Think Happy Thoughts…
Weekend type bloggy inside…
This week was kinda crappy for me. As I’m getting things ready for the upcoming Pittsburgh show, my transmission in my van went out, leaving us stranded 45 minutes from home. SUCK. We’re still vanless as it’s at the shop waiting to be looked at, but surely it’s a tranmission. A transmission which will run us around 1500 smackers. UGH. So, pretty much, while I was thinking about booking SPX and MOcca, it looks like I’ll be doing the Pittsburgh show and seeing where the day takes me from then on. Either way, I think dumping a whole bunch of money into our van, then having the transmission go out really quietly pissed me off somewhere in the back of my brain, and it didn’t surface until today when I’ve been extremely cranky and irritable. Lack of sleep too maybe?
Yeah, Lack of sleep. The last two nights, dogs have been barking at 2am. I try to hit the sack after Conan is over (late night show, not the Barbarian) I wonder what the heck they’re barking at, and then I lay in bed and think to myself… IT COULD BE A BIGFOOT OUT THERE. HE’S OUTSIDE MY WINDOW RIGHT NOW. Hahahhaha…
Apparently, this week the Dark Horse Comics book I’m working on, ArchEnemies, came out. I’ve gotten a few nice e-mails about it from people who noticed. That was sort of odd and nice at the same time. I don’t want to jinx myself, so I’m not speaking much more about Dark Horse dealings (unless you’re in the club WINK) — but i will say– CHECK OUT THE ARCHENEMIES series! Local comic shop, etc… Also, another side project I quietly worked on, the new NINJA BURGER RPG is out. Fun times.
I’ve been also feeling much more politically minded the past few weeks, you might have been able to tell by my mindless rants or topics in the strip. Something deep down inside me is frustrated with our public officials. We need REAL leadership. Someone to stand up and show us another way. Without all the religous overtones and looking down on people. Where are the leaders!!?? Don’t even get me started on our asshole President. Someone who was looking for leakers and quoted many times saying he would find the leakers– did that fucker look in a MIRROR??? Now it’s semantics. It’s not a LEAK if he does it. Fine. But then why did a journalist stay in jail for something that wasn’t against the law to talk about or have been “leaked”– we cannot have our cake and eat it too in this country. We need leaders who are willing to say, “Hey, I fucked up, I’m sorry.. and here’s what I’m gonna do about it now.” —- But yeah, i’ve thought about doing a politcal strip on the side, aimed right at the throats of these types of issues. I’m afraid my ginger fro will turn gray though the minute I do it.
I went to my basement today to crack open my sealed up crate of old reference books and reading material, and found some of my old philosophy books and junk. I quickly took them to the crapper to page through and relax. It’s been FOREVER since I looked at some of these books, so it was almost like someone handing you new books. One book about Chinese Philosophy and ZEN stuff which I haven’t read in a decade. I opened it up randomly and the first page I read was something I should probably think about more in my day to day life before going off half-cocked and angry like I’ve done today. I want to be a wiser person. If you know me, or my character and paranoias, you’ll perhaps know why this random page stuck out at me as if a message from some WISER force from beyond.
I shall now share this wisdom with you.
Chi Hsing-tzu was raising a fighting cock for his lord. After thirteen days, the lord asked, “Is he ready?”
Chi answered, “No, sir, he is still vain and flushed with rage.”Thirteen days passed, and the prince asked about
the cock. Chi said, “Not yet, sir. He is on the alert whenever he hears another cock crowing.”When the prince’s inquiry came again, Chi replied,
“Not quite yet, sir. His sense of fighting is still smoldering within him.”When another thirteen days elapsed, Chi said to the lord:
“He is almost ready. Even when he hears another crowing, he shows no excitement. He now resembles
one made of wood. His qualities are integrated. No cocks are his match - they will at once run away from him.”CHUANG-TZU
Heh. They said, “Cock.”
—-
April 9th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
hmmm i’m glad to see i’m not the only one who reads philosophy to make them feel better (even if it is on the crapper in your case j/k).
Yeah, i’m fed up with politics myself these days. On all sides. I’m a hardcore democrat but i’m getting tired of the weak knee’d reactionaries in our party. I’m also sick of the xenophobia of ‘foreigners’ and the Homophobia in this country. People are so narrow minded, the ‘real’ issues should be about our economy and our children’s education as well as recovery of places like uh, maybe the gulf coast?? You rarely hear mention of those three things in the past few months. But, honestly, I’m tired of blaming the politicians or taking the other tactic they take, and blaming the media. You know who’s fault it is? The people who don’t vote nor care about taking part in this country in some tangible way. I think i have a severe case of Ignoramusaphobia (made up latin for Fear of Ignorant People). 
We can complain all we want, but who voted these morons into office in the first place? We did. When GWB ran for office in 2000 i said, watch, this moron will win and all hell will break loose. I wish now i’d been wrong. lol. I grew up and still live too close to texas, so I knew how much a loser GWB was as governor. He makes Arnold in cali look like a great politician. One of the campaigns in texas for governor, him and his female opponent ran on platforms of who would execute more prisoners! *side note: stay out of texas * 
Well don’t let it all get to heavy for you DJ because remember, we’re of Generation X, and we shouldn’t give a damn about our elders messing up! 