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!)

lonely and not lonely

Making this quick because I'm expecting company (Anita and Cheyenne) in fifteen minutes. Kinda funny to follow up THIS comic with the expectation of a reduction of loneliness.

Anyway. Got up. Coffee. Scrambled eggs and bacon. Tidying. Folded towels. Sweeping. Putting away of stuff. Drawing. More cleaning. House looks pretty good now, though some people enjoy no clutter at all. So it's nice by MY standards, but maybe not someone elses? But I made sure there is no mouse in the trap, so that should count for something. I'm using these comics as a way to branch out in technique. 

Yeah, pretty happy with that comic. Drawing environments is fun. There's a tendency to default to figures floating in a plane.

I spent way too long looking for a reference of the exterior of the house before realizing that durrr I could step outside and take a photo. I can work from memory, but sometimes it's good to have a reference.

Okay, time to make a fire! See you on the other side.

pages of eyes

Drew this while watching Housebound, a sort of silly New Zealand horror movie. Not silly enough to be full on comedy horror, but not gorey enough to be totally horror. I dug it.

My comics are being well received on Instagram. Consistently getting 20+ likes, which is good for me! I changed the paper I used, and it seemed to scan better.

I put away clothes, put paper stuff into the burnables, did dishes, put away dishes, swept, I've got towels in the dryer. I got all my letters together into a folder. It's just a lot of picking up of things.

bff4ever

Are you liking having comics start these entries? I know I am! I do them in about an hour, which is a good pace. And for each one I do, I generate two more ideas. If I keep at it, I'll get a nice little batch AND I'll only get better! I'm kinda remembering how I draw people too. Like doodles of people. I have several styles. Anyhoo! Yeah! Art!

Today was a Faux First Friday in Bremerton. Faux because the real one was new years and they didn't do it. I just hung out at Bremerton Letterpress Co. which is where Karen's (aka KB) new press is! She got a (used) Vandercook and now it has a home with Marin...Marit? who is really nice and it's a new shop downtown. They got cards and bags and mugs and prints and stuff. And presses with which to make awesome cards. So this is even better for KB because there's a space to work from and a person to work with! So it should bolster both their businesses. And there was talk about me designing a card to be printed and sold. Just gotta get a little portfolio together. I've neglected to scan all my mushroom drawings, so I need to make a few more of those. Local & nautical sells. 

So I hung out. Met people. Gave Karen and Rob their baby shower gift (a baby sling). There's baby showers coming up, but I don't know if I'll be able to make them (one's in Portland the weekend after I'm going down, not sure if I'd want to do two trips but maybe I'll go down with Karen on the second one and split gas?)(and the second is with her sister and I don't know where that is, probably Washington, but yeah). So I gave them their present and they were like "ohh we heard good things about this" and "this is just what we needed!" so hurray!

Karen is seven and a half months pregnant, and ran the tressel press. Because she's a champ.

So if you're in Downtown Bremerton, check out the store front! It's really nice!

I also dropped off a garbage load. It went up fifteen cents! Yikes! Garbage and recycling. It was all looking a bit full. So that errand is done! And I reorganized my books to accommodate new acquisitions. Another task done. Tomorrow is a cleaning day. I really want to get a lot checked off the list. Cleaning, organizing. Yeah.

I'm also writing a lot more in this blog, after what felt like a year of very short posts. But I think I'm also talking my way through life changes and life focus. As I said during college, if I did nothing I had to write I did nothing so this blog helped me be a lot more accountable to my school work. So I'm taking myself to task for getting myself accomplished at being an adult.

get ready, get set

Loook! Drawing more! I want to do at least one comic a day. They are doing pretty well on Instagram. I'm trying to figure out the way to have them look the best. I went up to the garage apartment and dug through my old boxes and pulled out old barely used sketchbooks. I found some old reems of bristol paper. Basically better paper, because the little sketchbook I've been using doesn't have a heavy paper weight and the pens bleed. Yeah. I'm now motivated to overhaul a tidying of the house. I want to get my art supplies together, I want to get books put away better, I want this space to be less cluttered. I want to know where everything is, as well. Because every now and again I'll be like "where's this thing?" and I have to dig and dig for a while to find it. Right now I'm trying to find the 26th card I printed of Nate & Helen's Christmas present. The blooper card. Still looks nice, I just need to scan it. I really need a portfolio overhaul and to do that I must have new work to shove into it.

