FIRST DAY BENT

Since I hadda go into Fed Ex at 1, came in to the office at 8 so I could leave early an' still get some decent time in. Work went fairly quick, then it was onto the trains after 11:30. Got there after 12:30 an' decided to just go in anyway. Met all the managers then got saddled with about 10 videos to watch on my own. Of course...what corporation would be complete without videos on why they're so great? I'll admit I cheated a bit an' ended a few early, but what else was I gonna do? Gonna be that or fall asleep right there in the break room. Some of my loud future co-workers made it hard to hear anyways. But I gotta tell ya, what a set-up there; microwave, vending machines, coffee machine, PS2 with games and controllers... Wish my Waldbaum's break rooms were like that. Also, I am the minority there. Like maybe 4 or 5 white guys in the whole place, everyone else is black or hispanic. Tomorrow they want me in at 8 so go on a ride-along with one of the drivers.

Got home, was such a nice day I decided the hell with it an' went fer a ride. Everythin' was great until I started from my pit-stop at Denyse Wharf. Was feelin' kinda wobbly, so looked to see if some branches I ran over gave me a flat. Nope. My fuckin' rim was bent. AGAIN. The hell with it...come the weekend gonna take both bikes in an' get a brand new rim. Sick of this straightenin' shit. Gonna get a nice an' strong one that can take some punishment. Hell, dunno WHY it even bent...I didn't even go that hard! I hate city ridin'.

Got a page done of my report. So far it's complete nonsense what I'm writin'. Hopin' tomorrow to scam some time at work, then finish it up at home. I figger I'll go through my notebook back when I actually took notes an' throw in some of the jargon he threw out there so it'll at least pad me up some. Also, the hunt fer an artist continues. Scott had to pass on mine fer his own stuff, so I'll wait to see what Mark wants to do next. If only I hadn't given up art, the strip coulda been done by now.

ARTIST

Myspace gives ya the ability to be notified whenever someone's blog gets updated. I recently had a surge of new readers, but this past week I lost two of the newest. Ah well. Guess my life's dull without some major drama goin' on. Hey, not my fault; I usually got the drama in spades! But this new job thing may bring the drama back...

Wasn't as productive as I'd've liked to have been this weekend. Sure, I got Keith his script, edited my interview, an' did my reviews, but I fell short on my report (which I hope I have time ta do tomorrow) an' still haven't done my cousin's script. Fortunately I had some fun when I remembered the chat tonight. I accidentally turned it into a Red Sonja picture scavenger hunt to find the hottest babe dressed up like her. Well, not that I turned it...I talked about this chick who dressed up fer a skit thing, showed a pic of her, an' it went from there. Ah well. And of course durin' some Deviant Art browsin' I ended up findin' more which fueled the fire.

Mark had called me just as I was gettin' up this mornin'. He loved the interview an' was inspired to convince me to have the guy be my artist fer GTM rather than Matt. I love when you agree with people an' yet they feel a need to go on with their speech to convince you about their idea. Anyways, he kept me on fer about 10 mins explainin' why he thought I should work with him and I sent an E-Mail soon as I got to my computer. So, that's that. Waitin' on a response from him to see if he wants to be my artist, but if not I still got Matt (hopefully) in the trenches.

And, of course, I realized I had completely forgotten about washin' the clothes I bought fer my uniform. Blah.

UNIFORMITY

First I finished up the interview fer GWP, then I did another advanced review fer a G.I. Joe that comes out next week. After I got ready an' headed fer 86th street to find my temporary "uniform" fer work. Got a nice surprise as no sooner did I reach 86th that Christi got off the bus there to go hang with some friends at Burger King. That was kinda cool an' unexpected. Gave a brief hello then headed our opposite ways.

First stop was Century 21, which had plenty of shirts but none in either my size or the color I needed. Pants turned up negative too. Tried to call Mr. Fashionable (aka D) to find out where else would sell them polo-type shirts, but he didn't answer. Decided to try out to see if the big and tall store was still there after a wasted trip to Circuit City to see if they had any of the sale DVDs left, but then got some inspiration to try out Modelles. There I found the shirt (on sale 2 fer $20) an' some work pants that should do the job. Pants are a bit heavy which may be a problem, but hopefully uniforms will come quickly. I checked the B&T store anyways to see if I could find a lighter material. I tell ya, it was nice to be in a store where everythin' was TOO BIG fer me fer a change.

I also passed by a place on 74th but they didn't have the right colors. So, the pants it is! Pray fer some cold weather fer me fer the next week or so. Also, on the way home, I realized how much I spent at Modelles an' somethin' didn't sound right. I checked my reciept an' sure enough, the dude didn't charge me fer one of the shirts. Whoops! I saw him scan it, it didn't set off the detector...wonder how that happened? Ah well.

Keith E-Mailed me back. He loved the script, I captured his story perfectly. Just some minor tweaks that were expected. Also did a couple reviews fer Spiderfan. Gonna try to do at least one of those a day so I can get through my pile seein' as I may not have enough time to do it in the comin' weeks. Also gonna hafta start makin' to-do lists so I can get my other work done between all my pay jobs. Gotta keep on my game.

PART 4...LEAVE US BEGIN!

Got up at 7:30 so I could catch the train early. Unfortunately, still only got there at 8:30. Don't ask. Anyways, got there just in time an' went to the room to handle the business of the final applications. Was fairly easy; filled out forms similar to the last, got an employee ID number, all that fun stuff. Was a moment we hadda call this place an' answer questions about if we had goverment aid or went to jail or somethin' fer whatever reason. The lady had me call first. Joy...make the guy who doesn't like the phone make the first call. I hadda set up what company an' location we were callin' from before my questions, then passed the phone on to the other guys there so they can answer theirs. Went fairly smoothly regardless.

Gotta report at 1 on Monday. My location's at 34th street fer now, but I'm told in 3 weeks my division's movin' down to Leroy Street accross from the buildin' we were in. Hey, works fer me...lot easier to get to an' less crowds to deal with. The trainin' class ain't gonna be till June 'cause it's all full-up till then she told us, so gives me somethin' to tell Maureen at least. This weekend I'll hafta go to the stores an' find me some cargo pants an' a navy blue shirt to wear until they order me a uniform. Gonna hafta wear my boots too...hopefully that don't kill my feet.

The whole process ended at 12, which woulda got me back to the office in time to make up my hours. At least, it would have in theory. I was on the D an' dozin' off, an' 'cause I was thinkin' about which train to transfer to so much I completely forgot which train I was on...my mind said it was the N. So, when I got to 36th street I stayed on the train. Wasn't until we went above ground I remembered where I was. CRAP! Let that be a lesson to ya, folks; never ride trains you don't usually take while yer fallin' asleep. Got off at 9th Ave, crossed the station, an' caught another D within a few minutes. Luckily an R train pulled into 36th soon after I got there an' I just made it to work by 1. Whew!

I was hopin' to get a couple things done today, but I was too tired to be overly productive. I did, however, manage to bang out the script Keith asked me to help him on. All 8 pages in one sittin'...woot! I sent that off to him before I went to bed. I was gonna do my advanced review of G.I. Joe, but I'll get that done first thing tomorrow mornin'. Speakin' of reviews, I sent off my review of Contraband last night fer my editor to read before we progressed with it. He sent it straight to the guy. OY! He made the offer of not postin' it if they so desire, which of course they so desired. Dude took it like a pro, though, gave a good response. Says it's not representative of the graphic novel as a whole, so fer his sake I hope he's right. Fer the story at least; the art was just horrible. I can say that with firm authority 'cause I realized that I knew the artist from the UK comics I've been workin' with these past couple years. Yeah, he's one of them artists whose style got WORSE with age. Ah well...if they can get the sales, more power to 'em.

But, just so it doesn't go to waste...here now is my unused review fer Contraband. Be advised, you may or may not agree with these opinions, and regardless of whatever a reviewer may or may not say about somethin' you should always try fer yerself because tastes may vary:

Contraband takes place in a world where nothing is off-limits in the entertainment industry anymore. Amateur filmmakers use their mobiles to capture real life events that are then transmitted over a global network to get mere seconds of fame and money, as the content has become big business. Nothing is taboo, and of course there are some who take the freedom of the media too far.. Tucker and Charlotte are two guns for hire that are on an expedition together in Afghanistan to track someone down and, of course, capture it on their mobiles. Things go south, however, and Charlotte is captured.

