Sweet, Sweet High-Speed Internet Access

Here's an update on my current Arkansian activities...

Ended up not leaving Shawnee until Friday, 'cause Amanda Erisman is better at planning and thinking things over than I am. I'm currently at Heather's parents' house, printing up programs for her wedding tomorrow. 25 or so done, 125 or so to go. It may be a bit of a long night.

It's good seeing my friends and being around them. I'm finally going to be able to get a school notebook back that I loned to a friend of mine three or four years ago. This is good, since they are notes from my Early Modern European History class.

Speaking of history, I finally got an email from my advisor today, and things look favorable. He said there are still some revisions which need to be made, but they're "mostly cosmetic" (direct quote). This makes me quite happy. What doesn't make me happy is that he's out of town until August 16th. Argh. Looks like I'll still be a freakin' Master's student in the Fall...which is annoying, since it was probably only my own laziness which prevented me from completing this on time...that, and my advisor losing my email address and the copy of the Thesis I emailed to him. Ah well.

Anyway, I need to fold more wedding programs. More reports as they become available and I have internet access. Oh, and while I remember--I had a guest comic up over at Digital War. Go lookie. I rather liked it, and War went and linked us 'cause of it.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Old 97's, "The Streets of Where I'm From"

"These Be Seven Curses On The Judge So Cruel"

It's Thursday night, and I'm still in Shawnee, OK.  My plans have changed just a wee bit, but I think it's for the better.  See, originally I was going to go visit my friend Amanda E. today.  But she pointed out that her current location (northern Arkansas) is a hella long drive from here, and a hella long drive to El Dorado, AR, where I need to be tomorrow afternoon for the wedding rehersal.  So Amanda and I are just going to get together sometime next week instead, when she's done with work and I don't have a dozen different places to be and times to be there.  All I can say is that it's a good thing someone out there can plan and think ahead, 'cause I know I sure as hell can't.

So anyway, I'll leave early tomorrow morning for El Dorado, where we have rehersals and dinners and weddings to attend to in the next couple of days.  Got my sleeping arrangements taken care of the majority of the trip (Heather said I could crash at her folks' place Friday and Saturday nights, and Amanda W. said she has a couch I'm more than welcome to crash on for as long as I need).  Now I just have to make the long drives and all that.  At least I won't be having to sleep in the car (like I originally thought I might).

Also found out another friend of mine is engaged to be married this October, Miss Sarah Rosenberg.  She's also apparently back in AR after having finished up her Master's degree in Massachusetts (yeah, some people actually manage to complete theirs on time).

Got to talk with Clif this evening.  He's not really wanting to leave Colorado, from the sound of it.  Not that I can really blame him, mind you--he's spending all his time doing something he loves in an absolutely gorgeous environment.  I'd kill to be in his place.  Sounds like he also doesn't want anything to do with graduate school.  Apparently my experience has made him a little shy of that, and he says he's also just flat-out tired of school.  He's ready to do something else for awhile, though what he doesn't know quite yet.

So I'm sitting here using my dad's laptop to use the internet.  I'd forgotten there are a few things I dislike when dealing with computers--namely, laptop keyboads (I hate them), dial-up, and not having my music collection readily accessible with the click of a button.  On the positive side, he does have an optical mouse hooked up to the machine, and the laptop itself is fairly top of the line, so the slowdown from using dial-up isn't as bad as it could be.  The real annoying thing is that after tonight, I won't have any access for a few days.  At least the comics seem to be updating as they ought to.  Now if only my school email would load.  Stupid dial-up.

Well, time for bed.  Early morning and a long drive ahead of me tomorrow.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Bob Dylan, "Hard Times in New York Town"

"Take Your Straight Line For A Curve"

Just finished up "Peas," the short story I wrote for Adam and Monica for their (I think aborted) effort to create a b-film horror flick about a bag of mushy peas gone very, very bad.  You can find it over at the Live Journal in its entirety.  I think the ending came out pretty well, and I'm pleased with the way the story worked out overall.

