Not Enough Hours

I had four hours of sleep last night, and by last night I mean mid day today as I couldn't sleep a wink last night. I don't know why, just every time I tried to lay down I was wide awake even though I was quite exhausted.

I did find out one of my former Sunday School students, who just turned 18, is going into the military very soon, so that weighs on my mind some. The kid is like a little brother to me, so obviously I'm concerned for his safety and hope he's making the right decision. I admire and respect all those who enlist to protect this country, but I also worry about the innocence of our youth being lost to war.

I haven't yet been able to come up with a workable schedule with all my various responsibilities, so I'm always feeling like I've missed something, or that I just don't have enough time. I seem to be keeping up with everything, though, just not on any regular set timetable. My sleep schedule is constantly in flux, thus making me always feel tired. I'll figure it out eventually.

Right now I have two lettering gigs ahead of me along with the others that aren't priority. I just finished a few logos this weekend and have one more to do. I'll post the logos on my site soon enough. I may even post them on the blog.

Wizard World Chicago is coming up this weekend, and The Young Explorers crew will be out there promoting away! Scott (Wannabez) might get to go out on Saturday and Sunday and he will most likely have flyers for the issue of Mysterious Visions that Wannabez is featured in, which is slated to come out in September. And Cary and Chuck will also be out there doing their thing. I wish I could join all of them, but alas, it was not meant to be.

Speaking of wizards (nice segue, huh?) I've got less than 100 pages left in the final Potter book. I've been taking my time with it trying to savor it so to speak since it's the last one. And thus far it's been a really great read as usual. But what I just learned (and I know I'm behind the rest of the world) is quite the turn. Love or hate the "witch" aspect of the series, Rowling is a very good writer, and she manages to infuse tons of universal themes and even moral lessons within the pages of this fantasy series.

I watched Deja Vu this past weekend, and it was an ok film. I'm a big Denzel Washington fan, but this wasn't one of his best. I mean he was great in it, I just think they could have pushed the story even further than they did, so it fell short of what it could have been.

Who Wants to be a Superhero? is off to a... strange start. Two episodes deep, and the cheese factor familiar from last season has increased times 3! It's still an enjoyable show, but it definitely plays on the cheesy aspect that most people outside of comics associate with comics.

Tonight is the season finale of Making the Band 4, where supposedly the group will be chosen. Of course Making the Band 3 went into a season finale and it was revealed they brought in more girls in the next season, so anything could happen. There are some really good singers in the remaining group of guys though, so I expect a conclusion. My cousin tells me I should have entered and I would have made it. I don't know about that as they are really good, I'm out of practice, and I actually did try the video contest route and didn't make it. In person who knows? Oh well.

In a few weeks we may have some exciting news to share about Wannabez, so keep watching the Wannabez blog for that announcement.

Does anyone watch Top Chef? (Yeah, I know, I watch way too much TV these days). I used to want to be a chef when I was little, and I do cook a little, though I'd love to learn more if I had the time and resources. So the show really appeals to me. This is the third season I've watched (it may be the third season of the show in fact, I'm not sure) and so far it's my favorite. I think it's really cool how they can come up with all these dishes under the time constraints they have.

Well, now I'm fishing for stuff to talk about, so it's probably time to call it for the day. Thanks for reading, I've noticed the numbers picking back up (and then I go and leave you for 5 days without a post!). It's good to have you all back!

B-Out

Wizard World Chicago & Fat Momma!

Well, I had a slight thrill today. I had to do a conference call for a part-time position I picked up recently, and surprise! Fat Momma from the first season of Who Wants to be a Superhero? was in on the call! So while I didn't get to say much to her beyond hi, nice to meet you, and so forth, I still got to be on the phone with her while she told us all about what she does at appearances, encouraging kids to be happy with themselves and so forth. It was just an awesome call, and she is the nicest person.

On top of that, she will be at our booth at Wizard World Chicago! Now, I personally won't be there unfortunately, but the rest of the Young Explorers crew will be. So if you're there go check it out. We might have some flyers from Kids Love Comics, and if Scott and I can work it out, from Wannabez as well!

Maybe I'll make the next one. We shall see.

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Myth Conceptions

As promised, click the title link!

This time I talk about where the comic industry is, was and will be.

Enjoy!

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Been a Busy Weekend!

Well, with Comic-Con being this past weekend I had a LOT to post on the SBC site. Not as much as I had expected, but a lot regardless. Plus I had to do some lettering stuff, which proved to be pretty time intensive.

Aside from that, it was a decent weekend. Nothing special or anything though.

The ten finalists were announced for Platinum's Comic Book Challenge, and unfortunately the project I was lettering didn't make it. But I hear some publishers are interested in it, so we'll see what happens.

On the contrary, the project I'm lettering in the Small Press Idol contest (I was brought on a couple of weeks ago when they're letterer disappeared) actually won the contest, so that was cool.

Some good things are on the horizon for me and for Wannabez, so stay tuned!

Getting back to SBC, click the title link for news on the future of the company. In short, the physical store closed down and the store is now completely an online operation, and all the focus and resources will be put towards growing both the site and the online store. Orders should no longer be a problem once this all takes effect.

And I guess that's about it for now. Thanks for continuing to read.

Oh, and there WILL be a new Myth Conceptions tomorrow, so check here then for a link!

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Mini Fridges Rule!

So, I spend most of my time at home in the loft upstairs, which is where the computer is. Well, we just got a mini fridge for upstairs and that is awesome! It was on sale and a great buy. So now no more going all the way downstairs into the kitchen to get a snack or something to drink. Yay! Gotta love convenience and laziness, eh?

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MMMBop

So I was trying to think of something clever to title this post and was coming up blank. I was looking through the thesaurus, looking up quotes and nothing came to me. Then I go to yahoo.com and there's a feature story about the musical group Hanson all grown up. Seems they have a new single (hit the title link if you dare). So I figured the title to their one hit song was out there enough to pretend to be profound... or nonsensical, take your pick.

Anyway, the song's not bad. It's not great, but it's decent. And oddly enough, it appears the youngest brother (the drummer) is now the lead singer, or at least he is on this single. The middle brother always did the lead vocals when they were big.

Moving on...

So I made some corrections on Abiding Perditions: Dawn of the Spider #1 tonight, so that should be just about squared away. I'm actually getting pretty caught up, which is cool. It's been a long time!

I also accepted a part-time job as a publishing assistant yesterday for a book called The Young Explorers. The book will be presented at Wizard World Chicago, so look for the booth! I won't be there, sadly, but the rest of the crew will.

This weekend is Comic-Con, as I mentioned, and I'll be right here receiving articles from our writers that do get to go to post up on SBC. Them's the breaks.

Ghost Rider was... well, you all know. The best part about that movie, no question, was Eva Mendes. But aside from that, the effects were ok, and it was cool seeing Ghost Rider come to life. I thought the way he came buy the jacket and chain were done well, but the acting, oh the acting! And the dialogue! And the pacing, the plot... yeah. Visually, much better than Daredevil, but I actually liked Daredevil better.

Not much else to talk about right now. I've not eaten all day, and I've just finished working for now at 11:40pm! So I'm gonna take a shower, grab some food, and sit down and watch some TV before doing this all over again!

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Decisions

Well, I've heard from the other opportunity and they want me too! Now add to that two more opportunities that have arisen, and I have some decisions to make. So I'll be doing some heavy thinking (and some praying, 'cause that's how I do it) to make the right decision(s). I'm just waiting on some more info from one so I can go into the decision making process fully informed.

As for Abiding Perdition, everything's going smoothly. I said I'd have the first issue lettered by this weekend, so today will be finishing up that.

I received the final Harry Potter book in the mail today and managed to find time to read the first chapter (12 pages I think). What's that you say? I'm claiming to pray, but I'm reading Harry Potter? Look, I'm an adult and I know the difference between fiction and reality. And, like it or not, HP has some great universal themes that relate to people of all ages at the very core. It also has a ton of subtle moral lessons throughout the entire series. Plus it's just fun. My brother got into them I think when the second book had come out. He was younger then, so I would read it to him. And I got hooked. Now I've read all the first six and he's only read 4. lol.

The San Diego Comic-Con is this coming weekend, and I so wish I could go. There are all kinds of cool panels there this year, about breaking into various related industries (film, animation, comics, etc.) not to mention the big panels from Marvel and DC, and the many movie and TV panels that will be there. It would just be really exciting experience I think. Plus I've never been to Cali, yet that's where I plan to live one day. Ah well.

Ok, I've been up for a really long time, and I need to get a few hours before finishing AP up. So until next post...

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Abiding Perdition

Well, one of the aforementioned items is official. I got offered to letter a new Abiding Perdition mini-series, which I accepted of course. I just wanted to wait until I got the go ahead before I claimed it. So I'm stoked about that. The book is a lot of fun in the art style, so I'll have fun lettering it. I always seem to have a funner and easier time lettering if the style is something I dig or if it's a style that has a lot of energy and life to it. This is one of those.

