The Word of Mike

Another Year

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 03:06:24 GMT

Contrary to popular belief, I am not dead! Though I did fall off the cliff whilst in melee with the dreaded Dr. Disgruntled, I rose once again from the ashes... just as the mythic pheonix. And boy, did I pick a busy time to return.

This Monday I start training for my teaching assistantship at Northern Illinois. The week should prepare me to start teaching classes the next week but my god am I nervous about it. I'm not really intimidated by the thought of students. Merely, I fear screwing up some where or not being able to handle the workload. Only time will tell I guess. On the other hand, I'm also itching to get started. The next two semesters hold a great deal of promise and I can't wait to see what might happen.

I also just got back from Mexico. Got a little bit of sunburn but otherwise good. Not much to say about it all except that lounging on the beach and catching up on some leisure reading can be quite relaxing. :)

Mon, 29 May 2006 21:06:17 GMT

Just a quick update because I never seem to manage to update this thing.

Summer has begun and it looks like it will be delightfully devoid of anything meaningful, meaning I''ll be able to work on my hobbies and generally just lounge before the stress of being a Teaching Fellow at Northern Illinois rolls around in Fall.

My goal is to man a booth at WizardCon in the "Artist Alley" come August and try to suck in some new readers.

I also want to do something big for my 25th b-day this June.

My younger bro and I have discovered that Jack Daniels is the drink of choice for "classy individuals" (not really but we were claiming it was and laughing all night) and that giant man-sized crystals always want to "bring it" without really relating what exactly needs to be brought.

I've also been doing podcast reviews with "Black Kitty," one of the admins over at Drunk Duck and an art student graduating in Toronto this year. Lots of fun and hopefully we'll do a lot more over the summer. Anyway, that's all I can think of for now!

Yeah, check this out.

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 08:26:25 GMT

The quiz totally screwed me on one of the answers though.

Whoohoo!

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 23:20:07 GMT

Good news, everyone!

I just received a packet offering me a graduate assistantship for Spring and Fall of next year! That means I get to teach three classes spread out through the year and my tuition will be waived! AWESOME! I'll finally be one of the gears of the English Department. :)

Also, my professor for my Continental Backgrounds of the English Renaissance class just emailed me to let me know I set the curve for the midterm! It's all just too cool to take in.

School Days, School Days... something something... blah blah

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 21:11:54 GMT

Tonight's my first class of Spring 2006 and I wish I could muster more eagerness to go. The truth is, over the weekend my Positional Vertigo flared up and I spent most of it feeling dizzy, sick to my stomach, and looking like shit. It's kept me from updating Slither this week and the guilt is intense, I assure you.

Fortunately, the Lord is merciful and today I'm feeling much better. It is my hope that I'll stay that way for a good long while. There's a lot I've had to put on hold because of this damn inner ear disorder of mine and if only it could clear away, I could get to work. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why it strikes.

I've had a real desire to see Madison lately, especially seeing Madison in the blush of Spring with fresh leaves and cool winds. I'll have to plan a trip one of these days. :)

Not much else to chat about. Let's see how this class goes.

Linnea, my thoughts are with you this week.

To War! To War!

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:16:43 GMT

So recently, I started up a bit of a good-natured conflict with the excellent comic, Talismen: Return of the Exile, involving my alma mater the University of Wisconsin. Now, far be it from me to ignore the call of duty. So I drew this strip:

Heheh. Of course, you'd have to hunt down the forum to find the origins of the whole thing. :)

I was also showing off some pictures of myself, and when someone said it reminded them of Lord of the Rings, one of the forum goers took it upon herself to alter the photo.

But apart from that, there's not too much going on. I did rather well for my first semester of grad school and hope to keep it up. The Spring Semester starts this Tuesday and I'm sending out my application for an assistantship today. Let's hope I get it!

What I wouldn't give...

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 05:44:57 GMT

Man, I hate phones and I hate games. And I hate phone games... or games that involve phoning to some extent.

Mostly, I hate embarrassing myself. Meh....

I'm going to go curl up into a ball in a pile of coats.

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 05:08:12 GMT

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween!

