So… in Sunday’s Schlock Mercenary we see Captain Tagon playing to win. He knows how important it is that he thoroughly trounce the current Pugil Stick Champion, even if he has to cheat. So he cheats, wins, and makes his point.

Also on Sunday, Sandra and I taught a class of nine- and ten-year-olds. It’s our new job in the local congregation. The lesson went well, and at the end the kids wanted to play a game. They suggested a full-body pantomime version of rock-paper-scissors (Bear-Cowboy-Ninja, I think) and I vetoed that because the last thing I want them doing is jumping around to let off steam this early in my tenure as their teacher (once I’ve established that Sandra and I control the classroom those sorts of activities may be permitted.)

But they did need recreation, so I let them play regular rock-paper-scissors. Of course they wanted to play me. And of course I realized that it would be very useful to my authority as a teacher if I won.

As Sandra records:

Howard systematically trounced all of them. They were playing two out of three, and only one time did a child win a round. When Howard was done, he stood back and said:
“So how did I do that?”
The kids all stared up at him, then one ventured “Because you can read our minds?”
Howard smiled. “Exactly.”

Yeah, that’s pretty much how it went. Only today, after reading Sandra’s blog entry on the subject did I realize that Tagon was channeling ME when he poked Chisulo in the eye. It’s not the other way ’round, I assure you…

1.Where is your mobile phone? Wall
2.Your significant other? Zoo
3.Your hair? Gone
4.Your mother? Dead
5.Your father? Dead
6.Your favorite thing? Sushi
7.Your dream last night? Fevered
8.Your favorite drink? Nesquik
9.Your dream/goal? Exaltation
10.The room you’re in? Office
11.Your ex? Forgotten
12.Your fear? Alzheimers
13.Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
14.Where were you last night? Asleepish
15.What you’re not? Tall
16.Muffins? Nah.
17.One of your wish list items? windows
18.Where you grew up? Florida
19.The last thing you did? Read
20.What are you wearing? PJs
21.Your TV? Off
22.Your pets? None
23.Your computer? Lifeblood
24.Your life? Wonderful
25.Your mood? Grateful
26.Missing someone? No
27.Your car? SCHLOCK
28.Something you’re not wearing? Shoes
29.Favorite store? Amazon
30.Your summer? Hot
31.Like someone? Love
32.Your favorite color? Lost
33.When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday
34.Last time you cried? Yesterday

This last week was a real slog… Monday and Tuesday I finished inking the Schlock Mercenary: The Teraport Wars bonus story. It’s 11 pages long, and details Schlock’s first experiences off of Ghanj-Rho — his earliest memories, and some of the most formative events of his “childhood.” It is a tale of tragedy, woe, high drama, cheap merchandise, and big explosions.

But it’s only INKED. I still need to COLOR it. Including the big explosions, of course.

Wednesday and Thursday I colored strips for the buffer, knocking down two weeks, and replacing a faulty monitor halfway through. Friday I scripted and podcasted. Saturday I pencilled and inked an entire week of comics.

Don’t get me wrong. I love working hard. It’s just that I’m only now, at 7:00pm-ish local time, starting to feel like I’m decompressing from the work week, and it’s almost time to recompress, kicking it into high gear for another week.

I’m okay dying at my drawing table. I just don’t want to do it for another forty years or so.

I want to work harder than I’m able to.

This week I was recovering from Ad Adstra. Monday was a wash. Tuesday and Wednesday I knuckled down and pushed out a week of strips, but by Thursday I was burnt out again. Friday I hosted a party for friends.

Saturday morning arrived and I’d done a week of comics, but made exactly NO progress on the next Schlock book. I HAVE to finish it by the end of this month, and losing an entire week at the beginning of the month was a very depressing thought.

I dragged myself out of bed, and dug into the existing pages. The next two pages of bonus story then flowed like water (well… like urine from a drunk if you must know — they HAD to come out, and they poured forth very freely. Oh, and there was a toilet involved.)

I packed my stuff up and headed to Dragons Keep to pencil and ink.

Six hours later I had the pencilling and inking done. Not only that, but the linking material, conclusion, and splash panel for the last two pages of the story had leapt unbidden to mind. I have a plan in which I knock those two pages down on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

This morning I saw only a month’s worth of no progress, and doom for April.

Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I feel pretty good about it not being a train.

It feels good to work hard.