Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Look Ma! I'm a Charmer!

Courtesy of Roger and Gordon:

Your Seduction Style: Sweet Talker
Your seduction technique can be summed up with "charm"You know that if you have the chance to talk to someone...Well, you won't be talking for long! ;-)
You're great at telling potential lovers what they want to hear.Partially, because you're a great reflective listener and good at complementing.The other part of your formula? Focusing your conversation completely on the other person.
Your "sweet talking" ways have taken you far in romance - and in life.You can finess your way through any difficult situation, with a smile on your face.Speeding tickets, job interviews... bring it on! You truly live a *charmed life*

What kind of a seducer are you?

Monday, September 26, 2005

Life with Felines


Cat sociology is so fascinating. When Basil was at her worst, the Boy gave her wide berth and didn’t bother her at all. He also stopped harassing Bennie. After he came to live with us, he couldn't get the #1 spot away from Basil, so he bumped Bennie out of the #2 slot. We tried every way in the world to get him to stop picking on her, but nothing worked.

Bennie naps with some friends in more peaceful days.


How can anyone so cute be such a meanie?


As Basil started to get a little better, but was still isolating herself, he made his move for the number one cat spot. He started doing things like cutting in front of her to eat and such. He never really got physical with her, but it was obvious what he was doing. When he thought he had rule of the roost, he started to leave Bennie completely alone.

When we thought Basil was bouncing back, he started letting Basil eat first, but it was obvious that the dynamic had changed. She used to be able to drive him back from whatever dish she wanted with a look. We were wondering what would happen when she came back 100%.

She did reassert herself some, but I don't think she got top spot back from him. The second she started, he started picking on Bennie again.

Bennie ran and hid when we came back from the vet without Basil. The last night when we sat up with her all night in the living room, Beenie sat in the kitchen door at the other end of the house and watched us. Basil was laying by the front door, and since we have a shotgun house, Bennie could see us from her spot. (Do I need to explain shotgun houses for non-Southern folks?)

She's cried some at night, and the other day came bursting in the bathromm searching for Basil, but it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, given that they were never apart their whole lives. The Boy has been glued to my lap and has started sleeping on my side of the bed, right next to me. He'll even sleep on the back of my legs like Basil used to, except he's not as patient with my wiggling as she was. Until this weekend, he left Ben alone, but he started bring a little shit again on Saturday.

Of course the hardest adjustment for everyone right now is the return to the diet. When Basil wasn't eating well, the vet told us to feed her whenever she wanted as much as she wanted. Well, feeding Basil meant feeding everyone. Bennie and the Boy must have thought the famine ended or something. They're back to being little porkers again! Bringing back the diet is causing quite a bit of kitty consternation!

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Babbling

This is basically a long, tedious dump of posts, random thoughts, and other nonsense that I haven’t had a chance to finish or post until now. Consider yourself warned.

Edit: I eddie-ted some of my comments about Ryan Shupe to add info about his new release and soften some comments whose tone I didn't like.
------------------------
Happy Fall! If you didn’t notice Fall fell on us a couple of days ago. 2005 is almost over. Can you believe it? Where did it go? It seems like the last thing I really remember was going to San Francisco in April. Everything else is lost in a whirl of hospitals, doctors, funeral homes, insurance policies, wills and the like.

This isn’t exactly the 2005 I signed up for. Can I get a refund or at least a do-over?

Sigh.
----------------------------------------


Since it’s conference planning time at work, life has been a whirl of meetings lately. I’m blessed with one planning committee member who’s all about hearing herself talk. It’s a constant struggle to keep the group on our appointed task and not her personal agenda, which seems to revolve around decorations.

Somehow I seem to end up with committees that have at least one "problem personality" on them. If Charlie Brown were a working adult, he would be me.

Then there’s also the joy of finding that our director was working on a workshop for the conference that no one knew about until she had it all planned! Luckily, one of the sessions I was working on just wasn’t coming together, so we had a slot, otherwise I would have had to uninvite a presenter.

Yesterday, I took everything that’s been done so far to the bigwigs to make sure everyone is onboard and that there are no more little “surprises” out there. It went well except for the one person who always has to object to something connected with everything I do. This time the objection related to a specific element of the opening assembly that “just doesn’t seem to fit with everything else.” That woul, of course, be the one part of the opneing that said group of bigwigs asked me specifically to include. Sigh!


