Destructo's Living Journal

Windless Sails

2009-07-14T21:42:52Z

So.

No updates since about a month ago, huh? I suppose I could have extensively blogged about my loss of employment, financial uncertainty and woe at accepting the impending changing of my home, but I hate airing out depressing news. And it seems incredibly inappropriate on what’s supposed to be a comedic strip site.

Well, since the last update, the Little Dude (who keeps getting taller despite all the weights I put atop his head to stunt said growth) has graduated from Ye Ole Kindergarten and has been living up his summer vacation… for about two weeks before asking to go back to school. What’s wrong with kids these days?

Also, I’m going to (try to) go back to school. I’ve spent the last 8.5 years in the IT industry working for Big Blue and I’m about sick of the computer industry. I still like tinkering with PCs and learning server stuff, but yeesh. I’m going to get some undergrad physics classes under my belt and become a mad scienti- er, get my masters in Astronomy and Physics. Whee!

And, just to prove I haven’t completely abandoned my creative endeavors, here’s a peek at what I’ve got lined up:

Yes, I’ve been reading some H.P. Lovecraft.

Still updating!

2009-05-26T14:35:09Z

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not posting here much. I honestly don't have all that much that's interesting to share. However, just in case there were those unaware...

I'm still updating the webcomic.

Yay for Hawaiian Casual Friday!

Lunch of Steel

2009-04-09T12:13:49Z

Today Little Dude is off on a field trip. One of the requirements for said trip is a sack lunch. Now, my son has both a Spider-Man and a Superman lunch box, but the note seemed to stress something “disposable.” Thus I asked the boy if he’d like a picture on his lunch sack, to which I received an enthusiastic “YES!”

Since the Little Man has been rather engrossed with Scooby-Doo lately, I was expecting to have to crib from one of his coloring books. No, he actually wanted the Man of Steel himself. So, this is what he took to school:

Complete with peanut butter sandwich, graham crackers and a juice box. Done in Sharpie and Crayola, even! My apologies to Tim Sale for borrowing from his cover for A Superman for All Seasons.

Fluffy and Bear - Brain Ridin'

2009-03-12T03:16:01Z

That’s how they roll.

Winter Storm 2009!

2009-01-29T04:09:46Z

At this time, I am holed up in a hotel because my neighborhood lost power around 06:00 EST this morning. Thankfully once it appeared the utilities people had their hands full, we obtained some assistance in procuring some shelter. Still… some people are getting a little nuts and cramming my family into a rather small room for a prolonged period of time can lead to no good.

Family Freeze-In: Day 1 – Mr. Black is already getting restless. I fear only cannibalism awaits.

Rough Day at the Drawing Board

2009-01-15T03:21:29Z

Rough Day at the Drawing Board

January 14th, 2009

Trying to maximize the most out of my little backlog of webcomics, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time today hunched over my drawing desk. I’m slowly eking out another arc, but…

…I keep getting distracted by things that aren’t what I’m supposed to be drawing.

Like Zombie Cyborgs from the 35th Century. And before you ask, yes, I’ve been reading far too much of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy for my own good lately. Though I might be postponing my post-apocalyptic zomborg fest, it has been inspiring me to think of shorter stories to tell. Fun fun fun!

The Burden of Wakefulness

2009-01-07T12:08:30Z

January 7th, 2009

It is perhaps one of worst curses imaginable… while I would not exactly describe myself as an “early riser” I am certainly capable and called upon to do so. Unfortunately, the rest of my family appears to be stalwart night owls and most definitely NOT morning people.

Yes, I’m looking at YOU, Little Dude.

Anyway, here’s some coloring I ended up playing around with the other day, with some inspiration and direction from kiddo.

Yay me.

Happy Birthday, Kiddo

2008-12-22T21:10:53Z

On December 22 of 2002, after 16 hours of labor, my wife gave birth to a small boy of 5 lbs 14.5 ozs and 19″. I knew he was destined to be the end of me since he began experiencing respiratory problems shortly after birth due to a heart valve not closing properly. After nine days at UK’s NICU, he came home for the New Year.

Ever obstinate, four weeks later he developed pyloric stenosis. Now, one might be led to believe I had a hand in such, but considering the doctor could not tell if I was a first-born, white male at first glance, I deny everything!

