babies_stole_my_dingo

Just last week I was scripting and I used the phrase "revoke metaphor privileges." It made me giggle, but it sounded familiar. I worried that maybe I was stealing from somebody.

Turns out I'm stealing from me. I decided to run the line anyway. In the linked instance above it's the punchline. In the upcoming script (three or four weeks out, I forget) it's the setup for a different punchline.

And the point, long since lost by now, is that I've now posted 3,000 installments of Schlock Mercenary to the web in 3,000 days. No, I've never missed a day. There have been no guest weeks, no two-for-Tuesdays to cover a missed-it-Monday, and no stretches where I hurriedly threw together a week of Ennesby and Schlock doing plot exposition because I knew I could get seven days of that penciled, inked and colored inside of four hours.

Okay, maybe that last one has happened. At least twice. Still, nobody called me on it.

We've all changed a lot in the last 3,000 days. Politics, global economics, and science have all done interesting, disappointing, wonderful, and terrible things in turn. But more importantly most of us have gotten 3,000 days older, and at least 250 days wiser. Some of you have told me that you have practically grown up reading this comic strip of mine.

Three thousand days is longer than any American President has sat in office since 1944. It's long enough for a bull market to become a bear market, and then back again three or four times. It's long enough to turn a 9th-grader into a college graduate, or a college graduate into a surgeon.

It's long enough for Sandra to create two beautiful children from scratch and send them off to school. It's long enough for me to start a marketing career, excel in it, and then abandon it.

It's long enough for me to start getting a handle on the basics of writing and illustrating a comic strip. It's also long enough for me to have figured out how to pay the bills with a comic strip I'm still just exploring basic principles with.

3,000 days is a long time, but it's not long enough.

I want 10,000 days. That's 36.525 years, give or take. I'm not setting that as a maximum, mind you. I'm just holding out for permanence in this particular career. I want us to be able to look back on these times and remember the best of them fondly, while forgetting the worst of them in favor of remembering our favorite punchlines.

Which I will almost certainly re-use.

via neutronjockey, a Scientific American article on how one builds expert skills.

That effortful practice thing? Works. Though it took me closer to 25 years than ten to get where I am as a writer, and I'm not sure I'd call myself a master yet. Maybe an advanced journeyman.

It's amazing how much "native talent" looks like sweat when you come right down to it.

Speaking of sweat, 1591 words on Shadow Unit stuff today, plus 98 words of flap copy for 7faS, and 864 words of Bone & Jewel Creatures. I have written the scene I was being a lazy dufus about last night, and it is a good scene, or at least I entertained myself writing it. Tomorrow, in between other errands, I shall hole up in a nice cafe and see how much of the remaining narrative I can chisel away at. Friday, I may declare a work day, of the sort that involves not really leaving the house. I always get a lot done on those; it's harder to maneuver writing around interruptions and outside demands.

Story, you're going down.

http://muttscomics.com/art/dailyarchive.asp?month=08&date=14&year=2008

Ok, folks, a quick word about lubricant. This is not a rant about what kind to use or when to use it. No, it's far more basic than that. When two (or more, for that matter) people are having sex and one of them has lube on his or her hands, when that person tries to grip their partner... they CAN'T! The whole *point* of lubricant is to make a surface slick.

I see the lights coming on out there.

I remember the first time I encountered this in RL and man, did we get a giggle or two out of it. Well, I did. I don't think he thought it was all that funny when his hand slipped off my hip and he proceeded to lose his balance and fall off the bed. :-) (Ok, he thought it was funny later... much later. :-)

The point is, when you have someone whose hand is "slick with lube" successfully grip *anything*, you're missing the point. ;-)

(Sheets, or discarded clothes, are great for removing excess lube from hands - generally only takes a moment, too. Course, you're not going to wear that t-shirt until it's washed... well, unless you're into that sort of thing. :-)

Title: Quid Pro Quo
Chapters: 1/1
Author: csi_sanders1129
Genre: Drama. Case. Romance.
Ratings: M for language.
Word Count: ~2050
Pairings/Characters: Perry/Harry.
Synopsis: This is not a good day. Days beginning with kidnappings and torture never are, it seems.
Comments: Another fic for 30_kisses for the prompt 'excessive chain'. Um, yeah. Enjoy. =)

Read Here

All my stories are at: ~My Fic Archive~

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

truepenny: my next novel clearly will be Small Fluffy Cats With Entitlement Issues
matociquala: I hear those sell well.
truepenny: Yeah, I'm gonna sell out.
matociquala: Dunno. Sounds pretty true to your vision to me. Throw in a little buttsecks.
truepenny: And a kitten with a whip.