Still, if this is the worst that happens, it’ll be okay. I was looking down the list of things that still need to be done and we’re actually a little ahead of where we usually are this time each year. If I can get these last couple of workshops confirmed, I’ll actually have the program to the printer early!

----------------------------------------

Been doing a lot of yard saling lately. Last Saturday and this one we've gone to several sales. It's a good way to get new clothes since a lot of my old stuff isn't fitting any more. I also picked up a nice leather overnight bag today, which will come in handy when my brother and I talk our innaugural road trip in a few weeks.

The only good thing to come out of Dad's illness was that Danny and I both realized how much we missed spending time together, just the two of us. So, we're going to plan a Mitchell Brothers Road Trip once a year. I'm looking forward to it.

As for yard saling, well, given that we've got our own sale coming up next week, there's an element of irony here.....

-------------------------------------------

I've plateaued in my weight loss. Been sitting at the same spot for a couple of weeks now. Ugh!

-----------------------------------------------

I’ve decided that I’m going to enter some kind of a distance walking event next year. I don’t know exactly which one yet. I’d prefer something where I pay a fee and walk a few miles with a group of people, rather than having to get sponsors. Around Derby time there are always things like that happening here. I walk every day as a part of my exercise routine, and I’m looking to stretch in that area. I think this will provide me the motivation to do so. More as this develops.

Then again, there’s also
this. If they just had a beginner session in the evenings…

Of course,
I could do it on my own, too.

----------------------------

I got the bill for Dad’s funeral the other day. That should signal the end to all the paperwork and financial dealings until I have to do his taxes next year.


------------------------------
Playlists

Here's the stuff that's been playing at home and at the office for the past few weeks:

Austin Country Nights: An excellent, hard-honky-tonkin’ compilation of Austin-based artists from the mid-nineties.

Sister Hazel—Somewhere More Familiar: Eh....

Ollabelle—Self-titled: Wow!

Caetano Veloso--Livro: Usually like his stuff, but this just didn't click with me after reapeated listenings.

Eliza Gilkyson--Paradise Hotel: Not quite as good as Land of Milk and Honey, but easily one of the best of the year.

Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem--Cocktail Swing: Nothing but silly, fun, feel good music (even the sadder songs), and there sure ain’t nothing wrong with that.

Freedy Johnston--Never Home: Fascinating.

Jordan Chassan--East of Bristol West of Knoxville: Ditto

RebbeSoul--Fringe of Blue: Traditional forms of Jewish music blended with American (rock, blues, and jazz), European, and African rythms and styles. It shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does. Largely instrumental with a few prayer chants thrown in, this is one of the most captivating things I’ve played in recent days.

Tracy Bonham--Blink the Brightest: I was born without you. Why can’t I live without you now?

Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band—Hey Hey Hey: I knew them only from the comedic song “I Play the Banjo” so I was surprised at how much this made me think of jam bands. I was also surprised at how much I liked the whole CD, since that’s not really a genre I get into. (I like Leftover Salmon, but for the most part, extended noodly never-ending jams really leave me cold.) I think a part of it is that they never really do any full-fledged noodling, and part of it is that Shupe sounds so much like Danny Flanigan and Mitch Barret (of ZoĆ« Speaks), two local artists I really like.


By the way this whole CD has just recently been re-released on a major label under the title Dream Big. Contents and song order are unchanged.

Kate Campbell—Blues and Lamentations: There’s just something about her music that I find comforting. She touches parts of my life and heart that don’t get touched much. I can’t explain it any better without going into a really long, rambly post about spirituality. New Kate Campbell is always a cuse for joy.

-------------------------------

2005 is going to be one of the best years for new music I can remember. A core of my favorite artists--Eliza Gilkyson, Kate Campbell, Carrie Newcomer, and Mary Gauthier—have all released albums this year. Wow!

--------------------------------

Just checked the local concert calendars, and all of a sudden, our fall looks to be pretty booked:

Amy Ray at Headliners October 14

James McMurtry at Uncle Pleasants October 18
Bright Eyes at the Brown on November 15

Keller Williams at the Brown November 19

Keith will be more psyched about Bright Eyes, while I’m pretty excited about Amy Ray. I haven't brought up McMurtry or Williams yet.


Lucinda WIlliams is next week!


Thursday, September 22, 2005

Karla Bonoff?

I'm needing something light right now, so I'm digging into something that I think the entire blogging world has already done: the Music Outfitters thing.

Just in case you've missed it, here's the drill:

Go to Music Outfitters.

