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Wednesday, 12/14/11 Holly Jolly Holidays!! As a holiday gift to all those lingering fans, I hope to publish a few new strips. No promises, as this time of year is already masochistic, but I'm going to try my darndest! It's been strange taking this time off from drawing. I do miss it, and somehow, I haven't gained a lot of free time! Even when dropping something major, like twice weekly comics, other projects immediately pile in to fill the void. How does life get so busy?? ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 01/11/2011 Per the request of Facebook Fans, I will be posting some retro comics drawn in jr. high school and high school. Good memories... bad comics! These old comics are so amusingly terrible! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 01/07/2011 Ok... that last frame is kind of a throw away. But it's really all about the 2nd frame anyway, so that's OK. =) Now, don't get me wrong, there is definitely a time and a place for pointless chitchat and catching up and silliness. BUT A SPORTS BAR FULL OF FOOTBALL FANS DURING PLAYOFF SEASON IS NOT THAT TIME! Football fans understand what I'm saying. Everyone else should, too. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 01/04/2011 Been struggling to get myself back on a normal sleeping schedule so, therefore, not much commentary tonight. Sorry! I know today's strip is still about Christmas, but when you only publish 2 comics a week, sometimes you have more comics per holiday than time permits! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 12/31/2010 Wow. The last day of 2010. How did that get here already!? While she sucker-punched some of my friends, 2010 has been very good to me; far better than I deserve. I've tried to pay it forward, but have surely fallen short. Hopefully next year I can be a little less selfish, a little more giving and a little more considerate, loving and helpful to others. I'm not sure where 2010 has left X's & O's. We've seen the largest growth in X's & O's' fan base, and for that I'm so very grateful. THANK YOU! But we've also seen that growth stall and stabilize. We've seen characters deepen and grow, only to be wiped away and killed over the summer. Bubbles was introduced, but can she live up to her predecessors? We also hit our 400th strip I hope 2011 is good to X's & O's. I hope to pin down the new drawing style (Perhaps make it more reminiscent of strip #1?) I hope to reward Facebook fans with comic strips from my high school days. I hope to draw you in with a deeper story and continued good humor. I hope good things happen to my friends Corin, Roger & Bubbles! May God bless you all this New Year. I wish you a wonderful holiday and a happy, healthy New Year full of joy and good luck. (Because, let's face it, no matter how hard we try, 60% of life seems to be luck!) I'll see you all in 2011! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 12/24/2010 Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!! And happy day-off to most who don't. I hope everyone has a happy, relaxing, and enjoyable rest of the year! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 12/21/2010 Shortest day of the year! Maybe it's time for the shortest update, too. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 12/17/2010 Last weekend before Christmas! The Italian meat sauce ("Red Gravy") has been made from scratch, Christmas cookies (Organic this year!) have been made and shipped to destinations around the world, ingredients for Christmas Lasagna have been purchased (to be made w/ the red gravy, of course!) and I've already put on 3 pounds. =) Bring on the eats!!! I think I've just about finished all my shopping, but not all of it has arrived in the mail... and 1 hasn't even shipped! AAAAAHHH! We make our own Christmas cards every year, and this year Vista print was crazy late with my order!! Hence, I'm so late on the holiday card mailing! Well... at least I'm sort of catching up! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 12/14/2010 Too busy for commentary today. AAAH! So overwhelmed!! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 12/10/2010 Today is X's & O's FOUR HUNDREDTH STRIP!!!! I can't believe I've done so many... (What a waste of time! har har har). And yet, as this milestone trumpets itself across the internet I can only think two things: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 12/07/2010 This is it! The last day of my youth! Oh, I don't know if I can update at midnight anymore. Today will be my last day of staying up late. Already by back hurts. Oh, the headaches! Oh my feet and arthritis! I'm dooooomed! The darkness... it's growing... it's enveloping me! The doom of old age!! heh heh. That's right, baby! Tomorrow, Wednesday, 12/08/10 sometime in the 8AM hour.... I turn 30! WOOOOO! Bring on the celebration. I'm ready for the continued adventure, the growing perspective, and the better comics that will surely result! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 12/03/2010 I honestly dreamt of turkey leftovers on Thanksgiving night. The dream woke me up in the middle of the night. I sat up, thought of this comic strip, said to self "don't forget that" and went back to bed. And I actually remembered it!! I never remember middle-of-the-night ideas like that. Awesome. Tonight officially begins the holiday season in my world. My town is holding their annual big, small-business shopping holiday shopping night. (yea!) My birthday is Wednesday, so that means holiday decorations go up on Thursday. I'm thrilled to have turkey in leftover tupperware containers in today's strip. Time to put Thanksgiving away. Hello Christmas! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 11/30/2010 It's always a little difficult to get back into the swing of a regular work day after a few blissful days off in pumpkin pie heaven. Nonetheless, it's back to the grindstone! It's also hard to keep up to date with current events when one only posts twice a week! Hence, Thanksgiving was on Friday, and Friday is now on Tuesday. But my readers are sharp, and I think you can follow just fine. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 11/26/2010 Happy Thanksgiving & Black Friday! I hope your weekend is blessed with family, friends, health and lots of pie! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 11/23/2010 The good news is my laundry is finished! The bad news is that it's already late and I haven't started folding. WAAAAA! Normally this is not very late for me, but this stupid viral bronchitis won't go away! I guess I didn't get enough sleep over the weekend, because I'm actually coughing MORE today. Oops. I was determined to get to bed earlier tonight... but that's clearly not going to happen. Too much to do before Turkey Day! Wasn't tonight's update thrilling?? I know, you're such a better person now for having read this. I enrich the lives of my readers. (Um.... you can hear the sarcasm, right?) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 11/19/2010 This comic looked great in my head... but it's also the other comic that was drawn under the influence on Sunday. Oops. I really liked this strip's idea and I'm rather disappointed that I mussed it up. Oh, well. I've also been officially diagnosed with viral bronchitis, so... if I had more energy, I might have redrawn it. Instead, I will totter my NyQuil butt off to bed. G'night! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 11/16/2010 Um... the first frame was supposed to be drawn sober... it looks that way.... right? It was a rough weekend. Catching bronchitis just before my Giants collapsed in a heap of blue fungus does not an easy Sunday make. The liquor did help, though. Helped quite a bit with them both! