Alright, I've finally finished the scripts. Overlooked and unexpected bugs all over the place, man - I swear, I had no clue that what I so far mostly did myself through FTP was so damn hard to automate. And it's still only automated for a very special kind of comic - the Probeersel.com February 29th 2004 24 Hour Comics !
You'll see that, as announced, only three artists will participate. So we're talking about three comics. And it took me four days to code this.
But meh, I won't get bitter and cynical here. I've coded it just so that any of the Probeersel.com artists can still, at the last minute, decide for themselves if they want to join in on the attempt. So we'll see.
Big thanks to Tom who helped me test the final script, he brought up a point or two that I hadn't thought of yet. Of course, after those tests HE went to play a drinking game with his friends while *I* struggled with Perl for nearly three hours more. But still, if he hadn't mentioned it, Sunday could have been an unexpected fiasco and I might have had to cut my own 24 Hour Comic attempt short just to fix everyone else's problems... As it is I can finally relax. Sunday will go fine - at least the technical part of it all.
I do hope my ISP won't be especially crappy that day - that'd cost me time. And probably a lot.
So yeah, I'm definately nervous about Sunday. Still no idea what I'm gonna do.
Hey, if any of you are in the Netherlands and you want to watch me work on this attempt (if you're THAT bored) you're welcome to it. I'm in the phone book (regular readers know who I am) and there's booze and a pool table in the house. Could be fun, and I might just get better inspiration with people around. Well, decide for yourselves if you want to drop by that day.
I *was* planning on going to the Cul de Sac tonight to see how the renovation activities went the past week, but by the time I'll get there now it'll be crowded again. I'm not in the mood for that. I have a bit of time to kill during the day tomorrow so perhaps I'll visit there for a short bit then.
Anyway, as the title said, this is probably my last post until Sunday. And if this 24 hour comic attempt is really rough, I likely won't exactly take the time to log in and update my blog at any time. So if you don't hear from me, that'll be why.
Keep an eye on Probeersel.com, because you'll be able to see, live, what we upload. You can sort of follow our progress that way. It'll be fun !
Friday, February 27, 2004
me <- proud
The form for the 24 Hour Comic event next Sunday is nearly done. I've been coding on it a lot and excessive testing shows it's practically failproof.
Tomorrow I have one last part left to code on it. Which is basically that you can upload images and info with it - which is code I mostly already have lying around. I have to make it SLIGHTLY more advanced than the current temporary upload scripts but it's nothing I can't do.
So I'm feeling particularly proud of myself at this late hour.
Just thought I'd share - for those of you who were actually following my progress on this.
Tom and I are going to go over the code once more and do the final testing tomorrow evening. (Well, technically that's THIS evening, since it's Friday by now.)
It's also freezing cold in the house. Think I'll turn the heater up a bit, pour myself a little drink, and go to sleep.
If I hurry through the other stuff I have to do tomorrow (groceries and whatnot) I might have time left for some fun stuff. Like shooting a few rounds of pool downstairs. Or read one of the many comic books I bought on the way home. Sounds good to me.
Nite folks !
Tomorrow I have one last part left to code on it. Which is basically that you can upload images and info with it - which is code I mostly already have lying around. I have to make it SLIGHTLY more advanced than the current temporary upload scripts but it's nothing I can't do.
So I'm feeling particularly proud of myself at this late hour.
Just thought I'd share - for those of you who were actually following my progress on this.
Tom and I are going to go over the code once more and do the final testing tomorrow evening. (Well, technically that's THIS evening, since it's Friday by now.)
It's also freezing cold in the house. Think I'll turn the heater up a bit, pour myself a little drink, and go to sleep.
If I hurry through the other stuff I have to do tomorrow (groceries and whatnot) I might have time left for some fun stuff. Like shooting a few rounds of pool downstairs. Or read one of the many comic books I bought on the way home. Sounds good to me.
Nite folks !
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Melting, Melting, What A World, What A World...
The snow is pretty much completely gone by now so unless there's a new storm within an hour from now, I'm expecting to go home without complications *knocks on wood*. It's all molten, hailed and rained away. Pity. 'twas a bright white world with the sun on it as I arrived at work this morning at 11.
I went outside for my lunch break (at 2; 12 seemed a bit soon to me for some reason..) and bought about a dozen fineliners and a gelpen. Last thing I need is being stuck in the middle of a 24 Hour Comic attempt, without any drawing materials, on a Sunday in a Catholic country with all the shops closed.
Y'know, I'm getting nervous. Just two more days, really, then it's a go. And I still don't really have any solid-enough ideas what I'm gonna do, yet.
Whose idea was this, again ?
I went outside for my lunch break (at 2; 12 seemed a bit soon to me for some reason..) and bought about a dozen fineliners and a gelpen. Last thing I need is being stuck in the middle of a 24 Hour Comic attempt, without any drawing materials, on a Sunday in a Catholic country with all the shops closed.
Y'know, I'm getting nervous. Just two more days, really, then it's a go. And I still don't really have any solid-enough ideas what I'm gonna do, yet.
Whose idea was this, again ?
Shoulda Stayed At Home In Bed.
Stayed up late working on the damn 24 Hour Comic solution. I've got it pretty far done, to be honest, and I set it up universally, so it'll work for any of the seven Probeersel.com artists. Quite awesome if I do say so myself. Will try to finish it tonight.
Anywho, it took some booze to get me to sleep after that. And so I nearly overslept again - opened my eyes about one minute before the 'first bus'. In case I never explained this before..
Pay attention, because this story will get complicated. But it involves some of my most important morning routines, so I thought it was time I told you.
I live around the corner from two bus stops (one around the corner left from my street, one around the corner right from my street). One of them is the stop for city lines 46 and 47, which run pretty often. The 46 line makes a turn to the other bus stop and 'turns into' line 42 there (so, practically at my house). After over two years of living there, these two lines have grown personalities. I like the 46. The 46 is reliable, often seems to have friendlier bus drivers, less people on board, usually on time and if not, most commonly it's too EARLY. The 47, however, is your average slacker. It runs through the Reeshof which causes the big delays, but it can be as much as 15 minutes late ! And it's nearly always crammed full of people. And, naturally, considering the delays and huge amounts of people, the bus drivers on that line seem to be unfriendlier. So you have reliable, sometimes overzealous, friendly 46, and hostile, sloppy, unpleasant 47. There's also the beforementioned line 42, but I don't have much of a relationship with him. I only take him as the occasional best alternative if my other two 'friends' let me down.
This all might sound funny to someone who doesn't routinely take a city bus, but it really sort of is how the mind starts to work. These lines become individuals with their own personality traits in your mind.
Now, I try to catch the 7 29 train from Tilburg Central in the morning. This train takes me straight to the train station in front of my office in Amsterdam, and I can sleep for an hour and ten minutes straight till there. It's the ONLY train that runs directly from Tilburg to Amsterdam on a day. Any other trip involves catching the 8 or 38 past train to 's Hertogenbosch and then transferring to a train to Amsterdam (Duivendrecht) and in Duivendrecht catching either a subway or a stop-train back to Bijlmer. Obviously, from a convenience point of view, the 7 29 is a very pleasant line and I try to catch it whenever I can if I have to go to Amsterdam.
To catch this train, I can take the 7 04 bus, which is line 46. Sometimes it's too early, most commonly however it's right on time. It will get me to Central in 10 minutes. That leaves me bored with little or nothing to do at the train station for 15 minutes !
Another alternative is the 7 11 bus. This is a line 47, so I might not have a seat and it's not a great fun ride, but it means leaving my house 7 minutes later (so potentially sleeping for 7 minutes longer, and at an early morning, 7 minutes can make one hell of a difference) and it will get me at Central at around 7 25, with ample time to catch the train but obviously a lot less time to linger about bored. A preferablye choice, were it not that the 47 lines are often LATE ! Opting for the 47 may mean I miss the 7 29 train, meaning I have to take the inconvenient, more complicated train route to Amsterdam that I described above.
Then there's the 7 16, which is a 46 line also, but it will most commonly miss the 7 29 train by one or two minutes. This bus ride's only an option if I'm lucky and it's early. When the 7 11 (47) is very late, sometimes this one shows up first.
So I open my eyes at 7 03. I immediately realise that my trusty friend, the 7:04 46 bus, will loyally run on time and there is no way I'll catch it. If I hurry into my clothes, however, and hurriedly combine brushing my teeth with putting on socks and shoes (this takes skills only habitual oversleepers posess) I can make the 7 11. So I hurry out of the house and nearly slip on the pavement - EVERYTHING'S COVERED WITH SNOW !!
So I carefully walk to the bus stop, and of course (snow, Reeshof) the 47 IS LATE. However, miraculously, it arrives at 7 28. As I peek out the bus window, however, I see no train waiting yet. Usually not a good sign.
