their 
semi-religious fervour in the battle against piracy (I 
don't think this is sarcasm).
Back to one...

 Richard

 18:22

Lethargy rules! Bonus is still feeding himself pizza bits, 
Slimer is playing "Lasers and Men". He is begging me to be 
allowed to copy it but, unfortunately, it's a registered 
version. If only I wasn't that honest... He known someone 
where he can get the PD version, so he makes a mental note 
not to forget to get it there soon. The thing that springs 
to mind right away, and that is perhaps a bit boring to 
speak about, is the heat. It is still getting warmer and 
warmer, or at least so it seems. It's too hot to write for 
this article.

 Richard

 18:39

It seems I no longer have the right to use my own Falcon. 
Slimer is still looting and plundering my hard disk. It 
seems I have become slightly superfluous. But...er...don't 
I have to finish ST NEWS actually, sortof?

 Richard

 18:43

Who me, looting and plundering? Naaaaahhhhh, no way, not 
me! I'm the most honest man on this earth (well except for 
Alexander that is)... Anyway, Alex and Richard are busy 
with their compies trying to accomplish some sort of XGA 
viewer on a VGA monitor. Well, it seems to work now, 
because several pics come flying by on the screen.
The good old inspiration bug has popped up in my brain and 
it blocks my thoughts. So let's do a real-time observation 
then...

Here comes another truly real-time impression of the 
activities surrounding me:

Bonus is searching for a file in "GfA Basic".
Richard is now pulling disks from his drawer.
Bonus has left his seat, wanders around and talks a bit.
Bonus is now looking at this screen with a dumb expression 
on his face...
Miranda (Richard's girlfriend) is calling several people, 
which Richard doesn't seem to like! Richard is formatting 
some disks now.
Bonus has left and boots his Falcon again and again and 
again and...again.
Richard is dealing programs with Bonus, and they boot the 
demo from the Mugwumps. The StarTrek intro is running now, 
which Richard seems to enjoy very much.
Richard is now doing epileptic movements on the beat of the 
music.
Bonus is staring at the greetings screen now (with the 
thought in his mind: I can do that in "GfA"!).
Bonus is optimizing his code for the XGA displayer, but he 
turns towards Richard's VGA screen, bored.
Richard seems to have trouble filling ST NEWS while he 
talks to "Maggie" editor CIH on the phone (who called a few 
seconds ago)! 
Bonus is now browsing through his files searching for the 
proper files to load.
Richard is still talking to CIH, while Bonus displays a 
rhino on screen.

This all happens with approx. 4 seconds intervals. OK, on 
with the show...

Bonus is pouring some Coke in a glass and actually drinks 
it! Richard is still talking to CIH, while I leave to fill 
my glass with some Coke too.

 Slimer

 19:23

Slimer's on the phone with CIH now, promising to send some 
stuff back and forth. I am now busy adding some stuff to ST 
NEWS because there's some space left. Not enough to add 
programs or anything, but enough for another fairly large 
article or two. From what I have read above, the stuff 
written down by esteemed Mr. Slimer, things must strike you 
as very boring. Maybe they are.

 Richard

 19:39 

I was talking to CIH and he sounds like nice bloke, I 
promised him to send him the latest issue of "DBA 
magazine". He, of course, promised to send me the next 
"Maggie"!

 Slimer

 19:53

Yep, Bonus is here again, finally ready with his small XGA 
displayer and talking with Richard about "Red Dwarf". I hope
there are a lot more people like us that love this superb 
series. Anyway, what more shall I tell you? A small story 
maybe? OK, there are a lot of people that have asked me why 
I chose Bonus Software for a name. It goes a long way back 
to my school time. We had a hour off so we went to the 
local arcade. There was this pinball machine with a small 
defect. So we played it for a time and suddenly the machine 
went on TILT. I just had the best score of the lot so I was 
rather... ** Break here: I just heard that Richard watches 
a series called "Beverly Hills 90210", give me a break - 
juuuucckk, well, OK ** ...pissed of so I gave the machine 
an enormous kick. The tilt went away, and we now got 20 
credits extra while a big word, BONUS, kept on blinking. 
Guess what, since that day I was called Bonus. The Software 
was added to it several years later when I bought my first 
computer. That was a Timex 1000, the upgraded version of an 
ZX 81. It had 2 Kb of free memory. Although I didn't do 
much on that machine the first program had the credits in 
it. A later machine was an older Atari 400, the kind with 
the flat keyboard. I wrote a lot of small games for it and 
some of them where published in magazines or PD libraries.
After that I went on to an 800 XL, ST, STE and now on the 
Falcon, but one thing is still the same - my name.

