Pre-Heroes Con Diary

6-14-12

My phone rings at 7:10 and its my parents who are outside my apartment building. I get up and head out to help them in. We sit and visit for a couple hours and then they head out north to Mt. Pleasant to that leg of their trip. I play with bots for a while and check online shit. I nap for about 20 minutes on the couch before the wife calls and says she’s on her way home. She gets lunch and comes home. We eat and text with my parents to see if they want us to come up tonight or tomorrow. They say tomorrow, so we go to East Lansing to Curious Books and I get  a used Star Wars novel. Then to Holt to look at a house that we are debating on renting. Then we head back home. I end up taking a nap for a couple hours. I wake up and the wife ordered food for us. The bots is asleep and we sit and watch Man V. Food while eating. Lee texts and says he wants to do a DVD commentary podcast, and we agree on Slumber Party Massacre 2. I put the word out through online stuff and emails. Finally around 11:30, we start the show and he bows out halfway through. Walters joins to fill space. After the show we all sit and talk for a long time about Prometheus and Heroes Con, during which I work on coloring cards. I bow out and pass out around 3am.

6-15-12

I wake up around 7:45 to the bots kicking the door and we get ready to head up to Mt. Pleasant to visit family. We drive the hour and change up to the old motherland and check out my parent’s hotel suite. I get in the car with dad and head to Shepherd to pick up my brother Michael from his home. We get back to town and meet Kelly, Gloria and bots at Lil’ Chef (one of my old favorite restaurants from college… oh the memories I have there!) and have a nice breakfast. After a while, Dad, Gloria and Michael take off for my other brother Tony’s house. The wife, Bots and I go to Paperback Book Exchange and I get another used Star Wars book and she gets a few other books. I help the clerk use SQUARE UP on my phone to take a credit card. Good thing she’s a trusting soul!

We leave and drive through town observing all that has changed in the year or two since I had been there last. We go out of town, headed for Rosebush area where Tony lives. We get there around 11:45 and stay till 2:30. We shoot the shit with family and just have a good time sitting in the shade and enjoying fresh air. Finally, we head back to Mt. Pleasant and stop off at one of my favorite joints in Mt. P, Jon’s Country Burger. We order and eat hearty and then drive through campus and the rest of town seeing what all has changed. Finally, we head back for Lansing, our home. On the way, the wife is looking at appointments for a possible move. I make the mistake of asking why we are considering moving and we get into a tiff about it. Once home, she retires to our room for a nap and I am left watching bots and updating online stuff. In the mail we get the RF Converter, so I set up bots’ DVD and old TV in his room with the proper cords. I also pull out the Heroes auction piece to get to work on it.  A couple hours later, I am a few more figures in and I stop to play with bots in his room. The wife wakes up and attempts to put the kid to bed, which doesn’t take. I stay up eating leftovers and watching old RUSH videos on Youtube. I have been RUSH crazy lately! I hear the kid still awake so I attempt to lay with him and watch Tv for a while, hoping he’d go to sleep. The wife eventually takes over when I pass out around 11pm, trying to get him to sleep. Eventually she succeeds after midnight and I am long since dead to the world, catching up on much needed sleep.

6-16-12

I wake up at 8am to the kicking of bots’ door. His usual wake up call. I get up and check email and online stuff. Then cut out the remaining print cards and assemble art and matted prints for Heroes Con. Then make a to do list for the day. The wife gets up and seems to be in a bit better mood. We get dressed and go to Radioshack to return one of the UHF cords I don’t need. Then to Red Robin for food. I ain’t into the place but I don’t want to naysay it out of fear of another fight! So I go and tough it out, which eventually works out fine. Then we backtrack to Walmart for a storage bin for Heroes table, some food for bots and other odds and ends. I get cash back and head to the bank to get two rolls of quarters for laundry.

We get home and the wife takes off for work. I sort the laundry and start loads in the outside washer and dryer. I do dishes and clean the kitchen and sort other stuff for my gig bag. Art and all that sort of thing. I get the mail and in it (FINALLY!) are my copies of the “Cheesecake Artbook!” One less worry for me and I will have them in time for Heroes Con! The bots is occupied playing Star Wars figures and watching cartoons while I get all of this done.

