New Horizons and the return of The CRUD!!

Music: Fleetwood Mac: Sands of Time
Thoughts: Crudhead, new job and the impending con
Strange days indeed have overcome the Floydman, I've been looking for a way to escape Paradise and it seems that I finally may have found it. I stopped in to the place where I put my application in a couple weeks ago and apparently they HAVE been trying to contact me for an interview but I've been online (I've GOT to get broadband, but I don't think it's available in our remote coastal location). So I've set an interview up for tomorrow. It's sort of a telemarketing job, but it's not anything too bad. I'd be setting up appointments for people to check out time shares, so it's not like market research or anything...plus I gotta go where the money and the benefits are AND I get my own little cubicle...a rarity for the coast. We'll see what happens.

The other night, my methhead neighbors had a helluva time all night....first with all the crashing and banging then with the music and then they decided that it might be a bit more convenient to take a piss off the balcony rather than use the indoor facilities....CLASSY! Oh, but it gets better...they then decided that they wanted everyone in town to know that they were getting busy with their bad selves and broke the silence with the sounds of drug induced lovemaking....NICE! They say they are only going to be here another month...but I'm not getting my hopes up...SHEESH!

A blast from the past hit me when Natalie ran downstairs while I was working and said to call my mom right away. Seems my old friend from long ago showed up out of the blue and was stopping by before he moved to Bend...now those who don't know Oregon, don't know that Bend is pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the Oregon desert and gets Super hot in the summer and super cold in the winter. Now, Crud and he is lovingly called (and he's definitiely earned the name) hasn't been seen since we parted ways back in 1998 and he hasn't changed a bit (other than the fact that now he's got the biker-mullet look going for him. So he rolled into town yesterday and we swapped and talked music. Crud used to be the BIGGEST (and possibly ONLY) Chicago fan in the state..then he was heavily into Jefferson Airplane last I saw him...now he's moved onto old Fleetwood Mac and Genesis. I guess he didn't realize what a big Genesis fan I am (but mainly the Peter Gabriel stuff) so we talked Genesis and I played the very first album From Genesis To Revelation for him that he had never heard before and is one of my personal favorites. Had a good old time and I turned him onto Marillion (also one of my faves) but my 'puter wasn't cooperating, so it wouldn't read alot of my cd's...but luckily it read his...so i ggot some new(?) music to listen too. Neever really been a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, but it gives me a chance to learn about the old Peter Green pre-Buckingham/Nicks days. Not bad...more bluesy and pretty ambient.

Got Marty's pinup done for Beyond Mortality...came out ok, but I had a really cool Gigeresque border drawn but I misplaced it, so I did without...he was pleased and so was I....check out the pic!

Sam Gafford started a new group, I unsubscribed from the Palavers becasue of the immature battle between Rick Olney and Ian Shires, I don't hold anything personal against either one, but I was just tired of my e-mail being flooded with such pettyness...I'll rejoin, but it's kind of nice not having to watch that go back and forth. Sam's doing a group similar to my mondoflod group
but with more emphasis on history and his personal life.

That's show biz today....catch y'all later!

F

On The Threshold Of Eternity...

Music: Just the sounds of Natalie sawing away....
Thoughts: When you google yourself, do the results make you feel insignificant?

Haven't been here in a couple of days....I apologize, been too tired..as usual to write. Had some pretty disturbing dreams the last couple of nights as well...can't remember one of them, but the other involved me working at my bosses store, only it wasn't the store I was familiar with, but a huge warehouse full of beds. The odd thing was, these were not just mattresses and headboards, but FULLY MADE beds that I had to move without messing up the sheets. Luckily, I was also on call as a policeman and was called down to the station because there was a psychopath who was gunning down cops left and right. Well amidst HEAVY gunfire, I managed to pick up a couple of funny looking pistols that lay on the ground next to one of the dead officers and duck into a corner. So the guy runs around the corner, all the while shooting cops behind him and says "Don't anybody try and follow me!" then turns around and there I am with a pistol in each hand and lay into him with about 10 bullets in each gun (obviously, they were automatic and carried AT LEAST eight bullets each...hey it's a dream and I ain't no gunsmith...awright?).
So the guy looks down at his now red wife beater shirt and then looks surprised at me and drops dead. Well, the remaining cops cheered me on and were getting ready to celebrate when I realized that I had to sneak back into the warehouse to finish moving these $%#&@ beds. I got up there and there was my boss, who congratulated me and tacked on another 50 beds that I had to move around....woke up soon after.
The cop part stems from me falling asleep while flipping channels from True Romance and Headliners and Legends with Robert Blake as the subject....BAD COMBO! I'm not sure where the whole bed thing comes in but at least I didn't have to clean anyone's kitchen....