On deck for the next short story is one of any half dozen I've got started all over the place.  I probably ought to work on that short story thing I'm doing for Vapor Lock (a story idea Adam had that he tossed my way and which I'm trying to adapt as a short story featuring his characters).  Or I might work on the new Steven Gloryhound story I started the other day that was moving along well.  Or maybe the story I started about the kid who finds the magical sword and goes off on an adventure, whether he wanted to or not.  Or I'd started a second "Everyman" story (the first one is still one of my favorite stories.  I'll probably post it at the LJ next).  Maybe something featuring my vampire hunter, Maxwell Shlumpf.  I dunno--there are so many possibilities.

Anyway, I still have to pack when I get home from work at 5.00.  That could make getting home in time for dinner tonight a toughie.  We'll just have to see how that goes.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Matchbox 20, "You Won't be Mine"

"Do You Think You Can Cope?"

So I was purusing the Webcomic List this morning before work, and I noticed that they've classified Dim Bulb now.  See, each comic is lumped into a genre or style, depending on subject matter and art style for the most case.

Now, of all the genres and groupings available, Dim Bulb somehow got put in Manga.  While I have nothing against manga (Japanese comic books)--in fact, I quite like it--Dim Bulb is not manga.  While both Adam and I have manga influences in our art, I follow a decidedly non-manga format (actually, I use a traditional American comic strip format--horizontal panels).  Adam tends to follow a more traditional American comic book style and format, even in Troubled Times, the only comic that could realy even be considered halfway manga.

I'm not really annoyed with the classification per se, but it strikes me as inaccurate.  Ev agrees with me--he thinks we're better defined as Quirky.  Anyway, I'll probably email the guy who runs the list sometime today and talk to him about it.  But Ev did have an interesting point when I discussed this with him--at least on the Internet, it seems anymore that a comic with any sort of action in it is automatically classified as "manga."  Of course, there is the whole chibi element that Adam kept throwing in for several pages in Troubled Times, but that's only one comic of the three on the site, and it's the one that's updated the least.  Ah well--like I said, I'll contact the list guy later today and see what I can do.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Matchbox 20, "Mad Season"

"The Highway Is Alive Tonight"

Well, anticipation runs high on my part for the trip to Arkansas this week.  I'm really ready to go and see all my friends.  It's been much too long since the last time we all got to visit, and I get the feeling with so many of them getting married that it'll be a long time before we're all able to meet again.

Been working on Crooked Halo scripts.  Got the next three or four scripted out, and hope to have a few more before I leave.  The only problem right now is that my ink pen is about to die.  I can't go a week and a half without drawing or writing anything while I'm in Arkansas, so I'll have to get some more pens tonight when I go to Target for Scott (they've got a videogame sale going on--a couple of games he wants are only $15, which is a pretty damn good deal).

Ev only has a few more pages of Master's Thesis to read through, and says he'll have it for me tonight.  That means I can get corrections done on it before I leave, which'll be nice.  Just wish I could get ahold of Dr. Hart so he could look at it, too.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Bruce Springsteen, "Ghost of Tom Joad"

"It Sucks Me In When You're Aloof"

They went ahead and ended the voting on my battle in the Keenspace Forum Collesium Battle.  I was winning something like 13 to 3, so they called a mercy kill--and then I posted my comic, which involved me making my opponent's head explode by listening to me read history at him.  In fact, because it amused me, the text I used for the history reading was the first few sentences of my Master's Thesis.

Anyway, I guess my next match will be against the winner of one of the two or three other battles going on right now.  For the moment, I'm posting a couple of spectator comics to keep me entertained, and getting ready to leave for a week and a half.

Okay, so there's this thing called the Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards held every year.  It's basically like the Academy Awards of Webcomics.  You have various categories, such as outstanding sci-fi comic, or outstanding color art, or outstanding writing, character design, what-have-you, and then there's some voting by somebody, and winners are chosen.  Well, this year, Count Your Sheep won six of them.  Six.  That's like...insane.

Of course, Dim Bulb wasn't nominated for anything.  Then again, we average about 125 visitors per day, give or take.  Probably not the numbers you need to get noticed by this group, y'know?  I mean, we're talking the likes of Megatokyo, Penny Arcade, Something Positive, and Mac Hall.  Yeah, I didn't think we could compete with any of them, either, Talon Lueco's insistence that I'm the funniest man alive notwithstanding.

