Looks like the server's on the fritz again, so to make up for it, I'm doing a blog update!

Not that it matters too much, since it doesn't update for Sunday anyway...

And you probably wouldn't know about it, unless you've bookmarked the blog here, and check it everyday...



which you DO do, right? Right??



Anyhoo, little bit of a brain purge...let's see how much stuff I remember now that I wanted to say before I conk out.


Anyone notice a difference in the comic this past week? I happened to run out of the templates I use to draw comics, but because I CARE, I figured a way to draw them without it. Though it's a tiny bit more work for me, I'll probably try and get to Kinko's tomorrow and make some more. And really, isn't innovation much better than "sorry, no comic today" filler?

The other day I had that stupid Fountains of Wayne song, "Stacy's Mom", stuck in my head. Ugh. The problem is, as I end up listening to it more and more (or at least, once and it remains stuck), I begin to like it more and more. Even if it's just for the melody, and in particular the line "Stacy, can't you see? / You're just not the girl for me" in the chorus. So, the music is addictive. That wouldn't be so bad, except I always end up feeling so damn creepy/filthy after listening to the song. Then there's the video. Now, don't get me wrong, Stacy's mom (at least for the purposes of the video) is indeed hot. But, putting myself in the position of the boy, I think to myself, "But there's nothing wrong with Stacy!" I guess I'm just feeling that, at that age, I would've been damn lucky to have known a girl like Stacy, without ruining it with delusional fantasies about her mother.
And that's the overall problem - the damn song makes me think about the subject matter too much! RRR! =P

But there's another song I can feel better about...well, better in some ways, worse in others. "Someday", by Nickelback. Now, I love this song, and I like singing along, because I think I do a fairly good impersonation of Chad Kroeger (but, bear in mind, this is solo car karaoke, so my opinions can't be entirely accurate). This is a song I don't mind getting stuck. The downside is, however, that the lyrics (and the chorus especially) precisely convey the message I would've liked addressed to a certain somebody some time ago. And once again that offsets the good feelings. But I also realized the other day, it's also the message I should be telling myself now, as things aren't exactly ideal. So hopefully applying a positive spin to it will rebalance things.

Oh well. Thank God for Barenaked Ladies. "Another Postcard" is a great example why I like them so much - just a upbeat song about monkey postcards. Nothing about love or angst or any other cliche song topic. (Then again, some BNL songs dredge up unpleasant feelings toward another certain somebody...don't you hate it when that happens?)

This has been bugging me for a while. Why, I don't know. But thinking waaaaaaay back to one of my first posts, also about music - I figured out why I like techno for the most part. It's because it sounds like videogame music. Damn, I finally got around to getting that off my chest and now it feels like I need to elaborate. Oh well.

THREE-PEAT DEE-FEAT! THREE-PEAT DEE-FEAT! THREE-PEAT DEE-FEAT! hehehehehehehehe
(also known as: Marlins won.)

And there. Not so much my brain is empty as it is tired. Peace out, yo.
posted by Tim at 1:38 AM

You know how I mentioned how I'd do something for the 200th comic?

I lied.

I've been running "on edge" as far as the comic goes. Not stressful - well, maybe a tiny bit - but what I mean is that I'm drawing, scanning, editing and uploading the comic just before it updates. Actually, I manually update it, since I'm usually done around or just after midnight when the comic updates. Which isn't so bad, I suppose...I guess that's how a lot of comics operate. But that's not how I like to operate...I like a buffer. Too bad I suffer from chronic procrastination-itis.

So the short of it is this. 200, w00t. I'll put the focus on the Halloween thing.
posted by Tim at 1:24 AM

Who the HELL wants to watch a Spankees/Marlins World Series?!



Worst possible scenario. Oh well. At least this year we can't have any regrets. Nothing weird happened to deny us a win.


There's always next year, I guess.



Go Marlins.
posted by Tim at 1:17 AM

Another chapter in my weird warning label file...

[Twilight Zone voice:] Submitted for your approval...

One can of Superior (brand, I'm assuming) Super Pen Penetrating Lubricant. (Damn, that sounds dirty just saying that.) Y'know, just spray lubricant, kinda like WD-40, that we use on the presses to loosen them up...sometimes they don't open/close smoothly. Also smells like the Dickens. Anyhoo, the last line on the warning label on the back reads:

"WARNING: This product contains a chemical or chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer."

Gee, thanks California, think you'd like to share that kind of information with us? Or is it that it will only cause cancer to people in California? And it's not like it's a state-specific warning - this product is distributed by Industrial Products Corp. of Springfield, MA.

Reminds me of Sweet N' Low, with the sacchrin that has been known to cause cancer in lab rats. Yeah, if you pump the equivalent of 30 pounds of it into their systems. Like a friend of mine once quipped, "Even water will cause cancer if you drink enough of it."

