And now I’ve been to the gym. I bought a nice pair of swim goggles at Park Sportsman on the way to Gold’s. I haven’t had a pair fit me since I was 12 years old, mostly because every time I shopped for them I bought cheap goggles. Well, I spent $12.99 and tried them on in the store. They worked great. I scowled at the $8.99 pair, realizing that saving $4.00 for goggles that don’t fit right or that slowly leak would be a waste of $8.99 rather than a savings of $4.00.

I’d forgotten what it’s like to see clearly while freestyling up and down the lane. Or what it’s like to come home pleasantly tired and NOT with burning eyes. I could get used to this.

–Howard

I had a reasonably productive morning. I slept in a bit, since I was up until something like 1am reading Ringworld’s Children last night, but I jumped right in this morning to finish up a commission. (Hey, skirtman, it’s done!).

Then I struggled with a Sunday strip that wasn’t coming out right. Turns out it needed an extra row of expositional action. That’s easy enough. So I added a row, reprinted the script, and pencilled it.

(Allow me to remind you guys that Schlocktoberfest this year will be darker than usual. Oh, and Book IV is going to be dark, too. But if you stick with it ’till the end you’ll be happy.)

Then I got frustrated with Photoshop. The tools I thought I learned how to use in class are not working here at home. I’ve either forgotten a step, or there’s some configuration change between Photoshop CS here at home and Photoshop CS in the classroom. Oh well. It’s not like this grade is going on my permanent record. Screw the homework — I’ll tell the teacher about the problems I had, and we’ll figure out how to fix them. And with THAT decision made, it’s time for me to go to the gym. I’m in dire need of some exercise.

Oh… one of the things that came up in this mornings trawl of the business-related traffic was a proposal from one of my commercial customers. So I’ll put it to this group: Would you be willing to spend $20 for a 12-month calendar featuring 12 single-panel gags that do NOT feature Schlock Mercenary characters? The artwork and writing will all be mine, and because of the nature of this particular contract, all of the gags will have handheld devices (Palm, PocketPC, Symbian phone, etc) as an element. (No, this is not a commercial for PDAs. It’s just PDA-related humor.)

I’m not 100% sure on the price, but I figure that with shipping, that’s about what you’d spend.

–Howard

I’ve had a really, really productive day, and that in spite of a three-hour nap.

That’s right… THREE HOURS. From 11am until almost 2pm I slept. I got a little cartooning done before then, and figured the day was shot when I woke back up. I was groggy to the point of being almost disabled.

Then again, I’ve been sick and sleep-deprived, and that three-hour nap may have been just what I needed to catch back up with Life in the Not-So-Fast Lane.

I penciled, inked, and scanned. I cranked out three separate page-drafts for one of my commercial comic gigs. I did some draft coloring for a commission… and all that got done AFTER the nap.

Then there was this little spat on the Keenspot Members forum. Long story short: some people don’t want serious criticism, even though they claim to be asking for it. They want a love-in. Oh well. I’ll just save my energy for the ongoing critical analysis of my own work, and let them stew in their own juices. I’d say more, but it would be inappropriate. I’ve said more on the forums, and those comments were probably beneath me. It’s like defecating, I suppose. It’s out of my system now, it’s beneath me, and I’m sure there are others all to happy to play in it like sick fools.

There are several other things about which it would not be appropriate for me to say anything right now, but those are happy, grow-the-business kinds of things. I can keep a secret. After all, I knew Petey was coming back and THAT secret didn’t leak for 19 months.

–Howard

I’m home now, and I’ve got to get busy. I just inked a pair of strips, and this morning I plowed through some business email that needed, well, plowing.

I won’t trouble you folks with the task list, save to say that the hardest part of it BY FAR is prioritization, followed closely by focus. There’s so much that needs to be done that it’s easy to do the wrong stuff first, and there’s so much to do that it’s easy to get distracted from the task at hand.

Case in point… I need to write a Con Report for Linucon, and when I contemplate writing it, I end up puttering in my Live Journal.

Bye!

–Howard