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 11/12/2010 I've now been married for 1 year and 4 months... and I'm only starting to work on my own photo book! Last Christmas I spent ages making something 6 individual books for 6 different people. By the time I was finished, there was no way I could stare at the screen long enough to even think about a book for myself. Now... now I am impatient and I want my own!! So, I have nothing clever to write here tonight, because I was working on my wedding photo book. =) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 11/09/2010 Not so nice and passive today, are you Corin? That's right, girl! Get your sass on! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 11/05/2010 It's FRIIIIIDAAAAAAY! After travel to India, travel to DC, my husband's birthday, crazy Halloween celebrations, work events and intense deadlines, I am THRILLED to stay home tonight!! I hope to stay home for most of tomorrow, too... but I will still end the night with a friend's bonfire party. =) It should be chilly on Saturday, and what better weather could one have for a November bonfire party!? I'll be bringing tofu pumpkin pie for eats and marshmallows for roasting. Today's post is so thrilling! I'm a little brain dead. October kind of kicked my ass. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 11/02/2010 Ah, beautiful routine! How I've missed and longed for you! Sure, the excitement of events, celebrations, rallies and travel are beyond compare, but routine is the daily food that nourishes my sanity! Oh, I would surely be lost in madness without you, my darling daily drudgery!! How I welcome the the regular and complete sleep you offer, the comfort of your dependable digestion and movements, and the mental peace that comes with expected schedule. Thank you for keeping the to-do lists at bay! Thank you for the exercise you insist upon! Thank you for the financial management you provide. Oh, if it wouldn't disrupt my day with unplanned, unaccustomed festivities, I would throw a welcome home party for my daily routine! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 10/29/2010 Happy Halloween, all! I've got an insane weekend ahead of me with all sorts of costumes and festivities. Good thing I have no shame at all! I also don't have much time for comedic blurb tonight. Pooh. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 10/26/2010 Can't talk... football. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 10/22/2010 Erm... i haven't had a good night's sleep in ages.... i'm still working a full work schedule... my brain is mush.. and you're expecting me to craft some clever, humerous comment here for your entertainment!? EH!? Why are you so demanding!? You ask so much of me! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 10/19/2010 Jet lag suuuuuucks! I am quite over being this tired, spacey and dizzy. And it's only been, what, two days? ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, 10/17/2010 Whew! Sorry for all the delays and lateness! My husband and I took a trip through India for 2 weeks and no one had electricity for 24 hours, let alone regular, reliable internet. I was SO CLOSE to updating Friday's strip on time, I had logged in and was just about to update the HTML when the internet crashed. ARG! Now it's all late. Anywho, it's great to be back! The best part about traveling is coming home! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 10/01/10 Yikes! Already October!! Thankfully, we survived the East Coast drenching, and now it's nothing but beautiful autumn weekend ahead!! Fair warning: I may not have access to internet this next week. Eeewww. I will do my best to keep updates coming! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 09/26/10 Don't you love it when crazy medications start to sound worse than the conditions they are trying to treat? I will have to take malaria pills in a few weeks in anticipation of an upcoming trip. These pills will give me diarrhea, kill my appetite, provide headaches, stomach pains,vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness, muscle aches, and strange dreams, make me very sad, make me very angry, liquefy my brain and devour my soul. Malaria starts to look pretty good. Sheesh! The things we are willing to go through to avoid a disease. Really gives you an idea of how serious that disease must be and how rotten it must be to live in a place where this is a real daily danger. I'll go get the mail, Mom! Oh, crap, now I have anemia and jaundice. Crap. In other news- drew two more comics tonight! Feels good to be back! I'm having more fun with the style and it's still settling in, so there may be some evolution before your eyes. Even I don't know where those style adjustments will lead me. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 09/24/10 Hello fantastic and fabulous people who might actually return to this page! Do any of you still exist? X's & O's has been out of commission for just over 3 months now, and it's been a strange feeling. I've been drawing comics for you for three years now, and going cold turkey threw this girl into withdrawal! How to release these crazy ideas of mine? What about poor Corin, abandoned in her time of need!? (What time of need?) What do I do about the art supplies previously stockpiled? There is no doubt... X's & O's must return! Only bigger! Bolder! Sillier! And, with any luck, a smidge better. Here is X's & O's revamped styling. A little wacky, a little relaxed, a little zany, maybe even? Why change the style? Why, what wacky, zany things must be in store for our dear little Corin?! What of Roger and Jake and Lupe and Nessa!! ... Okay, well, I guess you know about that last one by now... but clearly, something big must be coming! You may just want to stick around and see what it will be!! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, 06/12/10 Yes, it's true. This may be the very last X's & O's update. See Facebook for details. This was supposed to be Tuesday's comic, and now I have no strips for next week, and no time to draw more. For the immediate future, anyway, it does not bode well. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 06/11/10 WORLD CUP, BABY!!! My world cup comic has to wait until Tuesday, because I couldn't interrupt the current storyline. But I promise there is an appropriate comic finished and waiting in the wings! Tonight I'm also going to an Orioles game as they host the NY Mets and it's floppy hat day! I can't wait to have an orange floppy hat! I used to be a Mets fan, but let's face it, they're just the same as those money-grubbing Yankees now. So now I'm 100% for the O's because they will never have money or talent! We're having a huge party for the World Cup this weekend. I can't wait! It's going to be a blast, and we're going to have fabulous food! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 06/08/10 This program has a mechanical engineer and a chef talking about viscosity. And my husband wonder why I watch the Food Network! Kay, I don't watch the Food Network all the time, but how can I turn it off when it has scientists talking?? They were making a giant 10K lb Rice Krispie treat. Americans and our need for gi-normous, unnecessary food items. What a waste! At least they were eating it at the end, but did they really eat all 10,000 pounds of Rice Krispie treat? Couldn't that amount of rice and sugar feed, like, the entire country of Niger of something? But, if we weren't wasting huge ass amounts of nutrition - and filming it for fun- we wouldn't be Americans! Sigh. As much as I find such food waste disgraceful... Who am I to talk? I watched the damn show... and enjoyed the science of it. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 06/04/10 I love when the glorious possibilities of a weekend lie before you! Unblemished and unhindered. Anything and everything can be done! Perfect weather is promised and schedule is open. Hooray for Friday! Only 9 work-hours until freedom! PLUS - ONLY ONE WEEK UNTIL WORLD CUP!! Woo hoo! I can't friggin wait. (And only 20 days until NEW FUTURAMA! Woo hooooo!) