I'm going to Japan, and I can't sleep.

A few hours ago, I bought a ticket to Japan. From October 21 to November 4 I'll be touring around the country with my good friend and proficient in Japanese traveling partner Charles. He taught English in Japan for a couple of years, and wants to go back and visit friends, and see things he never got the chance to see before. I'm going because it's Japan, and I've always wanted to go there. Don't need many more reasons then that. But this will be my last big trip for a while. Because when I get back, I have some serious work to get done.

Over the last couple of weeks I've done 2 smaller projects for my friends at Vicious Ambitious. They have a couple of books coming out in the next month, anthology based projects, and I was fortunate (and honored) enough to get to do some sequential work for these books. Both the story were written by Gord Cummings, who has a very different way of thinking then I do, and therefor gave me an interesting and awesome challenge when drawing his stories. As both a writer and an artist, I look forward to working on scripts that I haven't written, because it gives me a chance to step out of my comfort zone and open my brain to being and thinking in a different and creative way. I had a blast working on these stories, and it's given me the drive I needed to get to work on some of the stuff that I've put off for the last little while. My current goal right now is to finish issue 2 of The Sorrow, my hottie-teen werewolf story, by the end of September, with the hopes that a new printer I'm looking at using can get it back to me in time for Pure Speculation 3, a show I'm fortunate enough to be exibiting at in October. After that I'll be finishing up the long-anticipated issue 1 of Dead Last, which I'm hoping to have finished for the beginning of December. After that, well, that's still to be decided, but I have a couple of things brewing right now, and when I've figured out which way to go, I let you know. But I have a couple of big (graphic novel big) things in the creative pot, as well as continuing to put out issues of The Sorrow and Dead Last set for the foreseeable future, so I have plenty to keep me busy.

That's it for now. Take care all.

I finished The Deathly Hollows tonight!

Although this doesn't seem like much of a feat, or really even that big of a deal, I still need to blog about it! Tonight, I finished Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows. For those of you who know me well, this is a tremendous accomplishment. I've read through a fair share of books in my time, but nothing in comparison to this. I'm a slow reader, and besides comics I don't read a lot of "printed" material. But with this, I read every page, absorbed every word, and experienced the most emotionally gratifying story I've ever read. More times then not my heart raced; plenty of times I had to wipe tears out of my eyes. I became very emotionally invested as I delved deeper and deeper into the story. I can't remember a time in recent memory where I've felt like this.

It's truly over. The story has come to a close. And by finishing this book I've been able to put a bit of closure on a very trying chapter in my life. Every time someone fell to Voldermort in this book, I felt for those around them. I could feel their pain. Because that's what I've been feeling for 4 months now. For 4, long months. I've done my best to avoid it, done everything I can to stay busy enough to not have to deal with it. But thanks to this story, this silly little book (not to be taken in a demeaning way) I was shown a way to confront it. J.K.'s words allowed me the insight I needed to look at everything I've gone through, to process everything I feel and need to feel, because I had this wonderful cast of characters to follow. They suffered, they struggled, and in the end, they endured. Now I'm not saying I've dealt with anything the likes of what Harry and the gang were put through, but metaphorically speaking I can certainly relate. I have lost someone truly great from my life, and I've had triumphs and tragedies to deal with. But so far I've tried really hard to persevere. And I think I'm doing okay. In fact, thanks to this "accomplishment", I know I am. I'm getting by, and will continue to do so for a long, long time.

So I leave you with this tonight: If you need an escape, if you need some way of forgetting about everything for awhile, read a book. Hell, go read Harry Potter. It's helped me in more ways then I can truly express and I think it could help anyone if they're willing to let it.

Take care all.