PHOTOSHOP

In lab we're now working with Photoshop. Finally, it looks like I'm gonna excel somewhere 'cause I was the only one in the group with any PS experience to speak of. As such, I was given the assignment to do at my own pace while she taught the others how to do it. The assignment? Putting fruit together to make a face. Well, at least I'll be flying now.

At work, it was a case of the blind leading the blind. After all the routes are on the road, the late freight is divided up and shuttled out. Today we had two numbnuts doing the shuttling and thus the whole thing ran a LOT longer than it had to. It wasn't helped by the managers all doing interviews at the same time.

I was originally supposed to go shuttle as well, but Damien decided to hold me back. Then why the hell did I have to go and take a break and force myself to stay here an extra half hour? Told him to just take it out and I'll leave normal time. See if he remembered to do that. Hell, not like I didn't end up doing office crap anyway during my so-called break.

COMPED

Apparently even freelancers get comp copies of the books they work on. This was the buzz on the Index forums as people discussed the copies they've recieved. In fact, today, I recieved my very own comp...of a book I had absolutely nothing to do with. If I hadn't said it before, the guys I work with are mostly the ones behind the Handbooks, so i ended up getting the latest: Dark Reign Files. On one hand, I'm confused as hell. On the other, at least now I can put the book away and not contemplate spending the $5 on it any more. I just wonder if I'll ever be getting any ACTUAL books I've worked on.

They've decided to hold me back this week while I'm covering for Lamont, to help get the late freight shuttled out and what not. Luckily it's a light week due to some of our freight being stranded overseas as we watch for a volcano in Alaska.

FAIL

I studied yesterday, I did up the study sheet, I even studied today when I got to the school. In the end, it was for naught because it was an effing SHORT ANSWER TEST. Yeah, I pretty much bombed it. Badly. And there was one thing I KNEW but blanked on at crunch time, which cost me 3 questions. What a crock of shit.

The highlight of the day was getting contacted by another old co-worker on Facebook. Okay, this is four now...what is it, old home month? Did everyone wake up one day and just decide to miss me? Wild.

RADIO AND TAXES

Now listening to CBS on Sundays, I got a little worried that the station's format got cancelled and changed again 'cause I heard a Freestyle song when I turned it on. CBS, while playing the hits of 3 decades, has never played Freestyle. I checked my MP3 just to make sure I didn't change the station and forget about it, or that the dial slipped into one of those HD stations. After the song, though, I learned it was actually their Sunday night top 20 countdown of 1984. *Whew*

My worry was warranted, 'cause not only was the KTU Freestyle Free-For-All canned, but it looks like K-Rock's been reformatted. Again. Now they play contemporary adult Top 40 hits under the name NOW FM. K-Rock's HD station K-Rock 2 still plays rock, though. K-Rock is also the name of a radio station in the West Village I've never even heard of nor am able to even get on the dial...at least not clearly. Think I've tuned in accidentally once or twice, 101.5.

I tried out Turbo Tax 'cause I kept hearing good things and 'cause I'm tired of explaining how publishing works to our accountant. On the plus side, I got a nice refund and am going ahead with my self-publishing project. On the negative, I ended up paying the exact same as I would've for an accountant since I filed State as well. Ah well. At least now that I know somewhat what I'm doing, I can do it a bit easier next year. I hope...

THE FUN IN CONNECTICUT

The day didn't quite go as planned, but as Liz pointed out we're better with plan Bs.

On the ride up, I finished up my Spider-Man entries for #6 while Keith called me to go over some plans for the new Mark Twain story. He had gone to the Twain house around him for reference. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to take all the photos he wanted but he grabbed a guide with pictures in it. Our original plan was maybe have Twain give a tour of his house to the reader, or have his ghost correct a new tourguide to memebers of a tour group. I came up with a new idea upon hearing about his 20 cats of him having writer's block and his cats acting out what would become scenes of the book he's writing. We'll see what we run with.

Liz ended up arriving too late to make the movie due to a traffic accident, but she had gotten information for a shopping mall, a Best Buy and another theater. We headed to the comic shop we were gonna go to after the flick to check it out. Plan B. Small place, kinda reminded me of Comic World. She picked up a few books that caught her interest. I refrained.

