Random Chunks of Life Experiences

Hey friends,

Last night's blog about Caleb gave me a huge spike in reads. Mostly due to reposts and revisits. I got some wonderful messages about it. I really appreciate it. Here in the blog I try to be entertaining, informative and write from a place of honesty about how I feel about this thing called life. People seem to be entertained by it because the numbers have stayed with me over the 14 years I've done this blog here at Idiothead.com - Same thing with my Morning Show Podcast (Available on Itunes for FREE). I appreciate the continued love and support.

Today's blog is a list of randomness that is on my mind and is going on currently. Enjoy:

1. Speaking on my previous blog about TOYS: My girlfriend sent me this. I thought it fit the concept in my head and thus justifies my feelings on the subject. Let's hear it from the man himself:

2. Remember my old cat Jake? He and Milo were my favorite cats. Milo I lost in 2009. Jake passed away in 2014. I miss them both greatly: 

We used to poke fun at Jake about how big of a cat he was and how much he loved to eat. I saw this painting this week and it reminded me of him. Gave me a chuckle. 

3. The boys came over fora  double sleep over last weekend and I snapped this pic when they were sleeping. I thought it was cute. 

They were laying together. So cute!!

4. My oldest son Cody is coming for a week long visit this coming weekend. Its a crazy time in his life and mine right now but we're gonna make the juggle and make it work. I'm looking forward to seeing him again. Hopefully he will let me snap a few pics this time. In six short months he will turn 18 years old. So trippy to think that!!

5. There's a lot going on in STAR TREK world lately. What with the new show "Discovery" and now reportedly a Khan mini-series. To be honest, neither has me excited. Discovery was promised to be set 10 years before the events of Kirk/Spock prime (not JJ Abrams-verse) and yet the costumes, designs, etc look like JJ Abrams-verse. Plus there's Harry Mudd, being played by a 50 year old Rain Wilson, when in according to the timeline, Mudd would be in his 20s. Also meeting species before the Kirk timeline, like Tribbles... It just sounds like they are taking Trek-isms and throwing them together for a mish-mash of Trekking, with modern storytelling tropes of explosions and crew members hating each other. I'm not excited for it. And now the Khan series: It might be cool, but it has already been covered in a great book series and comic series. If you can improve on that, I don't know. But most importantly: WHY? Sometimes you don't need to see every nook and cranny of a universe. The story in your head can be just as great, if not better. Sometimes when we are shown in a cannon form how something unfolded, we get disappointed. I so wish they would just make a post-TNG/VOY/DS9 show and move forward that way. This isn't grandpa complaining... this is just story writing preference 101 talking. It would be as if I were to make a TV show based on football of the past, give them new, modern uniforms and robotic balls n'shit, and said it takes place before the first superbowl. Some football fans would be like, "wait a minute!!" Just saying. And yes, I'll give it a few episodes of a try. But I'm not excited about it.

5.5 But what I am excited about is Seth McFarlane's THE ORVILLE. Looks like a Galaxy Quest TV show and I'm sure will be a post-post-modern deconstructionist view on sci-fi TV show-isms. We'll see if it has legs to last that long with that, but so far what I see... I'm excited for that rather than Trek. So that says something.

6. I know you are probably curious as to how my comics are coming along. I'm busy assembling the Erotic Zone GN and that will go up on Kickstarter hopefully in August. I'm finishing it up now. Bare with me. I just had to juggle a weird schedule for a while and it took me a long time to catch up with sleep and life around it. But my training is done and I've tapped into the overtime hours. I even had to give up my Saturday off this week for some OT. That's okay. Its all for a greater good. But life priorities must come first before play. Bare with me.

7. On my MORNING SHOW PODCAST I started a new segment called "Does it hold up," where I revist old favorite movies I haven't seen in decades and ask essential questions wondering if the movie holds up or not. Also we are fast approaching episode 500 of the podcast. The contest now for the show is: EMAIL ME a question (or several) that I can read and answer on the air and you get entered into a drawing to win three hand drawn art pages from my comics! Contest ends just before I record episode 500, which is coming very soon! I think I got like 14 left to go. And those come quick! Act now and win stuff!!

I guess that is all that is on my mind currently. Have a great week my friends. Go do great things for yourself and others. Make it happen!

--T

The Days Slip By...

