Subconscious Brain Matter

Posted on October 24, 2008 by Mike

Sometimes I’m amazed at what gets stored and locked away in my brain. Especially when -years later- some of those dust bunnies have turned godzilla-like and I only realize it when I’m reminded by it!!

Case in point: I obviously have a google alert for The Mysterious Minute-Men in a spidery effort to glom if that book is being talked about somewhere on the web. Well, yesterday, along with the usual preview excerpt that exists over on Google Books and Library Thing, I got a link from one of my Last Word articles from 2001!!

This one was called Creating Adventures and recounted my current creations and my thought processes on how I built their stories. Within, I talk not only of The Mysterious Minute-Men but the efforts to get them published in their own comic book (of which I don’t talk about there) and the storyline it was going to entail.

Eerily enough, part of that storyline was what I had scripted to begin the Mysterious Minute-Men Web Comic which I never got off the ground due to funding. Still, those stories are scripted, the domain is mine, and one day it’ll happen… (anyone want to help? 🙂 )

The article ends with “What does the future hold? Who knows. I’m not a clairvoyant. That’s Oracle’s job. But, I will continue to create. It’s a part of who I am. And, many years from now, who knows? Perhaps the funds will be available and Savage Enterprises Publishing can finally put out some comic books created with love for the medium by people who generally care about what they present. You never know… :)” which is also pretty neat when 7 years later Savage Enterprises Publishing did just that by making The Mysterious Minute-Men Omnibus available this year. The follow-up novel The Mysterious Minute-Men: Ready for the Future will be released in 2009.

Pure gems. 🙂

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Where I hang my hat.

Posted on October 22, 2008 by Mike

Because I haven’t done this in ages… a couple of places to find me.

Web Sites:
My main Web Portal: http://www.savageland.com
My Books in Print: http://www.savageland.com/publishing (including upcoming projects)
Comicopia, the Comics APA: http://www.comicopia.net (happily accepting new members!)
My Parenting Page: http://www.aragona.info
Various online articles & stories: http://www.savagewriter.info

Networks:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=677287845&ref=profile
LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/profile/savageknight
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/maragona

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It was bound to happen…

Posted on October 22, 2008 by Mike

Yesterday was definitely one of “those” days.

I woke up with a pounding headache that did not subside – the drums getting louder and louder with every minute. Still, I struggled through it, got my stuff ready, and bundled the kids in the car for daycare. Although daycare drop-off went well, I wasn’t. I did not make it to the train station but instead turned around and headed back home – barely making it through the door before being sick in a wave of nausea.

Needless to say, I spent the entire day either asleep, in darkness, or laying down. Luckily, I was feeling pretty close to normal by the time I had to go pick up the kids again.

The rest of the evening went rather well with the kids playing and well-behaving. After a fun bath the rest of the bedtime was routine and once Charlize started getting really tired, I did what I always do. I left them alone in Kyle’s room to continue playing while I ran downstairs to get her milk. This routine has never changed because they really DO play well together (or at least in the same room when they don’t feel like sharing) and are good.

Not last night. Nope. As I got to the bottom of the stairs and started walking towards the kitchen, I heard a VERY loud boom and crash followed by hysterical screaming. I immediately think that one or the other has tried to climb a chair and fallen off. I dart upstairs to walk in on Charlize crying in the corner, Kyle crying in the middle of the room, surrounded by broken glass everywhere. Charlize had decided to grab hold of the lamp and down it came, crashing into the box of legos and shattering.

I scooped them both up and put them in Charlize’s room, telling them to play there and not move. I then ran downstairs to get the heavy-duty vacuum and raced back up. The stairway gate was closed and they both stayed in the hallway crying as I spent the next half-hour picking up the bigger pieces and vacuuming up the smaller splinters in the carpet!! Charlize is at the age where she’s somewhat scared of vacuums so it was somewhat stressful trying to clean up thoroughly while getting them to calm down and/or play in her room.

phew. We’ve said it before how Charlize seems to do and get into all sorts of trouble that Kyle never did, and this was definitely another reminder of it. Again, there’s a reason I call her “Madame Touche-tout”. Kyle’s curiosity was almost always height-based (he’d try to climb everything). Hers on the other hand, seems to just be about touching everything in sight!!