Maybe I can contact newly elected Governor Ah-nuld about this issue. =P

----------
More baseball! (Sorry, but it's an exciting time!)

I thought about it, and one of the few possible good things to come from a Sox/Marlins matchup is that throughout the whole series, you know they're going to bring up that one game a few months ago during interleague play when the Red Sox beat the Marlins 25-8, scoring 14 runs in one inning.

And the Sox beat the Spankees in Game 1 tonight. I turned on the radio and caught the game around the 6th inning. I heard the Sox were up 4-0, and I was laughing maniacally for a good long while. So we're up 1-0 on the series >:-)
posted by Tim at 1:54 AM

And while I'm thinking about it...

Doesn't this year's playoffs remind you a little bit of Back to the Future II?

"Chicago Cubs win the World Series...over Miami?!"

Just change "World Series" with NLCS and we'll see how well that holds up next week.
posted by Tim at 3:06 AM

Another magical 4-day weekend! Yeeeee! Although the way my boss broke the news, you'd think I was diagnosed with a terminal disease or something. The situation is, they're only running a couple lines on Friday, and won't be needing as many people showing up for work, myself included. But I'm not getting paid, naturally. "I'm sorry, but I don't have any work for you." Well, I'm lucky enough in life that I can afford to lose a day's pay. So what am I doing this weekend? Same thing I do every weekend, Pinky...sleep. Too damn long. Well, I'll try not to oversleep too much this weekend. Just like I keep telling myself every weekend.

Which segues nicely to another point: I think every weekend should be a 3 day weekend. I don't care if we kept a 4 day week or made a 8 day (5 and 3) week, but weekends should always be three days. I'm sure it's different for everybody, but here's my line of thinking. I always end up feeling like I've wasted the first day of the weekend. After a long week, I like to sleep in on Saturday. Like I just mentioned, thanks to my personal schedule I sleep in way too damn late...just last week I got out of bed at 6pm. And you feel like you can't get anything started then, so you just goof off the rest of the day. Then you've got Sunday to get stuff done (if you can, if everything's not closed), and then...oh boy! Right back to work again on Monday. SO...we get "Friday" so sleep in and generally rest from the week. Then you get Saturday to get stuff done, and Sunday to finish up and prepare for the week without feeling rushed or dreading getting up for work the next day.

Now off the subject...
I think the Spankees should throw the ALCS. Let Boston win. I'm not saying that because I want Boston to win...well, OK, partly for that...but everyone seems poised and eagerly anticipating a Sox/Cubs World Series. EVERYONE would want to watch a Sox/Cubs World Series - NObody (except perhaps people in New York and Miami) wants to watch a Spankees/Marlins World Series. A different combo (Sox/Marlins, Spanks/Cubs) would draw some interest, to root for the "underdog" (the team who hasn't won in so long), but not nearly as much as Sox/Cubs. Let's see, we've could have the team that won (however improbably) a few years ago versus the team I'm sure most people are sick of seeing in the playoffs - YAWN - or we could have two storied teams battling each other and 180 combined years of frustration in an epic series for the ages! Whoo! At this point, wouldn't anything less than Sox/Cubs feel disappointing?

Another nice note...thanks to the All-Star Game, the Sox would have home-field advantage in the World Series if...ahem, WHEN they win. >:-)

I mentioned before I wouldn't want a Sox/Cubs WS to happen, mostly out of fear of losing "again"...but even if it did happen, I would cheer the Cubs winning.

So, a message to New York: Bring it. and oh yeah...YANKEES SUCK!
teehee
posted by Tim at 2:37 AM

Voting Results for the "Which to celebrate?" Poll

Thanks to all to voted, I really do appreciate your feedback.

Perhaps due to poor planning on my part (that is, allowing multiple entries), the results are as follows:
200th Comic : 5
Halloween : 5
1 Year : 4

So, this pretty much means a dead heat, or at least a tie for 200th/Halloween. I was originally going to do all three, but then I figured, "Well, then what was the point of putting up the poll?" Then I going to go strictly by the poll, and now it's tied. So now I'll compromise: I'll try and come up with something nice for Halloween, and perhaps due a quick something for the 200th comic, like a jumbo strip or something.

And I'd like to throw this out now, to give you all plenty of time to prepare...if you noticed the phrasing of the question, it was "For what upcoming event do you think we should have a special celebration?" Here's where you come in. Send me some Anniversary Fanart! If you feel being around 1 year is worthy enough, then slap something together and send some love my way. I'll even accept MS Paint art (saved as a .gif...compression be damned!), like I did for Am and 10...oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Check back Monday for more on that ;)

And to remind you: nothing with Mandy in it. Sorry, it's the one rule I have.

Remember, Feedback = Happy Tim :-D
posted by Tim at 2:58 AM

These are the kinds of thoughts that pop into my head while I'm working:

- Why do real estate listings seem to feature almost as many, if not more, pictures of the realtors themselves than the houses they're selling?

