that's the good stuff

 Wednesday was an early start day. Had toast and made coffee and went and picked Celia up. We drove to the res to the office to get some paperwork for her medical stuff. Met some of the nice office ladies. And a guy helped Celia step over a ledge when I was busy parking the car. Nice fella!

Next up was Westsound Orthopedic Center Doctor Place. I didn't accompany Celia into her appointment (seemed private) so I sat in the waiting room and drew a comic and listened to a podcast. Afterwards we went through the Panera drive through and got lunch and I left Celia in the car at Artist's Edge where I got a brush pen and two new Tombow colors (I'm becoming a real sucker for lighter neutrals, though that gray is so good). None of these are expensive pens. Glad I never developed a bad Copic habit. Yikes.

I got cat litter from Target too (hella errands being run) and I nommed on my sandwich as we drove home and listened to 99% Invisible. Oh! Made a mail run too. I dropped Celia off and returned to my abode to relax. Getting home at 2ish after doing so much left me disoriented. I wonder what I'll be like when I adjust to the earlier shifts my job will bring me. Lots of rolling out of here at 9am, which I guess is when I left here for my old job. But there might be earlier days as well. Oh! And I was invited on a company activity. How fun! I really hope I do well in this job, because it seems like it will be a good fit for what I want from my life for the next year (i.e. money but not a total time suck so I can focus on rebuilding my portfolio).

Today (Thursday) I did a bit of afternoon help for Celia, then I went and mailed a few packages and I can't remember if the adhesive flap on one of them was properly secured so fingers crossed it arrives! It wouldn't be the worst thing if it vanishes, as it's some of the rose art supplies that I'm mailing to Ebin. A freebie gift, freely given to someone who could use it (not all the roses, but the supplies I won't be using). But I'd like them to get it.

And it was a beautiful day so I drove down to Hoodsport to fill up gas while listening to podcasts and enjoying the scenery. Bright blue sky, shining water. Just lovely. And gas was $1.95!

Did some evening Celia help and showed her funny videos. In a few hours she'll be picked up for her surgery. I'm not taking her. She'll be fine!

I Got The Job!!!

I got the job! I was offered it and I accepted and my first training shift is this Sunday, how exciting!

So Monday I helped Celia out. Did some light vacuuming and went into Silverdale to pick up a prescription. Had to swing by the orthopedic place, then go to Walgreen's, then we got food at Skipper's because Silverdale kinda sucks for options. There I got the email with the offer! We pucked up the stuff at Walgreen's, listened to Baby Geniuses on the way back, got mail, then said goodnight. I sent in my acceptance. Then went to bed late.

Today I helped Celia a little more, then went into Silverdale for BEE KEEPING CLASS!! The first one of six! It was a pretty good crowd. I wasn't the youngest by decades. Seemed to have some other people my age, or thereabouts. A lot of different people. Old, young. We all introduced ourselves (I'd say there was ~40 people). Got into some basics. Took a quick initial test. I don't have to drop a ton of cash on bee supplies now. I have some wiggle room. I have some time to think if I'll get a hive going this season, or next year. Have some stuff to learn first.

After class I swung by Old Navy and got a new pair of my standard pants, all though now they changed the style so I had to get a slightly different standard. Different waist. They need to be worn in a bit. I've lost some weight so I needed a new pair in my new size. My jeans end up washed and stained. My black pair are well and truly gray now.

Tomorrow I am driving Celia around to some surgical consultations. Friday I have some stuff going on. Saturday too. Hopefully tomorrow night and Thursday I'll have the time to clean house. It's getting very cluttered looking.

COMIC TIME!!:

I hope I exuded enough confidence, but hey my references are good

Saturday was a big day! I got up. Had breakfast. Started laundry to make sure I had a nice work shirt. Went over to Celia's and helped a bit with cat stuff. Did my makeup subtle but nice, straightened my hair, put on slacks and opted for heels. Wanted to look nice and presentable. If I get the job, it isn't super fancy BUT you don't want to show up to interviews like a shlub.

So it's a bed and breakfast I'm applying at. Won't name it by name because of google reasons. But it's in Port Townsend. It's a really nice little establishment! It would be a house keeping position with potential to move up/be diverse. I tried to push my skills at being varied and being on my feet all day and being an industrious worker. I have a little bit of l'esprit de escalier but who doesn't? I wish there could be a short mini interview where I can be all OH AND I MEANT TO ADD THAT I LOVE WORKING FOR PEOPLE THAT VALUE EMPLOYEES, I'LL WORK SO HARD FOR YOU IF YOU DO THAT!! I'm hopeful but there are other people. Hopefully they just like me the bestest.

After PT I went to Seabeck (got some fast food on the way) and hung out there. Driving Ma & Pa to the airport, or rather driving the car back and I'll pick them up some time from now. So I snacked and drew my comic and we left at 7:45ish. Seatac isn't the worst to get to, thankfully it's right before traffic gets awful. I didn't have an AUX cord but my phone was able to play some 99% Invisible episodes loud enough. I parked the car in Seabeck, got in my car and went home. Lots of driving!

And lots of sleeping.

Had a little breakfast, drew a comic, and at 6ish I went over to Celia's. I helped heat up some soup and fed the kitties and then we settled in to watch some television. We started Breaking Bad...and I left after six episodes in a row. But Season 1 Episode 6 is SO GOOD! Once I knew a marathon was going down, I waited to catch that one. So good. And I didn't catch that Ken was in Better Call Saul too! What an excellent cameo.

