Year: 2002

Power Outage and Art

December 13, 2002

Yesterday was a bad day. Among other things (email outage during a deadline, etc.), I was visited by Jehovah’s Witnesses and somebody turned the power to my building off again. The power box to my apartment building has a prominent external switch that is unlocked, so whenever some drunk dude passes by at 2am, that dude can turn off the power to the entire shoebox building I’m living in. Then I have to find my flashlight, go outside, and turn it back on. One of these days, I’ll be working on some important project on my computer without saving regularly, and it will go all to shit. Then I’ll have to run outside and get my ass kicked trying to fight whoever cut the power and killed my project.

Otherwise, On and On is currently running on 51% content (as of this entry). I’ll see what happens to that once I finally redesign this site a little bit, like I’ve been meaning to.

While I’ve been on 4 days vacation from my job, I’ve been working on a painting for my sister for Christmas. She regularly commissions large paintings from me on subjects I would not usually paint (like flowers and Peanuts comics), but I’m trying to use these commissions to expand the "mainstream" commercial appeal of my style. I also did this while at an illustration internship for the Kansas City Star. I did some fairly boring family- and dog-related illustrations there. These types of illustrations help me draw and paint subjects other than skulls and bones and wires, for better or worse.

Also, I just watched Carlito’s Way, and found it interesting. I’m assuming it was set in the 70’s, with all the afros and mirror sunglasses.

Request for Time Off

December 6, 2002

Here’s something I do not like about shit jobs—I ask for 4 days off to catch up on freelance projects, and coworkers get angry because they have to work faster those 4 days, since I won’t be there. Nevermind the fact that if I didn’t take this time off, I’d probably quit. What the hell did they do before I was hired?

/selfish ass

The Fridge and The Fat Boys

November 30, 2002

The Fridge and The Fat Boys

William “The Refrigerator” Perry considers the possibility of collaborating with The Fat Boys.

Old Milk Saga – Part Three

November 26, 2002

I didn’t get sick from that milk, praise the Large Lord God.

Which ends that saga. I think as far as sagas go, that was good and concise. A nice quick clear beginning, middle, and end. And a happy ending, no less. Perhaps very boring, but that adds an air of sophistication to the whole piece.

I like to give my writing very positive critiques. That’s just how goddamn good-god it is.

Old Milk Saga – Part Two

November 25, 2002

Well, the milk seems like it’s okay, but I guess I won’t be sure until later on. I look forward to an evening of not barfing.

Old Milk Saga – Part One

November 24, 2002

I just left a half gallon of milk in my backpack for 12 hours because I forgot I bought it. Tomorrow I’m going to see if the milk is ruined. I wish myself luck in this matter, and goddamn it.

Looking for a Different Shitty Job

November 23, 2002

This morning I walked around downtown Iowa City looking for a different job. But nothing I found is going to pay as much or give me 40hrs/week like the one I’ve got now. And I’ve got boat payments! I may have to stay with the night job a little longer, until I come up with a plan.

Comix

November 22, 2002

I’ve noticed Iowa City looks quite different during the day. Especially when it’s sunny out. Very nice indeed.

Lately I’ve gotten back into comix—Peter Bagge, Crumb, Julie Doucet, Lynda Barry, etc. This is because I now have time to read them and the library has a pretty good selection. I need to read some Los Bros Hernandez. Everything I read says they’re awesome, but I haven’t read their stuff yet. So I’m looking forward to that event.

I got my scanner working nicely after a few months of not dealing with it, so here’s a sketchbook image of a dude and crossbones from today:

dude and crossbones

Staying in Iowa City

November 19, 2002

I’ve decided to stay in Iowa City for a while. Now I’m trying to figure out what I should be doing here. I’m thinking of doing something that doesn’t involve working the night shift.

Meantime, I’m digging on the Iowa City hip-hop stylings of The Sucka MCs.

Scary Head

November 17, 2002

This head just scared the Jesus H. God out of me:

I think it’s from roadsideamerica.com, and it was on the Daydreams Comics links page.

I’ve really been thinking about approaching some of these local Iowa City comic/art/tattoo/music shops to do some free web design work for my portfolio. But I haven’t worked up the nerve for it. I wonder if it’s insulting to offer a website redesign. I guess if you’re talking to the person who designed the ugly site (and that person loves it), a redesign offer could be taken the wrong way.

Also, I’m still trying to convince myself to get a cat and also to start looking for “real” employment again. But I must say it’s nice being employed at the grocery store right now. The regular income is keeping my student loans crazy paid and I saved up enough money to get an additional hard drive.

