The gems of the weekend

Don't know what the hell I've been doing lately. Just sent off my first round of bills to clients. Getting paid will be nice. Not nearly enough, but nice.

I've had the chance to go through some of the stuff I picked up at Stumptown Comics Fest. The latest Brown Paper Bag was good stuff. I'm a big fan of Johnathan Hill's stuff. He's been posting pages from the graphic novel he's working on and I got a chance to see some of the actual art at the show. The man's working in a huge format. Like practically posterboard sized. I told him that when the book is published, he should be able to make an awesome gallery show of the originals.

Which reminds me AGAIN to plug this:



Another gem I found at the show was The Middle Man. It's illustrated by Les McClaine, whom I believe lives in Portland. I met him a month ago at a Gallery Show for his comic Jonny Crossbones. He's a retardedly talented artist. Dark Horse is actually going to publish Jonny Crossbones when he finishes it, but for now you can read a good deal online.

Halloweekend was so-so. My panda costume was a hit. I even ran into a few other (inferior) pandi at a huge party on Saturday night. All I have to say is that partying is hungry work.



Catherine and Dave also had excellent costumes. It was great because when I lost them, I could just go around asking if anybody had seen two crayons walk by.



Consider this a throw down for next Halloween. If you don't dress up, you get beat down. I'm already set on being another hoodie animal. Maybe a frog, because Dave though I looked like Mario in his Tanooki suit, and that would be the next logical progression.

-Thank you for reading.

Entirely too much to say.

First, there are introductions to be made.



This is Nudge. I inherited her from my sister. The timing was excellent because I was starting to haunt the Humane Society Web site looking at puppies I can't have and getting ready to settle on a rodent. Nudge has taken residence in the mud room, which still requires some re-arranging to prevent her from endulging her climbing tendencies. Seriously, I don't know how she's getting up on these stacks I made. I considered them quite insurmountable obelisks. But then I hear a rustling and come to find her atop Mt. Suitcase. The problem with rabbits is, while they can get up, the getting down doesn't factor into the ascent.

I've found she responds really well to me when I lie on the ground and just let her take her time to check me out. Somehow, it doesn't matter that she did the same thing yesterday. There isn't that much memory or trust yet. But slowly, she'll push my feet with her nose (which I how I named her) and then hop up on my chest. Yesterday, she actually came and licked my nose. If I wasn't in love already, I am now. Girls, take note: All it takes is a little nose-licking.

Another thing I've been remiss in mentioning is this:



I've been waiting for this for a year. It is wonderful. It makes me want to fall in love. It reads like memories. AND you have two incredible opportunities to meet the creators THIS WEEK! The Stumptown Comics Festival this Friday and Saturday and Floating World Comic's grand re-opening in Old Town for First Thursday. They'll actually be displaying some of the art from the book, which is beautiful x10. The first time I actually saw Joelle's work, I think I gasped a little bit. In my most critical moments, I'd say that I wish the book all looked like her best work. Her best stuff is in there, but not on every one of the 140+ pages. For her second printed work ever, her first being a short story in Dark Horse's Sexy Chix anthology, I'd imagine she was holding back a little in lieu of making sure deadlines were met. The book doesn't suffer for it at all. I guess, what I'm saying is, I think she's still going to keep wowing us with her subsequent works for a while.



Lastly, what the fuck is going on for Halloween?

-Thank you for reading.

A very strange few days

It seems important to get this down so I can make sense of it.

Thursday was First Thursday. There are two non-chronological differences between First Thursday and Last Thursday: First Thursday has more free booze and Last Thursday has more real people. I started the evening at Stumptown where my coffeeshop crush has art hanging this month. I really like her stuff. Great colors. It has a European feel to it. Most of the pieces were sold by the time I got there, which is great for her. If only the band wasn't so insanely loud. Seriously, that place is a concrete echo box.

I hit the usual galleries and didn't see anything else that impressed me as much. Well, not art anyway. There are more hot bikes to be seen on First Thursday than I can shake a stick at. I was particularly drooling over a Raleigh with bronze colored rims & hubs. At one point, I had that idea for Cub Scout, but ultimately it wasn't so practical.