Now it's late. Now I wait.

Celia versus Audrey II

Had a little breakfast and I dyed my hair (picked it up yesterday). It looks like the last time I dyed my hair was back in December. Same dark brown color. I'm feeling prepared and ready to go for my interview! Gotta look like a composed person! Hire me!

After washing out the dye, I went over to Celia's and hung out. Snacked, I drew, we watched Hot Fuzz and Roman Mars' video about vexillology. I posted the Alaska mug on the vexillology forum I'm a part of, and it was very popular!

Celia like Hot Fuzz. Just the right amount of tolerable violence. And I noticed something I didn't notice before! I always do when watching Hot Fuzz.

Now I'm chilling. Going to set an alarm. Gotta get up early to prepare, and also pop over to Celia's and see if she needs anything because I'll be gone all day tomorrow.

boxes and broken things

Had a nice little day. Got up, had coffee and oatmeal, had a massive allergy attack and was all kinds of awful congested.

Went to Seabeck, took a gamble and popped a Benny. Those tend to make me tired but I'm fine right now. I agreed to drive and pick Mom & Dad up from the airport. It's actually not the worst drive in the world, and it saves them from having to drive back exhausted.

I picked up my mail (card from Robin, check for my work, and a card from Karen). I hung out. Briefed Ma & Pa on the eBay stuff. Talked art. Drew a comic. Had pizza. Ate chocolate. Talked more future stuff. I think I was going to help them out with something but I ended up just chilling. Ha. Well, I like their company. And I picked up a few things, and took some stuff off their hands.

Alas, poor Celia broke her ankle!! But this time she has sick leave and health insurance and went to the hospital right away. Good on her! But also major bummer, because now she's got a broken ankle. I asked if she needed anything from Trader Joe's and she asked for some "red" juice, so I got her that. I helped set her up with pillows and Netflix, and put in my schedule when she might need a lift. I'm glad that I'm here so I can help in a pinch. She requested tomorrow's comic be about her ankle so I can put some humor in the situation. I'm already thinking about what I'd draw.

be chill

 My bangs were getting long, so I trimmed them. But I kinda messed up the shape so now they need to grow out for a few more months before I can take another whack at getting them right. I like the swoopier bangs over the blunt one, these days. Did research for Ma & Pa.

Slept pretty well. Since I switched beds, my trigger finger has gone away.

Drew my comic. Printed out a "don't break the chain" chart, where it has all the days of the year in a block and you cross off the day when you do the thing you are trying to do that day. I'm aiming for drawing everyday, hopefully 99% comics. It's nice to have a 40+ chain right now.

I worked on tidying up. Hauling down trash, hauling out bins, putting away clothes, doing laundry. Though now I gotta get the stuff off my bed so I can sleep in it. Gotta go get food tomorrow. Might call ma and pa and see if they need help with something.

The insurance guy came around. I mentioned that the steps would be put in soon. He said he'd just take pics of the house and two of the roof. No questions.

triple threat

Sorry about that! Last night my computer hibernated and then didn't register the monitor so I was stuck with a dark laptop for no reason and I was just like "ehhh whatever" and I went to bed.

My sleep schedule is so whack and I did nothing today to make it better. BUT yesterday! Hmmm. I had some noodles and took a nice long bath and read The Girl on the Train. I focus best reading in the tub, I wonder why that is? And I ate chocolate and drew a comic and watched Bron/Broen. It was one of those days where I feel really tired. I get them sometimes. So I rested a lot. I dunno, a dip in iron or something?

And today I got up and did a comic and planned to meet Marcus for dinner (his treat, in exchange for a digital print of one of the comics of mine that he likes). So did the comic and had a coffee and Celia stopped by and was like "having a coffee at 3, eh?" and she was right I shouldn't have had one because it's 2:40 am and I don't feel tired, but maybe if I get into bed and start reading I'll doze?

So here's the comic, but first a MILD NUDITY WARNING:

Okay? You've been warned.

 I shaved my legs for the first time in a good while and it felt good to rub them together. The word for bugs rubbing their legs to make noise is stridulation. Not that doing it as a human made noise, but it's still a funny thing for me to think about.

So after the comic I went to Tizley's Europub in Poulsbo and met Marcus for dinner. We each had a pint and he ate previously so I just ordered the schnitzle. Very delicious! I liked the spaetzle more though. Like some sort of bits of noodle? I dunno. It was good and we had a long chat and catch up. He worked as crew for the upcoming extreme challenge reality show American Grit, which is hosted by John Cena the wrestler who has the record for the most about of "Make A Wish" wishes granted. That's a good record to have. The show itself is filmed in UW's experimentation forest.

And when I got home I did a SECOND comic! Because I felt like drawing this bit from our conversation. And I like including my friends in my comics. People like being drawn.

Argh so late and I'm still not tired.

I have a job interview on Saturday!! That's progress!

Galentine's Day 2016

Whoo had a pretty good fun little day. Did my makeup, coordinated my outfit (red floral shirt with red beret with bug brooch on the beret), and headed out! Swung through Silverdale and dropped off a letter to get it in the post before USPS stops for the holiday. Picked up mail in Seabeck and had lunch with Ma & Pa. Rainbow sent me an amazing print and other little printed goodies. And Chris my friend up yonder in Canada sent me some rad very cool handmade fingerless gloves!! They are warm and awesome and I love them! Thank you so much Chris if you're reading this!


