The New Floodgates of the Mind

*oof* I’m stuffed! Met a buddy for breakfast and decided to have eggs instead of my usual crepes for the Early Bird special (which is now and forevermore (and actually has been for a few years) referred to as POM in a silly/literal french translation: Petit Oiseaux Matin 🙂 )

Spoke with Melyssa last night who confirmed she’s got Strep and is on Penicillin. James, of course, has both Strep and Bronchitis. Lovely. We’re finally all healthy after 2 weeks of suffering colds so I’m glad they’re on medication and hopefully not contagious when I pick them up on Friday!! 🙂

Got the cover for Comicopia 109 yesterday and it’s both a beaut and hysterical 🙂 Being the ‘halloween’ issue and coupled with a cover theme, it’s become the “Strange Comicopia Adventures” issue instead 🙂 To that end I’ll be running a fiction piece that came in 2nd for a Halloween contest back in 2005 and which never ended up seeing web-print. It’s too fun a story so I wanted to share it. I haven’t decided if I’ll put it online yet.

Speaking of fiction, I got a great script to look through last night and laughed myself silly on. I can’t wait to see the finished comic and will be picking up at least 3 copies of it!! 🙂

Crazy, yes, but it’s still amazing how much good a night’s sleep does. Sure, it’s a completely “no duh!” moment but remember who you’re talking to here. I have not had a regular (ie; even 2 nights in a row) uninterrupted sleep in what seems like years. I guess about 3 would be right 🙂 By the time Kyle was sleeping through his nights, Charlize came along. And then, when she started sleeping through the nights, Kyle got into the age-stage of getting up. Being the light sleeper that I already am, this literally means that any small noise has the potential of cutting through my sleep.

Basically, I do absolutely wonderful on 6 to 6.5 hours of sleep – what I could potentially get without interruptions. The weird side effect of all this happens to be that on weekends (maybe every third one) when I do have the chance of sleeping in, I’m awake namely because I fell asleep early the night before! 🙂

Yesterday was so bad (headache pounding SO much I could have scooped out my right eyeball and frontal lobe with a rusty spoon) that I was in bed by 9pm. I managed to toss and turn for half an hour before getting about 20 minutes of sleep… until I woke up again and had to go take some Advil Migraine gelcaps. they worked, though, and I slept until 130am when I heard Kyle crying from downstairs. I got up to see and realized that he woke up, saw a light downstairs, headed there (passing by our room), found no one, and began to cry because he had to go to the bathroom 🙂

“nature” taken care of, he went back to sleep easily and so did I. 3 hours later I was up and getting ready to head out the door.

I took a quick check on the Cycling Club in my neighborhood and they’re still holding weekly excursions. I think it’s time I get back outside. The chilly air is a great wake up and I seriously miss my morning walks.

Head pounding… and it’s only 10am… Of course, I did not get nearly enough sleep last night.. kids slept but I had wacky dreams (and I did NOT eat before bed… hmmm… maybe that’s the reason…)

This morning’s train was 20 minutes late. I danced as much as my not-awake limbs allowed me to on the train platform, but it still wasn’t enough to warm me up. It’s bloody COLD out there in the mornings!! 2 degrees… brr!! I was once again reminded that: I really don’t like winter/ the cold.

Cold/ Winter/ Snow? It’s great when you’re AT HOME and can curl up with a good book, a blanket, hot chocolate, and a fire and just watch it fall 🙂 Anything else… no thanks! 🙂

I was going to mention that “yeah I’m a little grumpy” but my eyes just fell on a box of dark chocolate on my desk. I popped a couple in my mouth and now I’m all smiles 🙂 Mmmmm! 🙂

Not really much to say. Way too tired from Kyle constantly getting up overnight and Charlize decided 530am was late enough for her to be sleeping. This meant, of course, that I was running on frayed nerves all morning. Trying to nap after lunch did not help much because of the constant interruptions but it helped take the edge off.

It’s crazy that I feel like I just got up and now I’m prepping for tomorrow. *sigh* At least there’s food in the house since Chantale spent the afternoon on food runs…

I think when I go visit my folks next weekend I’ll ask my mom if I can borrow her stationary bike for a couple of weeks…

Well, it’s done. I took advantage of the Advanced Voting this weekend and placed my vote tonight. It was one of the most frustrating elections I can ever recall mainly because I pretty much hate EVERYONE in the running.

Yes, hate is a pretty strong word, but there you have it. A waste of time. And I’m seriously hoping to see a good swift change come next week. And if not, well, the devil continues its due.

At any rate, I’ve done my part as has my wife. All that’s left now is for everyone else to do theirs. And then, we’ll just have to put up with another 4 weeks or so of the U.S. battle and hopefully all the BS that gets constantly stirred up with Politics and Elections can be put behind us for a little.

My lovely wife is making plans to fly us to New York for a day later this month. No real plans (outside of dining, of course) and it will be on a Saturday. Of course, all I know of NY is what I saw in movies or read in comic books. So, although I don’t expect a crumbling building to be headed my way while a well-known human arachnid swoops in for the last-minute save, I also don’t know what to *really* expect.

What should I prepare myself for? Any best-bets on some good food? 🙂

Cul de Sac: This Exit Richard Thompson (http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/press_releases/culdesac.html)

When you have children, a little insanity goes a long way in keeping you sane. This might sound bizarre but the truth is that children have a way of making adults look at the world through the eyes of their innocence… which in turn reveals just how insane “life” truly is.

If Richard Thompson doesn’t have kids, then he’s definitely around a lot of them because the antics portrayed in Cul de Sac are dead on. In the same manner that Bill Waterson’s Calvin was a little boy with a very grown-up logical mind, so too do Alice and her peers question the world around them in a way that makes adults think… and laugh at the insanity.

Although the art made it a little difficult to get right into the book, it eventually did grow on me due to the way those simple scribbles were full to bursting with emotion and expression. And the characters? Priceless! For example, I loved how Alice would never accept her Father’s absurd answers to any of her questions, because she preferred her brother Petey’s even more absurd ones! It does not take long to get to know the characters and you quickly start looking forward to the next Mr. Danders strip, or seeing more of how Alice’s preschool classmates deal with their daily routines.

This collection did not have many laugh-out-loud moments, but there were plenty of snickers along the way. I did not know of this cartoon strip prior to this book but I do look forward to reading further adventures.

(Review copy provided by the Publisher)