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Saturday—I wake up at 7:15 to pee and decide to stay up.
Bots joins me in 20 minutes after that. I update blog, do some social media
plugging and other stuff on the net. It’s a low key day with us mostly hanging
out. I do manage to squeeze in some writing and I get another 8 pages into one
of my books. Moving right along! I pass out around 11:30.
Sunday—Bots gets me up at 7:20 and I go downstairs and spend
all morning dropping flat colors on new Starslam pages and 8 pages of
commissions for a long time client. Baby gets up at 10 (slept in long!) I keep
coloring all day and watch the Lions lose to the Bengals at the last minute and
then the Colts beat the Broncos. But
other than that, I am coloring pages. I finish the commissions and send them to
the client who emails back that he loves them. I get an email of reference
shots for an upcoming card set.
The wife comes home and I head to Walmart for some groceries
and another gate to keep bots from climbing onto our oven. I get back and clean
out the fridge real good and take out a bunch of trash. Then break to watch the
new Walking Dead and Talking Dead. By then bots is finally passed out and I
follow suit around midnight.
Monday—Bots wakes me up at 7:22 and I update blog and other
net stuff. I get an email from my Detroit Fanfare hotel with the wrong date
attached. I knew they’d mess up my arrival date! So I call them and they fix
it. Someone the first time put me as “ADAM PALLEY” and thus when I called to
change the date, they couldn’t find my reservation. Dopes. So I fix that, get
bots on the bus and then drive with baby to the bank to cash my check from
sketch cards. Baby falls asleep so I decide to take a quiet drive and let him
sleep. I love driving in the quiet. I just listen to podcasts and enjoy time
with myself.
Around 1pm, I get home and play with baby. Kelly and bots
get home at the same time and we head to Subway for eats. Then we hit the
Halloween store for bots a Halloween costume. He chooses to be Spongebob. So it
is. We get back home and I go back out for some vodka and rum cause the wife
decided she wanted to drink after the kids go to bed. I get online and pull
some comedy things to watch. The kids fall asleep and so we sit up boozing and
watching comedy roasts. We pass out by 1am.
Tuesday---I get up around 8am and the wife does too. We all
go out for some Mcds breakfast and then head home. I call and talk to my dad
while taking care of minor things online. I get offered another sketch card
pin-up girl gig and I am happy with it. I email back and forth with Brian who
needs more Sherlock Holmes cards. Bots goes on the bus, I put baby down for a
nap and then call maintenance to come fix our central air (the heater isn’t
kicking on). He comes and fixes it. Meanwhile I sketch on commissions and email
back and forth some more with someone about a potential comic project I might
be hired for. I pitch an initial story concept and the gig is all but approved!
Very exciting prospects.
Bots gets off the bus apparently very moody. We hang out all
day and I pencil some more at the kitchen table. Brian Maze calls and we shoot
the shit. Baby goes back to bed and so does bots. Wife comes home with food and
we sit up talking for an hour. Then we hit the bed around midnight.
Wednesday---I wake myself up at 7am from a weird dream and
go downstairs to email an ex employee about a job opening I heard about. I
update crap online and email some more with my editor about some things. After bots gets on the bus I head to Hobby
Lobby and the car wash place to clean my car. We get back home and baby passes
out upstairs. I do some writing and clean the house real good, also do some
laundry. I even vacuum the whole place. And (drumroll) take out the trash!
(sexy!)
In the mail, I get a package from Durden with my Puzzle Jam
cards, some blank trading cards and some blank sketch covers! And also a pack
of cards I got for bots as a present. I pack up my gig bag for Fanfare. The
wife gets home and I head to Walmart to get a new bin and some duct tape. I get
back home and stay up all night finishing the Sherlock Movie Stars card art and
then join the BigFanboy Podcast til 3am. Then pass out.
Thursday---I get up at 8am and play with bots and baby. Bots
gets on bus and I try to get baby to sleep. He’s resistant so we drive to
Okemos to see if the Toys R Us there has the wave 2 of Black Box edition Star
Wars figures, which they do not. We head back and he passes out in bed. I take
an hour and a half nap-ola on the couch. Bots gets home moody and the wife
comes home after 5pm to take over.
I head to Belle Tire to get my tires looked at and rotated
for the weekend’s trip. After an hour, I’m done and head to Kroger to get bots
some snacks and things he’s out of. Then back home. I toy with going to see the
new Jackass movie, but don’t want to fight the crowds. Instead I watch a new
Toy Hunter, South Park, and a Jackass original TV show marathon on MTV2. I pass
out in bed around 11pm.