But I'm not worried about that, really--we don't Dim Bulb for recognition and fame and all that.  Well, I don't.  Maybe Adam does, I dunno.  I do Crooked Halo because I enjoy drawing and writing it, I have an attachment to the characters and like working with them.  I like Troubled Times because it's a different kind of story for me, an attempt at a serious story (I'm not usually very good at serious, y'know), and it's fun watching something I wrote get turned into a real comic by someone with some serious talent (whatever one may think of my artistic abilities, drawing Troubled Times in the way it needs to be drawn because of the story is way beyond what I could do).  Really, I'd still want to do the comics even if there were only two or three people reading.  Sure, I'd be disappointed if our readership dropped that much, and I do check our site statistics every day or two, but that's because I also enjoy entertaining people, and I like seeing our numbers go up, because that means more people are being entertained.  And that's a good feeling.

Anyway, off for bed.  I have work in the morning, and I'd hate to be late; especially because Ev said he ought to have the Master's Thesis proofread for me by then.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: They Might Be Giants, "Ana Ng"

"Behind My Back Lord, You Made A Fool Of Me"

Well, got all the comics for the next two weeks drawn, scanned, cleaned up, lettered, and uploaded to the server.  Auto-update will take care of everything else, though I'll have to update the Crooked Halo archive when I get home with new archive pages for each comic and all that (the regular archive, which doesn't yet allow for cruising individual series, will have all the comics...you'll just have to either read all of Adam's or skip them, however you want to do it).  Anyway, I'm glad I got that taken care of, so it's one less thing to worry about.  I'll probably work on scripts for the rest of the series this evening, and hopefully get the rest of the Yellowstone Saga scripted out before bed. 

Well, off to work on scripts, and probably to exercise--it's too damn nice outside to not take advantage of the weather while it's below 100.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Ben Folds Five, "Battle of Who Could Care Less"

"We Were Born Before The Wind"

Well, got all six comics drawn for the coming two weeks, and I'm in the process of scanning them all now.  As I mentioned last time, I'm very pleased with the way they all turned out.  If I can keep up this rhythm, I could get a lot of comics done in a very short amount of time.

There's stil quite a bit to do between now and Tuesday night.  I need to get the apartment cleaned up, the dishes need to be done (preferably today...they've been sitting in the sink entirely too long), I need to pack, I have to work Monday and Tuesday (six hours each day, which is better than not working, let me tell you).  I have begun the most important part of packing--picking out what CDs I'm taking with me.  Clothes are simply there to cover one's body, but the music I'm taking has to last me a week and a half, and keep me awake on the long stretches of boring Oklahoma and Arkansas interstate.  As it stands, I'll probably be driving for about eight hours or so on Thursday, another five to seven on Friday, four or five on Sunday, and who knows how many from there.  I'll need to make sure I've got enough music to keep me entertained during that time.  Here's how the list looks, though it's subject to change at the last minute based on what I decide I want to listen to on Tuesday:

Mutual Admiration Society - Mutual Admiration Society
Beatles - Help!
Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Pink Floyd - The Wall (two discs)
Wilco - Summer Teeth
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
Moxy Fruvous - Live Noise
Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3 (three discs)
Gorillaz - Gorillaz
Van Morrison - Moondance
Eagles - The Very Best (two discs)
Counting Crows - Films About Ghosts
David Gray - Sell, Sell, Sell
Barenaked Ladies - Stunt
Mark Knopfler - Sailing to Philadelphia
Glen Phillips - Live at Largo
The Band - Greatest Hits
Tom Petty - Wildflowers
Old 97's - Too Far to Care

Now, that's only 23 CDs, and my case holds 24; what of the other CD?  Well, that'll be a mix CD of my own creation.  I've got a playlist put together that I think I'm happy with.  It goes something like this:

Ben Folds Five - "Battle of Who Could Care Less"
Yoko Kanno & the Seatbelts - "The Egg and I"
Beatles - "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party"
Wilco - "Airline to Heaven"
Allman Brothers Band - "No One to Run With"
Electric Light Orchestra - "Ma Ma Ma Belle"
Otis Redding - "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay"
David Gray - Kangaroo
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young - "Helplessly Hoping"
Flaming Lips - "The Spark that Bled"
George Harrison - "P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night)"
Mark Knoplfer - "Hill Farmer's Blues"
Gorillaz - "19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)"
Moxy Fruvous - "Blow Wind Blow"
Better than Ezra - "King of New Orleans"
Radiohead - "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
They Might Be Giants - "Don't Let's Start"
Tom Petty - "Crawling Back to You"
Tom Lehrer - "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"
"Chrono Cross End Theme"

