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?

cookies 2015

graphite and watercolor on fabriano

2015

family, friends, family friends

Woof! Way behind! It's been a heckuva quadruple of days.

So after Christmas, I went back to Pulali a bit before Mom and Dad left. I lit a fire, tidied up, started some laundry, vacuumed. Ma and Pa arrived about an hour after I did. Hans and Corrine visited during this time. They were over at Celia's, and Ma and Pa went over before I did, and I followed suit a bit after. Corrine made a cake in my oven. Celia made a roast beast. Dad grilled some salmon. There was soup and bread and gravy. Lots of good stuff! A little family and friends food and game playing. We played Win Lose or Draw, and I decimated! I won so hard. Felt good to win that much after not winning many games. Played a few rounds of Scattergories too. Dessert was at my house, we had cake and icing and watched The Incredible. I put on my new jimjams and went to bed.

I'm sleeping in the twin bed for the next while. I like to mix it up. Switch back and forth. The big bed was feeling too big.

Ma and Pa and Hans left early in the morning. I slept in and vegged out. A nice day off from a couple social days and the many hours spent making the cards. Which now that Nate and Helen have their present, I can reveal that I spent many hours printing them a set of custom cards! The design turned out really nice. It's their house, with seven spot colors. Only printed 25 because holy hell any more would have taken a long time. And I did custom return envelopes too. Nice gifty!

So yeah, spent a day relaxing and keeping warm and all that.

So that brings us to....Monday? Yes. Yesterday. I slept in and relaxed, and then plans suddenly changed with Kristen (my old roommate in college who now lives in Canada but has family in Kitsap) and she was having a little spring roll dinner tonight because the next day she was going to Seattle with Alain (not Mel's Alain, her own Alain). So I prettied myself up and popped over to Seabeck to pick up some mail and gifts, then went to her place! Well her parent's place.

Alain is a nice fella, and I met her friend Jillian. We had spring rolls and wine and gabbed and gabbed. Gabbed till 2am!! We had lots of catching up and lots of life and lots of memories to go over. It was fun. And got to know Alain too, he's a new fella to meet. I did not have wine anywhere near the time I departed, don't worry. I got home at 3 and actually got up and not a horribly late hour,

I've been doing a lot of two meals lately. My appetite has gone way down. I don't get hungry till later, and I stay not hungry. Not the worst thing, as I'm prone to just scarfing tons of food. Had some udon later. Worked on a piece commission for Boss, but a separate commission from work. Just a "I need a piece from you as an illustrator for something else".

I'm really happy with how it turned out. Just the right amount of labor for the price.

Got some news this morning (the 29th). Won't disclose it fully just yet as I'm still processing it.

Just know that there is news.

xmas 2k16

Merry Christmas! We've had a nice lowkey one this year, which I ain't complaining about! No rushing about, hauling gifts, buying a bajillion things, or real struggles to do a lot of stuff. Just presents between three people, food, fun, and episode of Chopped, and merriment.

Yesterday, Christmas Eve, I got up earlier than usual and tidied house and packed up and wrapped Nathan & Helen's present and got the rest of my letters addressed and ready to go. I got out of the house at around 3:50 to get to the Post Office in time. I got there at 4:20 and it closes at 4:30. Got N&H's prezzie in the mail with a tracking number and off it went!

And so I left for Seabeck.

At one point in the drive, a mouse crawled out of my car hood and onto my window, but as I was driving sorta fast, it was unable to hold on and it slid off into the night. Hopefully there are not more mice. Guess I'll set a trap overnight in my car?

I arrived in Seabeck at not a bad hour. Paid rent by flinging twenties in the air. Dad made me a hot buttered rum and we played Tetris Block, this letter game, and this other game. I didn't win anything.

I wrapped presents hastily and went to bed at a good hour.

Come morning I blasted the John Finnemore Christmas classic "Get Dressed You Merry Gentleman" as I descended the stairs.

I dumped out my stocking and assembled my Everglades Park Ranger & Swamp Ruffian Lego set.

Dad made coffee and waffles. Tasty tasty. Presents were opened. I got Sugar Skull and The Girl on the Train and a water rescue Playmobil and a fancy popcorn set and some new slippers and pajamas and something I won't spoil for Nathan that is REALLY COOL!

Nice little haul indeed. I got Dad two cozy knit hats (both had good reviews and I didn't know which to get so I got both) and a book about a North Pole explorer and a South Pole explorer. Mom got a nice apron and two bags with birds on them, and she has a fourth present still in the mail.

We took a little hike to the creek and ate a Christmas dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, broccoli and OHMYGOD I just remembered I'll be getting PEOTWHS in the morning. Yuusss.

After dinner we played Beyond Balderdash and I lost by a considerable amount. Then we watched Shaolin Soccer (which was weirder than I remember it being) and an episode of Chopped.

Now it's night time. Goodnight!