These frickin' archives aren't working yet. I dunno how to fix this shit...

Don't worry though, I didn't say anything interesting in any of the posts that aren't shown on this page. This page is the A-list stuff...

Okay, so I've got a little under three weeks to draw roughly seven pages, and do the cover for Gabagool! 4. I think I can do it, I average about a page every two days or so, but I wish I didn't feel rushed. I want it to be pretty flawless, since I'm gonna go to the bother of printing it for real. Ah, what can you do though? The deadline is a good thing. I told Aliza that she needs to let me work hard of the comic for the next couple of weeks, and then after that I'll be all hers for getting the wedding in order.

So far: We have decided on a DJ, and said we want to use her. No contract done yet.

We booked the photgrapher. She seems pretty cool, and she's tall, so that will hopefully mean we'll get some nice shots where you can see a lot of people. There are a few shorties on my side of the family, and Aliza's side doesn't run too tall either, so it should work out.

We have a caterer. We like their stuff. They do a lot of cool hors d'ourves, which is all we're having. My favorite is this little proscuitto wrap with arugula, some kind of cheese, and raspberry jam. I know, I know, sounds a little odd, but the combination is delish.

Aside from that we are scrambling. We still got some time, but it just sounds like there's so much left that needs doing. I swear, all's I wanna do is say "I do" (actually, it's "I will" apparently) and dance my first dance song, and get me to Mexico.

Some talk last night with some friends about bachelor parties. I have mixed feelings. I think a night or a weekend with my boys will be a blast, as long as I can get good and fucked up. Not sure about strippers though. I dunno about being the center of attention at any kind of place of ill repute. I tried to explain last night that the part about strip clubs that I don't like is when they come over and solicit you. I don't mind when they're up on stage being all nudie, but I've never been able to get over the part where I know that the only reason they talk to me is 'cos they want my money. They are like hot sexy bums, asking me for a dollar, and letting me slip it in their crack as a treat to me. I have to get over this, I know, and be a real man. 'Cos in all honesty, most strips clubs that I've been to, well I've probably been one of the most attractive guys in there. The Strippers Bums are probably happy to come sit on me for a change, rather than the Herbs who normally hang out at those places hollerin' and yellin' and being way less cool and "with it" than I am...

Just got off the phone with another nominee from last years Ignatz's awards. He works at a printing company, and hopefully I'll be working with him to print up Gabagool! #4. He seems like a real nice guy, and I think his books are really nicely done. As we were wrapping up our conversation about printing quotes and whatnots I had to give him my address. When I said St. Mark's Place he made a comment about it being a cool place to live. I over-excitedly blurted out "Yeah and I live opposite the Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti building!" and he was suitiably impressed. I felt like a dork immediately afterwards though. You lose all your street cred when you wet yourself with excitement anytime someone says, "oh so you live in such and such a hip neighborhood, huh?" What can I do though? I think the only good thing you get out of spending all that money to live somewhere cool is having other people take note of it and somehow thinking that you are more worth knowing...

If anybody wants to read the short Gabagool! story we put together to submit to the SPX anthology, click here. I sure do hope it gets in. I think it's a solid piece of work, but I dunno if they'll be put off by the raunchy nature of it. If it is put into the anthology that will technically be one of my first published credits (not counting all them years spent doing the daily strip for the rutgers college paper) so that'll feel good, in a way.

Am getting a bit stressed about getting Gabagool! #3 colored so's it can appear on moderntale's longplay section. I need to find out what my due date is, 'cos so far it's only half colored (not even). The last couple weeks have been sloooooow at work, so I've had plenty of time to color, but the last couple of days I've been getting stuff to do again. Sucks. I like it better when I'm left alone.

Tonight is comic book night with Alex Robinson. We meet up every wednesday to buy comics (actually, we rarely buy anything, not a lot comes out) and then get dinner and bitch and gossip like a couple of hens. It's great fun.

Went down to Jersey for Easter on Saturday. We rented a car, which is a treat for us. It's expensive, but it gets to be a drag having to schlep down on the trains, and it was nice out, so a drive was in order. I took Aliza to the woods that my family traditionally went to for family walks on weekends. We took a nice hike for a couple of miles, and as is also traditional in the Dawson family walk through Hartshorn woods, we discussed religion in our lives.

So far I haven't had any trouble with the prospect of having all this Judaism come into my life. I like being connected to what I percieve as something with a long complex and respectable history. My family wasn't "Church of England" technically, but there are aspects of COE in my upbringing for sure. And that's a religion that's so relaxed and hands off, there just doesn't seem like there's much point in it. It's just so "limp"... Now, Judaism, there's a religion that makes you do stuff and observe things, and feel obligated, and all the good things a religion ought to make you do.