Figure an average run time for a single CD is about 45 minutes, give or take a few (some are longer, such as the one I'm making myself, and some are much shorter).  So that gives me roughly 18 hours of music, if I've done my math right.  That might just about last me the whole trip without repeating anything, but I doubt it.  Besides, that's the conservative estimate--most of the CDs I have with me are actually probably longer than 45 minutes a piece, but stuff like each disc of The Wall and the Beatles album are only about 30 minutes each, so that brings down the average.

Anyway, that's probably more music crap than any of you wanted to hear from me, but hey, this is my blog, and I'll post about what I damn-well please.  So nya.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: ELO, "Ma-ma-ma Belle"

"It Had Momentum, It Was Gaining Traction"

I've been on a roll the past few hours--I got about four comics drawn during that time, and I'm actually pleased with how they look.  This is a rare thing--usually, I'm able to deal with the inadequacies of my art style, and recognize that there are many things which I will never be able to draw, and that I'll probably use the same poses and positions and such for the rest of my artistic life.  But tonight's work was just...well, I feel like what I drew was worthwhile and worth looking at.

I've also noticed my art style is evolving slightly.  See, I originally switched to a sketchy look 'round about the end of October last year, and while I liked the way it allowed me to be looser with my art and more expressive than the smooth lines of my earlier style, I always thought it looked just a bit sloppy (especially when, as often happened, I was very lazy with my linework.  In those instances, what I came up with often looked like crap).  However, it did have advantages over the smooth style--the sketchy look gave the drawings depth and a sense of action and movement, while the smooth style always looked flat and really rather lifeless.  Anyway, I finally figured out what I was really wanting to do, and the sketchy style was simply a step in that direction.  My most recent comics retain the energy and depth of the sketchy style, but are much cleaner in terms of the linework and style.  I rather like it, and my most recent efforts (from tonight) really show off the evolved style well.  Like I said, I'm genuinely happy with the way the comics I drew look.

Anyway, I was very productive with the comics tonight, then--I only need to draw one more to have enough comics to cover my vacation period.  Of course, I've only scanned, cleaned up, and uploaded one comic of the six I need, but four more are drawn, so that's good.  At this rate, I may even be able to draw the Semi-Troubled Times strip Adam wanted me to do for Saturday the 7th of August, since he'll be going off on his honeymoon then.  Oh, and on the subject of Troubled Times--I have to admit, the past few pages of it have been my favorites of the comic thusfar.  Seeing the scene as it plays out in Adam's artwork has been like watching one of my dreams unfold--hell, it basically is watching one of my dreams unfold, or at least one of my stories.  His most recent page, with Teran channeling the Wrath of God and smiting demons left and right, is--in my opinion--among the finest pages he's ever turned out for anything.  And to think it's based on something I wrote (however loosely--I did write a few directions down for actions in this scene, but they're along the lines of "Teran catches a sword with his bare hands and then kills the demon in a really cool way.  Then he punches another demon in the head, shattering that one's skull, and punches a hole through another demon's chest, etc.").  Adam's giving flesh and movement and substance to the skeleton directions I gave him, and it's one of the coolest feelings in the world, seeing that happen.  If only he had time to do more than one page a week (actually, it's probably a good thing he can only do that much, or he'd catch up to what I've scripted much quicker...which reminds me--I need to get back to work on Chapter Three pretty soon).

Anyway, that's enough comic talk for tonight.  It's late/early, I'm goin' to bed.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Otis Redding, "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"

"The Eighties!  They Make My Brain Hurt!"

Okay, so Scott and I have very, very different tastes in music.  We both like rock and roll, but "rock and roll" covers a lot of stylistic territory.  It's a metagenre, an ubergenre which encompasses everything from the Beatles to Bob Dylan to Styx to Pink Floyd to Heart to Journey to the Doors.  It's a catch-all, really.