So now you know why I am called Bonus Software. OK, I admit 
that it isn't the best of names but I can live with it. So 
what more can I tell...a lot, but maybe later.

 Bonus Software

 20:21

 ---> What's this? ---> ('OOOOOooooo....

 Yes it's ASCII art, called a snake...

Strange dude, this Bonus Software, with a strange name 
indeed. Anyway, I won't bore you with the background of my 
name because it's just nicked from "Ghostbusters", so 
nothing deep here...Well, let's turn around and watch some 
exciting commercials :=O

 Slimer

 20:28 

We are now watching "Bef-erly Hills" and it is kinda, 
sortof actually, well, somehow...fun? It's hard to describe 
it, but it is somewhere between boring and fun. Richard 
seems to be having fun watching this stuff; strange for a 
guy who hates commercial things! Well, he must be doing it 
for his girlfriend then... (actually I am not - come on, 
every sentient life form is certainly entitled to some 
oddities, and this is one of mine, ED.) Lotsa sentimental 
stuff is droolin' by! Pills, car radios, bad acting, LSD, 
lotsa tears and Bonus making everything even worse... By 
the way, Brandon's eyes don't seem to be standing straight 
in his head (that Brenda, actually, ED.)! Well, it's 
evening now and I'm becoming alive a bit, which clearly 
shines through in this text I presume! It's my dark side 
that slowly comes floating up now! "Speed Speed Speed Speed 
Speed Speed Speed Speed, I need Speed!" (Real-time part of 
"Bef-erly Hills")

 Slimer
 
 20:50

"Beverly Hills 90210" has ended. Sweat has made my T-shirt 
cling to my body, and ST NEWS is finished (I did that 
during the first few minutes of the TV series). Later 
tonight, and perhaps tomorrow morning, I will check things 
more thoroughly to see if there are some bugs left. I don't 
think there'll be, but you never know, do you? It is 
conceivable that tomorrow we'll go for a swim. The news 
just mentioned that this month of July was the hottest of 
the century. In July 1983 the average temperature was 20.1 
degrees, and this month it's 20.4 (so far; we've still got 
a week to go). It's been the hottest month of July since 
1783, when the average temperature was supposed to have 
been 20.6 degrees (all temperatures in degrees Celcius, of 
course).

Oh fate, oh fate, why dost thou want me to finish ST NEWS 
in this month? I hate warmth like this! Even with all 
windows and doors flung wide open, the temperature refuses 
to drop. The expected average night temperature for tonight 
is 19 degrees. I would like 19 degrees in the daytime!

 Richard

 20:57

Miranda just told me it's rather cool outside now. I think 
we'll go outside again. Bonus has just discovered my 
Falcon-hacked (thanks Pele!) version of "Super Sprint". 
Slimer tells me he used to be quite excellent at it. Maybe 
we'll play it a bit later. I for one am going outside now.

 Richard

 Sunday, July 24th 1994 

 00:27

We've been outside for hours, reminiscing, talking about 
the days of old when everything was so much better. You 
would be amazed at the topics discussed, varying from 
piracy, police, Foundation for the Protection of Software, 
girls, sleeping under a starlit sky, cars, the army, and a 
whole host of stuff that was somehow deemed interesting for 
as long as it lasted. Crisps and beernuts were devoured, 
as well as rather copious amounts of Cola and quite a bit 
of Coliac (though Bonus is somewhat of a teetotaller). 
These DBA guys are actually quite nice, I find. At 23:50 we 
went back inside to play "Super Sprint", and now the both 
of them are playing it with Miranda. Bonus is constantly 
complaining about the lack of being able to tear a car from 
an oil spot when using keyboard controls. It's quite 
entertaining to see them all at it. 

