blast from the past

When I was a senior in high school I was never without this sketchbook.



During study halls I'd sit and draw an ongoing comic strip which included appearances by a bunch of my classmates. Here are a couple of bits from "Bionic Bill vs. Andy Gram." Someday I'd like to blog this whole thing, but it will take a lot of scanning.




Those of you who knew me in high school may recall that "Bionic Bill" is John Gasper, who had a lot of input in the writing of these stories.

I'm older than I was, but younger than I will be.

A particular person keeps pointing out to me that I have wrinkles on my forehead.

Personally, I don't mind. So far I have lived all of my adult life with people questioning whether I am really a grown-up.

Today I turned 34.

34's not a bad age. I think I'll stick with it for a while.

I feel good I feel great I feel wonderful...

A few thoughts from my coffee-fueled brain this fine morning...

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Belgian waffles are one of those things that smell really great, but they taste just ok.

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Why does the gas pump have to ask me if I want my receipt? Of course I want my receipt! Duuuuhh!

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This is my second morning this week working on my laptop in Panera Bread. I really like working in here. The coffee is very good. The caramel lattes are stupendous. Lunch is affordable. Free Wi-Fi. It helps me get out of my house and into the world. And the people working here are a constant reminder that if I don't get my work done and make some money, I too could end up behind that counter slicing sandwiches.

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One job I never want to experience again... Cutco sales representative. Here are some of my notes from my Cutco meeting back in 2001. I sold some to my parents and then got my butt out of that unfortunate career detour.



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I really do feel good today.

random thoughts in a coffee shop

Sometimes I enjoy listening to other peoples' conversations in this coffee shop. And sometimes I think other people are just kind of annoying.

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For the past week I've been avoiding coffee because of sinus problems. But now I feel better, so am back here enjoying an Italian blend.

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It finally feels like October.

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I can't stand it when people have really long toenails. Now that it's cooler, those people should put their socks and shoes back on.

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I am addicted to pomegranates again.

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Lately I keep having very weird dreams. Very very weird ones.

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In my lifetime I want to draw a syndicated comic strip. And when I do, if I do, it will be very funny. Not like a bunch of the stupid stuff that is in the newspaper today. Mine will be roll-on-the-floor-laughing funny. I just need to come up with the right theme. Someday.

Come back! I have vitamins and minerals!!!

Today's post is sponsored by the letter "I."

a new blog post!

I have been doodling less lately. Since I got my laptop I have been enjoying the new experience of working on it in coffee shops, which is where I usually was doodling. Even though my chair at home is more comfortable, there is something very fun about having the internet pop up right there at my table.

Here are some doodles I drew in church. The creature saying "stop it!" is based on the face of a boy sitting in front of us, who kept on fighting with his brother.

A guy sitting in front of us in church last week was giving his kids paper to draw on during the service. He jokingly asked me and George if we'd like some drawing paper. I said, "No thanks, I have my own." Little did he know, I am not kidding, ha ha.



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Have a craving for Ho-Hos? Then come on down to the Ho Ho Buffet. All varieties of Ho Hos for one low price.

phooey

Blogger won't let me post any pictures tonight.

Luggages Luggages Luggages

I am finally home after going on many adventures over the last four weeks. One interesting place to visit but not to live... Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

away on business

I am still around. I'll be at my parents' house for the next week and a half, doing some work at their business while they are away on vacation. I am enjoying a lazy Sunday today. Right now I am going through a bunch of old photos I found, and organizing them in my Picasa photo album. There is a link to it on my sidebar.

playing with my new mac

I have dog visitors this morning. Here are some photos I took.

ho-hum

While I was at Moe's Mexican restaurant last weekend I took a spy photo of this very young couple who could not keep their hands off each other.


Here's a doodle of the girl of this couple, in glorious living technicolor. She was thoroughly enjoying that slurpee.

I have been marveling that something I planted actually grew. These are some funky colored sunflowers.

more doodle fun with watercolor

misc.

A cartoon I drew a while back. I don't know if I ever posted it on here. Ok, I just found it in my post from July '06. Well you all get to enjoy it once again.

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Can you guess which kid is me?


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I enjoy adding watercolor to my doodles. I should do it more often.