Its been a while since I posted a non-business-y blog here so I thought I'd write to everyone a bit.

First of all, the looks at the site and the downloads of the Morning Show podcast have been steadly increasing. I thank all of you for coming out and also staying interested. Even in the downtime of me not releasing anything new, I try to keep good content coming like podcasts, blogs, daily FB and Twitter posts. So thanks. I will be retooling the sit a bit soon and making an all new COMMISSIONS and ORIGINAL ART SALES section. Also promoting my FB and Twitter links more. Give me some time on that. But I appreciate the attention. So much on the net is trying to gain your interest but you keep coming back. I thank you. I'll always continue to keep up my end of the bargain.

Today we went and picked up our cat Jake's ashes. I couldn't help but get a big lump in my throat upon seeing the tin its in, which finally developed into a bit of tears when I got home. I guess it sort of cements the reality a bit more in my head. See, I wasn't here the day we had to put him down. So its always sorta felt like he was simply upstairs sleeping somewhere. Other than the little reminders of him not coming down at 7pm on the dot asking for food or rubbing on my legs when I did put the food down, it just felt like he was here. But now its more of a "reality" that he's not. That sucks. Its one week now, to the day that he's been gone.

Mostly its been out of my mind. I've been keeping busy with laundry, deep cleaning things around the house, rearranging my office a bit. I haven't got much work done beyond some small commission stuff. I am hoping to get into a rhythm this weekend of solid production on my own stuff. I got a list growing a mile long and I am tired of the distractions.

I've taken some slow personal time to listen to podcasts to keep me laughing. I watched some Tom Baker Doctor Who and finally sat down to watch Iron Man 3. I missed it in the theater. I still haven't seen Godzilla (2014) and don't really have the drive to go to the theater to go see a flick. I've just been on autopilot really. The thoughts on my mind about the things I need to work on that I learned at C4 have got my brain in a good place. I know what I got to do, now its just a matter of doing it.

Things are on the rise. My step-mom's cancer is shrinking, so that is great news. I'm almost sold out of my new print run of Pleasant Life books. Those commissions I have done have come out quite satisfactory and I apply for new gigs daily. My head is in the game and I am doing it. I got my goals set and a plan in motion. I simply just have to put the car into gear and hit the gas pedal. It will happen. It always does.

One thing I want to do immediately is do a quick kids' book about Jake. I already got the style and plot laid out. A simple 12 page thing resembling a kids' book. Maybe put it together and sell it as an all ages book at the shows. All my life I dealt with my problems through my comics. Mom's death was in Pleasant Life, Milo was in Anna Pocalypse... and certainly Jake will be no different. Its theraputic for me to do so. So I hope you enjoy it when its done. Soon. Very soon. It will be good for me to do that, I think.

As we approach mid-year, I reflect back on 2014 and what a bummer of a year its been. From the very beginning of January with my dad's heart attack, crap winter, step mom's cancer, James' surgery, money woes, freelance struggles, lack of shows, lack of sales, Jake's death and other stuff... its just been a weird 6 months. But there's also been some great times. The wife and I get to get out of the house once in a while now. We've made some great new friends. We spend time together now and I still am improving on my work. Plus I got all my books back in print and our Kickstarter was funded. Its been equally as good. I don't focus on the negative all the time. I am fully aware of what is going right for me too. And we've got nowhere to go but up. Onward and Upward as I always say.

Thanks all for caring and the emails/messages you all have sent. They mean the world to me. But we're okay. We're rockin'. Pedal to the metal. You'll get a lot from me very soon. You haven't seen anything yet.

Cheers, T

Jake R.I.P.

Just before the show this weekend, I got the call from the wife that our beloved cat Jake wasn't getting better and the best option was to end his suffering. It was a painful decision and the effects of his loss is still one that we will be processing for some time.

The wife got him in 2001 shortly before we met. And he was with us every step through our lives of meeting, getting married, every move, every new addition to the family, kids, jobs, etc. He was always my favorite of the furry guys and I am deeply saddened by his death. Its going to take a while to sink in but now that I am home after the long weekend of the show, I'm starting to feel it a bit. He was a valued member of our family and will definitely be missed. We had him cremated and will keep his ashes next to a big pic of him. His spirit will always be here, eating food and making us feel loved. Some pics to remember him: