Bad of me to concentrate my brain squeezings on Twitter instead of here, but I found squirting 140 characters at a time, right off the top of my head, really fun. Then I found I'd expended the energy and time I needed for blog posts. Like any other dastardly first world problem, I'm not thinking too much about it.
I hope you all had good holidays, or survivable ones like mine.
Since I don't have much more to say than, "Hey, I'm working, painting, still getting divorced, the kids are great!" I wanted to share with you about Tom (Hutch Owen) Hart's "How to Say Everything" which is "How to get started, how to remain unstuck, and how to create forever in any art form."
ANY ART FORM, dudes and dudessas. I wouldn't point you to this if I had any reservations about what Tom is teaching. It's is great stuff, lots of fun, and if you read my blog, you probably have creative ambitions of some sort, realized or unrealized. So treat yourself to this.
ALSO, join the How to Say Anything Facebook group, and you can get a PDF of the book in progress. Sweet.
Screened commenting is off again, so please comment and let me know how you're doing. Check in.
14 years ago today, my beautiful son Fox was born, in the caul, cord around neck, to a mom who had her cootch busted by Kaiser when his sis was born 2.5 years before. My boy loves Toy Story & duct tape. He wants to work with animals as a career.
The school psych was disappointed we don't see him in assembly line work. He won't do it, he's going into animal therapy, woman!
Every child is wonderful, everything gained is to celebrate, but it's so much sweeter when you defy expectations because you're autistic. It's also sweet to be a belligerent parent helping to get that autistic, inappropriately pitied child to another milestone.
So, happy birthday, beautiful Fox, and to many more, in a world of growing understanding, compassion & acceptance.
(x-posted from my comment on a Boing Boing article on 24HCD)
I used the opportunity of 24HCD to accomplish a 24 Hour Comics Day first: a 24 Hour Comic made entirely on an iPod Touch/iPhone; writing, research, art, uploading and Tweeting updates.
The happy (and successful!) result of piling one challenge on another begat "Daruma Every Day" and can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/divalea/set
The art was created using Steve Sprang's badass Brushes app, with apps like cool fx and Photo Finish for textures and finishes. My 24hc is also the first made with Brushes.
I was hosted by Dragon's Lair San Antonio, and I'm the point person for next years' event.Some additional notes:
I had to electrical tape my charge cord connector back together. The plastic on the connector popped off on Thursday. I couldn't find a new one ANYWHERE. The charger went to its final rest about an hour ago. I noticed it was getting hot, and that was that. RIP, brave and junky charger.
I had a GREAT time at Dragon's Lair! We started with Bob, Richard and Elin. The evening shift was Cliff, Brian and Becca. Bob stayed with Summer, Will and I overnight. In the very wee hours, the worst of a record-breaking storm that brought flooding rolled through, with a crack of thunder loud enough to make me jump violently and yell.
Earlier in the evening, we had pizza with Cliff, Brian and Becca. Becca went out to HEB before she left for the night and got us Frosted Mini Spooners (cheap mini wheats), bananas and Red Bull. It sounded really (the wheats and bananas, anyway) healthy until one contemplated the combo as a whole. I pulled a one-pound bag of Twizzlers from my bag and shook it, "When Becca's gone, we TWIZZ!"
As all other years, the challenge was transformative and revealing, harrowing and exciting, yet meditative above all.
Thanks to Dragon's Lair and staff for hosting and to Scott McCloud for inventing such a simple yet amazing tool.
I'm trying mobile LJ by making a draft in Docs to Go then the ol' copy and paste to the LJ app that is too weak to save drafts.
I am in my car sitting outside the Kwik Wash, where clothes are taking a tumble. Included are Fox's school uniform pants, which I have to courier home in fifteen minutes so he is on the bus on time.
I left the house before six to get coffee beans. It was full dark. The sun is coming up, and the clouds are inky blue and pink. The colors are straight out of Pat the Bunny.
The barista at Starbucks told me about a dream he had. Important to know is that he sets his clocks ahead ten minutes so he's on time. In his dream, his apartment was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit flooded his apartment and set everything tight, including resetting his clocks to the correct time, making him late to work.
I had a dream that was just as weird, but it's perfect for a book, so I'm writing it down and saving it.
Just now, the NPR station got a traffic feed for a different station, bombastic, urging the use of a crash helmet. NPR's house style is not funny, it's only funny when it has funny people on shows. The report got cut off at "Don't use the Katy freeway as a flotation device--"
I got Fox's pants home in time, and am now in my driveway, sitting in my car, with Proudfoot the Not-So/Feral Cat sitting on my knee.
And with that, I'm sending this to you, and going to work.
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
You read it here first: SMOFia. From the acronym SMOF (secret master(s) of fandom). SMOFs are the people who run things fannish, such as sf/fantasy/media/anime cons, imagine they have power that means shit outside their circles, and believe they have the dirt.
Some of them do have power in that they can make at-con life shitty for attending pros, and social situations awkward as fuck (like, say, inviting all the guests to dinner and refusing to pay for anyone who hasn't been in a Showtime/HBO/syfy series, or come from Japan).
SMOFia is a group of such social knuckle-draggers, organized enough to take over all of a region's shows, or one very large con (like Anime Expo or World Con). They're guranteed to gather in all the perks of hosting an event to themselves, specifically to the SMOFia boss and her cronies of the moment.
One of the easiest way to spot the SMOFia Boss is to go to a con's Green Room. They'll be the one being the biggest, most obvious asshole.
To be avoided. Never trust a SMOFia that fucks you over. (Which they will.)
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
Prince Commission by ~DivaLea on deviantART
And a test of the deviantART x-post function!
It's rubbish week in Francoland, so all the broken chairs (this year's count:
Concrete © Paul Chadwick
Yeah, like that. Cinderblocks.
Anyway, it struck me, having already taken the vinyl off a broken chair from our dining room set, that I should take what leather there was from the recliner. As it turns out, it was a lot of leather. Except for some pressed fiber fabric on the underside, it was all leather. I was shocked. What, no vinyl? Not that I mind the lack of vinyl, it's just that this was not a good chair structurally. I was expecting vinyl after the seat and back. Hell, facings inside were leather.
And it was a stone bitch to get it. It took a knife, socket wrench, scewdriver, fingernails, pliers and muscle. I'm itchy as hell, too. A shower and a change of clothes is in my immediate future.
But it was worth it, because it was all leather. Dudes and dudessas, about 2.5 yards of it, all useable. I see a dandy purse in my future. And tabs for wallets. Hell, probably a whole wallet in there.
This makes me wish I had an embroidery machine. Embroidered leather is badass.
See it in repeat here!
Is that not fab? A necktie, a skirt, purse lining, and not just for Halloween. It's beautiful and subversive. This pattern is gorgeous, and Lisa gets yardage of it as her prize if she wins!
So GO VOTE here until Lisa wins! GO! Spoonflower Halloween fabric contest!
(Scroll down past the Holiday fabric announcement to the poll!)
That's right! My story "Ribbons Undone" from the 2009 EisnerAward-Winning anthology COMIC BOOK TATTOO, and inspired by Tori Amos' song of the same name, is now up in its entirety for FREE at webcomicsnation.com.
This story was a huge break for me in terms of style (what seeing all of Danny Phantom in two weeks will do for a girl!) and media (being my first all-digital comics story).
I really loved making it, and I hope you dig it! Please comment at webcomicsnation.com or here!
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
I have to share that sleeping through something painful is like getting drunk to get through something painful: eventually you wake up or sober up and the pain is still there. I took to my bed with the vapors. When I woke up, it was still fucking September 6th. Sleep only knits up so much ravel'd sleave of care.
Inescapable, so I got my alive and ingracious ass out of bed to write this thank-you.
The fire was the worst and best thing that ever happened. I lost everything. I still miss my dog Yuki, every time I see bubbles or rain. (But not when I pick up dog turds.) I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I knew what I didn't want to do with my life. I went to the doctor to be treated for PTSD and got a diagnosis of bi-polar disorder, which saved me, and taught me to be strong in the face of disapproval.
I built an IKEA kitchen in my Barbie Dream House and knew, for the first time in my life, that I was competent and accomplished. Not dizzy, dumb or helpless, like I'd believed before that. There's just something about not having hundreds of pounds of woods and glass fall off the wall to put a spring in a girl's step, make her maddenly, beautifully independent, and free her from years of being the embodiment of other's opinions and ill needs.
