Date:	2004-06-09 21:34
Subject:	And Then...
Security:	Public
Mood:	numb

I'm working too hard for too little pay. I have a job and should be damn glad to have one, and I am. I'm AVERAGE! AAAAAHHH!

I want to draw more, but I don't want to. What the hell is up with that.

Dammit, it STILL isn't legal. Get. On. With. It.

If you work too mush and don't get enough sleep or fun, it's almost like being hit on the head with a socket wrench, only it hurts a little more.

The brain monkeys are tickling me again. I'd scratch them, but I can't reach them.

Reagan finally passed away. That had to suck having Alzheimer's, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Guy did have one hell of a life.

Now we have to sit back and watch endless news coverage featuring comments of respect and love by people who hated his guts when he was in office. The the rewriting of history begin!

Hopefully, some of them showed this respect when he was alive and could remember who they were. I remember when they announced he had the disease, abnd everyone had to shut up with the jokes about his forgetfulness.

I missed him when he left office for one really good reason: he was fun to caricature!

Date:	2004-06-06 00:31
Subject:	And We're Back!
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired

Miss me? Helloooooooooooo? Ah, yes well, I talk to myself often anyway, so let's get started:

Capsule review of movies seen lately:

Smokey and the Bandit - long time, and how I missed you. Much better than on tv.

Club Dread - fucking unfunny stinker. Screw the Lizard crew, I won't be handing them any more dough.

Scary Movie 3 - Nice little time waster. Give the Zucker's their own studio.

The Fog Of War - Actually left me wanting more. A little too much on the artsy-fartsy side, but I could use more information from those who were actually involved in history making.

American Psycho - Enjoyable, but I didn't quite get it. Not the classic everyone says it is. WAY too many ham-fisted 80s references (Hewey Lewis, Phil Collins - yes I GET IT)

Lord Of The Rings trilogy - watched them all in a row. Took three days. Made my asseses sore, Precious. What about second breakfast?


I'm now working, paying off debts, and saving to start my own business up.

I'm missing one thing which I can never seem to get any help in getting. How is it that my friends are all so flakey? I never ask anyone to get me anything uless they are already going to get it for themselves, and they still can't seem to do it. You don't know what I mean do you?

I'm actually cartooning! Can you dig it?

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Date:	2004-04-18 00:14
Subject:	What I Did On My Bummer Vacation
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative
Music:	Monster Magnet

I haven't written in a while. I'm just dead tired. I still like my new job, but it's a lot of pressure and responsibility. But now I'm starting to settle in and I can get to putting my life back together. Slow and steady does it.

I'm working on a couple of freelance gigs, and I discovered that I like to do it, even if I can only spend an hour or so a day on them. I found that I can make sketches and work some things out during my half hour lunch and think about it on the drive home from work, to save time.

On top of this I just shot off my mouth at a certain comic message board about doing a group published zine. I always wanted to do one in the punk zine days but couldn't get the creative people together. I would like it to be comics and drawings, but I'd welcome prose too. My only stipulation would be that whatever is contributed is funny, cuz I dig funny.

If I can do it now then I will find the time to get it done. Even if I don't really know much about how to do it. The way I am though, if enough people said they'd do it, I'd feel like I couldn't let them down, and I would get it done up nice and proper no matter what.

Hopefully I can reintroduce inebriation into my lifestyle by then.

Date:	2004-04-05 17:12
Subject:	Logo A-Gogo
Security:	Public
Mood:	busy
Music:	Those guys with the guitars...

So I'm getting better at work and it's not bad at all.

Off time is spent paying the backlog of bills and freelancing making logos and websites for bands. De money comes before de funny, so who knows when I'll be back up here with the stuff?

Ah, shouldn't be too long, the Photoshop calls and I must answer.

Date:	2004-04-02 20:14
Subject:	Why I Hate The Local News Vol. 12
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

A commercial spot for ABC local news opened with a newscaster saying the following line:

"Raising our children is our most important job as parents."

Really, he said it.

Date:	2004-04-01 16:54
Subject:	And So On
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired
Music:	Van Hagar

I've been so busy and tired this week, but I figured I should post something. Here it is. You're welcome.

Date:	2004-03-25 16:44
Subject:	Laser Tag
Security:	Public
Mood:	chipper
Music:	70s crap

I'm slowly learning this job. Some stress and pressure, but it's gonna be okay soon I hope.

Lots to learn and do, but I hope this job will last a long while and I can get on with my life. So far my master plan is going exactly according to my master plan.

One thing I noticed is that if you cut acrylic with lasers all day and breathe the fumes, it has no real affect on your banana flowerpot.