Some months later we find ourselves in Brussels with Toby who is tracking down Charlotte through video clues being left by her captor. After reaching another dead end, Toby thinks back to how he got into this mess. While working for an internet café, he was caught filming Tucker and his boy, Plugger, with his mobile and was then taken for a ride.

Toby is forced to witness a public beating, and worse yet, film it. But the topper is the fact that Tucker filmed Toby filming the event, which could get him in a lot of trouble. Now, Toby has the mission of tracking down Charlotte for Tucker, or else the footage gets released through Contraband.

The concept is an interesting one. We’ve got this person or this feed called Contraband that anyone can get their recordings on if they’re real and sensational enough. There’s an audience for it because it’s cheap and quick entertainment that Contraband is all too happy to provide. It’s also very relevant in terms of today’s society where sites like YouTube and MySpace make anyone a star so long as they have the ability to post videos on the web. Yet while the concept is sound, the execution is not.

Phil Elliott’s artwork is one of those stylized kinds you can either love or hate. The backgrounds and inanimate objects come out the best throughout the whole book. The characters and action, however, are another matter. While some panels have good character designs in them, others are sketchy on the details. You have a hard time identifying the characters you’ve already been introduced to. Tucker, for example, does not look like the Tucker from the opening pages when Toby meets him. Features are constantly inconsistent between panels, and the characters never seem to remain on the same plane when together. The actions of the characters in many of the panels are extremely stiff and confusing, not always aided or explained by the dialogue. Compared to Phil’s older work, particularly in his Marvel UK days, this artwork looks more like a child’s drawing.

The overall plot isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, the truly original thing being the element of Contraband and society’s cravings for mobile content. But that’s not where the problem lies. The narration is literally all over the place. Following the mercenaries, we get what they want to do, but not to who or why. Without Toby’s narration, there’s no way anyone could guess what is going on during the incident at the train station.

Contraband’s identity is confusing; is it the broadcasting station or the person who seems to be behind it? The dialogue from Charlotte’s mysterious captor leads us to believe that he is Contraband, while dialogue from other characters lead you to believe it’s the broadcast station.

The transition from present events to the flashback that gives us background information is clunky at best. There isn’t a decent transition to let you know you’re entering a flashback. We get one final curse then BAM, we’re in the past. The plot takes a break as Tucker rambles on and on about nothing in particular, and the woman with them is apparently not enjoying their company, although you’d never know it by her facial expressions. You’d need an interpreter to figure out what Tucker is saying to her that gets her so upset in the first place. Also, what does Toby send her to cheer her up? Never revealed.

The true shortcoming in the writing is that it fails to sufficiently immerse the reader into that world. You have terms and events being thrown back and forth between characters that all makes sense to them, but the casual reader will be scratching their heads wondering what in the hell they’re talking about. You can make assumptions, but the full dynamics of the world they live in are lost in the techno babble.

Contraband is an interesting and relevant idea considering our increasing reliance upon technology, but the execution leaves a lot of things lacking. The story is hard for the non-technological savvy reader to follow and get into. Techno babble is hard enough to understand, more so when it’s real and not aptly balanced out with plain layman's terms. The artwork doesn’t compliment the tonality of the tale one bit. It’s stiff and poorly finished, making panel actions hard to determine when not aided by the text. There’s an intriguing story in there waiting to come out, but unfortunately, that doesn’t happen in this issue.

1.5 out of 5

ROAD TO PART 4

Tomorrow I gotta head over to Fed Ex fer the last of the paperwork. Informed Maureen about all the upcomin' bullshit an' she's fine with it. So, hopefully, it won't be too intrusive into my life.

Finally got a notice about the damn fall schedule bein' put up. Figgers, the week I stop checkin' is when I do. My registration date's the 9th, an' it's already a bitch. I can take one class fer my major, but another I need to unlock the rest is only available the times I'm gonna be workin' now. Figgers. Gonna hafta do some schedule changes come winter, if I can. Looks like I'll also hafta delay my upstate trip. Double figgers.

I finished my review with the help of sis, sent it off to my editor to have a gander. Hopefully he remembers not to put it up yet. I'm also thinkin' of some changes, so when I get home tomorrow I might make 'em an' re-send it. Also finished up the interview, but gonna give it the once-over before I send it off to Mark. That'll all hafta wait till I get home after work tomorrow. Then gonna bust my ass all weekend to finish up or get ahead on any writin' assignments so I ain't strugglin' durin' the week. Dunno how the hell I'm gonna do this.

But fer the rediculous amount of money I'm gonna make, it's sooooooooo worth it. Especially to have somethin' else to shove in a certain someone's face. While not my main motivation, it's a bonus that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. See, it's all about patience an' waitin' fer the right moments to strike. I did, and lookit me now. Life is good.

D's date flopped. Heh well, at least he can get them out. As a result, an' since I'll actually have some money, we might make goin' to our bar a weekend ritual. Since everyone LOOOOOOOOOVES to hang at these joints makes them ideal pick-up spots. At least that's what I hear. I dunno, no girl I'd wanna date would frequent a bar. Once in a while, maybe. An' yes, I'll be stickin' with my Cokes. Don't get me wrong, just because I like the joint don't mean my opinion on bars has changed any. Think it's retarded in order fer anyone to have fun these days they gotta have liquor involved. I'll stick to sittin' on a stoop an' chillin', thanks.

COURIER

Well I got the long awaited call today. I get home to find my Ecto-1 on the floor amongst some other things, a cat obviously havin' gone where SHE doesn't belong again, an' as I was cleanin' I get the call on my phone which was by my computer at the time. I run to get it an' continue my clean-up as I get filled in. Friday I gotta go in to fill out the last of my paperwork, then I start Monday. That means tomorrow gonna hafta inform Maureen what's goin' on. That also means as of next week fer at least 4 days I'll be goin' to bed at 11PM. Figger if I heard my location right I'll be able to catch the train an' get there in no time.

Got the okay to send out my interview, which I did. Just gotta wait fer Scott's responses. Did my comic reviews all day which took the better part of it as usual. Was gonna do my advanced reviews as well but startin' to feel a bit tired. Good. Get tired now makes it easier fer me to sleep earlier next week. Now, if only school would post up the new schedule so I can figger out how I'm gonna work every li'l thang I got goin' on.

NEGATIVE

I wanna go back to CT. I wanna go back to CT where people, through all the chaos, exhibit manners when usin' the stairs after gettin' off a train! That's right, once again, two empty sections of a staircase that could hold two people side-by-side each were completely ignored fer the exact spot I was comin' UP. These stupid bitches comin' down the stairs when they see me an' this other chick already halfway up them. What in the hell is wrong with people?! Oh, an' don't even get me started on the morons who see you have no room to move out of the way but continue on their present course as if they can pass right through you. Had some stupid twit do that by the scaffolding at the school today, AND when I went bikin' yesterday...bitch sees I'm ridin' the curb but can she move over the 2 clear feet between her an' her friend? No. Sometimes I hate this fuckin' city.

I'm gonna hafta write my first negative review. I tried to get around it, hell I even had sis read it seein' as she's more cerebral than I am. But just no go. The plot an' story is interestin', but the execution and art is just horrible. All I can do is make it as constructive a criticism as I can. I really don't enjoy shootin' people down who clearly have a concept of their material. Just the one fatal flaw is while you may understand the work, gotta pander to those who may not. So we'll see how that goes.

Finished my Estella article in the nick of time. Finally settled on a topic an' started it before class. Unfortunately hadda wait till I got home to finish it. I think maybe I should have started it off differently, but it got the job done. So we'll see how it's recieved when Estalla goes live fer May. Dimestore I'm free and clear on thanks to all the delays. They still got my article from March that shoulda been up weeks ago so I have a month and a half to come up with another.

Sent Mark my questions fer the interview so he can look 'em over. Why? I still dunno. But I told him lemme know when to send it on to Scott so we can get it done. I'm gonna try to get up early on Saturday to call Fidel an' see about schedulin' another interview session. If it keeps relatively the same way we should be done in a good 20 minutes like last time. The interviews go in depth and quick. In the meantime gonna go through my reviews tomorrow, bang out my two advanced reviews, then see about doin' Keith's story by the weekend. Don't think I'm gettin' the script out to my cuz this week, so looks like gonna be takin' a workin' weekend. Ah well.