I went to meet Karen at the theater and oh no it sold out and she couldn't make a later showing, but I decided to see a later showing. Got ticket and assigned spot, which is very convenient. In the time between, we walked around Goodwill and talked about bad mattresses, the cost of furniture, house repairs, baby clothes, and other things. I got out without buying anything (but if this Popsicle looking dress fit, I might have got it but it was two sizes too big).

Said our - OH! Karen gave me this great lapel pin! A silkscreen & squeegee design! SO COOL! And so great! You can take the girl out of the print lab...

Anyway, said goodbye and I saw the movie. It was not as lewd as I was expecting and some of the jokes I was all too familiar with because of the trailers. Fun, very in keeping with the character. It seems like the kind of movie that'll be good to have on in the background. Great casting, nice effects and stunts. Yeah.

Back home, Celia had a lavender sachet and chocolates and fancy soaps for me! So spoiled! Earlier in the day I left a card for her, so she did get that.

Drew a comic. Watched telly. No word just yet about the application, but I did put a "able to start the 14th" on the application, so maybe they are going to take it as a sign to call me then? If not, I'll call Monday. Or Tuesday if it's not open.

flashbacks are in tents

I only have one Valentine's Card that remains to be sent out. My card for the month is done. Comics are going along. Well, I kinda wish I'd spent a bit more time on this one. But then again, it might be fun to revisit and redraw old comics when I am further down the line! I'm almost at 40! Four zero! I'll have to start doing folders now, because I can't have it in one big one. But in drawing I'm learning what I need to learn how to draw. Does that look like snow? Kinda but kinda not.

Trying to find the sweet spot where I am productive on the regular, but not letting quality control hold me hostage.

I went to wash my car today, because the skies were blue and my car is so dirty it's gone from silver to champagne.  I couldn't find my good car sponge though. It's white and squishy. One of those things you always see all the time but then when you go to look for it, it's nowhere. So I used some old cheap rags and cleaned my car like that. It was more of a glorified wipe down.

Didn't make any progress with house clutter.

Now I'm sleepy. Only 1:30am!

beer and whisky kind of gal

Got to drawing today's comic late, because I finished coloring my Valentine's Card. I wrote up about ten of them and got them addressed and stamped. Did some work for old boss. Saw a very promising job that had to be applied for in person but it was a creative retail job and I felt good about it so I decided to make the journey to Port Townsend for it. I swung by the post office and dropped off cards and Helen's present. Quilcene USPS might have better distribution than Brinnon USPS.

The job is at a beadstore in downtown, but it's also probably helping with the other shop areas. It's an open retail space with little store sections. Beads, yarn, crafts basically. I'm a 2D person but I like to learn. So I filled out the application (it had more "tell us about you!" sections instead of "tell us where and who and when you were hired") and attached my resume and business card and photocopied letter of recommendation. I am expecting a call tomorrow so fingers crossed!

Got groceries, topped off my tank, got back. Did a bit more work. Ate food. Did comic. Wrote more cards. Now I'm tired, but feeling good and accomplished. Even if this job lead doesn't work, it at least is nice to know things will crop up. They seemed a bit surprised that someone showed up so quick, whereas I was worried that getting there a day after the posting might already put me out of the application running.

on a quest for deluxe churros

Today was pretty busy! Former Boss called me in to do a quick rush job, so I did that scattered through the day as I got more info. And I still found time to draw a comic and get 3/4 of the way done with my card (it's printed, editioned, and has one of four colors done, maybe five, but it's easy coloring). Whoo! I started watching Jane the Virgin and WHAT A DELIGHTFUL SHOW! So fun so good! I can't wait to watch it all and be sad there's no more to watch.

And I'm setting this blog to post at a certain time so DAD won't SEE WHEN I'M WRITING IT (hint: late).

Also I watched the Funny or Die Presents Donald Trump's The Art of The Deal. WHICH IS A FIFTY MINUTE SKIT THING about an old video Trump made. JOHNNY DEPP PLAYS TRUMP IN A BUNCH OF MAKEUP! It's so weird and brilliant, and it flows really well too. Like it doesn't feel as long as it is, as any five minutes of it stands as satire. It's seriously bonkers. Google it. Watch it.

more splinters

I helped haul some wood up, and I pried some cement blocks out of the ground. The back of the deck is getting removed, steps moved, and path adjusted. Dad did most of the hard labor. Ma hauled brush. It's nice when Dad visits because then he makes poached egg on toast with melted cheese, which is pretty much my favorite!

Ma and Pa left to go back to Seabeck. I worked on my comic, then I went to work on my valentine's card. It's looking super good! It's almost fully carved, so now I just need to figure out how many to make, how many sheets of paper to cut, and if I'll do spot color. Also I need to figure out the text to go on the inside. Hmmn.

Nighty night!

baby bird

Ma & Pa are staying over! We are continuing to pull out the back end of the porch. I brought the old planks up to the space under the shed. And I trimmed some of the brush. And I drew a comic. Pretty casual day. Working, had a salad and soup and popcorn. Yup.

wood pile and stafford bone china

Went over to Seabeck! Helped Ma and Pa take photos of antiques for selling. Pretty much doing what I did, but for them! Get stuff going on eBay. Franciscan plates and teacups aplenty. We went to see Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which was silly fun. 