- The commercial for the new Juicy Fruit flavors. You know, the funny one where the guy busts out of the filing cabinet disguise and steals the gum, and is then attack by a guy hiding in window camouflage, and then by the guy in the water cooler? I mean, the ad works...it is funny. And the window disguise is by far the best of the three (the water cooler seems a bit lacking in originality). However, the very beginning of the commercial has the first guy buying the gum and pulling it out of a vending machine. This whole fiasco could've been avoided if everyone just calmly bought the gum themselves. It might be understandable if we knew this was the last pack of the gum, but we don't. And now these three guys come off as immature, greedy bastards.

I overanalyze commercials too often.

- What is up with the "sudden" popularity in older women? Why I mention this: Demi Moore's reimmergance in the public spotlight, Lauren Hutton on the cover of the AARP Magazine with the title "Sixty is the new Thirty" (no, I don't read AARP magazine; my parents are just old enough to have it sent to them and I noticed the cover), that new video/song, "Stacy's Mom has Got it Going On" (or whatever the stupid title is), and that reminds me of American Pie and the whole "milf" thing. Or more accurately, people's growing use of, and other people's growing annoyance by the use of, the term milf.

- Speaking of the movie, my sister referred to Sean William Scott as "Stifler" when talking about his character in The Rundown. That made me laugh. Sean William Scott: he couldn't pick one name, so he chose three for his whole name. That's gotta violate a rule somewhere.

- Why is it that "fancy ketchup" comes in little packets you squirt all over your food? I would think fancy ketchup would at least come in a squeeze bottle...more likely a jar that you'd have to spoon out. Regular Heinz ketchup is packaged just as that; ketchup. But in a tiny little packet, now it's suddenly fancy.

-----

As I'm writing this, the A's have just won Game 1 of their series with the Red Sox, 5-4, at the bottom of the 12th, on a two-out, bases-loaded fucking BUNT. What the hell is up with that?! My immediate feeling is, maybe if I were a player, I might feel dejected as some of the Sox are probably feeling right now, but the way that ended, I would be angry and motivated to win tomorrow afternoon's (eep!) game, in the spirit of revenge. Show 'em how to really win a ballgame! I don't know, maybe I'm just looking to feel a little rage right now (which is not good so soon before bedtime, probably =P). If the Sox won that way, I might feel, well, good of course, but also that it'd just be another in a long line of weird Sox playoff victories.
posted by Tim at 3:02 AM

Stupid Internet connection...just finished writing an entry, and it goes all screwy, so now I've got to write it again. =P

----------

I was just coming off lunch at work the other day, and passed by an open window. I was raining fairly hard, but the sky was clearing up a little bit, so the sun was peeking out. This happened to be around sunset. And, as all those science majors know, that's a recipie for rainbows. So there was a rainbow, and I took a couple minutes to look at it. And I pondered. The rainbow (in it's natural form - not that cheating way with a prism or garden hose) is actually quite an amazing phenomenon. This sky-filling burst of color, in stark contrast to the surrounding cloudy sky. We all have an idea of how rainbows work (though I have yet to find an explination as to how a prism actually splits light like that), but how about hundreds of years ago? What did people think of them then? These huge, awe-inspiring things. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who could look at a rainbow and not be moved (and if you do, remember: they're dead inside). Don't we always go running around like loons, shouting to everyone, "Hey Look! A rainbow!!!1!!1!" whenever one appears?

And then I had to go back to work. Inside. With no windows. That was kind of disheartening.

Another thought: Why it is, to the best of my knowledge, that "The Rainbow Connection" is the only song about rainbows. I mean, the first line is, "Why are there so many songs about rainbows / and what's on the other side?" Though I'm probably listening to the wrong kind of music for that. lol


. . .


OMG, I can't believe I just wrote that much about rainbows. Oh well - to make up for it, I'll balance things about by talking about baseball.

As I write this, the Cubs and Giants have won their first games. And Minnesota won too - yay! As for that series, I don't know who to root for. It might be nice for the Spankees to win, so they can meet the Red Sox for the AL Championship. On the other had, I would love to see the conniption fit Steinbrenner has if the Spankees bow out in the first round for the second consecutive year...and no World Series title in three. hehehehehehehe >:-)

People talk about a possible Boston Red Sox/Chicago Cubs World Series. I'll admit, that would be exciting, but I wouldn't want it to happen. Why? Because in that scenario, one team is guaranteed another devastating year without a title...especially devastating since they got so close. There's enough pressure on those teams already.

So here's to a Boston Red Sox/ Somebody Else World Series. One can only imagine the kind of euphoric, apocalyptic celebration that would occur is this was finally the year. Although, I would root for the Cubs (along with everyone else, I'm sure) IF the Sox not end up going that far.

posted by Tim at 2:57 AM