I fell a bit ill yesterday so I missed my MJ deadline... again. I gotta get this thing done. Seriously. Monday for sure or else my head will be on an editor's plate.

I slept for 15 hours yesterday. Wow. A new record. I kept waking up due to noise outside my window and I think that helped me keep passing out. I needed this though. I've been sleeping only about 5 hours a day this past week and drawing was the last thing I wanted to do.

The New York Comicon is going on right now. I'm obviously not there but wish I were so I could check out some galleries and to breathe in some NY attitude. I haven't been to New York since 4th year uni and miss it. I'm living vicariously through Chris Butcher's blog, though. He's got some nice pics and good comments about the show. A few too many of himself but whatever. Check him out.

Went to Yaohan in Richmond just now to pick up the newest issue of Afternoon. I didn't see anything else of interest at the store except for the new BECK 25 but I'm bored of it now so opted not to pick it up. I think I saw a torrent of it somewhere anyway. The new installment of BOTI is amazing as expected. Samura always brings the goods. I'm following along with what's going on with Genshiken as well. It's an interesting comic since the plot is non-existent yet manages to keep my interest purely through the characters. It's a novel way to tell a story. Those are the only 2 comics I've read from the issue so far. I'll save the rest for later.

TAK

Hard at work on the current MJ issue. Should be done in a coupla days. In the meantime, have you seen this Dirty Vegas video??? It's an unassuming masterpiece.

TAK

A pretty lame weekend for the history books. Spent it working, sleeping, pokering, coffeeing and mongolian BBQing. I wanted to go out out but every fiber in my body told me not to. I knew I'd be worrying too much about work anyway and wouldn't be 100% in party mode. One aspect of freelancing I wish I could change is that it sometimes feels like 24 hour job. There's always more work to be done.

Poker was the semi-highlight of the weekend, though. I invited my friend Daphne to come along since it's usually a total sausage-fest. She'd never played before and told me so and was hesitant about it and was worryin' about it and was makin' excuses about it, yet, guess who won? lol. This goes to prove first-timers always win the first game. I won back-to-back my first time as well and never since. Damn that first taste of victory! We played a second game but I lost early and didn't stick around to see who won. Oh well. There goes another 20 bones.

Anyway, still have today to try and salvage a crap weekend. The adventure continues...

TAK

I'm goin' to San Diego.

I booked a hotel last night for insurance before the mad rush for hotels this morning through the official comicon website. Thanks to Christina I found one pretty close and smack in the middle of the gaslamp. It was an okay deal but I was hoping ot find something better today at 9 when the flood gates of discounted hotels and rates were supposed to open. Unfortunately, I passed out at 6am, woke up at 3pm and found out nothing was available. That's what I get I guess. lol...

This'll be my first year attending so I'm pretty excited. I hear it's a mad frenzy and a MUST for making connections and/or just seeing what's new in comics. Gotta get busy prepping shit to sell, though. Posters, sketchbooks, stickers maybe. I barely broke even last year by doing only sketches so I hope to make this trip worthwhile. Not quite whoring but I'll be close to it ;)

I've got this rash around my mouth. It popped up a coupla days ago. It's nothing serious, just red and itches a bit. I've sorta been conscious of a mild allergy to eggs that started back in uni so I've been limiting my intake of them but, damn, they're SO good in the morning with a coffee. I think that veggie omelette I had at Denny's over the weekend put me over the edge.

One of my favourite panels from BFX in a while. If you haven't read the new week yet please check er out. It's a doozy!!!


TAK

Beef vindaloo. I like it with chutney and pickled onions. DAMN was this good.


Oh, I also updated the gallery section with my con sketches from last year.

TAK

When it's not raining like a bitch here in Vancouver it's actually quite nice. My window faces West so I get some nice sunsets every so often. Here's a taste:

I'm behind in my work as usual. I've had things that've kept me away from my table for some reason or another. Will hunker down this weekend.

I bought some Earl Grey tea yesterday. It's a good coffee substitute. I prefer it straight with no milk or sugar. Odd, since I load the sugar like a bugger for my coffee. I remember Picard used to order it all the time through his instant food doohickey on Star *rek. Someone should really get around to making one of those, btw. Engage that shit!

Got my paycheck today. This one will be going towards paying my taxes in a few months. Yikes. Taxes.

TAK

As you can probably tell, I've overhauled my site somethin' fierce. Added some flash, more sections (which are currently being worked on) and a new gallery with new images. I'm a bit busy right now with other things but I'll have more material in the coming weeks so check back, yeah? Special thanks to my web guru Tu for making this all happen. The dude is amazing. Kudos.

Some interesting things happening in my life right now. I've officially quit smoking. Hot damn! Took, like, 3 tries but I've been clean since Feb 1st. Feels good. Also, I've been getting up at 7am lately and hittin' the gym. I KNOW. What's up with THAT, huh? I actually prefer going at this time since it's pretty dead and I can focus. There's this other thing but I don't wanna jinx it so won't mention it here... mwahahaha

Made some wicked phad thai yesterday. Check it.


I love lots of shrimp in my phad so I totally load it up. I've decided, since I eat and spend so much money on it, that I'll try my hand at some sushi next. Not the rolls but the nigiri. I have access to so much fresh fish here in vancouver I figure why not!?

TAK

I was finally able to synch Hotmail with Outlook Express on my new computer. Damn. Took me a month to get it right! So, now I don't need to juggle 2 computers at once. What a relief. My parents have expressed interest in my old comp so I'll clean it up, finish transfering the last of my useful files and ship it out East. I'm finding there's a bunch of crap on there that I don't need but don't wanna erase either. Essays from uni, e-mails stretching back 8-9 years, various sketches and photoshopped graphics I never completed but are now too outdated to go back to and ancient pages I scanned of my own work. I'm talkin' ancient. Like high school! This all just takes up space and will never be opened but it's comforting to know I still have this stuff kicking around. It's like my diary in a way. It would be a shame to lose it all.

I started to finally write my new book a couple days ago. I've never written a full script before so I'm just running through each scene like a crazed baboon on a typewriter. I figure I can clean it up and edit once everything I had stuffed in my head and jotted on loose leaf OUT. Next step will be to schedule myself and set deadlines. I've roughly broken it down to completing 3-4 pages a day in order to finish in 2 months. I know some artist's who have set the same pace on their books and it seems to work for them. I'll let you know how this all goes.

Oh, I've almost kicked the smoking. I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm down to one a day. Not even. I should be totally off it by next week.

TAK