The Difference

The big difference between me at the beginning of the year and me now at the end is that my dreams aren't haunting me anymore, they're reassuring me. I wake up so often now, feeling like my brain just gave me a hug and told me, "You're doing all right! Stay the course, good buddy!" (My brain is goofy, but I like it.)

Change seems to be a regular topic with me. Or at least it feels like it's been my basic theme this year. There's been a lot of it, and it's been really positive, overall. It's important to take these regular moments to appreciate that, and my immediate response is always to share that in some way, to talk about it - or write about it, in this case.

Today I posted the 81st "Welcome to Hereafter" comic, and this week the site's been active for a full year. I started drawing the comic sporadically in January 2009, posting them to my now-long-dead LiveJournal. I had no schedule. I had no discipline. Things went on this way for well over a year, and this meant I had very little to show for that time.

Toward the end of 2010, I was staring down the barrel of 27 ("officially in my late 20s," I'd say to myself) and decided I had to get serious about things before that imaginary switch clicked over. I understand now that the difference between 26 and 27 is meaningless, but buying into this mindset, seeing periods of life as a series of "levels", was actually pretty helpful at the time. I got to work. I set a schedule, I made a website, and I brought the comic back to life. Back then, I felt the need to have something, some outlet, some product to show for my time and energy. Something tangible. A year later, I don't see it quite the same way.

I took a hiatus from the comic earlier in the year when I was dealing with a lot of changes in my life and just couldn't feel the drive to work on it regularly. That drive came back, but it came back different - less about a feeling of need, now more out of simple enjoyment. I like doing it, and I'll keep doing it as long as that enjoyment lasts. I'm learning from it in a lot of ways. Getting comments and compliments from readers -- total strangers to me beforehand -- is a more recent development. And how amazing is that? Even one person who enjoys something I've done and feels the urge to tell me about it... That's huge. That means an absolute ton to me. So cool.


Not much else I feel like writing about right now, so here are yet more pictures of my best buddy and loyal ally, Logan:


You can't tell me that last picture isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen. You just can't.


And hey, wrapping this up with a really great song my friend Mike introduced me to a while back, but I kept forgetting the name of - "When I'm Small" by Phantogram:

Son of Random Thursday

Low-content update again. I have stuff I want to talk/rave about, but no time/attention span to write it out at the moment, so on the backburner it goes. Instead here's a potentially creepy picture of my eye. Yeah!!

And as a palate cleanser, shameless adorable dog pictures go!

This week I bought a new blanket. Within seconds, Logan decided to claim it as his own. It's what he does. It's his thing. And he gets away with it because he makes faces at me like this one:



He's made a few neighbourhood friends in the past few months. Here are a few pics of a recent play session:




It's kind of amazing watching them go at it. Logan's clearly much smaller than the others, but they recognize that and are very gentle with him. And he's got that limitless puppy energy, so he can more than keep up when they run around.


Ending on a song, because that's what we do on Random Thursday. (Or whatever the hell day it lands on.)

Every Day is Random Thursday

Even Tuesday. Especially Tuesday.

I'm feeling pretty restless these days. Like I've wasted too much time, I've let too much pass me by, I haven't appreciated life the way I should have for too long and now my body and mind are trying to compensate for it. So now I can't seem to sit still for very long. Even when I'm being productive, like writing or drawing, I'm constantly fidgeting and need to regularly get up and move. I don't know if I've always been like this, but it feels more pronounced these days.

(One benefit of this is that the chin-up bar I bought a few months ago is turning out to be a terrific investment. I don't know if it shows yet, but I think it's making a difference.)

I got my stitches out on Sunday afternoon, so Operation: Terrible Beard is now officially at an end. That night I had a date with an electric trimmer, and went from this...


...to this:


Much better, I think? Maybe? I won't lie, I was actually starting to like it a bit toward the end there, but I don't think the look works for me.

Zip-lining seems to be cancelled, unfortunately. On Saturday afternoon, I drove with my pal Luke out to the canyon where they do it. We arrived just after 5:00, only to discover that they stop doing the zip line an hour before they actually close (which is 6:00). This is a fact they neither advertise nor share on their website. I called earlier at 1:30 to confirm, but they didn't pick up the phone and didn't bother to return my message in the 3 1/2 hours in between. When we arrived, the woman working there just gave me a blank stare with zero sympathy or apology. So I was pretty frustrated.

I called back the next day to try to talk to someone else about it (and to see if they'd cut me a deal, considering the time and gas money wasted to get out there), but again nobody picked up the phone, and two days later, nobody's bothered to return my second message. It's truly awful customer service, and that kind of thing bothers me a lot. I really want to go zip-lining, but now I don't want to give this business any of my money - and they're the only game in town, so I may have to put this plan on the back-burner until I find another opportunity elsewhere.

(My mind's already running in different directions, though. If zip-lining is off the table for now, I'm starting to think about skydiving instead.)

Since we had driven out there, though, we decided to make the most of a bad situation and check out Ouimet Canyon instead. Which was sort of funny, as Luke isn't too fond of heights and I absolutely love them. I think that comes across pretty well in these pictures:

 

(I wear that shirt a lot, don't I?)

I didn't get a new comic done for Monday, but for my update I instead went through my backup hard drive and found the original character sketches I drew for "Hereafter" back in 2005. Take a look:


Always interesting to look back at stuff like this. I've definitely improved a bit since then.

I've posted a number of pictures of Logan lately, so here are a few of Maya:




She is also the best.

Not much else to say at the moment, so I leave you with a song introduced to me by my good friend Mike:


I should hit him up for new music more often. I don't think he's ever steered me wrong.

Community's Freaks and Geeks

For those who watch Community (and those who don't, get the hell on that already):



That's Childish Gambino's "Freaks and Geeks" mashed up with clips from Community - Gambino being Donald Glover from the show. And man, there is an impressive amount of really specific, literal stuff cut in there. Well-done.

(Via @danharmon)


EXTRA CREDIT:
Here's an acoustic version of the song, with Ludwig Goransson (the composer from Community) on guitar.