Ah, the joys of parenting…

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Salon de La Bd de Lyon Mermoz !!

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Mike

A hearty congratulations to Gabriel Morrissette and the team at EGIDE for winning the Best “Album” (book) for Egide Tome 2 African Power!!

For more on Gabriel (including photos of him at his drawing table), head over to the egide blog titled GABRIEL MORRISSETTE: PORTRAIT DU NOUVEAU MEMBRE D’EGIDE … Also, you can read a more recent interview from ActuaBD Both of these, of course, are in French.

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Sunday Dreaming

Posted on October 19, 2008 by Mike

Today marked my parents’ 48th Wedding Anniversary!! I’d been thinking about it for weeks and yet ON the day… I totally forgot. But, serendipity being what it was, I had decided to go visit them and so after breakfast we all hopped into the car and drove over. It was a very pleasant surprise for them and we had a really nice morning and lunch there 🙂

Afterwards, we drove home and I spent a bit of time doing some yard clean-up starting with storing Chantale’s tires under the outside deck (we got her winter tires installed yesterday) and picking up toys, bringing in items that I did not want to lose over the winter (we got frost last night so I wanted to bring in the various basketballs, lawn ornaments, tables, etc).

When I had finished, Chantale told me that her parents were coming over because they wanted to see the kids and her dad wanted to move the light box in the basement hallway. He felt a little bad that I had done so much work without him recently (finishing the floors, installing the closet doors, etc) that he wanted to advance the work. So, they came over and we tackled that minor job. We moved the box to the middle of the hallway and installed the new 3-track system I had purchased for it. I used the opportunity to replace the old light with the one in the back of the basement that kept burning out. Looks good! Again, more incentive to finish this hallway off so we can properly set it up (bookshelves, chairs, paintings, etc) to have a small, private spot that Chantale and I can retire to in the evenings and just relax, read… 🙂

I like home renovations. It’s a very relaxing hobby and so enjoyable to be able to take in the work done on improving one’s home. And, working piecemeal actually also feels a little of how we implement Agile Development at work in that I get to see the most important features first and slowly work out what needs to be built up next 🙂

Anyhow, after the work was done we had a nice supper and I got the kids settled for bed pretty much the same way I did yesterday. Result? Both kids in bed at 745pm leaving me time to take a nice relaxing bath 🙂 And now I can go spend a couple of hours with my wife before calling it a night and starting off another week!!

Life’s good!

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Phew…

Posted on October 18, 2008 by Mike

I can’t believe I spent over an hour already “tidying up” the Comicopia accounts for the mailing that went out this afternoon in preparation for NEXT issue due out in two months…

The more I think I’ve got things streamlined and running smoothly… the more I realize how MUCH longer it USED to take me to get all this stuff organized!! Heck, after every mailing, I’ve got to update 4 different spreadsheets, 2 different documents, 2 different tracking systems, and then go through a round of e-mailings! phew!

But, I’m done now and can finally take a breather 🙂 Maybe go put in those Xfiles I wanted to watch… 🙂

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Afternoon Sprinter

Posted on October 17, 2008 by Mike

A funny thing happened to me on the way out of a meeting just now…

As I left our Head Office and walked down the steps to the street, I watched a man ride by on his bike with his little son behind him. The boy suddenly lost his helmet and he watched it roll away while his father continued riding oblivious to what just happened.

I ran to the helmet and yelled after the man who just continued to bike away. A couple of women were close by and added their voices to mine to no avail. As he got further and further away I made a snap decision that I would not let him get away. If it was me riding with my son or daughter I would be aghast to find them not wearing their helmets.

So, taking a tight grip on the helmet in one hand and my meeting papers in the other, I took off full-out-sprint after them, weaving in and out of intersections trying to avoid cars that didn’t care what I was up to. 2 traffic lights/ intersections later, I catch up to him and his wife who were so completely shocked and extremely grateful for what I had done, thanking me profusely. I just gasped out a “You’re Welcome” and happily walked away, trying to get my breath back and ease the cramp in my left calf.