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 06/01/10 You are sooo lucky today! For I am writing this after several cocktails. I rarely drink because the stomach condition insists that I never drink. Fortunately, sometimes the stomach condition can take a damn hike and here I am a little buzzed and upding a webpage. Only... drunk or not, I still don't have much banter tonight. I read the first 5 headlines in the news, and it just made me pour another drink. India... Isreal... Gulf of Mexico... ug. Forget it. I choose to live in the world of comics and happiness. Oooh... ink and color..... Today's comic was inspired by my awesome spectacular friend Amanda. Mandy- you are friggin awesome! I hope everyone gets it. Get it? The teacher is thinking that! Not the students! Everyone assumes the kids are the only ones who are looking forward to the summer, but that's so not true. The poor teachers deserve a break, too! Why is it that Nancy Cartwright is the most recognizable name of Simpsons voices? Memorial day weekend was phenomical. I wish tomorrow was part of the weekend, too. Ug. work is going to be tough after such a great 3 days.a --------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 05/28/10 HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! Ah, finally a chance to relax. I am hoping for an early dismissal from work this afternoon. For tonight (Thursday night / Friday early AM) they have promised us severe thunderstorms which I have been anxiously awaiting. I think they've been taunting me and leading me on. The bastards. We have seen no hint of storm thus far. I wanted house-shaking thunder! Blinding lightning! You know... fun stuff! Well, on second thought... we're predicted to have a very severe hurricane season this year, and considering the giant mess already in the Gulf of Mexico... perhaps I should practice wishing for clear skies. News reports are breaking my heart already. I couldn't take it if (when?) it gets much worse. Many thoughts and thanks go out to our brave soldiers. All those who have given their lives for Country, home and family. For I would not be able to disagree with foreign wars today, if those heroes had not given their lives for me in the past. This memorial day, you are remembered. (...and yes, I BBQ in your honor! Hmm.. corn on the cob on the charcoal!) --------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 05/25/10 This weekend I nearly got my first taste of erotic asphyxiation minus the erotic part. Between furniture pressing on my neck, and smoke igniting a pretty bad asthma attack, my lungs were in crazy danger! Sheesh! Why do I find such incidents funny? I wrote a note to a friend today, telling of the furniture incident, and began with "Oh! Funny thing happened..." I got to the end of the story and there was no gafaw moment. No big har har. In fact, it was like "holy cow... that could have ended very badly." And yet... all I see is myself squished under a piece of furniture like an insect, waving arms around like a cartoon character, and I think it's hysterical. One too many Tom & Jerrys for me? Weirdly... if I heard of this happening to anyone else... it would greatly upset me. Steeny getting hurt= hysterical. Someone else getting hurt = debilitating lump of empathy and concern. I'm a weirdo. (Does this post make any sense? My mind has completely melted... I'm barely functioning right now...) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, 05/21/10 Sometimes being a female sucks. Men have such control over their emotions. Outside stimuli = inside reaction. Cause - effect. Easy. There's logic to that. There's reason. I love both reason and logic and choose to live in their happy worlds. They make sense! They give life order and meaning! But women can't always choose logic and reason! For no reason at all, BOOM! A chemical skyrockets off the charts and the resulting imbalance wreaks havoc with reckless abandon! There is no holding back. A chemical imbalance is like Godzilla smashing through a Leggo town. There is no stopping him! Resistance is futile! Destruction falls uniformly upon all!!!! Right now men are saying: "Well, we have to put up with these ridiculous mood swings! We have to live with you crazies!" Oh, poor babies! We have to LIVE IT. If you hate seeing it, how much more fun do you think we women are having experiencing it? It's like there's a small, logical person locked away in a maximum security prison. Helplessly watching the destruction rain down. She's saying "If only I were out there, I could put an end to this madness!" But logic and reason remain useless and inaccessible. Ug. Men only go through something like that if they are bi-polar, a serious medical condition. But the joys of womanhood bestow this lovely situation on all healthy or not. Are boobs really worth this stupid chemical imbalance? It’s a bad trade. Being female is stupid. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 05/18/10 Sheesh! Why do I jump the most at movie moments that are so predictable? Leah leans towards the window of the Millennium Falcon, wondering what is out there. All she sees is darkness. There is complete silence. She leans forward. YEARG!! That weird thing in the asteroid monster's stomach leaps onto the window! Steeny jumps a friggin mile and, yes, this is true, screams a little. The same thing just happened in Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince. Yes, I know that my movie viewage is super late. I must say that the Potter movies haven't been the highest on my to-do list, but as a huge fan of the books, I do consider them required viewing. So, better late than never. Anywho, Potter looks into the water, silent, dark, ominous. Suddenly the hand reaches up and grabs him while the music thunders. OF COURSE that was going to happen. You didn't have to read the book to see where that scene was going. Yet it didn't matter! I jumped three inches in the air! There is no honor in such silly startles. Yet I cannot stop them! Alas! I am doomed to forever leap and squeak at the most painfully obviously framed moments. The shame is unbearable! ....but still kinda funny. -------------------------------------- Friday, 05/14/10 And those who saw me grow up will think I am lying because... I have nothing to say. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 05/11/10 I didn't get to see my dental hygienist today. They stuck me with someone else! Now, my dentist is a great guy, but let's face it. You see your hygienist a heckuva lot more than you see your dentist. He's the one who remembers you and spends a half hour talking about his band while your mouth is wide open, unable to reply. He's the one wielding sharp pointy metal against the sensitive line of skin between gum and root. He's the one who can make you bleed with dental floss if you've pissed him off. While the dentist himself only pops his head in for a quick overview at the end. So you'd better like your hygienist! Speaking of music, you'd also better like your hygienists taste in it. You are trapped in his chair until the job is done, held hostage and strapped down, unable to so much as move your head or swallow your own spit. The last thing you want to do is gag on the musical stylings of Nickleback. This could be a whole new realm of torture for the CIA to look into. Rēgan- I'd better get you back in November!! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 05/07/10 Confession time. One night of insomnia just happened to coincide with Scifi (the new spelling sucks) Channel's marathon of their show Merlin. and now I'm completely hooked! I'm a big old dork and can't help myself, but I've been counting down to Friday night! Part 2 of last week's show. I'm not a big TV watcher and anxiously waiting for a show to come on is freaking weird! AAAAAH! A slender brown-haired slightly awkward man with an adorable smile, known more for his mind than his brawn? Noooo... I don't see the appeal of that character at all.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 05/04/10 OH NO! I'm so sorry! I forgot to upload the new comic last night / this morning! Now I'm stuck at the office and can do naught! FOILED! In all the years I've had this comic and this webpage, I think I've only made this mistake twice before. Not a bad track record! But I kinda feel like Seinfeld eating the black and white cookie. I had such a good record! I hadn't slipped in years! NOOOOOOOOO! