Holidaze...

X-Mas was alright, I got to relax, watch TV, and pig out on cookies. I also managed to read If Chins Could Kill in 3 days flat, cover to cover. A coworker lent it to me, and I obviously loved reading about Bruce Campbell's career.

We got shit on with snow over the holidays. I'm not sure how many inches we got, but it has to be in the teens by now. I had a lot of fun digging out my van, I'll have more fun doing more of the same at home and at work over the next couple days.

I'm still thinking over the comic-hiatus thing. I hate to do it, because it's hard to get back into the habit of doing it. Plus, there's a little part of me that wonders if I take a break for a couple weeks, what's to stop me from taking a break for a couple months? I love doing the comic, but at times it seems like a struggle to work it in to my schedule, especially since my work routine is different from what it used to be at Travelodge. I did get a page posted last Friday, so at least I managed to not let an entire month pass by before updating!

Turkey, Cartoonin', Comics, and Caterwaulin'...

I guess I should do a little update, since I haven't written anything since Halloween. Turkey Day was good, had turkey like everyone else. I did get to explain more about the REAL Thanksgiving to Isabella, and the more I read through the accounts, the more I figured this isn't a holiday we should be celebrating at all, but whatever, I like Turkey. It should be more of a commemoration of Man's casual dominance over poultry.

Isabella had her dance recital around the beginning of December. During the "rehearsal" at the old-folks home, she got scared and ran to us in the middle of the song. At the actual recital, she did really well. We were especially happy that our parents got to come see her do it, too.

A couple weeks ago, an associate from my high school days contacted me through Facebook, asking if I was interested in illustrating some editorial cartoons for a monthly newspaper based out of Bismarck. The pay ain't much, but hey, it's something I've never done artistically before, and if I don't care for it, I only have to do it once a month, so it works out well for me. Add to that the fact that I've been paid a couple times by UND for scientific illustration work, I think I can officially consider myself a "professional" freelance illustrator! Now to find a way to get that damned Golden Brown published.

I have to work the weekend right after X-Mas, plus New Year's Eve, but that's not so bad. X-Mas weekend will probably be dead, and I don't celebrate New Years. Of course, I'm not crazy about having to kick drunk partiers out of the courtyard after midnight, but I'll try to be nice, something that at times is becoming more and more of an effort.

I'm considering taking a temporary hiatus from Banjo's Tune. Not that I want to, but it's becoming difficult for me to find time to get to it lately. For some reason, other little projects seem to pop up that want my attention, and the comic unfortunately suffers for it. Not to mention the fact that my work schedule is different now and leaves little downtime for drawing. It is NOT an end to Banjo's Tune by any means, I have too much of this story in my head to let it peter out. More than likely it'll just mean about 2-3 more weeks before you see anything more about it. We'll see.

I still get to Open Mics when I can, which is usually every week to every other week or so. Last week I got a pretty good response, this week it was pretty dead. There was a sorority taking up space in one corner, a small group of college kids in another. Neither of them felt any necessity to show appreciation for the performers playing in front of them, which annoyed me. Even the people that suck on stage deserve a few claps every once in a while. While I was up there getting the same treatment, I asked at one point, "You guys wanna hear a holiday tune?" After getting some cheers from the college kids, I jumped into playing Halloween by the Misfits just to shine 'em on. I don't think they cared much for it, but the punk guys that hang out there all the time thought it was hilarious.

That's all I got for now, if you want more, go back and reread this post!

RIP Dimebag

Weird that it's been 5 years now.