Hello all (you know who you are),
Well, I figure it's been long enough so it's time for some updates on this remarkably busy life I lead. First off, a couple weeks ago I was in Edmonton for a comic book show. The show was good, not from a money standpoint but certainly from a social one. While I was driving out of town I got a phone call from a good friend of mine named James. I hadn't seen or talked to James in a long time (at least a decade!) but a couple of month ago, by using stealthy Batman-like tactics, James found me! I received an email from him, which totally took me by surprise. But it was a great surprise and I was elated to hear from one of my best childhood friends. I found out he was married and living in Edmonton and is getting heavily involved in music! We communicated back and fourth over emails, and I figured if I was ever in Edmonton long enough for a visit that we should do what we could to hook up. So I emailed James the night before I had to leave for the show hoping he would get it in time to meet up with me somewhere. Thankfully he did and luckily he caught me before I left town!
It was fantastic to see him again. I thought about the saying "the more things change the more they stay the same" and I think that may very well apply here in a certain context. Both James and I have changed in many ways, but what hasn't was that great feeling of friendship that I remember we had as kids so long ago. There was nothing awkward about seeing him again, and our conversation flowed so nicely. We talked so much that night that even though James and I met at a coffee shop, the poor guy never got the chance to get a drink! It was truly fantastic to catch up with him and I'm looking forward to the next time we meet up, and hopefully the opportunity to meet his wife and children. Knowing James, I know he has a wonderful family and it will be awesome to finally meet them.
Second update is as follows: I did very, VERY well at the Alberta Open Karate Championships in Edmonton on March 31st. I had a total of 4 fights on the day in 2 divisions, which saw me winning the Mens 18 and over Color Belt Heavyweight Division as well as a 1 fight Mens Open Division. I was able to use my experience and strengths to overcome all 3 of my color belt opponents and won all 3 fight by Ippon (full point). And in the Mens Open I utilized my strong gedan mawashi-geri (Low roundhouse kick) to disable my opponent and also won the fight by Ippon. It was a great tournament to gain back some confidence after taking a beating in the Calgary Cup, and it was great to finally win a tournament in Edmonton seing as the last 2 time up there I didn't fair so well. The rest of our club also did great that day, with all of our fighters placing and doing our dojo proud. Our women's Color Belt fighter Kristen fought in what I considered to be the fight of the day against the much more experienced Jen Smith from Edmonton. Kristen showed great spirit and fought with all she had, unfortunately losing to Jen (who won the division) but giving her one hell of a fight in the process. I had the pleasure of traveling to and from Edmonton with Kristen and I see a lot of bright things for her in the future.
And almost lastly, but not leastly (I just made that up), I've been working too f'n much lately. It's just ridiculous really. Last week, in a 4 day work week, I put in nearly 60 hours! And this week so far hasn't let up all that much, with both Monday and yesterday being long grueling days. At least today wasn't bad and ended at a decent time (instead of close to midnight). But the one thing I can't complain about is that all this work is making me money. And I've been able to save a bunch. I want to be able to travel this year, to both San Diego and possibly Japan in the fall so all this extra work is helping. Plus it gives me more money for the comic hobby I have, allowing me (hopefully) more time in the coming weeks to get some stuff rolling and pay for printing. Which bring me to my last topic.........
I'm going to have to decide what it is I'm going to focus on with my comic work. I have had a tendency in the past to start going on something and not see it through to it's end. I've been a lot better with The Sorrow, even though there's only one issue out so far, I've at least wrote the next 2 issues and know how the series will end with issue 4. I just need some time to get the pencils going and the books will be done in no time. I guess my problem right now is I feel very much on my own with Out of Mind Studios. It started as a dream project by Kevin and I to have our own place to publish our own stuff, and with the inclusion of our friend Brian was only suppose to get bigger and better. But nothings happening. I've been working on my own stuff, Brian on his, and I'm not sure what Kev's been up to because he isn't really talking to me anymore. I don't know why, and I don't really thinks it's because there's "problems" between us, I think it has more to do with the fact that we don't live with each other anymore. And since I'm not around him, I'm kinda "out of sight, out of mind". No pun intended!!!
I want to really give things a go as a group, and create some crazy good stuff together as a studio, but I'm afraid that might not happen again. We'll see what transpires at the upcoming Calgary Expo since I've got a booth for OOMS as well as a couple other friends who wanted some space for their projects. I'll have some new pin-up work, and possibly a surprise book at the show, and I know the other guys will have something new as well. Hopefully we can figure out what direction this ship is taking and whose on board and whose not. Worst case scenario would be that we continue doing nothing and I start to look at doing stuff on my own. That would suck, but what can you do when everyone else's life is going in a different direction from yours?
I guess that's it, thanks for reading and letting me clear my head for at least a day or 7.
Take care all.
