I heard my ferocious Bassett Hound doing his “tough guy” bark when strangers are around– I hear a guy yelling “Hello…” from my sidewalk. — I look out and it’s a guy wearing wrinkeld khaki pants, a black polo shirt, with his license hanging from his collar like an ID badge, he has some flyer in his hand. here’s what happened…

I walk out: Yeah??

Guy: Is your Mom or Dad Home?

I give the guy a look like– WHAT??? Then I just say:
“Uh no, and we don’t want whatever you’re selling, thanks.”

Guy: Are you sure you don’t want one of these brochures for–

Me: NO buddy, thanks…. I come in before he can say anything else stupid to me.

—ARe my parents around??? WHAT??? I’m almost 30 here! My hair is out like a mad man, and I’m unshaven like a beast—- It would have been funny if my dad would have been visiting… hah….."Here’s the Deacon!” hehehe

Who knows what that guy was up to.

Today is my wedding anniversary. Wouldn’t you know it, we don’t have a sitter for the kids, and my wife has to work. —- This is my daily rundown….. (more…)

Happy mom’s day to all the moms out there. (more…)

Another sad rundown of my pathetic daily life as a cartoonist working from home… (more…)

My daily rundowns continue– for anyone paying attention or wondering if I’ll mention them. (more…)

Day two of a look into my busy and mundane existance. (more…)

I was inspired by Kevin Smith’s “My boring ass life” blog posts– and thought I might give a run down of my day, just for fun. I don’t know if I can be as open as he is… wow, maybe this will be a practice in how honest I can be. So– here it goes! (more…)

(more…)

(more…)

link 2 comic - Week one of our Star Wars theme is in the can with today’s update. We couldn’t get through the week without a good old fashion “force choke” joke. – We have more commentary on this strip, see it here.

Operation: FIND A NEW COUCH is complete. We have been looking for a new couch for weeks now. After testing out a bunch, I REALLY liked leather.. but my wife thought they were cheesey. So we looked and we looked. I was even berated for not settling on this green one my wife liked– but it felt like you were sitting on curtains or something. UGH!

Long story short, yesterday we went to a place, and the vulturous sales lady took us to the back where they had this clearance section. Lo and behold, a badass leather couch. Originally a thousand bucks, marked all the way down to four hundred fifty! My wife was torn, but found it comfy. I caught her all relaxing on it. On top of all that, my wife found out the prices are marked down every Friday, so she asked the sales vulture what the price would be tomorrow. We were fed a line of bull that it might not get marked down anymore. Efhing sales people! BUT she told us we could get it today for 400 bucks. So there’s our new couch.

Sidenote: My wife is sleeping on it behind me right now. The clacking of the keyboard is probably annoying her.

Sidenote: Don’t buy reclining couches. They’re junk, AND heavy! The one we had for almost 6 years, fell apart when we were moving it out of here.

-I wish Websnark was Websnark again. It seems….. quiet there.

- Anyone shooting for newspaper syndication– it’s a lost cause. That system is failing and failing FAST. Don’t be foolish. Pioneer your own way.

- I don’t have an alcohol problem. But I do want to say, when you have two rum and cokes, it makes your cheeks feel numb. Yeah Yeah, I’m a lightweight, I know it. (well, two guinnesses and two rum and cokes— Believe me, after a week like I’ve had, you’d need it too.)

- The whole POPE thing had me thinking. #1 the media showed me how much of a fairy tale organized religion is. It’s a friggin farce. No offense to the religious among you. Seriously, I believe in God, but I think he’s not down with alot of what’s going on.

- I’ve come to the conclusion that I cannot ignore ghosts. I should just accept them, and know that I am not crazy. Perhaps they are guiding you in some way. Or just saying hello. Don’t ask.

- Bob gets on my nerves sometimes. But that’s ok. It’s healthy.