Still, it seems even in spite of ourselves, Little Dude has been an overall joy these now six years. A very weird joy, but still one nonetheless. Though I suspect it’s all part of his plot… yes…

The Holidays, They Besiege Us

2008-12-08T13:04:44Z

The Little Man hasn’t cared much for talking to that Infamous Elf of the Northern Wastes the last couple years, but apparently the school system made it clear that if you talk to the Rotund One, presents appear.

The funny thing being, this photo was taken on the Little Dude’s second visit. The first time he saw this exact same Santa, he told The Wife and I in no uncertain terms “That’s not Santa.” Perhaps Mr. Fluffy (depicted) or his mercenary heart convinced him otherwise.

24 Hour Comicbook Day -- update!

2008-10-18T15:13:05Z

7 pages drawn, 3 laid out!

Now... to bake a cake! Mwahah!

24 Hour Comicbook Day

2008-10-18T13:05:29Z

An hour into the event known to the universe only as "24 Hour Comicbook Day." I've gotten about 4 pages pencilled. Right now I'm just playing catch-up on all of the strips I wanted to get done this week. I wanted to build up a backstock of comics so that I'd be able to focus on the upcoming NaNoWriMo event without scrambling to get a semi-weekly comic strip up as well. I've still got a number left that I've laid out but haven't drawn or inked yet. Hopefully I can bust through these and finish up this little story arc with enough time to work on a short (4 - 6 page) original graphic story today.

Gambatte!

Sketchbook Peek!

2008-09-11T14:53:59Z

It's been a while since I've entered something. I really need to learn that blogging is about just throwing something up here regularly. ^_^; In that vein, here's a glimpse into my sketchbook!

As you can see I did a couple portrait sketches of McKinley and then... kind made a Ghost Rider a homeroom teacher. You know. Just to see what he looked like. "Mr. Murder - Algebra Teacher" probably won't make it into this series, though I could see some retooling shaping him up to fit in nicely with my Evil Acedemy idea.

Mweh heh heh.

I Removed a Parasite From Your HEAD!

2008-08-01T15:58:23Z

Yesterday was a big day.

The wife and I took Little Dude to get his pre-kindergarten eye exam. Shocking beyond belief is that the progeny of two extremely near-sighted people has almost perfect vision. Not so shocking was that Little Dude messed with the heads of everyone trying to evaluate his vision by deliberately misnaming the images he was supposed to identify. And then giggling about it.

Afterward, it was my priviledge to drop the wee man off at my mom’s where he would spend the next couple days. Presumably the last trip he gets to take for a long while once school starts. He was delighted to see Grandma Cindy. Just as I was about to leave, however, I discovered a rather large tick hidden in his hair.

No, not this:

The other kind. Needless to say, a great deal of sturm und drang went into removing the thing… and a small piece of Little Dude’s scalp with it, it had attached itself so tightly. The boy came through the ordeal like a champ and hopefully my paranoid perusal of the CDC’s Lyme disease pages will be for nothing.

Of course the boy was completely unphased by the whole thing such that when I loudly proclaimed I’d earned a hug for “removing a parasite from your head” he allowed me to give him a hug… and then tried to place the bite mark in my face.

cross-posted to Fluffy and Bear!

Long Time, No... You Get the Idea

2008-07-25T04:40:47Z

Don't have a whole lot to say other than I've finally gotten the webcomic back up and running. It's using a wordpress theme called ComicPress that, while it still looks a touch on the generic side right now, is making things easier (and easier to look at) as far as presentation goes.

I've put up 2 (3) strips already and am working on putting up more non-strip content. I guess I'll just have to get over my shyness. ;)

http://www.fluffyandbear.com/

BWAHA!

