Wherefore art Layman? Beset by computer woes and calamity!

Well, shit, here's another New Year's resolution down the tubes. You know, I meant to blog every day, but with a kid and a job, and trying to play Warcraft and write on the side, this damn blog is just falling through the cracks, and I apologize.

Plus, I had some big computer problems that sidelined me recently. I was all ready to post a bunch of cool pictures on the web, but first I updated to Apple Leopard --not knowing the new MAC OS is ABSOLUTELY incompatible with Photoshop 7. I don't have a spare $700 around for the new Photoshop, and didn't have the connections to steal it, so I reinstalled Panther onto my Mac.... BIG MISTAKE... I ended up losing a ton of stuff, and I had all sorts of headaches. In the end, I got most of it back, except for the music. I have it all on disc, but it's gonna be a pain in the ass to move it all over.

Anyway, that's why I have not blogged recently. As a reward to you, all my breathless fans who check back here every day. Here is a picture of Bumble Buzz. Sometimes I'm so busy adoring Reggie I forget that Bumble Buzz is an big ol' fuzzy sweetie too!





P.S.: I ended up going the legal route, buying Photoshop Elements and installing it on all my computers. It's like Photoshop for dummies, but it pretty much has the same features, at least for my purposes.

My 2007 Xmas present constructed --and MORE!

A rare mis-step for Lego. I broke my own self imposed rule, that I only buy Star Wars Legos that are A) from the classic original trilogy and B) canon. That is, no made-up bullshit. But the idea of a TIE fighter that doubled as a tank was freaking irresistible to me.

Sadly, this set broke Lego's #1 rule, that building it should be fun. There were simply too damn many of the same parts, and by the end of the first wing/tread thingie, I was bored and dreading building the second. Lego should have used the one-piece plastic tread the use for their digger, and other construction equipment, and it would have made the set a little less cool, but way less tedious to build, and it also would have kept the price point way below the ridiculous asking price of $50. At this price, the only people buying it are Star Wars Lego completists, suckers, and people like me who can't resist the idea of a TIE fighter tank hybrid.

I was a little annoyed at Lego, but today I got the new catalog in the mail, and there are no less than four new sets that I HAVE to have.

So all is forgiven, Lego. Meesa wuv you again!




Also, as long as we are here, check out some new additions to The Layman Lego Project:

2007: The Year in Review

At the stroke of midnight, 2008, we were consoling Carter, who has a molar coming in, and a cold, and is sick and miserable, when he throws up all over himself and Kim. I sorta wish he would have thrown up on me, too, 'cause that would have pretty much summed up 2007 for me.

2007 was a terrible year.

Know this, when I'm not blogging, it's not because I am too busy, or having too good a time to find the time to blog. I don't blog because I am depressed, and I spent a lot of 2007 being miserably depressed. Sure, I was busy, with a new kid and lack of sleep, and all that goes with it, plus a move and a new job, but, mostly, I was just depressed.

If you emailed me and I did not get back to you, or lagged severely and then wrote something short, that was probably why.

2007 sucked.

2007 saw the release of my biggest selling, most commercial comic, which just so happened to be mired in so much behind-the-scenes bullshit with one of the publishers it completely poisoned the project for me. At the same time, the rest of my comics "career" came to a inexplicable, crashing halt, and the work just simply dried up, and never returned. At the end of 2006 I was juggling five different comics, and I'd been hustling for 5 years to reach that point. When it all just stopped cold, it was absolutely devastating to me. As result, I took a job in the video game industry (funny how the much more lucrative video game industry has been far kinder to me in 3 years than comics ever was in nearly 15.) I moved from my own house, to a tiny apartment, away from a city I loved to a place that is little more than a vast expanse of freeways and stripmalls. I left behind a tight circle of friends, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't miss Seattle, my house and my friends. I got to live closer to my parents, and get a closer look as my Alzheimer's afflicted Dad went from daffy old man, to walking zombie who could not recognize either me or my mother. He had multiple strokes the week before x-mas, and is now in bed, waiting to die, not able to walk, not able to talk, not even able to chew. I went and saw him a couple of days ago, which will surely be the last time I see him alive, and he looked more terrible and wretched then I could ever imagine.

It wasn't completely bad. Carter has turned out to be a pretty fun little kid, and my home life is fine. The cats are in good health, and I finally bought my dream car, a Toyota Matrix. I'm going to start blogging a lot more in 2008. And even though I'm effectively right back where I started as a comic book writer when I went freelance 6 years ago -square one- I'm just going to do my own god damn thing, and get my own book up and running again.

Anyway, come back here often. This blog is back, mother fucker!

The year is 2008, AND THIS IS THE WRATH OF LAYMAN!!!!