PISSED OVER PISS: BRAZEN

Little bit I forgot from yesterday:

As I was ridin' home from the store, I went my usual way. I was goin' down the block when this asshole pulls out right in front of me. Now, I was on the driver's side so I could've easily been seen, but no. But, that wasn't the kicker. A mini-van parked in front of that decides to pull out just as I'm about to finish passin' it. Luckily I swerves away just as the nose comes juttin' out into the street. I cursed that sumbitch out as I passed. Dumb fuckers.

Now, on to today's entry:

Longtime readers of my blog will recognize what the title symbolizes. That's right, I've been hit again. Keep on readin'.

I wasn't very productive today. First I hadda find somethin' to eat as we're in dire straights. I've eaten my last box of Mac & Cheese an' that's all I had. Dunno what the hell I'm eatin' tomorrow. Maybe eggs. That ended up takin' up a buncha my time till I went fer my bike ride, as it was a nice summery day. Wind was a bitch, givin' me a good workout an' the heat had me all sweaty. It was a great ride. Unfortunately I kept gettin' stuck behind goddamn rollerbladers. Must they take up entire lanes? Not to mention the morons who run on the bike side an' stop dead in the middle of paths. Seriously, people, you do not own the world. GO OFF TO THE SIDE. There was even one dumb shit who kept me from passin' the bus as I left my house 'cause he had his door open to put his shoes on or some shit. Dumbass. People are the only things that make rides a pain in the ass.

Ma got a cravin' fer White Castle, so I said I'd go get some 'cause, c'mon, it's White Castle. I go in back to get changed an' notice a li'l yellow puddle on my floor. I turn on my light an' find the shorts I just wore on my bike soaked in cat pee, which was shot off the edge of my bed an' on my comforter. No clue which cat did it, but I smacked TC anyways. I cleaned up the floor, stripped my bed, threw my sheets in the washan' headed fer the food. None too happy about that, lemme tell ya.

I intended to get some work done, but by the time I got back it was time fer Heroes, an' that ya need to really watch. Then I got involved in convos an' that was pretty much it there. I did manage to tweak the Rockabilly Rex script which I sent on to Keith to look over. Nuttin' major, just minor dialogue changes to appease the co-creator. Hopefully they suffice. Almost narrowed down my Estella article so gonna bang that out an' send it along tomorrow. Gonna try to focus on my work so I can finish early an' do some writin' while I'm there. Must...focus! Focus!

VISITATIONS

Today I went fer my monthly visit to Waldbaum's. Ya know, the ride there may be short, but it's still a helluva ride. I picked me a good path. Anyways, saw everyone who mattered: Lenny, Tommy, Craig, Jason, an' a few who didn't. When I saw jason he had these oversized brace-type things on his teeth that I thought WERE braces, turns out he broke his jaw playin' football in a freak accident an' his mouth's wired shut fer 6 weeks or so. Oops. He can stalk pretty damn good, just can't eat nuttin' solid fer the whole time. However, when they were eatin' he discovered the joy of Nutrament, so he's got that goin' fer him now. Concetta was runnin' the front an' tryin' to make chit-chat with me. I didn't really let her succeed 'cause I really didn't wanna talk to her. She made it very clear a long time ago we weren't friend friends so I kept my responses aquaintence level.

The chat was fun tonight. Unfortunately, Dimestore's chat room is still funky as all hell. More members that come in, more it lags. Sucks. Also got some notes from Keith from his co-creator on his character about a couple minor changes which I'll probably work on tomorrow (suddenly got very tired an' unmotivated) as well as stuff fer the other story he's workin' on. I wanna try to get the stuff to my cuz out by at least Wednesday, so that gives me two days to write a 22-page script. Can I do it? Probably not. But what the hell.

I'm also stuck on my next Estella article. They give you suggested themes fer each issue you don't REALLY hafta follow, just gives you direction. These totally fuck up me an' sis. 'Cause, even though ya don't HAVE to do them, it's like sittin' there at the back of yer mind an' whatever you consider inevitably tries to conform to that. So I have an article in mind that came to me on the bike ride home yesterday that I may do, just to have somethin' in. Wanna try an' keep a theme to the articles I turn in to various places but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, especially since I won't hafta do a Dimestore fer at least another month. I've also gotta do an advanced review; comic's in zip format which I need to unzip an' all that fun craziness. The goal tomorrow is to be productive. Will I succeed? Hopefully except fer the time I got bike ridin'. Spring weather's here, an' I'm takin' advantage!

HANGING

Today was James' hangout. I got up a li'l later than intended, but was still runnin' on schedule. I went to Sunnydale where I picked up a buncha chips an' snacks (Wise was apparently on sale fer a buck...sweet!) an' then hadda return home twice fer the directions to his place an' my MP3 player. I did catch the N at 36th an' went from there. Got there in just over an hour. He's got a nice, decent-sized place. No clue how he affords the rent, but more power to him!

Was just me an' him fer a while until a friend of his, Carlos, showed up. There were supposed to be more, but they all suddenly had stuff come up or just never came. We all got to talkin' about comic stuff (of course) as well as addin' our own commentary to the movies we watched. Were originally gonna do a Superman marathon but opted fer the Donner Cut, followed by Batman '66 an' the American Godzilla. He showed us some of his work from today an' yesterday, an' I tried to help him get his computer runnin' with little success. Also came up with a new plastic storage system fer comics we're gonna try to get patented an' maybe make some money on.

After over 8 hours decided to call it quits an' me an' Carlos head fer home. He lives in Brooklyn too so we were basically talkin' the whole ride back. Made it go right quick. Foudn out he was at both the indie parties but we missed each other. He did remember me as the Scarlet Spider, though. Pretty hard to forget. It really is great havin' comic guys to talk to who get what I say with no problems. Real nice.

D had called me while I was hangin' 'cause his plans fell through an' he was bored. Told him when I got back I'd call an' we'd hang if he wanted. Well, I called an' turned out his plans came through after all an' now he was in the city. He's tryin' to woo this sales rep that comes to his office. Be interestin' to see what happens if they work out, don't think we've ever hadda deal with one of us havin' a gal. (The slut don't count...she didn't live here so she was hardly in the way, plus she just doesn't count in general.)

When I came home it was soooo nice out an' I was so ready to hang some more, but had no one to hang with. So I walked all the way to 90th an' back. Just a nice li'l stroll. Hopefully tomorrow's as warm so I can bike off all the pizza I ate.

UP NORTH

Remarkably, I was able to get up at 7 an' NOT feel tired. That will never happen again. I checked the weather, packed my bag, showered an' hit the road. Couple delays on the N, but I got there right on time. Got my ticket, found my train, an' got me a decent seat. Some nice scenery along the way, as well as a lotta old buildings an' factories I was dyin' to just hop off the train an' explore.

About halfway there, I hadda use the bathroom. I had a li'l trouble with the door first two times I tried. Apparently, ya hadda push it in an' with some effort or else it wouldn't budge. Well, I finally got in an' then I couldn't go. Just wouldn't come out. Was like all that humiliation with the damn door an' now I can't go! Gah! So I said screw it. Went back to my seat an' held it till New Haven. Got off, made my way through the tubular hallways of the station till I found the bathroom, stood in line before realizin' the line was fer stalls, not fer urinals, an' then finally was able to get to one...just fer my phone to ring. Was Shawnti lettin' me know she was there an' what car to look fer. Finally did my business, headed outside, an' found her car (which wasn't yellow like I pictured, more of a creamy beige...)

We made great time, talkin' all the way, an' got to the comic shop Modern Myths by 1. Nice little store, very clean an' organized, with lots of posters in the bathroom...totally how I'm gonna decorate my own one day now. We were both hungry an' rather than explore, she called Hector one town over fer recommendations an' he opted to take us himself. So we browsed fer 15 minutes till he came. We headed to a bar called Packards. Now THIS was a bar, with license plates an' signs hangin' in various places, pool tables gallore, an' even bathrooms entirely done up in diamond plate. Was a nice place, I could dig the atmosphere. Food was good too. Had a burger, of coruse. I was set to cover me an' Shawnti but Hector paid fer us as we were guests on his turf. I promised to reciprocate next time he's able in NY by takin' him to Anapoli. Lemme tell ya, dunno how the hell Superman ever changed in a phone booth with all them muscles, 'cause when I went to change into my shorts (70 degree weather up there compared to the 32 degrees when I left!) in the bathroom stall I had a hell of a time movin' around in the free space available. Quite an adventure.