Anyway, Scott's tastes tend towards the '80s, when everything was slick and smooth and every single note was produced and redone until it was perfect.  That's what the '80s, as a musical decade, was about: getting every note perfect, getting the shine and sheen on the music so that it sparkled and shone and you didn't notice that the lyrics were pretty bland compared to what had gone before.  It was a case of style and form over content and meaning.  And that's fine--genre exercises and stylistic endeavours can be fun, and sometimes it's nice to listen to stuff that has absolutely no substance but which sounds very pretty and very glossy.  But that's about all Scott wants to listen to.

Myself, I've always been more about the substance and the content than the form.  That's why I can stand to listen to musicians like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison and Neil Young; guys who--though they had lots to say and could blend genres and styles and forms like mad geniuses--can't really sing to save their lives.  They're singer/songwriters, and the emphasis was always on the songwriter part of that description.  Besides, I tend to just like music that retains a bit of the rough edges, that keeps some of the rawness to the instrumentation and vocals.  It seems more real, more organic, more human.  Music is a human expression, after all.  That's why I've never been able to listen to most contemporary pop-rock--it's all too glossy, too overproduced and overwrought, until all the life and energy and meaning has been produced out of the music.  I'm not saying music needs to be sloppy, mind you--Dylan had some tight backing bands, Neil Young worked with the folk-rock gods Crosby, Stills, & Nash, and Van the Man has had some of the most consumate musicians to ever play working with him--but they all know how to keep enough of the raggedness in their music to keep it sounding like real people are playing the instruments.

Admittedly, I do like bands such as Radiohead, Pink Floyd, and the Flaming Lips--all of which create carefully thought-out, well-crafted songs--but the key thing about all three bands is that their best moments come when retain a certain organic quality to their music, pushing forward musical boundaries while remembering that it's people who're making the music.

Anyway, the whole point of this rant is that Scott's asked me to download some music for him to put together a CD, since he doesn't currently have much in the way of internet access (my folks figure there's no need to have an internet-ready computer at the house anymore since the kids are all gone).  So I've been having to deal with his taste in music.

What's worse, he's developed the opinion that anything by the artists he likes is good.  This often means their new albums.  Now, while some groups and musicians--folks like Dylan, Van, U2, and Bruce Springsteen--have managed to put out downright phenomenal albums lately, they are the exceptions to the rule rather than what should be expected of everyone.  Folks like Styx and Peter Frampton were good at their peeks, but their peeks occurred about twenty-five, thirty years ago.  Scott is absolutely in love with the latest Styx and Boston albums, and what I've heard of both just made me shake my head--they're trying to reignite that old flame of inspiration, to recapture the glory of their early days, and it's just not working.  They're working with the intent of making a "comeback," and this conscious effort to create something which will get them back in the good graces of the general public is preventing them from crafting good music.  Guys like Dylan and Van have been so successful lately (and by successful I mean they've created albums that are on par with their best work) because they haven't attempted to create music which is epochal or a "comeback" statement.  Ironically, because they haven't been attempting to craft commercial comebacks, they've done very well.

Of course, Scott thinks the new albums by his favorites are absolutely wonderful and on par with their best work, and musical taste is of course very subjective.  However, there are certain things which it is possible to be very objective and positive about--I'm positive there's no world in which the music Britney Spears is making will be popular a decade or two from now.  Already she's really become less a musical figure and more a celebrity, which is an entirely different animal (someone who creates music, a "musician," approaches music as something important in and of itself; a celebrity sees music, television, or motion pictures as a means to an end--celebrity status, pop culture icon status--and thus care very little about what they are making.  They're the ones we don't really care about after their fifteen minutes of fame are over).

All of this to say--I really don't care for the music he's making me download.  My sibling will pay for this in blood.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, "Helplessly Hoping"

"Pay No Mind To It"

Went and saw The Chronicles of Riddick last night at the cheap theatre.  It was your typical summer blockbuster/special CGI effects extravaganza, and about what I expected.  Was worth the $1.50 I paid, but I don't think I'd have paid full price for it. It had the same spirit as Pitch Black, but wasn't nearly as neat as that movie.  Some of the CGI was too obviously CGI, but that's what you expect out of a flick like this.  It's a good popcorn movie, and would probably be worth a rental if you're in the mood for Vin Diesel.

