FRESH! Diet Week one.

This is a start of the new blog (or old style, if you like). Basically, I am running a play by play every day of my daily events. Why? Cause I am a self-indulgent, egotistical ass? Not really. But it is for a few reasons. Number one: Starting this week , I started what I hope to be a long standing lifestyle change. One where I am held accountable for every minute of the day with what I eat and when. Instead of keeping an external journal for those things, I decided to keep them right here on the site. Hope you enjoy. Second: I want something my kids can read in the future about their dad and how my life was at this time in their life. We got a big addiction to the family coming later this year and it would be good to chronicle his or her arrival with a daily account of what mom and dad were up to. Plus, some BIG things are coming this year I feel and its only fair to keep you folks in on it. And I am in the middle or writing a couple new things, including a long form book, so I want to keep my writing chops fresh and up. This is a good exercise to do so. So much of my time lately has been art focused. I need to devote equal amount of time to my writing as well. So expect lots of updates of this type and be able to know what I was doing each day, once more. You will still get the occasional non-“here’s what I did and when I did it” type of posting here, but you get this too! Nice eh? Okay, lets go.

3-19-12

After working the last three days in a row and dealing with the wife’s work schedule too, (and the kid’s sleep pattern off a bit) we both barely got any sleep. So this morning the wife put the kid on the bus and I got to sleep in till 11:30. A total of nine hours of sleep I definitely needed. Today is the first day of the new diet. I get up, check email, read Strangers in Paradise comics on the crapper and we wait for the bots to get home. We pack up and head to Red Robin where I enjoy a Grilled Chicken salad with no dressing. I get about half of it down cause its mostly white lettuce or stems (I don’t ever eat those! Only greens!). Then I air up the tires, head to Kroger for a bit more shopping. I get some new types of flavored water to try out plus some green tea and some fruits. I still got some “bad food” in the house that needs to be ate up, so this week will be a system flushing/transition to FULL ON diet mode once its all gone. I also score some Amaretto for Tuesday night’s drinking festivities.

We get home and I check email and watch the finale of The Walking Dead on ON DEMAND. The wife heads to work and I doodle while watching trailers I have been missing and then I watch Four Rooms on Netflix. I’ve been on a Tarantino kick lately. I must have listened to the Death Proof soundtrack about ten times in the last week. I do a half an hour of exercise in the house and then clean up the place a bit. No cards arrived in the mail or Fed Ex, so I guess I gotta wait till later in the week. I catch back up with emails and get offered another sketch card gig on a few sets with Cult Stuff. I set up what sets I want to do and they promise to get the cards out to me ASAP. One of the sets is a TITANIC set and it has a tight deadline. I start to do some research on TITANIC and some of its more famous passengers. I used to love reading about that ship when I was a kid. We had a great coffee table book about finding the wreck that was written by Robert Ballard. Had great illustrations and photos.

I must admit now, I am completely unaccustomed to being “chosen” for things. In fact, I feel odd about it. Everything I have done in this art career I have built for myself has all been things I did. Nothing was “greenlit” or “chosen” for publication. I had the idea myself and I put the work into it and made it happen. It started eighteen years ago and has lasted over 50 indie comics and seven full graphic novels, with two more in current production (with a webcomic as well!). It is validating to some degree to have that much under your belt, but not as validating to an artist to be “chosen” or “accepted” by someone else. In the last year I have decided to start branching out and trying my hand at other opportunities on things beyond what I call “mine.” Mostly for resume, somewhat for pay and a bit more for the bragging rights. Call it what you will, the fact remains I put myself out there and I am getting “chosen” or “accepted” (if you like) for these things. I remember times in my life where I did show my work and was not accepted. It was devastating to some degrees at times. But you just pick yourself up and try harder. Get more toned. Get better. And now it seems that the time has come for me to be “chosen” for these things. It is amazing and I am in awe of the whole thing. I still somewhat feel like I don’t deserve it. Even when I got the email ding on my iphone and saw it was Liza from Cult Stuff I read the first line in the header where it said: “Hi Adam. I have taken a look at your art on your blog and the deviantart site and I…” and the phone message trails off. I instantly filled it in with my head saying “…and I am sorry to say that it is not what we are looking for at this time.” (Which is a nice way of saying “you suck, no way would I want you near what we want to do, so thanks but no thanks. We’re going with other people who are obviously WAY better than you. Now fuck off and don’t bother us again.” Isn’t it?) But when I opened the email, it said the exact opposite. She said she was very happy with the work and that she’s seen my cards before and had been impressed by the quality. I am just so flattered that people appreciate my work. It’s a transition I’ve had to make recently: To quit dogging on my stuff and instead, seek the merit in it. But stay humble! Oh so important. But I have learned recently to count my strengths, rather than only focus on the things I am failing at. Still, I will continue to grow and correct those things and learn the lessons… but take a minute to toot my own horn once in a while. Why not eh? If you don’t, who will?

I eat a couple burritos and enjoy the last Coca-Cola in the house (My last soda for a while) and listen to samples of this Finnish band called “NIGHTWISH” on Itunes. The MC at the strip club day job I work at said I should check them out and once again, he didn’t steer me wrong! I make a note on my list of Itunes “wants” by my computer to get the album once I get more itunes cards. I take a break and play with the bots for a while but he’s not interested and instead wants to play with his huge stack of dvds and my bluray player. I lay on the couch and do some reading. I email Shane back and forth about Portnoy’s new drumming instructional DVDs and his plans for this coming week with his big move from Maryland to Michigan finally. I don’t envy him his task! I also do some texting with Ted about a letter I sent him and shoot texts to Lee to see if a SaBO is on for tonight.