Enter the year you graduated high school in to the search function.

Take the list of top songs from that year and bold the ones you like, strike through the ones you don't, underline your favorite, and leave the rest alone.

Here's my take on the magical year that was 1982, including some commentary when appropriate.

1. Physical, Olivia Newton-John

Remember the video for this one?

2. Eye Of The Tiger, Survivor

This was 1982?

3. I Love Rock N' Roll, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts

The programming manager at the little radio station in my hometown didn't like this song and wouldn't let it be played. He went out of town one weekend and one of the DJ's played it like 5 or 6 times in a row. I think that was about the only time it was ever played there.

4. Ebony And Ivory, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
5. Centerfold, J. Geils Band
6. Don't You Want Me, Human League
7. Jack And Diane, John Cougar
8. Hurts So Good, John Cougar
9. Abracadabra, Steve Miller Band
10. Hard To Say I'm Sorry, Chicago
11. Tainted Love, Soft Cell
12. Chariots Of Fire, Vangelis
13. Harden My Heart, Quarterflash
14. Rosanna, Toto
15. I Can't Go For That, Daryl Hall and John Oates

16. 867-5309 (Jenny), Tommy Tutone

My roommate in college my freshman year was named Tommy. All the guys on the floor called him "Tutone."

17. Key Largo, Bertie Higgins
18. You Should Hear How She Talks About You, Melissa Manchester
19. Waiting For A Girl Like You, Foreigner

20. Don't Talk To Strangers, Rick Springfield
21. The Sweetest Thing, Juice Newton
22. Always On My Mind, Willie Nelson
23. Shake It Up, Cars
24. Let It Whip, Dazz Band
25. We Got The Beat, Go-Go's

Until the day I die, this will always be my all time favorite group.

26. The Other Woman, Ray Parker Jr.
27. Turn Your Love Around, George Benson
28. Sweet Dreams, Air Supply

29. Only The Lonely, Motels
30. Who Can It Be Now?, Men At Work
31. Hold Me, Fleetwood Mac
32. Eye In The Sky, Alan Parsons Project

What the hell was this song supposed to be about anyway?

33. Let's Groove, Earth, Wind and Fire
34. Open Arms, Journey

Okay, I know it's cheesy, but I had my first "serious" relationship my senior year in high school. I also ended my first "serious" relationship my senior year in high school.

She stayed in our small hometown, hooked up with another guy from our class, got married, and now works at Wal-Mart. I went to college, moved to Louisville, eventually came out of the closet, and fell in love with Keith. I think I got the better deal.

35. Leader Of The Band, Dan Fogelberg
36. Leather And Lace, Stevie Nicks and Don Henley

I LOVED this song!

37. Even The Nights Are Better, Air Supply

Isn't it surprising how many shitty Air Supply songs are on this list?

38. I've Never Been To Me, Charlene

This song always reminds me of a friend of mine from my senior class. She got pregnant our senior year and had to finish the school year at home. She wasn't even allowed to walk with the rest of us at graduation.

39. '65 Love Affair, Paul Davis
40. Heat Of The Moment, Asia
41. Take It Easy On Me, Little River Band
42. Pac-man Fever, Buckner and Garcia
43. That Girl, Stevie Wonder
44. Private Eyes, Daryl Hall and John Oates
45. Trouble, Lindsey Buckingham
46. Making Love, Roberta Flack
47. Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me, Juice Newton
48. Young Turks, Rod Stewart
49. Freeze-frame, J. Geils Band
50. Keep The Fire Burnin', REO Speedwagon

Wasn't that such a great album?

51. Do You Believe In Love, Huey Lewis and The News
52. Cool Night, Paul Davis
53. Caught Up In You, 38 Special
54. Why Do Fools Fall In Love?, Diana Ross
55. Love In The First Degree, Alabama
56. Hooked On Classics, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
57. Wasted On The Way, Crosby, Stills and Nash
58. Think I'm In Love, Eddie Money
59. Love Is In Control, Donna Summer
60. Personally, Karla Bonoff
61. One Hundred Ways, Quincy Jones
62. Blue Eyes, Elton John
63. Our Lips Are Sealed, Go-Go's

What? You expected me to be albe to pick between two Go-Go's tunes for my favorite??

64. You Could Have Been With Me, Sheena Easton

I HATED this song!

65. You Can Do Magic, America
66. Did It In A Minute, Daryl Hall and John Oates


The number of shitty Hall and Oates songs equals the number of shitty Air Supply songs.