- I think I may be allergic to grass. My wife mowed the front lawn, making me feel like a woman– but I immediately had an allergy attack. Now, I have two ways to face this. Either I can bail and use it as an excuse to escape manual labor— Or I can face allergies dead on in a juggernaut way and totally SUCK IT UP. EFH U Allergies!!! I’m sick of missing the outside weather.

- When you’re kicked in the nuts, and punched in the face emotionally.. take it… suck it up. You’ll live to fight another day. Take your thumps. It makes you stronger.

Personal crap: We’re planning on painting the old “Yir-Tiki Bar” this weekend. That’s the whole room actually, not the bar itself. Just a nice white coat of paint is all. We have a ton of stuff to take down and move around, but it’ll be fun.

Bad Ass Air Freshners!: I finally went and bought those Glade Wisps. the ones you see on TV that like, uh, poof every so often?? Yeah, those. THEY ARE GREAT. I bought one for the bathroom and one for the main room here. Best air freshners ever. I won 2 more on ebay for like 2.99. Right on! My house is gonna keep staying fresh and smelling clean thanks to the bad assedness of those freshners. When you’re on the toilet, you just reach back and set that baby on the HIGH setting. It poofs every 9 seconds. Doesnt really make a sound, but you can hear it if you’re quiet enough.

CLEAN WATER: in an effort to stop drinking Coke like it’s water, my wife was going to buy bottled water, which I think is lame. But she’s been going on and on about how great water is to drink, and I’m like, IF IT’S NOT COFFEE, FUCK IT! — but she keeps insisting that water is great for you. I think drinking water is overrated. Anyway, long story short, i say, you know, im gonna buy one of those damn filter pitcher things and save money on this stupid bottled water idea. So we did that. I bought a Brita brand one, it sits in the fridge and has a spout on it. Clean water anytime you want to drink it. Mmmmm. A rarity here in Fayette-Nam, where some days the water can get, uh, bad. So, I’ve been drinking clean water all day. I’m jonesing for a Coke right now. DAMN. ——– WATER GOOD. DELICIOUS…

Alright, fuck it. Water is stupid. But if I keep drinking Coke like it IS water, I’m going to be in trouble in a GIANT FAT WAY.

other stuff: Because some of you might be amazed that I went a whole post without talking about COMICS…. I just wanted to say, be sure to vote tomorrow because I did up some cool new sketches that are star wars related. Well, these are actually more than sketches. But check it out in the A.M.

Blach! I have I have a cold. Sneezing, post nasal drip thingy, bLah! It suuuuckkks….

Luckily, I’m ahead on my strips. I’m a little behind on caricatures, but I’ll be on track. I’m not sick enough not to work, so all the due caricatures will get there this week as promised.

Two things I’d like to get accomplished this week. #1, I’d like to find out when I can start selling you fine people the print book. Soon, soon…. #2, I’d like to get some work done on the secret Yirm project I’m planning and get that launched by the end of the month. It will be very keen, I promise you that.

Also– at one point, I was thinking about moving the Yirmumah strip to a hub like keenspot or some other place, but my traffic has grown by leaps and bounds here on my own, so at this point I don’t think it’s necessary. By golly, I think I can actually do all this on my own and remain independent. Some places make me so excited though, and I just want to be a part of things…. but it’s probably better that I’m on my own out here on the webernet. – -Thanks to everyone who’ve linked us up. You rock.

14,000 page views yesterday!!! And most of them without referrers, which means they’re most likely coming from bookmarks or personal link lists or blogrolls or something. I really appreciate it– the more people who read, the harder I’m going to efhing work to make Yirmumah totally KICK YOUR BUTT—-

Wow, I just refrained from using two bad words. It’s the cold.

Found this on the Wikipedia for Jack Kirby.