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 04/30/10 I thought I was joking when I told a friend "my husband is going to come home (he has a late event tonight) to find his wife passed out with an empty wine glass and shameful twizzler remnants scattered about the floor in a room full of IBS farts." ...except I just woke up, on the floor, empty wine glass on the nearby desk, open bag of Twizzlers to my side, vague memories of my husband coming in and bestowing hugs upon me, with Leno babbling on TV. Noooooo! Leno is not a face to which one likes to wake. I mean, I'm a Jon Stewart fan!! What a week to do Atomic Admin comics. Holy cow. As mentioned on Tuesday, I've been crazy busy with my company's merger. The past two days we had all sorts of out-of-town execs in the office. Big-wigs from our NYC, Houston, St. Louis, Boston, Chicago, etc. offices were in Baltimore for a big meeting about it. At this point, I could stay home entirely tomorrow and still get a better-than-average paycheck. Hence, tonight I welcomed myself home with wine, rum & Easter candy. Work stress + alcohol + Twizzlers = unhappy IBS land. It was so worth it for the rum & candy! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 04/27/10 Holy cow! What a day! My company announced a $300 billion merge today! It's been insanity at the office. Of course, back in Steeny-land... I haven't been sleeping. What great timing!! Well, how appropriate the Atomic Admin comics are right now. AAAAHHH! I so wish I had something humerous to say tonight. But I don't! My brain is fried!!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 04/23/10 No, I didn't rush through today's strip. It's supposed to be "minimalist." Actually... because I'm unaccustomed to this style it took longer than usual! Yikes! Time is definitely not a cheap commodity around here! NFL Draft is in full swing! Having it on a Thursday night rather sucks. It's hard to enjoy the draft on a busy weeknight. grrr! We shall see how my Giants do with their decisions. As far as I'm concerned, their best decisions already happened this January- when they FINALLY fired that pathetic excuse for a defensive coordinator - the guy who benched 72 Osi then wondered why our defense was collapsing! The tool! We now have Perry Fewell instead and I have high hopes. That is... if they don't trade OSi during the draft. I still believe Osi is a huge asset to our team! He only had a bad season due to that crappy DC! Osi is supposed to sac people! NOT running pass protection mid-field! Keep Osi and give him a chance to shine again! Yesterday my day job took me (and my fellow admin) out for a spectacular sushi lunch!! I'm so thankful!! Not just for the fabulous raw fish, but also for working with such great people. I am really appreciated there, and events like Thursday's lunch really show that. Being appreciated is what gives you the fire to work travel miracles and get bankers around the whole country, magically avoiding blizzards that encompass 40% of the country, and to their meeting on time! The only down side? Several of us took a long walk to and from the restaurant, enjoying the wonderful Spring weather. I was wearing new shoes... and now have huge raw blisters on the bottoms of my feet. I danced for 23 years... I know a bad blister when I see one. Most I can simply ignore. (And have several of those, too). Somehow... I don't think I'll be doing my aerobic workout tape this morning... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 04/20/10 Yesterday (Monday), my grandmother turned 88! She still lives completely alone, is a member of her town pool (& goes), volunteers at her church, drives, and plays a mean game of bridge. She's an inspiration! God bless her! I am so lucky and blessed to have her in my family! My new decline / sit-up bench arrived on Monday! My husband said it was one of the most unnecessary work out machines he could think of. What??? I do crunches for 30-40 mins twice a week- minimum! That's over 700 crunches everyTtuesday and Thursday! If that doesn't warrant a machine, what the heck does?? On Monday, after a full day of work I raked and weeded the garden, added the new soil, planted the 2 bleeding hearts. Made Tuesday's lunch. Put together my decline bench, AND managed to finish to finish this comic. I'm impressed with myself and I am exhausted! Yeah, a normal, boring list of to-do. Not much of a blog post, but sometimes the normal is lovingly embraced!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Friday, 04/16/10 Today is the perfect day for this comic. How appropriate! My husband and I have been working very hard on a project and have pulled many late nights this week. Right now all my muscles are exhausted and my brain is just muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu......................
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............... -------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 04/13/10 HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my most fabulous sister! The sis who is kind enough to let me completely distort and abuse a couple aspects of her life, and smoosh them into Nessa. Thanks Birthday Sis!! Are you a Facebook fan of X's & O's yet? You don't know what you're missing! Special Facebook-only art and... as of today... Facebook-only contests! Check it out and become a fan! --------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 04/09/10 What luck!! My leg-comic was posted during a random heat wave - it truly was leg-day! Today's comic, about April rains, is posted after a night of crazy intense thunderstorms! Whoa... when I story-boarded the first full week of April, I was telling the future!! I have powers I didn't even know about! I must learn to tap these powers! I can use this innate weather ability for the forces of good, watching over the poor unfortunate umbrella-less, and to grant everyone the knowledge of the all-encompassing question: Why are psychics open on days when they get no business? ---------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 04/06/10 What perfect timing for my leg-day comic!! Monday hit 80 here in the Baltimore area. Tuesday should be higher and Wednesday will be close to 90!! My kind of weather! Potentially warm enough for be to drink iced coffee, even! Slap on that skirt! Strap on those stilettos! Kick off the stockings!! Rejoice and hooray in random 15 degrees above normal!! Hmm... severe winter and already having a day of 90... will we have a severe, stormy and hot summer? My kind of summer!!! Sorry my updates have been so blah lately. Can't seem to organize my comedic thoughts these days. ---------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 04/02/10 NO TIME! HAPPY EASTER! ---------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 03/30/10 Happy Passover to all who celebrate!! I hope you have a wonderful holiday with a great seder and fabulous food. Shalom! Ooooh! I am so jet-lagged! Hey! You know what sucks? The last week of Lent falling on the same week as period cravings. Torture! Tuesday's going to be a crazy day at the office. Not looking forward to it! I shall mentally draw and outline comics throughout the day to escape. Yea! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 03/26/10 Last day in San Francisco. It's been lovely. We are also entering the last week of Lent. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 03/23/10 I'm in San Francisco! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, 03/19/10 HAPPY SPRING!!! OK, so it's not until Sunday the 21st, but I'm not going to post a spring comic on the 23rd! That'd be late! Pshaw. No way!! Sunlight and warmth?! Oh! How I've waited!! HOORAY! Oh, I could do backhandsprings in the yard right now. (Except that my yard is a big @ss hill... so noI couldn't). In other news, I will be heading to San Francisco next week! (hooray!) Updates are prepared, but may update at strange hours. Don't know what the week shall hold out there! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------a Tuesday, 03/16/10 HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!! To celebrate (tomorrow, Wednesday) I will have a big baked potato and a cocktail. Bigger celebrations will have to wait until the weekend. And on this fabulous day of Irish clichC)s, I like to reminisce. Back to a time when life was simpler and I was in high school, preparing for that grand adventure that is college. One night my Irish father turned to me and asked, as he frequently did, to have a beer with him. "Dad, I don't like beer." I replied. (Sadly, I never learned to like it.) He asked again, growing more heated. I reminded him again: "I don't like beer, Dad!". Finally my Irish father turned to me and pointed his finger at me saying "You're going to go off to college and drink with people you've never met, but you won't even have a beer with your own father!" I love being Irish. ------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 03/12/10 I actually had a calm day at the office today! I took a FULL lunch break! I left on time! I even had time to volunteer at the local Little Sisters of the Poor home after work! Wow. can life be this good every day? My dream for tomorrow is to spend the evening with my husband, and destroy the ears of those at The Trolley Stop's Karaoke. I have big dreams. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 03/09/10 Erm... it's late and I have naught to say. it happens. Sorry! Started to open and play with my new eyeTV hybrid thingie for Apple... but ended up with a big 'ol mess in the room instead. my co-ax can reach from tv to computer, but then reception gets fuzzy. I'll have to use my AV cables, but they are tiny! Like TRex hands! So... I'll have to completely disconnect laptop from everything and move it to TV... which means if I want to use this new dang thing, I will have to NOT use the computer at the same time!! My computer... dormant... for hours at a time??? Is that even POSSIBLE!? -------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 03/05/10 Today's comic comes with a special shout-out to one of the best co-workers ever! Okay, so she works in St. Louis, and I work in Baltimore... so we're not co-workers in the same room. And, in fact, we've never even been in the same room! But we work together all the time and she is awesome! When I told her about the East coast storms, I'd said something like: "I don't know what to do with all of it!" Her reply was to send me a giant email full of Calvin & Hobbes snowman comics!!! How awesome is she!? It totally perked me up and I knew that I just had to do my own comic homage. Thanks, Linda!!! ------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 03/02/10 I've been dying to post this comic!! This was mentally sketched after the first February blizzard! Hee hee! It's so awesome! I was going to attempt to make it for real... but something came up that demanded my attention instead. (ahem... car accident...) Well, that's what's so great about comics. They can do all the things you can't in real life!! --------------------------------------------------- Friday, 02/26/10 Aaaaaaand it is snowing again. My comics are relevant!! Score! Erm... should I talk about the Olympics? The weather? The fact that my study's door often opens randomly at night and that I live in a notoriously haunted town? Or the fact that gum always gives me bad gas and I'm chewing it anyway? Sorry hubby! Oh, and I'm coming to bed soon! Aren't you glad you married me? ------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 02/23/10 Well, as you may or may not know, the US' East Coast was beat up by some bad ass snowstorms this month. My Baltimore suburbs got HAMMERED. Now, as you also may or may not know, I work on an in-advance schedule. So when the storms hit- I'd already had the next few comics lined up. SOOOooo... NOW we have snow comics. It's too late, you say! It's passe by now! It's boring and old! We're tired of hearing about it! Well tough noogies! I'm tired of seeing it! Piles outside my house are still higher than my head! Roads are still rotten and we can't find our buried recycling bin! So you're sick of reading about it? HA! I'm sick of LIVING in it! And I still have to deal with it- so so do you!! My comics are still relevant, darnit! And you shall read them and you will like it! GWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! all snow no play make Homer something something.... -------------------------------------------------------------- Friday,02/19/10 Surely, you have those friends? The ones like... oh, maybe an Emily, who are so quick to bemoan and tell you all the difficulties of life - the horrors! - but when things go right, *poof* they're gone! So, next thing you know, you're staying up all night, eating bags and bags of chocolate out of nervous energy, wondering where Emily is, and if she's maybe lying in some dirty alley, having become some drug-pimp's sexual half-pipe rider, while at the same time catching pneumonia, slipping on a spill of ice and on her deathbed in some hospital where no one even knows who she is!!!! ...that is, you wonder until Emily suddenly leaves a message about stupid Project Runway, which she's been happily watching the whole damn time! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 02/16/10 I'm going to have sushi for lunch today.
....What? You're still reading? No more need be said! Sushi! Lunch! Fat Tuesday! What else is there?? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 02/12/10 Crocuses... Cherry Blossoms... Bird songs... gentle warm breeze... Surely these things are on their way! They must be! Surely I won't have towers of snow well over my head for too long... but HOW CAN WE BE SURE?! How can we know!? Maybe it will be winter FOREVER!!!!!! The snow is just an omen of DOOM yet to come! CALAMITY! I know, I've been speaking of the snow a lot... but there's a lot of snow of which to speak!! Tomorrow I will probably attempt to drive to the job 12 miles away.... if you never hear from me again, you know why! -------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 02/09/10 Oh, I am so done with the snow! Make it stop! We received a lovely 34 inches and now there are 10-20 more inches on the way! Minnesota this is not... Maryland does not know how to deal with such snow! Streets aren't plowed from the previous storm- how will we handle an additional 20 inches!?!? We haven't even gotten the temp above freezing! THE HORROR! The president was not kidding with his term "Snowpocalypse." Hell is freezing over and the devils are doing triple salchows! It's strange to see a whole city shut down for so long. Speaking of the weather, I outlined & drew this comic long before the severity of the storm was predicted! I'm amused that it ended up with such good timing. (And if there is no Friday update... it's because power is gone!) ------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 02/05/10 OH CALAMITY! WOE AND DISASTER! WE'RE GOING TO BE BURIED UNDER SNOWWWW! It's been a whole TWELVE HOURS since I've been to the store! By now the milk is surely gone! As are the eggs and breads! Oh, why didn't I get the 84 pack of toilet paper when I bought the 50 gallon tub of yogurt?? It won't last! We'll be nothing but BONES when the snow stops on Saturday evening! OH CALAMITY!! (My favorite quote from Thursday was from a woman at the gym: Woman A) "Were you stocking up for the storm?" Woman B) "Yeah... I'm from Indiana. We don't do that.") -------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 02/02/10 Erm...I had something clever to say here, and I completely forgot. My allergies are totally eating my face! It's like my brain is trying to squish its way out through my eyeballs. OWWWIE! Thinking? What's thinking? mental cognition is just not possible! GWa hahaha! Who needs it anyway! ------------------------------------------------- Friday, 01/29/10 Ya know what, Mr. Big Fancy Syndicates? You don't want my awesomeness syndicated? You send me rejection after rejection? Well.. FINE! I'll stay online where I'm appreciated! Where I can thrive! Where I'm FREE! Uninhibited by your foolish censorship and rules! ...um, so