67. I Ran, A Flock Of Seagulls
68. Somebody's Baby, Jackson Browne
69. Oh No, Commodores
70. Take It Away, Paul McCartney
71. It's Gonna Take A Miracle, Deneice Williams
72. Love Will Turn You Around, Kenny Rogers
73. Don't Stop Bellevin', Journey

Someone told me this was the "offical" song of our senior calss. I don't remember who made that decision.

74. Comin' In And Out Of Your Life, Barbra Streisand
75. Gloria, Laura Branigan
76. Empty Garden, Elton John

This might possibly have been the last era when Elton John songs were tolerable.

77. Yesterday's Songs, Neil Diamond

Yeah, yeah...I know....


78. Crimson And Clover, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts

For some reason, I've not warmed to many covers of Tommy James songs.

79. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Police
80. Here I Am, Air Supply
81. I Keep Forgettin', Michael Mcdonald

82. Get Down On It, Kool and The Gang
83. Any Day Now, Ronnie Milsap
84. Make A Move On Me, Olivia Newton-John
85. Take My Heart, Kool and The Gang
86. Mirror Mirror, Diana Ross
87. Vacation, Go-Go's

I like it, but it's not as good as the other two.

88. (Oh) Pretty Woman, Van Halen
89. Should I Do It, Pointer Sisters
90. Hot In The City, Billy Idol
91. Kids In America, Kim Wilde

I didn't realize this came out in '82. I thought it was closer to my college graduation.

92. Man On Your Mind, Little River Band
93. What's Forever For, Michael Murphy
94. Waiting On A Friend, Rolling Stones
95. Do I Do, Stevie Wonder
96. Working For The Weekend, Loverboy
97. Goin' Down, Greg Guidry
98. Arthur's Theme, Christopher Cross
99. Through The Years, Kenny Rogers
100. Edge Of Seventeen, Stevie Nicks

I was kind of surprised how many sappy sings there were in 1982. I'm also surprised that there were quite a few I couldn't remember. Who the hell was Karla Bonoff?

Great. Now I'm starting the day with Air Supply songs stuck in my head.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Tidying Up!

I fixed Basil's pic so that it actually shows up now. Not sure what happened there. I also added a couple of links to that post that I didn't have time to do yesterday. I edited it just a tad too. It was a combinatino of two posts, one about Basil's illness and one about losing her, that were written several weeks apart and put together. It needed just a little smoothing out.

Sigh!

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Worst Year Ever

Last week sucked.

So did Monday. So will today. And there’s not much hope for the rest of the week.

And there’s one less sweet, silly, grey kitty in the world to make it all better.

Sigh.



We got Basil from a friend of mine who had a pregnant cat. I told him that if there was a solid grey kitty and a grey stripey-tabby cat in the litter that I wanted them. I had the names all picked out and could even visualize them. The grey one was going to be a girl named Basil and the striped one would be a boy named Benny, which was short for Benedict. I figured if saints’ names were good for human babies, they’d work for kitties too. Mind you, I hadn’t seen them yet; in fact, they hadn’t even been born. I just knew that this was what I wanted.

Keith and I were planning on moving in together and I told him we had to have a place where we could have cats. I had lived with my mom for a year before getting another place on my own and had spent the entire year in my little efficiency apartment missing her kitties. I was so adamant about having cats that I paid the pet deposit myself and was going to pay the extra ten bucks a month on the rent for them.

They were born with just enough time to get weaned before we moved in to our new place. Amazingly enough, there were two babies in the litter that matched my “dream cat” descriptions perfectly—except that the stripey cat was also a girl. I changed the spelling of her name to Bennie, which was now short for Benedicta.

I went to see them when they were a few weeks old and fell in love. They were just starting to explore the world under the watchful gaze of their mother. I picked one of them up, and she clung to me right away, squealing the whole time. The mother jumped in front of me and gave me an evil look, but she was hooked on my shirt and I could not get her off. I had to get down on my knees and lean my chest as close to the floor as I could so she would let go. In my mind’s eye, I have romanticized this story to make that little baby kitty Basil, but the truth is I cannot remember which one it was. It may have even been one of the other litter mates. (Sadly, one of the litter died shortly after birth and the rest died right after I picked up Basil and Bennie.)

On the day we moved into the apartment, we went to get them. I didn’t have a carrier, so we punched holes in the top of computer paper box. When I got back in the car with them in the box, Keith want to see them. I opened the box and out popped these two fuzzy little heads that were all ears and eyes. He fell in love with them right away and they became “our” cats.

