From the 5th Quadrant -
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01:07 am
[Link] | Finally, I'm back from SF and fully rested. The drive back was uneventful, not cold, and no snow, rain or black ice of any kind. I took a couple of long naps on the way, so got in about 1:00am or so.
But when I got home, I found that the vets had totally mishandled Skeezix, and I'm having a really hard time with that. They told Tom that because Skeezix was very upset and agitated and had bitten people, they would "prefer" that he not be in the room when they did the euthanasia--and Tom actually went along with that! So Skeezix died in fear and pain and the last face he saw was a stranger's who terrified him. This is so very hard for me to understand and deal with. I knew that Skeezix couldn't live long, and I did realize that he could die while I was away--but not like that. Not in a scary vet hospital with people he didn't know. I'm sort of avoiding both Tom and housemate because of this right now and I'm glad he bit them. I sort of feel like biting them, too. I don't understand how Tom could have done something like that.
Here are a couple of pictures.
Elija Snow
Elija lives with the ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) glamtasm and _harbinger_, who I stayed with. He's a gorgeous white cat who is deaf and very shy and standoffish, but on this trip, I was finally able to strike up a cautious friendship with him. His fur is exceptionally soft and thick, wonderful to stroke. I also was able to approach one of their other cats, the elusive Domino, a lovely black and white long haired kitty, but taking a picture of her would have frightened her away.
Mt. Shasta from Weed, CA
on Northbound I-5
I took several shots with the mountain low in the frame so I could get lots of sky and also cut out an annoying chain-link fence. This shot has odd round dark spots (large one to the left of the mountain, and others higher in the sky) that don't show up in any of the other shots and are not specks on the lens. I did not see anything anomalous like that when I took the shot. Maybe it's some of those famous Mt. Shasta UFOs. Or not. But they're very interesting.
WonderCon Saturday and Sunday was very uneven for me. On the one hand, I was very sad about Skeezix. I almost didn't go in Saturday, but there were things I wanted to see, especially the Spotlight on Patrick McDonnell (he does the Mutts comic strip), who was interviewed by David Glen Gold, one of my very favorite authors (Carter Beats the Devil). It made me feel better to look at all the Mutts strips in the slideshow part, and the interview was really interesting and enlightening. Afterwards I got my copy of Carter Beats the Devil (y'all go out and buy it and read it--it is EXCELLENT!) signed, and later on Patrick McDonnell signed a copy of one of his books and did a little sketch of Crabby, my favorite character. Crabby is a crab who swears about and at everything and everyone and some people say he reminds them of me. I #$@%ing don't see why! I found out that my friend and former landlord, Trina Robbins, will be in Portland soon to teach at a comics seminar at the community college! She and Steve Leialoha will also be up here at the local comics show in November. Cool beans! I got to see my old pal Mike Mignola and meet Bruce Timm (he said he recognized my name! WOW!!!!! I'm not worthy....) and talk to Arthur Adams (Arthur gave me a cool little Godzilla toy!) and Joyce Chin, and saw many old friends, at least in passing, that I hadn't seen in some time. Then drifted back to my friend's luxury digs and watched the new BBC Robin Hood--it doesn't suck. What a surprise! I was pretty tired out, so passed on the possibility of seeing a preview screening of Hot Fuzz.
Sunday was more of the same. I had wanted to see the Sam and Max panel, which was about the internet game mostly, so I could see Steve Purcell, who I think I haven't seen in about 10 years or so. It was a really interesting panel, and good to check in with Steve. There are still some unfinished Sam & Max pages and I might get to letter them! They'd probably go into the soon-to-be-released reprint collection. After that was August Ragone's Japanese Monsters presentation, which is always a highlight of the con for me every year (except last year--they didn't have it!), and I never miss it. Auggie has written a book about Eiji Tsubayara, who created Godzilla and many, many others. It's not out til later in the year, but I'm about to pre-order it here: http://www.amazon.com/Eiji-Tsuburaya-Monsters-Defending-Ultraman/dp/0811860787/ref=sr_1_1/102-5076314-0175306?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173259677&sr=1-1 This is going to be a VERY good book, with tons and tons of photos. Yeah, it's $40. Even I'm ponying up for it! The presentation included the first episode of the new Ultraman series, which looks very, VERY fun. Unfortunately, this all took place at the same time as Nathan Fillion's appearance. I was sad to miss him, but... it was Japanese Monsters! Dai Kaiju ga dai suki yo! After that, I went down for one last sweep through the dealer room and ran into yet more old pals--one I hadn't seen in literally over 20 years. I finally caught up with Greg Espinoza and talked to Jim Silke. The best lettering I ever did was for his comics--Rascals in Paradise and the Bettie Page Adventures books. I really got to stretch myself on those, plus they were a lot of fun to work on. You couldn't have done them on computer and I had to research period lettering from the '30's, and then just go NUTS with it! *sigh...*
