Diary of a Madman

7-14-12

I wake up at 8:30am bright and early and update blog, check online shit. I want to get a nice long day head start on working on artwork before the day job shift tonight. Now that life has sort of returned to normal, I can get back on a good schedule! I ink some cards while watching Trainspotting, a flick I haven’t watched in years! Bots is being quite needy, so I couldn’t jump into hardcore work mode till much later. The wife gets home finally and takes him off my hands a bit. I piddle around the house before having to go to work and do a 8-4am shift. Literally I am falling asleep as I am driving home, so tired. I get home to find that the bots is up and keeping the wife up who has to work at 7am. So I get up and get him to go back to sleep by 6am, and FINALLY I can go and pass out.

7-15-12

Bots wakes up at ten, which is nice cause he made me stay up till 6am the little so and so! I check online shit and start penciling on some sketch cards. I got about 50 left to go and I gotta do them in a week. No problem! So I do that all morning and the bots is quite cooperative. Around 3, the wife comes home and I take a much needed nap! I get up around 6:20 and head to South Lansing to pick up my co-worker and head into the den of sin for a 7-2 shift. Its uneventful as always and I drop her back off and head home in time to hit the pillow around 2:30am.

7-16-12

I wake up to bots kicking the door at 8:50am. I get up, check email and online shit. I’m downloading podcasts for catch up and reading post-SDCC news. Not that many huge surprises or announcements, which is kind of disappointing. The only thing I think I was super jazzed about was the Sandman slipcase volumes that are coming out and the announcement of more Gaiman written Sandman to come next year. I cannot wait to get the individual stories going and hear what all went down!  I spend the morning penciling more cards and just getting work done.

Around noon, the wife gets up and we head to Mcds for the kid and Kroger to turn in some bottles. Then to the disc place for a new box set for the kid, and I get a used copy of a Mitch Hedberg CD I used to have back in the day but don’t have the tracks anymore. A good choice! We get back and go swimming in the pool for a bit. I deem it too cold and sit in the hot tub mostly. We get back and the wife and I hang out a bit, and then I get to work on inking cards. I ink and color cards from 2pm to Midnight. Finally, after all that time, I finish my current workload on them, putting me in the home stretch! I got about 10-12 cards left to do! YAY! Mucho thanks to the wife for watching the kid all day so I can get work done.  I hit the bed watching Breaking Bad season 4 episodes til 2am when I pass out.

7-17-12

I wake up at 9am, get the bots up and check online shit. I get some random stuff done till the wife gets up and we go to Mcds for lunch for the kid. Then back home where the wife ends up not feeling that well. So she sleeps on the couch and I retire to the bedroom to watch the bots and I watch more Breaking Bad on my iphone via Netflix. She gets up later and we hit Culvers for dinner. I rush home, drop them off and head to pick up my co-worker and head to work. I work a 6-2am shift which drrraaaaaaaaggggggggss unbelievably. I email back and forth with Jordan about a possible meet time for discussion about my artwork involving the video game project Mortifera Incident and the potential long term work I would be doing. My co-worker is going through an extreme case of depression and drama going on, so I deal with all of that. Finally after work, I drop her off, gas up, and head home. I get home and watch an episode of Breaking Bad on my phone before passing out around 3:30am.

7-18-12

I get up at 9am thanks to my phone blowing up with texts from the wife and my dad and other email messages. I get up and contact them all back. Then bots gets up and munches on Pringles all morning as I check online shit. Then work on more cards as I watch more episodes of season 4 of Breaking Bad (Its been a long time since I saw them and I needed to catch up for the new season. Besides, I missed a couple episodes somewhere). I finish the season and the wife gets home. I head into work and its uneventful. I get home and pass out around 3am.