I guess I might as well have an unmarried couple waking up in bed together. EEEK! Implied sex!? Dare I do such a thing!? It's modern! It's risquC)! It's... not a big deal to the rest of the world. (Dare I get even more sassy from here??) ------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 01/26/10 So, as promised, I saw Avatar in 3D this weekend! Or... Pocahontas. I mean, Last Samurai. Make that, Fern Gully. Dances with Wolves! The sad thing is... this list could go on. Didn't even break down ANY of the stereotypical constructed columns of symbolism. I don't expect every movie to be something monumental, new or creative. But don't claim to be if you can't support the boast! Ug! The whole movie kept trying to be something it's not. What a poser. What's a sci-fi movie / show that doesn't pretend to be Queen Elizabeth passing out pardons? That just keeps to its own reality and therefore provides something fantastic for all to see? Titan AE. How about Firefly and subsequently, Serenity! Yeah, James Cameron could really learn something from Joss Whedon. Although, it was very pretty. I give you that! ------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 01/22/10 Can you believe I haven't seen Avatar yet? Oh! Alas! My nerd cred is falling fast. NOOOOO! It's just been so insanely busy lately... But fear not! I have a 'date' with the hubby tonight. He prefers to wait till movies come out on Netflix... but I WILL see this one in Digital 3D dang it!! No, I don't expect it to be the end all and be all of all stories. But I want to see the pretty pictures. =) ------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 01/19/10 It's 3AM. I just finished a 250 mile drive, and played rugby with a deer. (Thank goodness, my car wasn't very good at tackling and after the tap, the deer ran away.) So... no message tonight! Hope you all enjoyed MLK, Jr. Day and remembered the true meaning. ------------------------------------------------------- Friday, 01/15/10 Want to see the full image without scrolling? Become my friend on Facebook! Just look for X's & O's! I will be driving to my parents' place tonight, and I'm feeling very anxious! It's been a busy work week and I've had a heck of a lot to get done. I'm not anxious about the 250 mile drive at night... I'm anxious that I have so much still to do before then! At least I can cross "Update X's & O's" off the list! It's great to be able to do another Sunday-style strip. One sunday strip is equal to, about, 3 weekly strips. Obviously, they are very time consuming! So the fact that I was able to finish one is a testament to how much better my schedule has become since January 1. Okay, it's not a perfect schedule yet, hence the 8 million things to do before I drive away at 8:30 PM, but it's getting better!! Project Runway began last night! Okay, my secret shame is exposed! I can't wait for the divisional championships this weekend, I just finished installing the new shelves for my power tools, aaaaaaand I'm in love with PR. It's so sad and girly of me! It seems from the ads that they are pushing this "Models of the Runway" show more, and from watching them walk... I'm thinking they hired some wackos just to have characters for the show. Ug. Yes, let's lessen the integrity of the good show we have, to push a crappy show we want. Great strategy! ---------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 01/12/10 The hubby once told me that I wasn't really nerdy. I held the horrific insult against him all this time and shall now insult him in comic form. Insult him in comic strip form?! I shall prove him wrong AND insult him all in one swipe! I'm also a genius! ---------------------------------------------------- Friday, 01/08/10 My dreams for 2010? Write more fiction, find a manufacturer for my legendary bikini and have a table at Baltimore's Otakon! Are these dreams or goals? Hmm... I'd like to say goals... but I'm scared I won't make the last two happen. I mean... showing at the conference takes balls! Do I have the necessary cojones? At least recently I thought of some more other neat merchandise I could have... all the more reason to grow a set and do it! In other news, I'm sitting here, wearing my new Christmas Slanket like a robe, and the sleeves keep hitting the keyboard! I keep turning around to find "sssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk" typed onto the screen! AAAH! ------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 01/05/10 How are those New Year's resolutions coming? Didja give up on them yet, or are you still going strong? Apparently, my New Year's resolution was to slice my thumb open on Sunday morning. Turns out, the knife my mother gave me for my bridal shower works quite well! It's even serrated, and that works well on bread AND flesh! Fortunately, it's my left thumb. It's not my drawing thumb, so who the heck cares, right? It'll heal eventually and I'll have a new thumbprint, to boot!
------------------------------------------------ Friday, 01/01/10 Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope 2010 is good to you all! What better time than New Year's for a comic about new dreams and making them come true! ------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 12/29/09 Naturally, this strip isn't about all people who call themselves Christian. Just those select few who tarnish the name. I know it's hard to keep the spirit when malls and parking lots are so hostile and mean spirited... but it's a lot easier to stay nice when you can go home and draw comics about people. heh heh.... ------------------------------------------------ Friday, 12/25/09 MERRY CHRISTMAS! To all those to celebrate: have a most joyous, happy, healthy & holy holiday! To all those who don't celebrate: Happy Friday! I hope you still got a day off of work. =) ------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 12/22/09 Just got back from DC where I saw the GIANTS GAME!! This is the first time I've seen my Giants play a real game! Previously, I'd only been able to catch them in an exhibition game against the Ravens. Of course... they had Carr in by the middle of the 4th, so then it was like I was watching another pre-season again! But it's pretty awesome that they were so far ahead that they were putting in their second stringers! Our defense still makes me nervous, but the offensive has come so far! I've been raving about our cornerback Terrell Thomas (24) all season, and today was no exception! Pick 6, baby! In other news, my study now says 51.8 degrees. While I was super bundled up for the game, I am not wearing all the layers now! So I'm signing off w/out even mentioning today's strip! I'm frozen! ------------------------------------------------ Friday, 12/18/09 Oh, what is Christmas without a little office celebration... and donation? Hee hee. Don't get me wrong, I love a good office party, but I know people with work places that get a little carried away. When an office party requires precious weekend time, entrance fee AND a pot luck dinner contribution... it can become a bit much! AND said party will only be 1 of 3 required events. It's only December... not like anyone has their own personal shopping or parties to attend... Hee hee. Truly, it doesn't bother me. (hooray for social gathering!) But this strip is dedicated to my husband, who gets riled up when he hears such stories. (He's so cute when he's indignant!) ------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 12/15/09 Christmas debt, Christmas Debt, Christmas all the way! Time to save our country and our economy but putting ourselves further into personal financial ruin. But it doesn't count, of course. Debt only matters if you spend money on YOURSELF. So Christmas debt, like Santa, is pure goodness and magic. ------------------------------------------------ Friday, 12/11/09 Finally Friday! Oy, I'm just too tired and worn out to leave a clever message here. On the bright side, I've been soooo productive today and this week. But on the down side... i'm completely wiped out! At least I'm still getting comics completed on time! Hopefully, my