I bump into colleague Tim on the perron, who informs me everything's delayed, nationwide, busses, trains, there's even huge traffic chaos, because of the snowstorms last night. (Which explains why I slept so damn well) I'll keep the next part of this story short because if I tell this one, I might as well tell you a train adventure daily because not a day goes by that the National Railroad company seems to let me down one way or another. Short version: there's barely any trains in our direction. No news from the 7 29, but after some 20 minutes we find ourselves on the other side of the station in a late '38 past' train that was redirected to this other perron. It waits for a long time, then we finally go to 's Hertogenbosch. After a not-entirely-ideally ride (I should also mention the train was even fuller than the 47 bus) we have a nearly perfect connection to the train to Amsterdam in 's Hertogenbosch. Though this train is pretty full, we both figure our troubles are over and we'll get there just fine. He sits down somewhere else (seats were scarce) and I fall asleep.
We get to Utrecht only to hear an announcement that all train traffic to Amsterdam is currently impossible and our train won't go any further. If we'd all please exit the train and try to catch a (rare) stop train to Amsterdam from here.
Now.. these stop trains obviously have two or three wagons. For thousands of people to try and fit themselves into.
Not a good idea.
I'm somewhat of a public transportation veteran by now so I know my alternatives. But, as it turns out, all other trains are indeed also hopelessly delayed and the buses to Amsterdam, I was told by one of the drivers, take about two and a half hours because of the traffic jams. In a case this extreme, even I run out of options pretty quickly.
The only train running reasonably on time is, in fact, the train BACK. Which my colleague Tim catches because he decides, at a little after 10, that this is indeed hopeless. I, however, keep trying and behold, at 10 15 train traffic slowly restores itself, with a big-ass intercity train arriving and yours truly quickly conquers a seat on board. While this train was even fuller, it actually got me in the office at around 11 15 (with the beforementioned subway transfer at Duivendrecht).
And then I arrive in the office only to find out there's barely anything to do. And I have a no doubt equally hopeless ride home to look forward to.
I should have just stayed asleep and not hurried to catch the 47. It's all his fault. Stupid 47.
Anywho, it took some booze to get me to sleep after that. And so I nearly overslept again - opened my eyes about one minute before the 'first bus'. In case I never explained this before..
Pay attention, because this story will get complicated. But it involves some of my most important morning routines, so I thought it was time I told you.
I live around the corner from two bus stops (one around the corner left from my street, one around the corner right from my street). One of them is the stop for city lines 46 and 47, which run pretty often. The 46 line makes a turn to the other bus stop and 'turns into' line 42 there (so, practically at my house). After over two years of living there, these two lines have grown personalities. I like the 46. The 46 is reliable, often seems to have friendlier bus drivers, less people on board, usually on time and if not, most commonly it's too EARLY. The 47, however, is your average slacker. It runs through the Reeshof which causes the big delays, but it can be as much as 15 minutes late ! And it's nearly always crammed full of people. And, naturally, considering the delays and huge amounts of people, the bus drivers on that line seem to be unfriendlier. So you have reliable, sometimes overzealous, friendly 46, and hostile, sloppy, unpleasant 47. There's also the beforementioned line 42, but I don't have much of a relationship with him. I only take him as the occasional best alternative if my other two 'friends' let me down.
This all might sound funny to someone who doesn't routinely take a city bus, but it really sort of is how the mind starts to work. These lines become individuals with their own personality traits in your mind.
Now, I try to catch the 7 29 train from Tilburg Central in the morning. This train takes me straight to the train station in front of my office in Amsterdam, and I can sleep for an hour and ten minutes straight till there. It's the ONLY train that runs directly from Tilburg to Amsterdam on a day. Any other trip involves catching the 8 or 38 past train to 's Hertogenbosch and then transferring to a train to Amsterdam (Duivendrecht) and in Duivendrecht catching either a subway or a stop-train back to Bijlmer. Obviously, from a convenience point of view, the 7 29 is a very pleasant line and I try to catch it whenever I can if I have to go to Amsterdam.
To catch this train, I can take the 7 04 bus, which is line 46. Sometimes it's too early, most commonly however it's right on time. It will get me to Central in 10 minutes. That leaves me bored with little or nothing to do at the train station for 15 minutes !
Another alternative is the 7 11 bus. This is a line 47, so I might not have a seat and it's not a great fun ride, but it means leaving my house 7 minutes later (so potentially sleeping for 7 minutes longer, and at an early morning, 7 minutes can make one hell of a difference) and it will get me at Central at around 7 25, with ample time to catch the train but obviously a lot less time to linger about bored. A preferablye choice, were it not that the 47 lines are often LATE ! Opting for the 47 may mean I miss the 7 29 train, meaning I have to take the inconvenient, more complicated train route to Amsterdam that I described above.
Then there's the 7 16, which is a 46 line also, but it will most commonly miss the 7 29 train by one or two minutes. This bus ride's only an option if I'm lucky and it's early. When the 7 11 (47) is very late, sometimes this one shows up first.
So I open my eyes at 7 03. I immediately realise that my trusty friend, the 7:04 46 bus, will loyally run on time and there is no way I'll catch it. If I hurry into my clothes, however, and hurriedly combine brushing my teeth with putting on socks and shoes (this takes skills only habitual oversleepers posess) I can make the 7 11. So I hurry out of the house and nearly slip on the pavement - EVERYTHING'S COVERED WITH SNOW !!
So I carefully walk to the bus stop, and of course (snow, Reeshof) the 47 IS LATE. However, miraculously, it arrives at 7 28. As I peek out the bus window, however, I see no train waiting yet. Usually not a good sign.
I bump into colleague Tim on the perron, who informs me everything's delayed, nationwide, busses, trains, there's even huge traffic chaos, because of the snowstorms last night. (Which explains why I slept so damn well) I'll keep the next part of this story short because if I tell this one, I might as well tell you a train adventure daily because not a day goes by that the National Railroad company seems to let me down one way or another. Short version: there's barely any trains in our direction. No news from the 7 29, but after some 20 minutes we find ourselves on the other side of the station in a late '38 past' train that was redirected to this other perron. It waits for a long time, then we finally go to 's Hertogenbosch. After a not-entirely-ideally ride (I should also mention the train was even fuller than the 47 bus) we have a nearly perfect connection to the train to Amsterdam in 's Hertogenbosch. Though this train is pretty full, we both figure our troubles are over and we'll get there just fine. He sits down somewhere else (seats were scarce) and I fall asleep.
We get to Utrecht only to hear an announcement that all train traffic to Amsterdam is currently impossible and our train won't go any further. If we'd all please exit the train and try to catch a (rare) stop train to Amsterdam from here.
Now.. these stop trains obviously have two or three wagons. For thousands of people to try and fit themselves into.
Not a good idea.
I'm somewhat of a public transportation veteran by now so I know my alternatives. But, as it turns out, all other trains are indeed also hopelessly delayed and the buses to Amsterdam, I was told by one of the drivers, take about two and a half hours because of the traffic jams. In a case this extreme, even I run out of options pretty quickly.
The only train running reasonably on time is, in fact, the train BACK. Which my colleague Tim catches because he decides, at a little after 10, that this is indeed hopeless. I, however, keep trying and behold, at 10 15 train traffic slowly restores itself, with a big-ass intercity train arriving and yours truly quickly conquers a seat on board. While this train was even fuller, it actually got me in the office at around 11 15 (with the beforementioned subway transfer at Duivendrecht).
And then I arrive in the office only to find out there's barely anything to do. And I have a no doubt equally hopeless ride home to look forward to.
I should have just stayed asleep and not hurried to catch the 47. It's all his fault. Stupid 47.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Who would have guessed.
This was not a particularly surprising answer.
It was also not a particularly good quiz, by the way.
Great choices! Youre a Goth! Me too! We Goths are
smart, cunning, and extremely individual. Good
for you!
--->What Type of Clique do You Belong In???<---NOW WITH PICTURES!!!
brought to you by Quizilla
It was also not a particularly good quiz, by the way.
Great choices! Youre a Goth! Me too! We Goths are
smart, cunning, and extremely individual. Good
for you!
--->What Type of Clique do You Belong In???<---NOW WITH PICTURES!!!
brought to you by Quizilla
A time to reap.
Decided to gather what loose online game links I had and start a little link category on the right side.
You may thank me now.
Oh, you're quite welcome.
I figured it was the least I could do.
No wait, the least I could do would be to do nothing.
But I think we can all agree I suck at doing nothing.
You may thank me now.
Oh, you're quite welcome.
I figured it was the least I could do.
No wait, the least I could do would be to do nothing.
But I think we can all agree I suck at doing nothing.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
And For All Short-Tempered PC Users...
A colleague dug this one up.
It's brilliant ! If you've ever felt like kicking the living hell out of your computer, you really will want to play this one.
Click here !
Just when you think it can't break any further, you find yet another spot to bash you hadn't thought of yet.
