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January 2001
Let's get ready for allthe new '01' buzzwords
It's kind of odd, a week ago I wasin Pittsburgh, and it never felt like I'd ever been toCalifornia, let alone live there. And of course, now that I'mback out west, it feels like forever since I've been home. Idon't think I'll get used to this traveling back and forth thing.It doesn't feel like I'm on the other side of the country,because I go to the airport and sit in a little chair for four orfive hours, and I'm here. I don't mind flying, I just don't likethe inconsiderate people who get on the plane with me. Being aflight attendant is just a job, people. Give them a break andtake care of yourself for five minutes.
January is that month where you'resupposed to set goals and do all kinds of things to improveyourself. Start excercising, swear less, eat healthier. With thatin mind, let me just say this. I ate ice cream sandwiches forbreakfast twice this week. My knee still hurts, so I can't gorunning either. It's not a winning combination. I hope to get outof this rut soon. I've gotten really fast at drawing again, so Iam doing twelve to fifteen panels a day on issue number four ofthe Gypsy Lounge. It's good that I'm getting this much done, butit's getting monotonous. Sitting in the same chair, behind thesame desk. Either I need a real job again soon, or someone tothrow money at me. Bills preferably, coins sting.
That's it though. All I want fromlife right now is to be able to print all six issues of the GypsyLounge. My resolution last year was to break into comics, andIdon't even know if I did that. I mean, I got two print runs ofcomics, but they weren't distributed through Diamond. So the onlyway people could get them was if they ran into me on theconvention circuit. Until I print all six issues and people canfinally read an entire, cohesive story, I have no chance ofgetting any kind of comics work. No writing gigs, no fill-inissues or story arcs. I can't get work in comics because I'mnobody. Nobody doesn't really attract the readers. The last fewyears of my life has been nothing but bitter catch twenty two'slike that. Can't get a job without work experience. Can't getwork experience without a job.
I got a guest job over atopi8.com. I have a column there that I'll be doing monthly calledthe aweful science fair. Basically it'll be a different onlinecomic of some kind every thirty days. The first one is going tobe Subtraction, and the second one is going to be a comic strip,and so on. I want each month to be completely unlike the lastone. I think forcing myself to come up with new material likethis is a big challenge. Actually it may be a complete disaster.I am going to have to experiment like crazy. That's the wholepoint. It gets kind of claustrophobic working on a large storylike the Gypsy Lounge. I'm locked into a certain art style, and Ihave to keep double-checking the plot and planning everythingout, making sure all the loose ends are tied up. It should be funto do something sudden and urgent like this. Note that I said'should.' So now I'm up to two non-paying jobs and zero payingones. Does anyone see where this is completely bass-ackwards?
What else? Uh, my roommate Lennybought one of those DVD players everyone's been yacking about sodamn much. I was the one doing the yammering, but I didn't knowwhen I could afford one, or if I was really ready to ditch thevhs library I've been building over the years. DVD doesn't seemlike the beta or the laserdisc, since it's the size of a cd, soit sounds like a safe investment. So far I have gotten most of myfavorite movies: bottle rocket, rushmore, taxi driver, meanstreets, being john malkovich, american movie, and Pi. I stillhaven't watched every one of them. That's okay though, that meansthat I am busy. Being jobless and not having time to watch amovie is a really good sign. Or perhaps our television's justbroken.