Melt lyrics by Monster Magnet

waking up
i watch another sun go down
another day spent underground
in my world of pills, yeah
and i was thinking how the world should have cried
on the day jack kirby died
i wonder if i’m ill, yeah
i’ll never trust myself again
but i don’t care, no
just set that plastic soul on fire
and watch it melt
life is good, a rocket sled utopia
a self-imposed my opia
you gotta love this place
life is fast, a million winners everyday
you tell me, is this work or play?
i’m never really sure, yeah
i’ll never trust myself again
but i don’t care
well just set that plastic soul on fire
and watch it melt
yeah yeah yeah
well i’m alive, now you watch me go
a tickle inside my brain
where it comes from i don’t know
but i’m laughin’ in the flames
it’s just the look in your eyes
i feel like i can fly
and then sometimes i dig it so much…
i could die
i’ll never make no mortal place
cause i don’t care
just set that plastic world on fire
and watch it melt, yeah
well i’m alive, now you watch me go
a tickle inside my brain
where it comes from i don’t know
but i’m laughin’ in the flames
it’s just the look in your eyes
i feel like i can fly
and then sometimes i dig it so much i could die
and then sometimes i dig it so much i could die
and then sometimes i dig it so much i could die

I’ve received a bunch of emails from readers who want me to submit Yirmumah for a Harvey. I already completed my form, and sent it in, nominating some folks I know and like— I didn’t realize I was eligible for any categories. I have been informed that I indeed am. So.. here’s the deal. If you’re a comic creator of any kind on a pro level, self publisher, etc…. AND you enjoy our work here, YOU CAN nominate us. And you can also e-mail in your completed entry form via e-mail— Pretty easy. The suggested categories would be Best New Series, Best Cartoonist, Best New Talent –

Details: You can copy the ballot HERE in my forum. Fill it out with all it asks for and e-mail it to them at pjcjmc2@comcast.net by February 13th.

This is a long shot from hell here. But hey, why not? For even more on the great history of the Harvey Awards, AND it’s great new location, check out – http://www.moccany.org/harvey.html

Dang! I wish I could afford this. It would go PERFECT with my tiki bar sertup! Anyone that has an extra 799 bucks laying around, but this for me! Jack Kirby+Angry Tiki Gods…
eBay item 6507100586 (Ends Jan-26-05 20:45:00 PST) - JACK KIRBY SUPER POWERS #3 ORIGINAL PENCILLED COVER! NR

That is SWEET. And it has WonderWoman on it which my wife is keen on too. Damn….. I need to be rich or get some ‘"fun” bank to buy stuff like this. I hate it when all our money goes to bills and the goverment.

:(

My kids have a 2 hour delay. I’m going back to bed.

Efhing Steelers!

Only in Fayette-Nam —- Via Jack’s blog. Too funny…

Instead of staying inside all day in my bigfoot like way… We decided to journey out to the antique store place. I discovered a cool Palm Springs post card from the 1940s. It’s a nifty foldout souvenir book thingy, with several full color, art over photos deals. I don’t know what you call that….. Anyway, my wife can’t figure out why I’d want that— I went to High School there for god’s sake. Actually, I spent the years of 12-18 there! – So seeing all the fold out art of Tahquitz Canyon the old Oasis hotel.. it just brought back many slacker filled days to me. We were the desert rats. —It occured to me, that the Coachella Valley is a psuedo tropical place. I never realized it when I lived there. My wife would never move there, and I don’t really long to go back, but I do miss Palm Trees and the environment sometimes. The people were kinda dicks though. Anyways, now that postcard has a spot at the tiki bar. Maybe I’ll post photos sometime.

So… here it is. My last couple hours of being 28 years old. It’s been 10 years since I left Southern California to start my life anew in FayetteNam. I ain’t got it so bad. I have three of the coolest kids on the planet, a hot wife who makes me laugh and more.. and I have some of the best friends a guy could have. And I get to draw comics every stinking day.

Plus I’ve been lucky to work with some really talented folks over the years here. Listen to me– I sound like I’m old! Actually, hell no, I’m young. That’s why I feel so lucky to have all I’ve got here.

