Wednesday, August 18, 2004

It's your parade, and I'm just the guy to rain on it.

Geez, it's been a while, hasn't it? Okay, so by now you may have realized I'm not the most consistant blogger in the universe. I pretty much write in here when I think of something to say. Otherwise I spend my valuable time pursuing the more cerebral of pastimes: Reading comic books and masturbating.

But never at the same time, my friends.

Well... never again, anyway...

What was I saying? Oh yeah, irresponsible blogger here.

So what important topic has caused me on this very fine day to put fingers to keys and compose an entry? I just feel the buring need to tell you all that I hate parades. Hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em.

I understand that the majority of you may feel differently. I mean, if everyone hated parades, they would probably stop having the fucking things. I'm going to go right ahead and declare myself firmly in the minority when it comes to parade-hatred. Sorry.

I just don't see the point of these things. Stand in one place while a bunch of jackasses you've never met drive past you really slowly and wave. Sometimes they are in old cars, sometimes new cars. Sometimes the cars are cleverly disguised under mountains of paper mache and made to resemble giant horses, giant cakes or giant busts of Abraham Lincoln. But I can tell they're really cars. I'm insightful that way.

Don't give me that "But there's marching bands!!!" crap either... Marching bands (much like floats, "Grand Marshalls" and the ultimate in useless inventions, the baton) wouldn't exist if not for parades. And I'd be okay with that. I like music and all, but I could live without hearing Fleetwood Mac's greatest hits performed by 50 sweaty 8th graders while on the move.

Okay. I'm getting grumpy, aren't I? I should point out that I come down firmly in favor of fairs, carnivals, and most other forms of "Small town" entertainment. Maybe because there's other stuff to do at these events besides standing around watching traffic. You all can keep the parades though. Not for me.

So to sum up this entire blog in two words: Parades Suck.

Or if you prefer: Baker Stupid.

As a postscript for any of you that live in (or are familiar with) the Philladelphia area, I do not include the Mummers in my hatered of parades. The Mummers is not a parade. It is what would happen if American Idol and Starlight Express had a baby, and it is awesome.


Monday, August 02, 2004

Updates!!!

I was just looking back over some of the old Blog entries, and I realized I may have failed to update you on a few things. Nothing big and important... Little things. So here we go with the first official Fanfare From The Common Wombat Update Entry!!!

Um... Okay...

Update #1) Let's see... First of all It's been a while since I mentioned how it was going working for myself. The answer is, It's going well! And poorly. And well!!!

I'm starting to get used to the idea that a freelance career is sporadic. I mean, I knew this intellectualy, I'm getting used to it deep down. In my guts.

My guts now understand that sometimes the work and money flows like... Well, like work and money, and sometimes... not so much. Case in point, When I started I had a month or so of no work at all. Just building my own website, setting up my studio... "getting ready" type stuff. Then I worked solid for like, almost 2 months. I just came off a month of nearly no work at all. But last week was busy. This week looks busy too.

Why am I boring you with the play-by-play? Just to say that despite the fact that it has been hard at times, and scary at times, I still love working for myself. Love it, love it, love it. I hope I can keep it up because it is rewarding in a way I never experienced working for "The Man." It's not without its serious hurdles, but I wouldn't quit for the world.

Update #2) I mentioned that I thought there was some drug activity going on across the street from me. My suspicions have been confirmed by a few neighbors who basically said "There's some drug activity going on across the street from you." It's nice to know I'm not crazy. So more people than just me are watching this house across the way. And the frustrating thing is the police have been called numerous times and pretty much told my neighbors that there isn't much they can do. One of my neighbors took down licence plate numbers of every car that came by for drugs and documented everything he could and the police unfortunately told him that they weren't going to waste their time on a small-fry operation when they wanted to get the big-guys.

I understand their point, I really do. My dad was a cop in Baltimore City for 33 years. (did I get that right dad? 33 years?) I have a lot of sympathy for cops and how complicated it is to do their jobs. I understand that resources must be spent where they will do the most good, etc... The bummer is, this still leaves me with the question of how to get these drug-dealing wastes of skin out of my neighborhood. I sit here in my studio and watch the deals go down. I want to run out there and get in somebody's face, but at the same time, I don't want to attract their attention. I mean, I'm right across the street. I don't want to compromise Sal's or my safety here.

The whole thing is a pain to think about. The good news is that I've realized that most of my neighbors, salt-of-the-earth though they may be, are really good people who care about the neighborhood as much as (probably more than) I do.

Okay! Now everyone is all updated. Hope you feel as good about that as I do.