Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I'm Like, Busy

...and yet at the same time, not at all. My new job is sweet. The hours are short, but for the first few weeks it will be chaos. I moved into an excellent new apartment. The view of the smokestacks is breathtaking. I spend my free time taking bus trips to 100 Yen shops to furnish the place.

And there's the freelance project, and answering emails when someone lets me use their internet (we're back to that again).

And then there are the hours of reading comics, followed by even more hours of stomach-churning depression over the realization that I might be physically and mentally unable to ever finish anything.

And then it's donut time.

(Oh, and then there's my stalker/b.i.f.f.l.'s art show, Darryl Berger.)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I Have a WiP Card

I'm so exhausted.

Someone just left a comment on my other blog, saying they found my self portrait on Google. So if you type in "self portrait" you'll find mine on page 4. I freakin love Google Images. Ive actually gotten paid real money from people finding me on that site and me agreeing to do their projects.

Of course, it's only like 1 out of 20 that I end up doing because most people dont offer money and/or are asking me to draw some religious shit or tattoo designs. Yeah, I should write those as stipulations somewhere on my site.

1. Nothing's free.
2. No religion.
3. No tattoos.

I dont know why my stuff shows up there. I guess it's because Google owns blogger and my other blog is through blogger put published somewhere else or some technical crap that ive already bored you with my gloating and youre no longer reading but thats ok because this post isnt taking much effort on my part either.

I'm tired from training and teaching kids. Kids are so evil.

I'm drinking Calpis soda. Pronounced 'cow piss.' It's white and creamy.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

What's with the internet?

In six days I'll be at a year in Japan. Right now I'm in Takatsuki, a city in between Kyoto and Osaka. I'm at a two week training for my third job in Japan. In a week I'll head back to Tokuyama and move into my third apartment.

I've spent the past week in nine hour training sessions, enduring long commutes, and eating コンビニ "convenience store" food because there's nowhere to cook and nowhere I can eat. I am a little depressed today. I didn't leave my hotel until 2pm. I stayed in bed watching a Japanese show about these four year old kids whose parents had them walk to the local supermarket and buy a bunch of stuff and try to walk back, alone. It was so sad, I was crying. One of the kids had down syndrome.

I also spent about 40 minutes this morning trying to think of the word "autism." I just couldnt remember what it was called. I kept picturing those little colorful puzzle-piece bumper stickers, that say, "Fight ----!" I thought it started with an "I." Then, I thought it probably started with an "A."

So I went to Kyoto after all this. I forgot my sunglasses and iPod, so I was pretty miserable. It was really sunny, so my eyes were tearing up, and I had loads of eye makeup on.

As soon as I got to Kyoto station I was exhausted. The thought of looking at one shrine or temple was totally unappealing. I really just wanted Mister Donut. I walked around a bit, not having a map or destination in mind. Finally, I returned to the station and found a Mister Donut. I ate two donuts and bought a $4 peach iced tea. I now have zero yen.

That was Kyoto.

Last Sunday I was in Nagoya, that day-trip was a lot better. I visited two art museums, went to an organic vegetarian restaurant, went to Starbucks, watched street performers. It was a nice day. I have some drawings from that that I'll probably scan in a few weeks.

Other than all that, I've been working on an illustration project for a woman in New York, eating a lot of sugar, and thinking about the future.