Date:	2004-03-20 21:59
Subject:	Takin' What Their Giving...
Security:	Public
Mood:	pensive
Music:	Oasis B sides

Got the friggin' job. Walked in there and bullshitted like some kind of really good bullshitting thing.

At the beginning of the interview, the Gen. Manager and Department Manager said they weren't hiring anyone right now, but they like to talk to the person when they get an interesting resume. I sank in my haid just then, because I though "Oh goody, I get to go back to the blister-infested warehouse work for 5 months while you jokers make up your minds." One and a half hours later, they said "We never ask people at the end of the interview if they can start Monday, but can you start Monday?"

I must have said something right. Maybe living with my Mom won't be that big of a handycap if it turns out I'm that good at bullshitting, I'm gonna get so laid.

Anyways, it's at a sign shop, cutting plastic for signs using laser cutting tables in designs from vector files in Illustrator and Corel on computer. Sweet. Nice people, small (section of a larger) company, and the pay is okay, could be better. Also, most of the people there have been with the company for 15-20 years, which is a good sign in addition to being trained for something I can take with me should I decide to move on in the future. If they do sign me in, I'll get a dollar raise, they said.

I have 90 days to make good and they'll hire me on permanently. If I somehow screw this up, I promise you I will step out in front of a moving semi. I'm not kidding. I'm already worried about telling them I have a touch of red-green colorblindness the first time they ask me to do a color separation. Should I just try to bullshit my way through that too? Pantone colors are number coded... stress stress stress and release.

The only suckitude I can find with this they start the day at 7am. This job is across town, so in rush hour traffic it's about an hour (again!), and I'll need two hours to wake up and get my shit together, so we're talking a 9pm bedtime and a 4am wakeup. Oy. No more 2am blog posts for me. Getting up before the sun is for small grub-eating primates, it's so depressing. Maybe I can hedge that by a half hour here and there, because I want to keep working out, and I need my brain to function so I may nned to get 8 hours sleep. Work, eat, sleep.

I'm still going to write stuff here but there's still going to be no more than sporatic artwork, because all of my efforts will be bent towards making this work out. Mom's a big fucking help - she's already talking about me paying up my back rent. Months worth of it. Sheesh, let me get a fucking paycheck first, my bills just doubled up as it is.

By the way I wanted to mention something. When I sign out apps and paperwork for a job, there's always something at the bottom that says "employee can be terminated at any time without notice or cause". WTF is up with that? How can anyone buy a house or raise kids knowing they could become jobless at any given moment. Something is very wrong with that.

I lost another 4 pounds. I am through screwing around man.

Off I go to brush up on Illustrator and start building up an immunity to the smell of burning vinyl...

"They call me the workin' man,
I guess that's what I am."

Date:	2004-03-18 02:18
Subject:	Salt Mines
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired
Music:	quiet, i'm sleeping

I have to wait until Friday for my job interview, so the lady at the job placement service called and said how would I like to work for two days and make a few dollars? I said okay (because I have to), and she said I would be working at a healthfood store chain main warehouse packing bottles of pills. Okey doke, who cares what it pays, it's something to do.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday there. I packed pill bottles for a total of 30 minutes. The rest of the time, I loaded trucks, hauled huge plastic totes around, dumped spoiled product, assembled boxes, and picked up old boxes and compacted them. My feet hurt more than they ever have in recent memory, and I have huge blisters on them. Ow ow ow. I came home Wednesday, ate dinner, and fell asleep for 7 hours. I'm sunbaked and dehydrated.

I hated it so much, I tried to get out of going the second day, but I said I would do it, so I went back in with sore feet, and was walking like an 85 year old man on nails by day's end. The people I worked for asked me if I would come in for another day! I said I couldn't because I had another engagement (I didn't mention this engagement only involved NOT coming in another day), and they could call my service and get someone else in to help them for the rest of the week.

It was a lot harder than I was told it would be, and I don't even know how much I got paid for it. My feet are so fucked up now. I don't think it's age since I was pleased to find that after I lifted heavy boxes most of the day and loaded trucks my back and arms don't hurt at all. I'm fine everywhere but my feet. That can't be age, I must just have bad feet. Now I have to consider this when looking for a job, that I can't be on my feet for 8 hours a day. Geez I'm friggin' handicapped. The arch supports didn't help much, and since they cover the heel area they may have sent my weight to the front because that's where the blisters are. I don't get it, I used to be able to walk for miles at a time no problem. I can't be that fat.

This does qualify as another point for the job placement service, since my rep proved she was looking to get me work by calling with whatever offer I could do. I know she just needed a body to fill in for those days, but it's still much more effort than anyone else has made for me yet.

