The Art of Tim

I really fucked myself up last night.

We went to a BYOB Halloween party over a friend’s house. Things started out ok. Matt and I went out shopping last minute for costumes yesterday afternoon. After much driving around, and much searching, we finally found what we were looking for. He was going as Clark Kent, so he got a blue Superman shirt to wear under a half-unbuttoned dress shirt. I was going as Peter Parker, so I got one of those spandex Spiderman costumes to wear under my jeans and button down shirt. The Spidey costume was one piece, and too big. So I cut the legs off the costume, turning it into a shirt. We then sewed me into the Spidey costume so that it was as form-fitted as possible.

Once we were ready, we swung by the liquor store. I picked up some Triple Black for the party, and a bottle of Captain Morgan’s for myself. At the party, we played some Munchkin, watched some movies, etc. I finished off the bottle of Cap’n and was feeling pretty drunk. I should have stopped there, but I didn’t. See, I have always been able to get drunk without any consequences. I’ve never had a hangover in my life, and I haven’t thrown up drinking since early high school.

My first mistake came when I, already drunker than anyone at the party, decided to join in on a drinking game. My second mistake came when I decided to mix coke, rum and everclear to use as my drink for said game. Long story short, I remember most of the game, then there’s a blank spot in my memory, then I have a brief recollection of lying flat on my back in the front yard, and then the next thing I remember is waking up in a chair in the living room, wearing a different shirt. I only know what took place after I blacked out thanks to Matt and Briana’s retelling, and the digital pictures as proof.

Apparently my brain had shut down, because I don’t remember any of this, but my body was still running for another two or three hours after I blacked out. I was puking like crazy in the front yard, I was unintelligable, and a total mess. At one point I puked all over the front of my costume, so they had to cut me out of it, after which I continued lying in the grass shirtless for a couple of hours. It’s a blessing that I did puke so much, because I was probably walking a very dangerous path to alcohol poisoning, and I would have woken up in much worse shape than I did if all of that alcohol had stayed in my system.

The only reason I got through last night was because of the friends I had around who took care of me. I have never, ever been that drunk in my entire life. I drank so much, that even after puking everything out of my system, I still woke up at 9am this morning drunk, and was drunk for the better part of the day. Needless to say, I’m in pretty rough shape today.

I learned a lesson the hard way last night. I’ve decided to swear off drinking for at least the next six months.

Well, it looks like I’m going to be skipping Nekocon next week. It’s a decision I’ve been struggling with for about a week now, and since I told myself I’d make an official decision by tomorrow, and I’m still leaning towards staying here, I think I’m going to opt to skip the convention.

I was talking to my friend Brian Carroll yesterday, and as soon as I mentioned that I was considering skipping the convention, he knew why. I didn’t even have to tell him. The bottom line is that I’m too busy, and too worn out. I don’t think I have another convention in me this year. I still haven’t gotten a vacation. I can count on one hand the number of days off I’ve had in the past year, and I haven’t had two days off back to back in almost two years.

At the beginning of this year I moved, then I had Katsucon and I-CON, then I busted my ass getting Volume One put together, then I had ConnectiCon and Otakon, then I busted my ass getting the books shipped, and then when I was finally gearing up to take my vacation, we found an apartment in Connecticut, and I had to move again. Then I had Ubercon, and now I’m shipping books again. I’m burned out. I need to recouperate. I’d rather work hard, get some comics and stuff done, and take a week vacation, than work hard, get some comics done, just to drive ten hours south and spend a weekend tiring myself out and getting further behind in my work. I’m just not up for it, mentally for physically.

I’ll make my official announcement in the newspost tomorrow, whatever I decide. I’m scrapping my entire convention schedule for next year. I’m going to do two conventions, Connecticon and Otakon, and that’s it.

So I saw Kevin Smith speak on Friday night. Was pretty entertaining. He talked for an impressive five and a half hours. There was a decent crowd… nothing like he got at some of the larger colleges on the “Evening with…” DVD, but large nonetheless. I speak in front of crowds regularly, at conventions and whatnot, but the longest Q&A I’ve done was one and a half hours. It was an incredible panel and an unforgettable experience, but it seriously kicked my ass. Afterwards my voice was threatening to flee, and I was just physically drained. I can’t imagine going for five plus hours.

I took most of yesterday off. I spent the morning relaxing, but around two or three I started getting all restless like “oh shit, I haven’t done any work yet”, and then I had to remember that I was attempting to take the day off. I did end up doing a little bit of work, simply because I have apparently forgotten how to not work.

I’m feeling better today though, so I figure by tomorrow this head cold will be almost unnoticeable.

