Sunday, September 24, 2006

New glasses

I wandered out to Lenscrafters today, got my eyes examined, and two new pairs of glasses (one is RX shades). They're a bit smaller than the previous, and a lot more expensive. Even with the online coupon saving me $150, it was still over $700. I'm going to see if my company can help out with that, since they need my eyes to work in order to get colors matched & all that jazz.

So...I'm a bit broker than usual. Any freelance stuff you wanna throw my way would be cool!

HINT HINT!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Three weeks.

That's how long the doctors say my aunt Brenda (previously mentioned here) has to live.

Her cervical cancer has spread all over her body. The whole family was over at the hospice this weekend. She couldn't keep her eyes open for a full minute.

The Bills - one's the husband, the other is their son - are in denial over the whole thing. My dad speculates that the elder will probably die shortly afterwards of heartbreak. Unlike my grandparents, they were very dependent on each other.

When I was much younger, I loved going down to their house. It was a long, weary trip, but hell, they had a pool. And Billy had all those great Star Wars toys, and a BB gun that he'd let me shoot once in a while. Storm Troopers were often used as targets.

None survived.

We'd spin around on his go-cart, or sledding down the hill behind their house. We had awesome escalating water fights that would make Buster & Babs Bunny proud. I idolized the guy. He was the only male relative close to my age in the state. He's five or so years older than me, so when he hit his late teens, the last thing he wanted was some chubby pubescent tagging along. It bummed me out a bit.

Then came the time when it was revealed that my grandfather on that side of the family was a horrendous sleazebag. This caused a bit of a rift. Brenda was halfway in denial about it (did she forget that it's why she left home & eloped at 16?), and Mom was torn up because she's also a victim, and because he did the same thing to my sister (her confession about it six months after the fact was what brought the rift on).

People chose sides and Mom was caught in the middle. She hated what happened, but she wasn't going to deny herself her family.

When gramps died a few years ago, I went to visit Grandma. It was pretty sad. We didn't know what to say to each other. She'd since moved in with Brenda. I saw the rest of the family for the first time in a very long time last Christmas. People were older, taller, shorter, wider, etc, but generally the same.

I didn't miss much, but I missed a lot.

When she passes, the biggest concern is where Grandma is going to go. If uncle Bill has the will to keep living and take care of his mother in law, then fine. Mom takes turns with the other siblings each week anyway. But if he kicks off, too, that leaves a lot hanging in the air.

So everyone's just trying to figure out what to do.

*Edit, 09/19/06 9:30 PM:

She died last night, before I even typed this out. Mom says everyone is kind of peaceful and relieved.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Who are those fine young gentlemen?


From Carlos' wedding a few months ago. In case you don't know, L-R:

Bowie, myself, Carlos, and Chris.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Urgh.

Okay, if anyone needs some freelance work done, or help, or...you know, "services rendered," let me know. I could use a little more cash (i.e.: I'd like to pay my bills AND purchase new sheets this month). I won't get to work on it until next weekend, as The Job That Never Fucking Ends is worse when multiple people call out at the same time and leaves me with 13 hour shifts. Since I'm salaried, I don't get overtime.

Whatever: need a short story written? An illustration inked (in Illustrator of course)? Hand job? Flat colors laid in? Design? Need any posters printed?

Bueller?






Just kidding about the hand job part. I'm not that desperate.

Okay, going to bed now. I gotta get up in 5 hours.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

In light of 9/11...

It's fun to abuse a sentence when it begins with the above phrase. Over at CBR, we had a good time butchering it. Mike Pullmann came up with the following gem, which I've tweaked and added a patriotic background to. I plan to make a few stickers at work, as soon as I get the chance.


Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Go to Rocketship this Saturday.

Scott McCloud will be there, pimping his new book, Making Comics.

Rocketship quite simply rocks.

(Speaking of which, does anyone have $100,000 I can borrow?)