Slow days at work this weekend...sounds like the SPP chat this week booted everyone out so I don't think I missed much. Adam is training Don how to close so HOPEFULLY, I can get some mid-shifts back. Been looking at printing still....MF #3 is coming along but HAS to be printing POD either through comixpress or the SPA....got too many fancy layouts in it that won't show up on a regular xerox. Speaking of which, my FAVORITE download site Tack-O-Rama is currently closed becasue of bandwidth piracy....they plan on getting back up and running Sept. 20th...sucks becasue that's where I get most of my cool fonts and clip art....WAAAAHH!!!

I googled myself just to see what would come up and lo and behold, there are a couple Robert Lee Sumners and even a Floyd Sumner I found in the same family (but not mine apparently), here's a picof Robert Lee Sumner....I guess it would be then and now..... oh, that color one is me and Natalie at Joe Sherlock's premiere of Double Wide Trailor Park Trilogy of Terror! You can find it and other cool stuff (including Dr. Squid, one of the inspirations for Mondo Flod!)on his website right here: http://www.drsquid.net/ . Well, gotta hit the hay, Catch y'all later!

F

Exhaustion...my closest friend..

Music: Rolling Stones: Time Waits For No One
Thoughts: Is there a record for the longest sentence spoken without taking a breath?...

Hooboy, what a day! Today was my Monday at work, and since Adam had the day off and was to go see DeWanderer in the hospital (Apparently, it wasn't just an aneurysm, but a stroke after all, with probably a side order of aneurysm, leaving her paralyzed on the right side of her body and unable to think clearly...Vicki (the owner's significant other) says she will probably have to be in a nursing home now...sucks because she just bought herself a new home in the country), so I was left at the mercy of Kayla and Don.

Now let me describe these two to you...pay attention because here's where it gets complicated. Kayla is Pattie's daughter, but not her REAL daughter. Pattie is the warehouse manager..and someone I like to consider the Paradise Gifts equivalent to Sasquatch. She's built and acts like a man and likes to think she is everyone's boss, which is funny because I consider her authority as going no further than the warehouse doors. So Kayla is 15 years old, doesn't have a social security card nor a work permit and basically isn't even legal to work in the state of Oregon. But of course she got the job because A) She's Pattie's "daughter" and B) Tom say one look at her being young and blond and out of puberty and hired her....no problem. So the thing about Kayla is SHE WON'T SHUT UP! I swear, this girl is one of those people who has to outdo EVERY story you tell...her family is always one up on the rest of the world and when you try (and I do mean try) to say something, she manages to turn it around so that by the time you are done talking to her, the story you were telling became about her, her friends, or her family. And I'm just too nice to tell her to SHUT THE FUCK UP! So today was an EXTREMELY talkative day for her....I swear she didn't take a breath....hence my exhaustion phase one.

Phase Two: Don. Now Don just started working a couple weeks ago because we had our second person quit (which was Courtney, daughter of Kim who works at one of our other stores Grey Whale....see? told you it was complicated). OK, now Don would be a cool guy...if he wasn't such an uncool guy. He too is a knowitall and also one who thinks he's my best buddy. but what REALLY bugs me is when I'm playing my hip cd's at work, he mocks them...now I can understand if he doesn't LIKE them...but I think he kinda does...after all, who DOESN'T like the Ultra Lounge? So what he does is for example, if the music is going thum thum thum thum, then he starts going thum thum thum thum and chuckling....One thing I hate is when people chuckle at themselves thinking that they are being cute and clever, when in fact they are kinda making an ass out of themselves.... So again, I had to put up with this guy who also follows me around EVERYWHERE, and along with Kayla (nicknamed Gabby by Carrie, who works at yet ANOTHER one of our stores Seaview Bazaar), this has been an exhausting day...WHEW! I DID manage to draw the tiger you see posted here today at work...took about 10 minutes...maybe I'm coming out of my artistic slump after all!