My money spending came when we hit Best Buy. I ended up buying two half price games and two discounted movies. One of the games is a PSP game she has. The plan is we'd buy the wifi compatable games and get in video game night over a distance. Not quite what we planned, but hey, plan B. She sent me a list of games she has I've gotta check out yet. Hopefully, she'll be as open to getting the games I like as I am hers.

Next was lunch. We hit a Wendys, my having a fill of Friendly's the last time. There, she suggested maybe getting Brian to draw the pages for NYH. I liked the idea and put it to Keith to try and maybe hook us up so I can talk to him about it.

Now CT addresses sure are weird. The theater's address was 550. The McDonald's right across the way had an address in the 300s. Explain that one. Theater jad an unusual set-up, one I'm not accustomed to seeing. Basically the snack bar was the center of everything and the ticket booth wasn't so much a booth as a desk with two terminals and the movie times on plaques behind it. Unfortunately, Liz ended up not enjoying the movie like I kinda figured after a recent convo we had, but ah well. It's not for everyone.

Next we hit Westfield Shopping Mall. I was able to pick up some Cadbury Cream Eggs 3/$5, which I can't find anywhere around here, at the Target there. She picked up some chocolates and a new G.I. Joe Scarlett figure. Then we browsed the rest of the mall. I resisted buying any more games from EB Games but made up for it by playing some in this Dave & Busters wannabe type place. The game selection was nowhere near as good as D&B anda lot were ancient, but we had some fun doing motorcycle, NASCAR and street racing, and playing Time Crisis. Gotta tell ya, I made it farther than I ever had in that one. We make a pretty good team.

Grabbing some Subway for dinner, the day had to end as she was getting sleepy. On the way back I worked on NYH #4 some, mostly because she got irritated at me for talking about revisiting a Wolverine story idea I had in mind. She hates when I do the fan stuff and rahters I'd work on my own. Eh, gotta have some fun too, right?

Overall, a pretty fun day. I wanna do it again!

WEEK IN REVIEW

Not a very eventful week, so I'll just summarize some of the highlights.

The final lettering edits for Iconic is being sent out to their respective writers to approve the changes before going on to letterers. Apparently, somewhere between script and letter Mark's story got truncated and altered. The frustration led to him pulling the story, although honestly the way things've been between him and the group lately it's no surprise. We're gonna attempt to replace it with our own Mark Twain story otherwise we'll just alter Twain on our cover to more closely resemble my grandpa character. Fun in publishing, folks.

Speaking of which, we got the Sky Pirates artist Brian Brinlee to do my story and Alex did the inks. I glanced at the pages at the meetng, but didn't give them a full looking-over due to the hectic nature of everyone being around and looking at them. The art was good, no surprise there, but the last page wasn't to my liking. I had told Keith, who was the go-between in this case, to have Brian try it a different way when I saw the thumbnails, but then next thing I know the finished pencils come through and I'm like okay... So I mentioned it again at the last meeting Tuesday and we had Brian work off a thumbnail I did for the page to quickly do up a new one with inks. We'll see what happens.

INDEXED AT LAST

I was plotting out an excursion to all the local stores, even in New Haven, to find my copies of the Index if my shop didn't come through. Behold my surprise when they did; all 10 copies. They ordered them that very day. So I headed to a 99 cent store to get some envelopes and sent an issue out to Tina and April. I gave ma a copy, got a copy for D, and one for Liz on Saturday. Love it when a plan comes together.

THE PAST AGAIN

And another person contacted me I haven't talked to in a while. Dunno if you long-time readers remember Marissa. She's the girl who lives up in Queens I met on the Super Hero Hype boards a couple years ago. We chatted, phoned a few times, had some fun. I saw an opportunity for us to be actual friends, but she pretty much squashed that by saying I was too serious for her to hang with. Riiiiiiight, which is why she was laughing during all our convos. Anyways, that was pretty much the end of that. I got a message from her a while ago but nothing substantial. Now she IMs me again today. Brief convo, but interesting timing.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

First off, I got a midterm on Monday. Friggin' short answers. I HATE short answer tests, 'cause it relies on you having such an intricate knowledge of things to get it at least partially right. I'm gonna study in my free time over the weekend and before the class, but I'm not feeling too confident about it. All I can do is hope this study guide they provided will be adequate. I haven't done any of the reading which probably woulda helped, but there's just too much. I don't even have time to read my comics except when I go to the bathroom. And I know you're probably saying well why not read the school stuff in the bathroom. Simple, a good deal of it is online. Gonna hafta bring the laptop every time? Yeah, ma'd love that.