Took more photos. Going to spend some time looking up teacups to see if they are worth something. Dad made a tasty breakfast and tasty coffee too. Went back to Pulali. Made a fire. Drew. Napped a bit too.

Now it's way past my bedtime!

always room for a cheap goof

No go on the current job leads, oh well. Got a maybe house sitting gig happening, so hopefully I hear about that scheduling soon, because I'd hate to not be able to do something paying because I have to have an interview or whatever. Doing some work for Ma & Pa tomorrow! Woohoo!

Another day of feeling good with my health. Hopefully it sticks. I had another of those flowering tea balls. Two mason jars full of tea! Mmmm! Drew comic. Finished stamping my name on envelopes. Returned the letters to the trays. Now I'm sitting with a face mask on. I got the mask a while ago in my moneybags days. Treating myself.

My left finger has been waking up with trigger finger the past few days. I dunno what's up with that, because it's my NON dominant finger and I don't think I've been doing anything too strenuous with it. Just gotta keep it...more easy? Might switch beds again too. Sometimes that helps body aches.

Rainy day. Stormy day. Mm hm.

Jeph the cashier

 It was rainy and miserable so ma and pa didn't stick around to work. I made my scones from the scone mix I won at the diaper raffle. That was a good num nums for us all! Dad really liked my coffee too. That Aeropress is a real winner. The rest of the day I felt just awful. Not full on sick, just tired and weak and exhausted. Probably some anxiety side effects eating me from the inside. Just a little bit. I did do a comic and finished my cards but I made a real blunder in the type. Oh well. Pobody's nerfect! I'll do better on the next card. Thankfully the type from January's card is all set, so I just need to swap out a few things and that's good to stamp. I have an idea of what I want to make for Valentine's Day, so I just need to get carving. Will probably be a small edition that I send out all at the same time and that'll be that. January is one I'll send out as needed.

Errand running day! I dropped off some mail to go to various people. I got corned by a girl scout at the baby shower, so I sent off a check for some cookies that I'll pick up at Karen's whenever I see her. Damn good cause and damn good cookies. And I ended up doing a driving loop of the Hood Canal, because I filled up my tank in Hoodsport. Cheapest gas, though far south but I didn't think I had enough in my tank to get across the bridge to any of those stations. And I was going to Silverdale next so I just went south and over and up and it was a nice drive! I listened to podcasts and admired the water. I'm a bit of a hermit shut in nowadays so it's good to get out.

Went to Trader Joe's and got fruit and carbs. And gummies, as you can see above. Swung by Target and got the replacement journal because the one I made for Helen vanished in the postal system. Hopefully that one shows up, maybe back in Seabeck. Helen saw what I made her, so I can reveal that it was a journal with a stamped pattern that I did custom stamps for. Thankfully I didn't include the stamps, otherwise I don't think I would have had the energy to redo the whole present from scratch. That blue lino is a crumbly pain to carve.

Back at home I stamped the journal, did a comic, ate some food, browsed the job sites, set type, and stamped my return address on a bunch of envelopes. I'm going to do a bunch more tomorrow, just so that I don't have to worry about resetting my address type for a good long while. I only have two stamp bases in which to place my text, and one is filled with a ton of text that is used for the card editions. So if I want to add any more text, it has to be with the other one which currently has the address. Once I've stamped my envelopes I can dismantle the text and use it for whatever.

I'm feeling on a health upswing, so I can do more job applying stuff tomorrow. If I don't feel well, it's hard to get the motivation to take the steps. I felt like death showing up to turn in applications a little while ago. Doesn't make a good impression.

But uhg it sucks looking at job listings that want you to show up in person but the place is an hour away. I'll totally commute for the job, I just don't want to sink hours of transport into throwing paper around.

I really resent looking for a job when this is the most artistically productive I've been in years.

eye on the prize

Fighting a headache. Wompf.

Ma and Pa came over for house stuff. Dad is tearing up a part of the porch. It's a bit rotten. We'll move the stairs back. It'll be a good thing. Ma hauled some wood into a burn pile. I replaced the long broken toilet seat. They are cheaper than I thought! I wonder if toilet seats are things that need to be replaced more often than we think.

Celia is under the weather. Poor auntie!

I took a nap in front of the fire. Dinner was salmon, rice, and broccoli. We watched St. Trinians. I did a comic. Now I am still feeling oddly tired, so I guess I'll snuggle into bed with a book.

Hourly Comic Day 2016

art and applications (or "I'm A Real Charmer")

I was having some connectivity issues from Friday night to Sunday morning, so sorry no blog! What happened was the router was knocked over so the connection wasn't coming through. I was out and about all day yesterday, so I wasn't too fussed. I just went to bed because WOW I got tired by the end of the week.

I wasn't sleeping well for a bit and y'all know the irregular hours I keep. So yeah. This morning I had a good long sleep in, and it felt great. Friday I was feeling terrible. I managed to call Chimacum and turns out they were still hiring! And when I arrived to turn in my application and resume and letter of recommendation, it turns out they had filled the position! Whoops! Well they might have some openings soon with some people going away to college, so I'll keep checking.

And I swung by the Wyndham and they said they are looking for desk people, part time, so that's good! I'll work on their application. I applied to to part time hotel jobs in Port Townsend. I just gotta pounce whenever something comes up.

