aug 7-20 2005

aug.07.05

My day off. (and a few extra goodies!)

It's 1 am on (technically) Sunday morning and I'd like to announce that I've gone the ENTIRE DAY without drawing ANYTHING.

And the temptation is KILLING me.

This was the first REAL day off I've had since I started doing freelance work full-time in March. It is COMPLETELY foreign to me for a full 24 hours to go by without drawing something. My freshly cleaned work area is begging me to sit down and pump out a strip, sketch something for fun, lay out a page of "Crazy Papers"... but nay, I shall find something else to bide my time.

...

Soooooo. Anybody know any good online games?

*whimper!*

I guess I should reply to a few of last month's e-mails. *sigh*

Well, while I'm here, I should probably share that I cleaned my apartment today and found LOADS of original artwork and photography that I'd like to get out of my house. We only have so many walls in this apartment and most of my framed work is sitting in the closet collecting dust. So at some point, probably between now and mid-fall, I plan to sell off the original art behind illustrations like this, framed & matted photographs like this & this, and more sketches like these guys.

A few more notes:

Alex over at HeroRealm was kind enough to fix any broken links to the official GWS forum, so if you're in the mood to meet fellow GWS readers, gossip about recent GWS drama (oh my!), or bitch about my rocky update schedule and unfinished website, pitch in and enjoy the banter!

Speaking of unfinished websites, you may notice a change directly to your right: the GWS schedule. Thought it might be a bit more helpful for you guys if I actually TOLD you when I was going to be at a convention! For now I'm pencilled to attend the Baltimore Convention, SPX (no table, just hangin' with Rafer of Plastic Farm), and Big Apple in November. I'm also eyeing Mid-Ohio on Thanksgiving weekend.

I'll be posting the ads that were originally in the right sidebar on another page sometime soon, so never fear - I'm expecting even MORE webcomic links in the near future. :)

Well, nuts. I'm really sleepy now. Looks like the nice people who e-mail me get to wait ANOTHER day for me to get back to them...

aug.07.05

Newport News, anyone?

God bless my crappy memory and strange jobs.

For those of you who don't know, I do caricatures for about three different agencies. I got an e-mail from one of them a few weeks ago with a contract attached - a contract for a job in Virginia Beach.

Virginia Beach is like, 5 hours from me. Why on EARTH would I have said "YES" to a job so far away from me?? A: because when I agreed to do the job, I was smack-dab in the middle of the most stressful string of work I'd ever had, and I KNEW I'd need a vacation eventually.

So I'm going to the beach next Saturday. And, naturally, I didn't think to book a place to stay until now.

I just booked a cheap-cheap room in Newport News, VA, about 45 min north of the job site I'll be doing caricatures at. Now, I know NOTHING about Newport News. Except that it's closer to the beach than the OTHER $55 motels, and it has a weird name.

Naturally, I've been trying to look up information on Newport News, VA and the surrounding areas (like Hampton, Poquoson, etc.) and not finding much. Then it dawns on me: I have the best readers comics can buy (I'm so clever, I know); why not ask THEM??

So if you know anything about that little penninsula of Virginia at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay - especially relaxing beach spots! - would you be so kind as to drop me a line?

Thanks. If this was 1998, I'd say you were "da bomb." But it's not. So just... thanks.

aug.09.05

Underwear Party gone WILD!

I swear this isn't just a sexy cop-out.

It's also an incentive to get the new strip up, becuase if my parents see the filler strip above, they're gonna bombard me with "are you a lesbian?" questions...

Why, oh why, did my family discover the Internet? *siiiiigh!*

aug.09.05

No, REALLY... Newport News, anybody??

So I called my brother last night and mentioned Virginia Beach and Newport News.

"That's awesome!!" says he.

"Is it? I was told Newport News kinda sucks."

"Nah, it can't suck, half of my friends from JMU live there!"

"... Really.

"Really."

"Like, the friends we drink with?"

"Do I HAVE any other friends??"

"What're you doing this weekend?"

"Um. Going with you to Virginia Beach?"

Yay. :)

So I had an idea. Actually, we can thank Alex (everybody: "Hi, Alex!") from the VA Beach area, for this idea.

If anybody lives in the area, or wants to drive down for a good time this weekend, send me your cell number and I'll give you a buzz when my bro and his friends and I find a place to hang out Saturday evening. It'll be a late night - I get off work around 10pm and then I have to drive a good 45 minutes to the hotel - but a fun night, indeed!!

Just throwin' it out there. I wanted to hit the bars Saturday night, but didn't want to go alone (not for fear of feeling embarrassed; for fear of getting drugged and gang-banged). But now that I've got flesh-&-blood testosterone coming with me, I feel a little safer.

So if you're up for a late night in the northern VA Beach/Newport News area, send me your phone number!

This could be fun. Or it could be chaos. Only one way to find out...

aug.11.05

The Corsetto Phone Drama

Five hours later, aaaaaaaaaaand...

I have my old phone back :)

It took all afternoon (hence the LATE-late update), but we Corsettos got our shit back in order. We went back to Sprint and the boys bought new phones (my brother's excited to have a phone/camera/tip calculator/video game), and my mother and I sighed relief as we were handed back our old phones.

I won't have the service until Saturday, but it's a small price to pay to have my perfect worn-in five-pound candy bar-style phone back.

So yeah, I know that I'm dragging out this Underwear Party pretty far, but.... so far I haven't heard any complaints :) I've been planning this event-packed arc for a long time and I plan to take full advantage of its bare-assed goodness.

Speaking of undies, I can take no credit for today's punchline.

To my utter surprise, my most devout Christian and not-so-keen-on-gays reader and friend came up with the idea over dinner a few weeks back. I nearly spat my enchilada out when he asked "So when's Darren gonna come out wearing Jamie's outfit?" He's quite possibly the LAST person I would have expected that question from! God bless the open-mindedness of my secret punchline provider.

I'll be sure to share VA Beach photos for you guys and gals when I'm back after this weekend - stay tooned!

aug.16.05

Coming!

Today's strip is almost finished. Check back soon!

Until then, enjoy a few sketches from...

... the beach that couldn't curse! (click image)

aug.16.05

Let your dial-up enjoy a little legroom.

Anybody with a 56K modem can thank Rene for making me aware of those poor broadband-less souls who had to wait all day for all of those blog entries that were below to upload. Sincerest apologies to anybody else who suffered!

And if you miss them too much to bear, scroll down and click on "past blog entries." Or... just... click on this link. Who loves ya.

aug.18.05

Just a smidge of work

Sit down and swallow your drinks; the archive section is now up.

aug.18.05

Weird Wednesday

Sorry for anybody who checked in yesterday and managed to balance their checkbooks AND pay their bills while the GWS site was uploading.

I'm not sure what happened, but it was taking between two and three minutes to upload my page, all day. Sorry 'bout that - I guess the server was stuffed. Shouldn't have any trouble again for awhile, fingers crossed!

Now I know I'm only hurting myself by saying this, but while I could have been starting GWS last night I was instead watching Ghostbusters II. I couldn't hold back. My friend Allan picked up the double-DVD set for me, and I hadn't seen Ghostbusters II in years. I'd been holding back for weeks, and last night I just gave in.

And I must say, it was the best dessert I'd had in a long time. God damn those movies are brilliant.