Second, I got a little surprise today in the form of a phone call from a guy I had a class with a while ago. This was the guy who came with me, D and Tommy to get some White Castle that time. Hadn't talked to him since. So we chatted a bit, shot the shit, I suggested we do another WC run and that was that. It's funny 'cause I kept thinking about calling him, but you all know me and the phone. One thing I should mention, though; this phone call came right when I was about to use the bathroom. Imagine trying to make myself decent and trying to balance the phone at the same time. Fun...NOT!

It's also funny 'cause it comes on the heels of one of my old co-workers and two of my former BMCC classmates finding me on Facebook. Like daymn, it's old home week!

THE DAY FREESTYLE DIED

Every Sunday when I go to bed, I flip on KTU for the night for the Freestyle Free-For-All that I've been listening to since 2000. Basically, that's an entire show until midnight dedicated to playing nothing but Freestyle, with dance remixes in the last hour. However, when I tuned in tonight it looked like the show had been cancelled 'cause there was a new DJ and the standard KTU music. I guess it was inevitable, but kinda sucks to lose that staple...even if I wasn't able to tune in as much as I used to like when I worked Sunday nights.

MEETING

You know, it becomes increasingly difficult to figure out who's ditched the group when we've had a schedule difference and now a small show to compete against. If you hadn't guessed, turnout for this one was a little less than last month, but it had to be because of Ray's show in the Bronx. We did get some new members, though. Last week Hector was contacted by this girl doing a project for school looking for info, and when he found out she was in NY he directed her to me and I invited her to the meeting. She brought two of her friends and they've considered joining. Once they pay the dues (I hate collecting those, by the way...least favorite part of this job) they'll be official. They're also gonna bring around members of an illustration club they belong to, so we'll see what happens next month. Also had a new official member I talked to on our private social networking site. Nice guy, think they'll all fit in nicely. We also got a nice surprise in Tom not moving yet as his wife wants to keep her job for a bit longer.

After the usual lunch time shennanigans and checking out the graffitti building again, four of us went off to see Watchmen. After the flick, we all hit the bathroom (hey, 3 hour movie!) and when I got outside I only found two of them. They said Ralph ahd gone back to try and find me, which is odd since I was in front of him as we went to the bathroom. We looked around and waited for about 15 minutes until we decided that he might've just used that as an excuse to sneak into another movie. He had declared that if he's gonna pay $11 or more for a movie, he has to get in at least two to make it worth it. I E-mailed him when I got home to make sure anyway.

Liz wanted to come to the meeting, but she may or may not have had to work tonight. And she really wanted to see the movie, too. So I offered to go up there next Saturday and we'd watch it in New Haven; that way we can hang and she's only half an hour from home if she hasta work. She seemed to like the idea.

RUSH FILM

I ended up late to class on a day we were supposed to go out and film a location with the variety of shots we learned about to gradually reveal it. I had about 20 mins left of the exercise so I got my camera and rushed out. I found a building under construction that I used. Although, I realized it had to be done the same way as our introductory exercise a few classes ago and had to restart from scratch. No big, 8 shots about 10 seconds each. I got it done pretty quick, just I think a couple shots I did woulda been better served in a different part of the sequence but what can ya do. They were last-minute changes anyways.

Seeing some of the resulting shoots I think I took the assignment a bit too literally, but considering it was just me with less time while everyone else had partners and the full time. Fortunately, we didn't have time to view mine today before the next class in the face of all those better films. See if she remembers to watch it next week while I try to figure out how to upload the photos I took to my portfolio page.

INDEXED

Today the Index with me as a writer came out. I had left a note that I wanted 10 copies 2 weeks ago, which apparently was missed because not only did I not have ONE copy in my bag, I had to go and grab the last copy off the shelf. I'd love to believe the book sold TREMENDOUSLY well, but knowing them they probably only ordered like 10 to begin with. So, yeah, I don't have any copies to send my friends or to try and sell at a show. I'm gonna wait to see if they'll be able to get them for me, otherwise I'm gonna have to hunt down a deal rate and get them elsewhere. Although be nice if there was some kinda CREATOR discount somewhere... Tommy was able to grab a copy, though...guess they had some earlier when he went.