We got back to the shop where Keith an' an associate, Pete, were already waitin'. We commendeered their back table as Steve an' his wife and kid an' Matt soon arrived. Everyone else, apparently, decided to do somethin' else without us goin' to Mirage. Their loss. We had a jam session where we discussed stories, shared anecdotes about comics, an' even did some drawings. Apparently I neglected to inform Keith I started out as an artist so I drew a couple things just to show him. They weren't great, but not too bad considerin' I haven't done much in a while. I alerted Matt to the fact me an' Mark want him to do my GTM script, so hopefully pendin' on the deadline he's able. Bought a comic with another Shawnti story in it from Shawnti an' autographed by her. We also got a call from, an' a few laughs with, Mark. Matt hadda take his leave as his fam was comin' home so we stayed a bit longer before optin' to do a brief walkin' tour of the town as I've never been there.

We ended up back at Packards where we munched a li'l an' discussed some business stuff. Keith's partner who co-created his character I wrote fer loved what I did an' is considerin' me fer other stuff. Keith also wants me to take a stab at the 3rd part of his trilogy, so I told him to send me over what he's got an' I'll see what I can work out. We discussed the cons we're plannin' to go to an' the future of CAG, me tellin' 'em about a new message board idea I had to get things better organized as the Yahoo group left too many holes in the information network (as this trip proved bein' Keith hadda re-send his E-Mail sayin' Mirage cancelled to everyone 'cause not everyone heard) an' is hard to follow.

We strolled back through town. Shawnti hadda get on home so Keith offered me a lift back to the station after he dropped off Pete. We rode an' chatted more, got some insights into him an' other members as relationships came up an' came to learn quite a few of the guys in our group've had the same experience I had with the slut. Lotta sluts out there, I tells ya. Although unlike me Keith an' Hector've managed to overcome with great girls, Hector due to be married in July. I tell ya, the storie she told in the bar got me wishin' I could clone his fiance. It was a helluva lotta fun, an' Northampton's exactly the kinda place I wanna be movin' to one day. It's so nice an' scenic, with tons of great buildings an' that nice small-town charm. Like Binghamton. It's just perfect.

Got home around midnight an' settled in to go through my mail an' eat some dinner. Got the info from James finally, findin' out he wants to start at 1...ugh. Gonna hafta go to bed early so I can get up early, buy some snacks, then lug 'em all the way up to Queens. Then Sunday gotta pass by the store to give Craig his books. Wow, busy weekend.

TO GO OR NOT TO GO?

What a clusterfuck this MA trip turned out to be. We got ideas thrown out all over the place about what we're gonna do, an' somehow I ended up the coordinator fer the NYC effort to go up there. When all's said an' done, Rebecca, Rachel an' Ed all pulled out citin' expense and other obligations. Rammer held in there fer a bit, but he too bailed. So just me goin' up tomorrow an' hopefully gettin' off at the right station an' hopefully havin' somethin' to do. Fun fun. Ah well, I can use a break from the daily routine.

Went to the eye doc. He's got himself a spiffy new office on 5th that looks all sterile and medical. Kinda like his old one better, lot more charm. Ah well. So we did our things. Turns out I do need my glasses to drive now (oy), my prescription did change (knew that), an' I'm once again a glaucoma suspect based on some photos taken, which may or may not just be normal fer me so we're watchin' fer that again. He also guesses my twitch is from new allergies I've developed, so gonna put me on some drops to see if that helps. Yay.

When I got home was so nice I just couldn't help but bike before school. Probably dumb to do, but just too good a day to pass up. Wish I had my camera though, so many beautiful shots I could've gotten. I love when clouds look like they're painted on to the sky. Love it. Went to school an' slept in class, boy did I enjoy it. Except fer the part where Bob called me to tell me about his new Spidey purchases. That was just hilarity.

CANCELLED

Well, the trip to Northampton's been cancelled. Some issue with safety arose or some such. But, given that everyone put such an effort to get organized an' coordinate this trip some members're hopin' to salvage the trip anyways an' do somethin' else. As of now a definitive plan hasn't been announced, just some "window shoppin'." Dunno if I'm too eager to travel a couple hours to window shop. We'll see. I'm also plannin' to go to James' on Sat. He invited us at the meetin' fer a Superman movie marathon, all the good ones (not that I'd consider Returns one of 'em, but ah well...not my house).

It's Wednesday, that means it's comic day. Yeah, pretty much spent all day readin' through my books an' writin' the reviews. Decided this time break it up an' do reviews as soon as I finished a particular book. Seemed to work better fer me, so that might be my pattern from now on. I also forgot last night to update the website, so when I got home from work I uploaded an' image I needed an' did that. Blah, hate losin' track of days.

Got an eye doc appointment tomorrow, they called to confirm. I had forgotten all about it 'cause the doc stopped makin' appointments in advance with me an' I hadda call within the timeframe he suggested. So, I did just that last week an' got an appointment on the 30th, then ma found the card that said I had one tomorrow. Oopsie. I used to be so good at rememberin' my appointments, was my own personal planner. Damn I hate gettin' old. Now we'll get to find out if my eyes have improved like I thought or worsened. Also got a new problem in the form of my neck keeps hurtin' from how I sit lately. 'Rents say I'm startin' to get the curve in my spine my pops has. Terriffic. Now I hafta sit with a pillow behind my back at home, an' gonna hafta get somethin' fer work too.

Stacy called me tonight. I was otherwise occupied at the time an' she didn't leave a message; she's damn lucky I found at least ONE call list that still worked or else I never woulda known it was her (again, those who have my number, if you want me to call you back you HAVE to leave a message!). Anyways, found out why we hadn't talked in quite a few weeks; I haven't been gettin' her IMs. She's been IMin' me an' gettin' no response an' thought I was mad at her. I just haven't been gettin' 'em. Once we got that sorted, she told me her news; she's engaged to her formerly ex BF. Quite a shock to me, lemme tell ya, 'cause she was just talkin' about givin' him another chance now they're engaged. Hopefully it's on the up an' up an' works out.

So fer those keepin' track, that leaves just me, D an' Tina in singlesville out of everyone I know in the NY area. Tina's by choice, D only attracts gals he has no interest in, an' I can only attract 'em over a computer. Everyone else is either datin', engaged, married or livin' together. Yowsa.

PRESTIGE

My race results from the auto show Sunday:



Had some advanced reviews to get done, so I managed to bang out the Bizarre New World one today (whichs is now up on 215ink.com). Not only did I get the creator some exposure on the site, but an interview to boot! Go me. Today I had gotten done the Chucky review which was also up on the site by the time I got home from school. I was aslo alerted that my Xombie review now has a direct link to it on Devil's Due's main page! Head on over to Devilsdue.net and scroll down to the 215ink link. How cool is that?! I've got another advanced review to do which I think I'll get to after I finish my minor reviews tomorrow.



I went to Circuit City as planned yesterday an' was able to get my game an' the memory card. I couldn't focus on any real work 'cause I really wanted to play my game. Unfortunately, I decided to upload my Auto Show pics online (in my Myspace and Facebook photo sections currently) so that took a bit of time, an' just as I was about to finish a new colleague I met in last week's chat IMed me. She ran outta people to talk to an' on top of other rough patches lost her job. So, yeah, I couldn't leave. Ah well. I got some "lols" out of her so hopefully I cheered her up some when we went off the misery of her life into talkin' about comics. I got a reprieve when she went off to watch CSI: Miami an' since she wouldn't get back to the comp till 2AM my time I took my leave an' got in at least an hour of the game.



Vice City Stories? So far so good. Love the soundtrack, graphics are a li'l flat an' the voice track is scratchy. One thing I hate about the Vice Cities is their wanted level code only removes stars, doesn't give you immunity like Liberty City Stories an' GTA III. Ah well.



I've been ponderin' the comic I did with Liz, an' so far I'm formin' new an' better ideas. Gonna improve the codenames an' some powers. Cripes, she gave EVERYONE freakin' telepathic abilities! I didn't catch that when I was younger, but now it's like....urgh. No good. I've also come to realize the head honcho came out a lot like the White Queen, an' overall it was like Generation X. Intentional? Subconsciously inspired? Who knows. Gonna tweak the dynamic a bit. I also decided to put up the last batch of artwork I ever submitted to Marvel on my Deviant Art page. Figger what the hell, right? Shadin's crap but overall some pretty good pencils on my part. So, check it out at wolverine25th.deviantart.com.