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 03:33:03 GMT

Been a long time since I've updated, eh? Well, what else is new? Grad school has been stomping my private areas for the past semester but I think at the moment I'm averaging B's in all of my classes. Still have some BIG projects due in the upcoming week or two, which will merit a lot of researching and a lot of writing.

Let's see, what else.

Last weekend I spent in Des Moines, Iowa, acting as a groomsmen at the wedding of my good friend, Mike Predny. Basically, what it entailed was me trapsing about for a day in a tux and doing whatever was demanded of me. At least I got beer for the effort and a stainless steel mug. [Thanks Mike and Jen!]

Today I was interviewed on the Gigcast, Official Podcast of Nightgig.com. It should be available for download sometime this coming Wednesday here! As of right now, I have no idea how I sounded and I'll probably grimace with each passing comment made, but it's done with and will soon be out there.

Right now, Madison is probably in the overly destructive throes of a Halloween time revelry. I really wish I could have been there, but too much work and it being too much of a hassle kept me away. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it right now.

My brothers are down in Alabama, attending the wedding of my cousin Keith. My workload kept me away as well, but hopefully that side of the family won't hate me for it. I think it would burn me out too much. Last weekend left me exhausted. I could barely function throughout the week. Despite all the work I have, the commuting to DeKalb isn't nearly so bad as flying down to 'Bama would be for the weekend.

That's about it.

Sat, 10 Sep 2005 21:15:44 GMT

So the parents are gone for the weekend, leaving me in charge.

The parents neglected to leave any sort of contact info or itinerary for the weekend.

And today, the dog's been vommiting non-stop throughout the house and on all of the nice carpets. So me and my sister Liz are busy trying to keep the place together, but this stuff is nasty. It's not even food anymore. It's bile. Clear fluids with stick bits. Not fun at all.

I called the vet and they said to keep watching it because it might be anxiety on part of the dog, but Kuni, like the soldier she is... just won't quit throwing up.

So we take her in. Thankfully she didn't throw up in my car. The vet runs a bunch of tests, turns out she has bladder stones which could mean all sorts of problems. They also gave us some anti-biotics, told us to take her off of food and water for tonight and slowly nurse her back up on it tomorrow. If she keeps throwing up, we have to take her to an emergency clinic.

So poor Kuni is sitting in the laundry room right now. If she's vommit free for two hours or so I'm going to let her out and continue to watch her. Hopefully it won't come to an emergency vet though.

Price of the vet trip (out of my pocket): 251 USD.

Oy. What a weekend.

Post Corn Fest

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 04:59:21 GMT

Boy, I'm tired. You don't quite realize how much walking around outside in the sun and fighting your way through crowds can tire you out, but there it is. Me sleepy!

So Linnea and I went out to the Sweet Corn Festival of DeKalb and had a pretty gay ol' time. Got terrified on the shoddy carnival rides (her more than me, rest assured) and had our share of sweet corn, funnel cake, root beer floats, lemonade, and of course, beer! There was also a few bands playing in the area and we got to see the strange spasms of 9 year-olds on stage. Very odd.

The weather was perfect, though. Not a cloud in the sky and certainly not as hot as it could have been. A little expensive (especially the carnival rides) but I think well worth the investment for fun.

But now I'm left being tired. I tried doing some of my readings but couldn't keep my attention on it, so I'll leave it for tomorrow. Stupid readings.

Oh, and I suppose it should be said that Linnea did manage to win a round of Smash Melee but that was fluke. A wild crazy fluke that only happens maybe once ever one thousand matches. I also was playing Captain Falcon... who I suck at. Grrrrrrrr.

Sat, 27 Aug 2005 16:20:20 GMT

Small World

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 06:05:04 GMT

For some reason, I can't get to sleep. I'm tired. But I just kind of roll around on the bed without getting to slumberland with any speed... so I figured I'd flip on the TV and update my livejournal. I mean hell, my first week of classes is over.

So how'd the week go?