I finished a couple of logos today, both were company logos. One was comic related (Dub Comics) and the other non-comic (Carlyle Investigations). I'll have them both up on my website probably this weekend. I also messed around with the Mojo Smith logo, but I'm still not satisfied with it. Next up is the Nine Unknown Men logo, which I'm shooting for this weekend.

My cousin and mother came across a used copy of Superman Returns at a pawn shop (my cousin goes there all the time looking for DVDs, video games and whatnot - they have a lot). I've seen it, but it was only $4, so I said pick it up. It's gotta tell you something, though, that it was only $4. I mean it hasn't been out THAT long. Even used, that's pretty cheap. But I liked it for what it was. Could have been much better, but ya know.

I still haven't seen Transformers, though my cousin tells me the special effects were awesome. I was a fan of the original cartoon, but I'm not one of these that has to have it mirror that completely. I realize that would be impossible and it still look realistic. So I don't think I'll be jaded when I do see it.

I still haven't even seen Fantastic Four 2. Or Ghost Rider! (though the latter is on its way - gotta love Netflix!).

I did manage to catch Elektra on cable last week, and it wasn't nearly as bad as the reviews I read. I actually kind of liked it to be honest. It certainly wasn't near Spider-Man or X-Men, or even Fantastic Four, but I thought it was a pretty decent flick. Of course I've only read about one, maybe two story arcs involving Elektra in my life, so I wasn't jaded there either.

I also saw Rocky Balboa finally. I think it did capture the spirit of the originals, but it had a lot of flaws to be sure. The main flaw for me was that the opponent was not built up nearly enough. Rocky V wasn't great either (1, 2 and 4 were the best, 4 being my favorite) but at least they spent some time developing Tommy Gunn and his story plot. In this one there are a few mentions of the guy, but not enough to either feel sorry for him, relate to him, or even hate him. I just didn't care about him, which made the fight a complete joke. Oh well.

Anyway, I'm about to crash so I can get up tomorrow and hit it all over again! Til then...

B-Out

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...

For those of you keeping tabs, here are the latest lettering updates:

Last week (I think) I did a 10 pager for Noble from Dial R Studios (was supposed to do 8 more pages, but I never heard back from him on those).

I just finished up The Applicants #1 Sunday (though I have a few corrections to make tonight).

I did a variation of a logo for Blood & Devotion for FE Comics yesterday as well.

I also finished up Fracture #1 for FE Comics today (pending approval).

I have to design a logo for an indy company today or tomorrow.

I made some progress on the Mojo Smith logo, but sadly not much. That one is slightly stumping me for some reason.

Finishing up Redshift #3 will be the next project, and a logo for a submission.

After that I've still got to do a Nine Unknown Men logo redux (the writer (Troy Bowen) didn't like the first incarnation).

Then Project Menagerie for Matthew McClean (it's an 8 pager I believe).

On the back burner when I get the time or the pages depending I've got Lightning Squirrel #3 and AOH #2, as well as a story for Hard Way Studios, and upcoming I have Channels from FE Comics.

As I find the time I am working on a Journeymen logo for Scott.

Then of course there's Wannabez #0 when all the pages are done, and the Totem GN is coming up.

There are a couple of other things that would jump ahead of some of the latter items in that list, but they're not confirmed yet. As soon as they are I'll let you all know.

I think that's it right now. If I've missed you, please let me know. Chances are I just missed it while listing these.

So that's what's going on in the world of lettering.


Writing is practically non-existent as I catch up on lettering and do my regular job. Thankfully, though the above list does sound like a lot, I made a huge dent this past weekend, so things are going good now.

As for work, I'm about to start my posting for the day. I'm getting a late start today, which is usually the case on Mondays. But it'll all get done in time for wrestling tonight!


I'm still waiting to hear back on that opportunity I mentioned a few posts ago, so I'll keep you posted on developments there.

I guess that's it for now. Just wanted to give some progress reports!

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National Ice Cream Day

Yep, today, July 15th, is National Ice Cream Day. Just thought you'd like to know. And July is National Ice Cream Month! So go enjoy yourself some Baskin-Robbins, Graeters, Cold Stone Creamery, Dairy Queen, Ben & Jerry's, Edys, or whatever your pleasure may be!

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Happy Birthday, Carissa!

I know she doesn't read this blog, and I haven't even seen her for over two years. But I thought I'd just throw it out into the ether as I will always count her as one of my dearest friends in life.

In the off chance you do come across this post, Carissa, I hope you have an absolutely wonderful birthday and many, many more wonderful ones to come.

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I Survived!

Well, despite the perceived "unlucky"-ness of Friday the 13th, not much went wrong for us. On the contrary, a couple of good things actually happened. My mom received her late birthday present I ordered in the mail, and I got a phone call that could lead to a cool opportunity.

The only negative thing to happen on the day was not really unlucky as much as happenstance. The day before my mom had come across this drafting table for sale for $65! After checking with me to see if that's good, she went back to reserve it for me. Unfortunately there were a couple of problems with it. First, the slide rule thing was missing. I could have lived with that though. The second thing, though, caused us not to be able to purchase it. It turned out it was an electronic one, meaning that the table top lifted and tilted electronically. I priced this particular model and it normally runs for around $200! So if it had worked it would have been a steal, and I would have finally gotten the art table I have wanted for over a decade. Sadly, that part didn't work, and there was no way to manually adjust the table. And it was set too low for me, so there would have been no point.

Oh well, easy come, easy go. One of these days...

So bah on the superstition. I'll walk under a ladder and cross a black cat (I've done both many times, and I've broken my share of mirrors).

Now watch it come back to bite me when the day comes back around!

B-Out

Happy 13th

Friday the 13th! Good thing I'm not superstitious or I might be worried.

You know what I can't stand, though? Construction workers! Specifically, construction workers beside my house building another house at 6am! For the past couple of weeks I've been woke up by banging hammers, drills and whatever else they use. But I understand they're doing their jobs, and I don't have as much a problem with that. But when they have a radio out there and turn it up as loud as it could possibly go and face it towards my house then it really ticks me off! Not to mention there's a newborn baby in the house on the other side of us. Sigh.

Anyway, thanks to A. David Lewis for pointing out that his blog address has changed. It's now updated in my sidebar.

I've been working on a lettering project this week that has had a lot of stumblingblocks, but I'm hoping to put it to bed today finally, much to the pleasure of my client! Then this weekend I'll be working on other lettering that I have yet to complete.

My brother had a decent birthday. He got a couple of pairs of jeans, about three band t-shirts, a necklace with skulls on it (he's into rock) and we snagged him a new 30gb ipod off ebay for less than we'd pay in the store, and I even got a three year warranty. So that was a blessed find! That was our big gift to him since we weren't able to get the dog yet. We still will get him a dog because I believe every boy should have a dog. I never had a pet, ever in my life, and always wanted a dog. My brother had goldfish when he was little, and he had a cat and a HUGE dog, but they stay over at his grandmother's so he never gets to see them. He needs a small dog here (even though my uncle, who owns the house, doesn't really want pets here). It's just a matter of finding one and saving the money for it (or finding one to adopt as I'm told some local places don't "support or encourage the sales of animals").

San Diego Comic-Con is nearly upon us, and I won't be able to go. Then after that we have Wizard World Chicago. A couple of my friends are going, but alas, I will not be able to be there either. So have fun, guys!

Nothing else to really update you with right now. I'm just working hard to get things done, and I get a new request for lettering and logo work almost every day! I'll be glad when I can take those on, which should be soon.

I'm expecting an important phone call tonight, so if things go well with that I'll let you all know when I can. I'm excited about the opportunity, so we'll see what happens.

Until then...

B-Out

Really Tired!

And yet I have no reason to be! I went to bed around 11:30 last night and didn't get up until 9 this morning. Yet here it is just after 10pm and I am exhausted! I don't know what the deal is.

I hope everyone stateside had a wonderful 4th of July. I didn't actually, but the day after I made up for it. See, I ended up spending the day alone (long story) and decided to order a movie. The movie I ordered was Pan's Labyrinth, which, stupid me, I didn't know was a foreign film with English subtitles! So that alone made me regret the purchase. Then the movie turned out to be a lot more violent and depressing than I thought, and so I absolutely hated the movie and really regretted paying for it!

On top of that, I heated up some leftovers (chicken, potatoes and carrots cooked in a roast bag marinated in A1 steak sauce) and I guess I was sick of it because I hated that too. So I just went to bed. lol.

The next day I mostly took the day off and just relaxed and had a pleasant day, so that made up for it.

In the world of lettering, I finally uploaded the Pozers #2 pages, and I did a rough logo design or two, and got a good start on another full issue. So things are steadily flowing there.

Just a heads up to anyone out there who will be at the Mid-Ohio con this November, I am going to try to go. I know Scott (artist on Wannabez) is going and we may go together. And some other people from Dimestore are gonna be there. So we'll see. I wish I could go to WW Chicago and meet up with Chuck and Cary, but that's not gonna happen.

