Yep, I'm Still Here

I know, I know, it's been far too long between updates. I do apologize for that, things got pretty hectic there for a minute. As convention season approaches, work inevitably starts to pick up. Between that and some personal issues, it has been very difficult to find time for blogging.

That said, I did want to pop in here real quick and let everyone know I was still here, still working and constantly looking for more work, and still staying up.

I've been lettering a lot lately, almost exclusively, and it's been fun. I've had the opportunity to work on some really cool projects that were fun to letter. I have a couple more coming up soon too.

I'll be doing some flatting here soon too, but not much right now.

I mentioned convention season, and I will be heading out some this year. Not much, but there are a few shows I'll be at.

Speaking of lettering, I'll soon be redesigning my lettering site. It hasn't been updated in a good long while, and it's time for an updated design. I'm bored with the old one, and it's not as easy to update or as user-friendly navigation wise as I would prefer.

Not much else to talk about at the moment. Still podcasting, still doing comic stuff, still daydreaming of singing professionally. lol

I don't know about my fellow American Idol fans out there, but I've become bored with that show the past two or three years. I honestly prefer the newer show The Voice to those. I think it's interesting that the coaches have to pick the contestants based on voice alone without seeing them. It really makes it about the talent, and that's something I appreciate.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I'll be back soon...

-B

Yep, Still Busy

I'm really sorry for the lack of updates, I've just had a LOT to do, and am still trying to catch up and finish everything. Been a bit overwhelmed actually. Work is just starting to pick up with some jobs flowing in slowly, but enough to keep me pretty busy.

Between that and the sites I run and the podcasts, it's all I can do to keep up with that stuff. I want to blog more, but honestly, I don't have much to add right now anyway, nor time to think of something cool to talk about.

So just bear with me a little longer and I'll get back up to speed here.

-B

Been Busy, Still Am

Sorry for not updating sooner, it's just been busy around here. I have a few lettering projects on my plate right now, and some other things going on.

I also battled a bad cold on and off for a week or so, and it's still trying to settle in. Luckily it never latched onto me quite as bad as it could have.

This week is going to be SUPER busy trying to get everything done I need to. So I doubt I'll have much time for updates here for the next few days. So I definitely wanted to pop in and let everyone know what's going on so no one worries or thinks I've just quit blogging again. :)

Everyone have a great week, and I will try my best to make my way back here sooner than later.

-B

It's 2012... Now What?

Hey everybody, Happy New Year! The holidays are now behind us and it's time to start looking forward to the year ahead and all that jazz.

I have to admit that I kind of took it easy over the holidays, which means I'm kind of swamped at the moment. This week is all about catching up and getting back on track so I can find some more work next week and start the cycle in earnest once more.

I trust everyone had a great holiday season? Mine was okay. I missed out on some stuff this season, once again, but maybe this coming holiday season will be different. We shall see.

We got no snow over the holidays, not one single snowflake. Yesterday, it started snowing here. Very little snow still, but the roads were bad for a few hours. We generally experience our coldest temperatures in January and February around here anyway. It's been below freezing the past couple of days. Yesterday I think it was like 24 degrees during the day. I hope we don't get any bad ice or anything this year.

But that's enough about the weather. This is a new year, so it's time to make the most of it, right? I mean, in our culture we look at the turning of the year as a fresh start - a chance to get back on track, reinvent ourselves, start something new, whatever floats your boat. I know it's arbitrary, and that's why resolutions hardly ever stand. Once the newness of the first week of January starts to wear off we realize it's just another day, week, month, year, and we fall back into step with what we were doing and how we were doing it. So I don't put much credence into the magic reset button as it were.

That said, I believe any day, or year is what you make it, and if you set that goal in your mind, to make this new year the year that you finally do this or that, then that's what it becomes. If you can commit to it and stick with it, then the sky's the limit, regardless of how arbitrary the changing of the year itself may be.