Really well! Though I have quite the load of school work that I already need to catch up on (thanks to one class whose books were unavailable except online). But my last class was English 501: Bibliography and Research Methods. Yee haw! It will probably be as exciting as it sounds... which means I will most likely spend that class hoping that some form of volcanic action will interupt it. The first class did prove rather interesting though. I was one of TWO people who attended Madison, Wisconsin and graduated with an English major.

Her name's Kim and rather shockingly, she said that I looked familiar. Now granted, I've found that through the years... I seem to be quite memorable but I never really made many connections among my fellow English Majors. But after a long game of naming off classes, it turns out she was in my English 217 class I took Junior Year and we were even in the same discussion together! Quite the coincidence. But she remembered me and I have to say, she was fun to talk to. And uh, really cute to look at. :D

We're both starting a Master's program but to my surprise, she graduated from UW in 2003, and took a two year break before heading back to school. So it was really nice to make a connection with someone in such a similar boat as me.

All in all, class life... by week one, is doing pretty good. Meeting new people and brushing the cobwebs off my intellectual side has really resparked my fire for life.

Oh yes, and on Wednesday night, I spent a fun time at Frog's Bar in Downtown Naperville enjoying good company and good Blue Moon beer. Mmm. With oranges no less. :)

School Days

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 08:12:54 GMT

Ah! I have finally returned to the lofty realm of Academe, and boy, did I miss it. I commuted to campus around 2 o'clock, fought my way to a park space and immediately sought out the first class. Fortunately, for the entirety of the semester all of my classes will be in the same building and in the same EXACT room. How fortunate for me, being so new to the school (though I will admit, it may be a tad repetitive come the end of the semester).

I will admit to being nervous. It's been a year since I graduated from Madison and an English Master's program is no cake walk. I expected a no-nonsense attitude with mountains of paperwork due every other class session. To my surprise (and relief), I found that the staff/fellow students seem very friendly and the classwork seems manageable. Still lots of reading though. Lots and lots of reading. I'm planning on reducing my comic's update schedule to M - F because of it. In the end, it will probably be a good decision.

So I once again feel busy, productive, and ready to take on a life full of potential and opportunity. I want to remain convinced that if I can simply apply my natural gifts and talents, that good things will follow.

I saw the Skeleton Key just this past Sunday and it was good. Creepy, and good. A rare combination in modern "horror" movies. This particular movie has an excellent twist as well, though I of course, shant spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it. Even Father Julian went so far as to say that it was perhaps the best movie about Voodoo that he's ever seen. For a man so educated in the realms of World Religions, that's a big compliment!

Mike P's wedding is coming up and it turns out I am to be so honored as to be a groomsman. This is a Mike's First people! Uh, first marriage for Mike P... first groomsman-ship for myself. I have to rent a tux, snag my little brother, and drive down to Iowa for such an event. I'm nervous that I'll screw up or something (unexpectedly develop uncontrolled pyrokinesis at an inopportune moment). But all and all, it should be a fun affair. Hopefully with plenty of food, booze, and lovely ladies. That's the dream, at any rate. I'll probably have to behave myself.

Hehe

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 21:28:04 GMT

THOSE TRANSATLANTICS

Sat, 06 Aug 2005 23:44:26 GMT

I was fortunate enough to be able to head out to DeKalb with my good friend Linnea to see what sort of music was cooking at The House (a coffee/bar that usually has weekly music acts swing through). And while I wasn't certain if August 5th had anything in store for us, I promised the moon and the stars and headed out anyway. Incidentally, I played hookey on my comic too and took a personal day ;)

We weren't disappointed either. After trying a place called Eduardo's and eating gigantic plates of Mexican food, we settled down in The House and got some great comfortable seats. Cover was 5 bucks a person, Linnea was nice enough to take the hit, and with little sailboats drawn on our hands we waited for the bands to start. The first one was... uh... well... they had some really kickass guitarists in the band but I'll sum up the vocals as follows:

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHRGFFFFGHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGFHERTETF...GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.... ::cough:: ::cough::

So uh, yeah. It was a little off-putting considering I was expecting jazz music. The next band, Those Transatlantics proved to be a lot more interesting, featuring a keyboard player, a drummer and two guitarists, along side a female lead who really knew what she was doing. And I have to admit, it had some really catchy beats to it. I bought the demo CD for 3 bucks and will probably end up listening to it between classes.

