The Marvelous Patric

dear blog,

This is a real post, unlike the last too politically-themed posts. In today's post, I'm going to actually talk about me.

Last saturday, my mom accidentally ran over my cat, Buffy. Mom felt really bad. I came home and she started to cry. She had already buried my kitty. I feel bad too, but in a way, it's like it isn't real because I wasn't there and I never saw her body. Buffy was a good cat, but afraid of everything. She never did get along with Dexter, but she liked Dixie. I feel bad, almost like I failed her. I don't know how things would have been different if I had been there. She died instantly.

A black stray cat has had kittens somewhere in or around one of my barns. There's a part of me that wants to go find a kitten and bring it in, similarly to how I got Buffy ten years ago. Another part of me realizes that isn't a good idea. I guess that's the adult part.

My mouse Ginny escaped. For the first few days, I tried to catch her, but failed. I would see her running around, but was never able to catch her. Then, her cage mate, Janis, died. I suspect she died of loneliness, as mice sometimes do. I haven't seen Ginny for a few days and think she is probably dead too. I now have no mice left.

I apparently shocked all my facebook friends the other day when I updated my relationship status to "in a relationship." It hasn't been quite a month, but it felt like it was time. I've been seeing quite a bit of the girl. I've been told by several people "don't screw it up." I'm doing my best, but I make no promises.

In my head, it's like there's this weird trade off. I traded a cat and two mice for one girlfriend. That isn't to say she is only worth one cat and two mice, but my screwed-up brain says that there has to be a balance of loss and gain, of happiness and sadness. I know this isn't true, that there isn't a cosmic scale somewhere, striving to be even. But still, I can't help but wonder why good things can't just happen, or bad things just happen, instead of good things happening at inappropriate times so that I feel happy when I should only feel sad.

dear blog,

it's raining. thundering. etcering. so i'm on my laptop, safely unplugged from any cords, at work using the wifi.

what's new with Patric...? well, let's see... I've been drawing like crazy lately. I'm actually ahead on FNS for the first time in ages. Not just like a little ahead either, but legitimately ahead. I hope to keep building on that. I've also been drawing Fun Factory again. Shocks! I'm gonna release the rest of the script we had finished once i get a good backlog of content. My plan is to post one panel every day, like mccloud did with his morning improv comics. i figure as long as it's a long form comic and there isn't much pay-off weekly with one page, why not give folks one panel a day and so when we reach a full page it feels like an accomplishment. it's kinda a scam.

this week, i've taken the plunge and i found a used cintiq on ebay. it'll be interesting to see how that works out.

this weekend is the DFL state convention. i don't think i'm going, which i feel bad about. I feel like i'm letting down the folks who elected me as delegate, but I just can't go. i have to work this saturday. And, if I took off this saturday, i think i'd have to work the saturday of kendrick's bachelor party. and i really need to be at that. no matter what i do here, i'm going to let someone down. i'd rather let down faceless voters than faced family. besides, even though i've been supporting franken the whole time, there's a part of me that kinda hopes Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer wins the endorsement. i wonder if i would have really voted for Franken when i got there.

saturday is also game day at paul and aleesha's. i have to work, but i'll go over after work. there had better be killer bunnies! i've really started geeking out on table-top gaming.

in a few months, it'll be time for SDCC. I'm going this year. I realized, days before pro-reg closed, that i would die if i didn't go. maybe my body would live on, but a good-sized chunk of my soul would have shriveled up and died. I'm going to do some more coloring samples and maybe see about doing some freelancing again. I won't have a table there, but it'll be nice to just walk amongst the people. Although, if anyone reading this happens to have a table they'd be willing to share or just take a few of the big FNS books, i would love to do that.

My entire application to grad school is in. I'm cautiously optimistic. I got it all in by deadline. I should have had it in sooner, but the whole politics thing got in my way and distracted me. still, i've applied and done all i can do.

all in all, i've been busy. i have also been playing with dexter and dixie quite a bit. the two dogs have quickly become very close friends and now my bed is quite crowded as both dogs sleep with me at night.

in other pet news, i was down to two mice. one of the mice got out and was found by dixie three days later. ginny, the escapee, appears to have suffered a leg/spine injury at some point. i'm not sure if dixie did it to her, or if it was the jump off the desk. so i put her back in the cage. somehow, she has managed to escape again, despite being crippled. i am less hopeful about recovering her a second time, because this time, i noticed she isn't eating the food i put out for her on the floor. meanwhile, janis, the other mouse, appears to be sick as of today. when i get home tonight, i fully expect to no longer have any pet mice.