After the convention, I went to my old house in SF to have dinner and visit with our friends who bought the house, and our former next door neighbor. It was a really lovely visit! I hadn't realized how very much I missed having friends for neighbors until I saw them again... We had a swell dinner of all Trader Joe's items (what would we all do without Trader Joe's?) and I got to see the FABULOUS showplace that is now the backyard. When we lived there, the backyard was a neglected area of weeds and gopher holes. Now it is a SHOWPLACE of a yard, with a little greenhouse made of abandoned windows, has benches and interesting objects placed around, has a path and a bar--it's everything we'd have wanted, but would never have gotten around to actually building! We went to the next door neighbors after dinner so I could meet her eight little dogs. I already knew two of them, and the other six were cute and sweet. Actually, they are rescue dogs, all either Yorkies or Silky terriers, and destined to be lovingly rehabbed and then send on to wonderful safe new homes. But occasionally one becomes a permanent resident. Our friends found an express box full of historical zeroxes of penciled pages that Tom had worked on--New Mutants, X-Men, etc., so I was able to bring that back. I got a ride out to my friends' place, just in time for Dresden Files and Galactica with the gang. It was a lot of fun to watch with a bunch of folks for a change. As expected, my friends' friends are all cool. I stayed up kind of late, but still got an early start to head north in the morning.
So here I am, back home again, full of mixed feelings and a lot of sadness. It was an incredibly good visit to SF and I had a great time at WonderCon. It was reminiscent of the San Diego ComicCon back when it was at the old site, and back when the convention was actually about comics and not media/pop culture everything with comics somewhere off in the distance. Lots of people, lots of fun, lots of free stuff. GO SEE 300!!! It is EXCELLENT! I loved staying with my pals and their beautiful cats, and it was good to connect with all the folks at the con. But on the whole, a LARGE part of me wishes I'd stayed home, or come home Saturday morning. I really felt like going home... I could have been there for Skeezix. Can't stop thinking about that just now. Supposedly things all work out the way they're supposed to, and all for the "best", whatever that means. I'm very glad I went and I wish I hadn't. I'm back now, though. My next project will be tomorrow and has to do with running a mop around this place.
Current Location: back home!
Current Mood: mixed emotions
Current Music: Coast ot Coast AM
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Elijah Snow has the squinchiest little face ever! He should be a Live Journal celebrity! We were only able to get a photo of Domino a week or so ago, she's a very shy girl! I'm so glad you were able to pet her before you left. I think the others liked you a lot!
Again, I am so sorry about how things went with Skeezix. I've told you my opinions about that.
Maybe, in the course of time, Domino will be my friend... I felt very honored she let me within 10 feet of her at all. And YES! Elija should definitely be a celebrity--but I thought he already was. He is so glamourous!
I'm sorry to hear about Skeezix. During one SDCC we had to leave Malcolm in my mother's care (Twice daily fluids, 4 pills throughout the day, vomit-watch, etc, etc) and we were both two little rain clouds all during the show. So I can relate to some of what you were going through. When I saw you, I thought you were handling it really well.
Having mixed feelings is okay. If you completely and thoroughly regret being out of town, then the entire trip would've been a total waste.
Anyway, I saw you at the DH booth on Sunday and when I was done with my conversation, I was gonna drop by and say "hi". But...I got distracted? You were gone? Either way, I DID see you and I meant to connect.
Your pictures are beautiful.
I was only at the DH booth long enough to say "Hi" to folks I knew, so you would have only had about 1 minute to catch me, anyway. My mixed feelings right now are more about Tom, anyway, and the way Skeezix died. I knew he would not live long, and that he might well have died while I was gone... I trusted Tom to do right by him. Whether the trip was a waste... well, sometimes I think that anyway, even without background personal dramas! The con was good. I am indebted to you for turning me on to Beard Papa's. I got to meet and get a little sketch from Patrick McDonnell. I got to connect with many friends. Things could have been worse. I'd trade it all for an early return, sure, but I'm thinking it was not a wasted trip in itself. Give Lenny a good scritch behind the ears from me.
| From: | (Anonymous) |
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| Date: | March 11th, 2007 06:06 am (UTC) |
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| | hey | (Link) |
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I just want to say thanks for all the work you did on those classic sam and max comics! I really cherish my surfin the highway collection..its great to hear they are finally doing a reprint.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/51898603/11123538) | | From: | lois2037 |
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| Date: | March 11th, 2007 08:33 am (UTC) |
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| | Re: hey | (Link) |
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Glad you liked them--they were my FAVORITE things to work on, ever. |
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