Speaking of Dimestore, I did a two and a half hour chat interview with the guys from the Small Press Idol finalist project Ruthless Friday night, so look for that to be posted on the site soon. And Itai conducted an interview with the third judge, so that'll post soon as well.

For the rest of the weekend I'll be working on Applicants and Fracture, and getting the SBC newsletter out, as well as doing some relaxing. :) Then Monday it's back to the grind.

I am waiting to hear back from some people about an opportunity that I hope I get, but wires keep getting crossed.

Tuesday is my Mom's and brother's birthday, so we've been doing a bit of shopping via ebay this weekend. :) I bought mom some Bare Minerals stuff (powder, foundation...) and we snagged Zach something he really wanted tonight. They'll come in a little late, but at least they'll love them.

Speaking of Zach, he's been wanting a Schnauzer lately and so that's something we're looking into. Those can be expensive though!

I guess that's it for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone.

B-out

Myth Conceptions

That's right! Finally, a new Myth Conceptions! Check it out by clicking the title of this post!

Also, the new SBC Reel is up.

And one more new review, this time of Nexus: Space Opera #1!

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Took a Break

Well, sort of anyway. I spent this past weekend mostly away from the computer, and boy did that feel good for a change. Usually on the weekends I'm lettering and working just like any other day. While I did do some lettering and just a little bit of work I largely stayed away from the machine.

Instead I relaxed, watched a few movies, read, enjoyed the time away, and ultimately geared up for another full week.

But, this week is a holiday week, and it's the week Transformers comes out! I'm hoping I get to go see it this week, which is up in the air. I usually don't have big 4th of July plans, so who knows what will happen. Regardless, I do intend on taking at least that day off to rest and enjoy myself even more!

As you can see, I am trying to return to regular blogging. It's been difficult with as busy as I've been lately, but I'm putting my best foot forward. Hopefully some of you readers I seem to have lost according to my hits will come back. :)

More soon.

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Bunch of Reviews

Okay, here are several reviews I've done over the past few weeks:

Black Coat: ...Or Give Me Death #1 (of 4) - Ape Entertainment

G.I. Joe: America's Elite #25 - Devil's Due Publishing

Helios: Under the Gun #4 (of 4) - Dakuwaka Productions

Hero By Night #1-4 (of 4) - Platinum Studios

Okko: The Cycle of Water #2 (of 4) - Archaia Studios Press

Purity #3 (of 4) - Dakuwaka Productions

The Killer #3 (of 10) - Archaia Studios Press

The Secret History Book One: Genesis - Archaia Studios Press

The Sire #1-3 (of 3) - MikeBooks & After Shock Comics

Unique #1-3 (of 3) - Platinum Studios

Most of them were pretty good. I was impressed with Platinum's offerings more than I thought I'd be. Nice stuff.

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The Fun Continues

Well, today was a mess. We spent most of the day washing clothes, disinfecting furniture, and shampooing all our hair to get rid of the nasty little buggers mentioned in the previous post. Even after a very thorough shampooing and combing my brother still had some adults and eggs in his long, curly hair. We'll have to keep checking him daily now and give him another shampoo treatment in a week. What a way to spend the summer...

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Oh Fun...

Lice. My brother has adult head lice. Yuck! I had them when I was about 8, and this is the first time he's ever had them (he'll be 15 next month). He has long curly hair, which has been itching, but somehow we'd missed them before. My mom has been combing his hair out for the past week, so I don't know how. He has been itching a lot though.

Sigh. So today we have to go get that lice removal stuff, strip the beds, spray the carpets, etc. Fun, fun, fun. You know how after you have something crawl on you or see bugs around you start feeling like you have stuff crawling all over you? That's the way I feel right now. Yuck!

It's gonna be one of those days...

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Retraction

When the news first broke about the deaths of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and their son Daniel my heart was torn and I felt very sad for them. I had thought, as I'm sure most did, that someone had murdered the Benoit family. So I made a post remembering who I considered one of the best wrestlers of all time. I have since deleted that post.

Over the past 24+ hours the truth has come out, that Chris Benoit murdered his wife and seven year old child, then killed himself over the period of three days. He bound and strangled his wife Friday, smothered his son Saturday, then killed himself early Sunday morning. The bizarre thing is around 4am Sunday morning Benoit sent text messages to co-workers informing them of his physical address and letting them know where the dogs were and what door was open. At this point his wife and son had been dead for many hours and left right where he killed them. His wife was in a family room/office, his son in his bed, both with a closed Bible laying beside their bodies. Sometime after sending the text messages Chris went downstairs into the weight room and hung himself using a pully from one of the machines. No suicide note was left.

It just baffles me the mindset someone would have to be to commit murder such as Chris did. He obviously wanted people to find them all there like that with no explanation. It has been a very strange unfolding, and my heart continues to go out for the two innocent lives lost in this tragedy and to all the friends and family members left behind.

I respected Chris Benoit's abilities, but now I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to watch a Benoit match again. This horrific incident has marred the life of a man many loved and respected. I can't imagine what those people are going through.

May God keep the souls of those innocent lives taken.

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The Weekend

Alright, I am going to seriously try and start blogging more again. I've sucked at keeping up with it the past several months, I just got so busy. Still am, but I feel I owe it to all of you who used to read the blog all the time.

This weekend I haven't gotten much done. Haven't been feeling well and just kind of took most of the weekend to recuperate and rejuvenate. I did get a bit of lettering and other work done nevertheless though.

In the world of comics, I have not bought anything for a while, so I am so behind on what's going on. I've gotten some review copies of indy books (most of which I've already reviewed and forgot to post about them. I'll add them later this week). Some of them were pretty cool. I really liked this book from Platinum Studios called Unique.

Lettering is still steady and I still have a backlog. I'm trying hard to catch up to everything, so if you're waiting on something please know I am working on them every spare moment I get.

Writing has really slowed down again. I got Aroquin off to a great start, but this past week or two I haven't been able to do anything with it. Same for Wannabez, though right now it's all in Scott's hands, who is working on the pages every spare moment he gets. Keep checking the WBZ blog for updates on that.

In the personal life, I haven't heard from Dad for a few days, don't know that I will again for a while.

My family seems to be pulling more and more towards California these days. Recently my brother and his friends decided that after they graduate in a couple of years they are moving to California to pursue music. Seeing that I'm headed there myself as soon as it's feasible this was great news for me. I wanted my mom and my brother to move out there with me when I did. I haven't been away from my brother practically since he was born, and I couldn't imagine living so far away from him.

Nothing much else is going on. Thanks to the internet, I've gotten to reconnect with a couple of people, so that was cool.

Work is work, and it keeps me busy, probably too busy. I'm finding that I am very much a workaholic. I feel like I live at this computer (at times I even eat in front of it).

Speaking of work, for readers of my SBC Reel, it is very late as it was supposed to be posted Friday. It may make it up tonight, but then it's moving temporarily to two days a week, Tuesdays and Fridays. It's just too much for me to keep up with three times right now.

I guess that's it then. I lead a pretty boring life at the moment sadly, so no cool stories to share. And I won't bore you any longer with my mundane daily tasks, at least not today!

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Lettering Updates

This past weekend was a full load with doing pre-press and lettering correction on three books totaling around 160 pages for Rogue Wolf Entertainment. Now I'm onto another issue for them I started already, Redshift #3.

Tomorrow I'll have the 9 page Mojo Smith and Grandma Crow for Matthew McLean done.

Here's some interesting news. One of the five entries I lettered for Platinum's Comic Book Challenge made the top 50! Troy Bowen's Nine Unknown Men. So I'm excited about that.

On the docket over the next couple of weeks I've still got:

Blood and Devotion logo for FE Comics
Corrections on Fracture #1 for FE Comics
Lightning Squirrel 3-4
Academy of Heroes #2
A short for Approbation Comics
and a few more smaller projects, a few I'm finishing up, and a couple I may be taking on.

And that's it for now I think. I've probably left out a few things that escape me at the moment.

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Dad

So yesterday was Father's Day, and of all days my Dad emailed me then. First time I had talked to him in two and a half years. I wish him a happy Father's Day and ask how he's doing and all that. Then he emails back asking about my life and everything, to which I'm a bit taken aback. This is the longest conversation we've had in years. So I tell him and again ask about his. That's when I find out.

Before I continue I need to set this up just a bit. my Dad has worked civil service (as an electrician) for the Air Force since before I was born. He primarily worked on F-15 Eagles (which I got to sit in the cockpit of a couple of times). In recent years he's had a desk job. So when he tells me what he tells me I'm shocked.

Turns out he's been in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia to be exact) since August for a year PCS and I didn't even know about it! Well, as you can imagine, I don't know whether to be upset or concerned for his safety. I don't know what the current conditions are over there (I'm terrible about keeping up with current events) but I know they're not great.

So anyway, it was good to hear from him, just a little jarring considering the information I received.

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Sigh

Well, I'm not going down without a fight, but it doesn't look good for Wannabez. A few projects skyrocketed last night and shot from 80+ to over 120 and 130! My peeps just ain't votin' this time around (save the few that did, and to you I extend the utmost gratitude!).

