BUZZ BUZZ Once There Was...

Kevin and I are guests at T-MODE in Rockville, MD for the weekend of April 15-17. IT IS A CHARITY SHOW. Every badge purchased is an American Red Cross Donation to the relief efforts in Japan.

Kevin and I are so proud and excited to participate in TMODE this year. We'll be running 6 workshops, so if you ever wanted to hear us talk AND support an important cause, this is the show to visit. The hotel is right off the Washington Metro TwinBrook station!

Also the studio will be Sneak-premiering our new book Daddy Daugther Ninja Day: My First Ninja Training Manual before its launch at AnimeBoston this year.

( Tekkoshocon Photos Under here! )


Son & his friend B found us at Zenkaikon! They were both super-sweet. Son is an up-and-coming voice actor, and he was kind enough to film the creepy Weegees that were lurking around our booth. They scared the crap out of people. ;P Check out his video here! (Thanks, Son!)

WOOOoooo... All that and we're gearing up for

at the exact same time!

And when I say we're "GEARING UP," I mean it. AB will be the first show where we have a DEALER'S ROOM space. We're going back to press on older books. We're restocking the Weegie shirts. We're debuting the Spinks With Hats. We're officially launching the Ninja Book. We've got brand new display furniture and we'll have our INTERRO-GIRL booth-cutie as both the red bell-hop Interr0-girl and as the live-action ENSIGN SUE!





P.S. I went after a promotion recently, and while I did not get the department management position, I was chosen for Assistant Manager! Things are looking up.

We have a cat at the office. It's 23 pounds (10.43 kilograms if you're feeling metric this evening). Its name is "Bacon." Bacon is very clearly morbidly obese. It may be a gland thing, I don't know. Deal is, the adorable meatball with hair can't reach her own tuckus to clean herself.

There's a basic understanding that--should you encounter the cat fresh from her box--you should either NOT touch her or just get out the kitty-wipes (which are much like baby wipes, but if the cat licks itself, it won't get sick). This is common sense, if rather disgusting.

She was CLEAN when she curled up on me. I was working late, cat on my lap and ... i caught a smell. I assumed she farted. Bacon's a sweet cat, and while huge and handicapped, she's not incontinent.

I thought.

I finished my accounting and nudged her off me and lo! Upon my thigh. I'd been kissed the delicate chocolate-starfish kisses of cat butt. An earthy constellation up my khaki pant leg from where she'd settled in, then scooted closer, then wiggled in her sleep.

It's only Tuesday. WHY AM I GETTING SHIT ON THIS WEEK!?

I don't know what the deal is. Perhaps my stars are in the House of Intestine and converging on the plain of Sphincter. Perhaps I wronged a sewage worker in a past life. Maybe I'm just behind on my quota of feces and have some catching up to do.


I cleaned up my pants. I cleaned up the cat. I was actually pretty horrified. (This gets kinda gross, be forewarned).

I called the girl who officially owns her. Bacon wasn't actually pooping. Her little rosebud was tight shut, but just to the right of her stinker, there was another... aperture. It wasn't red or irritated looking, but as she moved, it would bubble poo-mucus in globs about the size of a match head. I don't know much about cat anal-glands, but I know that if dogs don't get theirs tended from time to time, they can get really nasty or rupture. Bacon didn't seem distressed (other than that I was invading her space), but it just kept... oozing.

Which would mean she's not so much incontinent as well-ventilated. Her owner promised to schedule a vet appointment for her. I'm sure things will turn out okay, she's not in pain or showing illness. Just... expressing... herself.



I wasn't holding handfuls of it this time. Bonus.

1. i am sick.

2. i am behind in absolutely everything: keeping up with friends, personal responsibilities, work at work, work for the studio, even house cleaning.

3. i totaled my car a half a month back and didn't tell you all b/c of #2.

4. i am uninjured. no one else was injured either. no one else was involved. this is a substantial miracle.

LISTS! I divvied it up to keep from hyperventilating.