It's really...cool outside today.  The temperature dropped pretty good yesterday afternoon when I went to go get my car out of the shop, mostly because it started pouring down rain.  Even with my umberella (which I realized I left in Dom's truck), I was still pretty soggy just walking from my apartment door to his truck.  But it did cool things off, and today's simply continued that trend.  It's in the mid-70s out there, with a slight breeze, and about 80% humidity, so it feels a bit thick.  But still, it's nice, if a bit too cloudy for my tastes.  See, when it's cloudy, I tend to not want to get out of bed.  That was the case today, as I didn't drag my sorry butt out of bed until 3.00 pm.

So I figured I need to draw a total of six comics before Tuesday so I have enough done for the coming weeks while I'm gone.  I've got one done so far, and only a couple of days left to do the other five.  But I've got the next several comics scripted out already, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle getting the five done...I hope.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Dandy Warhols, "Minnesoter"

"The Words Are Comin' Out All Weird"

Got the car back this afternoon finally.  Took some doing, though--Dom either had his cellphone off or wasn't answering it for a good part of the middle of the day, and then when I finally got ahold of him and he agreed to give me a lift, it decided to poor down rain.  At least the rain waited until after I'd gone to campus to pick up my paycheck (by bike, mind you), so that was a small blessing.

Looks like my work schedule when I get back from vacation will be nice--I'll actually be working, which is something of a novelty of late.  Hopefully this trend will continue, and I'll even be able to pay rent and stuff in the upcoming months!

Not much to say, really.  It's quiet here at work, and I'm probably getting ready to leave.  Might go see a movie at the cheap theatre tonight--Van Helsing and Chronicles of Riddick are both playing, and either would be worth seeing for $1.50.  I'll go see the former if Ev goes with me, but the latter if I go by myself.  Troy also happens to be playing over there, but you'd have to pay me to go see that stinker.  I'm also craving movie theatre popcorn with lots of butter.  I like popcorn quite a bit, but I don't usually crave it that often, and certainly not the movie theatre variety, which is such a dangerous substance that you can actually hear your arteries clogging and choking as you chew.  But damn if it isn't a tasty way to kill yourself.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Radiohead, "The Bends"

"Have You Really Changed That Much Since School?"

Well, for rather annoying reasons, I was unable to pick up my car this afternoon, despite the fact that it was completed right about the time I figured it would be.

See, I was going to just ask Dom if he could give me a ride over there.  But when I called him up, he was taking Jess to an eye doctor's appointment, and thus couldn't oblige me.

Next I tried calling Audrey, 'cause I knew she had a car.  She wasn't home.

So the only other person I know is Ev, and he doesn't have a car.  But a friend of his had a car, a friend who happened to be coming over to Ev's place this afternoon, same as me.  His friend (Kevin) agreees to take me.  Unfortunately, we spent too much time piddling and chatting at Ev's, so when we tried to go get the car, we had the joy of watching the last guy drive away from the body shop after they'd closed for the day.  So I'll just have to see if Dom can take me in the morning, I guess.  It's not a big deal so much as it's an annoyance and an inconvenience.

I've also spent most of the evening napping, a habit I don't like engaging in.  The problem with napping that late in the day (we're talking 6.30 to 8.30 or so) is that I'm now not going to be tired enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.  Ugh.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Sheryl Crow, "Members Only"

"Set 'Em Up And Let 'Em Fall"

So Wendy tells me that she found out she got hired on as the new drama teacher at Fairfax High School in Fairfax, VA.  She starts in September, but her training starts August 26th.  Her current job ends August 24th.  The point to all this is that she doesn't get to come visit Oklahoma in August like she was planning to do.

The other point is that now she owes me a trip to Cancun.

See, we made a bet a year or two ago that the first one of us to get a teaching job (regardless of the level) would take the other to Cancun.  So now she gets to take me.  Of course, it'll be a while, because she'll need to save up money and she wants me to bring a girl along (since she'll be bringing her boyfriend Tim).  It'll probably take me longer to find a girlfriend than it'll take Wen to save up the money for the trip, but that's okay.