About this time, Linnea and decided to make our escape. A band called Die Homey was up next and we weren't about to risk another ear beating listening to WAAAAGH! lyrics. So we nipped off across the street to the O'Leary's Irish Pub and Linnea was once again nice enough to treat me to some Blue Moon.

Then we came back. I beat Linnea a ton of times in Smash (hehehe) and then she left. All in all, a good Friday. I imagine I'll be back to visit The House before long. A band called The Gunshy will be playing there August 19th and I can't say I'm not curious. On top of that, it turns out the Sweet Corn Festival is in two weeks and a man has to have FUNNEL CAKE! But we'll see, that's the weekend after classes start and I may not have the luxury to go.

But now I have a comic to catch up on and some cleaning to do. This is Spook, signing off.

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 20:14:51 GMT

So I've gone an done the unthinkable. In preparation for grad school, I have gone through my room and closet in order to do a thorough cleaning. I've also cleaned out my wardrobe, which is practically unthinkable for a guy (at least for me).

Now bear in mind, the closet is/was jammed pack with a lot of my crap from college - thanks largely due to my hasty flight from the city of Madison. Also, the hot summer has caused many refugee creepy crawlies to come into the cool basement for sanctuary. The current tally is 4 dead earwigs (bash bash), a few tiny spiders, and some rollie-pollies I decided to leave alone (they're cute after all). The effort was not without its rewards, however. I recovered Max Reebo from the mess and after a short reconsiliation he's now sitting on my dresser. I also found my copy of The Bartender's Standard Manual by Fred Powell. Much to my surprise, it DOES in fact contain the instructions to make a Prairie Oyster.

Prairie Oyster
1/2 Jigger of Cognac
1 Tablespoon of Vinegar
1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire
1 Tablespoon of Catsup
1 Tablespoon of Angostura

Prepare in serving glass without ice. Carefully add the yolk of an egg and a small dash of cayenne. Do not mix.

Yes, it is VERY disgusting. But so are a lot of drinks.

I went to Frog's bar in downtown Naperville just this last weekend with my older bro and we met up with some acquaintences. Very posh place, but that's to be expected considering its connected with the Gibson place in Chicago. It even has the old time belt fans from the turn of the century. I had a honeyweiss beer. Meh. I miss Spotted Cow.

In 6 more days I get to drive out to DeKalb to get my ID and buy books for the semester. I even have my commuter's parking pass and everything. I think it'll be a lot of fun to be back into literature again. It's been much too long.

OH NOES!

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 23:04:55 GMT

My god, I haven't updated this thing in a while. Shame on me. Or shame on you for not stalking me to the point where I would update...

Not much to report. Grad school is less than a month away and I am waiting in two-parts fear, one-part excitement, and another wholely unrelated part is waiting for dinner.

The comic is going AWESOMENESS, which doesn't make much sense unless you consider the fact that "awesome" as an adjective has lost much of its "oomph" so my attachment of -ness makes you notice the word even more.

I've completely revamped the site and am even doing a crossover with another artist.

You can read it here!

Beyond those things, life continues on in its steady day to day crawl. My hope to teach chickens to thumb wrestle has been frustrated to the point of defeat. :(

Battle with Insomnia

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 08:19:26 GMT

So yet again, I am struck with a peculiar situation... as I can't seem to get myself to sleep (even though an hour or two ago I was really exhausted but too busy fooling my friend into thinking I was going into the U.S. Reserves (yes, I am sadistic... a bastard some might daresay). This coupled with juggling a few IMs (as I always get swamped with them... why do I bother going online anymore?). So I convinced myself to stay on, decided after a while to go to bed and GASP... insomnia strikes.

I was told once that if you try to sleep for an hour but fail, you should get up and do something else for a bit. So naturally, with my trusty iBook returned to me, I elected to sign online and bug a few of my friends (in this case Becky :) and my ex-gf Andrea ). As you can imagine, the Andrea convo was brief but Becky and I (still talking as I write this... ) shared an amusing interchange about sheep.

