Good things from yesterday… things that brought me joy:

1) The massage I got at the Therapeutic Massage Center in downtown Provo. It’s on the same block as Dragon’s Keep, and my massage therapist is a regular there. She totally fixed my neck.

2) Addams Family Values. Sandra and I own this one on VHS, and watched it while she filled out customs forms. I laughed out loud. I can’t think of a performance in that film that isn’t spot-on brilliant. The only part I don’t like is the stupid rap music they played in the closing credits.

3) Getting some work done. Not tons — I scripted a week and pencilled 6 days, which is good, but I could have done better. Still, 15 rows of work is better than my average.

4) Laughing until I cried while at the Keep. Shaggy and I were filmed last Tuesday for “Spotlight Provo,” which is one of those municipal cable-access shows. Most of it was beyond lame, but the segment on Dragon’s Keep was pretty good. Mostly I was laughing at Shaggy, though. Oh, BOY did they pick a winner of a soundbite.

(I’m trying to get permission to rip and post that particular segment… we’ll see what happens.)

How did “No Immigrants” day work out for all of you?

Not the news reports. You PERSONALLY.

My experience was as follows:

Thursday evening my legal immigrant former neighbor Illyana joked about getting to stay home from work. Then she clarified, saying in essence that she would be working, and she was angry at illegal immigrants who wanted a free ride into this country. Apparently Illyana worked hard for legitimate citizen status.

This morning I drove to the Keep, and saw people who were apparently immigrants (could be 5th-generation Americans, could be last week’s fence-jumpers, I didn’t ask) doing landscaping. I saw more landscapers, again apparently immigrants, in downtown Provo.

I saw no banners, no signs, no marching… nothing. Business at Dragon’s Keep was hopping, especially for a Monday, and there were apparent immigrants (oh how politically correct I am — yeesh!) among the shoppers. Shaggy’s comment (tongue-in-cheek) was along the lines of “If this is what happens, they should do this EVERY Monday.”

In summary, if it hadn’t been for the news, I wouldn’t have noticed a thing. Howard’s Personal Politics are Behind The Cut

Cox and Forkum recently linked to this chart that graphs the price of gasoline in the US over a 25 year period, as paid by one particular consumer.

It’s fascinating, because what it says is that when inflation is accounted for, we’re paying less now for gasoline than we did at the height of the 1980 “energy crisis.” Granted, it’s just a hair less, but it’s still LESS. There was gasoline rationing back then. You had to wait in line at the pump, and the attendant would sometimes check your gas gauge and if you still had half a tank or more, he wouldn’t let you fill up.

I got to thinking about that. I remember back when gasoline was $1.20 per gallon (ca 1985-1986). What else could I get for $1.20? Well… I could get a double-cheesburger, an order of fries, and a drink. At least I THINK that’s what I remember paying.

Last week I paid $2.79 for a gallon of gas. I haven’t had a double-cheeseburger value meal lately, but I think they’re around $2.80.

This probably explains, at least in part, why Americans aren’t curbing their driving despite higher pump-prices. Or maybe it explains why so many of us eat at McDonalds.

Yesterday I was super productive. I scripted, then pencilled, and then inked six days of Schlock. Usually I don’t take something through more than a couple of stages of creation in one day… it felt good at the end of the day, looking back and realizing that at 8am I had nothing — no scripts to pencil, no pencils to ink — and by 8pm I had a week’s worth.

Today began with a pile of coloring on my plate. I’ve gotten none of it done. I also have a huge knot of neck pain.

The good news is that I got some exercise. I played my first round of Disc Golf this season. I shot really, really well once you take that into account — 3 over par (with some fudging for one missed mandatory we were too lazy to take the drop on), which is about as well as I ever did last season.

Of course, the exercise wiped me out. I’ve had something like three hours of naps so far today. I’m thinking that yesterday morning’s energy drink was sort of a time-warp-in-a-can, allowing me to borrow today yesterday.

Maybe I’ll get some coloring done this evening. If not, there’s still tomorrow. I don’t run out of colored-and-uploaded strips until… um… Sunday.