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Every time I meet someone named Janet, this song gets stuck in my head.

beware of attack birds

These are the barn swallows that are guarding their nest on my front porch. Even if I stand in front of the glass door they start swooping down at me. Somebody did manage to leave a package on our porch yesterday. This should not go on much longer; those baby birds have been practicing their wing-flapping all week.

another day, another doodle

a doodle a day is good for your health

A doodle I drew today while waiting in a long line at the post office. Gotta use the time somehow, when you're standing in a line waiting to mail a book you sold on half.com for a dollar and ninety-five cents.

It is not easy to draw standing up. I'm not sure whether this individual is male or female.

misc.

For some reason I enjoy drawing people's screaming kids. Maybe it's because I find them annoying, but then I find some humor in the situation and it becomes entertaining for me.

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These yucky Japanese beetles are chewing my trees to bits. I hope they cannot kill the trees.

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I've been working on adding photos to my Flickr page, but then I didn't like it because it charges a fee for more than three folders. So I started a Picassa album. I think I like that better.

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More tea stain doodles.

weekly update

It seems someone is walking around this town impersonating me. A couple of weeks ago I went into a Mexican restaurant, and the owner asked me if I was related to so-and-so because I look and sound just like her. Now today, I walk into Starbucks, and a worker there comes out and asks me if I was on the news yesterday. Someone who was on the news looks just like me.

I'll just have to hope she's a nice person and doesn't go around committing crimes, so then I can get picked out of a line-up.

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These are the barn swallow babies that live above my front porch. See the two little heads peeking out? There are at least three in there. They look like muppets when they poke out their fuzzy heads and open their mouths.

current events

Last week I helped out at my church's Vacation Bible School. I showed this doodle to a couple of people, and they knew EXACTLY who this four-year-old is.



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more excitement than i can handle around here...

While we were on vacation, a barn swallow put a nest on top of our front porch light. Those barn swallows have been scoping out my porch for a long time now, but waited until we went away to get to work on their little building project.

Now every time I go out there to do some gardening, the bird will fly into the air and fly circles above the yard, calling out to all its friends and family to come and warn the intruder (me) to leave. So about five birds will be up there shreaking at me. All they had done so far was make a lot of noise, so I started to sweep the bird crap off of my porch, right under the nest. They came dive bombing at my head, and chased me off, as I ran screaming like a little girl back into my garage and into the house.

Some delivery person is going to be surprised this week. George is expecting a package.

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I recently joined a Flickr group where fellow doodlers are creating sketches from tea stains.

Our visit to Seattle

I know I am not the first person to post a picture of this guy on my blog. I wonder if he's been able to start his karate lessons by now?


This guy had a cardboard sign on the other side that read, "I WANT YOUR WEED."


We saw this national landmark... the first Starbucks. Yes everyone, smile, I am taking your picture.

Pike Place Market was packed with people. But we did not see any fish being thrown. They had the day off because it was the fourth of July.

We stayed at a funky hotel in Seattle called Hotel Max. This is the hallway...

Our door...

The lobby...

Can you guess what this is?

thought of the day

Why is woman pronounced "women," and women is pronounced "wimen?"

more vacation stuff

On day four of our vacation we drove as high as we could up a mountain at Olympic State Park. It was cold up there! There were patches of snow on the ground. The gift shop was selling plenty of warm sweaters and coats to people.



A couple of wildlife shots...

A chicken crossing the road.


This deer had her baby with her. Of course I did not get the photo I was hoping for, because this camera just opens way too slow!

some portland pics

You can save a few bucks at the Marriott if you get the room without a view. But we didn't travel all the way to Portland, Oregon just to hang out in our hotel room anyway.



The Columbia River Gorge. This is the first scenic view we drove out to see, right after we got off the airplane and got our rental car.


Multnomah Falls. Thankfully, there were no earthquakes or falling boulders while we were there.


These are carnivorous plants at the Portland Saturday Market. I'd never seen ones like these. I guess they would be hard to check in to the airplane.


There is a different breed of street performers in these parts.

One thing that was cool about Portland was the enormous variety of coffee shops. In Seattle it was practically all Starbucks and Seattle's Best on every street corner. Portland had some good affordable restaurants too. The first night we were there we ate a huge feast at a Mediterranean restaurant.