AUTO SHOW

I didn't get to bed till 4 last night which meant only 4 hours sleep fer me. Yay. Add to that we had downpours all day an' so far it was off to a bang-up start. We got soaked walkin' to the car both ways as we parked a few blocks away on 43rd near the Verizon buildin' there, our usual spot. The rain was relentless, and would continue to be all day.

I had decided to get smart an' bring my bag to carry brochures an' the cameras an' stuff...except they made me check it into the coat check. Why? It's an auto show, what the hell could I possibly steal? Oy. Cost me $2 to boot! Ripoff artists. I handed pops his camera an' clipped mine to those extra straps that come on the sides of jean jackets. Overall, the cars were unimpressive crap. No style, no flair. Nuttin' I would really drive. I did kinda like the GMC Denali, though. May aquire that one day. I did grab some shots of some nice lookin' concept cars which I hafta download yet, but otherwise that was it. Fortunately some minor leg pains was all I hadda endure, the back came out relatively fine. This time. Just my damn neck that's been actin' up.

The best part of it was the racin' simulator Dodge set up. Two racers go head-to-head against 18 CPUs in a virtual race inside a miniature stock car that moved an' everythin'. Was a fairly long line as each race took about 5 minutes, not includin' set-up time. Remarkably, the kids seemed to do better than every adult they faced, beatin' them out fer second to last palce. Everyone kept gettin' 19th or 20th place. Except me. Me, I placed 16th, which woulda been higher 'cept I got rammed into a wall an' lost valuable time. See, my fast drivin' days aside, the dude basically gave you the hint to the thing; you only need to turn the wheel slightly. A little bit gives you a lot. An' that's just what I did. Lotta people couldn't figger that out an' kept oversteerin'. So that was pretty cool, very fun. I could've also done a real live Jeep test run out front, but opted out this year. Maybe next year if I decide to go.

After we went to lunch at Anapoli 'fore comin' home. Pops sacked out, I got to work on some stuff. My websites are accessable again, so I can update fer Wednesday. I made a couple Ebay purchases last night so was gonna sell some stuff of my own to get some funds comin' in, but was too tired to go all the way. I was shot. I went to do laundry an' did everythin' but put the laundry in. Almost. Blah. My trip to Circuit City was called on account of rain so gonna go after work tomorrow. Also dug out the comic Liz was talkin' about, an' I was right; in my foresighted wisdom I had put character bios in the back of the issue so I got them to work from as I re-imagine this thing. Seriously, I think all my friends BSed me when they said I was a good writer 10 years ago. The story was just crap. Improvin' it is a vendetta now.

NEW FACES, NEW PLACES

Tonight's meetin' went off great. We got a new member who was at the last one an' officially joined in this one. Was a small crowd (probably all scared off by the threat of bein' filmed) but we had a lotta fun. Was just me, James, Rebecca (the newbie), Bob, Michele, Christian an' J. I passed out my scripts, to which James was taken aback by how many I did. A couple people took some home, I E-Mailed them to someone else an' promised her a couple more scripts in the horror genre which she digs. Other'n that, was business as usual. Also James an' others are tryin' to get us a classroom at the School of Visual Arts (of which a few of our members are alumni) fer our meetin's while MoCCA remodels. Should be an adventure.

First thing when I got up, I looked up places to eat around the area. Diners are apparently very scarce in the Village. They all decided on an option that was just past our usual place, Bully's, but it unfortunately turned out to be a take-out deli instead of the diner it was listed as. Stupid web searches. But, we recovered. We went to Dallas BBQ a few blocks away. My second time in my second one since May of last year, before my infamously bad weekend. But, it was a good choice. Food was great AND cheaper, an' we had even more fun, especially with me an' James' fake Yankees/Mets war.

After we all decided to hit a comic shop while J hadda head home. Frontrunners were St. Mark's an' Forbidden Planet, the latter eventually bein' chosen. Not a bad place at all. Much bigger than St. Mark's with tons of TPBs an' graphic novels, and, fortunately, my Xombie comic. James caught up with some friends who worked there with Bob eventually takin' his leave. Michele bought a trade of this comic she really dug while James an' Rebecca got themselves some dragon action figures. Christian was just along fer the ride. We got our stuff (me an' Rebecca takin' advantage of our respective school IDs fer 10% off...finally, college pays fer somethin'!) then decided to head on home. Got to know Rebecca a bit more on the platform as she lives in Brooklyn, but takes the Q. Was a rough go fer a while, but I eventually got her talkin' about her career an' stuff...which closely mirrored Tina but with less fulfilment.

Came home an' sent a message to Shawnti in CT. We talked about the MA trip an' Rebecca was interested in goin', so gonna hafta see if there's room fer her in Shawnti's van. Once I get a response to that I can send out all the info an' then we can finalize our meet-up plans with a meetin' time, the only thing missin' from our equation thus far. I also finally got around to my second advanced review of a 3-issue mini-series called Brave New World. It was a pretty good read, gave it a favorable review which I'll post the link to when it's up. Tomorrow's the auto show so gonna hafta get up early (ugh) so not gonna get too involved tonight.

Oh, yeah, an' I also got the new Ghost Rider video game on Monday. I beat it last night. Kinda sucked an' all the bigger bosses were easier than the mini-bosses. Kinda messed up there.

HAPPY HAPPENSTANCE

I got a call from Fed Ex today. Apparently, my application's been held up 'cause I forgot to check off a box on the medical portion. Musta been when I was textin' ma to see if I should indicate I had a bike accident last year or not. Anyways, the lady said it was held up an' would be sent down Monday, take a couple days to process, then I could expect a job offer by the middle of the week. FINE. This unexpected delay may just allow me to go on the trip Friday without complication.

I finally got around to boxin' up my DVDs to have them returned an' had my day all planned out...until Jim got an unexpected fruit basket delivery from Multiple Listings Services. 2 weeks ago Jim was gettin' ready to go with the family to Florida last week, except he fell an' hurt his leg an' was now goin' in fer surgery today. As the giant-ass box was marked perishable, an' Lucille was the only one there (ma's off on Fridays an' she don't have too good a brain) took us a while to try an' reach someone to pick the box up. Ma had me get one of his sons' numbers from his computer's palm pilot (an aside; he's got a NICE ass keyboard I so totally want right now), Lucille called, an' that was that. Was able to drop off my package at the post office an' come home to work on my scripts.

Yesterday I had gotten a letter from my cousin Liz. I ain't seen nor spoken to her since she was knocked up with her first kid an' stayin' with gma. That musta been, oh, geeze, like 8 years ago. She's all happily married now with 2 out of 3 kids (last I heard, the very first put up fer adoption) in Norwich, CT (scary how that town name keeps hauntin' me). Wrote that gma told her about my bein' published an' wanted to know where to get it an' that she was still lookin' to break into writin' an' she had a letter published in thew new Ghost Rider #7 (all the letters I've sent to Marvel an' SHE gets one published! Oy!). She also mentioned this comic she conceived an' I drew one issue of. So, figger I'll try to revist the characters, photocopy the pages fer her an' maybe write her an all-new an' improved #1 script so she can see how us semi-pros do it. Maybe I'll also make mention of CAG so she could join an' accomplish her own dreams. We'll see. Now, if only I could find the file book I had with most of my characters...as I didn't create these guys I'm blankin' on their names. Ah well.

Wouldn't it just figger Circuit City has a couple things I REALLY wanna get on sale the day I'm not gonna be around to be able to go early? They got Vice City Stories about a quarter off list price, PLUS a 64MB memory card fer PS2 fer ONLY $20. It costs over $30 to get 2 of the official 8MB cards. So, gonna hafta hope these ain't just store exclusive sales 'cause that joke place will run out of both. Guess we'll find out after the Auto Show...whenever that will be. Oy, I can feel the pains in my back already... Better be some pretty ass cars there or else I'm gonna be pissed.

SCHOOL DAZED

First day back at school. Oh yes, how I've missed all the travel. NOT! Assholes squeezin' their way on the train, slippin' down the stairs when everyone's goin' up, the utter chaos in the station as people leave an' come in...gah. Also forgot my glasses so couldn't take notes if I wanted to, so I went over my scripts to edit them an' slept.

