Today I finally have a few is to actually blog and at least say hello to you all. Tax season this year has been a special hell for me this year. I usually have everything filed around February, but my well-meaning mother-in-law suggested I wait until March, so no amendments or corrections would be necessary. Loki thought this was a good idea. I personally didn't, because I thought that I would lose something important, from there to here. As it turns out, I was right. And, it looks like one of my W-2 forms for my promo agencies, is missing. Hopefully, I can find it tonight, when I go home. I am not especially optimistic, but I'm crossing my fingers. Oh well, if worse comes to worse, my agency can always fax a copy to me. It's going to be a bit of a pain in the butt to take off work and drive to St. Cloud to deliver all of this insane paperwork to the accountant, since I'll probably have to close the print shop. At this point, I'm happy to pay the extension penalty, and just deal with it. I'm just happy that this crap is near an end. One positive thing about this crazy adventure, has then the fact that I've finally broken down and decided to invest in the services of a professional organizer. My filing system is rather pathetic, and it stresses me out. While surprisingly tidy, it really isn't appropriate for an office, and it is clearly the work of an amateur Vas. It is in moments like this, when I really miss yellowchameleon, who I hope had an absolutely wonderful birthday. Fortunately, this professional organizer seems pretty decent, and she still seemed willing to work with me after I told her that I have worked as a cheesecake model, and after explaining to her about my underground comic book work. She seemed or really positive and nice, and her specialty is to create an organizational system that closely resembles the logic of the mess, rather than inflict some California Organizer anal-retentive thingy upon someone whose eyes into a glazed pair of glass orbs that express nothing but a sense of quiet desperation and a hatred for straight lines. Straight and boxy works for some people, but Vas sometimes has difficulty fitting into boxes or doing the straight thing, if you know what I mean.
Easter was extraordinarily sucky for me My decision to finally get the hell out of the closet about my art and the fact that I'm a dyke, Loki and my mutual decision to stand up to relatives that gossip maliciously against other relatives, and a work schedule that prevents us from going to every single little event regardless of guilt trip, do not seem to have gone over well with most of the relatives on his maternal side. My food sensitivities and allergies only seem to make the situation worse. I'm not going to get into too many details (because frankly that's my husband's battle,) but the crux of the matter is this: if we are going to get guilt-tripped into going to family functions, and then treated like we are pariahs when we get there, then we are not going to go. That's all there is to it. On the super positive side, my mother-in-law deserves super props! As some of you know, at the beginning of my marriage, she she and I had the stereotypical mother and daughter-in-law relationship, which frankly was not good at all. Over the years, thankfully, she and I have developed an understanding, and now I can honestly say without any hesitation that I love my mother-in-law to pieces. She worked very hard to improve our relationship, and I would publicly like to say that I'm very proud of her. My siblings-in-law are pretty cool too. My father-in-law is grouchy, as he always has been, but that's part of his charm. My husband is headed the same crusty old man direction, so I am totally sympathetic. The day before Easter, my mom served Loki and I all wonderful lamb lunch with wonderfully garlicky potatoes, and her usual fascinating conversation. On the same day, Loki and I were looking at an old-school ammonia, the diazo blueprint copier. I am almost certain that thing will stink like high hell and the lines will be blue, but on the positive side, we finally have our very first large-scale printer on the way. The price is right, and one of the townships advised me that if I do get it, they will be using it quite a bit to say that I am pumped, is quite a huge understatement.
On other wacky business related news, I made my first majorly expensive mistake, on a print job. It was a $300 mistake. While I am glad that I found a satisfactory resolution to the problem that pleased everyone, (except me, but I'm the one who screwed up, so I have no right to complain,) I am kind of annoyed that I can get the fancy fax machine that I had my eye on. Boo-hoo!
Business Tip: if you do retail, are located anywhere near the St. Cloud area and your city regulations allow for it, I highly recommend calling up DeZürik's Portable Sign Company, in getting one of those nifty black signs. This seriously has been the best form of advertising, I've ever done. The return-on-investment has been phenomenal. 320-293-4118 is the number. I am not getting paid for this endorsement, it's just that good. Enough with the plugging.
I'm working on a Ace and Bog right now, as I am speaking this entry. I normally don't wait until the very last minute to do my comics. I'm usually done with them a week in advance, however this week has been stressful, full of work, and just plain bizarre. To make matters worse, it's planting and cutting season in the world of potatoes. The weather has been stupid so the planting has been delayed, however, cutting and piling of potatoes wait for no man, so Loki has been working ridiculous hours controlling the huge potato Mecha robot-arm (I'll have to get a picture of that one of these days.) As a result, I have been more bitterly understaffed than usual, but what can you do. I am glad comic is finally getting done, because I am not going to let all of the faithful fans, who tune in every week to read about Ace being an exhibitionist wiseass or, Mat being a cat tree. It is my duty. I will be so glad when life gets back to normal.
By request, team Rasputin has added
something new for those of you who follow any of the two Upir's Mark serials on Sucka.US or, the freaky adult site. I am sure a few of you MySpace fiends will appreciate it.
I've come to a rather interesting conclusion about most of life's problems. Sleep can solve a surprisingly large number of them. I should sleep more often. Thankfully the weekend is coming up. So I will be doing a little game of catch-up than. But aside from Ace and bog. I have a rather large number of graphic design and jobs on the slab. In addition to some book illustration jobs. So life is going to be a little nuts for me, this Friday. I'll manage, especially if I get to bed before 2 a.m., which is the plan right now. And judging from the art work, grays and bog it looks like I'm almost there. Go me!
Wish me luck, as I will be entering my first animation contest. I am hell-bent on winning it. The feature is will be adults-only and very, very disturbing, so if you want to see it, you need to let me know or go to the adult site. When I give you more information. So far it looks pretty good, but I have a ways to go and accidentally deleted 342 frames, some of bit behind schedule. But the deadline is May 1, so I'm not going to sweat it too much.
That's it for now. Man I really need to catch up on my reading of people's blogging adventures. I feel SO out of the loop. I finally finished inking the comic (I didn't feel like using the Wacom tablet tonight,) and now I need to letter it. That means, I have to finish this post and free up Dragon NaturallySpeaking to do my nefarious typing for me. Cheers!
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vaslittlecrow