2008-07-19T14:02:30Z

For those that don't read Penny Arcade, this should be watched.

http://drhorrible.com/

Books meme

2008-06-26T02:41:51Z

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read (strikethrough ones you hate!)
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (If I never read anything from another Bronte it will be too soon)
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (this is still one of the most charming and sad books I've ever read)
6. The Bible.
7. ~~Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte~~
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (trust me, folks, the title is ironic in more ways than one)
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (I've read most of his tragedies and a good number of the comedies, though not the whole thing)
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (seriously a great adventure story)
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (the wife has said good things about it)
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (I couldn't make it past page 137)
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (I ended up liking the 4th book better [I refuse to acknowledge Mostly Harmless] I really enjoyed reading this series)
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (Odd choice, I know, but there were a number of things I could relate to with the main character)
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (I've read bits and pieces, never the whole thing)
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (only Nazis could not love Winnie the Pooh)
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell (while 1984 is better known, I think Animal Farm is much more compelling. There's something so... nakedly honest about how everything turns out.)
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding (I ended up reading this book and 1984 three times throughout school. And it was only with a bit more age and experience that I began to truly appreciate this book. It's become
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (I am always up for a good tale of vengeance)
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville (I own a copy and have tried, repeatedly, to read this)
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Again, read a number of stories, just not exhaustively)
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas (one of the best adventure stories ever. It's got everything and then some. Athos is the MAN!)
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Wow, I've read 23 of these and seen the movies to a number more. It's almost like I'm educated or something!

Artwork: Kokoro!

2008-02-18T01:04:20Z

So. I really suck at this whole 'weblog' thing. I'm seriously going to have to just post any damn fool thing that pops into my head to get some kind of quasi-regular updating thing going, aren't I?

Oh wells. Here's something I worked for the Wife and one of her stories-in-progress. Behold! Kokoro, the Ninja what uses candy hearts as weapons!

Isn't she everything a generic kunoichi should be?

doc_destructo @ 2007-10-21T01:27:00

2007-10-21T05:33:46Z

My third participation in 24 Hour Comicbook Day was less than complete, but certainly not disappointing. Largely because not only did I manage to have fun with an idea I'd had sitting around for ages, but I managed to stop before the joints on my right hand swelled into gianormous sausage links. We're talkin' German-imported here, people, none of that wussy Jimmy Dean crapola!

This year's premise was about some average teenager accidentally getting enrolled in a school that churned out future underworld leaders. I know, I just can't write and draw enough evil. I wonder what that says about me as a person? Hmmm...

Anywho, here's a sample page (no. 3 out of 9 completed) for those who suffer from uncontrollable curiosity.

Fluffy and Bear! --Updated

2007-10-19T04:06:58Z

Yet more webcomicy efforts.

It is a YAY.

It is also my earnest desire to update the webcomic thrice weekly, preferably on a MWF schedule. Sadly given how my work schedule flips every week, it's more of a "three times a week at any random day" until I can work up a backlog of strips. With Little Dude at my mom's until Sunday (Sunday! Sunday!) that's the goal.

Fluffy and Bear! --Updated

2007-10-15T04:07:39Z

That's right, folks. A quasi-timely update. 3 more strips penciled and 6 more laid out. And I've been listening to too much Die Hard because I can hardly resist shouting "Yippee Kai-Yay."

The comic!

Fluffy and Bear!

2007-10-10T13:04:20Z

Uh-huh. That's right.

It's up.

Now... to see how long I can keep up with it!

Updates, Galore!

2007-09-23T04:42:14Z

Man, it's been a while since I've bothered to update this thing. Not surprising in that most of what's been going on for the last month has revolved around blown tires, medical claims screw ups, and the ever-escalating activity of work. There's been wrestling with the small bits of PHP I understand for my oft-delayed and sidelined website. So, mostly there's been nothing new or interesting to report aside from griping, and color me crazy, I'd rather not subject the InterNetz to more woe-is-me than it already has. ^_^

On the bright side, my illustration skills, while not being put to good use, are at least being used as I complete daily sketches for Little Dude's pre-school. Since this school year it's in the afternoon, I find myself not racing to scribble something out first thing in the morning and thusly happier with those drawings.

24-Hour Comicbook Day is approaching, as is NaNoWriMo, both events I enjoy, yet with other things going on and my schedule seemingly never settled (seriously, I should have switched shifts in July...) I'm not sure if I'll be participate. Especially since it's my personal goal to have a backlog of webcomics ready to kick off as of October 9th. Curse you, Malaise!

In which a very stressful day is recounted...

2007-08-16T05:48:10Z

I woke up bright and early this morning to install some memory into my desktop. The memory, which I had bought from a coworker who'd claimed to have tested it, killed my machine. The original memory cannot go back without setting off alarms and the when I can get configure things to where it doesn't trigger those alarms, not only does only half of my original memory work, but the desktop doesn't boot. At all. No display.