Just got an e-mail from Marty Oakley again....I guess after yesterday's blog he thought I was gonna launch spiritual warfare against him, but I explained myself....all's good. I don't know why, but I think he's a cool guy (and he didn't even pay me to say that). When first checking out his site, I noticed a religious aura to his work and influences, but i wasn't driven away, it intrigued me even more and also i think I respect his enthusiasm for the small press community as a whole...OK OK here's a link! http://www.bloodstainedproductions.com/ check it out will ya!

Skeet's giving up his MSN sites (even though he really doesn't have to) so I guess I'm gonna be the only one in charge of the BPP on the web (other than Jim Main, who has his Yahoo group), Gonna try and get on it soon....but been thinking of taking next week off from the 'puter to concentrate on catching up on my drawing. Plus, we are due for a trip to my mom's on Tuesday...haven't been up there since....hmm...you know it's been so long, I can't remember. Better get something for her birthday too....can't forget the date 9/11....and now I won't hear the end of it.

'Zit fer now...probably be back in the wee hours tomorrow morn...(been up since 3:30 AM today...still haveng sleep troubles....)

Til Then,

F

If The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth, Then Why Am I So Broke?

Music: Sammy Davis Jr.: Hello Detroit

Thoughts: Poverty, The BPP and the End Of Days.

Been a BUSY day today, got word from Ian at the SPA that he needed a logo ASAP for his upcoming Sneak Peek book (basically, a book of ads from SPA members that is intended to generate interest in independant publishers like myself). Whipped it out pretty quick (of course, since I designed the first Self Publisher logo it's based on, it was a piece of cake).

Also sent off an ad for Mondo Flod to Marty Oakley at Bloodstained Productions (I GOTTA start putting links in for these guys). He asked me to do an article on the relationship between pop culture and the end of days. Now, I like to think i know everything because my filing magnet in my head picks up useless information from all sorts of places, but I must admit that I'm kinda stumped on this one. Does he want me to write a semi-religious piece? An apocalyptic piece or what? I asked him to clarify for me. By now if you've been reading carefully, you all know that I don't believe in God and all that sort of stuff, but I do have enough knowledge on the subject to get by in a thoelogical conversation. I won't elaborate on it here, but I will admit a dark secret to you all.....I AM GOD, No, wait, that's not it....oh, I have a secret ritual on Saturday mornings where I awake early in the morning (usually about 2 or 3AM) and tune into bad children's religious programming, I guess it's my guilty pleasure or maybe it's because I can't help but wonder where all these kids are now (Circle Square, my favorite was produced back in the 80's...and according to Natalie has the CREEPIEST Canadian children around!). At any rate, the information presented seeps into my head and remains there.

Ok, while I'm on the subject, just got an e-mail back from Marty explaining the storyline a bit. Mum's the word though but I must admit his book Beyond Mortality isn't QUITE what I was expecting... Enough on religion before I start going on a rant.

I was hoping to get my comixpress bill paid today, but of course I'm short on money (and yesterday was a payday, anyone who says you can feed a family of four, a dog and a cat on minimum wage is LYING and is too busy sending people overseas to get killed). I just hope to get them taken care of by next payday so I can get my comics in time for Stumptown. I checked Ian's new printing service and since it's basically the only game in town with comixpress on hiatus, I suggest going with it. I would like to, but with my money and time taken up by the upcoming con, I really can't afford the 100 copy minimum he requires. Also as a sidenote, I compared his printing with comixpress' and even though he claims to be cheaper, the formats I was looking at were actually cheaper at comixpress (especially if you include a comixpress ad in your book...which I have no problem with). I don't know if he's done a comparison or not. I support the efforts of the SPA and hope that Ian can get this thing going eventually with no minimum order. I even found a site overseas in England, but haven't requested a quote yet...only problem with them is that the shipping would probably kill ya, but they only have a 25 issue minimum, with increments of 25 after that (i.e. 50, 100, etc.).

Hey, I created a new T-Shirt design that i'm listing in my new catalogs and may sell at the upcoming show, tell me what you think.

Got some BPP things on my mind. Sam Gafford has given in and joined us and now that Adam is stepping down as chairman, I'm thinking of taking his place...but I'm not announcing my candidacy just yet, we'll see how it goes. Tried to update the website a bit, but Yahoo's Pagebuilder is not being kind to me today, I'll have to try again some other day I guess...

Getting sleepy, gonna go play some MAME, catch y'all later!