We’ve got new neighbors… some people moved into the apartment downstairs. They’re pretty anti-social. Hippie artist types apparently. I went down and talked to one of them… some guy with nappy dreads and shit, and every other phrase out of his mouth was “right on”. Whatever.

Somewhat less crappy. I don’t know what I was doing with this sketch.

Ugh. I’m getting sick, methinks. A couple of days ago I fought off a sore throat, and now I’ve got a stuffy nose. Hate teh sick.

Looks like I’m going to see Kevin Smith tonight. He’s speaking at the University of Hartford, and Matt got some tickets. I really shouldn’t go… I don’t even really want to go… I’ve got a lot of work I should get done, and this means having to drive an hour up to Hartford, dealing with the crowd and traffic, then coming back. But this is probably one of those things I shouldn’t pass up. If for no other reason than to be able to say “yeah, I saw Kevin Smith”. Whatever.

Crap.

A sketch I did during Ubercon, and then today’s sketch.

Ubercon was fun. Got totally smashed on Saturday night. Fell into the shower and blasted through the ceramic soap dish with my shoulder. Got most of the drunkeness on tape. Got to hang out with Brian (Clevinger) a lot, as well as my regular circle of friends, Matt, Brian Carroll and Mookie. Most free time was spent in the room playing 8-person Burnout 3 Crash Party.

My primary goal right now is to get as much work done as possible before I have to head down to Virginia for Nekocon. At least Risa will be there.

I’m organizing a Halo 2 release party for the weekend after Nekocon. I know Brian and Aido will come, and Mookie will come down from Boston. I’m hoping that Ian J. and Josh Mirman will drive up from New York.

We had a big housewarming party last night. At one point there was probably between 15-20 people in this apartment. Everyone started off with some board and card games. I attempted to get some work done, since Ubercon is coming up very shortly. Unfortunately it was too distracting with all of the noise and the heat (started to get very warm in the house), so I gave up and watched Donnie Darko with everyone. Some people hadn’t seen it before, but I’ve seen it like six times now. It was pretty cool the first time, but after that the movie is just tedious and boring.

Britanny took a break from schoolwork to stop by and watch the movie with us. She mentioned to me later that she thought she was getting a flu big that her roommate had. Don’t get sick, Britanny! Feel better hun.

After the movie things started to die down, so I brought out Burnout 3 on my new TV, and we ended up spending at least a few hours playing eight player Crash Party. We played until about 1am, but people had to work in the morning. It was a good time.

I’ve got to concentrate on getting prepared for Ubercon, which includes drawing some comics in advance. Again.

After Nekocon I won’t be doing any conventions until next spring. Thank god.

I pulled out of my slump late last night, and scripted the entire storyline which I started today. Scripting is often the hardest part about creating the comic, so with that out of the way, all that’s left is to draw them, which is time consuming, but fairly easy. Perhaps I’ll even be able to get ahead on a few comics.

I’d like to introduce you all to the newest member of the family… my new 51″ Sony HDTV:

It arrived this afternoon, a day late, but better than never. We’re planning to christen it this evening with the Star Wars Trilogy. We needed an epic movie to break in the new TV, and since the final installement of the LOTR trilogy isn’t available yet (an extra 50 minutes of footage is worth the wait though), Star Wars is the next obvious choice.

We’re having a housewarming party here tomorrow night. A bunch of people are coming over to hang out. My friend Mookie is coming down from Boston, and it will be great to hang out with him outside of a convention setting.

Well, we went to Gotham last nite for Britanny’s birthday. It was still pretty early, so the place was dead. I had a couple of drinks while Britanny looked for her friends. After I had a decent buzz going, Britanny and Briana pulled me onto the dance floor a couple of times. Things started to pick up, I had more to drink, you know the deal. It was an interesting place.

This morning I woke up nice and early, excited because our new TV was supposed to arrive between 9:30 and 11:30. Around 10am I get a call from Best Buy to let me know the truck broke down. They tried to fix it, but decided to just tow it, and would it be ok if they delivered the TV tomorrow instead. Sand blasted sonuvabitch.

The rest of the day I seem to have become afflicted with that unnamed disease whereby you just have so much to do, that you don’t feel motivated to do any of it. So I’ve been in sort of a funk all afternoon. I’m hoping I can pull out of it tonight (I often work better at night anyway) because I really need to get a couple of comics drawn. And Ubercon next weekend… dear god, how will I manage.

Ahh well. Perhaps if I take a shower, and get out of the clothes I slept in all night, I’ll feel a bit more energized.