Little of a debate goin' on in CAG. They wanna film the next NYC meetin' to put on Youtube like they did in CT last month. One of our members is against the whole idea, citin' lawsuits an' possible damage to people's careers an' so forth. What? It's gonna be a buncha guys talkin' about comic ideas an' ways to promote the group...how in the hell can all that drama come from that?! Ain't like we're blonde bimbos who wanna do somethin' wild before graduatin' law school by makin' erotic movies. At least I hope we're not makin' erotic movies.... Ew. Anyways, I debated the idea (nicely) so we'll see what the bigwigs decide. It's also gonna be our last meetin' at MoCCA fer a while as they're gonna be renovatin' the place, so gonna hafta find ourselves a new location to meet. James is pushin' fer the Manhattan Mall, so we'll see how that works out.

Went to the dentist after work, an' ended up a few mins late. See, first I hadda stop eatin' to clean up TC's puke twice. The second time I got pissed at her an' pushed open our kitchen door a bit too hard, as it has a hard time stayin' open an' was closin' at that moment. Ended up poppin' it off it's hinge. Whoops! Pops got that fixed by the time I got home from school, but it don't stay open now. Then of course I hadda go to the bathroom like I was buildin' fer the whole mornin' right at the worst moment. Blah. Anyways, doc gave me a clean bill of health an' comments were made at how my home care was the best it's ever been. Dunno how I pulled that off seein' as I ain't changed my style, cept maybe tryin' to get back into brushin' twice a day. Well then...

So this author Vonnegut (or somethin') died today. Ain't never heard of him before now, or maybe I have or forgot. Who knows. All I know is never read any of his work, an' when I told that to one of my new MS friends Bevin (interestin' name, right?) she was all pushin' me to read Slaughterhouse Five. She's a bookie like sis. Hadda remind her of my aversion to readin' "real" books thanks to all the crappy ones from school, but said I'd consider it. The only book I really wanna read right now is Xombie: Dead on Arrival so I can get the fill-in between the comic an' the show. Ben had gotten the book an' gave me a brief overview of some things. Mostly, the book also recounts the entire series but adds in elements the creator most likely either wishes he put in or wasn't able to at the time. The cartoon did evolve somewhat as it progressed.

WHY WOLVERINE?

Fer the last couple months or so, I've been chattin' with various members of the romance advice group I'm part of on Myspace. Ya know, in IMs. Today, I acquired a new one (although we chatted previously in messages) an' she asked me if I'm never NOT Wolverine, as, of course, that's also my name on all my messengers. Ya know, the question about my name has come up more'n once in many different ways, the least of which includes me THINKIN' I'm him. Well, right here, right now, I'm gonna share you alla you just why Wolverine.

Growin' up, I really didn't read comics. Archie here or there, some Garfield, the newspaper strips...nothin' I read now. I got all my exposure to superheroes from Saturday mornin' cartoons an' began to create my own. 1991, I'm on my usual summer trip to Poughkeepsie where me an' my cousins stayed with my aunt an' uncle fer the summer. We went to this arcade frequently, an' this time around they had the X-Men video game by Konami. I picked the coolest lookin' character, Wolverine, an' from then on I was hooked.

That X-Mas led to me gettin' my first batch of comics as a gift, an' the love of comics an' all things X-Men continued to grow. Wolverine's not all just claws an' snarlin'. If you look at Uncanny X-Men through the first half of his own series, you'll find yerself faced with a very complex character. No clue about his past, always tryin' to balance his animal urges with his human nature, afriad, yes AFRAID to show true emotions an' havin' to keep up the tough-guy facade... I know most of you scoff at comics because of their subject material an' overall design, but the older comics back when it was story over sensationalism, the characters could easily be compared to any from "real" literature. Wolverine was cool because he was a badass...but he STAYED cool because of what we all knew was beneath all the bravado.

So yes, there was never a time I wasn't Wolverine. I was proud to have that name an' make it my own. An' now that it's predominantly what people know me by (hell, I've taken to bein' called Logan fer crissakes, since it's less common than my actual name among other things) that's what I'll continue to be. Tis my screen name, tis my nick name, tis my name. 'Nuff said!

And now, back to our reguarly scheduled program...

I'm a fairly sentimental person, especially when it comes to my friends. I think about them fairly often, even people I haven't seen fer a decade or more. Now, this is me an' I'm hardly the standard example of a typical person, so sometimes I wonder if the same is ever done by said people, an' if I'm ever thought about. Just sometimes I wonder if it's reciprocated. Tonight I got to find out it at least was somewhat. Got a message from someone I'm not allowed to talk to no more (longtime readers know who this is) an' we had a brief convo. Apparently, a trip to the NYC library reminded them of me (Ghostbusters stuff). Hey, works fer me. Was great to hear from 'em, made me wish it could be a dialy occurrence once again. But, that's impossible. Afraid I've expended all my luck on career-related things. Ah well.

Today was Wednesday, so ya know that means it's comic review day! I had come into some extra cash which I put towards gettin' my bag empty. Well, it wasn't so much cash as a check...I borrowed from my trip fund fer next Friday an' gonna cash said check with my paycheck next week. Figger one less trip to the bank, right? Got them done fairly early, but not early enough to allow me to keep momentum to do my scripts. Ah well, tomorrow's another day.

Sometimes I think I shoulda stayed an artist. In my group, we got this 16 year old kid who's doin' a strip fer the next issue of Psychosis. 16! Because he's an artist, he's got an in. Over at Dimestore, my favorite project in the Small Press Idol competition hadda drop out 'cause it's creator got a legitimate gig which could lead to work from Devil's Due an' Image. I went to her Deviant Art page an' found out she's 22. 22! The writer field is highly competative 'cause it's quicker than drawin' an entire book an' everyone thinks it's easy (it's really not). So, as a result, there's 50 billion writers out there all lookin' fer a piece of the publishin' pie. Do all the good writers make it? Unfortunately not. The crappy ones always seem to manage to have the connections that land 'em jobs. Then, of course, you got the overachievers who can do not 1, not 2, not 3, but up to 10 regular titles every month. Greedy bastards.

So, let's review. Artist? Always a job fer you. Writer? Ya got yer connections, people who think it's easy an' yer greedy bastards. Yes, I've basically oversimplified the entire proccess of the entertainment industry, but this is basically how it works. If you wanna make it as a writer, be ready to make a lot of concessions to break in. An' then when you finally DO get in, have yer hook ready. That thing that'll set you apart from all the Stan Lees an' Mark Millars an' Brian Michael Bendis's out there. And that, my friends, is the life of a comic writer.

I wouldn't trade it fer a damn thing.

RECOGNITION

Woo what an excitin' day! My "boss" over at 215 sends me an E-Mail today to tell me that the official Xombie press release includes a snippet from MY review! That's right, THE official press release has somethin' I wrote! (Is it wrong I'm more excited about this than I was about havin' two comic strips published?) Read! Read:

by: James Farr & Nate Lovett

The incredibly popular online animated series makes its jump into comic books! Dirge is an undead man with a mind of his own, who struggles to find the meaning of unlife -- all the while fighting to protect human lives from evil zombies! Don't miss this epic quest to save humanity!

HERE'S WHAT EVERYONE HAS BEEN SAYING ABOUT XOMBIE #1! -----

"I thought it was going to be just one more story of mindless flesh-eating art. I was wrong. I am completely hooked on this one. Give this title a chance. I think you will be pleasantly surprised." ~ComicsAlliance.com

"XOMBIE is an altogether different book than most zombie books around. The story is entertaining. The fast pace and quick action really helping this book stand out in today's decompression-palooza. We need more fun books - Xombie supplies that. The art is dynamic, exciting, and most importantly - fun! In conclusion, Xombie is a fun book. If you're tired of the dark, depressing books out today, or just want a little break from the death and suffering - Xombie is the book for you." ~SilverBulletComics.com

"Right off the bat, this is the most fun I've had reading a comic in a long time. There are parts of this book that are just flat out funny. Things start off at a fast pace and it's one long entertaining sprint to the end. Xombie Reanimated #1 is action-packed and innovative. It's a healthy mix of classic zombie movies like Re-Animator, Army of Darkness, and Lucio Fulci's Zombie. The artwork by Nate Lovett is eye-popping and loose. Characters come to life on the page. His visuals serve as the perfect complement to James Farr's tightly scripted scenes. This is a great first issue. 10 / 10" ~ComicAddiction.com

"The artwork captures the feeling of the flash series. And, as it's done by the creator of said series, there's no chance of it not maintaining the feel that made it such a hit on the internet. If you're a fan of the series, or just curious, definitely add this to your pull list." ~215ink.com (THIS IS ME!)