It's not over yet, with a little less than EIGHT HOURS to go. But it's Sunday and people usually have better things to do on their weekends than sit around the computer voting for little ol' me. So we'll see how it plays out.

I feel good about the project regardless, and there has been some interest in it. So we'll see what happens from here. The important thing is this 12 page #0 issue will be published regardless, even if it is in an anthology. I'd still like to win though!

As for Totem, it's in a similar boat. I haven't checked the most recent votes, but it was in jeopardy just as much as Wannabez if not more at one point.

Both of these projects will eventually get out there, I can guarantee that. We've both come way too far with these particular projects (and both have been through way too many setbacks) to give up on them now.

Thanks for all your support, and if you haven't voted yet, THE CLOCK IS TICKING.

(click the title post to go to the thread to vote for Wannabez - for Totem check previous posts!)

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Less Than 30 Hours!

There are only about 36 and a half hours to VOTE FOR WANNABEZ in the Small Press Idol Contest. So what are you waiting for?

Check these out:

Page 5 Revised
Page 8 Revised
Page 10 Revised
Sample Grayscale Image from #1

Voting ends 11:59pm Est June 10th. PLEASE VOTE!

Now head to wannabez.brantfowler.com and post a YES!

And while you're there, VOTE FOR TOTEM TOO!

Thanks! :)

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Storming Bad!

If I don't answer emails right away tonight it's because we're getting a nasty storm complete with large hail right now, which means power may go out. Just so you know...

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Wannabez Round 3 - We Need Votes!

Check out the latest post on the Wannabez Blog for details!

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Wow, Been a While!

I keep saying I'm gonna do better about posting, and the more I say it the more time elapses between posts. I'm really sorry about that, folks. Things have been so busy I just keep forgetting.

Small Press Idol round 3 deadline is tomorrow and we're (The Wannabez team) not ready! Scott and Ross are working hard getting them there, but time is against us. We'll make it, but the pages may not be grayscaled like I'd like.

Adversely, the Totem pages are done, though we're awaiting final approval on the lettering from Cary, who I understand is having computer problems.

I also lettered five projects (a page each) that entered Platinum Studios' Comic Book Challenge 2007. So hopefully one or more of them will place. They all five had solid art and decent stories, so we'll see.

I have reconnected with the artist on Aroquin, my failed entry in last year's Small Press Idol contest, and things are starting back up there. I'll update more when there's more to update.

I completely missed my column this week, even with two weeks to get it done. I just completely spaced and forgot about it until the end of the week. I'll try to have one this coming week, we'll see.

Things have been going well with SBC. We have brought on a whole bunch of new reviewers and such that are doing an excellent job. We also are getting more feedback, though not as much as I'd like. I can see us growing tremendously over the next year though, so watch out!

Lettering is keeping me really busy. I am behind on a few things still, but I have gotten quite a bit done also.

I'd love to shoot the breeze and just talk about season finales, books, movies, etc., but right now I really don't have the time sadly. I will continue to try to remember posting more. Please stick with me, I miss the interaction this blog used to provide.

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Advent Drops Out!

Well, I guess I got too excited about the trailer! Due to some personal reasons and some other stuff Ben decided to withdraw Advent from the Small Press Idol competition. The good news is he's got other stuff lined up as an artist, the bad news is obviously that Advent won't be in the competition any longer.

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Advent Trailer

I don't know how in the world I missed this, but if you click the title of this post you'll be taken to the trailer for Advent, one of the projects I'm lettering in the Small Press Idol contest. It's pretty cool!

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Figure It's Time...

...for another post! I don't really have any updates right now save what you can read over on the Wannabez Blog (see sidebar), but felt I should post anyway.

I had a scare with a lettering project the other day as it seems I lost the entire first two issues and logo, which I moved to disk to make room on the PC. I still haven't located it after frantically going through 40 cds looking for it. It's the ONLY project I've lettered that I'm missing, and I don't have a clue what happened to it. We're trying to see if the printer still has the pages, but in the meantime I had to recreate the logo from scratch. I think I got it pretty close, so we'll leave it at that.

I'm still catching up on some lettering while still waiting on more pages to come in. I've got several small things I have to complete this week or I'm going to fall even further behind. So if I disappear for a while you know where I'm at. Between lettering and work I pretty much have no life as it is. lol.

On an unrelated note, I bought a used copy of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 the other day because I haven't seen it yet. I loved the first one, though I didn't get to see it until it came out on DVD either. I figured with the third one coming out next week I should probably watch the second. And for the price I nabbed this at I couldn't pass it up even used. So I hope to get a chance to watch that this weekend. We'll see.

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I did finally change my rates on my website. I was going to wait until I got some new samples up there, but for a few reasons I went ahead and posted them. Hopefully they don't scare anyone away!

I guess that's it, really. Nothing much new around here. I'll certainly let you know if anything does come up though. Thanks for reading!

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Mother's Day

This year I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to do anything for Mom. I got paid late and wasn't feeling well this weekend, but with some last minute planning my brother and I set something small, yet meaningful into motion.

My mother's favorite restaurant around here is a Mexican place called El Camino. Her favorite dish is the chicken fajitas. Long story short, I wanted it to be a surprise, and I had no way of getting there. So I enlisted my brother (who can get a ride just about anywhere) to devise a story about leaving something somewhere (he had spent the night with a friend the night before) and have to leave to get it. My mom didn't suspect a thing.

I had also previously rented a movie that I thought Mom would like, which she is now watching.

But before that, we snuck Zach back into the house, set up the food from El Camino at the table and had mom come downstairs, thus there was her Mother's Day surprise!

You have to understand, we're on a 'fixed' budget and eating out like that (it's about $10 a plate) just isn't feasible for us. She has talked about wanting it for a couple of months now and we just couldn't afford it. Today, though, I said skip it and doled out the cash. She's worth it and more, and I wish I could have done more.

But what matters is the three of us sat down together for a meal (which doesn't happen very often, maybe three times a year! We usually each eat in our own domains) and enjoyed my mom's favorite restaurant. Then she got to relax and watch a fun movie. So all in all, this was a pretty good day, and I'm glad we got to make her smile today.

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Wannabez Trailer!

Head over to the Wannabez Blog to check out a new flash trailer!

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Spider-Man 3

I FINALLY saw the movie today, and I really enjoyed myself. I'm not going to go into a full review for a couple of reasons. One, I'd really have to see it again to be able to really review it. Two, there were some immature young people talking and cutting jokes during all the sappy parts, so it was hard to grasp the emotional moments as much as I could have. So again, I'd have to see it again, which I'm sure at some point I will, several times! Then I'm a huge Spidey fan.

To hit the highlights though, I thought all the stuff between Peter and Harry was good interaction. I loved the visuals of Venom and Sandman. Gwen was cool and all, but I expected her to play a more prominent part. I was a bit disappointed by that.

I was also a little disappointed by the origins of Sandman and Venom, just not a whole lot of thought put in there. And Venom was shown way too little. He shouldn't have been in this film (and that pains me deeply to say as he's the one villain I most looked forward to seeing), but rather the seeds planted and he be the main villain in the fourth.

It just felt like they were throwing so much in there just to tie things up. And they spent far too much time on Spidey and MJ and not enough on developing the villains, which they did very well in the first two films. At nearly two and a half hours, though, I expected more care to be given to the villains and various other things.

Oh well, it was still a great movie, and seeing Venom onscreen was a fanboy's dream. I definitely want to see him come back should the fourth take off as Sony promises. Until then I'll be buying the DVD and sitting down to watch all three back to back one day. :)

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Catching Up!

Wow, I had no idea it had been over a week since I posted. Sheesh! As much as I try to keep up...

The deadline for round 2 of Small Press Idol has passed and all but 10 of those who advanced made it in. There's still about 6 days of voting left, so if you haven't please come vote for Wannabez (and Totem and Advent while you're there). :) If you have, thank you very much!

On the lettering side of things, I got a couple of Approbation projects done. Today I'm tackling the two pages of Epsilon Realm I have (thought I had more than that) and another Approbation story if I have time. One story, Construct, was canceled, so I won't be doing that one. And Red Shift I've got laid out (the first ten pages anyway, which is all that's done, pencils only so far). The FE Comics projects start in a day or two I'm told, and I've got another one coming in soon that I committed to many months ago. And I did finish Pozers, just waiting for notes on anything that needs changing/correcting before sending in the high res.

So that's where things are with all that. I may have left something out.

Back to Small Press Idol, I finally got 7 pages of the script for next round done! I'm hoping to finish it today, though Scott has already given me notes on the pages I've finished.

I also have a surprise for WBZ fans coming up hopefully tomorrow, and hopefully it'll help us gain a few more votes this round and next! I've got plans for a couple of other cool things to tie in with WBZ soon as well, so stay posted here and to the WBZ blog for more!

On reviews, I have a few things that were sent to me that I have yet to review, but am working my way there. Frankly I haven't had time to read everything yet. I have read the Archaia stuff and the mini comics that were sent, but I still have one or two others I haven't read yet. Soon, soon.