My friends, whom I'd lost while roaming, gave me a call and I went to Tube - a place I generally don't like so much. However, the DJ was spinning the best soul and funk music I've heard since Sweet Jimmy T played my birthday and the place was a hopping dance bubble. Tube, for those of you who haven't been, is indeed very tube-like and cramped. So dancing there is an excellent way to meet drunk hipsters. Adopt one today!

Friday was the pub ride and I was really looking forward to it. The gloomy afternoon made me expect a small turnout, but as it happened the ride was crystal clear, just friggin' freezing. Bobby and his boyfriend Aaron were the only riders, but my friend Austin and some folks of his met us for a kick-off beer at Tugboat. At our next stop, ClarkLewis, I SWEAR TO GOD we were sitting behind Anne Hathaway. I haven't been able to prove it yet, but Aaron converted to my way of thinking after a good glance. While it would have been the smart thing to just ask, I am not that guy and Aaron, who is that guy, didn't man up in time.

I really like both Bobby and Aaron as individuals, but they make a great couple. I enjoy seeing Bobby happy and with someone who challenges and excites him. Now if only I could find one of those in girl-form for myself...

Friday ended at this tiny bar, Solo, which is underneath the Pearl Office Max. Weird, right? I ride past it all the time and have always been curious. It's a really neat spot and the cocktail waitress and I went to high school together. Always a nice surprise to bump into old acquaintances. I had a crush on her for a minute back in the day, so it was nice that she remembered me. You should check the bar out sometime, though I'd recommend an off-night so as to avoid what I assume is a crowd I wouldn't endorse.

Which leads me to Saturday.

Saturday Catherine had wrangled two simultaneous theme parties. Pac-Man Party and LEGO Party. What are the odds? LEGO Party was surprisingly enough, really about dorking out with LEGO. This guy Jay loves himself some toys. His walls are decorated with fancy action figures, still unopened, pinned to the walls. He'd made his own LEGO chess set, which was awesome. I tried to make a dragon, but ran out of time and blue pieces. It was a blue dragon. My friend Claire, who came out with us, put my dragon to shame with her Stegosaurus-ish monster.

Pac-Man party was mellow but in the basement of the house they had an honest-to-god Ms. Pac-Man machine and are in the process of building a projection theater. They've already got three tiers of actual theater seats and a purple curtain up on the walls yet no projector. Most people would go the other way around. But who am I to judge.

Oh yeah, Claire and I made a pit stop at Echo on MLK between the parties where I had the best dirty martini I've ever had. YAY!

To sum up, it's been a very long, tiring and fun three days. Huzzah for the weekend. If you like doing fun things like this, you should come to Lompoc Trivia Tuesday night at 7:30. It's triv-tastic.

-Thank you for reading.

'Tis the season to be drinking!

ALL you suckers in the Portland area who did not join me for LOMPOC TRIVIA TUESDAY are fat losers. Thanks to the scotch-fueled brainpower of Jamie S. Rich and the ability of my former co-worker Katie to be deployed as a hormone bomb on other teams we left for the evening one free pitcher of beer richer!

The evening got hairy for a moment when we artfully tried to discern what two liquid ingredients made up a "cement mixer" by ordering one from the bartender. When the opposing teams caught wise, they didn't take it too well. Ever the placator, I shared the information we gleaned (the server returned to tell us they were out of Bailey's) but we still couldn't figure out the missing second ingredient. Lime, as it turns out. Lemon was also acceptable, although no less gross.

What I'm trying to say is that GOOD TIMES WERE HAD. And you could be a part of them. The season is fresh and we've nowhere to go but down. I see T-shirts people. Or at least pins. Come next week at 7:30 and share your mind. I won't share the beer, though, until you've helped us win a pitcher.

In other booze news, you can also join Catherine and my Pub Ride on Friday. We're still open for suggestions as to where exactly we're going. We like to try and hit a bar in each of the four corners, but as you might expect from an evening with beer and bicycles, it can end up going most anywhere.

Lastly, and somewhat inter-related, I found this site the other day. It's an online directory of happy hours! I need this soooooo badly. We all need it. But first it needs our help. If you know of any cool happy hours, add them to the directory.

-Thank you for reading.