What's my point? Nothing! I just like to write and I hope it will tire me out at some point. Consider this Mike's Bold Adventure into Stream of Consciousness!!!

What is up with this week anyway? I stop going to work and insanity sets in. I need to find new things to do, more places to "hang" as it were. I wish I were more excited about this trip to Alabama. I'm not nervous about the flying... guess I just loathe the time it will take up. A weekend completely engorged by the beast called Familial Duty. Yippee!

I need to figure out what school I'll be going to... how to pay for it... so many things. I want to go to the gym, but won't have time tomorrow. And seeing how it's 2 am... I'd rather not venture out of the house (though I could in theory go... as the gym is 24/7). I don't want to return to Caribou after this trip either. Something about facing it fills me with fear.

Didn't someone say they'd organize my thoughts for me? ::shakes fist:: You're slacking.

I really want to go on another bar crawl (or... drive.. as the case may be) just hard to do in Naperville unless you can get some sap... oop, I mean uh, friend to be the driver. Apparently the Red Door translates Big Butt beer into Black Bear Stout... which comes in a gigantic bottle and is like shoving liquid, fermented rye bread down your throat. Even the vikings prefered sweet stuff! Still, that place is rather snazz. Went there for Festivus! :-D

Ate at BW3's today (which isn't called that) this after some upset over food places with my family (big bro included) as I cannot have pizza products - yes, pizza subs count as pizza - and my younger bro is a veggie McTarian... or some such. So we went to BW's... I didn't complain though I had just had it recently and they got my order wrong not once, but TWICE! And I felt bad about sending it back the second time. The guy looked irate! He started foaming at the mouth and throwing chairs. Then Optimus Prime showed up... well, no, none of that. But I do hope he didn't spit in my food. I do know how annoying it is when people send stuff back (working in a coffee shop it happens more often than you would think... ). "Is that.... 2% milk?!?! HOLY SHIT, I need skim... or I WILL DIE!!!"

Off to midway tomorrow... ::sigh:: I hate airports. I won't get to update my comic over the weekend either (though I've queued a few ahead.. still short one ::grumble:: ). Last airport I was at was the Madison Airport. Heh, funny that. Beautiful late summer day too.

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:59:34 GMT

I had gone to bed not too long ago but found myself restless. After exhausting my ability to draw, scan, and edit things I decided I'd hop onto my livejournal (which rarely sees its peaceful slumber disturbed by my musings) and do the unthinkable and update.

Constancy. I think that's the word being chewed out and processed by this big ole salty brain of mine. What is it, that we can find constant in the world around us? In the social world? I used to think I was rock solid... as "constant as the north star" if I can recall the Shakespearian quote correctly. Now I've realized that I've changed. That changed has - in fact - been impressed upon me. Not so simplistic as the evolutions of personal growth or decay... nor as brass and easily blamed as the harsh rape of outside forces. A subtle mixture. A dancing trade off between inner monologues and effective observations. This brings me to the statement that the idea of constancy - defined in this instance as the static presence of the personal psyche - is an impossibilty. All things change. And in this, we all do what the universe wills. We may struggle against such a tide of influence, thrust out a fist and say "Hey Universe! I'm going to punch you in the genitalia for this!" but it avails us not.

This is the aspect of The Fool. The one who walks the paths of life neither prepared for what lies ahead nor concerned or conscious of what had lain behind. It is this connection with whimsy that many have trouble with, myself included. We grip, we cry, we rage - but what is outside can only be held onto so long. Even our bodies slip from our grip at the end of the cycle.

As desirous as it is to be The Magician, as much as I have imagined myself capable of grabbing that role and using it to my hearts end, it is a fatal and ill-fated path. Fate, Fortune, Chaos cannot be bidden. The slow, thoughtful process of the universe grinds away all ambitions to the stuff of dust and ash.

But this isn't a bad thing. When I put this to mind, I think it should not be taken as a lack of control. Rather, one should consider the flip-side to the situation. It is this flux of change, a helplessness in the face of grinding universal mechanics that saves us. It is this that assures humanity that all falls are not [i]eternal[/i]. No sin can continue on its own.

