5-21-12
I wake up around 6:30 coughing and down some Nyquil and
attempt to cough up the phlem to no avail. The wife gets up and puts the bots
on the bus. I pass back out till around 11:30. I get up and head to Pruess Pets
to see if they can fix my fish tank light, which is now officially beyond
repair. They try to talk me into a new LED light, which I consider but it is
more than what I wanted to put into it at this point. So I head back and try to
talk to the wife to consider our options. I pick her and bots up and go to Fire
Mountain for lunch. I am good and eat a salad and not too much bad food. Then
we go to the Post office and then back home to change a bots’ diaper. Then we
head to Walmart to get me new cough medicine and a pair of shorts to work out in.
We also grab new litter and catfood too. All morning, my throat is raw and I
sound like Batman fucked Lance Hendrickson.
I stop by Meijer gas station to get a slurpee and then we
head home. I check online shit and repond to a few emails and get to coloring,
while the wife heads to see the Avengers for the second time! (yeah, second.
Completely uncharacteristic for her to see a flick two times in a row in the
theater, let alone a comic book movie. She must really finally be falling into
my dark abyss of nerddom! I reign supreme like Thanos n’shit!) I download new
podcasts and start to clean the house. I take time out to call dad to wish him
and Gloria happy anniversary to realize I got the date wrong AGAIN! Its May 2nd,
not 20th!!! I apologize up and down but I still feel like crap. We
talk for around thirty minutes and then I get off the phone, still feeling like
shit about it. Been married ten years and I haven’t committed the date to
memory yet? I’m horrible with dates as it is. I still think Kelly’s b-day is
June 20th, not July 20th. BAHHHHH. I continue with my
cleaning, feeling about 2 inches tall.
I clean the house a bit and finish coloring the video game
graphic and send off a low res version for approval. The wife comes home and
cooks shrimp while I work on more NOTLD cards. The kid goes to bed around 8:30
and I head to the party store to get Amaretto and Jagermiester. I get back and
the wife and I watch Jackass 3 while I drink some booze. I get a decent buzz
going and we eat some nachos. I end up passing out around midnight, but cannot
fall asleep thanks to my breathing being impaired thanks to the constant
coughing. Bullshit!!
5-22-12
I wake up at 6:55, and watch the wife put the bots on the
bus. I brew some coffee and get to work on sketch cards. I am switching my
schedule up a bit because I know I gotta work the next three nights at the day
job and I am super behind on work. I end up coloring the last 15 cards and
officially finish work on the Night of the Living Dead cards for Unstoppable. I
scan them and send them to Jason for approval and post on the scoundrel boards
about the set and other things. I send invoices to those folks who bought my AP
cards from the two Marvel/Upper Deck sets on ebay. Then update online shit and
blog. All this done before 10:30 and I am feeling super productive!! Feels
good. (Must be the coffee)
I start work on a sexy print of Blondie from the comic strip
and before I know it, its noon and time to get the bots. The wife convinces me
into some Logans for lunch so we all head there and get the cheap Mon-Wed. deal
and I score the grilled chicken. After that we go to Big Lots where bots gets
discs and I get Watchmen on disc for $3. I text Dean asking him if he’s into
still getting a table at Heroes or just going as a fan. He opts for table,
which is what I was hoping he’d say. So I get home and call and resubmit my
paperwork. I send out tweets and FB messages hoping for replies as to know my
chances since I am on the “waiting list” and its sort of a “we’ll call you” type
of deal. Reguardless, I take the chance and go ahead and place orders with
Comixpress and Bags Unlimited and start taking an inventory of what I need for
the con table, in case we get in. I attempt a nap at 2pm which doesn’t take. My
throat is still bothering me and I cannot breathe well while laying down. And
my mind is racing about how productive I’ve been, coupled with excitement about
getting a table at Heroes. So I get back up and get more work done. I count out
my prints and what I need to reprint, old and new. Then pack up some of the
ebay auction winners. Then I get emailed that someone else wants the other
AVENGERS AP card. So I email with them and broker the deal. They pay and I put
it on my to do list for tomorrow.