I also never thought I’d know how to play a musical instrument. I can now jam out on my ukulele and it’s very soothing to me. Sure, people laugh when they hear i play that. But they don’t know what they’re missing I tell yah.

A Yirmumah reader, and now friend of mine in Hawaii has a website up, showcasing his collection of original art. His site is coming along great. Here’s a link to his Yirmumah page, showing everything from the art he bought from me, to the sketches I drew on the backs of some of em, and the doodle I did on the mailing box!

Yirmumah Originals Collected

Check out some of the other cool art there as well. He’s amassing quite the collection!

Ok. I’m behind the times. I have an old version of Dreamweaver 4, 100% legal, mind you, and in the course of some extensive use, it started to NOT want to close. So, I decide, I’m going to reinstall it. I dig up the old serial code, the install disk, etc… everything goes great, it installs… and then.. nothing. The program won’t even open. It just sits there in limbo. No, I’m not spending a DIME to upgrade this crap.

Sometimes I think it would be EASIER to be a pirate and get new versions of everything when it comes out. Of course, I’m NOT a pirate. I’m a poor cartoonist with a broken Dreamweaver4.

Anyway, curse you Dreamweaver 4! Curse you!

I slept in. Well, no, I was up.. but then I just went back to bed. The only time I get to see my wife now is well, before she goes to work, and then at 1am when she comes home. Then I’m up at 7:30am to get the kids off to school. Today was too much. My brain bitch slapped me back to bed. And the internet wasn’t working this morning, so I couldnt sit in my usualy zombie-like stupor and surf the regular blogs I check.

So the strip collection is going to happen. I have a little teeny wee bit of work to do for it before it can be available, but I’m talking with my printer and, well, publisher now, working out details. It’ll be neat to see all the color strips from 2004 packed into a book of some sort. I was surprised how well they read smaller and in print. And they don’t look half bad in grayscale, but I just gotta do this book in color.

That’s all. Now I gots to get me some coffee and get cranking on more dailies. A small confession before I go. I’m not sure if anyone else who draws a regular comic experiences this… but late at night when I finally lay down to rest, my brain is totally plotting more strips, making diabolical plans for comic domination. It use to torture me, but I’ve given into it. And now it’s fun. I’m no longer bored or frustrated with my pencil not moving. My brain keeps going a mile a minute. Maybe it senses that I’m almost fucking 30?

Much to do. Much to do.

So, I’ve had firefox, almost since it was released. But I rarely use it. I’m always clicking the “E” and opening Explore up. Dammit…

So today, it occurs to me, Favicons are NOT working right in IE at all. I put a favicon on the Yirmumah site, because my stats showed it was the most failed request. I opened my IE, no favicons. I open Firefox…. favicons.

Now, my beef with Firefox is simple. Im a caveman. So when I searched my normal crawl through the net, there were some sites that were WACKED looking in firefox. So I just skipped using it.

Even yirmumah.net was looking a little wacked, and the logo was going somewhere it shouldnt– but I tweaked the pages a teeny bit and uploaded them, and now they look great in Firefox. And also, when a site has an RSS feed, it shows up in the lower right corner, I click it, name it and it gives me all the headlines from that site if I dont want to go directly there.

Now my little tab list is all favicons, and no tezt. I love it. I can go to Websnark, check my blog, forums, etc… all in a few clicks. It’ll take a little getting use to. I still automatically go toward the blue “e"— and I have to keep it there… my wife and friends who use my computer will be whigged out if I change something and they cant surf all normal to them.

www.spreadfirefox.com

No. I don’t think cancer is funny at all. I got an e-mail today from an angry reader– well, not sure if he was really angry, but he wasnt happy. Here it is. But I will keep him anonymous.