Friday—I wake up with bots around 7am and he plays with his
ipod and I gather maps for Fanfare. I toy with the idea of leaving tonight for
the show and put out feelers for anyone’s floor I could potentially sleep on. The
wife gets up and I tell her my potential plans, which she shoots down
immediately. I email everyone back saying the wife nixed my idea. She heads to
work and I listen to Stern and clean the house. Bots gets on bus, baby to sleep
and I make Tuna Helper and get some writing done. Then I break and watch South
Park.
At 3:30pm bots gets home and the wife comes home an hour and
a half later. She’s hungry and so we go to Red Robin. Then I drop her back off
at work so she can do something she forgot. Then we head back home. I text with
Dean to hear how the show is going in my absence. Seems its slow but everyone
is asking about me. So I am sour about not being able to go. The kids fall
asleep and I hit the bed around 9:30 so I can get good sleep cause I’m getting
up early to get there.
Saturday---For some reason I wake up at 4:30am and cannot go
back to sleep. I decide to head out anyway and beat the sun and the traffic. I
gas up, get breakfast and head to Dearborn. I get there in a couple hours and
its way too early for me to check in or start set up, so I sit in the lobby for
an hour checking online shit on my phone. I run into some old friends and chat
up some new ones. Finally at 8:10 we’re let onto the show floor and I start set
up. Then I do a cover sketch to get warmed up. Slowly everyone starts to arrive
and I run into all the old pals. The day starts and its slow but steady. I make
a pretty decent amount. Enough to cover my expenses for the weekend trip. I go
check in and give the key to Uko in the other room, as he is my roomie for the
night. I head back and finish out the day. By 7pm I am STARVING so Robert, Erin
and I head to the mall and eat Sbarros at the food court. The pizza is extra
spicy and I am airing out my mouth hardcore.
After the mall, I drive them back to their car and I head up
to my room with my bag o clothes. Uko is in there putting the finishing touches
on a piece. On the way in, I am grabbed by a room neighbor to see if I want one
of their beers. We figure out that we actually talked on twitter that morning
and he’s a media guy covering the con. (Later I see him with a painted bra on,
very drunk. Everyone is having a good time!) So Uko and I sip a beer and catch
up. Then I head downstairs and get a couple screwdrivers and wait around for
the party to start in the ballroom. It finally does and by then I need more
alcohol. In the course of the night I drink 2 beers, 4 Screwdrivers and 4
Daquaries. I tip very well so I think they hook me up with very potent doses.
Uko, Robert, Jay, Dean, Bruce, Erin and many others eventually join me and we
watch everyone dance and the costume contest get judged. By that time I am
talking to someone and I realize that I feel like puking. So I excuse myself
rather quickly and head to the room. I get in bed and pass out by 12:30am. I
drank way too much.
Sunday---The wife texts me at 8am waking me up. Uko is still
asleep and I gotta piss real bad. So I quietly get dressed and head out the
door. I’m thirsty as shit and hungry as fuck. I hit the lobby, seriously
considering going to the hotel breakfast café and pay $22 for an egg and toast.
But like magic, Dean and Jay Jaycot walk down the stairs announcing they are
heading to a diner nearby and I could tag along. Jay loans me his jacket cause
I left mine in the room. We head to a place called “Gus N’ Us” and its quite
good breakfast. We get back and by then I am holding in a monster shit. I
barely make it back to the room, pleading in my head that Uko isn’t using the
bathroom to shower, or else I wasn’t gonna make it. Luckily for me, he was in
the room, post shower! So I shit out a Godzilla and wipe the sweat off my face
in relief. We chat some more and then head out to the show. I walk around the
dealer area and don’t see much that I want to get. (suprising for me!)
I set up and the day goes slow and steady. Everyone
reporting low sales. But I don’t care as much cause I made my money back and
met some great new people. Plus it was great to get out of the house and check
out a show once in a while. It felt good to be there among everyone again. It
was lonely at Wizard World Chicago as none of my friends were there. This time,
lots of them were there and it was great to see them and what they are doing.
Always great fuel for me when I go home.
I get the new Cynicalman trade from Matt Feazell and a couple
dollar comics. A few books here and there from friends and that’s about it. At
6pm, I pack up, say my goodbyes and head home. On the way back I hit the
monster of all traffic jams, where 4 lanes go down to one due to construction.
About an hour and change of a delay. And surprise! When I get to the spot of
the one lane: NO ONE IS WORKING! No one Is even there! Its blocked off for NO
REASON WHATSOEVER! ARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!! Anyway, I get into Howell, MI and gas
up, hit the White Castle and head home. I get in the door right at nine as the
wife is putting bots to sleep and Walking Dead starts. I watch the show sort of
underwhelmed. Then retire to bed, chat with the wife and pass out around 10:30.