Anyway, I'm tired and I'm not doing jack Thursday except playing Legos with my niece. Friday is the interview with the sign shop. I had better get this because I'm out of money again. And when I am hired, they'd better let me sit down on the job.

Date:	2004-03-14 22:34
Subject:	I Is What I Ate
Security:	Public
Mood:	pleased
Music:	Anthrax

You know those pants I told you I didn't fit into? I do now. Low carb diet and daily exercise, lost 4 pounds. The secret is that you have to stop enjoying what you eat. If you don't care much for it, you won't eat too much of it. Everyone in my family agrees, if you buy a box of cookies, you will eat a box of cookies. I laugh at the serving size on the box, it should always say 1.

Just as in all things I talk about, the Atkins people are on the right track but they don't have the whole story. I don't either, but I do know a few things they don't tell you. One important thing you need to remember: if you predominantly eat protein, you can put a strain on you kidneys. Your body requires lots of water for many reasons, one of them being to break down nutrients. Proteins take more water than carbohydrates or fats to break down. Carbohydrates soak up water, and if you don't eat enough of them, you can't retain the water you need to break down all that meat, and you get dehydrated and your kidney work harder to strain your blood. Even if you drink a lot, you don't hold on to it.

I learned that stuff after reading everything I could get my hands on for 16 years about health and fitness. The Atkins folks don't seem to be telling people about it, so when you hear that the doctors don't know what the long-term affects of low-carb dieting are doing to the body, you may hear about what I told you.

What they are right about is that we need far less carbohydrates than we eat. It's hard to go low carb when you realize most of the foods we eat are carbs. I read an opinion by a doctor about why the low carb diets seemed to work so well, and I agree with him. He said that since most of what we eat is carbs, if you cut down on the carbs you cut down on total calorie intake and lose weight, which is what the doctors have been saying for about 50 years now anyway.

The only problem I see is this: carbs are gooooooood! I'll still have a box of cookies, I'll just have them once in a while instead of every other day.

So why is it so hard to stick to Atkins? You do need plenty of carbs. What's working for me so far is something I got from some other doctors who were interviewed for the new Atkins-bashing thing that's all the rage now. These guys suggested eating low-glycemic carbs. White bread and tortillias and cake, they all have sugar in them. I don't eat regular bread, but this whole week I have had a couple of turkey wraps in wheat tortillias and lots of brown rice every day. I didn't pig out, but I didn't starve myself either, and so far it's working.

Also, working out 6 days a week. And you have to do aerobics, there's no way around it.

So you see, jumping on the latest trend is just what I've been saying it is since the 5th grade: it's FUCKING STUPID. Always do your own research and listen to all sides of an argument, even if they seem strange to you.

It's one to grow on!

Date:	2004-03-12 23:13
Subject:	Hurry Up And Wait
Security:	Public
Mood:	anxious
Music:	Oasis

• Today I visited the comic shop to see if they looked over my list yet. They didn't. They said they had 4 other collections to look over, and it would be at least another week before they could look at mine, then they would need to see the books to decide. So much for my hours of logging. If you have cash and you want a copy of the list, write me and I'll send you the Excel file. If they don't get what you picked, oh well. I needs dough now, not later.



• I also sold a bunch of my CDs to a record exchange store out here called Zia. They have 5 locations, which was good because I went to two places and one bought half of my stuff, and the other nearly the other half. They just left me with a speed metal bootleg, a really crappy Steve Martin cd, and my double set of Best of the Grateful Dead. I tried to sell this last to them years ago and they didn't want it then either. Neither of us likes the Dead all that much it seems. I originally bought it from them, too. Anyway, they paid about 3 bucks a piece, so I have a half tank of gas and some food. Late on two bills now and the clock is ticking however...
  
  I'm really going to miss some of those CDs. Good thing I ripped mp3s beforehand!
  



• Did I tell you that the job place I'm with told me that the hiring manager for the job I'm applying for won't be in until Monday? Funny, they told me that last Thursday, so I though it meant this past Monday. I just want to get it man! Working in a sign shop is much better than what I was applying for. Sure, it pays 4 bucks an hour less than what I was getting in my last full timer, and it's still a drive across town, but it IS "art" related, and not hauling shit around on my back. Plus if I can get hired on permanently and stay with them for a few years, THIS TIME I'll have experience that would carry over into another job. There has to be at least 50 sign shops in the city, maybe more. Finally my years of work and experience would give me a better chance to survive, and not be wasted on working in jobs that have one or two businesses in the city that need those skills.
  