Silly Fun Things:
1. Play with Liquid Binder
2. Get missing Red River Books: 18, 19, 20, 21 & TALES of TMNT #38 (x2)

Online Things:
3. List Comics for Sale
4. Poke Project Group
5. Reply to XlannyX
6. Tag Community
7. Transfer Art
8. Test Software
9. Post to question forums with thanks and follow-up.
10. Memory the TMNT Journal
11. Find Leonardo Player.

School Things:
12. Put last semester’s books away
13. Organize for New semester
14. Look up new Class locations
15. Get new semester’s books
16. Arrange Internship
17. Send Resume Answers to Prof. Davis
18. Follow up on PodSpot
19. Set up new Work Schedule for Spring

Future Things:
20. Figure out list 0.1 of Wedding Guests
21. Start Wedding Budget/Research
22. Help Kevin with his Fin Aid
23. Budget for CA trip APPROX: $500 dollars total. June 3rd through 10th.

Contact PEOPLE:
24. Call Tia Anna Wedding News
25. Call Tia Nancy Happy Birthday (belated)
26. Mail Final Christmas
27. Write/Mail Engagement announcements.

Chores:
28. Sort the Comics
29. Catalog Comics
30. Organize Bookshelf
31. Grocery List
32. Grocery Shopping
33. Laundry
34. Clean downstairs bathroom
35. Vacuum Bedroom
36. Sort paper work

Personal Maintenance:
37. Get New Tub for TMNT stuffs.
38. Sort attic stuff at Phil’s
39. Hang Basketball hoop
40. Hang Family photo
41. Treat Cats for fleas
42. Get hair cut:: 1-15-08 3:30pm w/ Doreen
43. Persnickety Grooming Rituals.
44. Dental Appointment
45. Compile addresses
46. Keepers to Gma's
47. Yard Salers to C-family's
48. Junk out of Car

Personal Goals:
49. Write Hanami
50. Practice Inking
51. Organize MP3’s
52. Get old game off DROME
53. Beta for Russ!
54. Do photo albums

Money Things:
55. Put together PTK stuffs
56. Put together Pharmacy assistance
57. Financial Assistance opportunities
58. Balance Checkbook
59. Transfer Balance
60. Pick up Pay Check
61. Write out Bills
62. MidPhase Bill! (1/10)
63. Find Debit Card.



...Okay. School starts on the 17th. it's the 3rd. I've got 13 days to do 58 things (some more involved than others, but I figure it evens out.) If i do about 4 a day, I should be down to the long-term stuff by the time the semester starts. That's not too hard is it?

melannen hurry up and get home. I need some one to compete with. I swear the only way my lists get done is when I'm trying to One-Up some one else. (Succeeding or Failing--it's the effort that's important.)

OH oh! The Semester's coming to a FUCKING END!! HUZZAH!

oh shit. There's a road trip around the corner. I should make some kinda reservation-esque things. I should look up places i'd wanna work and polish a resume to put on file at those place. And I should look up local rental housing options.

TO DO AT WORK:
Sort mail.
Cover box backs that show in front window.
Double check box owners against customer listings

To Do for School Stars Due Thursday Dec. 6.
ESI 103 Prototype Supplies list
ESI 103 Burn CD of Photos
*ESI 104 Chapter 8 Outline.
*ESI 104 Chapter 12 Outline.
*ESI 104 Marketing Plan
ESI 104 Read and Report on Marketing Book
*BPA 111 LYC #6
BPA 111 Chapter 13 Review Questions
*BPA 111 Chapter 14 Review Questions
BPA 162 Presentation
BPA 162 Email Professor with Resume info
HEA 150 Read Chapter 24
HEA 150 Chapter 24 Review Questions


To Do Personally
Pharmacy Assistance Application
Get another PAC Application
Catch up on NaNoWrimo
Practice Inking
Clean Bathroom
Get the $$ together to get Kitty's vaccines
Go Grocery Shopping: kitty litter, lunch meat, toothpaste, oatmeal
Pick up Library Hold.
Go to the Gym more often
Put away all the family photos
Clean out my car's trunk
Put in Reservations for VT

imagine with me:

You're in a wondrous land of candy! (yaaaaay)

You've been appointed Mayor of Tootsie Town! (the land of candy is not a democracy)

The peppermint streets are polished and gleaming. (thank god it hasn't rained or there'd be smeary red stripes everywhere)

The rock candy bushes glint in the sun. (their coloring varies depending on the acidity of the soil)

Koolaid burbles quietly in the chocolate fountain mosaicked with skittles. (i know mosaicked is an awkward adjective, shut up)

People visit your town and you gleefully distribute gumdrop-goodness, lollipop-loveliness, and peanut butter-cup flowers to the masses. (I dunno what kinda mayor does this kinda shit, but i didn't know what title to say "giver-outer-of-candies" was. So it's the mayor.)