For me, I do have goals for this year that I fully intend to see through. Will I actually follow through with them? Some of them I absolutely must. Others could easily fall by the wayside. It's too easy to get caught up in other things and allow ideas to fade away into obscurity. But I personally am determined to make some changes this year. Changes with how I do things, how I handle things, changes in myself, without and within, and so on and so forth. I have certain goals set and I intend to achieve them.

2011 was not a good year for me. There were positives that came out of last year, don't get me wrong. Like finally having the surgery I so desperately needed. I formed closer friendships with a few people, reconnected with others, accomplished some goals I wanted to accomplish and some other things as well.  So it wasn't all bad. But it certainly wasn't all good either. There were some really bad things that happened this past year that brought me down for quite a bit of it sadly. As hard as I tried to stay positive and persevere, sometimes the pressures and the stress got to me, and the weight at times seemed unbearable. But by the grace of God I got through it, and here I am staring another year down ready to tackle it as well.

So I have set in my mind that 2012, no matter what it holds in store for me, will be a better year, because I'm going to make it so. I understand I can't control certain circumstances that may arise, that may even curtail plans of mine and that may create obstacles, setbacks and more pressure and stress. Things like that are inevitable. But I refuse to let those things dictate the outcome of my life in this year ahead.

So wish me well, send me your prayers, and stand up with me. 2012 will be a banner year.

Now, next January we'll revisit this post and see how right I am (<--see, positive!). :)

-B

Home Sweet Home

So I bit the bullet and redesigned the blog today, reclaiming it as my home base for blogging for now. And I kept it here at Blogger for the time being as well.

I considered moving it to Wordpress, but with the new features Blogger has, I figured why bother.

So bookmark this blog, I'll be updating here semi-frequently. Whenever I want to talk about something and I'm not either podcasting about it or talking in brief on Facebook about it, I'll take to here and churn out my thoughts.

-B

Podcasting Fool

This weekend has been chock full of podcasting, and there's still more to come!

Let's see, Friday I had to edit and post last week's Zone 4 episode. Then that same day I put together the next episode of Transmissions from Zone 4 as well, and got that sent off Saturday morning.

Last night we recorded this week's Zone 4 episode. This afternoon we'll be recording next week's episode because of the holidays.

Then tomorrow night we record the next episode of RaynMan, which goes live the day after Christmas.

So yeah, TONS of podcasting going on.

Not to mention I've been working on the Zone 4 website as I find the time to do so.

It's funny, a little over two years ago we started Zone 4, and it actually stemmed from this very blog believe it or not! Chuck Kennedy had seen me posting on a G.I. Joe forum and found my blog. We started chatting and reading each others' posts. Cary Kelley and I had worked together before that and he and I started up our blogs around the same time. Jason Berek-Lewis somehow came into the blog picture with us, though I honestly don't recall how.

Anyway, the four of us became fast friends, supporting each others' blogs and chatting it up on Jason's public and private forums. I had wanted to dabble into podcasts for a while, and the four of us saw it as an opportunity to finally converse with each other outside the confines of the written word.

See, we, at the time, lived in four different time zones. I'm in Kentucky, Chuck is in Illinois, Cary at the time travelled a lot for his job and was sometimes a few hours difference from us, and Jason is in Australia. So the likelihood of us all meeting in person at the time was out of the question. Podcasting was the next best thing.

For the first few months all four of us would get together weekly and chat about comics and other things we liked. It was a blast. Jason, however, had to sadly step away from the show not too far into its life. Cary's work began taking him away from the show more frequently as well to the point we'd be lucky if we got him on once every other month. Earlier this year, Cary and Chuck both decided to call it quits, but later came back as reservists. Though Chuck has only been on once since and Cary not at all. They both have demanding lives.

We've had several other cast members over the course of the show, and other guests and recurring guests as well. The show has lived on with its one constant, me. My voice has been heard on every single episode in one way or another, and there were only about three or four episodes I wasn't part of the main discussion. With all the extras, we've done about 170 shows to date, and close to 50 RaynMan episodes. Not to mention three Transmission from Zone 4 episodes and various other podcasts I've been a guest on over the past three years.