Wow.
It's brilliant ! If you've ever felt like kicking the living hell out of your computer, you really will want to play this one.
Click here !
Just when you think it can't break any further, you find yet another spot to bash you hadn't thought of yet.
Wow.
Penguism.
With Sionnain's and mine new comic - involving a penguin in a pink tutu - having gone live recently, in mind, I think it's time for more news from the Penguin Bashing game front.
There's a much more violent and gory variant making its rounds on the Internet. However, I think it looks crap, it plays badly, and it's not as funny as it clearly was intended. Pity.
If you're really interested, you can find it here:
But the original creator hasn't been sitting still either. He turned the original game into a slightly more challenging variant with centrally stored highscores. You can find THAT here:
However, what REALLY struck my eye is a completely new 'yeti sport'...
And finally, there are pictures on the web of the penguin having bashed the yeti's head in. I'll leave it to you loyal readers to Google that one, by yourself.
There's a much more violent and gory variant making its rounds on the Internet. However, I think it looks crap, it plays badly, and it's not as funny as it clearly was intended. Pity.
If you're really interested, you can find it here:
But the original creator hasn't been sitting still either. He turned the original game into a slightly more challenging variant with centrally stored highscores. You can find THAT here:
However, what REALLY struck my eye is a completely new 'yeti sport'...
And finally, there are pictures on the web of the penguin having bashed the yeti's head in. I'll leave it to you loyal readers to Google that one, by yourself.
Three Books Of Probeersel On The Wall, Three Books Of Probeersel...
Holy hell.
I got home, went straight to work (with a five minute break to eat a microwave pizza) and I'm exhausted as hell, but I did it - again. Book 2 of Probeersel is now also available in the new format.
I don't want to honk my own horn but..
Ok, that was a lie. I RULE !
I CONVERTED BOOK 2 INTO 600x400 FORMAT ! COMPLETELY !
No germ, no other influences, nothing kept me from it. I got the job done.
Excuse me while I pat my own back (I fear no one else will).
Alright, and I suppose some showering, shaving and sleep might be in order now.
I got home, went straight to work (with a five minute break to eat a microwave pizza) and I'm exhausted as hell, but I did it - again. Book 2 of Probeersel is now also available in the new format.
I don't want to honk my own horn but..
Ok, that was a lie. I RULE !
I CONVERTED BOOK 2 INTO 600x400 FORMAT ! COMPLETELY !
No germ, no other influences, nothing kept me from it. I got the job done.
Excuse me while I pat my own back (I fear no one else will).
Alright, and I suppose some showering, shaving and sleep might be in order now.
Monday, February 23, 2004
When Good Ideas Happen To Multiple People.
I watched the pilot for a new show on Dutch TV yesterday: the American show "Dead like me". Since I just got my energy back, I decided to combine it with further editing of Probeersel book 2 (which will finally be done any day now I hope) so that if the show sucked (against anticipation from teaser commercials) I wouldn't feel like I had wasted my time completely. It's one of the benefits of having set up your bedroom work environment as a full entertainment system: stereo, TV and computer all together in one place.
Around the time the episode was 75% over, I wasn't editing Probeersel pictures anymore. (Sorry, fans..)
Meaning it was a pretty good show. For those of you who've missed it or who have never heard of it, here's a quick rundown of the concept:
A young kid dies and is then trained to be a Grim Reaper. All the (all too human) details of Death are revealed, and in fact it's a reasonable bureaucratic, necessary process. The Reapers are all squatting in buildings that are vacated by dead people. The show also lashes out towards corporate culture quite a lot, and the wit and pacing of this funny show are of a refreshing quality.
Sound familiar ? I'll say this in my defense:
- The kid in the show is a girl;
- The way Death is portrayed is quite different from my concept;
- There is no stereotypical Grim Reaper. Basically, Death is an all-human business (and there are some alien-like creatures involved who cause the accidents that kills people)
- The Reapers don't actually perform the killings. They are only there to guide souls to their destination (up or down);
- It's a TV show, not a webcomic;
- There is no DotCom involved. Not even a morale officer (thank god);
- I had never heard of this idea before, when I started The Grim DotCom.
There is also a French comic out there starring the Grim Reaper who has silly adventures (in fact I have both albums at home now) but I wasn't informed by my comic-loving buddies until I already had half a year of backstash built up. I *did* know about a show called Grim&Evil, which, to date, I still haven't seen. Also, the very same week I was developing the concept, and already scribbled down in my draft notes that this was supposed to be a macabre version of "Dilbert", Scott Adams, out of nowhere, suddenly introduced a Grim Reaper in the Dilbert cartoon who came to take Dilbert who'd worked himself to death. I CURSED the computer screen when I read those episodes, because I felt Scott Adams had read my mind and beat me to it. Luckily, this Reaper's appearance (who, by the way, didn't look grim because "unlike you, I like my job.") only appeared about three times and that was that. I felt confident that my concept was still original enough to pursue.
And I still feel that. Yes, it seems to have elements of all of the above. But as explained, they're all coincidences. I won't assume any of these people bother to read *my* comic. My delusions of grandeur are not THAT far from reality, yet.
So, please, everyone, enjoy Dilbert. Enjoy the French comic (I'd post the name here but frankly I forgot what it's called and I'm at work right now so I can't easily look it up). Enjoy Grim&Evil (hell, send me a tape of it if you have the time and want to). Enjoy every other cartoonist who takes a stab at making the Grim Reaper seem silly. I won't feel offended, really. And please accept that I still see my idea as original.
I can't help it that it's such a great concept that many people have stumbled upon it.
Annnnd.. if you're in Holland, please join me Sunday evening in watching episode two of Dead Like Me. Yorin, 10 o'clock. Its entertainment value is seriously promising.
Around the time the episode was 75% over, I wasn't editing Probeersel pictures anymore. (Sorry, fans..)
Meaning it was a pretty good show. For those of you who've missed it or who have never heard of it, here's a quick rundown of the concept:
A young kid dies and is then trained to be a Grim Reaper. All the (all too human) details of Death are revealed, and in fact it's a reasonable bureaucratic, necessary process. The Reapers are all squatting in buildings that are vacated by dead people. The show also lashes out towards corporate culture quite a lot, and the wit and pacing of this funny show are of a refreshing quality.
Sound familiar ? I'll say this in my defense:
- The kid in the show is a girl;
- The way Death is portrayed is quite different from my concept;
- There is no stereotypical Grim Reaper. Basically, Death is an all-human business (and there are some alien-like creatures involved who cause the accidents that kills people)
- The Reapers don't actually perform the killings. They are only there to guide souls to their destination (up or down);
- It's a TV show, not a webcomic;
- There is no DotCom involved. Not even a morale officer (thank god);
- I had never heard of this idea before, when I started The Grim DotCom.
There is also a French comic out there starring the Grim Reaper who has silly adventures (in fact I have both albums at home now) but I wasn't informed by my comic-loving buddies until I already had half a year of backstash built up. I *did* know about a show called Grim&Evil, which, to date, I still haven't seen. Also, the very same week I was developing the concept, and already scribbled down in my draft notes that this was supposed to be a macabre version of "Dilbert", Scott Adams, out of nowhere, suddenly introduced a Grim Reaper in the Dilbert cartoon who came to take Dilbert who'd worked himself to death. I CURSED the computer screen when I read those episodes, because I felt Scott Adams had read my mind and beat me to it. Luckily, this Reaper's appearance (who, by the way, didn't look grim because "unlike you, I like my job.") only appeared about three times and that was that. I felt confident that my concept was still original enough to pursue.
And I still feel that. Yes, it seems to have elements of all of the above. But as explained, they're all coincidences. I won't assume any of these people bother to read *my* comic. My delusions of grandeur are not THAT far from reality, yet.
So, please, everyone, enjoy Dilbert. Enjoy the French comic (I'd post the name here but frankly I forgot what it's called and I'm at work right now so I can't easily look it up). Enjoy Grim&Evil (hell, send me a tape of it if you have the time and want to). Enjoy every other cartoonist who takes a stab at making the Grim Reaper seem silly. I won't feel offended, really. And please accept that I still see my idea as original.
I can't help it that it's such a great concept that many people have stumbled upon it.
Annnnd.. if you're in Holland, please join me Sunday evening in watching episode two of Dead Like Me. Yorin, 10 o'clock. Its entertainment value is seriously promising.
Sunday, February 22, 2004
And Now For Something Completely The Same.
I'm happy to report I'm back in the saddle. While my body's busy fighting off the last few remaining, outlaw bad-boy germs that have gone renegade throughout my system, I've slowly resumed work on my comics yesterday. I did a few Penguism episodes (to keep the pretence of a backstash going) and a great Worst Case Scenario that'll be shown on the 3rd of March. It's an old concept but I like it - there'll be something quite extra about that one. Just keep your eye out for it.
