That Time Of The Year Again

Well, it's 2005, and since practically everyone's publishing their reflections on 2004, I might as well, too.

2004 has been incredibly busy. I can't even properly recollect the things I've done over the past year, but both in my paying job and in my activities as a comic artist, things have been very hectic and a lot got done. I won't get into the things that happened at my job (since most of them fall under 'insider knowledge' and I have a contractual obligation to shut my mouth about things like that), but in the comics field I feel I've made 2004 count for me.
There was a reasonably successful small 24 Hour Comic Event (in which I also drew my own 24 Hour Comic 'Autobiopsy', which is still available to read on Probeersel.com).
I've been doing guest comics for other comics, not to mention most of the episodes for the comic Joep van Abeelen and myself did for a whole year called "Worst Case Scenario" (also still available on Probeersel.com).
There was a large storyline in The Grim DotCom where the little company grew out to a multinational, which was fun to write and draw but at the same time fairly insane to plot. It turned out really well, though, even if I do say so myself.
Great, promising new artists joined Probeersel.com, bugfixes were made, in fact, a transition to a new site engine was made together with our technical staff member Tom Geelen, who did a fairly excellent job.
At the Str!pdagen in Archeon, 1500 Probeersel artist showcase booklets were distributed, which was also a hell of a job to get done.
Lately I've been busting my hump on getting together people to help organize the first ever Dutch webcomics convention, which will be held on May 1st in 'my' city, Tilburg. (It's called ClickBurg and I got the site done - you can find it here).
I can't even remember the rest anymore - there's been lots more I've done the past year, but I'm tired and these highlights are the most I can recall right now.

Financially, it hasn't been a terribly great year. Although I did get a few raises and I don't have a very bad salary for someone my age, the economy *is* bad and I don't care what the god damn government says, they're turning it to crap and I feel bad for everyone who's making less than me right now. My own salary only just sufficed the past year, so I can't imagine how rough things must have been for people who are doing even less well. Then again, there were loads of special circumstances the past year for me that caused large, unexpected costs. Most of these were sound investments (and some charity), though, so I expect things to be a whole lot better in 2005, when all of these things have finally been taken care of. Still, fact of the matter is that these unexpected circumstances kept getting me in red numbers by the end of the month. I'm gonna love January, when I *know* my money won't be gone yet before the next paycheck.

Health-wise, 2004 also wasn't a great year. I'm getting more and more tired and chaotic, and I've been ill on more than one occasion, which is rare for me. I hope that was mainly due to me being such a workaholic the past year, and since I intend to make 2005 a slightly less busy year, hopefull I'll be doing better in that field. It could have been a lot worse though: Probeersel member Gregory Cathalina is still suffering from his terrible (and still unidentified - yay for the incompetence of the medical world) disease, and Sionnain Comeaux suffered a brain tumor, from which she, thankfully, recovered after surgery. To know what they're going through often prevents me from complaining about my own health, since it all seems a bit irrelevant compared to their trouble, but still, I plan to take things a bit slower in 2005 and focus a bit on my health. In the end, that will allow me to get more done, anyway - something most workaholics all too easily forget.

There was also time for fun, every now and then. Not as often as I might have liked, but still. There was a special Probeersel get-together which was memorable. There were various fun comics conventions and events that I went to, and where I pretty much consistently hung out with some great people. I've gone to some great performances in the music and humour fields, I've seen a lot of great movies, and I managed to 'discover' many great new comics, both on- and offline, that I didn't know anything about yet. I'm also glad my friends are so patient with me - we don't get to hang out a lot, but when we do, we make it count. Thanks guys, all of you - and I'll try to make a bit more time for you all this next year. I miss some of you - I miss you all, of course, but some of you I haven't seen or spoken to in quite a while, and although I'm blessed with many friendships that can easily cope with this, it still would be very nice to be in touch again.

Then there was the world. There was war, there was corruption, there was Bush getting re-elected, there were religious attacks, even in this normally reasonably peaceful country. Since a lot of these things happened towards the end of 2004, I think a lot of people will remember it as a bad year. I kind of want to beg to differ, that's why I'm listing it last. Yes, bad things happened. But also a lot of great things happened. Not just in the personal field, but in the world, in general - spectacular things, as well as subtle things, even as simple as interaction between people. Most excitingly for myself, a lot of great things happened in the webcomics world, which seems to be brewing with revolution right now, in a very good way. Status quos are being challenged, existing traditions altered, unexpected things are happening... The 'assault' on newspaper comics. The first-ever, world-wide 24 Hour Comic Event (shortly after my own small one). The audience of Something Positive paying the author a huge sum, together, to make sure he can completely focus on his comic and not have to bother with his job. Charity events. The first-ever webcomics convention in the UK last year (which will repeat in 2005, a few months before ClickBurg). And so on !

So on that note, I want to quote Gregory Cathalina who said it better than I could, and with admirational positivity and sincerity, especially if you realise what hell he is still going through:

We're sure lucky to celebrate our new year this way other than waiting for a sign of life from relatives who've been wiped out by a tsunami. We're sure lucky to be here, other than a country where you can't say what you think. A country where you can't eat a normal meal. Where you can't drink normal, healthy water. Where you have to fear for your life.

We're lucky fucks. Remember that.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of sleep to catch. That's one thing I intend to do a whole lot more in 2005: take more time to breathe and rest, whenever I can. Trying to make a difference, and working, are very important things, but we must never forget to also enjoy life and calm down, from time to time. You only get one, you know.