“DJ,

I love your comics and read regularly. I was a little taken aback to see you’re joking about cancer now. And when I browsed your archive, I also noticed the Deniro cancer joke as well.

Mr. Anonymous.”

_______________

Ok. Time out here!!! Time out!!! Believe me… There are several times in the course of writing that I stop myself, or when Bob and I are writing together, and something is just too dark and funny, and I scrap it. Bob is up for ANYTHING usually, and I stop myself. I’m not mocking people with illnesses. In a way, I’d like to think I’m mocking the illnesses themselves sometimes. Or… I dont know.. it’s ok to smile. You know? If you can’t laugh at yourself, I don’t know, it got the best of you I guess.

Yirmumah is NOT for everyone. In fact, I cringe sometimes when my kids run in and they read a strip with foul language and I scramble to get them away from the Yirm-Computer. Or if I’m around some, well, people I know would hate my stuff, I’m always sure to NOT give them the web address.—- Anyway, I just want everyone to know– YEP, I’m human. And I know people have cancer and other diseases and they’re suffering. I’m not making fun of them. It’s not my intention to hurt anyone’s feelings with my work…. well, unless they REALLY diserve it, and EVEN THEN I usually withold attacks on people. If I have to start an apology list or people I may have offended with my work, I’d be here for a LONNNNG time. And as for “sinking my ship” , I dont think its a problem at all. If everyone stops reading because of one crude joke– shit! what can we do??

We’re fucked up bastards. That is for sure. But we do have hearts.

With all that said…. Tune in again tomorrow for more strips featuring buckets loads of cancer references!

I just kicked bob’s ass repeatedly in Xbox football. It’s an old 2k3 edition, but it’s pretty fun none the less. Fun top make him SUFFER!!!

BOOYAH!

You know, I’ve taught him how to log in here, but he’s an idiot and can’t seem to blog right. Someday he’ll figure it all out.

It’s past 1pm already, and I’m cursing myself. I got the kids off to school this morning, and then went back to bed with my wife and slept until 11-ish. Then groggily walked around my house, doing laundry, making coffee, feeding my dog—– my wife left and I won’t see her until 1-am again. –

On the bright side of things. Besides dealing with my 3 year old’s commandments, It’s time to draw comics! Weee!

2004 was a mixed bag for me. Good, bad and ugly. I’ll try to do this in categories or something.

MY MUSE- I’m a cursed man. It seems like hundreds of ideas pop into my head daily. Which then tortures me, because there arent enough hours in a day to do everything I’d like to be doing. Then also there are the cravings… almost like an addiction. For instance, I can wake up and REALLY REALLY miss drawing Zombies and then I start thinking about some zombie epic. A few days later, it might be superheroes. – So, I have kinda learned to control my muse and do a good bit of writing. If an idea REALLY catches my mind, I’ll write it down. Sometimes an idea takes over my mind and I HAVE to draw something. So I sketch, design. Things that may never see the light of day. I had a BIG urge to do a SuperHero weekly comic online a couple months back. I spent a day doing THIS. But I put it away. I’ve found ways to channel these things and satisfy some of them. I got rid of the super hero bug temporarily by playing City of Heroes with my kids. ——–

MY COMICS- I’ve been doing the Yirmumah comic all 2004 with PV comics. It’s changed formats and plans twice this year, once going from a 4 page monthly to a 3 time a week strip. I did that because a monthly update online was a complete waste of time. I was never happy with the update schedule of PV Comics in general, but it was all based on what individual creators could put in with their own time, so you couldnt yell at anyone about it. It just didnt work as a subscription model at all. People wanted more content, more often and they kept asking for print. So PV had to change. So Yirmumah went weekly and bigger to accomadate my personal life schedule. I had done a great deal of work blabbing about how great PV was, the content there– but not that much moved. Honestly, I feel like it’s a let down. We all worked so hard, but the plan wasn’t good enough for what the market really wants. — Add to that, Comixpress, which was born out of PV, took off like a rocket…. Logan became swamped with work on that– and pretty much, PV took a backseat for just about everyone originally involved. Things are starting to move again though. PV isnt going anywhere. Things just change is all.

