“SNIKT!” for the Cure (or ‘Perry Vs. The Tumors’)

Maybe you know my friend Perry, maybe you don’t. If you do, you know how lucky you are. If you don’t, allow me to introduce him.

Husband, father, Christian, Jedi Master; there’s a lot of labels you could use to describe Perry. But if I had to choose one, and only one, it would be the following: “stand-up guy”. Perry’s a genuinely good guy, straight through to the core; he wouldn’t even hurt a fly – unless that fly was harassing a second, weaker fly for its lunch money, in which case I pity the fly.

I met Perry when I was homeless some years ago, and he quickly became a good friend, always there to listen, to help out, or sometimes just hang out, and his friendship meant (and means) a lot to me.

If I could choose a second label to saddle Perry with, it would be “consummate geek”. There are, of course, myriad species of geek; Perry is the rarer yellow-breasted comic-book nerd (Xavieris Loganicus). He and his wife even partially financed their home by selling off some valuable comics they found in the discount bin (“first appearance of Captain Spandex” type stuff).

A little while ago, Perry was at the doctor’s and heard the word nobody wants to hear: cancer. It turns out he has two masses, one on each of his kidneys. Despite the kind of terror, despair, and stress that necessarily follows such a diagnosis, Perry has remained remarkably strong throughout, and from a distance (we’re on opposite sides of the world) I’ve seen his network of friends converge on him in a moving and touching display of love and support.

He’s already undergone surgery on one kidney, and is coming up on the surgery for the other (June 10th). So here’s his proposition.

“SNIKT” FOR THE CURE

With Perry’s second surgery coming up, he’s decided to use the opportunity to raise money for cancer research. The idea is simple:

If he can raise $1,000 for The V Foundation, he pledges to go to his next surgery on June 10th dressed as Wolverine.

He’s even got the hair and the beard just waiting to be crafted into the iconic Wolverine ‘do.

It’s on the honor system. You just make your donation directly to The V Foundation in whatever amount you can (anything helps), then just drop Perry a line letting him know how much you gave. No verification needed; he’s trusting people to be decent and honest about it.

I know times are tough, but please consider helping out in any way you can. Donate or share this and pass along the info, and help us raise money for cancer research.

Thanks for reading. Have a good one.

How are you?

“How are you, honestly?” This is a question I wish I had someone to ask me. When I left the U.S., I feel like I left my friends – I rarely hear from any of them any more – and it’s been hard to make new friends in a foreign culture. But I wish I had some. Because the truth is, I’m miserable, and it’s entirely my fault.

Don’t get me wrong – I adore my beautiful son, and I take great joy (and pride) in him. I love my beautiful wife, and I take great joy in her companionship. But just about everything else is falling to pieces.

In the past, I’ve made a LOT of bad choices, and I have never done a great or even good job of being an adult. Recently, I’ve tried very hard to change all that – to change me. But as much as I try to move toward the positive and away from the negative, it seems as if the negative still heavily outweighs the positive.

I’ve poisoned, if you will, my present situation with my past actions. I’ve made the people around me miserable. I’ve almost destroyed my marriage. My SO is (justifiably) angry much of the time. I don’t have a job worth mentioning. We don’t have much. And I can attribute those to my past actions.

In reality, I’m nowhere near this close to the light at the end…

I feel like I’m getting there with the “change yourself” goal. I’ve figured out a few things that help me get past the confusing hurdles in my brain and actually get things done. I’ve learned how to take the initiative a bit, instead of just reacting (I know my wife would love it if I took much more of the initiative in life).

And I’ve been working hard to find a better job. Unfortunately, it’s a very aggressive job market right now, and I don’t have many skills I can bring to the table. The years I spent working in customer service and sales & marketing are almost completely cancelled out by my less than perfect grasp of French. Higher education is so much easier to achieve here that employers don’t understand why you wouldn’t have a degree. Even things like dishwashing and manual labor are hard to find.

I’m desperate for a real job. I’m desperate to fix what I’ve broken. And I’m desperate for a chance to bring my family forward into a better time. But to do that, I have to keep fighting off the negativity I’ve created, fighting off the urge to give up and weep, and keep moving forward, tiny step by tiny step, looking for the positive.

Allie Brosh, Welcome Back!

Artwork from Allie’s latest post

For Day 29 of the 30 Day Drawing Challenge we just wrapped up, I posted about how much I wished Allie Brosh, one of my favorite cartoonists and bloggers, would come back to the internet after being absent for almost two years. Her hysterically self-centered story-telling coupled with her crude yet detailed and skillful Paint drawings make her blog posts a pleasure to read, and re-read (and re-read, and re-read again).

And, lo and behold, a little more than a week later, she’s back! Of course, I’m not arrogant enough to assume that this has anything to do with what I posted, but it’s a fun coincidence.

All she’s posted this point is an explanation of where she’s been and why she’s back, but I hope and expect to see many more wonderful posts from her.

There’s not much more to add to that, except to repeat that if you haven’t checked out her blog and her art, you really should. You will laugh. Guaranteed.