Some are nice and some are mean, all are hungry, but the candy goes out to anyone. (COMMUNISM!)

The great golden marshmallow sun sinks low on the rolling snickers hills. (I'm gettin' hungry)

You are saddened, for you must begin to turn people away, and leave the magical candy cove. (I know i called it the tootsie town in the first paragraph, it's the same place. work with me here)

You have much candy left, and are disappointed you could not give away more. (it's everywhere. you despair finding room for all of it when the candy-give-away is over)

Even still, it has been a long, sweet day. (ha ha. Pun!)

You yearn to retreat to your gingerbread home filled with frosting and love. (mmmmm...frosting)

The golden marshmallow sun sets. (which really does raise a number of questions about the nature of the land of candy's solar system)

The day is done--but NO! What is this?! BRIGANDS! (Nasty men with Horses. Some one asked me what the hell a brigand was the other day. so...uh...nasty men with horses)

Ruthless men! They've come for candy and will not be denied! (well, they'd leave if you asked them, but they'd pout.)

You want to give the candy away--you cannot keep it forever, but ... the sun... the gingerbread home and the strawberries'n'cream sweetheart who waits for you... (Picking a Kevin-candy was remarkably easy.)

The Brigands have set up camp while you hesitated. (you must be FIRM with brigands)

They sit at the candy piles and plow meaty fists into the depths, handling all the candy, but only choosing dribs and drabs. (brigands have to handle everything. it's not real for them until they do)

Why oh why! There have been less-than-polite people all day. Why do these arrive as the sun sets?! Do they mean to keep you from your home? Ladybird ladybird, fly away home, your house is on fire, your children are burning! (I have no kids. it's just a rhyme. and "ladybird ladybird...your cats are on fire!" makes me snicker. because i've seen too many cartoons.)

No. They loaf at the candy piles, shoveling their prizes into sweaty cheeks. (SWEATY, SWEATY, BEEFY, HIRSUTE CHEEKS)

One elbows another on accident. Neither notice. No. These men are on a mission, and your presence goes unnoticed and unremarked. It is not that they don't care about your after-hours life--they just never considered it.

You are trapped in the candy cove with the face-shovelers for another hour... or longer...


okay. terrible, transparent metaphor over.

Thank goodness Kevin brought me a sammich. I'd be nibbling my own elbows by now.

The sale is actually going well. Everyone just showed up AT closing. I don't think i'd be quite so wet-hen in my lj about it if not for a visit from D. He's creepy, stalkery, annoying, chatty, has some kind of socially crippling mental affliction and says i'm his best friend. Oh, he's had other best friends, but they betrayed him. And the judge said that next time, he shouldn't be so violent.

...

yeeeah.


it's six thirty p.m. they're still going through the books. i wanna sell the books. mustn't make them leave. all hail the sammich.

strawberries'n'cream sweetheart? I'm be-set by brigands. I may be late.

They didn't shrink a whole lot, but that's kinda the nature of the beast.

TO DO AT WORK:
Track down the orders AND the ordered items for Special orders
Clean under front desk
Sort mail.
Place special orders
Cover box backs that show in front window.
Double check box owners against customer listings

To Do for SchoolStars are due by Tuesday (11/27).
*ESI 103 B.O.B. prototype
*ESI 103 Burn CD of Photos
*ESI 103 Assignment #9
ESI 104 Chapter 1 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 2 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 3 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 7 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 8 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 12 Outline.
ESI 104 Marketing Plan
ESI 104 Read and Report on Marketing Book
HEA 150 Read Chapter 17
HEA 150 Read Chapter 18
HEA 150 Read Chapter 19
HEA 150 Read Chapter 20
HEA 150 Read Chapter 21
HEA 150 Read CPR Chapter
*HEA 150 Out of Class Assignment
*BPA 111 LYC #5
BPA 111 LYC #6
*BPA 111 Chapter 12 Review Questions
BPA 111 Chapter 13 Review Questions
BPA 111 Chapter 14 Review Questions
BPA 162 Presentation
*Scholarship Application
*Scholarship Emails