Other than my Yirmumah comics. The other big project we did this year was LIONXOR. An extremely well written, and mediocrely drawn by me, comic book, kinda about 80s toy properties. But not really. Its hard for me to define Lionxor— –Anyways, we had low numbers with Diamond orders, and Geekpunk had to cancel the title. Actually, we all panicked and cancelled it too soon I think– it was the same night the book was cancelled that Logan called me to tell me about Comixpress, which could have probably saved Lionxor then. - Issue 3 was all done and penciled and I think halfway inked when we got the Diamond news. A real bummer— top that off with, our inker for issue 3 was incestently late, or saying he was going on vacation, or had family friends over, or something something. It really started to sound like a load of excuses. The book was suppossed to be done and inked in May. In July, 2 months later and still late, I got an e-mail from the inkers friend tellig me he had a double triple bi-pass on his heart. What is a jaded, cynical guy like me to do? It all sounded like bullshit, but I couldnt call him out on it. I wished him a speedy recovery. — I don’t think we got the last pages back until… October? Yep….. So anyway, Lionxor just felt cursed to me. Other things continued to plague it it seemed, but I’m through talking about it. It’s a GREAT fucking book, and 2 issues are now available HERE FOR SALE! – Issue 3 should be up there soon as well. The whole fiasco with the book just not getting done on many levels after I busted my ass on it, really took the wind out of my sails. But i learned another lesson. I should probably ONLY rely on myself. Especially when it comes to inking. —- And listen, Im not bad mouthing the inker guy. Im just laying out what happened from my viewpoint. It’s the truth. Im not saying he’s lying about having a heart attack. I mean, JESUS!!! A fucking heart attack. Go figure. But when I get e-mails from people asking me as a reference to him on the work, I don’t know what to say!? I don’t say anything. The only thing I could say is – “He didn’t meet deadlines, and he might be prone to going on vacations every two weeks or he might just drop over dead.” —- So, i’d rather not give the reference. You know??? I’m sorry if you’re reading this here, bro. Maybe you should be doing this as just a hobby and not work on deadlines. They CAN and WILL kill you. And it’s not worth it.

FAMILY- It was the best of times…. it was the worst of times. —– My core family has just been great. My boys are healthy, smart, mischievous little guys. Dillon(6) can’t stop drawing, and impresses everyone at his school by saying he’ll be a rockstar. Devin(7) is so sweet and kind… Dakota(3) is just a wild man, terrorizing my house in a Dennis the Menace sort of way. …… And there’s my wife. I’m so proud of her. She did it. She got through her college stuff, and now she’s a full fledged nurse. Im proud because she’s authentically happy. She found a job where she doesnt wake up and feel like she wants to call off. No more telemarketing, or “customer service” jobs…. she’s free. She’s a professional. I can feel her happiness every day now. And there is no better feeling. I wish I could give her so much more. But I want her to know, she has given me so much– and I appreciate it. Her success, and being professional and all that has also really made me question my own worth of what it is I do. Does it contribute or help anyone?? I dont know. Maybe. Maybe I’m giving someone an escape from their crappy problems for a minute. I don’t know.

And hopefully she doesnt kick me out to marry some hot, rich Doctor guy or something. I love you honey!