F

Dreams, Illusions and friends I never knew...

Music: Ultra Lounge Volume 5: Wild , Cool and Swingin'
Thoughts: Getting things done today

Hey, I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamt that a bunch of small press guys I correspond with were getting together at Steve Keeter's (a.k.a. Skeet, that's him in the photo) house and I'm not sure exactly why...I guess there was a big bar-b-que/fanboy reunion that was going on. So the guys that were there (ironically enough, none that I have ever met in person and have only seen a couple photos of) were Skeet, Sam Gafford, Jim Main, Mark Innes and Allen Freeman. But I was late because no matter where I stopped on my way there, people had me cleaning their kitchens! So I finally made it to Skeet's ( a nice little manufactured home in a sunny residential neighborhood) and while everyone was showing up, Skeet's wife made me CLEAN THE KITCHEN! Actually, I cleaned it so I could get a piece of cake she made. We all finally got together, but Allen Freeman was on oxygen and in a wheelchair and didn't look so good. So when we all went into the dining room, we had to sit in a row against the wall and then found out that we were really in a police lineup! Don't know what happened next, but I'm sure I got out of it by offering to clean the police captian's kitchen. My mind works in mysterious ways when I'm not around.

Got word today that onew of the BPP member's father passed away. I wrote to Rome Maynard and offered my sympathy, it's about all I can do. It always perplexes me when people say if there's anything I can do for you, let me know. Like what are you gonna do? Pay for the funeral? Mow their lawn? What? I know it's a nice sediment, but I'm trying not to say that....poeple might call me on it and I'll be cleaning their kitchens.

More later, got lots to work on today, still mad that I lost yesterday's post. Oh and the picture of Sammy Davis that I drew was SUPPOSED to accompany today's entry...but I'm still working my way around Hello and Picasa.....


F

Ah, nothing like the Candyman.... 

I just wrote a HUGE blog, but accidently hit the return button when I was done...so all that is now lost in history,like tears in the rain!!!!

Long story short...No Sleep, beat the comixpress deadline but did it with my catalog......I also mentioned getting my two new Ultra Lounge CD's and I recommend them to everyone...too tired to re-write all that...SHEESH!!!
Don't worry...I'll probably be repeating it eventually....

<----------And on top of it all, I got THIS thing that I can't seem to cut from my post...


F

Careful What You Wish For...

Thoughts: Printing On Demand and DeWanderer
I believe in fate. I believe what comes around goes around. And I believe if you treat people badly, it will catch up with you. DeWanderer took yesterday off to attend an important church meeting that had something to do with getting a new pastor, I didn't pay much attention to her when she told me the details because A) I never pay much attention to her when she talks to me and B) As long as I've known her she still doesn't realize that I'm 100% atheistic. Well, halfway through the day yesterday, I got a call from Tom, the supposed general manager of the store who really doesn't do anything a general manager is supposed to do and is there in title only (and because his brother is the owner and must have given him the job to keep him out of poverty). He asked me what DeWanderer's schedule was (even though we've told him a million and two times before), I didn't think anything of it and told him for the millionth and third time.
Later we found out that the reason he asked is that something happened to DeWanderer, he wouldn't tell us until he found out how serious it was. It was pretty freakin' serious.

Apparently DeWanderer had suffered a brain aneurysm while at church and it left her totally incapacitated. From the rumor mill, she has been left totally blind and deaf and needless to say, she will not be coming back to Paradise. I feel very bad for her and her family, but tragic occurrences like this is why I believe in fate. I find it very hard to feel sorry for someone so vindictive and hypocritical. DeWanderer was a judgmental and conniving person and it caught up with her. My thoughts are still with her and her family. I wanted her out of Paradise, but not like this.

I've finished the BPP checklist and should be sending it out to the members soon, now I gotta get on the Jam book. I admit, I'm dragging my feet a bit, but with trying to get everything set up for the upcoming Stumptown show, I haven't had much time to draw. Speaking of which, I just found out yesterday that comixpress isn't taking any new orders after the 15th. This sucks because I've been trying to finish the latest issue of Mondo Flod and go through them and also working on my new catalog. Now I was going to try and get one of the two projects done so I could mail it off and beat the deadline tomorrow, but MF #3 is only 5 pages done and the catalog still has five pages to go and is going to be more expensive. I'm surfing around for another cheap print on demand printer, but coming up empty. I've put in a request for a quite from Ian at the SPA, so we'll see what he has to say. He claims he's got the cheapest price and best turnaround, but because I like just throwing everything together in pdf. format, I've gotta get used to his preferred way of doing it with TIFF's.