"The triumph of Xombie is that it can appeal to both young and older readers. The art and the young protagonist skews the tale to a younger audience while the action, post-zombie apocalypse setting and more philosophical connotations of life and duty make Xombie worthwhile material for an older audience." ~ComicReaders.com

Readin' these other reviews, I kinda wish I said what was said in the review above mine. That's all stuff I've said to Ben, who introduced me to the series a while ago. Took me a while to warm up to it, but won me over it has. Now I gotta go buy the damn novel from Amazon. Dammit! Like I didn't have enough crap to buy. The book comes out tomorrow, folks; if yer a comic reader an' readin' my blog, go pick it up. It's a helluva book.

Decided to share the news with Tina, which escallated into an extended convo. Love when that happens. We wrapped fer a bit, I learned about her dreams which I was not privy to before an' such. Good times. When the convo inevitably died down (happens, when she's on usually means she's doin' somethin') I headed out fer yet another bike ride. Wind wasn't so bad today, an' hell, even managed to snag a fallen highway sign. Dunno if I'm keepin' it, but was cool to grab. Fun bringin' it back too, I had it propped up over my handlebars restin' on my headlight an' my phone clip. Outside of big bumps, thing woulda stayed put.

I finished up the script I started yesterday, but my endin' fell a bit flat. The dialogue I chose to end it on didn't really fit good, so I'm tryin' to rework the last two panels an' dialogue. I opted to read the other preview comic we got instead an' now I gotta do a review on that. Maybe after my reviews tomorrow, which hopefully won't take me nearly as long as last week's massive load (especially since a few of the issues I'm gettin' aren't new). Gonna try my damnedest to finish up these scripts. 3 more days till I hafta hand 'em in, an' I only got two I can honestly present. Still waitin' on Bob to say somethin' about Wednesdays. Also, I think I may take an idea I had fer GTM an' turn in a strip fer that. Maybe give the cashiers their due somewhat. Ideas, ideas...I've got the ideas, just not the motivation to commit them to paper! Bad combo.

HOT OR NOT? DEFINITELY NOT.

I had joined up with that website Hot or Not.com a couple years ago fer the hell of it. Forget my real motivations. Anyways, it was a crappy pic I took fer fun by the water, me in my hat an' shades. Yeah, half my face was covered up. So, I posted it an' 177 votes later I had like a 6 point somethin' ratin', my highest number bein' 6 an' even gettin' an 8! I get reminded of it last week so I changed my pic to one of the ones I have on Myspace, one I thought was fairly decent. I check back, my ratin'? 3. That's right; my partially covered up face got me a 6 ratin', but my full face gets me a 3. If I actually took it seriously, that'd seriously screw up the ego.

My bike ride got me out of goin' to see gma tonight as I hadda eat dinner. Fine by me. Was a bit wiped anyways. Wind decided to get nice an' heavy by the time I was on my return lap. Oy.

Looks like I'm goin' to the auto show Sunday. Woohoo. Ma pressured me to go when pops asked about it an' I bought the tickets tonight. Don't get me wrong, it's cool an' all but the problem is spendin' several hours walkin' around kinda leaves me a bit pained in the back. Not lookin' forward to that. Plus pops has his friend goin'...blah. I need backup...

Circuit City proved fruitless. They had nuttin' I wanted an' the Beverly Hills Cop Trilogy I wanted to get was the bootleg featureless version. Forget that. After some comparitve pricin' over the phone I decided to buy the Smokey & The Bandit special edition that's been starin' me in the face every time I went. Got ma a DVD too an' that was about it. Place is a joke.

I managed to get out half of another script, gonna finish that up tomorrow. Also got an advanced review to do so we'll see how that goes. An' tomorrow's the last day of spring break. Blah! At least I don't hafta go back till Thursday, but still. Sucks. Fed Ex also called my office fer reference info, so that's a good sign. I just hope they take another week. I wanna go on this trip! Plus will also coincide with the end of my semester so I don't get screwed there. We'll see.

EASTER

Last night as I was gettin'' ready fer bed, I had noticed a bit of a gleam on my head. I had almost forgotten about the growin' bald spot. But, there it was...worse than ever. Yeah, I ain't too happy about it. I sent away fer the DVD about Bosley's hair restoration treatments, so gonna give that a gander as I look fer other options. I don't wanna be bald. Not one bit.

Speakin' of restorations, my hunt fer a chemical stripper is goin' nowhere fast. That's the most recommended method of strippin' off paint an' rust so was gonna do it, but so far the closest places I can find that do it are either Ohio or Mass. Gonna hafta figger that one out.

Today wasn't so bad. Didn't get all fancy with dinner, which's fine since it's just the 3 of us. Plus gma was in a mood so we didn't hafta go today. BUT, we'll hafta go tomorrow. Blah.

My website provider's bein' a bitch again. They update their system requirements which means I can't access my pages fer god knows how long until I figger a way to scam by whatever bullshit they put up. Fun. I decided to do a bit more of the issues to get ahead in the meantime, but maybe with my new layout plan I'll try an' find a better provider. Probably about time. Unfortunately I dunno nill about buildin' a website so may hafta enlist a lotta (free) help to do it. Fun.

Tomorrow gonna hafta remember to try an' send back my DVDs fer an exchange. Also gonna pass by Circuit City to partake of a couple sales after work, hopefully I won't be the only one with that idea. Or at least hope other geniuses don't buy the same ones I'm goin' to get. Guess we'll find out.

CATALOGUE

Biked without incident today. Well, other than the usual morons who walk, take up the whole bike path, an' don't look behind 'em when they move over. I love how all the assholes who walk on the path an' completely forget they share it with a buncha people on wheels. Self-absorbed idiots.

I realized on the ride that I forgot all about the pants that were pissed on in the basement. Whoops. Got home, went down an' threw 'em in the wash. Hadda cycle it twice 'cause fer some reason the detergent stuck around. Gotta dry it again too, 'cause when I went to go get 'em they were still soaked. Lovely. Was too late so I'll do that up tomorrow.

I tried to list the condition of my books on CCL, the older ones that vary, anyways. Figger a li'l each weekend I can get through 'em pretty quick. Yeah, right. Took me 3 hours to do one box, skippin' all the near mint ones, an' I still didn't even finish it. Boy, is THAT gonna be a project! I did get out another script today (well, 2 technically, but packaged as one) so that's a plus. Figger if I do one a day I can spend Friday tightenin' 'em up an' they'll be all ready fer Saturday.

I've also been gettin' review requests through Comicspace from some indie guys who wanna promote their book. 2, in fact. I directed them all towards my boss at 215 so he can have final say. Last night, he sent me the first of them to do, so we're good to go. Now we just gotta wait on the second. See if I can't bang that out tomorrow...in between havin' to go to the home to see gma. ARGH!

BLOOD RUN

ARGH! Ma decided to change the shower curtains last night (which they needed to be, badly) an' that led to them cleanin' the whole bathroom. Fine. The problem? I go to take a shower today, get in, get some hot water fer once...an' no washcloth! Ma uses a loufa, pops uses just bar soap, an' I'm the one who uses washcloths. These dipshits put it in the hamper an' didn't bother to replace OR tell me! So I hadda cut the water, semi-dry up, wrap the towel around me an' cross the hall to get one. Boy, was I pissed off. Assholes complain about me all the time then go an' do the same shit they accuse me of. ARGH!

Didn't wake up till 4, an' ma hadda interrupt my day by havin' me take somethin' to the UPS store fer her when I wanted to catch a ride before it either snowed or got too dark. Fuck. So I rushed my shower, dressed, got my bike ready an' took the box over. I hate doin' that 'cause I gotta fill out the fuckin' form with all the info I DON'T know all the fuckin' time. Stupid bitch. Got back, got on the bike, an' hit my ride. Only shitty part was I caught my finger on my brake handle an' ripped a nice piece of flesh off my knuckle. Fortunately I had some napkins left in my jacket an' used them to stop it up till I got to the wharf. They were pretty much used up by then, but I figgered maybe it coagulated enough to stop bleedin' so much. No such luck. Resorted to usin' the rubber glove I had to stop it up an' keep blood from goin' all over till I got home.

Got out another script. Decided to do an action short usin' one of my characters. Didn't really wanna but that particular one out there before some others, but he was the only one who fit so what the hell. Tomorrow I'll probably try to do some of the comedy shorts I had planned. Talked to Bob, he's good with us workin' together on 'em, so that's cool.

