no updates, but i've been sick. once i shake this cold i'll be back on track.

love it, pimpin'

I came up with a goal for this winter...I need to start creating again. I'm going to pick up some new brushes and some canvas, write some stuff, and plan some jam sessions for over the break (perhaps get a band together. who knows?). I'm also planning to come up with a new comic idea. Buddy List was and is one of my longest-running projects but I need something fresh...

Why do I feel better when I destroy something I've made?

Finals week. Holiday bullshit coming up. Mingling...

No worthwhile updates. No new comics. No creative words. Completely worn down.

Thought cancer. Inspiration-deficiency virus. Mnemonic plague.

In all essences, a horrible pilot error has occurred and this particular flight is going down.

Signing off for now.

So the semester is almost over. Winter break is just two weeks away. Half of me is excited for vacation, and half of me is freaking out. This semester has kicked my ass, so to speak. I slacked off a little in the beginning, but I've had more work to do this semester than I think I ever have in college so far. In the past couple weeks I've had five papers to work on. Brutal analytic philosophy and boring research shit. I've been feeling a crash coming on, but believe me, I'm trying as hard as I can to fight it. All I can say is that my final grades for Fall 2009 are not going to be great, especially compared to the past few semesters. I think I might need some time off. Not sure to what degree. The winter break will be good, though. I just really want things to work out. Next semester I need to buckle down and work. I want to finish off my junior year with a much higher GPA than I started with, and that's going to take time and dedication, which I have.
So many important things are going on right now that I want to either maintain or improve.
Work is going alright. It's paying the 'bills' so to speak.
In other news, Munz got charged with a DUI last week. I'm not exactly sure what the school can/will do about it, but there's a chance that I'll have to find a new mentor. It's not just that; his health seems to have declined significantly. He's really the only professor here that I have any kind of rapport with. I've learned more from him than I did in four years of high school. He's also the head of the ever-shrinking Philosophy Department. If he is let go or retires, I'll only have Dr. Aronson, who only knows that I exist because she wrongfully accused me of plagiarism once.

Maybe winter break is all I need.


PS- To any and all who read my blog: Thank you for your interest, your feedback, and your overall support of this tired, disillusioned philosopher-cartoonist.

Sara's back!!!

Hooray!

Today

I can still get a large coffee and a pack of American Spirits for under $10, and I'm pretty sure I just aced my fitness exam, so life is good. Now it's on to tennis and then work, where hopefully I'll get my Ethics work done. And I'll hang out with Sara in between. Life is good.

Good/Funny sh*t I've said/thought/heard/read recently

So a while ago I saw this guy using a leaf-blower. I turned to Sara and said, "That guy blows."

"The grass is always greener on the other side, but there is no other side, so stop complaining about the grass."

I want to take somebody's giant blow-up lawn decorations and place them on the front step facing the door in the middle of the night, so come morning when they leave for work, there's a tremendous pumpkin glaring eerily at them from outside.

"The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. Recently we've waded a little way out, and the water seems inviting." - Carl Sagan

"There's a huge difference between thinking about something and actually doing it. Try to choose appropriately." - viruscomix

Fucking Australian animals. They would have four dicks.

Update

I have done a surprisingly light amount of work so far, but that is simply because I haven't yet received a heavy amount of work. I'm summarizing chapters for Ethical Theory, reading and awaiting my midterm assignment for Healthcare Ethics, awaiting my rough draft notes for the Zeno paper in Ancient Philosophy, reading Chomsky for Philosophy of Language, plugging away at the ALEKS system for algebra, and not studying for my HPX exam, which is next week. I am working on getting my Tunxis credits transfered, but first I had to verify that my grades were right (everyone makes mistakes).

I'm pretty much the only person that hangs out in my apartment that hasn't gotten sick. Even Sara has a little bit of a cold. But me? Nothing. I blame marijuana and orange juice.

I'm finishing about two comics a week, which, interestingly enough, is exactly as much fun as it sounds. But seriously, form and dialogue are coming to me so naturally now that I am finishing full final drafts by hand without ndoing rough sketches. It's interesting to watch my own artistic progress first hand while my academic progress is pretty much static (not a bad thing, actually).
Comics are: Here

I've been redditing more frequently, which has actually made me more productive in all of my areas of study.

Sara and I are well. She's been able to not only make me feel good about myself, but make me feel like my choices and plans in both life and academia are worthwhile. NO-one's ever been able to encourage me like she does. It's great. I love her, too. I mean, I really do. I've never felt like this before and it freaks me out sometimes, but it's fucking incredible. I wake up next to her every day and it feels like there was never and never will be anyone but her.

