Breakfast Woes, Early Halloween, Back to School

This weekend isn't going to be the most fun. I have to do breakfast all weekend at the motel. My boss knows how much I dislike it, so you know how many people are unavailable when she has to call on me to fill in. That's the way it is this summer, though, with how busy everything is.
I didn't even realize Halloween was coming this weekend until Derek told me he & Tab are coming up to see it Saturday. Karissa might not be up to seeing it with her cold/flu/whatever she has, but I definitely want to go.
Speaking of which, I'm starting to get sniffles. But I had them a little over a week ago, and it went away without turning into something worse, so hopefully this is the same thing.
I just got my art school supplies yesterday in about 6 boxes. It was fun sorting through all of it, but it''s kind of stressful thinking I'll have to dig it out piece by piece to use it all. It's going to be a busy semester. I'm holding out hope that I won't have to put Golden Brown on hiatus again. I may be taking 2 weeks to get a single page out instead of one, but hey that's something, right? Speaking of which, I did get the new page done in time, and it's currently up. It took a little longer than I wanted, but still on deadline.
I've still got some good ideas running through my head, and hopefully they'll come to page sooner than later. I still want to do the 24-hour comic challenge, but I should have budgeted my time better this summer.

The Piano Has Been Drinking...

Sometime last week, we wnt over to Amber and Ben's place to have some kind of chicken dish. I don't remember what it was called, but it was like a chicken pot pie casserol, only better. I have been spoiled with good food this past week, mostly chicken dishes. Karissa bought a whole chicken (I guess it's cheaper to do it that way) and ended up using it like 3 times to make dinners. You'd think I'd be sick of chicken, but I ain't sick of chicken.
We went to the International market in the mall last friday, and I don't know why I don't go there more often. I got a liter of Philipino soy sauce for cheap, plus some disgusting "Power Malt" from Denmark. I almost couldn't swallow the one drink I took. Kevin and April came over that evening, and I gave some to him, leading him to believe it wasn't that bad. I should have got out the camera and snapped a picture of his face after he took a drink, I can't duplicate that. He's still trying to think of how to get me back.
On Saturday Kevin's dad brought the piano up from Devils Lake. I was very excited to finally be getting a piano, even if it is on loan. Apparently, so was everyone else, because that piano got played and tinkered with all saturday and into the evening. Isabella loves it, and I realized it might actually be easier to teach her some fundamental piano stuff than any other instrument. It kept its tune for 90 miles, it wasn't really that heavy to lift in, and now I finally have a piano to screw around on while we have friends over playing cards. I'm sure you guys all love the guitar/ukulele music, but a little change is nice. right? Right.
On Sunday we had an awesome storm. Northwood would disagree (at least the trailer park that got flattened by a tornado), but I saw the coolest lightning display ever during the "Tornado warning" period in East Grand Forks. The bad news "cottonball" clouds were even there. Unfortunately, all that water made our basement flood again. At work too.
Isabella starts Headstart on her birthday! Karissa did the registration stuff (I was too wiped out after my shift), and this afternoon we bought her a Dora backpack that she'll be able to use there. We have to watch our language now, though, because we can all be reprimanded for it there. Dammit.
I'm working on the next page of Golden Brown right now, but I'm not sure how hard this page will be, plus I'm having trouble finding good time to work on it. So I can't promise it'll be out on time this week, but I'll try.

Snakes on a Sketchpad

I haven't posted any artwork for a while, so here's some! This one's an oldy. It's graphite (pencil), and it had been rolled up and squiched a bit over the years.

Back in high school, my girlfriend and I were going through some rough stuff. She was living in another town, and having trouble dealing with being in a long-distance relationship. A friend of mine was going out with a friend of hers in her town, and I overheard a little gossip that he was cheating on her. So, I told her. My girlfriend got mad (she was not sure of the validity of the info), argued with me, the guy got mad at me, and I wound up feeling like a big jackass for doing what I thought was right. Being an overly dramatic 17-year-old, I drew this. These are snakes of conscious thought. All the little conflicting emotions running through the teenage mind nip and bite and tear at eachother until all are torn apart. Down below sits a demon (I know I said I was being overly dramatic) mourning over the fact that he introduced these volatile serpents and feeling every ounce of their pain.

I was getting pretty good, though, at drawing me.

Bet you guys never demonized yourselves, huh? I thought not.

You've also never seen a demon with a nicer part in his hair.

I don't have alot of time, I'm about to get ready for work.

I've been bitching about how the United States should stop buying anything from China--if you don't know why, try a news channel, mole! But then, what do we do tonight? We go out to a Chinese buffet!

I woke up this morning with a great idea for a 2-3 page comic. No one can know what it's about, but when I make it, people might just hate me. Seriously. I call it "The Cactus". And that's ALL you can know about it.

Speaking of comics, go check out Golden Brown, it's a new page!

End Transmission.

Rip-Snortin' Heat-Horton Weekend

Well we haven't seen him for a week...I think he's not used to all the atmosphere...