Delicious delicious money.

Fly True

November 14, 2002

Fly true, loyal shoe.

Fly true, loyal shoe

Call From The President

November 6, 2002

Today, 3pm:

Telephone: Ring, ring!
Me: Hello?
Recording: Hello, this is President George W. Bush…
Me: *Click*

The last thing I need before going to sleep is that dude’s voice in my ear. I dreamt about dead alligators.

Cold

November 1, 2002

Holy fuck it’s getting cold outside. It’s getting difficult to ride my bike to and from work as the gears and brakes freeze and malfunction. I suppose now that it’s almost winter, my bike will be spending more time inside the apartment instead of out in the parking lot. The fiery blaze of my three-wick candle should restore its health and mood. If not, I’ll be back to walking past the 10pm South Johnson Street party scene every goddamn night on my way to work.

And then I would be workin’.

Last night (Halloween) at work, I was ringing up two big cartons of eggs for some punk-style kid. After I checked the first one for broken eggs I realized it didn’t matter. They would all be broken soon enough.

Olde High School Friends

October 29, 2002

Some old friends from high school came for a visit the other day. I haven’t seen them in about 6 years, so it was kind of weird. I don’t think I have too much in common with them anymore, but we were able to have a good time. I have trouble being talkative in social situations, and this was definitely a social situation. They all live in Iowa now, so I’ll be seeing more of them soon.

Wow, I’ve been back in Iowa for almost 5 months now. The New York life is becoming fuzzy in my memory, but I still miss it terribly at times. I’ll always miss the loud-ass Manhattan streets full of taxis/buses/people, the big parks (Central and Prospect), the millions of interesting areas and people, and the pizza. I will not miss the hassle of trying to keep up with rent, commuting, and working in New York. I will not miss the “20 Dollar Out the Door Tax” and the fact I never felt I had time to do anything fun there. Ahh well. To (mis)quote a friend of mine: “Iowa, you are a fine woman.”

Also, I recently saw the movie Slap Shot for the first time. I tell you it was humorous.

Floating Sparrow, Non-Kicked

October 20, 2002

Since I recently made this blog public, I think I will begin writing as if one hundred people are reading. That should improve things around here.

Today I went for a good October walk through the Sunday streets of Iowa City. It was quite nice and Octobery. Or autumnal, if you will.

I went for the walk to warm up in the sun after freezing my hands and feet off in my apartment. I won’t turn the heat on yet. I’ve been trying to use a big three-wick pillar candle for heat/light in order to cut down electricity bills, and it’s been working alright. Like a bonfire. But I had to go outside to warm up.

As I walked around, many sparrows were flying in front of me and toward my face and eyeballs. This reminded me of an interesting sparrow experience I once had in Brooklyn:

Whereas—
You know how sometimes when you’re driving along the interstate on a windy day there is some bird directly above the road flying against the wind and getting nowhere?
Whereas—
And it’s just floating there forever?
Whereas—
Well, one day I was walking on a windy Brooklyn sidewalk, and this sparrow was flying against the wind in a similar fashion.
Whereas—
Just floating in front of my foot!
Therefore, let it be known—
I could have kicked it back into the sky. I did not, however; as I am an environmentalist.

Looking for Work, Public Library Music

October 16, 2002

So I haven’t been looking for work much lately. I think I’m getting scarily comfortable with my current night stock job at the Hy-Vee. As I stay on longer, they give me more new things to do.

Yesterday I was actually bossing a coworker around, which is hard for me in the first place, and this guy is in his forties, much older than I. Then he asked me if it was okay to do something. I was like sure, dude—shit!

How is some 40 year old guy getting permission from me? This was happening at my webmaster position last year, also. I was supposed to tell these web developers with 7 years experience how and when to code. When I had 1 year experience and did not know what the hell I was talking about.

Yesterday I went to the Iowa City Public Library, which is a damn good library. I think it’s even better than the Brooklyn Library I was going to a few months ago. I picked up the following “def” cds:

Souls of Mischief
93 ’til Infinity
The Brand New Heavies
Heavy Rhyme Experience: vol. 1
Ice T
Original Gangster
The Cranberries
No Need to Argue

Some good classics which I haven’t heard enough of lately. I’ve been called gay for liking that Cranberries album, but what can I do? Souls of Mischief, Digable Planets, and A Tribe Called Quest are some of the jazz oriented rap groups I’ve been getting into to counteract all that crazy Brooklyn shoot your ass off rap. DJs can create some LARGE beats from some jazz loops, and I would be listening to those beats going, “Ummmgph.”

Categories