Amidst my computing woes, I learn that the Wif had pushed herself too hard yesterday after her first day of physical therapy and Little Dude's first day back at preschool. She can't move without gianormous amounts of pain. And somehow I still end up having to practically force her to take her pain meds and rest.

Why? Because I also have a 12 hour shift at which I am sitting right now, flying solo after having been awake for what must be 19 or 20 hours now. I will not be home before the 24 hour mark. But it needed to be done because the alternative was that I get to ~~attempt to~~ sleep while Little Dude missed his second day of pre-K and roamed the house unchecked while ne_today suffered without relief since the meds make her a little wonky. Like hell.

And, since we're both up, and I can't exactly slumber heavily during the 3 hours kiddo's in school, we decide to finish our budgeting and finance overhaul. Whoops. Looks like with all our house, car, utilities, food, medical and school expenses I make just enough money to keep us in the black. Barely.

But hey, Little Dude's finally actually sitting on the toilet for his No. 2 (a heretofore rare if unknown occurrence) and after a month of belt-tightening, personal fiscal conservatism the household finances should be closer to back on track. Or at least more on track. A track may have been found. Oh and I have a lunchbox since both kiddo and I needed them. Sadly, mine does not have Spider-Man gracing its front like his does, but I suppose that merely ensures that I get to keep it.

Accomplishment, Ye Elusive Wench

2007-07-18T01:47:38Z

It's my last day off before I go in to work tomorrow night and then leaving driving to Little Rock (with a stop at the in-laws) for the weekend. It's been an exciting time, since ne_today got the final revision copy of her and zabasity 's book. It was a very trippy experience to see my name listed as a credit on the back of the title page.

Crap, I'm going to have to start being productive and pumping out more original stuff, aren't I?!

Thankfully I have a wonderfully supportive/pushy person in my life and thus got out a few ideas on paper before Little Dude started devouring my soul....

See?

and

Then again, it was a good sign for productivity when I replaced the failing battery in my watch, cleaned up my art room, started a "doodle pad" for my art desk, and found the missing hero-clix figurine of Doctor Doom, whom I'd thought lost forever to the bowels of time and/or dog.

All this while rediscovering my love of crappy NES racing games. It's like my loafing was foretold in legend or something!

doc_destructo @ 2007-07-11T08:49:00

2007-07-11T13:14:36Z

Since I'm finally done being clobbered at work for two days, I can finally comment about my weekend. You know, because everyone's been on pins and needles just suffocating in anticipation. This past weekend Little Dude stayed with my mom. All that potty-training progress we'd made, well, that whooshing noise was the sound of it flying out the window.

First: I have no idea why, but I can't choose my favorite LJ viewing setting anymore on my laptop. I still can on my desktop, though. Why this must be confounds me, though I'm sure it might have something to do with that LJlogin extension for Firefox. Hmmm. I am displeased.

Second: I managed to acquire a few books and graphic novels from my Amazon wishlist. Do not ask to see the wishlist for the Wif has declared it lame and uninteresting! My weekend haul though consisted of the Empowered v1, Yotsuba&! v4, yet another art book, and Evil Genius.

Third: Evil Genius would have had Soon I Will Be Invincible as a companion were I not so utterly depressed that it was a parallel to my own 2005 NaNoWriMo novel. Evil Genius at least reads like an alternate reality version of my half-conceive-then-abandoned 2006 novel. It's like seeing someone not as funny as you tell your best anecdotes.

Fourth: I saw Live Free or Die Hard with ne_today and Transformers by my lonesome. The former was incredibly fun and exciting. The latter not as much, but still decent.

Fifth: While still rather rebellious, it appears that Little Dude was quick to regain said potty-training skills. Well, most of them.

Sixth: I managed to neither write nor draw a damned thing this weekend, yet I feel oddly rejuvenated and have a few new ideas for my original stuff banging around now.

Seventh: I cemented my belief that "the bar scene" isn't exactly my scene of choice and being the only sober person in the building gets old quick.

And now, I'm going to try and get my son interested in something that isn't my computer and then escape to my much beloved bed.