Needless to say, I recommend power tools to any woman or girl needing self-esteem. Yes, there's a joke in there.
So, to all my friends and angels and fellow fire survivors Carla and Lance Hoffman, Karen Ellis, and Len Wein and Christine Valada, much strength and love.
"Hey, another year it gets further away from the awesome now." -Carla Hoffman
Made it through another one! The last four and a half of eleven rocketed past because I started regular freelance work again. It is amazing how fast it went.
Summer was smoother for us this year than any other, even without a car for regular pool trips. We added a home schdule for Fox, which helped him have concrete plans for his days and we all enjoyed and benefited from the structure.
I am glad school's starting, but also wistful. School days are work, too. I will miss our easy, lazy hot days. The breakfasts of waffles outside, painting in the fort with a blanket ceiling, Summer handsewing a 4.5 foot tall plush robot that debuted on a glorious Saturday last week, wowing convention goers and San Antonio tourists alike. Swanning about downtown San Antonio with Alice Woodside and Kit White and Summer, knowing what a strange quartet we were, but reveling in the knowledge that we amused everyone we met.
I hope your summers were lovely, too.
ALL PLAY:
Your most vivid memory of this or any summer!
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
Ask the right question at the right time, and you get the answer you want. In the midst of my no San Diego agony, I was asked if I wanted some work. Well, sure.
This was the best I Missed San Diego in ten years. If I'd been going, I could nothave taken this work.
I can't say much more than that since it's otherwise OH HAI NDA. I am giddy, though; I love the work and the client is my favorite ever.
It's amazing and wonderful to have a steady gig after do very long.
Thanks, as always always for cheeringe ip and on!
P.S. I'm still doing Rumble Girls! Returning to RG was a good decision, it led straight to the new job!
xo
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
Testing copying and pasting from one app to another, and thence to LJ. Please stand by!
The idea bring a workaround because livejournal.app on the Touch doesn't support drafts. Boo.
How is everyone? Staying cool? (Or warm, hello Queenie!)
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
Just posting to let everyone know I'm okay. I see from my archive that my posts are far between, and I resolve to post more often. It's easier to Tweet than compose posts in the summer. The divorce is also eating a lot of time and headspace.
I am feeling pretty down today. This is my 24th wedding anniversary and I wish it was the 22nd of getting divorced instead. Except for the kids, I have almost nothing but regret about staying married so long. It wrecked my self-esteem and made difficult things idiotically hard.
I'm so glad I went out and grabbed what I did and I will keep on doing that.
Anyway, going to rub some dirt on this and walk it off.
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
demiurgent made a joke that I did not get a notice soon enough to delete. I delted it immediately upon finding it, and now moderate all posts to prevent heated comments from being generally available.The remark resulted in painful additional personal and legal troubles for me. As I've said before, something to consider before making a joke. There is a person on the other end of it who may feel threatened, offended or hurt.
From
demiurgent , via LJ message:As requested, and entirely without reservation.
from </a></b></a>
demiurgentIt was my thoughtless joke that Ms. Hernandez is making reference to. Let me be frank and clear. Ms. Hernandez did nothing to solicit said joke, and there was no true ill intent behind it. It was an inappropriate response to frustration, and I regret it entirely.
To the gentleman in question: I unreservedly apologize. Any burden of difficulty, concern or tension should be entirely upon me. Ms. Hernandez did not solicit my comment, and immediately upon its making repudiated it publicly. It was my lack of judgment and my lack of empathy, and I apologize for them without excuse or justification.
Please feel free to contact me at [redacted] with any questions or concerns regarding this matter.
RUMBLE GIRRRRLLLLLS!
I am going to be a single parent sometime this year, and you get to read comics because of it. Subscribe to Rumble Girls and get archive access, previews, a newsletter, chances to win art!
I am just 200 subscribers away from my first goal, which puts me comfortably in the position of supporting the kids. Subscriptions are JUST $5.00/month through PayPal recurring payments, or $55. for a year.
Read Rumble Girls!
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If you can't subscribe now, please pass my URLs along, and feel free to re-post and Twitter this at will! Everything helps!
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