And today, after sleeping in heavenly long, I've resumed work on Probeersel book 2. I have some 60 pictures left to go at the time of writing this, which means that if I can keep up the enthousiasm, I'll probably have it done within a few days. Which'll leave me time to code a solution for the 24 Hour Comic Event. Ahh... this germ really cut it close, timing-wise, but I think I'm still in good shape to not let EVERYTHING run behind on schedule.
And I know ONE thing for certain.. I'm in good enough shape again to go to work tomorrow. Which is good - one should never keep a workaholic away from his work for too long.
Later folks !
And today, after sleeping in heavenly long, I've resumed work on Probeersel book 2. I have some 60 pictures left to go at the time of writing this, which means that if I can keep up the enthousiasm, I'll probably have it done within a few days. Which'll leave me time to code a solution for the 24 Hour Comic Event. Ahh... this germ really cut it close, timing-wise, but I think I'm still in good shape to not let EVERYTHING run behind on schedule.
And I know ONE thing for certain.. I'm in good enough shape again to go to work tomorrow. Which is good - one should never keep a workaholic away from his work for too long.
Later folks !
Saturday, February 21, 2004
If Blogposts Could Talk (Hypothetically)...
What ?
What are you looking at me for ?
Huh ? Punk ?
What, is there something interesting about me or something ?!
WHAT ?! Yeah, I'm talking to you !
You don't see me looking YOU all up and down, do you ?! Pervert.
SCRAM ! BEAT IT ! GO LOOK AT SOMETHING ELSE ALREADY !!
Damn websurfers.
What are you looking at me for ?
Huh ? Punk ?
What, is there something interesting about me or something ?!
WHAT ?! Yeah, I'm talking to you !
You don't see me looking YOU all up and down, do you ?! Pervert.
SCRAM ! BEAT IT ! GO LOOK AT SOMETHING ELSE ALREADY !!
Damn websurfers.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
News From The Frontline
Ok, I think I'm doing a bit better now, officially. For one, I'm more conciously aware of the day, the world around me, and such fun stuff - instead of the foggy delirium I've been walking around in. The downside of this is that the boredom of being stuck in the house really drove me up the walls so I took the vacuum cleaner for a spin around the attic and my room. That really wore me out something bad and I had to sit down for a while to recover.
Then I realised for the first time in days that I had barely eaten much, mainly because I didn't really feel like it. My digestional system did, but *I* couldn't bear the thought of having to swallow down food. I felt up to it, now, though, so I ambitiously cooked up a grilled cheese and a plate of pasta.
And down the toilet that was coughed less than half an hour later. Lovely.
I think it's fairly safe to say I'm not quite well yet. And I think it's fair to say this is a germ of a caliber I haven't faced in over a decade.
To anyone who knows me IRL: I really do feel very lonely right now, but if you're smart, stay away. Not sure how contageous this bastard is, but if results from the past are any indication, and the rule that any germ that hits me hits anyone else about ten times as badly, you REALLY want to stay away.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna resume trying to get well. Wish me luck. And for fuck's sake, let's speed this up because five days of this is INSANE.
Then I realised for the first time in days that I had barely eaten much, mainly because I didn't really feel like it. My digestional system did, but *I* couldn't bear the thought of having to swallow down food. I felt up to it, now, though, so I ambitiously cooked up a grilled cheese and a plate of pasta.
And down the toilet that was coughed less than half an hour later. Lovely.
I think it's fairly safe to say I'm not quite well yet. And I think it's fair to say this is a germ of a caliber I haven't faced in over a decade.
To anyone who knows me IRL: I really do feel very lonely right now, but if you're smart, stay away. Not sure how contageous this bastard is, but if results from the past are any indication, and the rule that any germ that hits me hits anyone else about ten times as badly, you REALLY want to stay away.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna resume trying to get well. Wish me luck. And for fuck's sake, let's speed this up because five days of this is INSANE.
Woe is me...
So that was the fourth day of being SERIOUSLY ill. Earlier today my answer to people who (phoned and) asked me how I was doing, was "There are not enough gradiations in feeling like shit to get any idea if I'm feeling better or worse.."
And it was the honest truth: I couldn't tell if I felt shittier or less shitty. All I knew was I still felt down and out, helpless, hopeless, and getting somewhat worried, too, because I can't recall the last time I was THIS ill. And even more so considering it's been four days already ! (Six if you count the 'coughing and slightly starting to feel ill' phase)
But this evening, as I made a deliberate effort NOT to be deep asleep around the time Viktor came home, just to have someone to talk to, he was being an asshole, pretty much. Or rather, he cut down every attempt at a conversation short with a kind of arrogance. It pissed me off, even more so because it seemed to convey a feeling on his side that I'm having FUN staying in. Yes, HELLO ? I enjoy coughing up my longues, I enjoy not being able to think straight, I enjoy not even being able to handle the simplest tasks like getting down the stairs without extra concentration. OBVIOUSLY !! And a workaholic like me obviously ENJOYS not being at work and making himself useful, or being able to work on his comics. Yeah, good bet, Einstein. Truth is, I'm sick, towards delirious, lonely as hell (haven't seen a soul outside the cats or Vik since Monday afternoon - well, I saw a few anonymous people on my O.J.-run on Tuesday, but I was kind of too out of it to notice) and bored out of my wits inside this house !
So later that evening, I had had it. Laura, a friend, had invited me to her concert and I knew several other friends would be there, so against better judgement, I went (and don't worry, I dressed warmly - VERY warmly). And you know what ? For those few hours I was in that place, surrounded by people, drinking a few cups of hot tea, listening to mostly pretty good music, I felt a whole lot better.
Then, of course, came the ten minutes wait for the last bus home and by the time I was through the front door, I felt like crap again. But still - I'd say give me a few more days of rest (and minimal exposure to the likes of Vik when he's the very opposite of friendly like this) and I might just recover by the weekend.
Speaking of the weekend.. it'll be Carnaval here. Big thing, and I hate it. So the past years the Cul de Sac's been my refuge from this madness, but as Laura told me, apparently come Sunday (the 22nd, the official start of Carnaval) the bar's shutting down for nearly a week. They're rebuilding a large section of the place, and hope to have it ready by Thursday again. But just to let anyone reading this who happens to go to the Cul de Sac sometimes, know, it'll be closed for a while.
Ok... now I'm exhausted to top everything off. I think I'll crawl into bed and see if tomorrow brings any identifiable improvements.
And it was the honest truth: I couldn't tell if I felt shittier or less shitty. All I knew was I still felt down and out, helpless, hopeless, and getting somewhat worried, too, because I can't recall the last time I was THIS ill. And even more so considering it's been four days already ! (Six if you count the 'coughing and slightly starting to feel ill' phase)
But this evening, as I made a deliberate effort NOT to be deep asleep around the time Viktor came home, just to have someone to talk to, he was being an asshole, pretty much. Or rather, he cut down every attempt at a conversation short with a kind of arrogance. It pissed me off, even more so because it seemed to convey a feeling on his side that I'm having FUN staying in. Yes, HELLO ? I enjoy coughing up my longues, I enjoy not being able to think straight, I enjoy not even being able to handle the simplest tasks like getting down the stairs without extra concentration. OBVIOUSLY !! And a workaholic like me obviously ENJOYS not being at work and making himself useful, or being able to work on his comics. Yeah, good bet, Einstein. Truth is, I'm sick, towards delirious, lonely as hell (haven't seen a soul outside the cats or Vik since Monday afternoon - well, I saw a few anonymous people on my O.J.-run on Tuesday, but I was kind of too out of it to notice) and bored out of my wits inside this house !
So later that evening, I had had it. Laura, a friend, had invited me to her concert and I knew several other friends would be there, so against better judgement, I went (and don't worry, I dressed warmly - VERY warmly). And you know what ? For those few hours I was in that place, surrounded by people, drinking a few cups of hot tea, listening to mostly pretty good music, I felt a whole lot better.
Then, of course, came the ten minutes wait for the last bus home and by the time I was through the front door, I felt like crap again. But still - I'd say give me a few more days of rest (and minimal exposure to the likes of Vik when he's the very opposite of friendly like this) and I might just recover by the weekend.
Speaking of the weekend.. it'll be Carnaval here. Big thing, and I hate it. So the past years the Cul de Sac's been my refuge from this madness, but as Laura told me, apparently come Sunday (the 22nd, the official start of Carnaval) the bar's shutting down for nearly a week. They're rebuilding a large section of the place, and hope to have it ready by Thursday again. But just to let anyone reading this who happens to go to the Cul de Sac sometimes, know, it'll be closed for a while.
Ok... now I'm exhausted to top everything off. I think I'll crawl into bed and see if tomorrow brings any identifiable improvements.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
I hate this !
