I'm back folks. Megacon was an absolute blast. I finally got to meet a lot of my Nightgig breatheren and sisteren. Warren came with us and helped out at the table. I was next to Karl the whole time which was awesome. We ended up perverting each other's art quite a bit which is always a good thing. He also gave me some very good tips on ways to speed up the page making process for EA which I'll have to try and remember. So much happened I don't know how much detail I can go into since it's all so fresh. The only thing I can say for certain is that bluecanarykit is officially the coolest person in the world. That is all.

Also, I've uploaded the first batch of MegaCon photos up on my flickr page. Drop in and take a look.

I just filled four lawn bags full of crap from my room. Most of it wasn't my stuff though. My mom saved everything. EVERYTHING. I found newpaper ads from 1982. There were puzzles my sister bought me before she moved to Utah in '83. Books about being a Jehovah's Witness (don't ask) and any number of other things I can't remember. There comes a point where sentimentality is bull crap and we've passed that point long ago. I now have three empty draws and some floor space in my closet. This is good because I need more room in my, well, room. The bad thing is that Tuesday I'll be doing this again. Why? There is STILL more stuff. Gah.

Okay, now that I'm finally done reading Bone for the day I figured I'd write a bit since I have some time before work. Here's some general updates about life and the Sweatshop.

I've started reading Discworld again. I bought "The Last Continent" and decided to start from the beginning and read some of my favorites. Something about the series always makes me feel good about the world in general. Even Death. I've also decided to run the Discworld GURPS game for some friends. Mike has decided not to participate. Curses. If anyone local would like to be a fourth member of the playing group drop me a line. I've got three confirmed and we can discuss details.
I recently got a Doctor Who sonic screwdriver. I've been resisting every urge to take it with me. I have a feeling it isn't going to help me meet women.
I have a couple of days off coming up. First time in a while I've had two days off in a row, let alone in a week! I'll be off Sunday and Monday. Sunday I'll be working on the new EA cover (I hope) and Monday afternoon I may try and get out of the house unless various tasks jump on me.
For Christmas I got Super Mario Galaxy from Mike. It seems like a fun game. LIES! I've been stuck on the first few levels since the day after Christmas and just yesterday I gave up on it for now. It's too damned difficult to control and the camera is getting on my nerves badly. I played for two hours trying to get through one damned jumping puzzle and frankly it can take a flying leap itself right now.
That's about it for now. More later.

So here I sit freezing my butt off. It's 5:20 and I'm all ready cold. I have to go out tonight and by something else for my secret Santa this year since Paul made a really good suggestion.
Other than that I went to Rose's today. I don't think I'm going back for a while. It sucks on my soul and a couple of people up there don't seem terribly happy to see me coming. That being said, oh well.
Mostly today I've worked on Sweatshop Studios related stuff. I've got a preliminary site redesign going that might work depending on how comicpress handles it. I'm really excited about that, by the way. madscott will be changing my site over to Comicpress at some point. I feel bad sometimes having to rely on others to do my site work now but the technology and tools have moved faaaaar beyond my meager html skills. I still have trouble with frames to be honest.
I finished tomorrow's page of Errant Apprentice today. I'm happy with the backgrounds for the most part, but I'm REALLY happy about how Father Takewell is turning out as a character. Once the background fell into place he really came together.
The only other thing I need to try to do is get together with realmwalker1 at some point. Hopefully before Christmas. I'll have to see when my days off are next week though. Okay, enough from me. More later.

Funny I should call this update by this name. Back when Barry ran a web page the post popular section was the Random Thoughts page that had quotes from him and us, his friends. It’s funny because Barry plays a bit of a role in some of these thoughts.

Last weekend Barry and Jessica (Paul’s girlfriend) gave me tips and ideas about my personal style. Afterwards they felt bad about it, but there was no real need to. It gave me some stuff to think about. I was actually flattered that someone was putting that much thought into my look and my prospects of getting a girlfriend or what have you. I tried to find a stylist today just for kicks to get my hair done a bit differently. The problem was they all smelt of beer and liquor. I finally found a decent barber and got my hair cut. That was at Northpark Mall. I walked around after that just looking and soaking in the humanity. It don’t get to do that much and I did enjoy it for the most part. I watched the booth girls make choices of who to hawk their moisturizers to. Mostly attractive people who looked like they’d buy into it with vanity. Imagine my shock to be singled out by them. Always the prettiest of them too! I don’t want to sound vain, but really I’m still getting used to the idea that I’m not a CHUD.

I went to Rose’s as well. I needed a new strand of Christmas lights. I saw Greg, I saw the other stock guys. I spoke with some people. I’m glad I came in there. I realize now just how glad I am to be gone. The place was sheer chaos. It was a wreck and no one was doing anything to help customers. It’s just one of those moments where you realize just what kind of impact you had on a place when you leave and come back and you see it all gone. I was a good manager after all. I just couldn’t handle the stress.

So I need to get back on the EA book. I was making progress but working in retail, even shoes, during the holidays is a pain. I don’t have quite as much time as I’d like. I also haven’t been sleeping enough so I’ve got this whole “zombie” thinkg kickin’.

Well, the rest of the plans for today consist of Warren coming over after he gets off work and we’ll do something. I still need to call the store and see when I work tomorrow. I’m sure I work Sunday, but I’ll get my hours for that on Saturday.

That’s about it for now. Hopefully I’ll feel awake enough to update again soon instead of waiting this long again.

Been a while. My promotion went through and my time has been eaten away by the job. This has been my first weekend off in quite some time so I've spent a lot of it lying around. Last night I did got to Fenian's to see SPOT and Albert play with Scott, Aimee, Mike, and Barry. Paul and Lydia did eventually show up and Paul and I sent text messages back and forth for a bit from across the table. Silliness, I know.
This week has been a further adjustment week. I'm settling into the manager thing well, but I'm worried about the cost on my soul as it were. The pay is good, but when do I spend it? Also, I'm trying to find a way to deal with the stress and so far it isn't working well. I've had trouble sleeping and had quite a few headaches. I see Byron next Friday (which is my next day off) so I'll have plenty to delve into there.
I have an urge to write but I don't have anything specific in my. I know I'd like to write some short horror stories but I don't know about what.

I'm tired of rain. It seems like it's been raining for weeks and my yard is full of mushrooms. I hate the damned things. I don't know why, but I do. I hate the look of them, I hate their sheer numbers and I hate them being in my yard.

That's it. I'm taking a nap.