Getting very disappointed in my shop lately. They keep screwing up on not only orders but what goes in my bag. I'm still missing an Avengers book from months ago, and they only JUST got New Warriors #20. Plus there's the added annoyance of that super loser who fits every negative stereotype a comic fan can have. I mean, he drones on and on about stupid shit in his annoying voice. And I came to find out last week his mommy still buys his comics, and he's got a not-so-secret-love for Power Rangers this week. Shoot me now.

This is interesting; I apparently fucked up my blog entry for class (which admittedly wasn't my best work..I had a deadline and just phoned it in) but my photos, which were a rush job I didn't give a shit about, turned out to be liked by my teacher. I had E-Mailed them to her tonight to grade, with 10% taken off for lateness. Funny how that works. Come Sunday, I need to catch up on all the class reading 'cause we got a test in 2 weeks. I'm really just sick of these remedial classes. I shoulda been DONE with them by now if the school didn't screw me like it did.

PORTABLE

Liz sent out the PSP she fixed for me and it arrived today. It's pretty cool, although the inner screen needs a little cleaning. Gonna hafta crack it open and do that when I get a chance. She even included a free game she got for free. She's going to make a side business out of fixing and re-selling PSPs. She figures she could net $70 each at least, all of which she plans to put towards producing her own books. Smart cookie. Her plan's hit a bit of a snag, though, as she's had trouble winning Ebay auctions for the parts she needs. She has a specific reasonable amount she'll go up to, but there are idiots who overpay to win.

The Index stuff is due today, but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish by the time I had to go to bed. I worked every day most of the day for the last few days, and even did some at school after I made up Thursday's assignment to take pictures around the school. But those damn X-Men entries, man...the chronologies are so immense and complex! Claremont, at his height, used every freakin' mutant they had at some point. What made matters worse was there were some format changes being made during the course of my editing, so all of my entries were now outdated. I pretty much gave them a heads up that I wasn't gonna be able to institute the new changes into what I was already doing, so we'll handle that at the edit phase.

Man, I'm totally earning my money here!

WE WATCH THE WATCHMEN

I had made plans to see Wathcmen with D 2 weeks ago, seeing as we haven't gotten together in a while. And, of course, he forgot. Again. He ended up showing just before the movie started 'cause I called him. Movie was pretty good. Little slower than I usually like but enjoyable. I'll definitely get the DVD, and the trade eventually once I get some loose cash for it. After we hit the diner as usual. Man, I missed that place. I need to make a point to get back there regular again. He went to go pick up his car from the shop, which I think he overpaid for what was done to it, and I headed back to finish up work on the Index.

SICKLY

Last night I went to bed feeling like crap. I had the shakes all night and trouble sleeping. This morning, I had a massive headache, body aches and just felt like overall crap. And today was a check ride! I managed to drum up the strength to do my route quickly and efficiently and get it done to Damien's satisfaction. Getting sent to help others, though, I just started to lose it and said screw it. I went back to my truck and counted down the last hour till I got to go home.

I wanted to just hit the sack, but I decided to eat something first. I had the last 10 pizza rolls from the first bag then crapped out. Unfortunately, by the time I woke up I woulda missed half of my class so I said screw it. What I shoulda done, which I was gonna do, was send an E-Mail saying I'd be at the walk-out demonstration against tuition hikes. They were giving us permission to go. But, I thought I'd be able to make class. In truth, I probably coulda made it, but...why?

SNOW BLIND

The first major snowstorm of the year hit. Hard. Of course, the city wasn't as bad as Brooklyn, but still pretty bad. I was able to park close so delivering wasn't hard, but I ended up fishtailing twice; once when I stopped for a light. But, hey, I didn't pass the crosswalk! How's that for good driving? It was crazy, man...and they didn't even close the college! Meanwhile the public schools were closed. Blah.

I don't think Tina's talking to me. She wrote on my wall on Facebook the other day and asked if that's the longest we've gone without talking. Now, I realize I could've done a cutesy short answer, but instead gave her the answer plus elaborations on it. Probably didn't like that much since she hasn't directly talked to me since, but eh...past is past, and I realize our rocky start was mostly my fault. If I hadn'ta done what I did we mighta never gotten past the school pleasantries to actually talking for as long as we had. So is it any wonder our friendship hasn't been exactly stellar? Not exactly the greatest way to start one. But, whatever...what is is.