OK, still ill. Pulled a mere half day at work yesterday before I really NEEDED to go home. And today I've slept like a log (at least whenever I wasn't coughing) and then walked around the house all antsy. I hate being ill, and being cooked up, and I hate being this weak and vulnerable. I wish bacteria and viruses (or is that virii ?) were 6ft tall, I'd beat the living crap out of them. Instead, I now have to rely on my body to do that for me, and it's taking a HEAVY beating. Besides the ear thing earlier, I can't recall having been this ill in a LONG time. This - really - sucks.
Not that I'd be too anxious to be at work right now, but it's where I'm supposed to be, yaknow ? It pays the damn bills and all that. Besides, I've been placed in a certain role that has a large responsibility towards our clients. I really hate sitting around, feeling like crap, and not being able to do any work. After all, my brain's still functioning moderately well (I'm not too feverish) so if the trainride there, and the atmospheric environment of our office, wouldn't kill me, I really wouldn't see why I wouldn't be there right now.
Wisely also decided to give all the comics a little rest. I'm gonna regret that once I'm better again and am faced with being even further behind on plans, but really, I barely feel up to walking the three blocks to the store to get some orange juice. I did, though, and I feel all the crappier for having done so. But hey, I've got O.J. now. My throat thanks me.
Anyway.. if you'll excuse me, I really have to get back to being ill. Yay...
Not that I'd be too anxious to be at work right now, but it's where I'm supposed to be, yaknow ? It pays the damn bills and all that. Besides, I've been placed in a certain role that has a large responsibility towards our clients. I really hate sitting around, feeling like crap, and not being able to do any work. After all, my brain's still functioning moderately well (I'm not too feverish) so if the trainride there, and the atmospheric environment of our office, wouldn't kill me, I really wouldn't see why I wouldn't be there right now.
Wisely also decided to give all the comics a little rest. I'm gonna regret that once I'm better again and am faced with being even further behind on plans, but really, I barely feel up to walking the three blocks to the store to get some orange juice. I did, though, and I feel all the crappier for having done so. But hey, I've got O.J. now. My throat thanks me.
Anyway.. if you'll excuse me, I really have to get back to being ill. Yay...
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Now I've Seen It All.
I'm ill - just a little 'by the way'. I'm barely ever ill, but lately it's starting to happen more and more. I'm not sure what to blame this change on - maybe it's that I'm working so hard. Or maybe it's the 3+ year effect of working in an office with a consistently failing air conditioning, resulting in way-too-high temperatures throughout the year and a major oxygene defficiency (I'm not the only one who suffers it; many people so far have gotten ill and have spent time at home from having passed out or worse. They're working on hopefully one of these days fixing the problem..). Or maybe it's the smoking. Or maybe I'm just getting old. Or maybe it's the changing climate - the past years have been NUTS, temperature-wise. In any case, me becoming 'more human' isn't all that shocking.
It gets shocking when you add a day like today to it. I went to the Cul de Sac sometime after 1, after cleaning up some more work on Probeersel.com. Figured I'd get a quick Drunk Fish and head back home to sleep. Yeah...
I HAD TO WAIT IN LINE JUST TO GET IN !!!
I remember when that bar was called the ZOAP... a nice, rustic bar where sometimes people actually showed up. A busy night was when over fifteen people were in the house. Now, ten times that amount is crammed into that same small space (I kid you not).
Shocked as I was from that experience, and annoyed with the enormous crowd that was present there, another shock presented itself later that evening. One of my oldest, closest friends, Joost, the inventor of the Drunk Fish and someone who I've known for about a decade now, and who's never been either happy or in anything really resembling a relationship, was there tonight, with HIS GIRLFRIEND. And... HE WAS HAPPY !!
Now, I'm very happy for him, but really, I'm getting too old for these kinds of changes. I seriously felt old, learning all this and finding myself only just barely able to process this new information - it felt like the universe was upside down.
I either should stop working round the clock on my comics and get something of a life back, or just reside in the knowledge that I know jack shit about reality anymore. It makes full 360 turns while you're watching it. Madness, I tell you - madness.
So yeah. If there's any moral to what I've learned, it's this. Sticking your head in the sand doesn't stop the world from turning. Better keep your head in there if you can't take the spin anymore...
It gets shocking when you add a day like today to it. I went to the Cul de Sac sometime after 1, after cleaning up some more work on Probeersel.com. Figured I'd get a quick Drunk Fish and head back home to sleep. Yeah...
I HAD TO WAIT IN LINE JUST TO GET IN !!!
I remember when that bar was called the ZOAP... a nice, rustic bar where sometimes people actually showed up. A busy night was when over fifteen people were in the house. Now, ten times that amount is crammed into that same small space (I kid you not).
Shocked as I was from that experience, and annoyed with the enormous crowd that was present there, another shock presented itself later that evening. One of my oldest, closest friends, Joost, the inventor of the Drunk Fish and someone who I've known for about a decade now, and who's never been either happy or in anything really resembling a relationship, was there tonight, with HIS GIRLFRIEND. And... HE WAS HAPPY !!
Now, I'm very happy for him, but really, I'm getting too old for these kinds of changes. I seriously felt old, learning all this and finding myself only just barely able to process this new information - it felt like the universe was upside down.
I either should stop working round the clock on my comics and get something of a life back, or just reside in the knowledge that I know jack shit about reality anymore. It makes full 360 turns while you're watching it. Madness, I tell you - madness.
So yeah. If there's any moral to what I've learned, it's this. Sticking your head in the sand doesn't stop the world from turning. Better keep your head in there if you can't take the spin anymore...
Saturday, February 14, 2004
Primary Actors.
I just watched Primary Colors again, and the credits (as well as the DVD's cover design) got me kind of pissed off. I mean, it's a great movie, it's not just a very well-told story, but all the actors are putting in damn good performances. But, after all, the story has a REAL star. I'm not talking about John Travolta or Emma Thompson, I'm talking about Adrian Lester, whose character is the very center of the entire story. So what's my problem ? I have to play the entire movie through to the credits, or look online, to find out that he plays in the fucking movie. Now, his performace is awesome. I can't say I've ever really noticed him in any other movies, but here he goes through an enormous scale of emotions and he personalises the entire experience for us. Without his role, and without that role being acted WELL, the entire story would NOT interest us. But someone who gets so close to the entire rollercoaster that this presidential campaign is, and who gets to know all these characters so well and who goes through these wonderful moments with them, and us as an audience really FEELING his responses to all this and completely identifying with him (except, perhaps, on being the grandson of a great Afro-American political person) means Lester's done one HELL of a job.
THAT's my problem. He's not getting any damn credit on the cover and on the opening credits for being the STAR of the picture. Fuck Travolta, fuck Thompson. Their roles are adequate but they didn't strike me as all that amazing. The person who SHOULD be getting at least SOME attention is NOT on the DVD cover. He's barely getting any credit at all. And that's just wrong.
Of course, it's not really anything new - the familiar people, the 'stars', the 'bosses', the 'leaders', they always get the credit. The people actually pulling one hell of a job off, merely facilitate what these people get the credit for. And that just stinks.
Well, I for one am not taking credit for the 'successes' in my life unless I put in the work.
Each of the artists on Probeersel.com are great artists and should be judged for their own archievements. The entire site's concept stands or falls with the quality and enthousiasm of the artists and staff behind it, AND with the audience.
In our department, there are a lot of people putting in very hard work who are generally overlooked - some are even told off for being critical from time to time and on those occasions their hard work and loyalty is completely ignored ! This pisses me off, as well. I say, anyone who can do the work is qualified to speak their minds and be heard. You don't have to be a high-level manager or have a doctorate to know what you're talking about. In fact, most of them DON'T know what they're talking about. Or if they do, often not as well as the people in the trenches.
It's an old message, and it's frustrated the 'lower ranks' for, well, probably millennia, especially when those who DO get credit and respect and who get to make the major decisions, make stupid decisions that cause downfall to the country or company. But even old messages need to be said.
*raises his glass* Adrian Lester, here's to you. You did a great job.
Goodnight.
THAT's my problem. He's not getting any damn credit on the cover and on the opening credits for being the STAR of the picture. Fuck Travolta, fuck Thompson. Their roles are adequate but they didn't strike me as all that amazing. The person who SHOULD be getting at least SOME attention is NOT on the DVD cover. He's barely getting any credit at all. And that's just wrong.
Of course, it's not really anything new - the familiar people, the 'stars', the 'bosses', the 'leaders', they always get the credit. The people actually pulling one hell of a job off, merely facilitate what these people get the credit for. And that just stinks.
Well, I for one am not taking credit for the 'successes' in my life unless I put in the work.
Each of the artists on Probeersel.com are great artists and should be judged for their own archievements. The entire site's concept stands or falls with the quality and enthousiasm of the artists and staff behind it, AND with the audience.