Miscommunication and people sucking at debate.

Apparently it's debate day in my Ethical Theory class. I vaguely remember being separated into groups to prepare for debating an ethical issue, but I don't remember hearing anything more from my professor or my assigned group about it. I think everybody is in the same boat as I am, because when Gomes called for "Group 1" to go up and debate in front of the class, everyone was confused as to who the hell "Group 1" was. At least now I know that I need to get in touch with my group members and prepare for next week. Miscommunication has never paid off more.
So the group is talking about abortion and one thing is for certain: these people suck at debating. They're using speculative statistics and personal opinion. It's "life begins at birth vs. life begins at conception," "I read this, 'studies' show," and all that other bland garbage that debate coaches instruct you to stay away from. It's kind of funny.

Wish you were here,

PL Munn

I love this woman!

Kant

So I'm sitting in my Introduction to Ethical Theory course (I told you I'd be blagging everywhere).
Anyway, today we're talking about Immanuel Kant (German philosopher 1724-1804) and his moral philosophy.
Now, Kant had to write three complete works to fully describe his moral philosophy. It is manifested in five separate formulations, two of which deal with complex ideas such as God and the nature of autonomy and freedom. I've talked to Munz about Kant several times, and he told me it's a widely accepted professorial rule that if you're going to teach Kant, to dedicate the bulk of, if not your entire semester on him, because it is extremely difficult to cover all of Kant's ethical theories in a standard college semester.
So imagine my surprise when I saw on the syllabus that we were spending but a single class on it. And we're not learning from reading Kant, but Barbara MacKinnon's short summary of his theory.
I've done a significant amount of reading on Kant, so I came into this class with some background knowledge that the majority of people had not. I can't imagine how mind-boggling some of this stuff must be to people who are taking this class as a simple elective.
I don't know. Maybe I'm over-analyzing, but I'm pretty sure Munz is right on this one.

Character walks alone.
His hair gathers rain.
His feet splash in time.
Bag over his shoulder.
He couldn't afford shoes.
He couldn't afford Shakespeare,
So Mephistopheles calls his name
through torn, tattered pages of Faust,
stained yellow with age,
from inside the bag.

Drug Blag

Love the world around you. If you can't love it as it is, try it on drugs. The good drugs either grow from the ground or were made by humans to enhance our experiences. The bad drugs do the same for a while, but end up killing us. Stick with the good, and you'll love the world until you die. Go with the bad, and you'll go the way of Dee Dee Ramone (RIP). You'll love the world until you hate it, then you'll hate yourself, and then you'll die because of your dumb choice to go with the bad drugs.

Update

Well, this is my first blag entry from my new HP Mini 110. 160GB hard drive, 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 1.67Ghz Intel Atom processor.
And it's operating system is the Mi, built on...

Linux 2.6.24-22-lpia!!!
and...
GNOME 2.22.3!!!

Needless to say, I'm quite pleased with its performance so far. The desktop environment and window managers are based upon Ubuntu LInux and designed to be web-based. My email, browser/search engine, web bookmarks, media, and program launchers are all integrated on the desktop.
They said this model had the command prompt disabled, but I went ahead and set one up anyway (WIN).

Anyway, this blag entry will consist of an update of my fall 2009 semester so far. Things are going pretty well over here. I'm taking Ancient Philosophy, Ethical Isues in Healthcare, Ethical Theory, Intermediate Algebra (FAIL), and a fitness combo of a lecture and tennis/basketball. I blow at tennis, but I'm decent at basketball and I rule at lectures, so it's not bad. My academic workload is relatively light, and I set up an independent study, "Philosophy of Language," with Jim Munz. Apart from that I'm working mostly night hours, which is fine. The coffeehouse is going great so far. The last three performers have been absolutely incredible (Natalie Gelman, Ali Chambliss, and Mieka Pauley).
Sara and I are also doing quite well. We spent the whole summer together and now we're spending the semester together. It's great waking up every day to that smiling face. Win.

Well, I'll be back on more often now that I can take my blag with me everywhere I go.
Peace, bitches.

things

This is who I was not too long ago. I was alright, but I was still in search of something. I was happy, but not as happy as I felt I could have been. I had friends and good times, but something was missing.

Then I met her:
This is Sara. She's amazing. She's shown me so much and when I'm with her I feel like I'm on top of the world. I met her at a concert last year and ran into her again at work when she was making copies. She's gorgeous, sweet, funny, intelligent, talented, and matches with me on so many levels. I've never felt like this about anyone.