On SBC, we are working towards a newsletter and I'm trying to get some help with the myspace and comicspace pages so we can get regular weekly updates out there. Hopefully that'll all work out soon as we've got some cool stuff coming up.

And I think that's it for now...

OH! One more thing. I am FINALLY going to see Spider-Man 3 today in less than 8 hours!!! Can't wait!

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More Books I Lettered For Sale!

I just received an email stating that two more books I lettered some stories in (they're anthologies, but all by the same writer) are now available for purchase through Comixpress. You can find them by clicking the following links:

Marcus Midnight: Monster Hunter #1 (I also designed the logo on this one)

Sinister Company Presents: Tales from the Rabverse

The writer behind these books is Ryan Brandt, a good writer and decent guy all around. You can find out more about these titles at www.ronin-studios.com.

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Wannabez Round 2 is Up!

If you haven't read the WBZ blog, checked out my emails, bulletins or posts, then let me inform you that the WBZ round 2 thread is open for PUBLIC VOTE!

Just click the title of this post to get to the thread where you will post a YES to show your support for WBZ. It also contains our Round 2 materials in the first post.

If you're not registered you will have to do that (free of course).

We appreciate all your votes!!!

I am also lettering Advent and Totem, so while you're there check them out here and here and slap down your YES vote for them also!

Thanks!

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Lettering Updates

Since it's been a few days I figured I'd give an update on my status as of right now.

I finished up a short for Approbation a couple of days ago and look to finish the rest of those by the end of the weekend if all goes well.

I'll be finishing up The Mantis today, at least the lettering. The logo may be tomorrow.

I thankfully got an extension on Pozers until tomorrow, and I fully intend to meet that deadline as the writer has been more than patient with me.

Construct got put on hold as I'm waiting for the colors now.

Redshift for Rogue Wolf I'm looking to have done by Sunday.

I'm starting Epsilon Realm #2 next week.

Basically, I've got about 100+ pages if I counted undone, about 80 of which are priority. I look to have all of that completely caught up by the end of next week.

After that I just signed on to do three books for FE Comics starting the week after next with the first one, and I'll also have AOH #2 to do for Victor.

Lightning Squirrel #3 is a bit on hold, but the pages are still being penciled and inked anyway.

I may have a few other from a writer acquaintance as well, but I haven't heard back yet so I don't know for sure.

I'll also be contacting Arcana as soon as I can take on more.

On a related note, I will be raising my rates very soon for new collaborators. I'll most likely keep the same rates for those I've already agreed to work with unless I just can't do that anymore, at which time I'd speak with those creators on an individual basis.

I know I didn't properly mention a few of the projects, but for any creators I'm working with on lettering rest assured that I have planned everything I've got right now in the time line mentioned above.

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My Cousin's House

You know what they say about raining and pouring? Well, if you all remember my post about my cousin getting stabbed a while back, things just got a bit worse for him. His entire house burned to the ground consuming everything he owned. He has four kids and a grandkid and all of their belongings are completely gone. The only thing left standing was the door. No one knows how the fire got started, but a neighbor saw a red car driving away sometime during the day. It's under investigation.

If you are the praying type please pray for my cousin and his family.

Thank you.

Myth Conceptions

The newest one is up, this time talking about Lettering. Hope you like it.

As always, click the post title.

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More Published Lettering!

Hey all,

Not too long ago I found out that a story I lettered called Teddy and the Yeti was going to be included in Josh Howard's Sasquatch GN from Viper Comics. Well, there's a PDF preview of the book online now! The story I lettered isn't in the preview, but my ugly mug is plastered on page 98 of the 106 page preview! If you want to see the preview click the title of this post.

I'm not sure exactly when the book comes out, but I do know it's already printed, so it won't be long. You can read more about it at this blog: http://www.thisisnotahoax.com/

And you can order it from SBC! We have it listed as coming out next week, though some think it might be this week. Go here to pre-order it!

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Keeping Up...

I read a friend's blog the other day about not realizing how long goes between posts when you're busy and it made me feel bad. Here I claim I update this daily (then semi-daily) and then I go for days, almost a week between posts anymore. I get the emails from my sitemeter indicating that views have drastically dropped and it makes me feel even worse. Not because I care about view counts, but because it means people are losing interest or I'm just not providing content to read.

That said, I'm going to try to do better. It's hard when you get so busy and when you get downtime the last place you want to be is the place you work, which for me is the computer. But I started this blog to connect with people, to share things - such as my projects, my thoughts, etc. - and to give updates on my work. Lately all of those have been few and far between. And I know all of you out there understand, and I appreciate that, but I still want to try to post more. So here I am.


Another friend mentioned to me recently how surprised he was at how open I am in this blog, and it's funny because in person I'm not that open. I'm a pretty guarded person actually. I'm not shy and I love meeting new people and talking and hanging out as much of the next guy. But I'm also a loner of sorts, as contradictory as that may sound. I'll put it like this. When I go home or somewhere alone that's exactly what I want to be, alone. I stay up late at night because of the solitude.

I also don't let a lot of people in. I've been hurt by a lot of people in my life that were supposedly close to me, and I guess it built up a wall. I'm not too trusting and it takes a lot to earn my trust. And except for those I'm close to I really don't talk about myself a whole lot when you meet me. If someone asks a question I'm honest because that's all I know how to be. If it's something personal I'll try to tactfully avoid the question. But I'm still a fun-loving, easy to get along with type of guy. It's just hard to get inside and become one of my very, very few close friends. It takes a long time to build that kind of relationship with me.

Which is why it's weird to hear that I'm so open. I'll be the first to admit, though, that in the written word I'm far more verbose than in the spoken word. I'm also a lot more articulate when I write. When I talk I'm just myself, and I don't use a lot of big words as it's usually off-putting to most. Maybe it's because I'm a writer, I don't know.

In any case, I guess this blog allows me an outlet that I don't really have elsewhere. I don't really have a lot of close friends that I can talk to, and you can only talk to your parents about so much. My brother's half my age, so he doesn't get where I'm at understandably. So this is my outlet, my venting if you will. On top of that it gives people a rare opportunity to get to know me better than they would if they met me in person first.

And that's the beauty of the internet. I've developed bonds with guys in different states or continents without ever meeting them in person. I feel open enough with some of them to talk about things I don't post here or talk to most people about. Without the internet these kinds of connections wouldn't be possible, so I guess technology is good for something. I never have had a lot in common with people around me and have never felt like I fit in. Now that I'm older I view that as a good thing in a way, but when I was young it was hard. But thanks to this blog and forums and so forth I can converse with tons of people who share the same interests as me and it's quite a refreshing experience, let me tell ya.

So I'm glad I started this blog a year and a half a go or so.


I have to give a quick shout out to Matt Yocum who gave me some props on his blog. I was supposed to do some lettering for him, but scheduling and computer problems prohibited it. Luckily he got someone else who did a great job. So go check out Devolution, which is a cool story too, and Matt's Devolution column!


Elsewhere in the wide world of comics, I've posted a piece on Marvel's The Initiative at SBC, which lists all the related titles in the story line that have been revealed so far through July. I'm sure there will be more to add after Marvel's solicitations go online Tuesday.

We've also gotten a whole bunch of new writers for the site who have been turning in a lot of reviews thankfully. So come check those out. We've got some great writers on board.


As for my work, I did wrap all the finishing touches on Nocturnal Essence #1 thankfully, and began working on some other stuff for someone else, though I've neglected to update the writer, so hopefully he'll read this.


Small Press Idol round 2 is underway and Scott is nearing completion on our materials for the round. He showed me I think three of our five characters inked the other day, so hopefully this week he'll get a chance to color those bad boys. I did a second draft of the bios, but we're still kicking them back and forth.


I have sadly not done any other writing in a long time. It sucks because I'm so busy I don't have time to do the one thing I want to excel at more than the other aspects of comics. But hey, ya gotta pay the bills, right?


Ending on a personal note, man I had a restful weekend for a change... sort of. Friday I wasn't feeling well (my stomach, again) and took some medication, which typically knocks me out for a couple of hours. Well, I guess being ill mixed with the medication and my near state of exhaustion just kind of teamed up on me because I wound up sleeping for over 12 hours straight! And then I was still tired, but I forced myself to stay awake and work some. Then I crashed for another 8 Saturday! Today I also slept in late and then kind of chilled and watched TV for several hours, something I rarely do. Usually I'll tape most of my stuff and watch it in spurts. But hey, it was a nice change of pace. I may not have gotten out of the house, but at least it gave me some time away from the computer, which was very welcome, and I love the computer. I'm just in front of it way too much.

I guess that's about it. It's after 5am now and I've got a busy day ahead of me, so I'm gonna chill for a bit before tackling it.

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New Reviews!

Here's a whole slew of reviews I've done recently:

Civil War: The Confession

Civil War: The Initiative

Dynamo 5 #1

Family Bones #5

Gamekeeper #1

Mouse Guard #6

Noble Causes #27-28

Thunderbolts #112

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April Snow?