So yeah, while it's no Comic Geek Speak or This Week in Tech record or even close, it's a lot for a guy that just started dabbling in the medium a couple of years ago I think. And now it seems to take up a lot of my time each week, but I still have so much fun doing them.

I don't get to visit with my fellow comic book fan friends too often these days, so it's nice to sit down every week and chat about something we all love. And so I'll keep doing it.

Now if only my shows could get popular enough to start making me some money...

If you'd like to sponsor an episode, email me at zone4@comicrelated.com

:D

-B

Trying Week

Even though every day seems the same to me, I'm glad, both literally and symbolically that this, being Friday is the end of the week.

This week has been brutal on a number of levels. Work wise, I was struggling to keep up with a certain project and slid into the deadline at the last minute. I did finish, though. Now I have a mountain of other work to tackle, and I still need to find time to find more work.

Physically - though I said I was doing well last post - I've had a few problems this week. For one, I've had very bad headaches for the past two weeks, and yesterday I had a really, really bad one. I think it may be my blood pressure as I ran out of medication for it a couple of months ago, and I haven't exactly been living stress fee, or, sadly, shedding any pounds. I had one left that I was holding onto just in case. I took it last night and it did help, so I'm going to try and get them filled again today if I can find the cash to do so.

I've also (surprise) got a toothache right now. Actually had a piece of tooth break off while I was eating last night. So that's pleasant.

That aside, I am doing well.

I mentioned needing to find more work, and that couldn't be truer. I have one decent paying gig right now, but that barely scratches the surface of what I need for rent and bills, not to mention Christmas. 9 days out and not one single gift bought for or by anyone in my family at this point. I don't ever recall a Christmas in my lifetime that happened. I've had some bad ones, but not that bad. Freelance work has just been really slow, and this year has been overall dreadful.

Don't get me wrong, I know gifts aren't the reason for the season as it were, and it's about spending time with family, celebrating Jesus Christ if you're of that faith as I am, and so on. But many times my joy comes from being able to pull off Christmas for my family and have them shocked by it after a usually dismal December leading up to it. And this year I just don't think I can pull it off.

Because of work, stress and everything else, as I mentioned before, it's been hard to get into the Christmas spirit. And while I have remained pretty positive and hopeful throughout, trying to bring everyone else up, I have to admit that the last couple of days it started hitting me that no matter how hard I tried it may just not happen this year. Reality sucks.

But enough about all that jazz. I finally got to see the Jim Carey animated A Christmas Carol a few days ago. That particular story is one of my favorite Christmas stories, and I enjoy seeing the various films based on it. I think my favorite would be the Patrick Stewart version, but the George C. Scott one is also good, as is the version that took many liberties with it, Scrooged. I even like the Mickey Mouse one. It's just a classic, timeless story that really does sum things up. Christmas is a time of giving and celebration.

The animation in that Jim Carey film was amazing. And you could see some of the actors in their animated counterparts. It was hard to mistake Bob Hoskins, for instance. It was an awesome and faithful take on the story, which actually surprised me. I thought being Carey that many liberties would be taken (see How the Grinch Stole Christmas - while I did enjoy that film, it was embellished a great deal). But by and large, it was very much like any other classic take on the story. The dramatic tone, the subdued lighting and of course the message. The only parts I didn't like and thought were a bit over the top were the parts that seemed overly Disney'd up. Fezziwig's (sp) dancing, for one, was a bit much with all the flips and such. And Scrooge shrinking and running through sewer pipes and such was a little ridiculous. I know it was during the dream/ visitation sequence, but still. But those are small nitpicks of what was a really good film.

That's another thing. Both because of my lack of time and the trouble getting into the spirit of things, one of my usual rituals for this time of year has alluded me thus far. That being watching all the Christmas movies. I have watched Elf, something I do every year since I saw it in the theater. Probably the only Will Farrell movie I'd watch a second time, let alone every year. And of course the Carey one I've been talking about. But that's it. Hopefully I'll get a chance to catch a few. I have a short list of ones I tend to watch every year, so I hope I get to.

With that, I think I've rambled on enough for one day. It feels good to be blogging again.

-B