If you can draw any substantial thought from the above, I should offer you a quarter and hire you to organize my brain which is apt at coming up with such nonsense late at night. I should be talking about drinking beer or hanging with friends... or perhaps confess my own uncertainty in this post-college world... but I think my wordy treatise is more accurate to how my thoughts plod around inside this skull of mine than a discussion of what I feel deep in my heart or what I've guzzled down my throat.

On an aside, all overturned cups are righted eventually. And perhaps that should give us all hope. :)

Oh.. and apparently the LJ spell-checker does not like contractions. Silly bastard program! Grrrrrrr.

Wed, 02 Mar 2005 07:03:30 GMT

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

I did it! I was able to figure out some blasted HTML/PHP scripts in order to create.... gasp.... a website for my comic!!! ::explodes:: It's the most amazing thing when you bust your brain for several hours only to have it all come out right in the end.

Of course, the site's still going to need a little work... but the most important part of it - the comic viewing and archive system seems to be working without a hitch. Let's hope that continues!

So here's the link to Slither and Friends.

The most up to date archives are located at the Drunk Duck site here.

Go check em out!

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 02:28:21 GMT

Ugh. Why is it you always catch a cold either at the beginning of a weekend, so it spoils all your fun, or at the end of weekend, like now so that I get to go into work tomorrow cranky and tired. Ugh, ugh, double ugh!

Not much to update about. Spent a fun weekend seeing Mike P and some freinds, getting together and talking our nerd talk and walking our nerd walk. I must say, a gamer lifestyle is a helluva lot of fun.

The comic strip is going strong and just saw it's 50th strip as of Saturday. I even created this colorful banner to link it in forum chats and such. :)

The new website for Slither has a lot of work to be done... and even with a lot of the scripts existing out there on the web, it's hard to adjust them to what I specifically envision the site working. Be sure to know I'll drop a link to the site once it's up to snuff.

Oh, and Becky... don't forget. ;)

Ha ha!

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 03:39:36 GMT

I finally got an icon image of the actual and original Mr. Spook. He looks awesome too. Makes my day. :)

In other news, I was accepted into the graduate school for Northern Illinois University... it's just a matter of seeing if I received an assistantship from them. Penn State and University of Illinois have not yet replied except to let me know they have received my applications in full. So it's still a waiting game. Yippee.

Slither and Friends is still going strong though I've gotten 2 lower ratings to date, I do have some regular readers which is cool. I still urge anyone who cares to go to www.drunkduck.com, register as a reader and vote high for my comic! Or... any other comic you may like on the site. There are a goodly number of them. Right now Slither's going through some political commentary, which has been a blast to write/draw... just hope it goes over well.

Work is still work.

I have been traveling a lot on my weekends. Madison just this last weekend and Friday I'm driving down to visit friends in Urbana-Champagne.

Comic Frenzy

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 23:37:06 GMT

Well, I finally dug out my scanner and rehooked it, got a premium membership on drunk duck and restarted the Slither Comic. So far so good. Just need to build a readership. :) You guys can check it out at www.drunkduck.com/Slither_and_Friends. I know you're just dying to. :-p

Mon, 03 Jan 2005 01:25:01 GMT

Contrary to prevalent folklore, yes, I do update my livejournal on occassion. So goodly reader, how were the holidays? Mine were as expected, quick and a bit non-eventful. Although, I did have a fun time with my Wisconsin Brothers who came down (unexpectedly) from Madison for some holiday revelry. It was unexpected due to a lack of communication. I had given up hope on them arriving, yet lo and beholdeth, the peeps showed up at O'Hare. Not only that but Jen, Mike, and Becky also made an appearance when we watched the extended LOTR: Return of the King edition. Mouth of Sauron = creepy and some of the new scenes are really good though very inaccurate.

I'm looking forward to the coming weeks, getting back to the gym, suffering through work, working on some gaming projects. It's all good. Still wish I had a bit more direction though. That and super-powers. Oh yeah, Kool-Aid Man super-powers.