Current Location: work
Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: thunder

dear blog,

It's 2008! So far, I'm not noticing a huge difference between 2008 and 2007. My Old Year's Resolution that I made in October was to join a gym and to get in (better) shape. Since then, I have lost a little over 20 pounds. While that's awesome, the better news is that I've lost like 3 inches at my waste and gained almost two inches in my arms. I think I prefer measuring my progress in inches, rather than pounds if for no other reason than muscle weighs more than fat. In my head, those 20 pounds I've lost also means that I've gained some pounds of muscle. Which means it's hard to figure out how much I've really lost, in a bizarre neurotic sort of way. Inches? That is far easier to see. An inch of muscle is the same as an inch of fat.

On the comic front, I'm noticing that I'm not feeling nearly as burned out as I was a few months ago. I'm still not pushing anything, though. I'm going to try out 6 strips (each) of two new comics in the next couple of weeks. This is during the Act One Intermission in FNS, so I won't be putting a strain on myself to do more comics than I would normally do. My goal is to add a strip that only updates Sundays. That would mean I have a new comic every day. However, at least psychologically, strips are easier to do than pages.

In other parts of my life, I guess I'm maintaining the status quo. I'm not too thrilled with that. I think I may have to quit band for a while. Both of them. Basically, I have to work every night (except saturday and sunday) until 8:00 pm. Municipal Band has practice at 7:30 monday nights, Sports Band is tuesdays at 7:00. If I leave work early, say 7ish both nights, I feel terrible. On one hand, I feel guilty about leaving work. On the other, on tuesdays especially, I'm usually late to band practice, so I feel guilty about that. Right now, I feel like whatever I do, I'm going to let someone down. It would probably be better for me not to be in band where a large group of people are depending on me to show up. And, even if I make practices, this is the season where the Municipal Band starts doing concerts at nursing homes, which usually start like 7:15ish. Not to mention I hardly ever make it to Sports Band performances on Saturday afternoons, when I'm (you guessed it) working.

This is, as the kids say, a suck.

It's basically impossible to change my work schedule without getting a new job. If they were to hire someone else here, then I wouldn't have enough hours to stay. I think this basically means, as much as I like my job, I have to leave. And I need to do it soon.

Oh, and my mice have stopped dying for the most part. I've got some new ones that are doing well. One died the other day, but it wasn't the respiratory infection that killed the others. She was literally just running around the cage, stopped, walked like she was drunk for a few steps and fell over. I'm guessing heart attack. For those of you keeping track, I'm on my 4th Ginny, 7th Janis, and 2nd Janie. The one that just died was the 1st Brittney.

Current Location: work
Current Mood: discontent
Current Music: I Will Survive - Cake (on XM)

dear blog,

it's been a while since i posted, so i reckon i should. let's see... what's going down....

last night the sports band was in a winter parade. it was so cold the valves froze on all the brass and most of the band ended up just singing. only the bari saxes and tubas were able to play, along with percussion. it was damn cold. after that, we had a potluck and partied till midnight or later. i say "or later" because i left at midnight. i was tired.

i really like the new speed racer trailer. i think it's pretty. i never really watched speed racer, but i think, from what i've seen, that the film has a beautiful design to it. i really love the colors.

i hate it when customers come in, pick up their order, pay, and leave all WHILE TALKING ON THEIR CELL PHONE!! Finish your damn conversation then come in. Talk to me, don't just whisper and point!

I enjoyed "Bender's Big Score." I actually didn't notice the episode breaks all that much. I felt it flowed nicely and I laughed when I watched it. While it certainly wasn't the _greatest_ Futurama ever, it was by no means the worst either. I wish there was more Brannigan, but who doesn't?

I've been playing Guitar Hero III pretty much exclusively since it came out. I'm about half-way through on "hard" now, having never played a GH game before (aside from a few minutes in stores). i like to play online too, but i almost always lose.

over the past two and a half weeks, i've had six mice die. it all started when janis (iii) died. that wasn't too big of a deal. then, ginny (i) died. she was the only original mouse left. so, i went and bought three new mice, dixie (ii), janis (iv), and ginny (ii). both janis and ginny died within a couple of days. they were replaced, thanks to petco's 15 day guarantee. the next janis died too, but was torn apart by the other mice, so who can say if it was the respitory infection the others had. i replaced janis and got a fifth mouse, brittany. brittany got sick pretty much immediately, but by this point, i had recognized the respiratory infection and isolated her. she died, and has been replaced. as of right now, all five mice seem to be doing well, though janie (the oldest) seems to enjoy hazing the newest mice.
i also bought more tubing and rearranged the cages for easier access. it was becoming a hassle to take things apart to get to the cage on the bottom to retrieve sick/dead mice.