If you missed the links above, here’s one more link to her blog, Hyperbole and a Half. And now, here’s one more of my favorite images from her last post:

Artwork from Allie Brosh’s latest post

Disclaimer for the slow ones: If you somehow missed that fact, both images used in this post are the work of Allie Brosh. Also, you shouldn’t be so foolish as to misconstrue my unauthorized use of her artwork to mean that she approves of what I post or is even aware of this blog.

The End Of An Era – Or At Least A Challenge

Another drawing challenge knocked out, and now it’s time for the obligatory wrap-up.

And, “truth gun” to my head, I’m a bit disappointed with how this one went. During the last drawing challenge we did, I pushed myself to try new techniques and keep trying to ramp up the quality and detail of my work (such as“Couple”, one of my wife’s favorites). This time around, although I do feel I got some good shots in (examples: “Slender”, “Space”, and “Can’t Hear You”), more often than not I was in a rush and I feel like the drawings I posted represented, at best, a disappointingly moderate effort on my part.

Participation was another disappointing area. We started out as 10 or so bloggers, ready to draw our way to glory. Only three of us limped across the finish. Some stalled right out of the gate, not even getting to day 10, and half didn’t make it past the halfway point. Maybe next time though.

Apart from the drawing aspect of this challenge, another goal of mine was to increase my number of readers; the last month has added another 21 fine folks to the reader ranks - I suppose I have to call that a success, but not the level of success I’d have liked, and I attribute that to the moderate effort I put into this challenge.

I also wanted to increase reader participation, but that has proven mysteriously difficult to stimulate.

Now that it’s over, I’m looking forward to doing another drawing challenge, but think I owe some non-art posts along with anything else I post.

And so ends the wrap-up. Until next time.

For Those About To Rock…

A Concert Moment, Day 30, 30 DAY CHALLENGE

ZZ Top, David Bowie, AC/DC, Ozzy, CCR, Jethro Tull, Sting (only because my wife loves him) – these are all concerts I would love to go to. But the sad fact of the matter is, I’m boring; I’m a (nearly) 30-year-old dad who’s been to two concerts in his life. That number doubles if I’m allowed to count orchestras, and only doubles again if I get to count live musicals and dance troupes.

I’ve seen more live speakers than concerts. Seen more musicals and live plays. But only two concerts.

The last was Manheim Steamroller, with my parents, right as they were getting ready to release Manheim Meets the Mouse (where Disney contracted them to cover classic Disney tunes, like Hakuna Matata, and Under The Sea), so it was included in the concert as a preview. And that was awesome.

And the first concert I ever went to, for my friend’s birthday, was Weird Al Yankovic. Those that know me probably aren’t surprised I’ve been to a Weird Al concert.

Anyway, the prompt said a concert moment, not my concert moment. So I drew a moment from the type of concert I’d like to go to. Hope you liked it.

And while I’m building up my future concerts list, if I didn’t mention any bands you think I absolutely must see, let me know in the comments, would ya?

Our other participants:
Niki Nowell
Bill Davis
GirlyGeeky
Free2B2Much
Niki Turner
Notes From The Backseat
Zoe Nowell
Marilyn Quinsaat [posting on Facebook]

Allie Brosh, Please Come Back

“Internet Meme” – Day 29, 30 Day Drawing Challenge Part II

Maybe you’re not familiar with Hyperbole and a Half, well, nobody’s perfect. Hyperbole and a half is the public face of a woman named Allie Brosh; a collection of stories and illustrations about her life. And it is hilarious.

She does all of her illustrations in Paintbrush (same as Paint), but don’t let that fool you; the imaginative and intentionally primitive drawings match perfectly with the humorous tone of her writings as she walks the reader through everyday events which become outrageously funny when seen through her eyes.

Here are some of my favorites – if you don’t laugh at these, you might not have a sense of humor. You should have that checked out.

• How A Fish Almost Destroyed My Childhood
• The Party
• The Alot
• The God Of Cake
• And of course, the post that inspired a very popular meme, half of which I used as my drawing, This Is Why I’ll Never Be An Adult

Sadly, Allie’s last post was in 2011, when she posted about some serious depression issues (while still managing to be incredibly fun and funny – you know that’s got to be hard). Though she is scheduled to be releasing a book of stories soon, her blog now lays abandoned. But there’s still more than enough to keep you entertained for a long time, especially considering that the stories are pretty re-readable.

Every month or so – sometimes multiple times in a month – I check in over at Hyperbole and a Half, just to see if Allie came back. I would do an inane little happy dance if she did, but she hasn’t yet. Until she does, I’ll keep checking and hoping.

Maybe if we made a petition and sent it to her? What do you think?

Our other participants:
Niki Nowell
Bill Davis
GirlyGeeky
Free2B2Much
Niki Turner
Notes From The Backseat
Zoe Nowell
Marilyn Quinsaat [posting on Facebook]

A Hobo – Day 28 of 30 Day Drawing Challenge Part II

No hobo. Just a bindle.

Our other participants:
Niki Nowell
Bill Davis
GirlyGeeky
Free2B2Much
Niki Turner
Notes From The Backseat
Zoe Nowell
Marilyn Quinsaat [posting on Facebook]