Saturday was Karen's Baby Shower. Ma and Pa came over to work on the roof. Specifically clearing moss off the roof. They rented a cherry picker but alas I do not get to play on it. Would have been fun to help but I had out of the house plans. The baby shower was in Poulsbo at Karen's parent's place. There was chocolate and food and cake and ladies galore. Rob showed up too, and Rob's sister Lisa and her son Kenji. I like Lisa and Kenji (who is 18 months). Marit was there too, who runs Bremerton Letterpress Co. We chatted the comics I've been posting on Instagram which was the prompt for this one:

Karen got a lot of good swag. Diaper genie and diapers galore. She had a diaper raffle. You get one ticket per diaper you bring. I brought 67 (weird that diapers come in irregular numbers). Hearing you can go through 20+ in A DAY is like WOW. Why not just put the baby over the sink or something? And she got good clothes and stuff. A nice variety.

AND I WON THE DIAPER RAFFLE! WHOO! Got a goody basket with tea and coffee and soap and other goodies. I traded a candle from mine for coffee from Lisa's (who I think got an honorary basket because she donated ~200 diapers). I departed at around 4 and headed over the Port Townsend for Dungeons and Dragons!

Another big group. I really wish I was learning with a smaller group because it takes a while to get stuff done. But I arrived early and got help really filling in all my numbers on my sheet and I decked out my character a little bit, Ron made a scrumptious chili and Dian(a/e?) brought doughnuts. I grabbed the bismark real quick. It was fun and I'm needing less hand holding during game play. I mostly do healing but I'm getting an idea of how to attack. Course I'll be super dead if I do get hit by anything.

Got home. Scanned stuff. Didn't stay up cuz the internet was out. Went to sleep.

Ma and Pa left early, but they'll be back in a few days. I slept in. I worked on my resume after realizing I had accidentally cropped off some information. Arghhh!! And I turned in those resumes too! If I come in for a new interview, I can always bring in the updated one. I applied to a few jobs (did I mention that earlier? I'm tired again and don't feel like checking).

And I spent a long time drawing a comic about a dream I had, enjoy!!:

learning one panel at a time

Oi my eyes are buggin'. Lots of monitor staring and staring at type. Didn't get the card done, but the only thing I have left is the edition type. The front art is done! Should have a couple of these in the mail soon. Printed up about 24. I can reprint, but I also want to have these on hand for the near future. February's card design will be... ???

I cleared the ditches again. They didn't need many leaves cleared from them, but the top of the ditch needed more digging out. Want to keep the ground water off to the side. Things are flowing all right. Just so much rain. So much water. Mmmhmm.

Shiiiiiit I've got so much Dungeons and Dragons reading I've been neglecting!! No time on Saturday prior because I'm going to Karen's baby shower earlier in the day. All my social is crammed into one day.

Didne get the job I applied for. Oh well. Just gotta keep an eye on the listings. I pounced on the last one when it came up, and Celia got a new newspaper. Maybe there will be something in there? I hate the "drop off resume in person" jobs because it's like...a 45 minute drive where I might talk to someone! Bleh!

OOHHH SNAP! The Chimacum farm stand is hiring. I'll give them a call tomorrow. Maybe swing by. Get out of the house.

And last time I applied I had just messed up my pinky toe, so this time I won't be so Limpy McGee!

Feels good to go to bed on a slightly better note...unless I call and they are like "yup we filled that".

strangers

Started drawing one comic, and paused to draw this one instead. I'll draw the other one tomorrow. I pulled my yearbook as a reference for the first comic, hence the inspiration. I posted this in the reunion group too, hope they get a kick out of it! I included a "haha just kidding". Then again, I don't really care all that much because I seriously only remember about fifteen people from my class.

I also started FINALLY carving this month's card! And I'd say I'm 80% carved! I'm stopping so I don't mess it up while tired, but I think I'll have some finished ones by tomorrow night. Made a few mistakes, but that's how one learns, eh? Forgot to flip a couple details in the image, so now they are reversed. I don't think anyone will notice too much, but I know it's there.

Measured stuff for Ma and Pa. Didn't get up to much else besides art making and browsing Craigslist for jobs. Not much right now, but maybe tomorrow?

Whole lot of caregiver and truck driver stuff.

it's a snowshoe

Telling people I'm going to turn a conversation into a comic isn't the threat I want it to be.

Went over to Kitsap today! Swung by Napa and got a new lightbulb for my front passenger headlight. Then went to Seabeck to get Dad to replace the lightbulb. I helped. Well, observed. But I did sort of help. Dad showed me what to remove, but he really had to strong arm the plastic cover to get it off. There's no way I could have done that on my own. 

And I opened Nate & Helen's gifties! I got a boss cozy sweater that I took a hearty nap in later in the day. So snuggly! And I was given some lovely Moleskine's! Now to sketch in them. Yaay!

I didn't hang out too long because Ma and Pa were going to see Tower of Power. I made a Target & Trader Joe's run and returned home. Took a nap for some reason. Then did my comic. Now to sleep, I suppose.

floor eggs

This comic happened a while ago, but I felt like publicly admitting my shame. Except no shame in the eating eggs off the ground game!

Anyhoo, I booted up InDesign and dusted off the ol' resume! Updated the references and work history and even applied to a job! How many jobs did I apply to last time? Hotel, farm stand, antiques...I'm not incredibly worried because I live in a place that still advertises jobs in the newspaper. Just finding something with good hours that isn't too physically tasking would be great.

So yeah! First steps on the job hunt front.

Also did a bunch of laundry. Some of it is still rattling about. Tomorrow I have some errands to run, so I'll go run those!