And this is who I am now:
I'm happier, more passionate, and more like myself than I have been in a while. I'm good to her. She's good to me. I've never felt this way about anyone, and I'm going to make this last as long as I can. Everyone, let's hear a round of applause for Sara!

News from the front.

I haven't added a personal update for a while. Then again, I'm not sure how many people actually read this thing. For those of you who check back regularly, I would like to inform you that things have recently started to look up in an unusually positive direction. Apart from cramming research and last-minute schoolwork into the past couple weeks, and attempting to finish at least three comic strips per week, I happened to have spontaneously met a really incredible girl with whom certain sparks have started to fly.
You see I met her last year while I was filming a concert, then ran into her again when she came into Media Services to make copies. We reintroduced ourselves and then after a mishap where I tried to walk her through fixing a broken key on her laptop, she returned to the office where I talked to her once again. The next day she decided to meet me at the diner, and the day after she met me at the coffeehouse and hung out at Brookview for a while. On Saturday I skipped Sam's birthday party to come back to Danbury and see her. She spent the night and into the early afternoon Sunday, which was equally awesome. Then Sunday night I picked her up and we came back to Brookview and watched Big Lebowski (she's a fan. epic bonus points.) Last night we hung out again until about 2:00 in the morning, just watching ridiculous Adult Swim shows. I don't think I've ever really felt this comfortable with someone this quickly. I'm pretty sure that's a good thing.
When I'm done with this semester, I'll be desperately searching for employment, which inevitably will fuel more inspiration for the much put-off story, "Things that Get in the Way," that you all have loved so very much.
Hopefully this semester ends on a good note, and hopefully I don't mess things up with the girl this time. Things are looking pretty good so far. Hopefully I can keep this academic and personal momentum going. Wish me luck. Fuck that. Wish me success.

Findings

I wake up at seven in the morning after passing out at five and shuffle out of the door. It's a decent post-sunrise gleam. I sit by the railroad tracks and reflect over the decisions I've made so far. It's funny how inspiration can come from so many things. A contention I've become content with as of now...

Inspiration is finding an old fiend at a gas station.
Inspiration is driving to somewhere you could have easily walked to.
Inspiration is walking to a place that you could have easily driven to.
It's seeing a kid you used to hate back in high school and becoming fast friends.
It's protesting a political ideology that you actually support, just to spark conversation with people you'd usually avoid.
It's the first big fight in a marriage.
It's finding an old notebook scribbled with the names of bands you don't listen to anymore.
It's drunken fools on a weeknight.
Inspiration is writing outside on a bench at 4:30 in the morning when you know you have class at 10:00.
Inspiration is constantly being the good friend, because you're horrible at making the first move.
Inspiration is a relationship gone sour after keeping it for too long.
Inspiration is love on the rocks and a chaser of Hendrick's gin.
Inspiration is chain-smoking when you know that $7.50 a pack is way too expensive.
It's wearing the same shoes you wore seven years ago.
Inspiration is using a cheap, low-quality pen to write with, because it's what you wrote with back in high school.It's beer runs after 2:00 in the morning.
It's "standing" in the fire-lane while your friend runs in to grab money for booze.
It's praying when you know you've lost your faith.
It's playing an instrument you don't know how to play, just to kill time on a boring afternoon.
It's throwing back a few cold ones at work with a buddy, because there are no cameras in your refrigerator-equipped office.
Consequently, it's showing up to work still hazy from the top-secret drinking excursion.
It's mocking religion for no good reason.
It's staring at blank pages because you hate constantly using the backspace key.
Inspiration is researching discrete mathematics because you will do anything to avoid writing that 10-page journal critique.
It's listening to the same goddamn song over and over because of that one guitar riff.

Inspiration can come from anywhere. It can sneak up on you. So be ready. You'll never know what you can create.

The Ballad of Collin and Evie

this is what happens when you spend a cloudy morning listening to mark knopfler and sufjan stevens...

Collin McClellan met Evie O'Shea
At the boardwalk three years ago.
Enjoying the breeze, they talked for a while,
And walked for an hour or so.

Collin was a boy who'd give you his heart
If you gave him the time of the day.
Evie was quiet and sometimes quite cold.
But she smiled in a beautiful way.

And so it seemed that the lost were found.
She kissed him, his head went 'round.
Here together safe and sound.
Against all the winds of the world.
No more fiction or fairy tales.
Two new hearts that will never fail.
A sea of love their ship set sail.
Against all the waves of the world.

Needless to say, he was taken with her
When she smiled that smile for him.
She thought he was sweet and as he walked her home,
She rested her head under his chin.