Just thought I'd share that I just looked outside and, yes, it's snowing! in April.

It's been getting colder the last few days since the storm, but I hadn't heard the forecast and wasn't really expecting snow. No wonder it's so cold in here!

Guess it's a good day to be indoors working...

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Myth Conceptions

The latest is up. Ironically with my column a day late I talk about delays.

Also, my column has moved to bi-weekly for the time being so I'm not consistently late anymore. At least let's hope I'm not!

Click the title to read the column.

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Power Outage & More Worms!

Man, we just seem to be plagued with some bad weather. We had a really vicious storm here that knocked all the power out in my neighborhood for about 6 hours or so tonight. I thought there was going to be a tornado. The thunder was rumbling and vinyl siding was flying off of houses.

On top of that, I guess to escape the rain we had a ton of night crawlers getting through the back door. Somehow they were getting underneath the seal and through the plate glass. Man, I've gotta look up what either deters or kills the things!

I shouldn't complain too much though with tsunamis occurring elsewhere, but it was quite an aggravation and a bit of a scare. I was here alone with no car and no phone in pitch black and I couldn't find a match or lighter for candles to save my life. Luckily I finally found a flashlight, but it was not fun.

But things seem to be working properly right now, and as far as I know it wasn't too serious. So that's a good thing.

Anyway, that's what happened to me tonight in case anyone tried to reach me.

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You Will Be Missed

Sis. Jessie, an elderly member of my church of 20 years passed away yesterday afternoon from strokes and heart attacks. She had been sick for a long while. I just found out about it this morning, I didn't even know she was in the hospital.

Ironically, my Papaw is currently at the same hospital suffering from similar problems, so it's a wonder we didn't run into someone we knew.

She was a very special lady. She would pray all the time for the church and for everyone in it. She was as kind as can be, never had a cross word to say. She was one of the truly genuine people in this world. Unfortunately I haven't seen her in quite some time, and now I'll never get a chance to. I will miss her a great deal, as will anyone and everyone who knew her. She was very special, and I know God will keep her.

God Bless you, Sister Jessie.

PC & Printer Woes

Man, just when I think things are going good. Ugh.

It's not really that bad, at least not compared to prior issues.

Recently I had to download and install Windows Service Pack 1 & 2 (against my better judgment because they had caused problems in the past) in order to get a trial version of a program my brother needed for school to work. The download ended up eating up 5GB of my hard drive prompting me to move stuff to discs and delete stuff just to have space on the hard drive (I'll be glad when I can afford a new one!).

Well, it turns out that he can't use this version of the program because it's not compatible with the older version the school has. Sigh.

So anyway, I had to reboot today and when I did everything stopped working. After messing with it for a minute I finally got everything to come up, but I'm very tempted to uninstall that service pack bundle.

On top of that yesterday and today my internet connection has kept going out. I have no clue why as my modem shows everything working properly. So it's been a battle staying online.

And to cap things off, I had to go out and blow $60 on ink cartridges today because I needed them for a project and my brother needed them for homework. Well, the black one doesn't work! ARGH. I have to go out tomorrow and see if they will exchange it. If they don't then I'm out $30. That's what I get for buying the Office Depot brand instead of the Epson brand I guess.

So that's been my day today basically. I've been unable to get very much done today or last night at all sadly, but I'm here now, or I should say for now with the internet doing whatever it's doing.

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Raining and Pouring

It's storming pretty bad here right now, fork lightning, scary house-shaking thunder and torrents of rain. The lights have already flickered, so if I go MIA today at all you know why. Just a heads up for all you out there.

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Mid-Week Medley

Sorry for the lack of updates, busy, busy as usual.

I'm wrapping up the lettering on Nocturnal Essence #1, though I still have a few tweaks to do.

I'm also finishing Pozers #2 tomorrow (with any luck). Then I'll have The Mantis and the Advent logo to work on before diving into bigger projects.

I am going to try my best to finish a first draft of the WBZ #0 script and new character bios by Friday or Saturday if all goes well.

SBC Reel was missed Monday, but will be back today (Wednesday technically) super-sized and with my review of the Battlestar Galactica season 3 finale!

Speaking of SBC, things are still going good over there. I'm still enjoying it and getting to talk to a lot of creators through it. Look for some great features upcoming including interviews with a Disney legend, Larry Hama, Jeph Loeb and more!

My cousin, Jay finally joined the MySpace craze and has a page up. He's listed as one of my friends, so you can find his profile there. Though it may be hard to spot him. We don't exactly look that much alike. :)

Got some books from Virgin Comics today to review. One of them is next week's Gamekeeper by Guy Ritchie, so I'm looking forward to checking that one out.

On TV, Prison Break is ending for the season next week, which just reminds me all my shows will be ending soon. BSG, now Prison Break, soon Lost and so forth. But at least Heroes is coming back in a couple of weeks!

I haven't read The Hobbit for several days now due to time. When I do have free time I'm usually not reading right now because a big part of my job requires reading, so sometimes I need a break!

As far as Small Press Idol goes, well the site is down pending money being raised to switch to a new server, so everything is stalled. Sigh. Looking at the bright side, it gives us all a little more time to prepare for round 2!

Speaking of which, finally saw some new stuff from Scott and let me tell ya it's looking good!

I guess that's about it. Everything else is pretty average around here.

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Myth Conceptions

The latest is up! It's not what I promised last week, but I think you'll get a kick out of it anyway.

Click the title as always.

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Segue

Scott D. M. Simmons, artist of WBZ, gave me a birthday present, and what a present it was. He found an image of one of my characters from my first and beloved superhero team and drew up a sketch of her for me! You can see his artistry below. Segue of the Night Riders!

Thanks, Scott!

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Myth Conceptions

The new one's up! This week Scott D. M. Simmons, artist of Wannabez, joins me to talk about art from concept to print. Click the post title to read the column.

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20s No More

Well, it's official. This is the day. I am no longer in my 20s, having crossed the threshold into a new stage. For today I am 30.

Though there is some debate over which day it is, the 20th or the 21st (I've heard both), I'm considering today also the first day of Spring. I am told the year I was born the 21st was the first day of Spring, and it's a story I'm sticking to. How awesome of an idea is it to be born on the first day of Spring, when new life is thought to begin? It symbolizes a fresh start and a new beginning, a new chapter in life. So what could be more fitting than that, I say.

Purely coincidentally this day, and technically this post marks my 500th post on this blog! It wasn't planned or premeditated, it just sort of happened that way. No big announcements to share per se, but isn't being my 30th birthday and the first day of Spring enough cause for celebration? I say it is.

And yes, you read that right. I said celebration. Not necessarily for turning 30, but for it marking a new era and fresh start, and beginning the rest of my life, as of course every day should and does whether we want it to or not.

Contrary to what you may have derived from previous posts, turning 30 never bothered me. It's a number, and it means one more year older. That doesn't bother me. My whole ordeal was being where I'm at by this age, not being this age. There are goals I have not yet met that I certainly thought would have been met by now. And there are things I was hoping would have changed for me by now, but haven't.

But this is not a day to think on those things. Those details are concerned with the past and what could have been, whereas today is a day of looking forward and opening oneself to the possibilities of what lies ahead. So it is with that that I embark on a new journey to discover not what could be, but what can be, at least for the day putting aside concerns over what lies in the path blocking those things, but concentrating on those things themselves. Those goals, dreams and aspirations that lie just over the horizon, just beyond the obstacles, just a few steps away, however large those steps may be.

This is a day of rejoicing for the good and positive things that have come to pass in my life thus far. For the people who truly stood by me, for the accomplishments I did achieve, for the steps that were taken, and for the love I have received.

Fifteen years ago, half my life ago, my brother was born. He has been the greatest thing to ever happen to me in my natural life thus far. I helped raise him and we formed such a bond between us that I had never experienced with another human being. Now he is in those teenage years, soon to be 15 and is into his own things and somewhat distant like all teenagers can be. But that bond still holds strong, and he is still the best thing to happen to me yet aside from God being in my life of course.

At 16 I had my first girlfriend, first serious relationship and first kiss (I was a late bloomer in the looks department - kind of awkward before then). It was an experience I will forever cherish regardless of how it all turned out.

I also had my first job at that age at Chuck E. Cheese's. Yes, I even donned the suit and danced a jig once or twice.

And I graduated high school this year as well. Long story, and I did end up having to go back for three months the following year to make up some tests.

At 18 I got my license (long story), which opened up an entirely new world to me. I could now take myself wherever I wanted to go. And I mostly went alone as everyone was too scared to ride with me!

18 is also when I accepted the call to preach, a call that has been sidetracked a few times over the years, but one that has not been forgotten by any stretch of the imagination.