OK, I'm done now...been up since 4AM again, it's now after 7AM and looks like I'll be a zombie all day today.

F

Fog, Serenity and Flash Gordon.

THOUGHTS: The Filmation Flash Gordon Cartoon

This is the time I live for, it's 4:42 AM and the town is still, a thick fog blankets the main drag through Depoe Bay. I am at my most creative with these elements in place.....so here's what's on my mind. I can't sleep again, this happens quite often and so I just get up and work on things...but now that I've got the blog...here I am.

For some reason, I'm thinking about old cartoons....and I mean obscure ones. Does anyone remember the old Flash Gordon cartoon that Filmation did? Or how about The Secret Life of Waldo Kitty? Maybe it's just me, but now that there is no more Saturday mornings as they were, I can't help but wonder if it's indirectly responsible for the decline of American youth. If I was a kid today, I'd be in animated heaven. Nickolodeon, Cartoon Network, Kids WB.....but you know because I'm an adult now, I think it's just overkill. Is there anyone that actually gets PAID to be program director at Nickelodeon? What a cush job THAT is. All you gotta do is plan 4 hour blocks of each cartoon per day and repeat them 3 hours after the marathon ends....wasted television space.

Got a couple e-mails from BPP members about me making a new checklist. In case you don't know, BPP is Blue Plaque Publications, a smal press co-op I belong to where self publishers get together and chat about themselves and each other's works. I'm the webmaster for the group's site, a job I jumped into because I got tired of seeing the same thing and old news on the website....here's where we are: http://www.geocities.com/blueplaquepublications/ .So I started the new checklist of member books...should be getting to an update on the website sometime this week I hope.

The silence has ended, my upstairs neighbor who obviously is on meth just came home and is stomping around. I hate apartment living....someone should write a guide on how to go about getting a good job and a house of your own, 'cause *I* sure am lost when it comes to that....someday though...oh well. Not much else on my mind right now, guess I'll either go back to sleep or work on something....

Blogs, Picasas and Hellos...Oh My!

Ok, so since I'm still in my preliminary phase of getting the hang of this whole blog thing, I thought I'd go ahead and grab Google's Picasa2 and Hello software, thinking it would make it easier to post pics on my blog...well, so now I get to figure out how THOSE work. In a perfect world, I'm sure they all compliment each other...but in Flodville, it's actually easier just to upload the photo from my post...OY !

So I thought I'd test it out with this Martin Denny album cover. I'm in the middle of writing Mondo Flod #3, and currently working on my article about Martin Denny and the other kings of lounge music so I thought this would be appropriate. I guess i should tell everyone how my day went (as if you all care), Actually not too bad...slow day at work, by the way I work at a gift shop called Paradise Gifts, it's basically a souvenir shop (I AM on the coast y'know) and we all get along with the exception of someone you will no doubt be hearing alot about in blogs to come. Her name is DeWanda (I refer to her as DeWanderer), she's 62 years young (according to her), a fanatical Christian (and a wonderfully hypocritical one at that) and basically she is the Anti-Flod. Her thoughts beliefs mannerisms, sense of humor...EVERYTHING is totally opposite of me. Alongside her, we have the manager Adam, who I admire just because he gets away with so much stuff and I can amaze him with my useless knowledge of pop culture. Oh, just to let you know, Adam is gay which makes the whole DeWanderer factor even more entertaining....Fun in Paradise...more later.

Yet another way to avoid reality...

Hey everyone....ok, ok, everybody's doing it, so of course, here I am. If you are THAT bored with your life that you have to see what's going on with everyone ELSE'S life, then you are in the right place.

What you will find here is just a look at the way I see things (isn't that what blogs are for?). You may not agree with some of my opinions but it's all good, that's what makes us all unique. I'll also be talking alot about small press publishing (which I do), pop culture (which I dig), my kids Etienne and Kyran, and my lovely wife Natalie (both of which I love immensely). Oh, you also may hear about my dead end job in a gift shop...this looks like a great place to vent....plus I'll be posting some work related cartoons as well...

So sit back and wait in anticipation for the next chapter.....SHALOM!