126: Bright Lights, Indistinct Sounds

Ian Jay on Jan. 2, 2008

Hey there, TEO fans! I'm typing this on my well-worn Acer TravelMate tablet laptop (replete with replacement plug-in keyboard, bought after the one on the actual laptopstopped working, and the power cord that the wireless internet cannot function without, making the whole point of “wireless internet” moot. I told you about this computer before, didn't I?), but it's probably the last time I'll ever type on it as my own. I recently acquired a much-needed new MacBook Pro (plus a Wacom tablet, of course), and I hope to have it set up and coloring TEO pages by next week. Owning a Mac after using PCs for years and years is a new and surprisingly creepy experience to me; it's a bit like moving into a stranger's house. I keep expecting to have the real owner jump out and say, “Hey, give that back!” Like I'm just borrowing it or something. Still, it's an amazingly nice computer (I had no idea laptops could ever be this, well, portable), and I look forward to driving the wheels off of it in the college years to come. Now if I could only find someone at SCAD with a pirate OS X copy of CS3…

I had a good day today, all things considered. Went to a movie with my mom– “Juno”, a movie about a pregnant teenager that tries rather hard to come off as indie at points, but on the whole is surprisingly heartfelt and realistic (while being hip and snarky enough to counterbalance critics' use of words such as “heartfelt and realistic” to describe it, words much better suited for Hallmark TV specials). Afterwards, we stopped in Borders, and I finally bought the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, which I've been listening to while coloring this page. (Some of the songs are sort of hit and miss on their own, but cumulatively it's a great album that showcases a whole spectrum of human emotions and musical styles while still sticking to a single overarcing theme– namely, love, in all its freakish forms. An essential desert-island album, if not for its dense size then certainly for its range.) A vending machine next to the parking garage ate my dollar bill, and I bought a Blue Raspberry Wawa-brand soda on the way home that tasted like melted-down Dum-Dums, but on the whole the day was a net gain. One good last day of winter break before I head back to SCAD, I guess.

Also! Just to clear things up beforehand: I won't be stopping production of TEO once I get back to college like I did last quarter. This is mainly for two reasons:

a) I don't have another large break coming up until May, and
b) I'm just too freaking close to the end of TEO2 that I can't stop now.

Besides, I'll be working on a number of other comic projects anyways, on and offline. There are one or two coming up that I'm particularly excited about, so keep an eye on… er… well, on me, I guess.

That's all for this week. News posting on SS still seems to be disabled, so this is another DD exclusive post until we get that site back up and running. In conclusion… Tarbox Road Recording Studios. Ask for Michael “Aahhouudnuuhtz” Ivins!

Keep on rockin' in the free world, y'alls.

Sincerely,

Ian Jay