This weekend we went to Reverend Horton Heat!
I didn't sleep again before leaving for Fargo Friday. I think it's a tradition for concerts now that I'm slightly sleep-deprived. I was much better this weekend than the weekend we went to Type O, though, mainly because I didn't catch a wicked head cold this time.
We stopped at Antiques on Broadway (I think that's the name) first. Last time we were here, we accidentally skipped it, and wouldn't you know it's one of the better antique stores in Fargo. There were tons of military hats, but I didn't actually get any. Maybe next time. There were also a few guitars. The better they looked, the more expensive. This particular guitar answers to the name "Stella" (no I didn't name it that's the brand name--Stelllllaaaaa!!!). I replaced the strings right away on it, but the tone is still cheap--which I'm absolutely fine with. Add another "reject" guitar to my arsenal.

We met up with Tab & Derek there before checking in at the motel. We tried going to Bertrosa's for dinner, but the whole freakin building closes at 5:00 pm. Odd for a popular downtown spot. We ended up at Juano's. I had a bad experience there a couple years back, when Karissa, Jas, and I went to Rob Zombie, but this time around it turned out much better. I had the Chinatown salad.

On to the concert!
Murder By Death opened up, and Derek & I were down front, right at the stage. I liked their music before, but seeing them live was just crazy. Every one of them got into it and the sound was awesome. We were standing by the bassist the whole time, and Derek caught the pick he threw out to the crowd. Karissa wanted to have his babies. I said it was okay, cause I would take the cellist.
Reverend Horton Heat came on and wasted no time hitting some of the popular songs. At one point, he made fun of Bon Jovi & Sebastian Bach, the latter of which pissed off Karissa. One kid in front got too excited and spilled a little beer on him, so he bopped the kid in the head. It happened a second time, and the Reverend stopped up the song and asked the kid if he was fucking with him. He was classy about it though, and chastized the kid about how in college one should learn not to waste beer.
Of course, after leaving the stage at the end of the set, everyone screamed for one more song, and of course they came out and played more. They held out and saved Psychobilly Freakout until almost last, which I thought was awesome!
They played tons of my favorites like Bails of Cocaine, What Did You Do With My Toothbrush, and of course Galaxy 500. Anyone who hasn't heard Galaxy 500, listen to it. Then try to imagine it being played live. You can't. When he went into the solo I think I shit myself. They also did their version of Greensleeves and a cover of Paranoid, in which the drummer sang.
I confess, I knew only vaguely who Jimbo was up to Friday night. When I saw him play his upright, I was floored. Jimbo is fucking awesome, and Derek owes me a spanking for not being aware of him for so long.
After the concert, we hit a couple bars, where even more bands were playing. I was starting to get wiped out, so at closing time, we took off to Romantix, a sex store. Derek had to pee, and had to buy a magazine so he could use the bathroom in the arcade in the basement. I've never seen Derek actually afraid of a sex store before, and they've gone to that particular one before, but when he went down there, there was some big black dude standing by the bathroom, and he could barely see where he was going 'cause it was so dark.
I didn't get to bed until after 2:30, and wasn't feeling that great in the morning. I didn't drink much, but just being tired made things worse.
On Saturday, we ate at Old Chicago, who makes really good pizzas, then went to Karissa's mom's to get Isabella and hang out with her and the grandparents who came up from Arizona.
It was weird not seeing Aiden all of last week. He was with his own grandparents while Kevin and April did their Minneapolis/Duluth thing.
On a last note, I hope to have a little surprise on the Golden Brown front by friday, so stay tuned and be fucking patient.

Doctor Rage Fading, Gimme 20cc Golden Brown Root Beer, Stat!

Thanks for letting me bitchalittle.
I took Isabella to Aurora on Saturday, because she was screaming every time she peed. I mentioned her experience with the doctor at Altru, and the Aurora doctor almost went out of his way to make sure Isabella & I knew what he was going to do before he did it, and always kept a soft voice when speaking to her. To his credit, he may already be a gentle doctor, but I liked that he listened to me about this. Isabella didn't have to pee or anything, so he put a baggy on her to get a urine sample, which she wouldn't give until the next morning (it was a plastic thingy made for that purpose).
Yes, she did have a urinal tract infection, and yes, it was enough pee that we wouldn't have to resort to a catheter. I was also happy that he wanted the catheter as an ultimate last resort for her because of what she'd already been through.
So now she has a UTI and constipation, so she's taking a laxative and an atibiotic. But, she is getting better, and she's annoying the hell out of us with her sudden regained energy. Today she was copying everything I was saying to Karissa. It was in her weird 2-year-old language, but you could tell.
Needless to say, we're planning on making the big move to Aurora. Unfortunately that means giving up Dr. Zelesky, who has always been very good to us, but we just got sick of the service on the doctoring end.
I'm thankful right now that Kevin didn't go general practice. I think he would have made a great doctor, but would have been up to his elbows in patients, and be called constantly by those who just couldn't deal with the shit doctors. And then he couldn't make me steaks (or brats) or help me out with our root beer experiments.
Speaking of root beer...
Karissa found me a cheap root beer that tastes pretty decent. It's called Frosty root beer. She found it at Pamida, which makes me nervous, because Pamida sucks, and I wouldn't be surprised if they closed soon. The first good thing to come out of a Pamida for me, and I'm worried about how much longer I'd be able to get it. We found Zota soda root beer just before they stopped selling it in our town, too.
A new page of Golden Brown will be up Friday. It's been done since last week, but you know me...
I do, however, have a little surprise, but you'll have to wait until next week to get it. Tehee!