People like those cookies. Karen wants a print. I just need to figure out how to make prints? I guess? I'm just worried about the screen to print out transition, because there's been things that look WILDLY different when I look at them on my phone (typically my sketches, the paper looks more yellow).

Anyway, the fire is under me and it feels awesome!

And Anita and Cheyenne are visiting on Sunday! You might remember Anita from Santa Cruz or from Delaware. Nice to host on her roadtrip, like she hosted on mine.

Uhhmm. Yeah. Tidying. Arting. Want to tidy more tomorrow. Might also leave the house and hang with Karen at a First Friday in Bremerton.

My mood right now is doing pretty good. I think I have a little room of mental space of "get stuff cleared out and organized" and basically getting ready. Ready for what? Dunno. Whatever happens next. But I don't want to get there unorganized. I want to be a better me when I step up to the plate.

I need to make work

Look! Another comic! I'll try to do daily comics. Daily drawings. Draw SOMETHING ANYTHING daily. I wonder if I can swing taking January off to just make some goddang work, and then leverage a month of making into making and a job. Ya know? Like I have good drawing habits built up over the month, and then I find a job post birthday and stuff?

I also have another thing drawn right now that I'll scan in the morning. And I dug out a notebook that I only used a few pages in and I started jotting down comic ideas. I have ideas! I just haven't been drawing them.

Anyway, yeah. Gotta get projects going.

re: unemployment. Yeah I probably can get it, but I'm worried that filing for it will screw up health insurance & future tax stuff. Benefits vs costs, ya know?

Ran a Target errand. I got a good snicker at this down that was supposed to say BREATHE DEEP but the way the lettering was stacked, it kinda looked like BREATHE BREDEEP. Star Wars toys still largely sold out. There was a Rey Jakku Lego toy though, that was cool! I didn't get it, I just admired it. I got bread and other stuff.

Went home. Drew. Watched Drunk History. Felt a bit better.

laid off comic

Look! Blogging the day of! And I drew something (see above). Maybe I'll just auto bio comic my way to success! That's what a lot of illustrators do when they are suddenly unemployed.

Anyway. Had a rough night sleep, Stayed home. Leaving the house tomorrow though. Sat in front of the fire. Drew. Listened to podcasts. Need to draw more, what else am I doing? Nothing, that's what.

Maybe I should get my booze handlers permit, just so I'm set for applying at different job places.

Ya. Mellow day.

dungeons and dragons and that's sister wendy if you're Nolar

2nd

Slept in and had pasta for a late breakfast. Didn't do much inbetween waking up and heading out to the game meet up. It was pretty chilly. I drove slow and safe. The house was easy to find. Up in the woods of north west Port Townsend. People there: Ron (his house) Rowan, Evelyn (Ron's kids), Ron's wife I think but she didn't play with us, Alex, some guy, Logan who I could swear I knew from somewhere, Emerald, Morgan, and two other people. Emerald helped me make my character! So nice! My character for a new dungeons and dragons campaign. I am jumping in at 4th level. A 4th level neutral good cleric named Wensledale. She's a halfling and apparently the conscience of the group. The campaign is sort of a mystery with ghoul bites. We accidentally shot a farmer's daughter with arrows and I hurt my team when I subdued a mental patient with a sonic spell. But I healed them, and chastised the doctor for his poor care of his patient. The gaming went from 6 to 10:30ish! A good long game! I'll be back in two weeks for another round, and in the mean time I'll brush up on my knowledge. Emerald loaned me a USB full of D&D literature so I have that to study. Excited to get into it and expand my universe. Seems like a good way to meet local area nerds, as there isn't a local indie comic scene this side of the water.