Will finally open my present from Nathan and Helen! I hope it's neat! It'll be neat, I'm sure.

little pains

Celia took me out for fish and chips! Yum yum, birthday treat continues! And the newspaper had some good job adverts. Goodish. Uhg don't wanna think about jobs just yet.

But yeah, yum! And Celia gave me a mug that has a paint pen so I can paint and fire it! Now I just need to know what to put on it! So fun!

Drew comic. Pretty mellow Sunday. If I didn't have the comic to post, I probably would have skipped today's post and summed up both days tomorrow. I guess I'm entering the boredom stage of unemployment. But drawing has been good!

ditched

Got up early to go to the Brinnon Post Office to get a bit of mail out before the 11am cut off. Got the package in, and now it is off to Redwood City!

A guy commented that my front light was out, and yup! So it is! I'll fuss with it when I have the daylight to go buy and install a new bulb. Back at home I had breakfast and coffee, then I loaded up my player with podcasts and got to cleaning the ditches. Celia had already done a first pass, I so just scraped out the new build up, and I pushed around some gravel to hopefully fill in some of the minor erosion. Water does so much damage so fast!

Doing the comic about clearing ditches taught me:

• to have more of a sense of spacing out words (don't like the break of clearing and how squashed overflow became)
• that I don't know how to draw gravel roads
• perspective is tough

But in doing these comics, I am learning so much! Doing stuff wrong teaches you to do it right moreso than always doing it right enough.

Tomorrow I need to work on this month's card. Like I said, I want to do one design a month! I know what I want to make, I just gotta carve it.

Now I'm feeling a bit tired so I think I'll tuck in earlier than usual.

When I finish this episode of TGBBO/TGBBS...

that book makes me so MAD

Today was a good artwork production day. Got two things done, comic and extra thing I can't talk about because it's a gift. But I'm pretty happy with it! Can't wait till it gets to it's person so I can post it.

So yah, watched The Great British Baking Show on Netflix and worked. The comic for today is about my frustration towards the utter idiocy of Ready Player One's third act. And first and second act. The book almost had some good parts but I'm so glad I listened to it as an audiobook because I would have thrown it out the window if I owned it in reality. Bleehh!! I really did scream at the audiobook at this part.

My birthday!! Was really nice! Except the rain was absolutely atrocious, but I got through that okay. I can drive in the rain. Nothing tops the rain that came down in Mississippi.

I met Ma and Pa at Kitsap 8 to see Star Wars...again! The theater has been renovated and it looks hella plush. And our theater had reclining seats! Very nice! Enjoyed Star Wars a whole bunch. Post movie, unfortunately Hakata was closed so we went to Origami and had a mini feast. I had udon, we got sushi, dad got singapore noodles. Yum nums! I got my presents after. Sloth shirt! Rey Lego-esque figure (which sits assembled by my Christmas tree light, cool figure though I think her head is proportionally a bit small). Yon & Mu, Super You, Big Magic, and Station Eleven! Yay reading! When I make my lists, I never imply y'all should get me EVERYTHING on it. I'm so spoiled. And I got a new air filter for my car because the last one was super dirty from mice setting up home in there. Spoiled, so spoiled! And there's some OTHER gifts on the way! And one that is there! But I have two bits of mail I am waiting on, so I'll do my next parental rendezvous when those arrive.

After the early dinner, I went to hang with former Boss and Bodi! Boss had wanted to do something for me, and she's such a good cook and I like her company so I was like yeah! She made apple strudel and made a hat with my name on it and a hat for Bodi and Laura, the jewelry client, had dropped off a box of earrings and said I could pick ANY pair I liked!! She has such amazing designs that it took a very long time before I bracketed it down to a stick pearl, pink tourmaline, and circle sterling silver design that is very singular. I look forward to being complimented on them! So I hung out, had tasty apple stuff, caught up on things, and had a good ol' time. Had a nice drive back. Went to bed. All was well. I'm 28, and feeling okay about it.

And William C. Woxlin wished me happy birthday which is VERY COOL!!

Happy Birthday To Us

Tombow & Micron, 1/21/1988-1/21/2016

From Portland into Problems

Well I forgot my charger at my parent's house and the battery I have remaining is not much and I won't get it back till Thursday (I could go see them tomorrow but I can manage without my computer for a day, assuming it dies tonight),

So I'll blog, then internet a bit, then turn my computer off and do tonight's comic.

Scratch that, my computer died and the monitor wouldn't activate on the bootup, so I went back to Seabeck at 10pm, grabbed the charger, and got back here at midnight. I decided to just go to bed at that point. Come morning, yeah it needed to do some fancy restart because of all the hard restarts it has been through. But it did get the monitor connection and it's been running fine.

Well fine considering the monitor no longer works and I'm borrowing a larger one, which is actually kinda fun! Nice having a big screen.

Today (the 20th) I drew comics and got caught up on the Internet.

So, what have y'all missed?

Portland!

Went down to my fair second city of Portland, Oregon. Had a rainy drive down, but all in all it was fine. Rolled in about 2:30ish. I had coffee with Katie down in the Woodstock area. Nice gal that Katie! I had a mug of coffee, black, with sugar and drew a comic while she also sketched and we talked art and music and art supplies. Really nice!

From there I went to meet Trillian for dinner. Other Trillian. I desperately needed a salad because I've been vegetable deprived for a while. We chatted life and death and art and things and noted our similarities. She's so nice! A really swell gal indeed.