The bots eats 4 bowls of applesauce, pizza toppings, two bowls of cereal, two pancakes and some potato chips. Anytime I start to doodle, he ain’t having it. So I opt to wait till he decides to pass out to even attempt to draw. He finally passes out around 9pm in our bed and so I transfer his sleeping body to his own bed and close up. I snatch a vitamin water (Orange Starfruit from Kroger. Quite good!) and catch up on twitter/email/texts. Then watch half of Jackie Brown on Netflix before Sabo starts at 11. I talk and listen to my pals while inking Anna 2 pages till around 2:00am and then I go pass out.

3-20-12

I wake up around 6:00am and see the wife up and around the room, getting ready for her work shift. I close my eyes then hear my phone alarm go off. Its 6:55am. I get up and get the bots ready for school. Its gonna be in the 80’s today so I pull out his Lions jersey to wear under his MSU windbreaker. He’s on the bus at 7:25 and I crawl back in bed. I wake up at 11:20. I grab a Lipton diet Green Tea (not bad!) check email and FB. An old friend, Dave Kooiker from High School added me. I’ve been searching what happened to that dude for years now. I always thought highly of him. What a phenomonal bass player! I check the bank, no bonus check yet! Its now six days late from what was promised. I start to worry. Get the bots off the bus at 12:05 and clean up the house a bit for the wife’s return, then finish Jackie Brown from the night before. I take the bots outside and let him ride his power 4 wheeler a few times around the parking lot and wait for the wife to get home. I go inside and download some new 70’s R&B tunes from itunes and make a mix that eventually the wife isn’t into.

She gets home about 25 minutes late and we go out. We hit Target, Quiznos, Barnes and Noble, the used DVD/CD place and a Liquor store. I score a few used Cds (Old and newer Bob Dylan and a Stevie Ray Vaughan Greatest Hits), Mars Attacks on DVD and a small bottle of Jager. We get home just before 7pm. I doze off the couch reading Kevin Smith’s new book I bought for the ipad and wake up at 8:10. I head out to get stuff to make mixed drinks. The wife puts the bots to bed and we sit up watching “DAVES OLD PORN” on Showtime On Demand before passing out around 1am. I suffer through a late night stomach ache but eventually it passes and I get to sleep around 2am. (Apparently I cannot handle Jagermeister on an empty stomach like I used to)

3-21-12

The wife somehow demands I get up with the bots at 6:55am to put him on the bus. But I am woke up at 6:40 buy him kicking at the door for a wake up of his own. I get up and check email and the bank. We got her bonus finally, but unfortunately it is far less than we thought it would be. I wake her up and break the news. She gets up and we make plans. I put the kid on the bus and she pays bills. We opt for some early morning Denny’s breakfast where I enjoy a slam to help soak up the booze from the night before. We get back and I read a bit more on Kevin Smith’s book before passing out around 9am.

I wake back up at 11:55 and go get the bots off the bus. It’s a nice day out and I convince the family to get out for a couple hours before the wife has to work. That was my first mistake. Everyone was driving horrible and people making dumb mistakes. It just wasn’t our day! I took the family through Mcdonalds and they screwed up our order (natch). I didn’t eat any McDs though as I plan to stay diet strong. We go to Walmart and I get some house cleaner stuff and some grilled chicken and diet citrus tea. (TASTES GOOD! ZERO EVERYTHING! The first tea I’ve liked in a long, long time!) We almost get run over in the Walmart parking lot and I declare that we should have never left the house, cause the nice weather is letting the crazies out! We head to pet smart and get my tank’s water tested and AGAIN, the Ammonia is high. About a 4. I get pissed because I have been sweating balls over the tank and its got me no where. Instantly I feel like a big failure. I’ve always wanted a fish tank and for some reason I cannot get this one to work for me. BUT, my two orange moors (George and Gracie) are still alive and seem swimmy/happy. I have no clue what to do anymore. So we head home defeated and the wife heads to work. I clean the house a bit and listen to podcasts and music to try to get my mind off how crappy the day has been so far.

I get emails confirming that my Walking Dead cards will be here tomorrow and that the DC 52 cards will be coming in two weeks. I am very excited about this set because I am a huge DC comics fan. Especially Superman. Harkens back to my childhood!

I do some doodling on a Wonder Woman and Mars Attacks piece in copic, experimenting for what is to come. The wife calls to say the car repair needed for the jeep will be around $1500! (ouch) (She accidently hit a pole outside our home and knocked our side bumper off a bit, yikes!) So thanks to the bonus being shorter than what we wanted, we put that plan on the far back burner. I catch up on podcasts and read SIP on the shitter as well. I read some of my Kevin Smith book and play with bots, then eat some tuna around 4pm and some grilled chicken pieces at 8pm, all while sipping on diet Green Tea. Brian calls and we chat about the Walking Dead season finale. The bots passes out around 8:30 and take care of ebay auctions that were won and start pages for ANNA 2. I get about 3 pencilled and partially inked before Mark Walters calls and we talk for an hour. The wife texts and says her replacement got into a car accident, and so she’s gotta stay till 5am. But as a result, she’ll have Thursday off. She was supposed to work 3-Midnight. So there’s that. Anyway, I stay up till around 2am on the phone with Mark and then watch some TV and pass out on the couch till the wife gets home at 4:30. Then off to real bed.