Baby Blues, Doctor Rage

As I'm writing this, I think the death toll in the Minneapolis bridge collapse is about 9, with over 60 injured & 20-30 still missing. Karissa can correct me on the details, she probably couldn't sleep and went back to watching her news. One of the guests at the motel mentioned two of his kids having crossed the bridge at 4 & 4:30pm, and another having planned to after 6pm before they found out what happened. Talk about a close call. I've only driven on it a few times when we went to Minneapolis last year & this Spring, and despite being over a major river I don't really remember anything about it, but it's still weird to think of that. The silver lining in this story is that an amazing number of bystanders reacted quickly and began doing whatever they could to help the survivors who could get out. I mean, people were getting in the water and pulling others out. Now that's Minnesota-nice.
Karissa took Isabella to the doctor yesterday to confirm that sh was, in fact, constipated (by the way, Isabella-16-years-from-now, I hope you appreciate my telling everyone that). She related the story to me after I got up:
The doctor asked about her thumbsucking, and scolded Karissa for still letting Isabella do it. He said that when she does it, take it out and tell her not to do that. Yeah, did that work for your kids, dumbfuck? Thy more than likely just did it when you weren't looking. I'm not old enough to have forgotten how sneaky kids are, even at 2 years old.
Next, he did his examination. When he got to the rectal examination, he didn't warn Isabella or Karissa, and just went right ahead with it. I was told Isabella was obviously not liking it, but was a trooper and didn't really cry. He didn't even give Karissa time to get into Isabella's eyesight so she could comfort her.
After all was done, he was leaving, and noticed Isabella moving her thumb to her mouth. He brushed her hand away from her face, and said, "you don't need that," then left.
I don't think I've ever wanted to assault a doctor so badly in my life.
1. We've discussed the thumbsucking issue with Isabella's regular doctor already. No need to make us feel like pieces of shit parents for not having gotten around to fixing that yet. Besides the fact that she is not yet 3 years old, and thumbsucking, other than being socially discouraged and a potential dental issue is not that big a deal concerning a 2-year-old.
2. A doctor has to have courtesy toward his/her patients, especially with children. You have to make them comfortable in the doctor's office, because they seem to remember the good/bad extremes of the visit and focus on those as reasons why/not to go back. I imagine a rectal exam is not pleasant to a constipated toddler, so make sure the parent can get to the child to comfort them before you plunge in.
3. Do not EVER presume to correct my kid's behavior without consulting me or her mother. If sh's not hurting herself or anyone else, if it's a simple bad habit, LEAVE HER THE FUCK ALONE. There are precious few adults we would let correct her, and even then they take their cues from us.
Last night, I changed Isabella's diaper, and her legs were shaking when I put the butt-cream on her. I may be jumping to conclusions, but if this whole thing traumatized her, Karissa & I aren't shutting up until this doctor realizes what a piece of shit he really is. I work at a motel. Comfort is important, the guest, contrary to what consumers think, is not always right, but we do what we can to help them. We are polite, courteous, and don't scold guests for stupid behaviors (and believe me, some guests have done STUPID things), but rather deal with them politely. We try to keep a smile (an honest smile, too, not a mchanical one) while w're doing it. Some doctors naturally have customer service skills. Some doctors learned it working these jobs during schooling (Kevin is probably a good example of both those types). I don't know if there are classes on "proper bedside manner" during med school, but there sure as hell should be. Maybe these guys are watching "House" on tv and thinking they can get away with being dicks so long as they're good at their jobs. To that I say, "Welcome Aurora!"
Seriously, though, I can't wait to get Isabella in to see Dr. Zeleski again.
wheeeewww...
Okay, I'm good now. Karissa would have said all that, but I never know when she's gonna post again.

Anyway, on to better news. I'm actually ahead on Golden Brown, but still only letting you mongrels see one page a week. It's become apparent to me that I'm not going to have the story wrapped up by the time school starts if I only draw 1 page a week, so I've been getting my ass a little more in gear. I'll still post 1 a week, but I'm hoping I won't actually have to work on it during the semester. Plus, I still need to figure out when I can do that 24 hour comic challenge, and I get a bad feeling that's gonna take a lot out of me.
A new page of Golden Brown will be out by Friday, midnight. I guarantee.