A lot of what we talked about was about how we're going to administer our religious views to our eventual offspring. I am determined to make them partake in all the rituals to the fullest extent. My thinking being that if I am asked to have a Passover Seder, as a non-Jew, then we are going to damn well have a proper Passover Seder, and those kids are going to sit through it! None of this getting bored and fidgety and gettign up from the table and goofing off while the adults slog their way through the Seder that has been designed to entertain the kids. No, in my house we are going to do an adult seder everytime and the kids will sit quietly and respectfully. I want it to be the kind of thing Aliza describes when she was little, where her grandpa shouted at her and her brother a lot to be quiet and pay attention.

Another thing that happened on the walk was that other people who were out jogging and cycling around the mountain kept greeting us with cheerful "hellos" and "good mornings". You don't get that so much in the city. Aliza seemed genuinely taken aback, and even annoyed the first few times it happened. Well, she is more determined to cast off her suburban roots than I am, so maybe that's why she reacted negatively. I didn't mind it. It was nice to feel sunny and friendly, and not have to walk around with a scowl on all the time as I try to plow through the sea of bums and punk rock teenagers on my block as I try to get to my apartment...

Last night I met up an old friend and his wife. I brought Aliza out and we discussed weddings and stuff like that. It was nice, but I drank too much, and stumbled home and fell promptly asleep at 11:30. I don't like when that happens, 'cos usually I use the hours between 11 and 1 to get some drawing done. I like working late at night like that, with the radio on, and Aliza sleeping a few feet away. So, I was slightly annoyed that last night's wee hours weren't put to use. But I'm not really that bothered. If I was then I'd be some sort of mini-comic maniac, who wasn't interested in anything else in life, and I don't think I wanna be that guy.

I've been thinking about it a bit recently. To "make it" in cartooning, I feel I really have to apply myself, and produce as much quality work as I can at the moment. I like to come out with new books every few months to feel like I'm gaining momentum. But what is "making it" really? It might be some critical respect, which I would like, and it might be a steady publisher, which I would also like, but it's never really going to be something I can make any serious cash doing. It'll never really let me quit my "day job". So it's no good for me to push everything except cartooning out of my life with the hopes of one day it paying off and me living off my funnies. So I have to make sure that I don't short-change the other things in my life, like my real job, my family and friends, and of course Aliza. But I don't want to pull back on cartooning either, so I have to try and work hard at both things all the time.

Wedding planning is going "okay. We got a quote from the caterer which was eight dollars more per-person than we'd originally been quoted. That may not sound like much, but it's an extra thousand bucks or so. So I was annoyed about that. I decided "fuck getting some New York caterers to come out to cater our wedding in new Jersey" and started looking around for NJ Caterers to come do our reception. But that didn't last long... I didn't really try that hard, but the two or three places I found on the web all just seemed like cheeseball places, and really didn't cost all that much less. So, I quit my search and went back to coloring my comic while I was supposed to be working. See? Balance!

In other wedding news: The honeymoon is booked and paid for. I like that we took care of that before taking care of the wedding. Somehow I think taking care of the honeymoon as a priority shows that we are more concerned about what happens the day after we get married, than the day we do it.

I am a page and a half away from finishing chapter one of the big "Gabagool! Summer Special (caution parents advisory)". The plan is to finally bite the bullet and print it like a real comic. I dunno if it'll work out or not, I never seem to get around to actually printing these things, but this time I'm serious. I swear.

Chris Radtke and I went out last night to try and write. Had a serious case of writer's block though. That's fine, sometimes it's nice to just sit and drink and shoot the shit and not have to dutifully transcribe everything said into our notebook. Chris hurt his neck the other day looking at a cute girl who walked by. That's funny. It's also indicative of what time of year it is. Yep', it's getting warm out, and in New York that means all the hottest girls in the world emerge from hibernation. The most wonderful time of the year...

There have been budget cut-backs in the city. I wonder if this means that New York is going to return to the state of decay that it was in when my family first moved to America in 1986. I recall coming up to the city for a visit and being convinced that we were going to be shot and mugged and left for dead in the streets. It definitely didn't feel like that in the late 90's though. I used to think that this city was like a theme park, there was so much fun and money going around. It all seems to have gone to shit since then. But I know it can get a whole lot worse.

I have talked to a few people about this whole smoking ban they've got going on. It turns out that I personally really don't care one way or the other if they ban smoking. Except for the murder that happened in my neighborhood over it. That was a bit extreme. But I think the ban is good for young guys looking to meet girls. 'Cos now all the smokers have to gather outside for their cigarettes, which gives a guy an opportinity to get to chatting with the ladies in a casual setting. Plus: they've got tons to talk about, such as how much the smoking ban sucks. I saw packs of people out on the street doing this the other night. Seems like a windfall for the lonely men of the world.

Okay, I think I got this figured out now, so I can start making real posts:

...

Decided to start up my little web diary. But this time with a real blog engine thing. I dunno what the advantages are of doing it this way, except now I don't have to write new html all the time when I wanna make a remark.