The Shingle Life.

All systems go, full steam ahead - I was chugging merrily along until about a week and a half ago, when I woke myself up by scratching an unnaturally painful cluster of red bumps on my left rib. Two days later I was barely able to stand, and managed to drag myself to the hospital, where I found out I have shingles. Cue a week of extreme pain, couch sleeping, and, well - not much else.

According to the internet, shingles appears in people with lowered immune systems or who are under "psychological stress." Guess that ropes me in. I gave myself some slack this week as far as deadlines (or worrying) goes, but now that the second week of this malady has begun, I can't push back the work pile any farther. There are only four pages left for me to pencil and ink (for some reason the coloring is easy going these days, so of course I tend to hit that first before any of the "harder" steps to this project). And yet when I look at the drafting table with those big white sheets sitting there accusing me of sloth (yes! this is how I think, despite my illness), it drives me away, back into the mind-mire I lived in for the last half year or so. No go.

In addition to that, I've turned into a horrible person. Coinciding with the ridiculous fake "holiday" we love to hate, but so so SO many people still acknowledge, a disproportionately large number of my friends are gloriously happy in brand new relationships, or newly pregnant and obsessed with grainy ultrasounds, or flashing brand new diamond rings. Timing sucks. I am a bitter curmudgeon about these things at the moment, faced with the prospect of continued living with my recent ex for an indeterminate amount of time, due to inescapable financial problems. Facing down the corpse of my failed relationship every single day for the next, god? few months? longer? while unable to pursue any other romantic avenues, and recovering from an incredibly painful physical attack BROUGHT ON by more stress - well, I have to be responsible for myself here, I suppose, and remove myself from most of the avenues where I am confronted with "Look what my new girlfriend gave me!" and "We're 18 weeks along!!!!!" So I will be ducking out of most of the internet for a while, and perhaps select real-life events, because until I get my shit together personally, I'll be a nasty bit of company for a while and no one needs that.

On the other hand, if you've recently been dumped, or fucked over, or just shat on a little by God, please feel free to contact me.

I Saw You: Missed Connections Comics is out!



I have a single-page comic in this heavily-staffed anthology. I haven't received my copy in the mail yet, so I haven't gotten a chance to pore through it yet, but I've seen some samples online (specifically Ken Dahl's and Laura Park's) and they are faaaabulous. Go grab a copy right now!