My friday morning started with trying to teach my tech-retarded friend how to use MS Word. Mind you, basic use. Not complicated stuff. He called me about five times this evening, asking different, simple questions. When I say simple, I mean simple as in the answers to his questions were "click enter", "use the space button" and "just open a new document."

And now I have agreed to meet him again tomorrow morning, to run him through it again. Yeesh.

My cold is also still wreaking havoc on me. It seems mostly confined to my nose, which is good. I usually get it in the chest. I bought a jar of curry sauce because that's a fun way to clear a nose, but I accidentally bought a mild sauce and it was pretty useless. I mean, the sauteed veggies were tasty and all, but the nose remains clogged.

Made a damn awesome soup a few days ago, that is serving me well. I only have one bowl left. I will save it for after my football game tomorrow. I probably should not be playing, but hell. First game of the year. I'm not missing it.

I was supposed to work a race on Sunday, but that was cancelled. I am happy about that. It will allow me the rest I need, plus I get to sit my lazy ass in front of the TV all day to watch football. Yay football.

I cannot get facebook to load. A few other sites too. My internet connection is wacky, and naturally it went wacky after the time of night that I can knock on the door of the neighbor I share with. Guess I'll be making my scrabble moves tomorrow.

I expect to be pretty busy early next week. So if you see me on here much, it means I am procrastinating.

Also, with Tigg coming to town (and slowbie too.. blogstalk meetup?), I found myself thinking about the Halloween night when I was supposed to meet up with a bunch of okcers (including E) and ended up not hanging around the area I was supposed to meet them in after a series of unfortunate mishaps and events. In retrospect, it was a pretty funny evening.

My cold is in full blown anger mode now.

I came to the city to do a bit of work. The plan was to get through as quickly as possible and make a beeline for my bedroom. I just got a call from one of the people I occasionally do work for, and he wants me to come over at 3:30 to discuss a new project. It is now 12:20 and I am a block from his home. I think if I go eat the world's slowest lunch and then dick around on the internet for a while, I'll still be bored out of my mind by 2:30.

Graargh.

BRB FEEDING

Grim grim grim, grim grim grim grim, grim grim. Grim grim grim grim grim grim, grim grim grim. Grim grim grim grim, grim grim grim grim grim, grim grim, grim, grim grim. Grim grim, grim grim grim. Grimmy grim grim, grim grim. Grim grim. Grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim. Grim grim grim. Grim grim grim grim grim.

Grim. Grim. Grim.

Grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim, grim, grim grim grim grim. Grim grim grim, grim grim grim grim, grim grim. Grim grim grim grim grim grim, grim grim grim. Grim grim grim grim, grim grim grim grim grim, grim, grim, grim grim. Grim grim, grim grim grim. Grim grim grim, grimmy grim grim. Grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim grim. Grim grim, grim grim grim. Grim, grim grim grim grim grim.

Grim grim grim.

In five days I will play football for the first time this year. I really can’t wait. I have been holding tightly to my ball all afternoon. That is a perfectly innocent phrasing by the way.

I was going to write a comic con recap, but it made me think of last year’s recap and it made me a bit glum. Last year, my girlfriend and I had broken up about a week before the convention. We still went together on the Sunday of the show. But enough about that, the story really isn’t that interesting. About the show... they are always fun, but they are also pretty much always the same. There will always be crowded aisles, lots of notable names and familiar faces, and I will inevitably hear at least one blonde cosplayer in a long flowing dress complain about having her dress stepped on and one person in a ridiculous costume complaining about being stopped for pictures every minute. Also, the last few years I have been accompanied to the convention by my former roommate, who is slowly building a career as a journalist. This is a mixed bag for me as I prefer to be a lone convention-goer, but she is awesome and also independent enough where I don’t have to worry about being a tour guide, so she is welcome.

I met Chad Michael Murray. In retrospect, I regret not wearing my One Tree Hill jersey. That would have been hilarious, but I know it would have also gotten me stopped for pictures. I would never wear a costume to a convention mainly for that reason. I always pack my schedule, so stopping is not something I want to do, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, which are always so busy that it can take you ten minutes to walk a few hundred paces.

My favorite encounter of the weekend was a comic writer named Marzena Sowa, a newish writer who did a graphic novel for Vertigo about growing up in Poland. We talked for a few minutes, she seemed really sweet. I also talked to this really hot girl at a .50 comic bin for a few minutes, which was a different sort of highlight. If she hadn’t mentioned the fact that she had just been dumped like five times in three minutes, I might have asked for her number. Also, I was distracted by comic books. Heh. Maybe it was more the latter. I’LL NEVER TELL.

I also finally got around to doing something that I have meant to do for four or five years now. There’s a guy who works at the DC Comics booth, which is where I spend most of my time as they have the best artists and usually encourage sketching, who is always very helpful, and every year I have meant to run by their booth before the show ended to thank him for just being a really cool guy. I have always gotten distracted, but this year I made sure I did it. I felt pretty good about that.

Here are my favorite sketches from the weekend.


This is the guy from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. He’s a ginger.



The Oatmeal.



Deadpool by Reilly Brown.



Jonah Hex with a chicken, by a really cool dude named Moritat.



Faith by Rebekah Issacs, the artist on the new ‘Angel and Faith’ series.




This is Jan Duursema. She has been one of the most prolific Star Wars artists over the last 10 years. I have asked her for a sketch before, she has always had long lines and was unable to because she is a very slow, meticulous artist. She did an unannounced appearance at the Dark Horse booth and despite the fact that a sizable line gathered, she told me to stick around until she was done signing, and she then drew this for me while standing off to the side at the DH booth. Oh, and her teenage son is a cosplay geek. He was dressed as a SW character that I am unfamiliar with.




Batman by Jock. Yes, his name is Jock. This is the best of the six batman sketches I got over the weekend, as I temporarily forgot my ‘don’t ever tell artists to draw whatever they want because it’ll always be Batman’ rule.

Lots of things happened. I consider these things fun, they'd probably bore most of you. Here is the only thing you need to know about my last two days at the NY comic con.

Today, while using the bathroom at the Javits Center, I heard a man say to his son, "Get over here Blake, I need you to hold this for me while I go."

That is all.

Long day. Good day. I will skip straight to the highlights.

Saw lots of cool costumed folk, including a tranny Black Cat. (black cat- character from spider man, not from crossing your path.)

Also saw a few of the requisite 'shouldn't be in that costume in public' types.

I was asked if I liked zombies six times today. Each time, whether it was a sweet innocent girl from a booth or some creepy guy trying to give me a free comic, I looked them in the eye with a sort of weary, angry expression on my face and said "No." Then I watched their souls die.


Also, on the way I out I was walking next to Felicia Day and heard her say "let's get the fuck out of here." to the person she was with.

AND THEN WE DID.

Separately, of course.

She's way too pasty for me.