It was a slow drive back with the temperature being so low and the roads being clearly ice on the side.

3rd

Not much of a day. Loafed around. Lit a fire. Made kindling. Read The Girl on the Train (very good thus far!). Tidied up a little. Had pot stickers. Watched telly.

4th

Had to leave the house as I've been out of vegetables for a while. Long overdue for a grocery run. I used my Barnes and Noble gift card that Hans gave me on Tomine's Killing and Dying. Yay for comics! I was hoping B&N might have dice for sale, but no dice. Avalon Comics, where Wizards used to be, did though! Sean and Michael were nice fellows who pointed out there is Tuesday DND at the shop. Ohhh! Except Tuesday might be beekeeping classes too? Though haha I'm unemployed, what am I doing thinking about doing fun things? I needa find a job. I have enough to absolutely get through January but February will be dodgy. But it's nice to know I have time to read and sit in front of the fire. I need to do a tidying overhaul again, because there's lots of odds and ends sitting about. And need to make a dump run too as the trash is getting full. Argh.

Where was I? Oh yeah, dice! I bought some of the other dice (D12 D4 D8 D10 and percentile) from Avalon, so that I wouldn't have to continue borrowing Emerald's. I already had that D20 I got so Dad could reference it for his boxes. Now I have a funky little assortment. There's lots of different style of dice. If I continue playing, maybe I'll invest in a match set (big investment of like, $5).

So that was nice. Not nice was paying a visit to Ma and Pa and having them talk over me when I had a bunch of different things to talk about. Guess that is why I need to keep up with this blog more regularly. The ol' one sided conversation. I talk to people so rarely in person, so it's real shitty to not get a conversation during the rare chances that I do have. But I got my mail and got a few nice cards.

Swung by Trader Joe's and got food. There's a chocolate milk in my fridge. Treat to myself! And eggs, baco...ohh did I forget bread? Yeah I think I forgot to get bread. Damnit. Well I have eggs and bacon and I might make another trip to Silverdale soon. Or over yonder that way.

Lit a fire when I got home and computered in front of it. The heat just doesn't reach the master bedroom like I want it to.

a story of boys and hankies

Have y'all enjoyed that cookie piece? I like having it up there. Anyway, on Wednesday I dropped it off with boss, who commissioned it.

I got up, put on a dress and tights and medium sweater and long gray coat and boots and did my makeup and set out to have a day of fun! I left enough time to swing by the office and drop off the piece.

And so I must sadly mention that that may have been my last visit to the office. I was laid off. But understandably so. Need more clients to have more work for me. Hopefully I'll get a call in a week saying "we got one!!" but for now, I continue as if I need to get a new job. Sad, but that's how it goes sometimes. So I saw Boss and Bodi and we hugged.

I caught the ferry with time to spare and chilled. The Bainbridge crossing really flies by I feel. By the time I've had a hot dog and taken a few selfies, we are already in Seattle and I'm disembarking. Chris would be a bit late to meet me for coffee, so I took my take taking pictures of buildings. It was a nice clear day, cold sure but I had a good overcoat and scarf. The lady barista at Storyville coffee was utterly darling. I complimented her brows and she seemed very joyed by what I said. The dude baristas had a vibe of "what are these girls talking about?" but brows are important, yo.

My coffee was tasty and Chris arrived and we caught up, I was finally able to give him this Battles letterpress poster that I've had forever. I got it as a freebie from Karen when she interned at Hammerpress, and I've just consistently neglected to get it to him. Till now! It's a cool poster, but I don't listen to Battles. Chris does. It was just a brief meeting, as he had plans later and I had plans a bit later too. At the coffee shop I realized I had dropped my hankie somewhere between the ferry and coffee. Bummer, because that hankie belonged to Grandpa Joe and had an embroidered S on it.