Giants will continue their newfound skills, while my schedule continues to loosen up. ------------------------------------------------ Tuesday, 12/08/09 Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! YEA! I love December 8th! What more is there to say? Ok, ok... so it's the day John Lennon was shot. Ok, so I was born a few hours before John Lennon. Stop bringing that up, you negative pooh-poohers! Don't try to bring me down! Did you know it's also the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Roman Catholic Church? That's right! This day is a FEAST! So go out, indulge, read an X's & O's marathon, and listen to some great Beatles music. ------------------------------------------------- Friday, 12/04/09 I live in a land of darkness! I'm out of the house before the sun rises and back after it has set. And that won't change for a month and a half! I guess it's fitting that vampires are so popular right now. I'm living the dark-enveloped life of a vampire.... erm... the old school kind that can't exist in sunlight. (What's up with these modern vampires anyway?? Oooh! I'm Super Man, except that kriptonite doesn't really bother me any more. And my strength is even cooler. Aaand... Lookie! I have a magic ring that makes Lex Luthor turn into a cute little puppy!) At least I get to see the pretty sun on the weekends. (When it doesn't rain..) Oh, Saturday! How I need thee! ------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, 12/01/09 It's December! Time for lights and songs and decorations and hot cocoa! Time for shopping and bells and cards! Time for SHEER EXHAUSTION. Oy! I don't have time to do it all! So much to clean and fix and buy and wrap and make and AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! I've got a lot going on right now. (Can you tell?) Not even sure if I'm coherent. SO, on that short and boring note- G'night! I'll see you on Friday. =) --------------------------------- Friday, 11/27/09 As promised, Thanksgiving's comic is up! It's 1:30 AM, I'm still stuffed to the gills, and I'll be rolling to Home Depot with my father in law in a few short hours. I'm getting myself a brad nailer complete with air compresser! Score! I'll even get to break it in with the project I have planned for Sunday. Okay, so this post doesn't relate much to the comic... but it's a holiday so deal. =) I could have been in bed earlier... but I refuse to let my hair give me an asthma attack. What!? Ah, the joys of a bar in PA; smoking is still OK, (where food is not served). Whooo baby. Everything reeks. I refuse to go to bed until the smoke is washed out of my hair. No disrespect to any smokers out there, but I can just imagine rolling over in my sleep, facing my hair, and my lungs siezing up in their nicotine allergic reaction thing they do. Yeeeaaah... I'm too tired to spell check that. Heh heh. Your loss! I'm so thankful for so much in my life. I'd like to thank ALL MY READERS for following X's & O's. You give me the courage to keep going! THANK YOU! I hope everyone enjoys the holiday. And for all my non-American readers... happy Friday! --------------------------------------- Tuesday 11/24/09 ONLY TWO DAYS UNTIL PIE!! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I can't wait to stuff myself silly! Our Thanksgiving strip will be posted on Friday, so be sure to check back on Black Friday! ------------------------------------------ Friday 11/20/09 Holy Noah's Flood, Batman! We're getting the craziest dose of torrential rain and thunder over here. We've had these continual growls, crashes and rumbles outside for hours now. The rain comes down so hard sometimes that it sounds like people are banging pots and pans together. We had to go outside to make sure our house wasn't flooding! Something about all that intense weather.... in mid-to-late NOVEMBER is really creepy. I keep waiting for God to play the Twilight Zone music.... ----------------------------------- Tuesday 11/17/09 What's up with the crickets?? At first I saw several here and there on the first floor. Tonight I just saw my second on the 2nd floor! They're moving up!?!? When I find one on the 3rd floor, where my bedroom is, I'll sleep no more!! (No, we don't have a mansion. In typical Baltimore fashion, our home is narrow and tall). Now, I'm a tough chick. I kill bugs, I install new attic pull-down staircases (Saturday's project!), I play some pretty fierce video games. But I don't do crickets!! I've been scarred, you see! Once upon a time, my brother had a pet lizard, Iggy. I loved Iggy. Cutest little guy ever. But did you know that lizards eat live crickets? And did you know that 10 year old older brothers aren't the best live cricket handlers? YES! It's true! Every now and then, some of the 'food' would escape. And the crickets would never stay in my brother's room. OH NO! They always hopped across the hall into my sister and my room. There we would lie, two solitary girls in a dark room, the distance of our bunk beds separating us. The house would quiet. And just as we would begin to fade into blissful sleep... the sounds would come. Cricket. Cricket. They echoed around the dark room. The voices seemed to swirl without a source. Cricket. Cricket. Lights on! We'd begin the hunt, but with the lights, ended the songs. No crickets would be found. So we'd kill the lights and again begin to fade. Until those insects cried again. Those disembodied voices could be anywhere. In a dark, safe, recess of a closet, or on the pillow next to me. We couldn't even tell. But try to ignore them. They won't hurt you.... Cricket. Cricket. -------------------------- Friday 11/13/09 I hope my fantasy sequence works in today's strip. It looked better in my head. I'm exhausted! Not much to say tonight because I'm about to collapse. I had to bring some office work home and that took up WAY too much time. ug. g'night. If I type more, I will become incoherent. ----------------------- Tuesday 11/10/09 I have a problem. I am in desperate need of sleep. I was unwell last night (Um... nothing contagous. Just a very bad stomachache. My own stupid fault.) and I hardly got any rest at all. However... there is SUCH a good football game on! How can I leave? We're only 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter! AHHH! Can self dicipline win out tonight? Man, I can't believe I'm already posting November 10th's comic. Holy cow! I'll be drawing Thanksgiving's strip soon. I already have it storyboarded. Yet, I haven't started Christmas projects or holiday cards or shopping.. Yikes! When did all this feel stressful and time pressure-y!? Poor Roger. He seems so sad in today's strip. When will he get a break? I wonder what will happen next for the poor guy... --------------------------------- Friday 11/06/09 Hooray! Happy Friday! I guess it's now obvious that X's & O's takes place in Baltimore.... just like where I live. Not very creative, I guess. I could have based it in any of the other places I've lived: Upstate NY, NYC suburbs, Japan, etc. I could have even based it in someplace I visited: PA, California, Florida, China, SE Asia, Belize... BUT NO! I'm bringing the pride back to Baltimore! I may have only lived here for 5 years or so, but they've been 5 dang good years. This area needs a better rep! Ace of Cakes is filmed here and... um.... we have a harbor! So, when my strip gets uber famous and world renown, people will know that B.more is a great town! It has more to it than the grimey streets of The Wire. It's kinder than our title of 'murder capital of America' from a few years back may imply. It's more fun than the fabulously... um..." talented" Orioles may lead one to believe! It's where X's & O's takes place, gosh darn it! ------------------------------------------- Tuesday 11/03/09 What a fantastic weekend! I managed to finish my costume just in time. As promised, photos are up! You can see pictures here: Scrps & Doodles. How'd I do? I was out with "Susan Boyle" (Who must remain anonymous. I can't go embarassing everyone in photos... I already do it in cartoons. heh heh), and we ran into a couple of Amy Winehouses, a Lindsey