Sweetness.
Here I am at my good friend Matt Slaybaugh’s place– futzing around on my very own laptop computer (given to me be another very good friend, Topher. Hi, Toph!) writing this new post for my redesigned website (while he works diligently on the behind-the-scenes stuff).
How sweet is that?
Just wanted to let you know I’ll be at the following conventions with Blink & Sam: the Buckeye Comic Con (Oct 29), SNAP! (Nov 4) and Mid-Ohio Con (Nov 25 & 26).
Now, I must get to work on installing my scanner, so’s I can use it to scan in my pages (which still need to get drawn!).
As Michelangelo Cicerone noted in his comments on AUTOink #2, I’ve got a “thing” for clouds– they are my favorite natural phenomena.
As requested, here’s an example of the “famous” Max Ink clouds. These clouds are from a Spring 2006 journal entry.
Hmm, as I’m looking through my journals, I’m seeing a whole LOT of clouds and quite a few “inklings.” …That’s what I call the inky/spindly blob floating in the clouds there.
It was good to see Michelangelo and all the other small pressers at SNAP! in Detroit this past weekend. I’m looking forward to next year’s show.
I read David Progue’s article recounting his experience at this year’s TED conference. (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design) It’s a four-day conference featuring “the most compelling, passionate (and) informed speakers you’ve ever heard.”
“Only 1,000 people can attend TED live (it’s in Monterey, California). The auditorium holds only 500 people; the rest sit downstairs in a comfortable “simulcast lounge” and watch on flat-panel high-definition TV sets. (So why don’t they hold the thing in a bigger theater? They tried. Last year, they held one afternoon’s talks in a Broadway-style theater. It was a disaster. The enormous hall drained all sense of intimacy, humanity and urgency from the speakers.)”
One thousand people…intimate? Okay—when you’re talking about speakers like Malcom Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point
and Blink), Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia) and Peter Gabriel… yeah, I can see 1,000 people being “intimate.”
But me? After almost twenty years of creating comics in the small press, with an average readership of maybe one (or two?) hundred people, the idea of having an audience of 1,000 people is a far cry from being intimate.
Maybe if I spent more time writing, drawing, printing, distributing & promoting my comics and less time being “lost,” I’d have that audience of 1,000 and could stop bitching.
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped to make this year’s Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo a great show. Special thanks to Bob Corby (the organizer of the Expo), Dave Sim (the ever-returning featured “special guest” of the Expo) and this year’s Day Prize winner, Steve Peters (the house guest of the Ink).
Now– if you’re one of the few people who read this and you haven’t already bought a copy of my comic book, visit the “Max Ink/Blink” page on Optical Sloth to purchase a copy.
That’s all for the moment.
Well, I have returned to the land of the “living” (aka wage-earning) and I am quite happy.
Which is a little different.
You see, I’ve been very satisfied working Nights at UPS since 1996. However, ever since I switched to the Day Shift back in February, I’ve been struggling with depression. So much so that I had a nervous breakdown in the beginning of April. (Wee.) I will be able to return to the Night Shift eventually but I have to wait until August to do so (due to contractual reasons… I’m a Teamster). So, for the next three months, I’ve got to tough it out (and not have another nervous breakdown).
How shall I do it?
–::–
Whenever I feel miserable about my situation
I shall think of all that I have to be grateful for:
from the biggest (my children, my friends, my art, my health, etc.)
to the smallest (matching socks, a working answering machine, the fact that I’m not quite bald yet, etc.)
–::–
I have thought about doing this before, but I just didn’t put it into practice.
Seriously– every time I’ve ever been happy, I have been immensely grateful for what it is I am happy about. So, I shall simply remind myself as often as possible all the many reasons I have to be happy.
I’m happy to write this and share it with you.
ONWARDS,
Max