While the both spent time wherever they liked and with whomever they liked, Basil tended to gravitate to me from the start, while Bennie did the same with Keith. Very early on, Basil started sleeping on the back of my legs at night, something she only stopped doing when she got sick this year.

Pretty early on, it became clear that Basil bonded to me as if I were her birth mother. She would sit on my lap and bend her head, so that I could rub it with my nose, then she would rub her nose on mine and purr. She soon transferred this routine to the bathroom, where she would sit on the toilet each morning when I got ready for work and wait for me to rub her head. I started my day out like that for years.

She was never the brightest of cats, but she always managed to bully the others enough to be acknowledged at the leader of the pack. Even when we got the Boy, who is quite boisterous and rambunctious, she kept her top slot. She would sit and wait for him to walk by her and, every so often, she would smack him in the back of the head with her paw—just enough to keep him in line. Ironically, she was scared of anything that moved—including me and Keith if we happened to be carrying something. She was forever running and hiding from one thing or another.

In her mind, she ought to be able to do anything the other cats did and go anywhere they could go. However, she never could quite get down the exact process that the others followed. If the Boy curled up in my arms and went to sleep, then she would end up in some awkward stance with her legs all akimbo and dangling all over me. If someone got in the top of the closet or on a high shelf, she would do the same and then sit there with a perplexed look on her face, as if she had no idea what she was supposed to do next. (or how to get down.)

She could be as sweet as she was silly. She lived for lap time and, if she couldn’t get it, she’d plop on my feet to remind me that I was being derelict in my duties. Merely sitting down to put on my shoes was an invitation to her. There was never a day that was so bad that some quality time with Basil couldn’t fix it.

She first got sick right around the time my dad did. We were really worried that she had something like kidney failure because she had stopped eating and drinking and was isolating herself from everyone. It all started when things were at their most tenuous with Dad, and the thought of having to put her down was about to overwhelm both me and Keith. Losing her then would have been more than I could have taken.

Fortunately, all the tests for kidney problems came back negative, which left us with no clue as to what was ailing her. Then I started noticing that her balance was completely off. She was wobbling and weaving when she walked, and tended to circle unexpectedly. Our vet identified this as vestibular disease, which isn't normally fatal, unless it's a sign of something more serious like a braim tumor.

During that time, we had force feeding regimens to keep her strength up, plus courses of anti-biotics, appetite stimulants, and steroids. She was well on the road to recovery, when she had small relapse. The vet thought that we just didn't treat her long enough, so we had more anti-biotics and steroids for her. She started eating again in a couple of days, so we thought we were making progress again. This was late June/early July.

She never quite totally bounced back, but I just assumed it was going to happen gradually. She stayed earthbound most of the time, not getting in my lap or in bed with us. And she had diarrhea that never cleared up no matter what we did. At first we thought it was a side effect of the anti-biotics. The vet had some concerns about her vision, which would have been on e of the signs of something more serious, but she seemed to be navigating the house all right. She was walking straight, and eating, and cleaning herself, and going through most of her daily routines, so we thought everything was going to be okay.

We could not have been more wrong.

The end came so suddenly that I’m still in shock. Weeknd before last, we went away for the weekend, and when we got back on Sunday evening, she was isolating herself again. When she came out she would stagger and sway just like before. She had also stopped eating and drinking, and I was starting to suspect that, this time, she really had lost her vision. Her pupils were completely open and unchanging and she had a fixed glassy stare. She sat by the front door and cried all that night and into the next day.

We took her to the vet Monday afternoon, who concurred that she had definitely lost at least some of her vision. Her eyes didn’t respond at all to having a light shining directly in them. The vet also noticed that her skin was starting to turn yellow. We left her there to be re-hydrated, and by the time we came back to pick her up, she had started having difficulty breathing. She was trying to breathe through her mouth.

We took her home for one last night and took turns sitting up with her. She kept pulling herself up and staggering around the living room until she collapsed. Then she would start crying again. By the morning, she couldn’t stand and her cries were whispers. We called the vet and got ready to say good-bye. On the drive to the vet she crapped and pissed all over me.

Her bloodwork had come back showing extreme liver dysfunction. As near as we can tell, it really was a tumor causing her dizziness and we had only managed to delay things with the steroids and anti-biotics. In the meantime, it started spreading into her liver.