In our department, there are a lot of people putting in very hard work who are generally overlooked - some are even told off for being critical from time to time and on those occasions their hard work and loyalty is completely ignored ! This pisses me off, as well. I say, anyone who can do the work is qualified to speak their minds and be heard. You don't have to be a high-level manager or have a doctorate to know what you're talking about. In fact, most of them DON'T know what they're talking about. Or if they do, often not as well as the people in the trenches.
It's an old message, and it's frustrated the 'lower ranks' for, well, probably millennia, especially when those who DO get credit and respect and who get to make the major decisions, make stupid decisions that cause downfall to the country or company. But even old messages need to be said.
*raises his glass* Adrian Lester, here's to you. You did a great job.
Goodnight.
Friday, February 13, 2004
You heard it here.. well, second.
I already kind of announced this elsewhere, but I'll now announce it officially to my 'own' audience:
You saw the original idea develop: a cop was turned into a penguin with a pink tutu by a sadistic comic artist, -- me.
You saw the conclusion... the penguin demanded its own comic...
You read the Probeersel.com half year report announcing it would come, eventually...
AND YOU'VE NAGGED AND NAGGED AND NAGGED ABOUT WHEN IT WILL FINALLY APPEAR ON THE SITE FOR MONTHS !
So there you have it... February 14th, Probeersel.com has a special Valentine's Day treat for you all. Check it out that day, you won't be disappointed. Or you will. I don't know. You might get hit by a stray meteorite. Or win the lottery. Or decide on a sex change. One can never tell these things.
Anyway, Saturday: Penguism.
Other things to report... I'm drop dead tired. But I've told you that a gazillion times by now. And you all know what causes it *coughcough*seepreviouspost*coughcough*.
And one more thought... I am a marketeer's NIGHTMARE. I throw away every poll you make cross my path, and worst of all, I KNOW YOUR TRICKS. I was in the business, myself, for a while. Marketeers are a sleezy bunch, and every poll that asks you for an opinion or about your habits is NOT INTERESTED IN YOU. It is interested in which services it can cut away to save expenses on. Or any of a million other ways it can screw part of you audience over to make profit. Don't do it. Don't co-operate. Checking your train pass on the train ? ONLY if you're a conductor, otherwise, forget it. You don't HAVE to co-operate with these people ! They have a barcode for "I would rather not co-operate" responses, too, you know ! And depending on what's on your ticket, they might conclude that not too many people go to a certain location, then close down that station, and put a few hundred old people in the cold or something.
Trust me - marketeers have NEVER made things BETTER. So avoid all polls and such at all costs. Sit on your data like a hen guards her eggs. You're doing the world a favour.
You saw the original idea develop: a cop was turned into a penguin with a pink tutu by a sadistic comic artist, -- me.
You saw the conclusion... the penguin demanded its own comic...
You read the Probeersel.com half year report announcing it would come, eventually...
AND YOU'VE NAGGED AND NAGGED AND NAGGED ABOUT WHEN IT WILL FINALLY APPEAR ON THE SITE FOR MONTHS !
So there you have it... February 14th, Probeersel.com has a special Valentine's Day treat for you all. Check it out that day, you won't be disappointed. Or you will. I don't know. You might get hit by a stray meteorite. Or win the lottery. Or decide on a sex change. One can never tell these things.
Anyway, Saturday: Penguism.
Other things to report... I'm drop dead tired. But I've told you that a gazillion times by now. And you all know what causes it *coughcough*seepreviouspost*coughcough*.
And one more thought... I am a marketeer's NIGHTMARE. I throw away every poll you make cross my path, and worst of all, I KNOW YOUR TRICKS. I was in the business, myself, for a while. Marketeers are a sleezy bunch, and every poll that asks you for an opinion or about your habits is NOT INTERESTED IN YOU. It is interested in which services it can cut away to save expenses on. Or any of a million other ways it can screw part of you audience over to make profit. Don't do it. Don't co-operate. Checking your train pass on the train ? ONLY if you're a conductor, otherwise, forget it. You don't HAVE to co-operate with these people ! They have a barcode for "I would rather not co-operate" responses, too, you know ! And depending on what's on your ticket, they might conclude that not too many people go to a certain location, then close down that station, and put a few hundred old people in the cold or something.
Trust me - marketeers have NEVER made things BETTER. So avoid all polls and such at all costs. Sit on your data like a hen guards her eggs. You're doing the world a favour.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
I Hate Probeersel.
Huge amounts of sleep missed.
Loss of main concentration at work.
No social life worth mentioning left.
Exhaustion beyond known limits.
Texts THAT WILL JUST NOT FRIGGIN' FIT IN THE DAMN PANELS !
Work, work, work, work and still not even be halfway book 2.
I think it's official...
I HATE THESE BOOKS !!
I hope you readers damn well appreciate what I'm doing here.
Loss of main concentration at work.
No social life worth mentioning left.
Exhaustion beyond known limits.
Texts THAT WILL JUST NOT FRIGGIN' FIT IN THE DAMN PANELS !
Work, work, work, work and still not even be halfway book 2.
I think it's official...
I HATE THESE BOOKS !!
I hope you readers damn well appreciate what I'm doing here.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
I'm Bored So This Now Officially Is Quiz Day
While I'm at it..
I'm exceptionally artistic!
Find your soul type at kelly.moranweb.com.
You have an instinctive personality
You rely on your intuition in the same way that others rely on their knowledge or their feelings. Therefore, you perceive things that they don't see. You are daring and innovative because you follow your instincts. When comes the time to take a decision, you not only rely on your own intuition, but on people who give you relevant and inspiring information. In the end, though, that gut feeling (which, not coincidentally, is often your first decision) wins. Your clothing style is unique and original, but you're not maniacal about cleanliness and order. And you don't have an innate sense of time and delays.
What kind of thinker am I ?
You are a Spatial Thinker
Spatial Thinkers:
- Tend to think in pictures, and can develop good mental models of the physical world
- Think well in three dimensions
- Have a flair for working with objects
Careers which suit Spatial Thinkers include
Mechanic, Photographer, Artist, Architect, Engineer, Builder, Set designer
You are an Interpersonal Thinker
Interpersonal thinkers:
- Like to think about other people, and try to understand them
- Recognise differences between individuals and appreciate that different people have different perspectives
- Make an effort to cultivate effective relationships with family, friends and colleagues
Careers which suit Interpersonal thinkers include
Politician, Psychologist, Nurse, Counsellor, Teacher
What kind of cat I am ? Glad you asked...
I'm exceptionally artistic!
Find your soul type at kelly.moranweb.com.
You have an instinctive personality
You rely on your intuition in the same way that others rely on their knowledge or their feelings. Therefore, you perceive things that they don't see. You are daring and innovative because you follow your instincts. When comes the time to take a decision, you not only rely on your own intuition, but on people who give you relevant and inspiring information. In the end, though, that gut feeling (which, not coincidentally, is often your first decision) wins. Your clothing style is unique and original, but you're not maniacal about cleanliness and order. And you don't have an innate sense of time and delays.
What kind of thinker am I ?
You are a Spatial Thinker
Spatial Thinkers:
- Tend to think in pictures, and can develop good mental models of the physical world
- Think well in three dimensions
- Have a flair for working with objects
Careers which suit Spatial Thinkers include
Mechanic, Photographer, Artist, Architect, Engineer, Builder, Set designer
You are an Interpersonal Thinker
Interpersonal thinkers:
- Like to think about other people, and try to understand them
- Recognise differences between individuals and appreciate that different people have different perspectives
- Make an effort to cultivate effective relationships with family, friends and colleagues
Careers which suit Interpersonal thinkers include
Politician, Psychologist, Nurse, Counsellor, Teacher
What kind of cat I am ? Glad you asked...
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Bring It On !
I'm feeling ridiculously defiant today. Yesterday, too. I didn't REALLY noticed until about one of the heaviest thunderstorms I've witnessed in a decade or so burst out in full force right around our house.. it was spectacular, and I felt like going out and biking through it or something. Or raising my fist in the air and shouting "YEAH ! BRING IT ON !! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT ?!!"
It's gotten to a silly point today. I've actually started cleaning the house incredibly thouroughly for some three hours today to defy Viktor's rude and stupid outburst last week. And just now, as I felt like posting all of this, I go to Blogger and it says 'please enter your username and password' and I caught myself thinking "I'll be the judge of that !!"
It probably all has to do with editing Probeersel book 2. I can tell that I wrote that in a very defiant period of time. Especially where the old hippy guy is introduced, that's just ME shouting out through that guy to all the people in the world who are like.. well, the current ME. The me who works for a large corporate firm, and who's doing less and less in terms of charity and such. Then again, the job serves as my means to put as much OTHER work into Probeersel.com, which is what I intend to give back to this world. And if it gets done WELL, especialy during MY lifetime, the Probeersel community might just give a huge boost to comics as an artform - which, to me, is something I don't actually receive anything back for but WILL make the world a better place (in my view). So that's my charity now. And my mission. And I didn't pick it, it picked me. So deal with it, because the Probeersel community is gonna be big. Mark my words.