Finally around 8:45 I put him down for bed and continue laundry. Once he’s out, I pull out the Heroes Auction piece and get it about 80% done. Then keep organizing my gig bag and putting together more prints. Around 10, the wife texts to say she’s coming home with Subway. She gets home and we eat. I finish up laundry and watch parts of Silence of the Lambs and Sharktopus on TV. Finally laundry is done and I pass out around midnight, quite tired.

6-17-12

The wife lets me sleep in for Father’s Day, so I end up getting out of bed around 9:10am. I text with dad a bit who is in bad shape with his back, and Gloria is having some issues with her breathing. Hopefully they both feel better to be here for the next week. I get up and blog and update online stuff. We get ready and head out to Okemos where we hit Culvers for my Father’s Day lunch. Then to Best Buy to get my present: The RUSH Time Machine Live dvd. We get that and bots a few discs (natch) and head home. I pop in my disc and give it a once-over, while bots checks out his discs. The wife heads to work after calling her dad and that leaves bots and I alone. I do one load of towels for laundry and work on more Heroes Con art/print sorting for the table.

Finally after three hours during which I watch my Rush DVD twice, I finish the auction piece and send it to a few people for their thoughts on it. I am still nervous about submitting it, as the last two years haven’t gone as well for me. But I really did my best and took my time with this and it is what it is. Just gonna stop over thinking it and go with it. I watch some cartoons and play flashcards with the bots til its time for his bedtime. He passes out and I update online stuff and listen to podcasts (and watch a RUSH Documentary. I’m Rush crazy lately!) and the wife comes home with Subway. We eat and then pass out to Beavis and Butthead around midnight.

6-18-12

I wake up at 4:30am with a horrible stomach ache so I hit the throne for a good 20 minutes to calm it down. Back to sleep until 8:20 when the bots wakes me up. We hang out and play flashcards and Star Wars figures and then I update online shit. I shoot a quick video for my youtube channel and fight with Imovie to get it edited in the proper order. I upload it and announce its presence online. I chat with my dad and shane via phone and email. I clean up the house a bit and start cleaning up the office from the long weekend of work I got done. As today is pretty much the last day I have to get production done before my parents arrive and I want to spend time with them. I get the notice of payment on one of my card sets and it is very much appreciated as I am strapped for cash like hell!

I get my gig bag and my clothes all packed for Heroes (three days early! Can you tell I am excited?), and then I go play with the bots in his room for a while. The wife texts she is on her way so we get dressed and take a walk outside for her to arrive. She gets there and we get lunch and then head to Kroger to get stuff for the Heroes trip. Then home where the wife looks up housing online. I attempt a nap on the couch but the phone keeps ringing, waking me up repeatedly! (I’m trying to regulate my sleep for the long overnight drive to North Carolina in a couple days!) So I get up and we head to Dennys for late night breakfast. We eat and head to Mejier to find out their pharmacy is closed and she cannot get her prenatal vitamins. Defeated, we head home. The bots passes out in our bed around 9:40 and I decide to stay up and send out a couple submissions for work and to keep my sleep regulated by doing some cards for the next set I am on. I end up passing out around 2am.

6-19-12

I wake up at 7:20 with the bots and watch cartoons all morning. I pencil some more sketch cards while re-watching that Rush documentary and cleaning house a bit. I edit some more video footage I shot and upload it to my Youtube channel. I curl up on the couch for 20 minutes of shut eye before my parents call to say they are in town and trying to find my house. After some directions given I meet them outside and lift all of their suitcases into the house. We sit around talking for about five hours until the wife gets home from work. Then we pile into the Jeep and head to Ponderosa for dinner. After that we head north to Sams Club where they hook me up with a club card (I get discounts on shopping now! Exciting isn’t it?) and they buy us some diapers and wipes for the baby, and a few other things for the house. We get back home and unload. The bots is moody and he passes out an hour and change later. I head back out for a couple burgers and soda for the parents. I get back and they fall asleep on the couch around 9:30. The wife and I sit up and watch a full disc of Seinfeld in our room before finally passing out around midnight.