To Do Personally
Laundry
Pharmacy Assistance Application
Get another PAC Application
Catch up on NaNoWrimo
Practice Inking
Vacuum Room
Clean Bathroom
Get the $$ together to get Kitty's vaccines
Go Grocery Shopping: kitty litter, lunch meat, toothpaste, oatmeal
Go to the Gym more often
Put away all the family photos
Clean out my car's trunk
Put in Reservations for VT

So. I'm at work, starving, and ready to scream. Things that had been done are now back on the list. And of course, new things were added. I'm thinking about calling in some of our slave boys part-time workers and offering to pay them in store credit if they help me slog through this stuff.

TO DO AT WORK:

Straighten retail shelves
Remove non-inventory items from the main sales floor
Make SIGNS for during the sale.
Sort complete dross from worthwhile back issues.
Alphabetize worthwhile back issues
Make Sets of worthwhile back issues
Pull all Harvey Comics
Pull comics from off 'special demands' lists
Track down the orders AND the ordered items for Special orders
Clean under front desk
Sort mail.
Ask Kevin and Adam to take their personal stuff home.
Cover boxes backs that show in front window.
Double check box owners against customer listings
Go through alphabetized boxes and pull incentive covers and vertigo titles.
Numerically organize alphabetized boxes.



Oh. And b/c teachers all want their assignments BEFORE thanksgiving break, here's my list of SCHOOL stuff that's gotta get done b/c that's running around in my head and mixing up with the store stuff. The combo makes me physically ill. Let's segregate, shall we? Stars are due by Tuesday.


To Do for School
*ESI 103 Homework #8
ESI 103 B.O.B. outline.
ESI 103 Burn CD of Photos
ESI 104 Chapter 1 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 2 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 3 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 7 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 8 Outline.
ESI 104 Chapter 12 Outline.
*ESI 104 Article Report.
*ESI 104 Presentation #6
ESI 104 Marketing Plan
ESI 104 Read and Report on Marketing Book
HEA 150 Read Chapter 17
HEA 150 Read Chapter 18
HEA 150 Read Chapter 19
HEA 150 Read Chapter 20
HEA 150 Read Chapter 21
HEA 150 Read CPR Chapter
*BPA 111 LYC #4
BPA 111 LYC #5
BPA 111 LYC #6
*BPA 111 B.O.B. Report #2
*BPA 111 B.O.B. Power Point Corrections
*BPA 111 Chapter 10 Review Questions
BPA 111 Chapter 12 Review Questions
BPA 111 Chapter 13 Review Questions
BPA 111 Chapter 14 Review Questions
*BPA 111 Take Home Exam
BPA 162 Read Chapter 4
BPA 162 Read Chapter 5
BPA 162 Read Chapter 6
BPA 162 Read Chapter 7
BPA 162 Read Chapter 8
BPA 162 Read Chapter 9
*BPA 162 Resume
BPA 162 Presentation




And that'll get me to the end of the semester. Cool huh? To see the finish line? That's always SO nice. OH. and while i'm making lists, here's the stuff that has to happen in my personal life, b/c I tend to freak out and forget about it until it rises up and hits me in the face.

To Do Personally
Laundry
Bills
Catch up on NaNoWrimo
Practice Inking
Vacuum Room
Clean Bathroom
Get the $$ together to get Kitty's vaccines
Get the $$ together to go grocery shopping.
(kitty litter, lunch meat, toothpaste, oatmeal)
Go to the Gym more often
Tend Online community obligations.
Put away all the family photos
Clean out my car's trunk

I wonder if my list of "to do" for myself is so much shorter b/c i'm not thinking of things i need to do to take care of myself or if i'm already doing the stuff that HAS to get done, and doing a pretty good job of keeping up.