Still waiting to hear back from Ferguson on my car.  I'd like it if they'd let me know within the next hour or so, so I can get the car before I'm supposed to be at Everett's.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Pink Floyd and Van Morrison, "Comfortably Numb (Live)"

"Most Of The Time She Ain't Even In My Mind"

I've got a face that just says to strangers, "hey, tell me your life story," don't I?  Why do complete strangers feel compelled to tell me very intimate details of their personal history without me in any way requesting this?

Take this morning, for instance--I took my car in to have the window replaced, and they get one of the mechanics to give me a lift back to the apartment.  On the trip across town, the guy engages me in a conversation not only about music (which I didn't mind until he strayed into a discussion of country), but then it suddenly morphed into a conversation about this guy's trouble with women and how he'd given up drinking back in February.  Congrats and all on the being sober, guy, but is this really something I need to know?  Do I need to know that you, a man the same age as my father, are dealing with girl troubles?  No, I don't.  Knowing this stuff doesn't make it any easier for my window to be fixed, though I guess the guy has a right to be proud of being sober for five months.  But I don't think a customer is the sort of person you're supposed to impart this sort of knowledge to, y'know?  Doesn't really ease my mind to think that he was probably a drunkard the last time he worked on my car.

Anyway, they ought to be done with my car sometime early this afternoon, and at 2.30 I'm supposed to go over to Ev's place to watch the second part of the Joseph Campbell interview we started watching at the beginning of the month.

Also, I've finally heard from one of my professors in regards to my Master's Thesis.  Unfortunately, it was the one who is out of the country and won't be able to look at the thing until mid-August.  That's not really very helpful.  I need to find my advisor's phone number today.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Ringo Starr, "It Don't Come Easy"

"Sadly Sweet Like A Wilco Song"

It's just a few minutes after 8.00 am, and I'm already at work.  I wasn't scheduled to work until 11.00, but one of my coworkers called me up at 2.30 this morning asking if I'd cover her 8-11 shift.  She didn't really provide much of a reason--I think her exact words were that she had "something else [she] wants to do"--but it's an extra three hours for me, so I'm not going to complain much, even if I did only get three hours of sleep because of her and her inability to plan further ahead.

Thought I saw Megan Garland, an old junior high/high school friend, while I was in the store this morning getting something to drink (caffinated beverages are a Godsend, folks).  I'm not certain it was her, because I never heard her speak and she didn't seem to recognize me, but she was carrying a Beatles purse, had Pink Floyd stickers on her car, and she just looked like Megan.  I know from talking to Jessica that Megan still lives around here, so it very well could have been her.  The rest of the evidence seems to fit, too--back in junior high, she was the only other person I knew my age who liked the Beatles.  In the eighth grade, we actually did a project together on Hypercard (this old Mac program that, in hindsight, was like a really easy-to-use webpage builder) in which we cataloged all their albums and songs, putting together lyrics for the really important ones (often from memory, 'cause we had all the songs memorized), animations of various things (we were excited to get to use the new scanner--a handheld device that was brand freakin' new way back in 1993--and we were particularly proud of our floating Yellow Submarine), and biographies.  We were never necessarily very close, but she was someone I knew who wasn't ashamed to know me (that was a short list in junior high, let me tell you).

My vacation starts next week.  I'm excited--a week and a half just visiting with Ozarks friends, no obligations except standing in one place for the space of an hour or so at various and sundry weddings...it's gonna be fun.  Have to get some comics cranked out, though, so I don't miss any updates while I'm away.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Glen Phillips, "Back on my Feet"

"I Have Become Comfortably Numb"
 
Poor Jess and Dom.  Jessica was feeling ill Friday night after we'd all gone out to eat (in fact, they actually left their leftovers in my fridge...the stuff is still there).  We sat and looked through the 700 pictures (literally that many) from their wedding, then they headed home 'cause she wasn't feeling well.
 
Well, it turns out that was only the beginning.  They apparently both had tonsilitis.  Bad.  As in they had to visit the emergency room twice on Saturday.
 
When I talked to Dom this afternoon, he said they were both recovering, but it had been a very long weekend.  Even though they're recovering, he wasn't really up for playing racquetball this afternoon--and to be frank, I'm not all that heartbroken.  I don't want to chance him being contagious or something.
 
