It's a challenge trying to post when fatigue wants you to sleep...

I went out to get some groceries today, thanks to help from a friend. Spending most of my time indoors has left me with a bit of cabin fever.

I also worked on the Mind Map for another new project. With my latest Apacalypse zine in, I wanted to start working on the next one. Re-reading old issues of another rpg APA I used to be part of, it saddened me to see the breadth of output from others... compared to it, I really haven't been producing that much. This has to change.

Sorry it's been 5 days since my last update here... my current relapse is making it harder to type - although I seem pretty fast hen-pecking with my left-hand alone. :]

I had to cancel out of a few things because of this... not being able to put much weight on that arm makes it hard to walk (I need a cane in each hand for balance), and my current building has stairs; when I get Adapted Housing, I won't have that problem to deal with.

Meanwhile, Unemployment screwed me over: I'd been told it would start in 3 weeks; this is the third, and no money. I called in, to find out it starts next week; according to the person I spoke to, the person who gave me a date couldn't make decisions... that makes me feel so much better.

This has probably been mentioned all over, but I wanted to note it here as well:

Cartoon pioneer William Hanna dead at 90

As a graduate of animation school, the limited nature of this work bothered me... but you can't demean the appeal and recognition of The Flintstones or Scooby-Doo, or any of the hundreds of other characters created by Hanna and Barbera.

A pity: I just tried to locate songs by The House Jacks through Bearshare with no luck. I know that former member Austin Willacy has a solo career going now, as he had an MP3 available on Tucows last year. I can't find the band's CDs anywhere though.

A cappela is a music style I enjoy almost as much as Jazz. I've heard some tremendous pieces by people singing without any instruments, their voices filling in all the sound.

I achieved a personal victory today: I produced my first Pagemaker document! It took a little bouncing between a tutorial book and the program, and I'm sure my document isn't the most impressive looking ever made yet... but mostly I was pleased with how easily it came together.

That I was able to do it 1.5-handed too (I'm in a relapse, and my right arm is a bit fuzzy) was a good sign too.

The second day of spring today, and Mother Nature is playing a mean prank on us...

It started to snow again this morning. 15 centimeters (about 6 inches) of the white stuff, so far not melting away.

To think: yesterday, I was seeing a large percentage of the winter snows gone, my mood improving tremendously... Mother Nature, you can be cruel sometimes!

Blogging does have a negative side-effect: such rapid updating often leads to sloppy proof-reading.

I've been guilty of this far too many times: hours or even days after posting something to a Blog, I re-read it and discover tons of typos that I let slip by.

Frustrating, because I'm a Website designer by trade. Proofing pages before uploading is something I double- and even triple-check usually... yet I still make mistakes here.

Village Peoples leatherman dies. I tracked down his name now: Glenn Hughes.

"All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray. I went for a walk... at the YMCA..."

Sad news yesterday of the death of two parts of my pop-culture heritage. I wanted to commemorate both yesterday, but a system freeze kept me from doing so.

John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas was announced dead from heart failure yesterday, at the age of 65.

When I was a subway singer, "California Dreamin'" was a staple for me. The harmonies, the lyrics... they were just special. "Monday Monday" was also a great song.

Although the group only had 5 songs known, they were still a part of the cultural fabric of my life, and he will be deeply missed.

What drives it home even more: my dad is only 62 (not that 65 was that old). He just had heart surgery last November.

Unnamed (for now) from The Village People. I feel awful that I don't have his name handy right now, but I'll track it down. He was even younger: a mere 51.

True, the Village People get a lot of snorts of derision for their style of music, its sexual implications, or the fact the group didn't know how to play instruments... but can you think of a wedding or Bar Mitzvah which you didn't hear "YMCA" at in the past decade or so? Remember the karaoke gag using them in Wayne's World 2?

If anything, no matter the jokes, they brought FUN to the music scene. He will also be missed.

The first day of spring today. How sad that it had to start with good-byes.

I went out a few minutes ago to get myself lunch. The snow is continuing to melt, the weather is milder than we're used to...

Ghod willing, this means winter is ending.

Granted, we've had much colder winters in the past. I think that after the last few mild ones, we just aren't prepared to handle a real one.

Still, even though summertime leaves me frazzled too, I won't cry once there's no more snow or ice on the ground.

My apartment currently smells heavily of Verithane... my upstairs neighbor moved on Monday (she's 80, and her balance is as bad as mine; she needed a place without stairs). The landlord was refurbishing her place yesterday - which meant Verithane-ing it.

The message on my answering machine said the smell should only last a few hours. It's over a day already.

Wordwombs. -and they say the Internet killed reading...

Wall Street sees cautious gains. Unfortunately, my Yahoo! shares are on the NASDAQ - which fell again. sigh

Neil Gaiman | American Gods. This is cool: one of the most popular scribes in the comic field now has his own Blog!

Week two of unemployment isn't going great. Welfare has changed their rules, and I now have to produce reams of stuff for them to even consider giving me money... meanwhile, I'm trying to stretch out what few funds I have until such time I have more; it isn't going great so far.

Recount shows Gore had won. Proof positive that the US Electoral system is in sore need of fixing.

I surprised myself with my prolificity (if that's a real word) today: I'm now 5 zines away from finishing my Mailing Comments for the next Comicopia - and deadline is still a month away! Plus, considering that one of the zines is my own - which takes a short paragraph in mention - that'll be finished by Tuesday.

I'm trying to get everything done sooner, because this will be my first zine composed using Pagemaker... I want to give myself a lot of time to practice getting it right.

Day Three of Unemployment today. I rested for the most part, but also worked on some of my project proposals. I set the entire mind map outline for one on paper (a link to that is below). I already had most of it in my head, but I wanted to make sure I didn't forget any of it.

Basic intro to mind maps. This isn't chronologically accurate, but it'll make more sense once you read the post above it.

'OVER 20 YEARS SINCE I STARTED THIS PROJECT' BUSIEK, PÉREZ TO DO 'JLA/AVENGERS' MINISERIES . It's finally coming: a JLA/Avengers crossover!

I rarely talk about comics in this Blog, but I've been a fan of the medium for over 20 years - more than the time since George Pérez first mentions beginning on it.

I'd given up hope of this story ever happening; now, it'll be a reality.

Hobbsblog II. I like the thoughtful nature of the posts I read here. My system is giving me Javascript errors trying to Blog it the easier way - AGAIN - so I used the traditional "cut and paste" method.

Napster given 72 hour deadline. Well, the 'victory' of record-exec morons continues a-pace.

I think I can safely predict that this year's record sales won't set any records as a result of this.

I saw my only living Great Aunt tonight. My parents brought her to my sister to see her twin daughters (she'd never seen twins), and came by on the way back.

I hadn't seen this Aunt since my sister's wedding, almost 6 years ago. She's changed... she's now really looking her age of 86, where she still looked very strong the last time I saw her.

She's the only living member of her generation of my family, my only source for adding an entire branch of information to my family tree... I have to see her soon.

I spoke too soon. I was able to Blog that site, but the FTP connection isn't working for once. sigh

Backup Brain. Amazing -- I was able to Blog This! without getting a Javascript error stopping me!

I like what I read on this weblog. The writer's "voice" comes across very well.

What a surreal day today: officially, it was the last day of my contract. I got my final pay, my 4%, my cessation letter for Unemployment...

I should be more upset than I feel right now - but I know I'm going back on Monday, may be doing a few more days of work to get the Flash site done (why is that Queen song running through my head now? "...savior of the universe!"). As well, if the government approves their next grant application, I'll be back there at the end of March, for another 18 months.

I guess that's why I'm not more worked up.