Around 5:30, I get ready and head into my night shift at the
Den of Sin. It is uneventful as always. I come home at 2:15 am, tired as hell
and try to get through the bad coughing enough to fall asleep by 3am.
5-23-12
I wake up at 11:30, deciding not to get up early to get work
done as I am tired as fuck. I get up and check online shit and finish packing
up ebay stuff to take to the post office. I update blog and other stuff. We get
bots off the bus and head to the bank, post office and get lunch. I stop off at
Barnes and Noble to get the latest Horrorhound magazine as well. We go to Red
Robin and I get a small cesaer salad with no dressing and a water. Then we head
to Kroger to stock up on fruits and veggies for me, yogurt for the bots. Then
we get home and I make a strawberry smoothie with my mix. It tastes super
yummy!
Yeah, I’m going on the diet again. The see saw, “This time I
mean it” diet. And I know I’ve said this about every other week for the last
ten years, that THIS TIME IS IT! I know no one out there believes I can do it.
Not even those close to me. I’ve let them down too many times. So the only
thing I can do is really prove it. So it starts today. No diet, but a new way
of living.
I decide to go walk on the treadmill for about 15 minutes
and then swim with the family for a bit. But I end up instead of swimming,
realxing in the hot tub. We get back home and the wife and I sneak off for some
quality time while the bots plays (YAY!) and I pass out on the bed till 5:20. I
get back up and head to work. I eat my two apples there as well as a 6” turkey
sub, no dressing. I sip on Raspberry Tea the whole time there. The shift drags
and drags but finally ends and I get home, passing out around 3am.
5-24-12
I wake up at 11:40 and the wife convinces me to get up to go
to town to run errands. Today is her last day of her mini vacation and we are
both in great moods. We get bots off the bus and head to the bank, Meijer in
Okemos, Best Buy (where I score the new Deluxe Edition Garbage CD) and then
some lunch. I eat bad, but sensible. I figure apples and salads tonight will
balance me out, plus I got a LOOOONG shift tonight so I need to eat. NO
QUITTING!!!!
Anyway, we head to the mall where I get a few Rush Cds I
don’t have (Roll the Bones, 2112 and Test for Echo), bots gets a couple discs and
the wife gets a CD. We head home and I get a check from Upper Deck in the mail.
I am excited but then confused as to what it is for exactly. Is it both sets I
did or just one? So I scan my stub and send it to Nick to get clarification as
to what I got paid for exactly. I then finally get the logo going for the video
game commission and send off samples to Jordan and then work on a sketch card
commission pencils and send them off. Then I burn the Cds to the computer and
put the songs on both sides of the comp (wifes and mine). While doing that, I get an email from Rico
confirming that there is a table available at Heroes Con for me! So I call him
and authorize payment, locking me in 100% for Heroes Con! I text Dean all
excited and I am bubbling with ideas and what its gonna be like. But, the den
of sin beckons.
I get dressed and head to work. Once there, I get in a
verbal fight with a stripper who is being EXTREMELY rude for no reason. I laugh
it off. I am in too grand a mood! Apparently that’s her M.O. anyway. My mind is
constantly on what to do for Heroes Con and I barely notice my shift. It goes
by and I get home around 4:20am. I elect to stay up and just wait to get bots
up and put him on the bus, THEN sleep. I am dog ass tired, but I survive. Bots
wakes up at 6:30, I get him dressed and on the bus by 7:30 and go pass out.
5-25-12
I pass out at 7:35 in the morning after putting the kid on the bus. I wake up cause my phone is vibrating like a mofo around 9:30 to see that
my boss is texting me, saying someone called off due to pink eye and wanted to
know if I was patient zero. I confirm not, but I am still a tad sick, but
determined to work. (I picked up a shift for tonight from a co-worker, looking
for extra hours for more HEROES money!) I finish texting her and go back to
sleep. I have a weird dream about not getting any sleep and have to pick up
bots and take him to school. Then they give me my baby, James (unborn) and I
argue that watching a baby means that I won’t get ANY sleep in the morning!!