Then it was time for me to head to Mississippi Studios to see Rhea Butcher record her album! She's a comedian that I like a whole bunch so yeah! Nice little venue. Room for people but not overly large, and because I was by my lonesome I was able to secure a spot almost center in the second row! I could have spat on Rhea if I wanted to, but I didn't want to. Cameron Esposito opened and introduced and she was great. It was honestly so surreal to be SO CLOSE because their faces are so familiar from television and Instagram and stuff like wow here's these people I admire a whole bunch and they are right there. Goodrich Gevaart opened, but I'm not familiar with him.

There was a "no recording" warning. No photos or audio or anything. Though I always go for the sketchbook loophole. No one bats an eye at the person with a sketchbook. I'm pretty pleased with how some of them came out, though Rhea is REALLY hard to document properly in a way that looks like her. She is very distinct looking. But yeah, great show!

I sat next to a nice person and afterwards, Josie and Jess, two fans who flew in from COLORADO for the taping (!!!) loaned me their phone to google maps Madeline's place. Why did I have to do that? Well my phone, the ZTE I moved over into, suddenly went dead! I clearly had a large enough chunk on my battery remaining right before the show and it just went out of no where BLOOP DEAD. How frustrating!! And after a week of the phone being slow and not responsive enough to my touch the awful battery life was enough to confirm I needed to move back into my Motorola. But yeah, J & J were so nice and I figured out how to get to Madeline's! I did accidentally get on 84 in the wrong direction but I knew how to turn around and get back on track.

Madeline made chocolate chip muffins and they were delicious. We talked for a few hours till it was her bed time (work in the morning ya know). I snoozed and come morning I hugged her goodbye and went to meet Heather and Daniel for my "leaving Portland" brunch time.

Their choice was Cafe Broder and we had a bit of a wait but we were sat at the bar and oh man was it good food! I loved being in direct eye sight of the aebleskiver pans and watching them just ladle the butter in. MMM!! It was a Nordic based restaurant with lots of Swedish and Danish menu items. I had the spiced apple fritters which came with a sausage and fried eggs (made in a square pan so that they were square) and it was easily one of the best meals I've ever had. The waiter was kind and coffee was plentiful (though I only had one cup). We talked family and work things and silly stories and serious stories. Love those two so much.

Then I was off north! Less than 24 hours but I got a lot packed into that time. Easy drive up. One potty break right before the turn to 101. Back early in the day with enough time to chill and then I went over to Celia's where she had made a scrumptious steak with mushrooms and a baked potato and spinach. MMM!!! So much good eating on Monday. I drew my comic and she read out loud from a New Yorker article. I bid good night and then late at night my monitor started flickering and then it went black. Can't really troubleshoot a black monitor and I didn't have the energy to pull it apart so I went to bed.

Went to Seabeck in the afternoon (my computer's monitor was back for some reason, but I had car stuff to do at the garage). So I set my computer to reboot (it needed a hardy scan after so many hard restarts) on the table at home and helped Dad rotate the tires and swap out the spark plugs. I didn't help with the oil change (got up too late to the garage) but yeah! 262k miles and my car is running fine. It was raining and we both got pretty soaked, thankfully I still have some clothes in Seabeck so I changed into pants and a shirt and we had salad and I troubleshooted. My computer went black again when I booted up Chrome (what???) and I plugged it into their monitor. They said I could borrow it till a replacement computer (generously gifted by Nathan, one of his old laptops) arrived! Whoo! So I scooted home and got it all set up only to notice I had left the power cord at home. I thought I'd just use it for a few hours, let it die, and collect the cord Thursday morning. But then the computer turned off and I just got so frustrated that I returned to Seabeck because I had too much stuff to get through (just trouble shooting and getting a chance to mellow) to wait till Thursday night so yeah, drove home and back a second time. Bluh,

But now it's running and it's 2am and I've been 28 for two hours.

Got plans for tomorrow!!

So here's the comics you have missed:

Haunted Mansion and the Many Adventurers

Ahhh! Long night and I gotta get a relatively early start tomorrow. I'm only going to be in Portland for the night, so I'm leaving my computer at home. My schedule is hang with Katie (different Katie) hang with Trillian see Rhea Butcher, crash at Madeline's, then go have brunch with Heather and Daniel and return. So probably about 24 hours all together. I'm stoked though!

Got up a bit earlier than usual and spent the day revising my Dungeons and Dragons studies. Worked on filling out my character and getting more acquainted with being a halfling cleric worshipper of Pelor. But then I rolled into game play and realized I should have read up more on attack bonuses and rolling this and that. I have so much to learn, but everyone is super helpful! There were 16 people at this game!! We explored a haunted mansion in different groups. There were more odds and ends characters and the rogues did more and we had some combat but WOW it was...a lot going on. And some people went aside to get told this and that thing. I totally failed a check and got the fear of lich in me, and the last oh, thirty minutes of gameplay of me fighting my team and trying to escape. I put up a good fight too! I did sound burst and stunned a few people, and got a few good strength and grapple rolls. It was kinda Benny Hill slapstick at the end. I'd get caught, run, and I was tied up on the top with rope. Ran into the other group. But I snapped out of it. Six to eleven PM!!