Lohan, a Taylor Swift, and loads of other creative and fun costumes. We had a great time and even took off Monday. I will be starting my work week in the best mindset I've had in a long time. HOORAY! Good mental state equals good comics. =) More for my readers to look forward to! -------------------------------------------- Friday 10/30/09 (Thursday night, 10/29/09) 12 hour work day today. Must get up in 5 hours. Must be at work early tomorrow. Therefore... G'night. ------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday 10/27/09 OH NO! Jake has an interview in New Mexico!? What will happen? Will their love prevail? A budding romance or a big gig in a far away town... Who could choose? What would you choose? In other news, I do love drawing fall colors and fall leaves. Makes for some bright & colorful comics! -------------------------------------------------------- Friday 10/23/09 I was supposed to be in bed a while ago! Now I can't think because part of me is sleeeeping. Why is the rest of me up? This, of course, is after stupid G4 kept me up last last night by putting on 12 Monkeys. Man! I forgot how much that movie just sucks you in! Such a good movie! But it's not supposed to be on that late at night! My alarm goes off at 5:30 AM! Unlike Jake in Today's comic, I like my paying job. Only, lately it's been very demanding. I don't wanna go to work tomorrow/today! (I'm typing at midnight. Use whichever term you prefer). I need to call in sick one day and just enjoy fall's beauty. Of course... if I call in sick, I lose all my time-and-a-half pay for the OT. So... Waking up for work it is! Hopefully I'll be more coherent next time. Love and hugs! ------------------------------------ Tuesday 10/20/09 Today, at my paying job, my department was trying to think of a badass name for a project. So, I google searched for the list of weapons used in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Without thinking, I clicked on "Internet Movie Firearms Database." Oh Crap! I suddenly realized. Fearing that my IT dept might flag me for suspicious searches, I then google searched "Rainbows." --------------------------------------- Friday 10/16/09 Halloween is only two weeks away! Already! We'll be doing something crazy over-the-top, as usua.! But I've been so busy, I haven't started making it yet! I sure hope I have enough time to pull it off... My husband is really big into Halloween, but you won't see any photos of him! He's a professional who can't have a bad image floating around the internet. However... I am an administrative assistant and wanna-be cartoonist! BRING ON THE EMBARASSING PHOTOS! WOO HOO! -------------------------------------------------- Tuesday 10/13/09 Aaaaah! Employers are out to ruin you. Contractors are out to doom you forever. Mechanics cannot be trusted! EVERYONE WANTS YOUR VERY BLOOD! THE HORROR! THE HORROR! heh heh. Lately, it does feel like everyone is out to get my husband and me. (We are in the midst of some frustrating circumstances.) Yet, I still keep faith! Most people are good and kind-hearted with honest intentions. Living life any other way would be hollow and cold! ...although, this evening my husband said "That's it. I'm not trusting anyone anymore." (Oh, and yes, the above comic is based on an old, but true story. "Based" means that the comic takes it to cartoon and comedic extreemes, remember. Although... I wasn't there. Maybe those old employeers DID cackle like loons behind closed doors!) ----------------------------------------------- Friday 10/09/09 WE MADE IT! I'm actually writing Friday's post! Take THAT rotten work-week! Gwa hahaha! You have FAILED in your attempt to thwart me! Although... the week did succeed in nixing my Saturday plans. However, I've got a pretty decent back up plan. Hopefully I'll even have time to drag my husband out to pick a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch! Haven't done that since I was a little kid. ------------------------------------ Tuesday 10/06/09 Yeah, today's comic... is the past two weeks at work. My office is feast or famine, and right now is caloric intake galore. (FEAST) Allergies are insane and trying to eat me from the inside out. My head and sinuses want to explode. Asthma is trying to move up from occasional renter to property management. GET OUT YOU BODY SQUATTER! Soon I get to attempt my first electrical project around the house. I am so lucky to have married a man who is stupid enough to let me play with power tools. (Okay, the electrical project shouldn't require power tools at this stage of the game. Step one will be splicing some wires. OOOH! My first use of wirenuts! I know. the excitement is just UNBEARABLE!!) The question of the project is.... can I work with the mess this home's previous "flippers" left behind? Time will tell! (PS: Proud of my Giants this week! Hooray for the protection the offensive line was able to give Eli. I'm so impressed! But they can't keep playing easy teams forever. Will their streak hold?)
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Friday 10/02/09 I've been fighting something off all week, so only a short message today. I was frustrated that the previous strip looked so pale and bland, but I was matching the colors to my real gym locker room. My depiction was pretty close! The whole thing really is done in yellow-hued tans. snooze fest! Today's strip allowed me more color and Tuesday's is more colorful yet. Yes, I'm 5 years old. "Oooh! Pretty Colors!" -------------------------- Tuesday 9/29/09 I couldn't wait to draw the moment and have been mentally holding on to this one for a while. =) ----------------------- Friday 9/25/09 Today's is dedicated to my wonderful husband. His experiences with deaf hair stylists have led him to always cut his own hair. Interestingly, I had simmilar experiences when I lived in Japan. The stylists had never seen my frail, fine, limp white-girl hair before and they didn't know what to do with it. My basic Japanese did not elaborate enough and... the result wasn't pretty. I came to the same conclusion my future husband would later choose! I cut my own hair for the rest of my time in Japan.... ...I should have stuck with the bad stylists. Haha. Oh, those are some amusingly terrible photos! ---------------------- Tuesday 9/22/09 What a week! Finished re-mortaring our outdoor stone wall, saw some fantastic football, finally watched Watchmen , and got my digital prints of the wedding photos! Quite a success. I can sure be a dull conversationalist this time of year. My brain is totally focused on the X's & O's. I love the stratedgy, skill and brute force. The air is crisp but not nippy yet, so it's just begging me to drag my husband out for some catch and out patterns. =) Oh, and I just love dressing Nessa in crazy "fashionable" ensembles. Hee hee. --------------------- Friday 9/18/09 In random news: Do you find that all of your batteries die at the same time? My home is currently going through The Great Battery Purge and everything from C's to AAA's are just keeling over in unison. It's be beautiful in its coreography if it wasn't so dang annoying! ------------ Tuesday, 9/15/09 And now they are doing all 3, and they looked soo good doing it! I feel justified and vindicated and happy for my Big Blue! Ah, okay. I'll end my tomboy ranting now. =) ---------------- Friday, 9/11/09 See? I'd promised Corin would get what's coming to her. =) Just finished watching the first game of the football season. Very happy! But now I'm late for bet. I'll write more later!
Tuesday, 9/08/09 ------- Friday, 9/04/09 Tuesday, 9/01/09 ... Of course... all of this would be MUCH easier if my stupid neighbors hadn't been partying until 4AM last night! My alarm goes off at 5:30AM on weekdays and it's been a very demanding day for so little sleep. So I keep trying to argue with html that would probably just fall into place, had I my normal facilities. Alas! Lastly, I'm sure the guest book will be the last to update. I've been putting that correction off for YEARS! But stay tuned! I'll be tweaking this site into perfection before you know it! |