On my 21st birthday there was a church outing - a get together at a gym where there was food, basketball, skating and other fun stuff. I didn't go instead opting to sleep in. It was my day after all, and the church I had been at since I was 8 had only remembered one of my birthdays up to that point, that being my 16th. So I decided I wouldn't be missed and would have more fun being by myself. Turns out I was missed as my pastor's daughter, a girl I had previously been crazy about for a number of years, but hadn't for a couple went all out. She made me a cake and dressed up in one of her best outfits at the time and made a big deal out of it. I hear she was pretty ticked I didn't show up, but she never let me know it. I still grin about that when I think about it. :)

One week later I started college (struggled for several years figuring out what I was going to do). I should have went to a more specialized college, maybe art or maybe a college that offered degrees in English or graphic design, but I went to a business-centric school where I studied Computer Science and ultimately Business Administration. I hated both and still do to this day, but it was not a waste. While I didn't go hog wild and party I did meet a few very special friends in those days. I've lost touch with them now, but they were great friends at the time and I couldn't have made it through without them.

At age 24 I got my first real job making more money an hour than I had ever made, and that's stayed pretty consistent since only with a couple of deviations. I absolutely hated the job with a passion, but I met some of the best friends of my life there. Again, I've fallen out of touch with them for a number of reasons, but they are the ones I miss the most. They showed me the kind of friendship I had shown others but had never really received myself. They were very special to me.

It was also this year that I went to Florida looking at apartments heavily considering moving there, both for work and because there were opportunities there, creative opportunities, that I wanted to explore. Ultimately reasons kept me where I'm at, but that was the funnest year of my life.

I also dated a girl this year that started off as a hangout buddy, and while we parted ways she was the best girl I have had the pleasure to have a relationship with to date. She was one of the kindest and sweetest persons I've ever met, and she thought the world of me. Sadly we were at different places and it didn't work out, but I'll always cherish the time we spent together.

At 26 I "preached" a benediction for a graduation service. Two of my Sunday School students were graduating high school, one who I'd known since she was a year old. It was a very moving moment for me to be able to deliver this. I choked a little, but all in all it went pretty well.

At 27 or 28 I did a video in one of those booths to a soundtrack at Kings Island (an amusement park in Ohio) and it was played for everyone there to see. I got some amazing feedback from it and even dropped the jaws of some family members. I had only previously sang in church, and mostly not alone. So they hadn't really heard me sing before that point. It's a moment in my life I'll never forget.

Nothing really significant or memorable has happened past that point that I immediately recall, though I'm sure there's at least one or two things I'm forgetting. But there were good times then as well.

Today is a new day to explore new things, to move on and move up and stop looking back. Those mentioned are the kinds of moments I wish to remember on days like this, and the countless little moments that happened in between.

So again I say, this is a day of celebration. To celebrate life, to celebrate opportunity, to celebrate change, hope, love, passion, dreams, desire, faith and so much more. For those reasons I rejoice in this day that the Lord hath made. I embrace the newness of life and a fresh beginning. I accept the challenge to go above and beyond, and to cling to the same hope that has brought me this far.

Today is my birthday.

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Last Day

Well, here it is, the very last day of my twenties. I can't believe it still. Tomorrow I cross over into a whole new era in my life. Not much to say about it and I don't feel up to waxing philosophical this morning. I don't really feel anything at the moment.

I'm not going to talk about it anymore, at least until tomorrow. :) It just is what it is, for better or for worse, or for the same as it was it is, I don't know. lol. All I know is that while I'll feel no different physically or even mentally, psychologically it registers with me that there is a significant change, and I'll leave it at that.

So, I wish I could say I was going out with a bang, but truth be told I'm just chillin' at the house, working, lettering, watching TV (American Idol, woo!) and just the same ol'. Tomorrow will most likely be the same. And I'm fine with that for now. It's no big deal and I don't really want it to be a big deal. :)

And with that I leave you all until tomorrow when I have to start putting a 3 in front of my age instead of the 2 I have become accustomed to over the last ten years.

So long, twenties, we had good times and bad times, we made friends and lost friends, we took opportunities and missed opportunities, we won some and lost some. And such is life.

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Quick Update

Sorry for the lack of updates the past few days, been busy. Yesterday I finished up a preview issue of 3rd System (lettering), which is one I completely forgot about. That one's now just pending any possible corrections needed and applying the letters to the final colors when they're done.

Later tonight I'll be continuing lettering Pozers #2. Right now I'm prepping DC solicitations for www.silverbulletcomics.com tomorrow as well as several other solicitations I've yet to post. These are pretty time-consuming to format and every one that comes in is different. Even though they are the biggest, the Marvel and DC ones are actually the easiest to format, but still take a while (especially since I have to convert all the images to RGB for web). The indies usually send high res images and very strangely formatted text, so those take a while to get just right.

Tomorrow I start on Nocturnal Essence #1 (lettering). And sometime this week it'll be AOH #2 and 6 pages and a logo for The Mantis. That's as far ahead as I'm looking at the moment so as not to overwhelm myself.

Tomorrow I have the usual postings on the site as well as any news that trickles in from WWLA (we didn't have anyone there doing coverage sadly) and then I have to help my cousin with a Civics project tomorrow afternoon. So it'll be a busy, busy day tomorrow.

I've yet to write that WBZ #0 script, and I HAVE to make some time to do that in the next couple of days. Round 1 is coming to a close in the contest and we need to get that script ironed out for round 3. I'm told our round 2 stuff is coming along, but Scott hasn't had a chance to show me anything yet.

And that's about it I guess. I'm still reading The Hobbit, about 125 pages in or so and still enjoying it.

Anyway, back to it...

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Wannabez Interview!

Click the title post to read our first interview! And be sure to keep checking the WBZ blog (linked in the sidebar) for periodical updates!

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One Week Away

It's exactly one week until my 30th birthday, and depending on who you ask until the first day of Spring (some say it's the 20th, some say it's the 21st, who knows for sure?).

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not really down about turning 30 as far as the age is concerned. Yes, it saddens me a little to be leaving my 20s behind, mainly because I didn't really take the opportunity to really live during them and be nearly as reckless as I should have been. Not in the terms of partying and that sort, but more on the level of traveling and pursuing interests that I wanted to pursue.

That said, I realize I'm still young and still have my life ahead of me, and that it's never too late to do a lot of the things I want to do. If anything, turning 30 has woken up something in me that says "it's now or never". So hopefully this entire experience will turn out to be a positive one in the respect that I do actually get out there and live.

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I believe in the significance of numbers mainly because Biblically God used numbers a lot. The chief ones He used were 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12. Seven has always been my favorite number for some odd reason, and not for the Biblical aspects of it. Maybe it's because of my birth year. Regardless, I just think it's kind of cool that I was born in '77, and my birthday, 3-21 is a multiple of 7, and here it is seven days before my birthday. Coincidence? Most likely, but it's still cool. ")

It's 5:37am as I type this, and for some reason I can't sleep. I dozed off for about two hours around 1:15, but I just can't get back to sleep. I am so tempted to take some nyquil or something just to sleep, but I've never been one to use many medications unless absolutely necessary. So here I am typing a more or less meaningless post just to pass the time and hopefully make myself tired. It's not working, just so you know.

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You know what bugs me about the promos to the movie Number 23? In them there's a line about 666 being the number of the devil. Evidently the screenwriters didn't read their Bibles properly, because 666 is not the number of the devil. It is the number of the Beast, yes, but it is also referred to in Revelations as the number of man.

I'm not going to get into all that here and now, it just bugs me whenever I hear that. Yes, it's still a significant number referring to unsavory events, but it's a number that is far closer to home than people realize. It's not a voodoo number, or some magical number endowed with evil powers. It represents something that will be clear enough soon enough.

End rant.

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What good are these labels for in this new blogger? Do they just link to all posts I've made that contain those particular labels, or do they link to various blogs that contain those labels? If it's the former then it's useless as far as I'm concerned. The latter could be useful. And even though I'm not sure still I play along adding labels away. Why do we do the things we do?

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I'm getting bored with this and don't really have anything else to talk about. I wish I had some updates for you all, but I got nada. So I guess I'll bring this post to a close and maybe try to get a few hours of sleep before getting back up and hitting it all over again. Doubt I'll get a wink.

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Myth Conceptions

This week I had the pleasure to speak with some of the team behind new Shadowline (Image) series After the Cape!

I've known Howard for a while, and I couldn't be happier for him. And Jim Valentino and Kris Simon are so pleasant to speak with, let me tell ya. It was a great interview if I do say so myself, and I do! ")

Check it out by clicking the title link of course.


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New Reviews

Here are two new reviews by yours truly:

Purity #2

Civil War #7

Speaking of reviews, when I finish it I'll be reviewing The Hobbit. I know the story well and I've read the old graphic novel, but I am just now getting around to reading the actual book. I'm about four chapters in, and so far so good! Tolkien definitely has a voice all his own, and I enjoy it immensely.

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Catwoman

While lettering last night I got to finally watch Catwoman. With all the bad things I heard about the movie I wasn't about to pay to see it at the theatres or by rental, so I'm glad I saw it on cable. It came on AMC (American Movie Classics) of all channels, which was just bizarre. Maybe because it had Halle Berry in it? I don't know.