we've actually gotten some snow lately, with more on the way. thus, i've been tractoring. i've had to clean my driveway now a total of four times, and i think i'm getting better.

on the comic front, i continue Freaks N Squeeks. i think it's going well. i'm nearly finished with what would be the first act of my big story. Jive has made his appearance, which i've been excited about for quite some time. i knew it was coming and i could hardly wait for it. there's just something about where Jive ended up that i found very interesting. it feels natural, given what we've seen from Jive and given what we've learned about him in this story so far. i have this goal that the first act will finish by the new year, or possibly Christmas. As i don't have this all scripted out, but more or less just outlined, I can't pin an exact date yet. but, i think when i finish the act, i'll take a week off. i think we need an act break, but that might just be me.

Current Location: work
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: various xmas songs

dear blog,

Well, this weekend, two mice died on me. The first to die was the third Janis. The second to die last night was Ginny. Ginny was one of the original mice I got way way back in April. Only Janie is left right now. I won't be able to get more mice tonight, it will have to wait until tomorrow or later. I hope Janie doesn't get too lonely.

Current Music: Red Rain - The White Stripes

dear blog,

imagine my surprise when I got home tonight, walked into my home office, and was greeted by my mouse, Dixie, sitting on my desk.

Dixie, apparently, has found a way out of the cage.

Ginny, Janis (III) and Janie have yet to make this discovery, as have I. I have no idea how Dixie got out. It wasn't a huge deal, I just scooped her up and put her back in. but now, i have the fear of discovering her, or all the girls simply gone at some point. or, wandering around my desk. or, their broken little bodies on my floor after having jumped off the desk.

i'm thinking about expanding the cage. mind you, they've got a largish cage, and lot so tunnels and tubing to run in, but i can't help but wonder if she got out because she was bored or needed some "me time."

i keep hoping Dixie will make another break for it while i'm sitting here so i can see the weak point in the cage's perimeter and take steps to foil her. i think it must have been a freak coincidence... i can't believe just one mouse would get out. or that if there was a flaw in my containment, that Ginny, having been here since may, hadn't found it first.

EDIT: She did it again! But this time, I just watched. She noticed me and crawled back in. There was a tiny space in the door of the cage she has bent. I think I've plugged it for now using duct tape and a paper clip. this will hopefully hold until tomorrow or sunday when i make a more permanent solution.

Current Location: home office
Current Mood: perplexed

dear blog,

my little pet mouse, Janis, has passed on from this mortal coil. Janis, you were a good pet. You were very cute. You didn't like to be held, but you did like to watch me and nibble on my fingers from inside your cage. You were very active and very brave. you liked peanuts and loved to get treats.

Janis was survived by her cage-mate, Ginny. Burial services will be Friday, July 13th.

Current Location: office
Current Mood: mourning

dear blog!!

it's a boy!! niece gina had her baby. coen bryan andersland. i've seen pictures. he's human. he was born a little after 10:00pm on the 4th. I didn't post till now to make sure that the happy parents had a chance to share the news, and the uncles and aunts. as a great uncle, i try to give them space.

wow, i'm a great uncle now. i mean, i was always a pretty good uncle, but now i'm great. it's official.

in other news, my home is also teeming with life. i bought 2 mice. we now have a "real" ginny and janis. there will be pictures and stuff of them over at www.marvelouspatric.com coming in the next week. after all, they have work to do as the official mascots.

ginny is the brave and adventurous one. janis tends to be a little more cautious. ginny is brown and white. janis is black and white. they sit in their cage and play while i work in my office.

meanwhile, my mum got a new aquarium and some fish. she started with 2 goldfish and 1 dalmatian molly. She named them Callie, Chief, and Baltar. Then, I got her some more fish yesterday because Chief was belly-up. (15 day return policy, fortunately.) She now also has Roslyn, Adama, Starbuck, Apollo, and Tigh. There will be a new Chief next week. Which, as watchers of BSG know, is entirely plausible.

meanwhile, to respond to various ideas that i take a trip anyway this summer... well, not going to china means i get to go to san diego. it's not like i lack for travel. and i really don't enjoy travel all that much. the appeal of going to china, for me, was the fact that we were going to perform there. it wasn't just a tour, but the privilege of playing for a very different audience. that's what i'm going to miss the most.

Current Location: work
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: some iphoto loop in the background