  I can think of lots of things worse than working in Illustrator making signs all day. Oh man, just give me this... then I can go ahead with the plans of socking away the money to go towards getting my Bachelor's in Graphic Art. Please don't ruin it for me by telling me I still won't get a job in that field afterward. Getting that degree will be the best acheivement I've managed. In any case, working will make me feel normal again, and I can get back to producing some art, including some self-publishing.
  
  I know this sounds out of character for me, but here's to being normal!

Date:	2004-03-11 12:48
Subject:	Important Blog Announcement
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

Attention Stephen B. and Rich K. (and all readers)

You will have to register with Livejournal to continue commenting on this website. It's free and easy to do, and you don't have to update a journal if you don't want to, just become a member.

I have had need to put up the bugscreen to keep out the scumbugs, and unfortunately this includes anonymous commentors. Only registered users of Livejournal may comment on this blog from now on.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, but it was necessary. I regret that persons of exceptional behavior such as yourselves must be inconvenienced by the mentally undeveloped, but such is life. I hope you will take my advice and register so that I can continue to look forward to your communications on this blog.

I thank you,

G

That is all.

Date:	2004-03-08 22:02
Subject:	Bits
Security:	Public
Mood:	awake
Music:	Not that Beck, the old angry one

• Taking a little break from the funnies for another week or two. Have to concentrate on getting employed. I will get back to it soon I promise.



• I'm tired of the gay marriage issue. Nobody wants to discuss what it REALLY represents, which is acceptance of gays by general society, not ceremonies or laws or pieces of paper.
  
  It isn't the same as blacks not being allowed to use certain water fountains, and alternative terminology doesn't automatically imply "separate but equal". Rosie O'Donnell will do anything to get in the news because she suffers from numerous mental disorders and craves attention. Almost all of the commentary I hear is from people who don't have an in-depth understanding of civil law, let alone societies.
  
  It's not a yes or no question. Anyone who asks me a yes or no question gets fucked with. A huge number of people who vote aren't qualified to make those decisions. I like to hear very well educated opinionated assholes rather than sheep who quote MSNBC.
  
  Just another issue I'll be glad to comment on futher with anyone that grows the hell up. I will say that I like the idea of screwing with the government and American social practices on a regular basis, so bravo for all those who do.



• It hailed in Arizona this weekend. You should see how it freaks out the locals. "Aaaaah! Big ice fall from sky! Cover vehicle! We anger SUV gods! Put on all news stations constantly for days!



• Remember what I said about the losers on American Idol coming back anyway? Now they don't even wait for the contest to be over - they bring most of them back to continue in the contest after wasting a couple of hours on elimination. WHERE. IS. THE. COMPETITION?



• I wonder why every single president always claims their most important policies will become active or show progress at a time beyond their four year terms. Hmm hmm hmm, yes I wonder. Hmmmmmmmmm.



• I wonder why people keep voting for yet another elitist for the same reasons as the last guy they voted in, and forget that he didn't do most of them either. I'd be too embarrassed to act publicly passionate about something so nebulous, but that's just me, and I'm all weird. Hmmmm hm hm hm.



• There are a bunch of birds outside my window lately that sing at night. Loudly. For hours. Until after 2 am. I am baffled.



• When the money starts coming in, I'm going to buy mini comics. I only have one, and I don't like it, so I just tossed it. I won't toss it if I chose it and paid for it.
  
  For many years I used to be sort of against minicomics. I thought they destroyed the artists work by making it look cheap. Sometimes shoddiness isn't punk, it's just shoddy. However, I've turned around on that in recent years, provided your work isn't shoddy to begin with, 'cuz then even marble isn't going to make it look good. Silkscreening each cover by hand is not shoddy, it's way cool.
  
  Everybody should do one minicomic in their lives.

Date:	2004-03-05 13:28
Subject:	Absurdvations
Security:	Public
Mood:	content

Boy, here's a doozy -

• 'Kay, so I go to the post office to mail my package to Canada. Small line, I get helped in 5 minutes, pretty cool for the house that Clavin built. I remember my brother says I need to get the special tag to cross the border, and the nice man at the register hands me the slip to fill out. This slip consists of areas to list what I'm mailing, my address, and the address of the recipient. Simple enough. Then I see that in two areas where I need to sign my name is text to this effect: I hearby state that I am not mailing any harmful or dangerous materials. Isn't that a riot? So in three years, our government has learned to protect us and the citizens of Canada from terrorist acts through the mail by getting us to sign a promisory note. No I.D. check - I could have put down any name or address. It wouldn't take any more effort than a white lie. Habib: "Yes, I stated that the package was not harmful or dangerous and it was true. When the package of anthrax powder was detonated, not one member of my terrorist organization was hurt in any way!"
  ( Read more... )