And I still drew a bit. Not a complicated comic.

meta dinner

So apparently Mom and Dad aren't reading this blog every day! What the hey, I write in this for you guys, and I've been updating it daily on the regular now. Why aren't you here looking for updates and looking at my cool art? Come on!!

Anyway. Rolled out of bed, had a muffin and some coffee. Time flew by and all of a sudden it was time to go meet Ma and Pa for dinner! We went to Famous Dave's, where I'd never been. I munched on mom's wings and my chicken tenders. My appetite has been weird lately, because I was hungry but I didn't eat all that much. I thought I would scarf, but I didn't. Hmmn. But I got left overs to much on, that's nice! Had a nice little catch up session and got my mail.

Went to Trader Joe's for some food and the overhead speakers played a song that sounded so much like the Men In Black theme, except it wasn't. It had the BOoew BOoew BOoew beat going on.

Back home I talked Portland plans with Katie (different Katie) and Trillian (not me) and drew a comic and figured out something potentially VERY exciting.

Nighty night!

sketchbook of choice

Tenth unemployment comic! I'm calling them unemployment comics for now. Hopefully I'll keep makign them whenever that changes, but I'm having fun with it now. I get two ideas for every one that I complete.

And with making, it makes me update! Can't leave y'all hanging now that I'm dropping sweet art all the time. And I have another little portrait done that I have to wait till it's dry to scan.

I watched Galaxy Quest today, in memorium of Alan Rickman. It's been a brutal week for cool people departing our plane of existence. I had no idea either he or David Bowie were sick.

And I watched a couple episodes of Atelier, a Japanese show on Netflix. It's cute. It's about boutique lingerie but not in a sexy way. Which I guess might be the selling point for some people.

Dang I absolutely need to find out which incense I just burned (I think it was the Nag Champa) because that made me wicked congested.

Drawing these comics has been a trip because I'm sort of re-realizing the confidence I have in my own work. My own ability to draw a scene and to fudge details. To know how to balance (or to see what I did wrong). It's like, oh yeah I DO know how to do this stuff. And I'll only get better.

Now to read some of the Dungeons and Dragons manual I've been neglecting!!

at the movies

Instagram finally let me in! Whoo! Today I popped up to Port Townsend to make an art supply run. The tombows were woefully understocked at the place, but I picked up a neutral peach I'm pretty stoked on (see above). Had to pick up something for a gift project.

Then I saw The Revenant which was...harrowing. Some truly beautiful pieces of film making throughout, with impeccable shots. And Leo tauntauned a horse in a scene that almost made me ralph. Holy crap. Yeah. A long movie. A hard movie. A beautiful movie. I gasped and made a :C face at many moments.

Anyway. Yeah! That was fun. Then I drew a comic. I've really been liking the comics I've been making. Hopefully they bring more attention to my work. But gotta do more bigger work too!

I think I've mentioned it here, but I'm giving myself till my birthday to chill and work on myself. Then it is getting back into the swing of things.

I've been feeling pretty good.

Techno Bummer

I've spent ALL DAY on this now!!! Well some breaks but I've been trying to resolve it all day and ARGH! The new phone has a better camera and screen, but less storage and no emojis. My old phone is still useable, but only through wifi. So most of it still works, just not as a phone. So I'm not installing some apps on my new phone because I can just use them on my old phone (Neko Atsume for example). And I think I'll use the old phone as an alarm because the clock I like on the Motorola isn't compatible with a ZTE. How can a CLOCK not be compatible? Errggg!!

And this data transfer app is being weird on one of the phones. Like, if I can get the phones to be really buddy buddy with how they share data between one another, that'd be awesome.

And Instagram STILL is freezing me out. I can look and interact with my feed a little bit online, but I can't upload anything.

Argh. So frustrating! But look, I drew a comic so that's cool.

my guests are the best

I've spent the better part of today switching phones. If you remember my first smartphone went black and I bought a replacement, and sent the first one away for the replacement that was covered under warranty. The phone I've been using for a year keeps needing to have it's cache cleared and it's getting laggy in some apps, so I decided to switch over to the third phone while I still had a working phone. And if something happens to the 3rd phone, I can revert back to the 2nd just in case.

The new phone has a better camera and a bigger screen, but also less space which is frustrating! If you can't afford a phone with a big drive, you can only do so much. You can still do a lot, but you gotta pick and choose apps. Anyways, I've been getting stuff transferred over and backed up and it's taking FOREVER!! I just want it to be done (there's a lot of apps I've been trying to get data to switch over, and none quite are doing the trick) so I can draw a comic!

Anita and Cheyenne were lovely perfect guests! Anita brought me this illustrated tide pool guide as a host gift and it's the PERFECT supplement to the other guides we have. Lasagna was made, Men In Black was watched, and general chilling out happened. A nice visit. Cheyenne moved to Portland at the same time I did, but she stuck around. Really nice person! And they were so damn tidy. Dishes done and everything. They left relatively early to go down to Portland. I took a nap which went a bit long. Did a comic. Took a bath. Then felt tired again and went to sleep. Yesterday was a bit of a wash.

And I've been frozen out of Instagram! It's not loading and it keeps freezing! That's my favorite app! Waahhh! I want to see my notes!

But I'm stoked that my new phone can take pictures of sketches, because then I can post stuff as I draw it and not waiting for a scanner. Scanner is best but ya.

So here's the comic from the 11th. I'm rating it PG-13 for totally legal drug references:

(don't worry ma and pa, I'm not spending my current money on dank ganj, I'm being frugal!)