Unsuccessfully Coping with Turning Older and Dealing with Life's Bullshit

Thanks for coming here for a read, my friends. Gather round as grandpa titillates you with another barely coherent ramble of nonsense from his aging spine flower. I appreciate those who come here and also who stick through til the end of my postings. I wish I could say I do it all for you, but in truth, it is for me. To get things off my chest and rid myself of some of the thinky pain, by sharing my thoughts aloud to the ether and to those who would lend me an ear. I do appreciate it.

I turned 42 this weekend. I received lots of messages of love and appreciation, all of which got a return thank you note. The least I could do. My lovely bride got me the Harlan Ellison book I've been wanting. I'm reading it rather quickly, enjoying every word of it! I got a gift card from my dear father in law, with which I took the wife on a necessary trip to a couple local swap shops, diving deep for physical media to fill our already well fed media shelves. Oh so necessary. I love my gluttonous shelves jam packed with dusty but well loved DVDs, Blu-Rays, Video Games, Books, Records, CD, Toys and anything else I can use to distract myself from the daily grind. I found three vintage in the box STAR TREK TNG figures from Playmates, as well as TMNT (1990) on Blu-ray, BATMAN ANIMATED SERIES season 4 DVD set, yet another JEFF BUCKLEY live Cd (How many of those things exist? I do not know, but they all must be mine), and KING DIAMOND'S "ABIGAIL" on vinyl. Do I need these things? Of course not, but yet I do. Don't judge me. Its how I fill the holes. I also sat down to a lovely lunch/dinner at Logan's Steakhouse, where I had grilled chicken and shrimp. I plan to have a steak dinner with my father in law sometime soon, so I shall savor that moment to come.

All of these things I have used to be a welcome interloper to the stress, anger and depression that has been swirling around my head like a vulture waiting to gnaw on the remaining unspoiled specs of meat. The last couple weeks have been hell. My wife to be has lost a parent and we are coping with all of that. On my side of the fence, my father is having some personal struggles of his own. All of this indeed weighs heavy and sometimes I think I'd rather french kiss a cactus than face it head on. But despite all our distractions, the pain exists and we are working through it. Everyone has been lovely with their messages and gifts of food and comfort. It means the world to us. Thank you so, so, soooo much. That is all I will say about that for now.

I passed out the bad news of the delay of the physical release of STARSLAM RETURNS. Just have had too much going on to finish the things that need finishing to send it to the printer. But for those who are waiting, I do promise (as I always do) to deliver. I appreciate your patience and bearing with me. I also have been busy keeping steady work on the PATREON comics for the year of 2020. Right now I have scanned in all the original art and partially colored the flats for stories that lead all the way through to September. My goal is to finish all the year and get it scheduled, uploaded and done so that I can focus on other things for a while. I want to get PLEASANT LIFE 2 finally launched sporadically on the Patreon, as well as doing some writing. I want to finish one of the 19 novels I have planned/started/almost finished. Seriously, I want to.
I need to.
I shall.
This year.
Promise.

I have seen the first episode of STAR TREK: PICARD and I am pleased to say that I enjoyed it. I think there are a couple established cannon factoids they didn't address but perhaps those will be answered in later episodes. It feels good to finally be taking the STAR TREK story forward instead of doing another prequel. I detest prequel stories in general. I feel that they fail on all levels, most important of which is living up to expectations. While I sometimes do flashbacks in regular stories, you will never see me do a prequel to anything I ever write. Always moving forward is a good thing. Not just in creative endeavors but also in life.

This week I have taken the time to watch some new things. Movies like RUNNING SCARED, JAY & SILENT BOB REBOOT, and episodes of the classic THE OUTER LIMITS and THE TWILIGHT ZONE. I'm also sitting down to read not only my Ellison book, but the booklets of some box sets I have purchased but haven't dug through as deeply yet. I also got my preordered SONS OF APOLLO album, which I haven't listened to yet. I am currently enjoying a re-listen/re-appreciation of the NEAL MORSE BAND'S "SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM," ALTER BRIDGE "FORTRESS," OPETH "IN CAUDA VENENUM" and other stuff. New stuff I've pre-ordered include the new PEARL JAM and STONE TEMPLE PILOT records. Exciting stuff in music coming!

Currently I am reading ELLISON'S ENDLESSLY WATCHING, UNFUCK YOURSELF by Gary John Bishop and a re-read of DRAGONLANCE: DRAGONS OF AUTUMN TWILIGHT. Its all keeping me sane but most importantly as I said, distracted.

Its been a bumpy road so far this year. In 25 short days, we've had threats of war, a circus of a senate trial, the death of Neil Peart, Terry Jones, my mother in law and other things. I've been dealing with back trouble and up and down eating patterns around the anger/depression of the above things happening. But I'm getting through it. That is the important thing right? I'm still here, trying hard. I'll get it all sorted and figured out someday.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you all have it sorted and figured out someday too. It's the goal, right?

--T

SDCC Finds So Far...

I went to San Diego Comic Con only once in 2009. It was a very memorable trip for me. I got to see lots of my friends, make new ones, drink next to Uhura, buy exclusives, work the Antarctic Press booth for a while and even concieved a new character and comic in the hotel room one of those nights! Yes, my graphic novel ANNA POCALYPSE was outlined and sketched there. So the trip was quite fun and I've always wanted to go back. Its not a good "business" show for me to set up at or anything, but just a fun spectacle to behold and be at. Each year since 2009 they've had major surprises and goings on that make me mad that I didn't get the cash together to go back yet. Last year was the big BREAKING BAD stuff, which especially hurt.

Each year, I watch on FB, Twitter and other news sites of all the news, pics and fun all my pals are having there. I also read up on the news, pics of the show floor and exclusives. Its only Thursday so some of the big nut news going on out there right now still hasn't dropped yet. But so far I am digging the pics of some of the upcoming toys and things.....

Especially exciting is the new Ghostbusters figures. I missed out on the first Matty Collector run and now they are on ebay for stupid money. But these are essentially the same figures, but the packs can be removed. AWESOME! I Gotta jump on these this time. And yes, I will buy two of each. 

I'm a BIG fan of the Batman animated 90's series. And they are producing figures for the set. I'll get a few of them, I am sure. For sure a Batman, Joker and Riddler. 

Finally, FINALLY, the announced and showed packaging for the upcoming Batman 1960's tv show Blu-Ray box set. Its never been released on home video before, so everyone is anxious for it. The price is a tad high right now, but I'm sure it will go down in time.

Its early yet and I am sure some major happenings will be going down this weekend at Comic Con. I know all my pals are having a good time. It is my definate hope to join them there next year. Since I recently scored a new day job, I'm making it a personal goal to pay off all bills and then save up to go to the show and have fun. Its an expensive one, sure... but one that is well worth checking out at least once in your life. There's arguements all over the place how the movie studios have taken it over and its not "comic" con anymore. But Fuck it. Its more a big celebration of all things nerd pop culture and there's about 150,000 people there that all are into the same shit as you. And EVERYONE goes. So make your plans to try it once as well!

T