7-19-12

I get up around 9am and check online shit. I email back and forth with Jordan about meeting up to discuss future business with the video game stuff. And I put finishing touches on sketch cards and complete the new set! WHEW! Wife gets up and we hit Logans for lunch and do various errands around town. I get back home and take a nap from 6:30-9pm. Then I start a STUDIO CHATTER podcast and Anthony joins me, along with JJ, Lee, Andy and John Carter. It feels good to be back and hear their voices again. During which I ink some small things for Jordan and the video game work. I finish it around 1am. It approaches 2am and I am beyond tired and finally Mark wants to start his BFB show. So I end the Chatter and hop on BFB and he starts talking Dark Knight. I decide to drop out and avoid any talk about it so that I can remain spoiler free and hit the pillow moments later.

7-20-12

8:20. I wake up with excitement knowing that I will see the Dark Knight Rises at 10am. I start checking online shit and get the sad news about the midnight shooting in Colorado. I sit and watch CNN for a while, debating whether it felt right for me to go or not. I decide ultimately to still go ahead and see the flick. The wife and bots drop me off and I make it just in time for the 10am show. At one o’clock, its over and I emerge quite satisfied with what I saw. They pick me up and we head to my work to get my phone charger and let the bots sleep in his chair in the back. We head to Mcds for lunch and then back home. I lay about and relax, watching the news about the Colorado tragedy. We decide to head to Sams Club and get a few things for the house and then to Chilis so the wife can get a birthday dessert. We get back home around 8:30 and I update blog and check online shit. Then I start scanning more cards to send to the editor for approval, while listening to the BFB I missed from last night. I rescan my favorite ones in a larger form and pick my ten return cards for the set as well. Then Brian Maze calls and we talk for a bit. I give the wife a birthday backrub and continue working into the night. I finally pass out around 2am.

7-21-12

I get up around 9am with the bots and check online shit. The wife gets up at 10 and we head to the bank and Kroger for a few things, then back home. She gets packed and dressed and takes off to Mt. Pleasant for a night away “mini-vacation.” She’s still not feeling all that well but she’s got tickets to see Godsmack at the Casino, and she’s excited for it. I spend most of the day playing and watching TV with bots. For about two hours I sit and thumbnail out about 12 pages of ANNA 2 and 15 more adult webcomic strips. So I am ready to move to pages later this week, if not tomorrow! I watch the newest BREAKING BAD on On Demand and then just settle in for some regular TV viewing. I try to get the bots to fall asleep but he’s too hyper. Instead I let him play on his own and check on my online stuff again. But then I hear quiet and go check on him and he’s passed out on his own! I put him to bed and go to the living room and watch my Rush Live DVD on the big screen. The wife texts saying she left the concert early because she didn’t feel good and a bunch of drunks and pot smokers were around her, making her nervous. Normally she’d join in with the drinking, but being 7 months pregnant, its not good to be around that stuff. Still, she enjoyed the first few Godsmack songs and all of the Shinedown set I guess. I’m happy for her. She retires to the room and falls asleep. I do the same after my DVD is over. I watch some AVGN and pass out, the whole bed to myself!

7-22-12

I wake up to bots kicking the door at 8:20. I get up and check email and feed the critters. The wife texts around 10am saying she’s on her way back home. She gets home as I am cleaning house, organizing laundry and doing a water change on the fish tank. We head to Ponderosa for a post-bday lunch. Then to the disc place for a disc for bots. Then home where the wife does a 4 hour nap while I do laundry, watch bots and loose pencil 4.5 pages of Anna Pocalypse 2! It feels great to get back to page work after about a 4-5 month hiatus! I take a break and wake up the wife who wants me to go get her some Hot N Ready’s from Little Caesers. I do and they taste old and stale, natch. I update blog and attempt a nap in return for the wife taking one!

I wake up at 9:40 and settle in to watch the new Breaking Bad episode. After that, I move the sleeping bots to his room and then settle down to play some SongPop. Then get to inking pages and rechecking my Topps contracts and package up the newest set to send back tomorrow. I hit the pillow by 2am, watching a Twilight Zone episode before I pass out.