Any Day Now

I really regret the gradually reducing quality of artwork as the weeks have gone on but unfortunately I’ve had to prioritize other projects, namely AXQuest.  While I could’ve easily delayed this strip, this one is the last that I will post for at least a few weeks so I wanted to get it out there; it’s a good place to stop, as it is pivotal to the plot and the end of a chapter– literally…at least, it will be literal once I have a chance to go back and divide the comic into chapters.

There’s some pleasure in being able to write a world that cuts against the social norms, as it isn’t often that a girl is called a loser by anyone.  Most women you could call losers you would probably call spoiled or gold-diggers instead, and I think there’s something to be said about how that doesn’t apply here.  More than anything, I wanted to portray Thanh as irresponsible, and not so much a leech.  If there have been strong indications toward the latter, then I hope that the next chapter well clear up who she really is.

What else is there to look forward to?  Well, new characters (it’s about time, right?)!  Yes, two guys are coming into the picture and I like writing for them quite a bit.  I think their personalities probably come more naturally to me than the girls (I know, go figure) so they’re a bit easier to write for.  Also, there will be belly-dancing.  No, the guys don’t belly-dance.  Yes, you’re welcome.  Oh, what’s that?  The ladies would like some belly-dancing guys?  Okay lemme think about that. 

Anyway, check back July 10th.  I’ll have something for you.  Thank you to everyone supporting this project.  It really justifies the effort.

Cang

So I had a terrible time at work last week.  My coworkers were driving me insane and my engineering project was going down the shitter.  Although I think I could have made some better decisions I feel that any blame I might have receive would have been unfair considering where I was coming from.  I didn’t receive too much blame until Friday, when I felt my boss being kind of snarky with me over the whole thing, and that put me in a bad mood the rest of the day.

I think I could’ve handled it alright if I hadn’t already been through a terrible few days prior, but that was just a really bad topper to an already big pile of shit.

But it should be said that I have a pretty good boss and– feeling guilty, I presume– he came to me later to apologize.  Funny how life imitates art.

New post pending.  Apologies for the sloppy work.  Not doing well lately.

Sometimes when my friends are experiencing some kind of drama between eachother, I get a slight feeling of relief and even slighter feeling of satisfaction that I’m not involved in these sorts of contentions.  But, before that goes too far, I soon begin to feel dull and disconnected and I wonder, why don’t I have any drama?

I am reminded of an old neurosis I had when I was in high school, and that was this obsessive idea that no one should ever hate me.  Not that there was anything in particular about me that should cause anyone to really hate me, and yet this was exactly how I put it to a friend of mine: “I just don’t want anyone to hate me.”

Things have changed a lot since then.  I love being hated, or the idea of it anyway.  And why?  Because of the effortless distress I can cause someone.  He/she hates me, and I just don’t care.  So easy.  But how did I come to this attitude anyway?  I think it had to do with my own self-reflection on why I didn’t experience friend-drama.  No one can get along with everyone.  In the event that you meet someone that does, what should that tell you about that person’s personality?  Well:

1) This person is fake.  He hides his true personality and molds himself as necessary to be liked.
2) This person has no personality.

I suppose there was some change in me upon realizing this but overall it was a gradual process becoming who I am now.  I don’t know if this has meant anything for me in terms of friend drama, but I will say that I hate many more people than I used to.  Ironic, no?

pending news post

When I was in middle school my parents sold the house and moved a mile down the road to a smaller, cheaper home.  I still wanted to go to the same bus stop, though, and so I requested that my dad drive me to my old neighborhood in the mornings so I could wait there, rather than walk to the stop in my new neighborhood.  I had friends at the old stop, and even though we were still getting onto the same bus– just from different places and times– I couldn’t let go.  I guess that wouldn’t be so strange in itself except that I insisted on slumping in the back seat as my dad drove through the neighborhood.  I didn’t want other kids to know I lived there but went to a different stop, and so I hid.

But I always wondered if people could see me anyway.  It was a perspective problem.  So, after several months, I peeked out the bottom of the window to see if anyone could see me.  Sure enough, some kid was walking and stared right at me as we drove by.  I did the deer-in-the-headlights thing for half a second before ducking back down, telling myself that my appearance was so fleeting, surely he hadn’t comprehended my presence.

I got over this eventually when my friends at my old stop started to annoy me and I chose to start walking to the local stop.  It’s interesting to look back at yourself and remember the steps you took towards growing up.

Some people (I’m nudging you, Marge) still have some growing up to do.

It’s weird that my celebration for the 50th strip of ADN really wasn’t terribly long ago, although it definitely feels like it was.  Oddly enough, this strip here, number 59, is actually more significant to me than number 50 was, and the reason being that this strip was planned a long long time ago, and I’m rather proud that it looks exactly the way I imagined it in my head after all this time.

So what we have here is a relationship under the microscope.  The players don’t see themselves, but we do, and I think anyone would kill to have that kind of clarity on the way they conduct themselves with other people.  Just think that in the future, all relationships are recorded on film for posterity.  During your private hours you can review the tapes– the instant replays– and see where you’d gone wrong.  What would you think?  What would you do?

Well I don’t know about you, but I’d prolly…

Police cars are always full of donuts!!

ADN59 is actually a very large comic and I won’t be completing it until Friday, May 15th.  Thanks to all my readers!

Ha!  Tricked you!  Comic on time!

This strip is a particularly instructive case of the divide between what’s in my head and what I ultimately produce.  This doesn’t quite have the effect I intended and unlike other dissonant flubs, this was actually a failure to properly perceive rather than a failure to capture.

There’s actually a window in one of our laboratories at work, so even if you shut the door and everyone heed’s the “Experiment in progress/Do not enter” sign you will still be scrutinized for your performance.  This also spurred me and my colleagues to keep that area clean, since anyone could walk by and see what was going on.  Ironically, that space has turned into the company closet, and we’ve been shoveling junk into there for months.

And now some good news.  I may have found some people to join NPCQuest, which means that the show will go on!  It also means that I am further indebted to my editor.  One day he is going to collect.  Yes, one day, Gerald Pan will take my soul, stick it in a suitcase, and then Quentin Tarantino will make a movie out of it.

If you can believe it, I actually spent most of this week studying.  Yes, my company recently instated an employee training program which takes place everyday this week and includes examinations.  You might think it wouldn’t be a big deal to actually have to study for such exams but the person with the highest score wins a good chunk  o change.  How much?  Well, let’s say it’s close to two-thirds my monthly salary.  So with that said, here’s the best my fried brain could come up with for Thursday’s filler.  You might want to view image to read it properly.  I’ll work on that.

Swine Flu

I don’t think ADN58 will be up on time next week since I’ll be in NorCal.  I think I’ll pick the dumbest thing to happen to me while I’m there to make a comic out of for Cinco de– oh crap it’ll be Cinco de Mayo!  Alright everyone I’m gonna hang with some Mexicans this weekend.  Should be good material.