Anyway, I have to say it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone claimed it to be. It wasn't particularly good either, but it certainly was better than say, oh, Spawn or even the last Batman movie before Batman Begins. That's not really saying much I realize, but it wasn't really that bad. It definitely felt more like a made for TV film rather than a big screen production though. The visual effects reminded me a lot of such TV shows as Mutant X and Night Man and so forth, though a little more advanced. And the fight scenes and cat movements were really good to be honest. Berry really studied Capoeira and really knew how to move.

I will say that for the first time I saw in this film why everyone's so down on her acting. I didn't think she was that bad as Storm in the X-Men films, and I like her acting in general. But man, there were some scenes in this film that were just awful! Especially the scenes where the cat in her speaks out of turn then she jumps back to being Patience. It was just awkward b-acting at its worst!

The plot wasn't all that bad, though I half expected Sharon Stone to turn into Clayface as the similarities of the storyline were present, at least from the Batman Animated Series version.

All in all I'd probably give it a C to C+. I've seen much better, but I've seen much worse. I still think the costume was ridiculous, and the close-ups of the cats in the death scene was just corny, but it wasn't that bad of a film. I still wouldn't pay for it though.

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T-Minus 10

And counting. Only ten days until I leave my precious twenties behind forever. Ah, the memories.

Just thought I'd share.

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Reviews - The Summons, The Departed

My brother and I finally finished The Departed last night, and let me tell you that was a great movie. What made it great, though, was the ending.

I'll be honest with you, the movie itself was going a little slow for me. The story itself had the potential to be just like every other undercover cop story out there. With the wrong director or slight alterations in the script it could have even been on par with Lucky Number Slevin, which would not have been good. But the way it played out made it all worthwhile, and the acting was top notch. Filled with an all star cast (DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, Sheen, Wahlberg, Baldwin) and some intense and emotional drama, the movie, for me, lived up to the hype. It was gritty, the direction was excellent, the plot gave us several shockers and the ending was just classic.

Here's the spoilers...


Everybody dies! Well, everybody except Baldwin and Wahlberg, who both had relatively small roles in the film compared to the other big players. It's not often in a film that both lead actors bite the big one, but that's exactly what happened here. And if it hadn't happened that way it would have made it into just another movie. That ending, in my opinion, landed it the Oscars it received. Great storytelling.


Now onto the book I've been reading, The Summons by John Grisham. While I was into it towards the middle, overall it was not his greatest work by far. As I mentioned before, I have not read his other books, but I have seen several (Rainmaker, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Pelican Brief, The Firm, Runaway Jury) of the film adaptations. If the books of A Time to Kill and Rainmaker are better than their film versions, which is usually the case, then The Summons far pales in comparison, but it was still enjoyable... until the end.

The story, in short, is about a Law Professor, Ray Atlee, who finds his father, a well-respected Mississippi judge, but a poor father, dead in his home. Shortly after Ray finds $3 million stashed behind the sofa, and thus the real story begins. Someone else knows about the money, and the ensuing journey sees Ray scramble to protect his life and the money while trying to solve the mystery of who's after him and where the money came from, and in the meantime lying to everyone close to him.

As I said, the middle of the story, which made up the bulk of it was interesting. There were people following Ray leaving cryptic clues for him no matter where he went. He drove and flew through and to several states, and they were always there, watching him. Meanwhile he was dealing with his father's estate, a drug addict brother and a number of other problems besides the money issue.

The ending is what made this book drop in quality. First, though, being a smart man as Atlee is, there are some things he should have figured out or thought of, like checking to see how these people knew where he was at all times. You'd think he'd check to see if his car was being tracked. Then he just becomes a total wuss at the end of the book and runs for his life, landing himself in jail for speeding and carrying a weapon.

Without giving anything away, in the last few chapters of the book it became painfully obvious who was behind it all and how it had all played out. Early on I had a hint of this as well, and was thoroughly disappointed that the plot was that thin.

Overall, it was a decent read, but the ending ruined it for me. Oh well.

And that's it for the reviews today.

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Lettering Update

I finished up Lightning Squirrel #2 yesterday, I just have to make some minor adjustments to the cover and then send the high res files off.

I'm actually starting on Pozers #2 today instead of AOH #2, which isn't quite ready yet.

I'm also finishing up those two small logos today.

So to make a few minor adjustments to the last post, next up will be Kord & Harley #2 (Epsilon Realm #2 I haven't received yet) then I'm guessing AOH #2. I may jump around between the two actually, depending on how it works out.

After that the list is pretty much the same as last post, plus one small gig I might have left out called The Mantis.

More soon...

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Back in Business!

The computer is finally back in working order!

To be perfectly honest it's been up for two weeks as of 6pm today. There are several reasons I haven't notified everyone yet. First, I was playing catch-up like crazy to get to a place where I could handle everyone contacting me all at once, though I still haven't caught up as much as I would have liked. Second, I've had a touch of the flu since this past weekend, and it's gotten worse today, but I'm still here. And thirdly, I have just been so busy I haven't had time to email everyone or post here. With the computer fixed my workload increased, so that's that. There were other reasons also, but I won't go into them.

In the wide world of lettering...

Today I will be finishing up Lightning Squirrel #2, then starting on AOH #2, and doing a couple of small logos.

Tomorrow and Saturday I will be finishing AOH #2.

Sunday I'll be starting on and probably finishing a short with logo.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll have the following on my plate:

Epsilon Realm #2
Pozers #2
Kord & Harley #2
Advent logo
Scott's Web Comic
A few Approbation shorts
MSC logos

And I think that's everything currently on my plate. If I've left anything out EMAIL ME!

It sounds like a lot, I know, but a few of those I am really into a groove on and can finish them rather fast.

As for beyond all this, I know I have three projects to letter in the Small Press Idol contest, but that won't come for a while. I'll be doing some lettering on the character designs in about three weeks, but that's not too intrusive.

As soon as I feel I'm caught up to a point I can take on more I will be contacting people who have previously contacted me and go from there.

Aside from writing I am obviously doing a lot of work for SBC right now, and soon I'll be doing a lot of work for MSC (more details on that soon). Then of course there's writing. I still have to write up my script for Small Press Idol, do my weekly column, I have at least two interviews lined up, a few reviews I have to do this week, a couple of scripts I really need to buckle down on, and so forth.

It really does sound like a lot, huh? I'll manage, always do. And I'll do my best to keep you all updated better now that the PC is back up and I'm able to concentrate on it more. Thanks!

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Myth Conceptions

The latest is up, though it's not at all what I intended for this week. I'm not sure what it is exactly. I was REALLY late with it, so I just started writing. So what came of it, you be the judge!

Click the title link to read.

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And the Hits Keep Comin'

Forgive me for getting personal again, but I have to talk about some stuff.

I'm telling you, I think our family is cursed! Okay, so over the weekend two really terrible things happened. First, the milder of the two, my Papaw fell at the rehabilitation center and they didn't even notify any of the family that it happened. So my aunts have been dealing with that drama.

Second, my 18 year old cousin was playing a gig at a local club I think Friday night. His mother and her husband, and his brother and his girlfriend were there. Well, his brother, my cousin Chris (33 I think) went outside to get the car and got mugged and stabbed! He had just gotten paid too, so the mugger took all the money they had.

Chris has been through several ordeals this past year, most of which I won't go into. He has a condition where he passes out and it really caused some trouble last year. The man is raising three or four kids (I've lost track) and works really hard. This was just one more thing to pile up on him.

We didn't find out about all this until yesterday. None of the family bothered to let us know anything for some reason. So it's just been a real mess.

I've had a touch of the flu the past couple of days (yep, sick again), but aside from one incident it hasn't bedridden me yet. I had laid down for an afternoon nap the other day around 2:30pm and ended up sleeping 9 straight hours! I hardly ever am able to sleep for more than 3-4 hours straight, so that really took me by surprise. I'm still pretty fatigued, but I'm pushing on anyway.

On a lighter note, I got to see The Departed finally last night. My brother and I almost finished it, but got too tired, so we'll finish it today or tomorrow. I'll hold off any comments until then.

Back in the wide world of comics, it's been busy, busy, busy. In my job I worked at least 20 hours over the weekend, but we got some pretty cool video interviews posted on the site out of it.

Small Press Idol is still slow going right now. Only a couple of new entries have come in the past two weeks, and even though a few more are promised to trinkle in it looks like Round 1 is winding down. We still have nearly three weeks before Round 2 begins though. Ugh.

Man I'm glad I posted this entry because it reminded me of something I have to do. I completely forgot about my column this week! And it's due tonight! Sheesh. I am so behind on things. But never fear, I have a feeling this week is the week I'll get all caught up... hopefully!

I read Civil War #6-7 a few days ago. I'm going to review #7 for the site, so I'll hold off on that for now. Suffice it to say that I'm somewhat pleased and somewhat disappointed.

I'm also still reading The Summons by John Grisham, though I'm finally nearing the end. I've been reading that book really slow and very little at a time, mostly due to lack of time. I have to say it's not one of his best stories, but I'm still mildly enjoying it. I'm really curious how things will play out. Maybe I'll give it a full review here when I'm done.

Well, back to work I go, I go.

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