After truthfully answering the question, “Today is Monday?” for the fourth time in an hour (“Yes, Mom. February 2nd”), one is tempted to start lying. Extravagantly.

“Today is Monday?”

“Nope, it’s Thursday. The second one this week. And it’s your birthday! Yay! Since you’re a hobbit you owe presents! I’ll take that teddy bear of yours and paint him blue!”

Trouble is, while she forgets that she just ate breakfast, she’d probably remember enough of that to complain that I’d tried to paint her bear for the next month.

Blake has posted one of her paintings. Poke around her site once you’re there and marvel at her interior decoration skills.

If you’re wondering where last week’s update for Sentient 39 is, apparently Boardy, Keenspace’s main server, crashed last Wednesday. Poor Boardy. It tried so hard.

I’ll update when the new server goes up.

Nizzibet and I were out with friends last night. (Thanks Maya, Terra, Frank and Angela!) One question asked was – did you ever find out who your mystery writer was? To which I had to reply; nope, I haven’t heard from him/her/it.

Just a reminder, Mystery Person, we’ve got a game to play. Have yourself a shot or two and start typing.

Finally got a copy of the Millenium Oz Squad Special #1 and yes, it does feature six pages of my art. Until now I wasn’t sure if any of my pages had been used. Nothing to go out of your way to find, it’s not my best work. The author, Steve Ahlquist, has disavowed the entire project.

One of these days I’ll get it together to do a page on Oz Squad. I can’t really provide links to anyone else’s description of the series because I haven’t found any that I think do it justice. It’s hated by some of the hard core Oz fans. Unjustly I think. For all the “dark and gritty” (which was part of the joke), the series had whimsy.

Having this comic means that I’ve now got copies of almost all my published comics work. Somewhere out there, still to find, is Dangerman. I illustrated that entire comic – twenty-seven pages plus the cover back in 1994. If anyone has a copy I’d love to see it.

Spent some time yesterday doing clean-up at Sentient 39, mostly fixing the link images. Not done. I come to understand one of the reasons why there are so many ugly websites out there. Once the design is set it’s a tedious process to make changes.

I adjusted the How to Rule the World essay to reflect the new reality. Put another entry (for February 5th) into the queue.

Today I’ll work on the last major illustration for The Black Seal #3. Might even get it done. Might walk on water while I’m at it but I’d have to leave the house for that.

(No, wait. I could use the bath tub!)

Nick Brownlow answers the survey.

Sitting here watching the sun come up. Mom is having breakfast. Paliki is doing cat cleaning yoga on the couch. Nizzibet is sleeping. No new messages from the Mystery Person. Not expecting to do much in the way of exciting today. Might manage to get some artwork in. Definitely need to do laundry.

Envy me for my thrill-a-minute life.

New column by Sarah Byam up at Tuppenceworth.

Twenty-Eight Questions

This set of questions comes via the Engineering Student in an email. What you’re supposed to do is copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste it onto a new e-mail that you’ll send. Change all of the answers so they apply to you. Then, send this to a whole bunch of people you know *INCLUDING* the person who sent it to you. As a rule I don’t forward these sorts of emails. So anyone with time to kill, feel free to copy these and post your own answers.

1. What time did you go to bed last night?

8:00 o’clock. It’s usually between nine and ten but the Nizz was dead tired and the Aged Mother got through her routine early.

2. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Assuming that we’re talking about an instanteous magical change, I’d become all buff. Satisfy my vanity without having to work at it.

Assuming that we’re talking about a change made of my own initiative, no clue.

3. Paper or Plastic?

Depends on whether I have a long way to walk. Or if it’s raining.

4. What was the last book/magazine you read?

Necroscope 3: The Source by Brian Lumley

5. A TV show you can’t stand to watch?

Don’t know. We only use the TV to watch DVDs and videos.

6. What did you eat for lunch yesterday?

Homemade seafood gumbo

7. Do you like to be surprised?

Usually yes.

8. What color is your toothbrush?

White and purple.

9. What brand of deodorant do you use?

Gillette

10. What is your favorite store to shop at?

Any bookstore. Half Price Books for volume.

11. Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall?

Fall

12. Favorite dessert?

Not too big on dessert anymore.

13. Which one would you prefer – Maid or Personal Chef?

Maid

14. Favorite candy bar?

Lindt Lindor

15. Regular or Decaf?

Regular

16. Favorite Restaurant?

Tan Duc

17. What do you admire in a person?

Enthusiasm for life, curiousity, a sense of humor and thoughtfulness toward others.

18. Favorite Holiday?

Thanksgiving

19. Favorite time of day?

Usually early morning when the rest of the world is asleep.

20. Fruit or Fruit Smoothie?

Fruit smoothie.

21. How many rings are you wearing?

One. Wedding band.

22. How do you like your meat prepared?

I stole the E.S.’s answers here: beef- med well to rare, chicken- done, seafood- not overcooked, sushi- raw

23. What was the last card you sent to someone?

Christmas card. This morning.

24. What radio station is on where you are right now?

None. I generally listen to KEXP on the radio when I drive.

25. Who do you least expect to send this back to you?

I don’t expect to get it back from anyone.

26. Who is the person you expect to send this back first? See previous answer.

27. Onion rings or French fries?

Onion rings.

28. What kind of car do you drive?

Suzuki Sidekick.