It felt really good to DO good, ya know? 🙂

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Friday?

Posted on October 17, 2008 by Mike

wow. Friday already. huh. Where did the week go?

No big plans for the weekend. I’m getting the sections printed up for Comicopia today which should hopefully be ready by this afternoon. This would allow me to get the sucker collated, bound, addressed, and mailed off tomorrow. It’ll be sporting an out-of-this-world front cover by Gabriel Morrissette and a very Adams-ish back cover by Alan Porter. I should be making the images available online in the next two weeks or so (I like the members to get to see them first – and hey, if you’d like to be a member, we’d love to have you! 🙂 )

Outside of that we’ve got winter tires to pick up for Chantale’s car, maybe a couple of pumpkins, and then I may try to make a bit more progress on the basement hallway.

In work news, I finally got another of my employees promoted and am looking forward to him coming in so we can present him with the news 🙂 Isn’t that really great news to get on a Friday? 🙂

In comics news… I feel so out of the loop that I’m enjoying my sabbatical in the archives. I’ll write about it one day but not today.

What are you up to this weekend?

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mid-month

Posted on October 14, 2008 by Mike

Wow. Half the month is over already. Xmastime is becoming more and more of a reality, even as Halloween is 2 weeks away… hmmm..

This weekend was just fantastic. Seriously, I need more 4-day weekends 🙂 There’s something so liberating in being able to work on numerous projects at once without feeling stressed or pressured to finish knowing that there’s still “one more day” left to go… I feel like I got so much done even though they were only small projects! Perhaps it was knowing that they were so small and yet have been dragging so long because I have not had the time to devote to them in weeks/ months!

So, on top of finally reworking the Conventions portion of my web site, I got to taking down the gazebo in the back yard, transplanting a rose-bush-from-hell, installing the sliding closet doors in Melyssa’s room, and began sanding down the hallway (I’ve got my eye on completing that hallway by winter), I also began exercising on a stationary bike. Phew! Having James & Melyssa this weekend was extremely nice and made the 4 days that much more special. We all spent a lot of nice family time together talking about life, the future, and their own goals (plus cleaning up their rooms 😉 it was time for a revamp). Kyle & Charlize were also in really great moods and so wonderful to be around. It’s amazing what sleep can do!! LOL!

Yesterday, of course, was Turkey day. Stuffed ourselves to the brim for a lunch that lasted almost four hours 🙂 And… strangely enough, 5 hours later I was hungry again!! 🙂 Next year, though, I think I’d really prefer doing the Thanksgiving celebrating on the Sunday mainly because after a meal like that, the last thing I want to do is spend 2 hours in the car getting everyone home. I think it would be so much more enjoyable to (a) not be rushed to leave, and (b) have the Monday to just veg out.

Plus, I have to say that Turkey without Sunday football just ISN’T the same… 🙂

And now… back to the grind!

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Thursday Thoughts.

Posted on October 9, 2008 by Mike

Early Morning thought for Thursday? Blah!

Managing to sleep through the night? -> Yay!
Spent the night in bad dreams? -> Blah!
Wake up feeling old? -> Blah!
Rainy & Dark outside? ->? Yay! (“oh I love a rainy night such a beautiful sight…”)
Get some sad news from a collaborator on one of my projects? -> Blah. even if expected.
MP3 dies on the train platform? -> Blah!
Reading a Gene Colan biography? -> Yay! (when bios are well done, they are fascinating)
Positive it was Friday? -> Blah! Blah! (something like that deserves and extra Blah)

*sigh*

TV Thought: I give up on Private Practice. As much as I enjoy “Addison” and it’s nice to see her out of scrubs, there doesn’t seem to be a redeeming quality to the show. It’s always sad. Sure, it’s a medical show so death is a constant, but those are made too personal, too involved. You can’t compare it to Grey’s Anatomy because it is not the same kind of show. But at least on Grey’s you’ve got the sense of a “silver lining” or a “rainbow” just around the corner. I don’t feel that with PP. So, I’ve regained another hour of my weekly life. Which means that during the regular weekly television schedule… I only watch one hour per week. Heh.

And now… coffee.

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