Parted ways with Chris and walked over to Kinokuniya. A nice walk on a nice day. I met up with Cameron, who I met at the Dir En Grey show and we hung out for a bit. A little meet up. Nice fella. We had takoyaki and talked things and cooking and travel (he's a Canadian!). And had some bubble tea. And he was so nice he dropped me off downtown. I was prepared to walk, but he dropped me off.

I was going to see Hateful Eight with Marcus, but he was unable to get a ticket due to it selling out. So I went solo. I got there early and was pretty near the start of the line. Got a seat in the near center of the first row at the start of the upwards seating. I sat next to one person, but the person who came into the row after me sat one away. It's a sold out show dude, sit next to someone!

But because that spot was open, a late comer was able to take a really good spot instead of being stuck in some corner place. I got to talking to this guy (there's a lot of men mentioned in this post) next to me, and he was a good dude to chat to, though not when the movie was going of course. He shared a bit of his flask of bourbon with me (which wasn't a big flask, and it wasn't full) which was a nice way to punctuate the movie.

So The Hateful Eight was pretty dang cool! And I went all the way to Seattle to see the 70mm showing. Very stellar. It had an intermission and an overture. Great performances all around, beautiful sets, and yes gore and violence because hello Tarantino movie. Yeah it was great. Well worth the travel, and I had a good day all around so that was worth it.

After the screening, the guy I sat next to and I got to talking. His name is John. He walked me down to the ferry, because the conversation continued to go well. Well I invited him to walk with me, he didn't follow. I mentioned that I had lost my embroidered hankie and that we should be on the look out for it. I even retraced my steps to the ferry. And there at Madison and just past Alaskan Way where I stopped to take a picture of a building....there it was! Barely stepped on! Just there! And I was able to show John the embroidery that PROVED it was the hankie I mentioned and not just some random Seattle hankie.

Really says something about Seattle trash collection when that stays put for eight hours.

I gave John my number and said adieu. Talked to two MORE dudes on the ferry ride back. They had the Hateful Eight programs so I knew we had a topic starter. They both had wedding rings, so I wasn't about that. I just like talking to people. Turns out the programs have different centerfolds. I'm really happy with my Demian Bichir centerfold.

My car was iced over, so I had to crank the heat and break out the scraper. I drove steady and slow back home. It was below freezing. I don't know if I've driven in 27 degrees since Colorado?

New Years Eve was pretty mellow. Talked to Celia a bit. Slept in. Tidied up a little. When the clock rolled over, I sat on the seawall and lit fireworks. Roman candles and sparklers mostly. One bottlerocket. Found out I can make this gaming meetup on the 2nd. I'm looking forward to that!

New Years Day started with a hike! Ma and Pa were on their way to meet up and Celia and I didn't have much time to get clean and dressed and on our way. Corbie was taking himself for a walk, and showed up on the driveway as we were headed out (I carpooled with Celia). Met Ma and Pa at the Overpass Lot and we went in the van together to Gibbs Lake. The loop trail took about two hours, and it was a nice path. Some ups and downs, but nothing too strenuous. Plenty of frost pushed up through the ground, and cool fluffy frost too. A nice brisk start to the new year. Post hike, we ate at the 101 Brewery and Cafe. I had fish and chips, there were bacon garlic fries ordered for the table, and we ate heartily. Yum num. One of those meals consumed at just the right time, because I haven't needed to eat again since.

I picked up some mail from Ma and Pa and we returned to Pulali. I chilled for a bit, got the new episode of Sherlock, and later in the evening went over to Celia's and we watched Sherlock! It was awesome. Fun how it went back in time with all the awesome production values. Celia is great to watch Sherlock with.

And now I'm super congested! I was doing really well. Cat allergies. Boo.

So now it's 2016, how 'bout that?