Now excuse me, I feel like burning a flag.
It's gotten to a silly point today. I've actually started cleaning the house incredibly thouroughly for some three hours today to defy Viktor's rude and stupid outburst last week. And just now, as I felt like posting all of this, I go to Blogger and it says 'please enter your username and password' and I caught myself thinking "I'll be the judge of that !!"
It probably all has to do with editing Probeersel book 2. I can tell that I wrote that in a very defiant period of time. Especially where the old hippy guy is introduced, that's just ME shouting out through that guy to all the people in the world who are like.. well, the current ME. The me who works for a large corporate firm, and who's doing less and less in terms of charity and such. Then again, the job serves as my means to put as much OTHER work into Probeersel.com, which is what I intend to give back to this world. And if it gets done WELL, especialy during MY lifetime, the Probeersel community might just give a huge boost to comics as an artform - which, to me, is something I don't actually receive anything back for but WILL make the world a better place (in my view). So that's my charity now. And my mission. And I didn't pick it, it picked me. So deal with it, because the Probeersel community is gonna be big. Mark my words.
Now excuse me, I feel like burning a flag.
Saturday, February 07, 2004
René van Densen (August 5 1978 - March 1st 2004)
Ok, I may not know the information in the title for certain, but I've got a shitload of work coming at me this month, topped off with the 29th's 24H comic event. If I'm not dead March 1st, I'll sure as hell be exhausted to a new limit.
I'm feeling really down and really lonely as of late. To make matters worse, all I'm spending my time on anymore are the damn comics; if it's not work for the other artists or for the site, it's reformatting the Probeersel books or working on Worst Case Scenario or The Grim DotCom - and people wonder why I can only talk about comics anymore. To make matters worse, the most exciting thing I'm involved with at work is all about, you guessed it, comics !
Not that my fascination with the medium, nor my enthousiasm about others' or my own work in this field, has diminished, but I'm kinda burning out.
I was working on Probeersel book 2 tonight when I suddenly semi-snapped. I *HAD* to get out of the house. I was going nuts, all cooked up in this goddamn place. I wasn't sure what came over me, but I HAD to get out. So I did - and as soon as I got out and looked up at the night sky, I saw what was up: it's a full moon.
If I haven't brought this up before, I'll do this now: at full moon, whatever's been the general defining quality of the past month in my life will come back tenfold. If I've been tired often in the past month, I'll be exhausted. If I had any kind of money trouble, I'll be pretty much broke. If I've been working my ass off, I'll be doing even more work at full moon. If I've been horny - well, you get the idea.
This month it's been nothing but frustration with work - sure, I got a lot done, and sure, it's all important stuff that really needed to be done, but it was ALL tedious, forced, and very time consuming. So tonight, I was even more frustrated, and there we go. I had to get out of the house.
Unfortunately, going to the Cul de Sac didn't help one bit. I haven't been there in too long, really - I'd even gotten un-used to having to PAY for my drinks. I've been cooked up in the house, working long hours, as I said.
Loud music, loads of people, and there I was, sitting, drinking and smoking and feeling too tired to register anything that was going on. I left before closing time, also because I ran out of money (in my wallet, that is, not as in, at the bank..).
So yeah.. I'm gonna go sleep soon. And I hope this frustration and loneliness passes soon. At times like these I really hate that full moon.
I'm feeling really down and really lonely as of late. To make matters worse, all I'm spending my time on anymore are the damn comics; if it's not work for the other artists or for the site, it's reformatting the Probeersel books or working on Worst Case Scenario or The Grim DotCom - and people wonder why I can only talk about comics anymore. To make matters worse, the most exciting thing I'm involved with at work is all about, you guessed it, comics !
Not that my fascination with the medium, nor my enthousiasm about others' or my own work in this field, has diminished, but I'm kinda burning out.
I was working on Probeersel book 2 tonight when I suddenly semi-snapped. I *HAD* to get out of the house. I was going nuts, all cooked up in this goddamn place. I wasn't sure what came over me, but I HAD to get out. So I did - and as soon as I got out and looked up at the night sky, I saw what was up: it's a full moon.
If I haven't brought this up before, I'll do this now: at full moon, whatever's been the general defining quality of the past month in my life will come back tenfold. If I've been tired often in the past month, I'll be exhausted. If I had any kind of money trouble, I'll be pretty much broke. If I've been working my ass off, I'll be doing even more work at full moon. If I've been horny - well, you get the idea.
This month it's been nothing but frustration with work - sure, I got a lot done, and sure, it's all important stuff that really needed to be done, but it was ALL tedious, forced, and very time consuming. So tonight, I was even more frustrated, and there we go. I had to get out of the house.
Unfortunately, going to the Cul de Sac didn't help one bit. I haven't been there in too long, really - I'd even gotten un-used to having to PAY for my drinks. I've been cooked up in the house, working long hours, as I said.
Loud music, loads of people, and there I was, sitting, drinking and smoking and feeling too tired to register anything that was going on. I left before closing time, also because I ran out of money (in my wallet, that is, not as in, at the bank..).
So yeah.. I'm gonna go sleep soon. And I hope this frustration and loneliness passes soon. At times like these I really hate that full moon.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
I can't believe it.. I did it !
I finally finished it last night: Probeersel book 1 is now completely converted into one of the Probeersel.com image size standards. It also now has multiiple frames in an image (like an ACTUAL comic) which makes it a lot more userfriendly to read than the panel-by-panel way you have to read the other books, still.
It was a TRUCKLOAD of work, I can tell you. I started doing this sometime last year, but then my laptop's screen died and I couldn't do that in the train anymore (because I couldn't see what I was doing...). Since then, the laptop's been at home and acted as my specialised machine for 'heavier' graphics work. To work on it, I would need to switch screens and, well, it was basically a bit of a pain in the ass and I only worked on it anymore for stuff like The Grim DotCom.
So just casually continuing work on the Probeersel books was a lot more difficult. So I didn't, for a long time, leaving book one only slightly more than half done.
But now I have a much more powerful desktop (as you may have read before in this blog) so I really didn't have any excuse, other than other work that's to be done, to revamp these books. So the past week, in procrastination on programming a prepared solution for Feb 29th, I've been taking it up again. And last night, I finished book 1 completely. 600x400, 35 pages total, font sizes etc. pretty much generalized (making it look ten times as professional), text in Photoshop text layers (so I can now easily add new translations if any would be written in other languages than Dutch or English), etc. -- WOW. I tested all images, they're all there, as far as I could see there are no sloppy mistakes or anything (that I noticed), and the conversion from the old versions of book 1 to these new ones went flawlessly. Smooth...
I am impressed with myself. And that's good, because where Probeersel.com's concerned, I expect a lot from myself and it's been a while since my archievements with the site and comics have not been disappointing to me (such as failing to set up a scalable Content Management System that won't crash the server if we have too many site visitors, etc.)...
So. Yeah. Four more books to go, but still - it *IS* a milestone.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
So yeah.
Bush and Blair are nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, I heard today.
I now will devote the remainder of my year to:
- winning a big Litarature award by burning books;
- winning the Employee Of The Month award twelve times in a row for quitting my job (hmm - come to think of it, that MIGHT improve matters in the office, so I'd be eligible)
- winning the lottery by not buying any tickets;
- becoming the Prom King by not going to school;
- getting an honorary doctorate for being stupid;
- winning the award for Sexiest Man Of The Millennium (actualy, again, I think I may be eligible);
- and last but not least... I will try my best to win a war without being in any.
PEACE !
P.S. guess that makes the current Worst Case Scenario rather appropriate.
I now will devote the remainder of my year to:
- winning a big Litarature award by burning books;
- winning the Employee Of The Month award twelve times in a row for quitting my job (hmm - come to think of it, that MIGHT improve matters in the office, so I'd be eligible)
- winning the lottery by not buying any tickets;
- becoming the Prom King by not going to school;
- getting an honorary doctorate for being stupid;
- winning the award for Sexiest Man Of The Millennium (actualy, again, I think I may be eligible);
- and last but not least... I will try my best to win a war without being in any.
PEACE !
P.S. guess that makes the current Worst Case Scenario rather appropriate.
Monday, February 02, 2004
A Little Public Announcement
Many disgruntled (ex-)clients of theirs already know this, but just in case you didn't yet:
FreeHosting / LaDot / ActiveISP, whatever they call themselves these days, SUCKS !
Everybody already knew that you pay an arm and a leg for barely any online storage and crappy service there, making it a rather sour deal. If you're thinking of hosting your site with them, GET OUT OF THE DEAL WHILE YOU STILL CAN !
Now.. LaDot, I will call the beforementioned extremely shitty company here, is a bureaucratic pile of elephant dung. And I should know because I have first-hand experience with them. Two friends of mine and I used to have a little 'playground' site up on one of their servers. This is our story..