The temperature (yeah, I'm going to go on at it again) 
inside is now sortof OK. We've had to close some windows 
because we didn't want to have a huge amount of insects 
assailing us. I am getting a bit sleepy but I think I can 
cope for another while. Tomorrow it will be very hot again 
so we'll have to get up reasonably in time to actually do 
something before we go to the swimming pool.

"Shit." (Miranda quote) "Super Sprint" is a very addictive 
game. I am very glad Pele of Lemmings (is that right?) 
wanted to hack my copy so it now works on the Falcon. Now I 
only need to get "Blood Money" to run. "Llamatron", "Bubble 
Bobble" and "Super Sprint" work already. "Blood Money" is 
the odd thing out.


I have only drunk small amounts of alcohol so far. Probably 
about 1/5th of a litre of Plantiac and just about as much 
Muier Schipper Bitter (during "Beverly Hills 90210"). I am 
as sober as the proverbial buddhist monk though. Miranda 
just won a track of "Super Sprint", beating Slimer. He just 
walked off, suddenly wanting to do something else. He 
claims his self-esteem has vanished. Miranda seems to have 
a field day. "It's bad to lose from a girl, isn't it?" 
(Miranda quote)

 Richard

 00:43

RhhaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Boohoo, boo, sniff, 
sniff! Tell me that isn't true, tell me that it isn't! I 
lost, I lost from a girl! Well, I actually played this game 
years ago and they (Richard & Miranda) played it quite a 
bit recently. Metallica is filling the airwaves around me 
now.

Break: Time to empty my bladder first!

Back again, time for another real-time observation of the 
surroundings.


Alex and Miranda are still playing "Super Sprint" and 
Miranda keeps winning! Pretty patethic methinks, sad but 
true! More perspiration than inspiration.

 Slimer

 00:53

Miranda cried jubilantly. She just beat both DBA men at 
"Super Sprint", both men clutching to their joysticks 
frantically and her just being at the keys. She reckons 
it's quite an achievement, and I tend to agree. Even as I 
write this, however, she's already lost (i.e. came in 
fourth) in the next game. "Nomad, vagabond, call me what 
you will!" (Metallica quote)

 Richard

 01:03

For all I care I should be in bed now. "Metallica" plays 
on, and all of them are playing "Super Sprint" again. "Hee, 
ik kan wel gewoon ophouwe joh. Dit is gewoon een bug, kan 
nie anders." (Slimer quote, stuck with his car on the side 
of a track, a well-known "Super Sprint" bug each avid 
player will be familiar with)

 Richard

 01:13

Slimer is currently beating the lot at "Super Sprint". 
Miranda is, as usual, a good second. Bonus is his usual 
keyboard-based self. Metallica is still playing, "shuffle 
play" momentarily hurling "Holier than Thou" at the 
assembled eardrums. 

This "Super Sprint" works without the intervention of 
contraptions the likes of "Backwards", by the way. Just 
boot it, that's all. Any of you out there, if you want your 
copy of "Super Sprint" to work on the Falcon just send me 
your original disk and I will copy the fixed copy a top it. 
I don't think that's actually illegal. Just be sure: 
Original disks only! And don't forget to include reply 
postage and that kind of thing (2 IRCs usually, but 3 IRCs 
if you live outside Europe). Now and again I stun myself by 
pouring a healthy swig of Plantiac in my oral cavity. 
Although not as exquisitely tasteful as Muier Schipper 
Bitter, it is no doubt still the drink!

 Richard

 01:22

Yes, revenge is a sweet thing, the laughing has stopped! 
Finally victory is mine at last <sadistic laugh>! This 
Richard bloke is writing sophisticated stuff with almost 
half a bottle of Plantiac flowing through his veins. But it 
seems to help him win all the races that Alex, Miranda and 
him are playing at the moment. Plantiac seems to work like 
some kind of drug on this guy! maybe I have to have a go at 
it and see what happens...Gluck...gluck...haaahhh!

 *Hips*

 Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 Slimer
~BLEU.PAL~
END OF PART 2