That's a terribly constructed sentence.



I'm hungry. Gonna call out for something hot. The store is frigid.

I don't know that having the lists is helping this time. I don't feel any lighter for getting all this out there. I'm thinking I'm just hungry. My attitude almost always improves when i'm fed.

I'd put all this under a cut, but i need to SEE it every time i log in to stay motivated. Sorry about your friends' page. (it's visible to you guys so that I have to be accountable....even if none of you're gonna pull me up on the rug about any of it.)

Of course, if anyone local feels like helping, I will NOT turn you away. Thing is, though? I've been leaning on nearby (and close, dear) friends a LOT lately. So i'm not gonna ask anybody personally. No one has to be put on the spot, or feel weird about things. I can and will get things done. Help, while appreciated is totally voluntary (as always, but seriously, I gotta stop ASKING when it's stuff like my JOB). Thanksgiving break is coming... most of that school stuff can happen then. And the sale for the store will be over, so that stuff'll be off the list too.

What's wrong with me? Have i bitten off more than i can chew? Can i just not tell people 'no'? Am I doing MYSELF in with stupid amounts of fussy perfectionism? Am I a slacker that only gets INTO situations like all that b/c I get lazy and let too many things slide? Do YOU GUYS have 'to do' lists like this?


Oh. And today marks 9 years that Mom's been gone. Maybe that's why i'm feeling less than energized. I blame her a lot though. Maybe i'm just hungry.

I do have a lot of my Christmas shopping done. I'm very pleased with my selections. Though, really... i've not found the most perfectly useful and joy-inspiring things for the people i MOST want to give perfectly useful and joy-inspiring things to (regardless of the season or holiday). Phooey. It's another month yet. Something will pop up. I'm sure.

I'm buying pizza. It's bad for me, but you can't stop me.

I'm gonna post this list, b/c having a list REALLY helped with my homework. I'm sitting here in the store, and all around me is comics DEBRIS. Any single part of it is probably worth something, but since it's a giant jumble no mortal mind can divine the order of... it's worth jack and shit simultaneously.

So, god of lists, where ever you are...in whatever form... from the Holiest of Holies to Santa Claus... please give me the strength to deal with back stock, fifty cent issues, special orders, special holds, sales incentives, and prizes... and the wisdom to know the difference.

From right here? It looks like MISHMASH.


TO DO AT WORK:

Straighten retail shelves
Remove non-inventory items from the main sales floor
Mark all fifty percent off books
Make and Print Flyers for the Sale.
Make SIGNS for during the sale.
Sort complete dross from worthwhile back issues.
Alphabetize worthwhile back issues
Make Sets of worthwhile back issues
Pull all Harvey Comics
Pull comics from off 'special demands' lists
Track down the orders AND the ordered items for Special orders
Make changes to the Subscription books
Add new Cards
Clean under front desk
Remove items from back room
Organize back room area
Clean bathroom
Sort mail.
Ask Kevin and Adam to take their personal stuff home.
Cover boxes backs that show in front window.
Throw out anything that doesn't make money or HELP us make money.
Double check box owners against customer listings
Sort Table.

Shoot the next bastard that walks in at closing time.

*headdesk*
I don't know where to START!
It's all gotta get done by Nov. 21st.

HELP ME XENU!

{EDIT!~}
THANK YOU BOWIE AND SALLY!!

Ironically, i started out the day feeling lonely.

from 2pm onward, i have had people UP MY ASS ALL DAY. don't you people have HOMES!? FAMILIES!? Why do i need to hear about your ingrown toenails, your cinderella fantasies, your plans to sex up your future boss, your ill-conceived ideas regarding the authorship of Frank Miller, and all the rest of it?!

Being a comic book store worker is a lot like being a bartender. People show up and wanna bend yer ear. Thing is? If they did this in a bar, they'd have to TIP.



what's wrong with me? I LIKE working in the comic book store. The conversations about alternate histories and debates over story quality are FUN. Why was EVERYONE so irritating today?

OH. I know why. B/c i had people who parked themselves in the store for 6 hours at a go.

6 HOURS OF NON-STOP CASUAL CONVERSATION really SOURS me.



...BLAAAARGH!!!...