Back in the day (we're talking over three years ago) we decided to start a fake company called HorDensSoft. Back then, FreeHosting (as it was called) had a very sweet deal: you could have a .nl address for very little money, and get a free .com with it. Cool, right ? Sure, each site had about 5 MB of total storage which sucked balls, but still. Just for fun, it was adequate. For some reason we're never charged for the .nl, which we actually called them about, and at some point they do send us the bill, which we pay. That's fine. It wasn't that much.
Shortly after, FreeHosting becomes LaDot. All the notification we get is 'We are now LaDot'. No other notification of changes in service or price or anything. Meanwhile we've started a little discussion and decided we'll give up the .nl since we're not using either of the two sites anymore anyway. We call in, after a lot of bureaucratic hassle the .nl is removed, we don't receive any more bills, and lo and behold, the .com is still there. But hey, that was free, right ? Especially since we were never informed otherwise.
So now, after three years, we suddenly get a bill of some 300 Euros. SAY WHAT ?!!
Say you get something for free, then the company who gave it to you is taken over but nothing's supposed to change according to them, then three years later they present you with a bill for something you were never told you'd have to pay for - what do you call a company like that ?
So.. the person who got the bill isn't happy. He's gonna try and fight the evil bastards, and sure as hell doesn't intend to pay the bill. We haven't really used the site at all in years, anyway, so fuck it, let them kill it or whatever. Fine by us.
Anyway, just thought I'd send the message out there: stay away from any company that goes by any of the three beforementioned names. You don't want to get into this kind of crap. Trust me.
FreeHosting / LaDot / ActiveISP, whatever they call themselves these days, SUCKS !
Everybody already knew that you pay an arm and a leg for barely any online storage and crappy service there, making it a rather sour deal. If you're thinking of hosting your site with them, GET OUT OF THE DEAL WHILE YOU STILL CAN !
Now.. LaDot, I will call the beforementioned extremely shitty company here, is a bureaucratic pile of elephant dung. And I should know because I have first-hand experience with them. Two friends of mine and I used to have a little 'playground' site up on one of their servers. This is our story..
Back in the day (we're talking over three years ago) we decided to start a fake company called HorDensSoft. Back then, FreeHosting (as it was called) had a very sweet deal: you could have a .nl address for very little money, and get a free .com with it. Cool, right ? Sure, each site had about 5 MB of total storage which sucked balls, but still. Just for fun, it was adequate. For some reason we're never charged for the .nl, which we actually called them about, and at some point they do send us the bill, which we pay. That's fine. It wasn't that much.
Shortly after, FreeHosting becomes LaDot. All the notification we get is 'We are now LaDot'. No other notification of changes in service or price or anything. Meanwhile we've started a little discussion and decided we'll give up the .nl since we're not using either of the two sites anymore anyway. We call in, after a lot of bureaucratic hassle the .nl is removed, we don't receive any more bills, and lo and behold, the .com is still there. But hey, that was free, right ? Especially since we were never informed otherwise.
So now, after three years, we suddenly get a bill of some 300 Euros. SAY WHAT ?!!
Say you get something for free, then the company who gave it to you is taken over but nothing's supposed to change according to them, then three years later they present you with a bill for something you were never told you'd have to pay for - what do you call a company like that ?
So.. the person who got the bill isn't happy. He's gonna try and fight the evil bastards, and sure as hell doesn't intend to pay the bill. We haven't really used the site at all in years, anyway, so fuck it, let them kill it or whatever. Fine by us.
Anyway, just thought I'd send the message out there: stay away from any company that goes by any of the three beforementioned names. You don't want to get into this kind of crap. Trust me.
Sunday, February 01, 2004
More Of The Same.
Again I'm getting more the feeling that nothing I do is appreciated. Vik blew up once again today about the household stuff - and, as always, only at a moment that's CONVENIENT TO *HIM*. It's never "hey, we need to do a lot of household work, let's do that tomorrow" or "next week", no it's always NOW and only because NOW *HE* has the time and wants it done. He can eat my asshole next time he tries to get it done this way.
Wouldn't be so damn bad if he was RIGHT. But truth is, despite the fact that I only actually share taking out trash, cleaning cat litter, I *AM* the one who doesn't forget to feed the damn cats, am the only one to take out the recycle paper, and I seem to be the only one who ever does the dishes (though I'll admit to being a slacker in this last field), there's three things that bother me about his 'contributions' to the household:
1) he's always done a HELL of a lot quicker than I am. Since he works about as fast as I do, that makes me question how much work 'his' end of the deal really is that he gets so friggin' worked up about it.
2) his work is SLOPPY at best. To demonstrate this, I went over all his work after I was done with mine, today, downstairs. Not that he'll ever notice that we now do NOT have any spiders anymore in the house, or that all the damn dust is now GONE instead of cooked up in wet spots where he quickly ran a wet rag over.
3) he always has a 'holier than thou' victim attitude about the whole deal. Like he's perfect and I'm slacking, despite the fact that he's home many hours before I am each work day, and doesnt have a 'non-paying second job' like me. But now I'm being hypocritical, because I'm putting myself in the same damn position as he is. And I refuse to lower myself to his level. It's pathetic. But it does get me more and more angry about his shit.
Also, I contribute a lot more to the friggin' morale in the house. I buy extra booze, large quantities of chips, beer for guests (which he more often than not ends up drinking whole), I've put a pool table in the house, went out of my way to rig two vcr's and one dvd player into an entire entertainment set-up downstairs to play anything, keep dragging videos and dvds home that I think he'd like a whole lot better than I would (next to the ones *I* want to see, of course), I try to invite people over, I tell him fun stories, etc. etc. and all I ever get is his fucking attitude every one in a while, when his internet gf is on the rag or whatever.
So I made a change. I dragged all my dvds and tapes back upstairs (he can just watch tv and find out there's NOTHING on) and the tv guide (which *I* alone am paying for but often ends up in HIS room). It's immature, but I can use this stuff in my own room a lot better, and I don't see him paying for any of this shit. More and more I'll be reconsidering contributing anything to the 'fun' in the house, and we'll just see if he notices a fucking difference. I've kind of had it, at least for now, anyway. He can just go to hell.
Wouldn't be so damn bad if he was RIGHT. But truth is, despite the fact that I only actually share taking out trash, cleaning cat litter, I *AM* the one who doesn't forget to feed the damn cats, am the only one to take out the recycle paper, and I seem to be the only one who ever does the dishes (though I'll admit to being a slacker in this last field), there's three things that bother me about his 'contributions' to the household:
1) he's always done a HELL of a lot quicker than I am. Since he works about as fast as I do, that makes me question how much work 'his' end of the deal really is that he gets so friggin' worked up about it.
2) his work is SLOPPY at best. To demonstrate this, I went over all his work after I was done with mine, today, downstairs. Not that he'll ever notice that we now do NOT have any spiders anymore in the house, or that all the damn dust is now GONE instead of cooked up in wet spots where he quickly ran a wet rag over.
3) he always has a 'holier than thou' victim attitude about the whole deal. Like he's perfect and I'm slacking, despite the fact that he's home many hours before I am each work day, and doesnt have a 'non-paying second job' like me. But now I'm being hypocritical, because I'm putting myself in the same damn position as he is. And I refuse to lower myself to his level. It's pathetic. But it does get me more and more angry about his shit.
Also, I contribute a lot more to the friggin' morale in the house. I buy extra booze, large quantities of chips, beer for guests (which he more often than not ends up drinking whole), I've put a pool table in the house, went out of my way to rig two vcr's and one dvd player into an entire entertainment set-up downstairs to play anything, keep dragging videos and dvds home that I think he'd like a whole lot better than I would (next to the ones *I* want to see, of course), I try to invite people over, I tell him fun stories, etc. etc. and all I ever get is his fucking attitude every one in a while, when his internet gf is on the rag or whatever.
So I made a change. I dragged all my dvds and tapes back upstairs (he can just watch tv and find out there's NOTHING on) and the tv guide (which *I* alone am paying for but often ends up in HIS room). It's immature, but I can use this stuff in my own room a lot better, and I don't see him paying for any of this shit. More and more I'll be reconsidering contributing anything to the 'fun' in the house, and we'll just see if he notices a fucking difference. I've kind of had it, at least for now, anyway. He can just go to hell.
I can be such a retard sometimes.
One of the biggest names in comics, and I spell his name wrong all over the Internet. I can't friggin' believe it... how tired and intoxicated was I to misspell Scott McCloud ???
Whichever the case, I'm tired now.
And working on the intoxicated part.
And since everyone who likes to drop over from time to time has forgotten where I live tonight, I think I'll crawl into bed now. So um, yeah, goodnight folks.
Whichever the case, I'm tired now.
And working on the intoxicated part.
And since everyone who likes to drop over from time to time has forgotten where I live tonight, I think I'll crawl into bed now. So um, yeah, goodnight folks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)