DEATH RIDES IN…- It’s sad to say, but the highlight of my year has been DEATH. So many deaths in my family. My cousins, Mary Beth, Patrick, Darrin, Uncle Roger and last week, My grandma Coffman. — Even with all the family death, the 2 deaths that effected me the most were of my good friend Dave and his sister Leslie. — It haunts me. July 5th– Maybe because I see my own mortality or something. It can all go away in a flash– and I have so much to do. Dave had so much to do. I had more in common with Dave than anyone I’ve ever known that has passed. So many things about Dave’s death haunt me. The double rainbow that day. Jeff Buckley was his hero, and he died the SAME way, in a river.– Also, it’s most likely my imagination, but I feel like Dave is around, communicating with us somehow. At his funeral, we all had a good laugh because the other friend Dave made a great music CD and “KICK OUT THE JAMS” by MC5 was on there. So its playing all through the funeral home… “KICK OUT THE JAMS, MOTHERFUCKERS!” —- we all thought Dave would get a good laugh about that being played through the funeral home and making the old people cringe. — I’d never heard the song until that day. ————- Then in October, the night Dave’s sister Leslie died, Pearl Jam played Toledo and since it’s my favorite band on earth, I was at SPX on a computer checking the setlist. They played KICK OUT THE JAMS. I mean, its a one in whatever chance they’d choose to cover this as a goof at their show. And when I found out Leslie died that night, it was eery.

A few days ago… I sat with this freebie calendar I get from Elderly music– I was plotting out a new daily comic… I look to the title of the month.. JANUARY, and under it “KICK OUT THE JAMS!” — It made me feel like Dave was watching me and encouraging me to continue doing what Im doing. Period. I’ve made a promise to myself that I tend to keep in 2005.

I hope 2005 is a year of life and love.

“You’ll shoot your eye out kid!” — Man, I swear, “A Christmas Story” might just be our generations version of “It’s a wonderful life.” — They’ve been playing it for 24 hours on TBS, over and over again, and it never gets old to me. There are little things I seem to catch each time I sit down and watch it. I could swear when the wicked witch comes up to him in the Santa line, he says “Leave me alone, I’m a Pagan.” — Maybe he didnt say that. But I swore I just heard him say that.

Xmas morning was great here. It’s a load of work when you’re a parent. But it’s still alot of fun watching the kids who still believe in Santa Claus.

My wife got me a talking “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. ” as well as a talking Yoda where you ask him questions and he answers in a Yoda fashion. She also bought me the Star Wars DVDs which I have been torn on buying, because, well.. because George Lucas is a whore. But Im happy I finally have them. And I’m not afraid to admit it. The new movies might completely suck, but the original trilogy is still amazing. I know another reason I like it so much– a good part of it was inspired by Jack Kirby’s works on Captain Victory. That’s another story. , and one not often enough told. — My wife also got me the PJ greatest hits cd, which I was torn on buying that too… and two awesome t-shirts. I didn’t want ANYTHING. But I appreciate all of it.

My kids are now digging the Incredibles game on Xbox, wow, that game looks pretty amazing. They’ve done a bang up job with this Incredibles series. I hope there are more movies, but Pixar left Disney, so will they suck without Pixar?? Who knows.

Ok. Back to burning garbage and other family stuff. I still have a strip to draw even though my wife tells me I should take a day off.

Troubled.

I feel very troubled today. Well, not until about half an hour ago on the phone with my dad. I guess the funeral for my Grandma is tonight at 6, or the family viewing. Service on Thursday. I just have to go to this even though I dread the things. I consider myself an ambassador of my side of the messed up family, even though Im distant and private, I will show up. It will mean a lot to the living I suppose. Thats what they say.

Im troubled though, because my father asks “Your grandma died on the 20th, you know who was born on the 20th don’t you?” And I said no. – My late mother. I didnt even remember her birthday. Thats about how distant I was with her. I wondered some times if she remembered mine. Sure, that’s sad to some, but it’s just how it was for me. Like wearing glasses or something– it’s just natural. Anyway– not only was that day her birthday, but it was the day I awoke from being haunted by people who are long gone in my dreams, including her.

I don’t know what that means at all. Probably my overactive imagination. The feeling I have is Sad and Troubled though. Like some sort of sad ripple through the cosmos. I wonder if “regret” is some energy that is beyond space and time?

That is all.