The baby sitter declares it not their problem and leave me to it. I drive off
in a big semi truck to get bots to school. Then my alarm goes off. I awake in
the real world, a bit shaken about the things and schedule juggling to come
when the baby is born, and head out to get the bots off the bus. We get back
inside and I check email and text more with my boss. Turns out the employee who
called in sick called in for tomorrow as well and wanted me to pick up another
shift. I agree to do it. A bummer, I know, but I’m just focused on that Heroes
Con money! I check email and online shit and get to work on a couple
commissions I got. I finish them and package them up to ship. A ding at the door and its the UPS guy delivering my order of stuff from Bags Unlimited! I clean up the
kitchen a little bit and cook some tuna. In the middle of that, I get an email
offer for a gig that has me literally tearing up with joy as I read it. Its
huge for me. I cannot reveal what it is yet, but once the contract is signed,
believe me, I will open wide the floodgates! Truly an honor and I am on cloud 9
about it after I re-read the email about ten times! Truly, truly awesome!!!!!
Then I download some new podcasts and upload more music to
my iphone for work tonight. I watch some videos on Matt Busch’s website and
pencil some random stuff I have to work on. I’m feeling tired as hell around
4:30 so I lay on the couch for an hour of shut eye, which the kid curls up with
me to watch some cartoons. At 6:00, I get back up and check online shit and do
some planning as to my Heroes Auction piece. I know what I am doing but I gotta
decide on a layout. I got two main ideas, one I like more than the other. I
might do both. Who knows. The wife calls around 7pm to say HI and she arrives
shortly after and I get ready for work. I head out to the shift and work it.
Its slow going and uneventful as always. During my breaks I listen to the BFB
podcast from the night before and text Walters congratulating him on Dallas
Cons’ success! I get home around 4:20am and pass out shortly after that.
5-26-12
I wake up at 7:10 to the bots kicking the door. I am
literally on 2.5 hours of sleep. I get him stuff and start cartoons and pass
out on the couch. I wake up finally for good around 10:30, feeling beyond
guilty for sleeping. The bots is laying around bored so we play with my Trek
toys for a bit and I check email/online shit. I clean up the kitchen and
bathroom while listening to the newest Joe Rogan Podcast episodes and just try
to stay busy. I then decide to sit and start penciling some DC cards as I am
starting to fall behind on those. I get about 15 penciled and I grab some pens
to ink with. I look over and the bots is asleep in my mom’s chair. Instantly I
feel another twinge of guilt cause his daddy is boring. All sleep and artwork!
I wish it didn’t have to be that way, and I wish my job didn’t have to go till
4am!! Its not human. And I am bummed out for him after that.
I ink some cards and Kelly comes home. I lay on the couch,
still tired from before and I am out from 4:30-7:20. Like, OUT. Dead to the
world. No noise waking me up! So I get up and head into my final shift of work
for a couple days. I get to work and text with the wife my disappointment in
myself for being so tired and run down, and blame it on the job and the late
hours I have to work. And we re-confirm that indeed, once the new baby is born,
this just isn’t going to work. So Plan A is definitely in motion. Something has
to give, plain and simple. And with the snowball effect rolling in my favor as
far as gig after gig after gig, its perhaps time to retire from working a day
job finally. In a few months, I am likely going to step down and not do that
anymore. For a while probably. But more on that later…
On my break I call the wife and we talk about it more and I
express my excitement at the new things to come and some fears I have. We
totally agree on everything and I feel a lot better. I am still upset that the
kid was bored all day cause dad had to spend his day catching up on sleep and
artwork. Something has to give! Anyway, we end the conversation and I work my
shift. Uneventful and boring. I talk to another co-worker and he wants to take
my Tuesday night shift for next week. Which is fine by me because I picked up
two extra shifts this week and could use the extra day to catch up on stuff I
am behind on, and soon will be MAJORLY behind on when the new gig arrives! So I
send an email to the boss for approval and cross my fingers. I get out of work,
drop my co-worker off and head home. I am out before my head hits the pillow
around 4:30am.
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