Paradise Lost

Music: Hell's Half Acre: Robbie Robertson
Thoughts: A New Life Awaits You In The Offworld Colony...A Chance To Begin Again!

Why is it that whenever I write a really cool blog, one that takes me an HOUR to finish, I lose it because my computer decides to get indigestion....Can you guess what just happened to me? Yup.....

So what I wrote about is how for the last 3 years, I've been the prisoner of an evil gift shop overlord and his hapless brother....maybe fate stepped in and told me not to publish such a scathing expose.....well, at any rate, here I am again, long story short, I'm free from an employer that not only offers minimum wage, but also included in the deal is the lack of any benefits or paid holidays......how's THAT for struggling?

So my new job is at the new Walgreen's store in Lincoln City....just opened today...not a dream job by any means, but considering I'll be making 60 cents more an hour plus have medical and dental and 401k and profit sharing....I think it's just dandy!...Oh, and I'll be in the photo electronic department so I can make duplicates of any nude photos that come my way....JUST KIDDING!!! So a new adventure awaits, I start Sunday...maybe I'll let you know how it goes..

It's too bad I lost the previous blog, I go into how I was banned from drawing at work....but here's a sampling of what I was up to.

I've got a whole stack of Tom and Dick (my bosses) cartoons that someday I'll get around to putting in a comic...redrawn and cleaned up of course....this is one of my favorites.. In case you can't read it...here's the dialogue:

Dick: So Tom, What are we going to call our new store?

Tom: Hmm...Let's See...I've Got It!

Store sign: DICK-MART; Home of the Price Whacker!

Tom: Well, seemed like a good name at the time!

Funny thing is, they look just like how I draw them.....and the Smothers Brothers coincidence is a bit uncanny too....

In other news, I've been sick for about a month now, so has Natalie....she seems to think we've got a touch of Pneumonia...I don't know what it is, but I've only been getting about 4 or 5 hours of sleep at night in between the spleen ripping hacking and coughing....I thought I was getting better, but now my nose is stuffy...I'm too busy to be sick!

Oh, before the sickness, I started my second oil painting....as you can see, it remains unfinished thus far....*sigh....it's the second in my series of Jazz Greats....first one was Charlie Parker...this one's Billie Holiday...if I finish it...ok, so again, this thing isn't uploading my image......I'll add another post so hopefully you can see it...

So that's more of my humdrum life, still working on everything for everyone...so if I owe you something....I'm sure you're on the list....

More atcha soon!

F

-40-

Music: 40:U2
Thoughts: Is my life really half or over half over?

Well, I'm back after an extended absence...I thought today would be an ideal time to return seeing as this is the day I'm officially OVER THE HILL! (or was that 30?).

It's been a rough year, filled with good and bad.....been a REALLY rough week though. *WARNING**THIS ENTRY CONTAINS REALLY BORING SELF ABSORBING THOUGHTS AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL TO VIEW!! OK, official disclaimer notwithstanding, here's how it's going....and gone...

Is it really 2006? Am I really 40 years old? Omigod.....what happened?? I don't feel 40, I still feel 20, and would live as such if only life wasn't standing in my way. It seems like only yesterday that I remember watching the Watergate scandal on TV, then Tuesday nights on ABC starting with Happy Days at 8, Laverne and Shirley at 8:30, and Three's Company at 9...Now, Ron Howard has just directed one of the biggest movies of the summer with The Da Vinci Code, Cindy Williams has all but disappeared from sight, and Penny Marshall is also a Hollywood director (although after BIG (also starring Tom Hanks from The DaVinci Code) and A League of Their Own, she seems to have also vanished) and John Ritter is dead. In my life, we've gone from 3 TV stations deciding on what we will watch to an unlimited number of stations giving us NOTHING to watch. Politics has gone full circle, from an unnecessary war (Vietnam) to an unnecessary war (Iraq), from a crooked president (Nixon...although not president when I was born)to a crooked president (Bush). From being able to let children play outside with no supervision, to a daily barrage of missing children. From a gas crisis, to a gas crisis. From schools that had unlimited resources, to regular school closures and cuts. From comic books costing 12 cents to comic books costing over $3.00 (what IS the going rate for mainstream books these days, I haven't bought one for AGES). From a pack of Wacky Packages costing 5 cents to a pack of Wacky Packages costing $1.00 (but you get more in a pack now...but not THAT much more).

Things I've seen in 40 years include: The above events plus Johnson/Nixon/Ford/Carter/ Reagan/ Bush/ Clinton/Bush....8 presidents.....would be 9 if America was as smart as it thinks it is (and that's not a slam against patriotism...just Republicans), The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, The birth and rise of not only the home computer, but the internet as well....(who'd a thought I'd be able to do half of what I do on here?.....THANKS AL GORE!) Atari/Nintendo/Sega/Sony/Microsoft...with honorable mention to 3DO/TurboGrafx/Neo Geo and Odyssey......(who'd of thought we'd have BETTER arcade games on our TV's than at the arcade.....THANKS NOLAN BUSHNELL!). We've gone from 60's psychedelia to 00's (c)rap! There's been 3 major attacks on the World Trade Center...the third of course being 9/11 (also my mom's birthday...Hi Mom! (still a spry 77 this year!). I've seen people half my age (well, maybe not half...but pretty close) do twice the things I've done, is this why I've lasted this long? Am I playing it too safe? To some, my life may seem pretty boring, but you know what, I'm me, and I like it this way....stay at home and work on the computer....doing what I love, draw, paint, be creative, my adventures lay on the inside, not the out.

So this is it, June 24th 2006, 40 years ago I came here to see what I can see....there's plenty more I've seen, but at the risk of boring everyone here, I'll keep it to myself, but will share the times in my life that I reflect upon almost daily, not neccessarily specific events, but just times that are in my "goodness" file in my head: I remember as a child watching the rain and rainbows fall while the sun shone brightly, I remember having a very melancholy moment late one night when I decided to take a long walk through empty streets while listening to The Moody Blues' To Our Children's Children's Children on my walkman, somehow, one of the songs lyrics rings true today: " I never thought I'd live to be a million, I never thought I'd get to see these things that all these other children see......look at me.....

I'll try and keep this up once again kids...

had trouble logging in in the past (actually, lost my password...*ahem..)

Wish me a happy birthday, and here's to all who've also made it this far....

F