So far, these personal meters aren't such a chore to carry around. The best part? The unit that transmits their data to the main joint keeps the cordless from knockin' me off the web, which's fine by me. All these years of gettin' kicked off an' this stupid thing's what stops it. Whatta world.

2-PAGE

What wild an' crazy weather, man. Started off sunny then alternated between that an' cloudy, then we had snow fer a few minutes at a time. Can't decide if it's winter or spring!

At home I didn't get too productive till late when I decided to work on some of the 2-pagers fer next weekend. I've got mostly ideas formin', but I did actually manage to do one physical one; a concept I had fer a couple years in a few different forms. I dug out my Amazing Fantasy vol. 2 #15 to help me with the script, 'cause in that double-sized anthology issue Dan Slott had taken the 8-page format each writer was given an' as a word against decompression made 4 2-paged hypercompressed stories. Think it came out pretty good, my test audience seemed to love it. I have another idea that's a page long comedy but I'm gonna try to talk to Bob tomorrow an' get his name on it, since I think I mostly got inspired by a concept he had fer a strip he wanted to team-up on.

Other'n that, think I'll enjoy a nice long night of video games since I ain't gotta work tomorrow. Booyah!

OVERTIME

Holy. Shit.

Today was one long-ass day. By the time I finally got settled an' down to some serious comic readin', it was already 4. Now, in case I haven't mentioned it before, I usually spend $120 on comics every two weeks. I split that up into $50 one week an' $70 the next (why do I do that instead of say 60/60 or 70/70? I dunno, actually. I believe that's all my individual budgets would allow, but if I get Fed Ex I plan to go 70/70. Anyways...). This week was my $70 week, which meant a huge stack of comics (in relative terms, a buck don't get ya what it used to). Now they never got one issue an' it woulda been too long a wait from the other store, so I bought a fill-in that caught my interest. I left with 30 comics. (In all fairness, 2 of them were Painkiller Jane #0, a short preview comic which was only 25 cents so I bought both covers). With 29 unique an' me skippin' one fer not readin' prior issues, that left me 28 books; an' two of them were larger than average size.

By the time I finished readin' an' started my reviews, it was already midnight. Yup, 8 hours of readin', an' I didn't finish the reviews until 2AM. I even skipped like 4 issues. So, yeah, that was a bit of a long day at the office.

Haven't heard back from Fidel on his re-interview yet. Gonna give it another week then gonna just give him a call to schedule somethin'. I should have his numbers in the phone. I'll E-Mail Mark with the update an' maybe request someone to do in the meantime just to keep things goin'. At least now I know the flaws of the system, bullshit like that won't happen again. Speak clear, speak loud.

The first day of wearin' the units wasn't a chore at all. They're light, an' ya barely notice 'em. Although, considerin' I had the TV on the whole time I was home I just wonder how in the hell ma got more points than I did. Blah, ah well. Just gonna hafta figger out how to maneuver it fer li'l things like bikin' an' stuff.

Bay Ridge is not doin' so good. It appears people've forgotten what borough they live in, with rents fer businesses bein' jacked up to 5 figures. The Pan Pizza Kitchen I found was closed up when I went to the bank, usin' a health code violation as an excuse to close an' not plannin' to reopen 'cause the landlord wants 10Gs. Thriftee, a thrift store an' a veritable institution around here, is closin' up it's doors 'cause the landlord wants 18G a year. My eye doc, who's been in his office fer as long as I can remember, was forced to move 'cause his landlord jacked up the rent. This ain't Manhattan, people. It's Brooklyn. It's not THE prime real estate that we can charge an arm an' a leg to live here. An' we definitely don't need all the banks. 86th street, there are THREE banks along 5th Avenue. THREE. We need places to MAKE money, not places to PUT money. Gettin' so only the rich can live in this city, an' they're bein' smart about oustin' us poor folk so we can't cause a stink an' rebel. An' people wonder why I wanna live upstate...

WIRED

Somehow, pops got involved with this survey group that does TV an' radio ratings. An' somehow the rest of us got involved. Basically, we're gonna be carryin' around these beeper-like devices everywhere we go so it can pick up the TV an' radio signals around us from now until doomsday. What happens is we get points, points add up into cash an' prizes, an' we get a monthly check. We agreed to it 'cause it's basically easy money. Not much money, but every li'l bit helps, ya know? Especially since the paper just declared that we're lower middle class now (a status I always thought we were anyways, but now it's just official).

Got to go bikin' today, an' it handles beautifully. It's like brand new. No grindin' of the wheels, no forcin' the pedals...the only bad part was the wind goin', but comin' it was a nice smooth ride. Well, except fer the moron past the bridge who decided to absentmindedly roller blade into the bike line, an' then almost had me run into him when I tried to pass him 'cause he wasn't payin' attention. I hate rollerbladers. They always do it in the bike line an' they always take up the entire lane with their kickin' off. It's annoyin'.

I spent a bit more time workin' on website stuff before updatin' the page fer tomorrow's releases. Still got a ways to go with info so gotta really try to get ahead. Think I might work backwards fer a bit since the last few issues in the series are nuttin' but reprints an' those are easier to handle than original stories. Also tried to do the Titan digest collections to get them outta the way, but one of 'em was just all over the place in terms of where it took stories, an' two of the stories I hadn't encountered yet. Guessin' they're in one of the 2 issues I'm about to buy from my original source on GBN. We'll find out.

RELATIONSHIP XOMBIE

Once upon a time, my stuff was accused of takin' over the house. 'Cause, ya know, it was like SO all over the place. Right. That's why jackets not mine are on my coat hook. Or my towel ends up half soaked when hangin' on the tub. Or one of my hats which is small, but still good, ends up under a car battery. The only ones who spread through the house like a cancer are those two dumbasses I live with. My shit is either in my room, or by my computer to be worked on. That's it.

Anyways, April Fools day came an' went. Had nobody to prank, an' fortunately nobody to prank on me. Sis did get off a good prank on her sis, though. That was priceless, an' totally set up months in advance! If I was smart, I woulda played one on sis sayin' I was gettin' back with the slut, but eh. It was Sunday. I don't function on Sundays.

Dimestore's been undergoin' server changes to handle the increased flow from Small Press Idol, so there wasn't a chat last week an' my articles are gonna be even further delayed. Hopefully the last one I did gets put up while still relevant. I tried my luck to see if the chat was workin' last night, an' yes it was. Had a few people, though not most of the usual Sunday crowd. Ah well, fun was still had by all until they all started discussin' small press stuff I knew nuttin' about.

I watched the episodes of Xombie I didn't see yet as well as read up about it on Wikipedia before tacklin' the advanced comic we got. Unfortunately, I was missin' a huge chunk of story thanks to the series runnin' into a novel which leads into the comic, but eh. Fortunately the writer/creator was smart enough to include the neccessary backstory in exposition. Overall, the comic was pretty good an' I may ask my shop to get it fer me next week. If you wanna check out my interview, head on over to 215ink.com an' show some love.

I spent most of today an' yesterday workin' on stuff fer my site. I wanna try to get ahead on it in case I get bogged down with the Fed Ex job. That, an' it was rainin' so no bikin' fer me. Dammit. I also built Wednesday's pages tonight so tomorrow all I'll hafta do is link 'em up. Nice to be ahead of the game. Although this weekend I'll need to focus on churnin' out scripts fer the CAG webcomic...they're due next week.

Now why is it whenever relationships come up in my convos, people tell me I should try some form of computer datin'? I mean, geeze, are we SO reliant on machines that that's our only option these days? An' who says I'm even seriously lookin'? Yeah, it'd be nice to have some companionship now an' again, but my life has been so much better single that I really don't wanna mess it up by havin' to add that kinda complication. Not to mention I'm gonna be workin' 2 jobs, with a ton of extra pro bono work, an' school now an' again...would I really have the time to give sufficient attention to a gal at this point? Probably not. Only so many hours in the day an' I'm probably gonna need most of 'em fer sleep. On top of that, I have met a few great gals I wouldn't've minded explorin' the option with, but alas, someone beat me there every time. So, whatever. It happens it happens, it don't it don't. It's li'l shit an' I ain't stressin' it.

An' I'm not lookin' to find someone over the computer again. Did that once, it was a disaster. I don't care that that's where I'm the most attractive an' it's easy fer me to get a gal's interest; there are some things I'd like to keep traditional fer a li'l while longer. Ya know, if I fail at that (which I most likely will) then I'll reconsider. Till then, I'm good as is. I don't even remember what it all felt like so it's not like I'm missin' anythin'.