He walked her to her door, made sure she was safe.
A gentleman, he knew it was right.
She lived across town, but he didn't care.
He was smiling for the rest of the night.

Day after day, they met up again.
Just glad to have each other around.
Ten months went past, the "I love yous" came.
And they moved in together downtown.

At a year and a half, they were both out of school,
Evie found the job of her dreams.
Collin he struggled to make money of his art.
He was falling apart at the seams.

But in the darkness the light is found.
She kisses him, his head goes 'round.
Here together safe and sound.
Against all the winds of the world.
They'll stand together, tooth and nail.
Lovers' hearts that will never fail.
A raging sea, their ship it sails.
Against all the waves of the world.

The times they were tough, and the money was tight.
And they both tried not to lose their heads.
But Evie worked hard, and it brought her down.
She cried every night in her bed.

Three years have passed since that first rendezvous,
And Evie doesn't know what's in store.
But Collin's got plans, with a ring in his hand.
But Evie isn't so sure anymore.

Collin takes Evie to the place where they met.
He's going to ask her tonight.
He's nervous as hell, and Evie is cold.
She shivers in the cold winter's light.

He places his coat over her shoulders.
But she just shrugs it away.
His coat drops to the ground, and his heart to his gut.
She's decided...not to stay.

And so it is, he's lost again.
A lover's journey come to an end.
She left him battered without a friend.
Against all the winds of the world.
And so he's lost what he thought he found.
She found another life uptown.
A trampled shell on the dusty ground.
Devoured by the whims of a girl.

Revamp.

So I'm officially off of Windows, finally. It couldn't have come at a better time. I'm now running Debian 5.0 (coincidentally codenamed "Lenny") with GNOME as the desktop environment and an extremely personalized user interface. I'm working with Corey for further customization.
Yesterday, I also increased my RAM by 5x, so I'm running a beast of a box over here.

This. Fucking. Pwns.

The Wishart Cure (A Tribute to the Family)

This a ballad dedicated to the Wishart Clan, on my mother's side. It is based off of what my grandfather calls the Wishart Cure, which is a toast made in honor of our deceased relatives and kin.

A drink for those who left us,
And a drink for those that remain.
A drink for the memories of long ago.
Another for those yet to be made.

And so it goes, the Wishart Cure,
To aid us in our grief.
The ties that bind us all as one.
The love that brings relief.

God rest all those who are in the ground.
God bless all those who still give breath.
God carry ye who've travel far.
God keep all ye who've never left.

Our legacy we've come to hear.
Our history we have seen.
From Scotland far to Bristol near,
And all those in between.

A healing word from one to all,
To wipe away our sorrow.
To reminisce of yesterday,
And look forward to tomorrow.

A drink for those who left us,
And a drink for those that remain.
A drink for the memories of long ago.
Another for those yet to be made.

And so it goes, the Wishart Cure,
To aid us in our grief.
The ties that bind us all as one.
The love that brings relief.

Holy craptastic!

I found out from a friend that WestConn is sponsoring a trip to Boston to see the Bruins at TD Banknorth Garden on Saturday, and I can go for fucking $5.00. Well, I guess you know where I'll be on Saturday. Bruins vs Capitols. BWAHAHAHA.

Sohpomore year so far.

It's been a while since my last entry, but I figured I'd update with some new information. Sophomore year is going pretty well so far. My first semester went great. I had a lot of fun. It's fucking sweet to be living with one of my best friends instead of some complete douchebag stranger like last year. Most of last semester was spent having some introductory college fun for Kevin, which was fun. Kevin and I must have only gone to our class with Gallucci (aka the Jewish Hammer) three or four times, and we both passed and then some. I got to do an independent study/contract Cognitive Relativism class with Munz. It was only me, Caio, and Jake. Austin came up a lot to hang out with us, which is always great. She has disappeared again for some indefinite amount of time.
I'm also getting a lot better at my sound job.
Christmas break was pretty fun as well. We spent a lot of time up at Bantam livin' it up. My sister came up from New Orleans, and it's always cool to hang out with her.
This semester seems to be going well so far. I'm getting a hell of a lot more hours in the Media Office, which will help me sustain my existence.
Also, I finally got a decent idea for a cartoon down, and it's coming along nicely. It's called Buddy List and it's all based around my friends and I. The other night I was drinking 40s with Corey, Natalie, and Kevin, who my characters are all based on. Just chilling out, drinking at Corey's made me think, "Holy Shit, we're in my comic."
I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester, and always, to summer.