two stupid rants:
( Read more... )

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SchlockRSS/~3/353296668/

http://schlockmercenary.com/d/20080828.html

Note: With today's installment there have been 3,000 daily Schlock Mercenary strips since June 12th of 2000. In subtle acknowledgement of that milestone, it shall now be established that each truck had exactly 1,000 crates on it. That's only three of the ten-crates-on-a-side bundles LOTA has been catching, but it's still 750 metric tons. And if that seems like a lot of crates for a few theives to steal, it's also a lot of comics for one person to draw.

http://schlockmercenary.com

Made some slightly offbeat goofy icons, thought you guys might like them. :)

+ [40] Random Marvel (New Avengers, Runaways, Inhumans, Marvel Adventures, Iron Man and a few others)
+ [12] Iron Man fandom silliness.



HERE @ atomiczgraphics.

Years ago, when I first started writing in this blog, my Dad wisely pointed out to me that whatever I write here becomes history. It becomes permanent in a way that telling the same stories in conversation is not. He recommended to me that I make sure what I write is how I want things to be remembered. It is wise advice. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" is also wise advice. Or there is the doctor's oath to "first do no harm." I'm not a doctor, but I try to follow it, particularly here on my blog. But then I think of a line from the 2005 version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It is where she says "There is this space between us that keeps filling up with all the things we don't say to each other." That also feels true and wise. If we never say anything that isn't nice, we isolate ourselves. If we can't talk honestly about our negative emotions then we can't have close relationships.

I struggle with this. There are times when I must speak up and say things that I know will hurt. I try to pick the time and the words carefully do lessen the damage, but I can't always. Particularly not with the kids. When I'm in an emotionally laden conversation I will construct and discard dozens of sentences for every one that I utter. I try to do the least damage possible because, to me, relationships are far more important than convincing others that I am right. Fortunately I have learned that I can not be a doormat an have healthy relationships, so I'm fully capable of standing up for myself when necessary. Unfortunately sometimes my mind races so fast with the sentence construction and discarding, that I fail to realize that I've not said anything at all. My lack of words can feel like a wall of silence to the other person. The good news is that most of the time the other person is Howard, who has already learned of my tendency. He's learned how to poke me and let me know if he needs a response. I've learned to say "I'm trying to find the right words" rather than saying nothing.

All of that is a precursor to me saying that I'm grouchy tonight. I had a very nice day, but the post-dinner hours walloped me hard. Part of me wants to rant about all the specifics of the pile of little things that made me grouchy this evening. But if I rant about specifics, it may get back to people who might feel bad about contributing to my grouchy evening. I doubt any of them read my blog now, but at some future time they might, and the ranting entry will still be here, laying in wait like a piece of broken glass on a beach full of bare feet. Sometimes I think it is a marvel that I blog at all considering all the fretting I do about possible future harm to feelings. I do comment on the behaviors of the kids, but I try to make sure it is in such a way that it will not be hurtful. Besides by the time they read these blogs, they'll have grown into much different people and they will laugh with me saying "I really did that?" In fact the kids enjoy hearing blog stories from when they were younger. Or so I tell myself. But perhaps I am wrong and then we're back to broken glass and bare feet.

In the end my real guide is asking myself why I'm posting a certain thing. I need to never post with the intent to hurt or humiliate. Venting is often emotionally necessary, but ranting often stirs up more anger than it resolves. I do rant as part of a venting process, but I try not to record it for history because I don't want to come back and invoke those same feelings again by re-reading. I want to vent, let go, and move on. Besides there are many ways to vent. I've written this whole entry without mentioning a single specific thing that annoyed me this evening, but I feel much better. I'm not sure why that works, but for me it does.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

http://whedonesque.com/comments/17432

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/08/26/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-animated-series-to-be-resurrected/

Jeph Loeb discusses the prospect (as well as the history of the project) to MTV.

[ edited by J Linc on 2008-08-28 04:08 ]

Strangeness is afoot once more. This evening, around six-o-clock, my wife and I decided to go for a walk. Having spent all day in school lugging around heavy textbooks, my daughter remained at home. As soon as my wife and I arrived back from our jaunt, my daughter expressed relief that it was really us.