The vet talked to her a bit before giving the injection. She reminded us of the way she used to call Basil “Miss Chubby” before we started the diet. Everyone at the office knew and loved Basil. A couple of minutes after the shot and my sweet little baby was gone. For the first time in nearly 13 years, there won’t be a Basil at home to greet me after work.

I don’t know who’s going to help me start my day now or who’s going to make the bad ones better for me. All I know is that I’m tired of everyone I love dying. I’m still working through some of my grief for my dad. How am I supposed to grieve for Basil on top of that? I can’t take any more of this. 2005 is now officially the worst year ever.

Who Thinks Up These Things Anyway?

Insect or Human, huh?

Well let's see.

According to Mr. Green, I'm supposed to:

"First, list writer Robert Heinlein's examples of the accomplishments that distinguish a [generalist] human from a [specialist] insect. Then identify the ones [you have] actually done. A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." (Eddie-ted just a tad for better readability.)

Like Roger, I've copied the list with some notes.

Change a diaper (Used to work in the nursery at church. Got this one down.)

Plan an invasion (Does moving count? That's kind of like invading.)

Butcher a hog (Not personally, but I do come from a long line of farm folks who have. My mother has seen my great-grandparents do it.)

Conn a ship (I don't even know what this means, but, like Roger, I've done a bad job of rowing a canoe. In fact, I tipped one over once.)

Design a building (I've sketched out layouts for rooms.)

Write a sonnet (Not a sonnet, per se, but I wrote bad poetry in college.)

Balance accounts (I've had to do this for several grants I've worked on over the years.)

Build a wall (I've painted one.)

Set a bone (Only in first aid class.)

Comfort the dying (I guess Dad counts here.)

Take orders (I do work for government.)

Give orders (I've got a committee meeting today that I'm chairing. I hate these things.)

Cooperate (See above comment. I'm happier on my own.)

Act alone (See above comment.)

Solve equations (I was a math major for two years in college.)

Analyze a new problem (That's part of working in training and development.)

Pitch manure (Like Roger, I've cleaned cat litter boxes.)

Program a computer (Also like Roger, I've installed software.)

Cook a tasty meal (I don't do it much, but I'm a halfway decent cook.)

Fight efficiently (Sorry, I'm a pacifist.)

Die gallantly (Not any time in the near future.)

Sleepers Awake!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

>Grunt!<

Huh? Wazzat?

Oh it's just Roger with some silly meme-thing. Go away Roger!

ZZZZZZ!! Huh?

What now Roger? Two and a half weeks since my last post? And you're disturbing my beauty sleep for this announcement because...

Surely you're not saying there are people actually sitting around wondering what's happening with Eddie-torial Comments are you?

Oh, you're sitting around wondering what's happening with Eddie-torial Comments?

All right...all right...

Let me get my robe and some coffee.

Sigh!

Be right with you!

Thursday, September 01, 2005

How Do I Love Thee?

I’m feeling out of sorts with comics right now, so I’m going to steal a meme from Lyle and list some of the things in comics that I’m excited about now:

The Little Lulu trades from Dark Horse. I know that one volume had some pages out of order, but every one of these has been a real treat regardless.

James Kochalka

Lewis Trondheim (I think Kochlaka and Trondheim will always be on any list like this that I make.)

Joann Sfar (I'm looking forward to getting Rabbi's Cat.)

The Buddha volumes from Vertical (Volume 7 is due in October!!)

I love going into the one independent bookseller we have left in this town and seeing a carefully chosen shelf of graphic novels and trades. I try to buy a volume from them every so often.

Half-Price Books, where it seems you can find almost anything

My local shop, of course. Nicest people on the planet.

Going to the flea market and looking for old DC’s

The upcoming Showcase Presents series of thick black and white volumes. DC has so much stuff I’d like to see reprinted—the original Angel and the Ape for one—that I’m glad to see them moving into this format.

That Fantagraphics’ financial situation has largely stabilized thanks to their Peanuts reprints. (Link courtesy of Comics Reporter)

Jason (See comment about Trondheim and Kochalka.)

Age of Bronze (See comment about Jason. I guess it's nice to have some old favorites and dependable stand-bys.)

I’ve finally gotten my collection down to a manageable size, with emphasis on the areas where I want to concentrate.


The forthcoming English translation of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne from DC/CMX

The Mike Allred issue of Solo. (I can't decide whether the return of X-Statix is something to get excited about yet.)