Also called the folks at Fergusson (the place where my car was repaired back last year when that idiot business professor rear-ended me in the parking garage....while my car was parked) to see about them going ahead and ordering the new window and installing it.  The guy said he'd get right on it and call me when the part gets in, so that's taken care of now, thankfully.
 
Still haven't heard from my advisor or anyone on the Master's Thesis.  I may call him tomorrow if I haven't heard from him by the end of the day...of course, that requires finding his phone number...
 
~chuck
 
Song of the Moment: Fleetwood Mac, "Say That You Love Me"

"Finding More Than One Wind Blows"
 
I got eleven freakin' hours of sleep last night.
 
Yeah, eleven.  I haven't gotten eleven hours of sleep in the previous week.  But I got back from my aunt and uncle's place yesterday evening, piddled around for a couple of hours, and then did some reading.  I was sitting in bed, reading my book, and I start to feel tired.  I look over at the clock, which reads 11.00 pm.  I think, "y'know, there's really nothing keeping me awake.  The Master's Thesis has been sent to my committee, so I don't have to stay awake all night working on it.  I could go ahead and go to sleep..."
 
So I did.  God, it was glorious!
 
Also found out that the cost of having my window won't be quite as bad as I originally thought.  Turns out the guy I talked to at the glass place on Main Street is a moron and confused the window I needed with one that opens or whatever.  Yeah, the cost of replacing my window with the correct item is something closer to $225--still kinda expensive, but a good $200 cheaper than what the moron thought it'd be.
 
So yeah, it's been a pretty good day.  Anyway, I'm off to do some writing.  Maybe I can make some headway on "Peas."
 
~chuck
 
Song of the Moment: Toad the Wet Sprocket, "One Little Girl"

"There's No One Laughing At Your Back Now"
 
And the second draft is done.  Finally.  Page total this time out was 31 in Times New Roman 12-Point Font.  That's an increase of probably about seven pages from where it stood in the previous draft (if you put the previous draft in Times New Roman, that is--that version was originally in Bookman Old Style, which is quite a big larger.  It was 28 pages in Bookman, and only about 24 in Times New Roman).  So yeah, there was quite a bit added.  I'm rather pleased with what I've put together here.  I just hope my advisor is.
 
I forgot to mention something earlier--when I was in the library, the microfilm machines didn't agree with me.  When the printer on the first one decided not to work for me anymore, the guy working in the Microform Room came over to work on it for me.  When he couldn't get it to work, I moved over to the next machine.  Then he got out the key to the printer for the one I had moved to, and let me make several copies for free (a copy usually costs 15 cents, or 10 if you use your student ID--SoonerCents, it's called).  So that was rather cool.
 
Anyway, it's printing off right now.  I've emailed my advisor his copy, but I'm hand-delivering a copy to Ev to proofread for grammatical stuff.  Come to think of it, I probably should have run spellcheck on the damn thing, especially since a good majority of it was written late tonight.  Argh.
 
~chuck
 
Song of the Moment: Bob Dylan, "Most of the Time"

"She'll Take What You Give Her, As Long As It's Free"
 
Progress note on the Thesis: ran into a bit of a slow-down this afternoon after I finally got all my research notes typed out--I remembered that my advisor wanted me to include some stuff from a primary source I'd mentioned through a different primary source (a primary source quoting/arguing with another primary source...wee.  He wanted what the original said, so as to know the guy I was quoting wasn't just making shit up, as it were).  Well, they had the document on microfilm over at the library.  Wonderful--that means I can get it.  But there was a snag--in order to get a copy of it, I needed some cash to get photocopies, and I had none.  So I had to run to Wal-Mart to get some money (and some batteries for my discman).  Then I had to go somewhere to break the twenty, 'cause there was no way I was gonna put that whole thing on my ID for photocopying and stuff.  So anyway, I was up against a deadline, 'cause I realized I needed to do this around 4.30, and the library closed at 6.00 today.  So I rushed--and made it.  Got my money, got my source, and I'm going over it now to figure out what to include.
 
Well, back to the grind.
 
~chuck
 
Song of the Moment: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, "Built to Last"