The past few days have been kind of eventful.  I've been living in interesting times, and I haven't been liking it.

Our car isn't doing so hot.  Seems there's something up with the engine.  An engineering fault, really.  There's even a tech bulletin out on it.  I've been taking it to the shop to get it looked at, but now I have to take it to the dealership.  I'm not too thrilled about that, to tell the truth.  I'll do that next week.  I have to go to work tonight, and that'll keep me busy until then.

But the car is manageable.  That's not what had me worried.  What had me worried was our cat.

Or kitten, I should say.  His name is Bear, and he's an American Shorthair cat.  Just your basic black cat.  He's not seven months old, and we just had him neutered.  Well, he stopped eating and drinking a few days ago.  We took him to the vet, and he has leukemia.  Not happy about it in the least.  Lenora was really torn up about him not eating or drinking, especially after we lost Abby.

So I went looking online for a vet, and found one that I liked.  Gave them a call, and not only do they have extended hours, they have reasonable prices.  So reasonable, in fact, that they saved us fifty bucks.

They were going to charge us for the doctor's exam, and two tests.  When one of the tests came up positive, then they should have charged us for medicine and some special cat food to put some weight back on him.  Instead, they charged us for the doctor's visit, the medicine, and the food.  Not charging us for the tests was a bonus, and it ended up being less than we initially would have paid for the visit and the tests.  

So, we've found a vet for life.

We gave Bear his medicine last night, and there's been improvement in him already!  He's talking more (Bear's a talker, especially when Lenora's around), and best of all, he's drinking water.  We just have to finish his regimen of medicine and make sure he continues on the road to recovery.  That's always a good thing, right?

I'm hungry.  Going to have some pizza soon.  

Comics!  Every day that passes is a day closer to my big project coming to fruition.  The editor that I'm working with (and his partners) loved the pitch, so that's done.  The three page script has been written and edited, with only minor changes there.  I'd like to say that my writing has improved because I write as well as edit, and he did say that it was good work that was done there.  There weren't a lot of changes that needed to be made.  I got the tone done pretty easily, and had to cut some words (you know that I'm wordy), but it flowed together pretty well.  I honestly don't think he had a ton of work to do with it.  That comes later.  Heh.  Anyway, he also found an artist, like I said, and some sketches of me were done, as well as some layouts.

Well, I've got the inked pages in my inbox, and they're gorgeous.  Absolutely.  Now, the pages just need to be colored and lettered.  I'm waiting to see how they turn out.  It should be good.  After that, it's off to publishers to see what they say.  I have my own internal timeframe for what I'd like to see happen, and we'll see if that gibes with reality.

My Italian artist, Sara, is also sending me in page after beautiful page of Group.  I have a logo for it now and a letterer onboard.  Those pages should be done soon.  Right now, I have 9 pages in total, and she has more than 20 pages of script.  If we went live today, going with the original plan of each of us publishing a page a week, Sara and I are 8 weeks ahead, which means as long as she sent me a page a week, we'd be EXTREMELY ahead of the curve.  Nice, right?

I'm still waiting on pages from Cristhian, a Brazilian artist that's working with me on another project.  He was looking for a sci-fi story, and I presented him with Annie O.N.E.  He liked it, and we're moving forward on it.  He's already done sketches of the characters, and has sent over pencils of the first four pages, and inks of the first page.  All we need is five pages in order to take it to a few different companies.  Of course, I'll let you know how that works out.

I may also be working with another artist on a different webcomic.  We've been trying to get together to do something for a while now.  I sent him over the first half of a script of a relatively short story- 44 pages- and he loved what he read.  I recently sent him over the second half.  We'll see how he likes that, and if he wants to do it.  We're also talking about another project to do, and possibly even a third.  Things are looking good!

Oh, and my microfiction is still being published.  Flashes in the Dark.  I've finally (I know!) put it in my links.  Enjoy, and write some comments!

I was about to sign off, but I don't think I mentioned it: Prince is dropping not one, not two, but THREE albums this year!  That has me jazzed beyond belief!  Yes, I'll be getting them not long after they drop.  We'll see how the funds run.  However, depending on when he drops the first one, I have to also get Lenora some Rosie Gaines for her birthday.  She's fallen in love with her voice.  The bad part is that I have to get the songs from Europe.  That's where she did most of her recording.  I don't mind, though.  I love her, and she's definitely worth it.

And I'll be getting another tatoo soon.  I have a gift card for one, so it'll be sometime near the end of Feb, if not March.  I'll show it when it's done.

Okay, I've bored you all enough.  I'm done for now.  Talk to you in a few days.

Go read some David Gerrold.  You'll thank me for it.