"I Sighed A Million Sighs, I Told A Million Lies To Myself"

Lots of random ground to cover. Let's see how it goes.

Ran in another race with Dad this morning. Unlike the Thanksgiving Day race, this one was only 5K (a little over three miles), which is about what I run every day anyway. Which is why I was so annoyed with myself for not doing well in it. I should have been able to finish the thing in under 30 minutes. I think we pulled a 33 1/2 minute time, and then I threw up. Literally. I've only thrown up once in the pastabout six years before today. That time was at Pike's Peak, when altitude sickness played merry hell on my body.

Anyway, the point is, I should not have struggled with a race this short. But I did. I think it was a combination of things. First, we were running faster than I have been of late. I've been managing a terrible mile time, and I know it. Second, it was early in the morning. I hate morning runs. I never do well in them, regardless of the distance. My legs just can't get loosened up; they stay tight and uncooperative. Third, it was pretty damn cold, which really affected me at first because it made it tough to breath when I was still able to run at a reasonable pace. My first two kilometers were actually right on pace--six minutes apiece--but the next one was more like eight and a half minutes.

Long story short, I struggled through a three mile run that I should have done without breathing hard. Instead, I not only was breathing hard, but having to stop and walk, having to puke at the end, and now my legs hurt like hell. All I can say is that I really need to shape back up. I wouldn't have any problem with distance or the speed at which we needed to run if I were in better shape, and that's really all there is to it. The other things--the earliness of the run, the pace, the cold--would have had negligible impact if I were in better shape. Hopefully Clif can get me back on track during Christmas Break.

I'm not particularly happy with the way my rant yesterday turned out. I was sorta distracted when I wrote it, and only worked on it in bits and pieces. I'll try re-writing it in the next few days, when I get the chance.

I've noticed that my two Wal-Mart bookshelves are sagging a bit. Granted, they're both completely full of history books. I guess particle board just can't handle the weight of history.

I appear to have gotten my friend Dav hooked on webcomics. I'd feel bad about it if I weren't cackling with glee. See, I'm of the impression that the only thing standing between humanity and total humorlessness in sequential art is the webcomic. We are the last bastion of humor in a world of comic strips which have decided they'd rather play it safe with jokes that are so watered down that they appeal to the lowest common denominator but no longer make us laugh. This, my friends, is a sad state. The print comic seems to be dying. They are printed smaller and smaller, meaning comic artists have less space to work with. People get offended if any view other than that of the conservative WASP of middle America is expressed in a comic. When was the last time a comic you saw in the newspaper made you genuinely laugh out loud? Back when Calvin and Hobbes and the Far Side were in print, wasn't it?

Webcomics are great, though, because they do not have the restrictions which traditional print comics have on them. If your work offends someone in a webcomic, chances are, they can just stop reading the thing. It's not like they paid money to read it, usually (there are exceptions, but I don't like paying money for webcomics, because I get the feeling that no one would pay money to read mine). Webcomics have a huge amount of space to play with, and can utilize a full-page format if so desired. Plus, we have the advantage of archives--you can go back and read the old comics without having to purchase a book, though more and more webcomics are printing and publishing their work in book collections now because they can include all sorts of nifty extras with it (I know Megatokyo, Sinfest, Sluggy Freelance, and many others all have books collecting past strips available, though said strips are also still available in the website archives). In short, webcomics are superior to print comics. Well, the good webcomics are. There's also a lot of crap out there, since anyone can slap together a website and publish their work, regardless of its quality (and with free hosting sites such as Keenspace out there allowing anyone and everyone a place for their "work," it's sometimes difficult to sift through the crap to find the gems). But despite the glut of webcomics, it's still possible to find a good number which are excellent. My favorites include:

Penny Arcade: the first webcomic I started reading, and still one of my favorites
College Roomies From Hell!!!!: the best college comic out there, period
It's Walky!: epic Sci-Fi adventure, and funny to boot
Something Positive: disturbingly funny, and so very, very wrong. Not for those who are easily offended
Count Your Sheep: a Keenspace comic that has the whimsy of Calvin and Hobbes and one of the cutest premises I've ever seen
Ignorance Deserves Death: the title says it all. Another comic for mature audiences only. Really
Shaw Island: this guy has an amazing thing for dialogue. And talking hamsters. Also does American Animetion, which is also really cool
Life of Riley: it features a succubus. It features the vampire son of Al Gore. It features an artist named Dan who gains power by learning how to do math
8-Bit Theatre: the only sprite comic I truly love
The Jaded: a gritty tale of a mercenary group based out of London. Ping rocks your socks
Applegeeks: brilliantly written and drawn, and punctual. Just wish it updated more than once a week...
Blade Kitten: just...wow. This guy's art rocks.
Mac Hall: another brilliantly drawn and written comic. It never fails to make me laugh out loud. If only it updated consistantly
Mixed Myth: a wonderfully whimsical look at mythology, fantasy, and the conventions thereof
Dim Bulb Comics: simply the best comics on the internet. Period ;-)

There are others that I read that I didn't list here, not because I don't like them, but because I read something like sixty different webcomics, and if I listed them all, we'd be here all day. There are some big ones on the list, such as Penny Arcade and Mac Hall and 8-Bit Theatre, but most of these you probably haven't heard of (unless you're like me or James). There was a point to that--I wanted to introduce some of the lesser-known comics that're out there so they could get some more notice. They deserve it, let me tell you.

Besides, maybe karma will work for me, and if I send readers to other comics, more readers will come my way. It's worth a shot.

Oh, and never shop at Wal-Mart on a Saturday afternoon between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's just...not worth it. At all.

~chaos cricket

Van Morrison, "I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative)"