Apparently, every time my daughter sat down to read a magazine, she would hear sounds as if someone were entering the side door. Even our dog reacted to the noises. Not once, not twice, but four times the sound of keys jingling and the door opening made my daughter get up out of her chair and look, but no one was there. The last time she witnessed these eerie events she could literally see my wife and I coming up the walk toward the house. If someone had been fooling around at the side door, we would have seen them.

The fact that our otherworldly visitors are back to their old tricks really comes as no surprise. A few days ago I took an afternoon nap upstairs, and my wife and daughter heard the sound of pacing from the bedroom. I hadn't left the bed, and I witnessed nothing unusual while I dozed. This seems to have heralded the start of another active period.

However, the tricksters may have added a new trick to their repertoire. Tonight, as my wife and I were sitting at the dining room table, we both saw a very bright light shine through the mini-blinds on the back window. I literally saw a ball of yellow-white light coming through the tiny holes where the cords go through each slat. It lasted only a moment and appeared much brighter than when the neighbor's outside light is switched on.

Hoping to debunk this incident, I went out in the yard and shined a flashlight at the window. My wife told me that the illumination from the flashlight paled in comparison to what we had seen. And I seriously doubt reflected headlights could be the culprit. We get regular traffic on this street, and this is the first time we've seen such lights. And it didn't seem to occur again as cars and trucks drove past.

Someone seems to want our attention. I wonder why?

What did I do today?

First, and most importantly, I got my hair cut! I've been waiting for almost 2 months for this appointment...Sandy, my hairdresser, went away for most of the summer, leaving my hair to fend for itself. She took one look at me this morning, and said "OMG, do you need a haircut..". And promptly gave me a smashing one. It's all short and bobbed and bouncy now. I look about ten years younger, too. I tell you, a good hairdresser is a jewel beyond price. There is nothing quite as demoralizing as a bad haircut, so when I find someone like Sandy who knows how to make my hair look great, I hang on tightly, and happily pay the price. (almost $100, by the time I've tipped the apprentice who does the shampooing, and left a tip for Sandy) I'm always a bit confused as to whether one actually needs to tip the person you're paying a lot of money to to do the job, but anything to keep her happy, and my hair looking its best, eh? Now all I have to do is get rid of the grey hair; bought some hair dye today too.

I found a hotel in London, and have a reservation for our 3 days there in September. It's close to Kensington Gardens, and seems like it should be fine; your basic chain hotel, but I'm not planning on spending a lot of our time in the room, so it doesn't need to be luxurious, just clean and comfy. I stopped in a book store and bought Rick Steves' guidebook to Great Britain, because it has a lot of info about London, and I've always enjoyed his shows on PBS. Most of our trip in England will have the extreme benefit of having ninerva as our lovely tour guide, but in London my sister and I will be on our own. It's been a very long time since I was in London..I'm getting so excited about our trip!

Other than that, it's been a quiet couple of days. Not that I mind, I've needed a bit of a rest. Just sitting around, reading a book or two, drinking a lot of tea, and the odd piece of Belgian chocolate cheesecake...always a bonus in any day.

Mets won...yay! So I'm watching Baseball Tonight on the 4 letter network and they're talking about the game. They go to former NY Met GM Steve Phillips who carries on and on about the game Ryan Howard had....uhm, Steve....the Mets WON!!!! Not the Phillies buddy. He was 1 for 2 with a 1st inning HR with 2 walks. I know, he's batting .228 and it's exciting when he walks, but COME ON!!!! How about Delgado? The guy everyone wanted to bury in the first half of the year. I guess he wasn't as good as Mo Vaughn was back in the day, when you got him with the busted up knee...

And back off Santana...so he wasn't as sharp as he was the last few times he was out, but they still won and the bullpen was lights out...finally!


Ahh, I should be happy. We found cheap airfare to Florida for our December trip. I am stoked. Instead of watching most of the game I watched something on SeaWorld instead...I want to swim with the sharks!!!!!

Pictures of mongrel_idiot and I in our Team Nils t-shirts from the concert.

( Neeeeeeeeeeeeeerds! )

... I am not dimwitted, dumb "muscle", or stupid. I serve Lord Megatron because I believe in him and the Decepticon cause with all my central processor-- not because I cannot think.

I so want to learn to vid. WHY has no one done an Iron Man "Carry On Wayward Son" vid? Why why why???

Someone please tell me that we'll start seeing LOTS of them when the DVD comes out...

Seriously. "Masquerading as a man with a reason, my charade is the event of the season" -- with the footage from that deleted scene. OMG, that would be perfect.

*eyes icon* I know, Tony. I know.