Phew!

I'm no stranger to being busy, but usually the context is within my job with the USAF. I've never had so much art stuff going on along with career stuff.

It took me 4 hours just to lay down the flat colors the other day on my Megaman Tribute Book submission. 4 hours! Why am I thinking that someone knows how to do it in minutes. Anyway, I'm looking into the program and trying to figure out how to do something like a layer over the flats where I just shade with black,white and grey and it affects the layers beneath. I think it's Masks, or maybe Multiply. Whatever, I'll figure it out, or I'll go back to doing it the long way, where I shade each of my 10 layers. Either way, at least I'm having fun and I'm excited about how the image might look. The lineart at least looks great.

That aside, I'm working on getting pages done for Seraph. But then it occurred to me that I need to build the blasted website for the comic. Which then reminded me that I need to go ahead and rebuild the entire RMK World site anyway. Which then reminded me that my Dreamweaver CS4 took all non-CSS options out of my hands. So I have to teach myself CSS now to build my site to host my comic. Oh and I need to make all the graphics for the site as well. *bangs head on table*

I'm happy and grateful Kirsty and Daniel have offered their services to make Elsewhere happen. That leaves me with the script writing, conceptual designs and basically superintendence and consultation. That isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's a lot of juggling and communication. I have no doubt whatsoever about Kirsty's ability to do the job and requires little oversight. I've watched her grow as an artist for 10 years and she always impresses.

Anyway, that's it for art. But I still have my college class to finish, and likely more down the line for a new degree. Then I'm also testing for promotion in March which requires an immense amount of studying of technical data and Air Force doctrine. And I have that 12-week fitness challenge I have to make time for, which means both the cooking and time to exercise. Oh yeah, and I'll be hopefully starting back up in martial arts lessons this year. So really, I don't have a whole lot of time to do jack squat further.

Bucket List

I think everyone has one or two things they want to do sometime in their life. I have an assortment, but my problem is they get lost in the shuffle. So for my own convenience, I'm making a bucket list here. Preferably I'd like to accomplish this stuff before I'm 40.

- Get my black belt in a martial art (I've studied dozens and never got to finish)
- Publish my Seraph comic
- Learn to play an instrument
- Get a degree in Biblical study
- Learn to surf
- Learn Parkour
- Go scuba diving
- Become a more proficient cook (I've been working on this one already)
- visit Italy and Israel
- Finish learning Japanese
- Go hang gliding
- Promote my work at a comic convention booth
- Go hunting

I'll add to this as I remember more.

Triple Stamp a Double Stamp

Well I finished week one of my 12 week training plan. It was tough at times fighting the cravings but I got through it as long as I ate something good instead. I only missed one workout and that's because I overslept and had to go to work.

In other news, my old DBZ fan comic, Elsewhere, is currently in production again, thanks to the volunteer efforts of a couple plucky fans. They've taken over the drawing portion and I'll continue hammering out the script details. In the meantime, I can focus on getting Seraph under production.

I'm hoping finishing Elsewhere gets me more exposure as an artist because I suck at marketing my work. I try to do grassroots announcements and things, but I try not to cross the line into outright spamming message boards and such. I have some very supportive fans for my past work, but I really want to try to get word about about Seraph, so that when it starts I can have readers ready and waiting.

I've looked for clubs on DeviantArt, but I'm not sure which to join and submit art to. The christian club I joined seems to be a good spot, but they mostly seem interested in my angelic depictions. I'll keep digging and see what happens.

In other news, we went to Hastings tonight and the clerk there creeped Nicole out. The reason? She said he had the exact same body language, mannerisms and manner of speaking that I do. I didn't notice. He seemed withdrawn to me, which I guess is somewhat like me. She said add "exasperated" to that list of adjectives. Apparently my wife thinks I'm perpetually annoyed. But then, with as much as I rant on this or any blog, I suppose anyone else reading this would agree.

Metamorphosis

Well, today, January 9th, is the day I start this contest. 12 weeks from now on April 3rd, we'll see just how much more fit I've become. My biggest hurdle will of course be dealing with my food cravings, but with prayer, hard work and a plan it can be accomplished.

In other news, we started looking for a church home today. Our town has an abundance of churches, but very few of them offer evening services, which would of course accommodate my night shift hours. So I've resolved, as part of just stepping up and doing the things in life I need to do, just suck it up and start going to morning services. I need to be up early throughout the week anyway to be productive. I might as well train my body to do this as well.

The church we tried today was... well it requires further inspection. We have this weird trend in that, whenever we have tried out a church for the first time in the past, we always attend when the pastor is on vacation and there's a guest speaker... for weeks. So we're never quite sure how the church is going to be from one or two attendances. Today was no different.

But I have a few places in mind. We really do need to attend a place where we can genuinely fellowship with other believers. I know Nicole especially needs this, as she's a far more social creature than I am. That and we both really do need a place to serve in some way. So we're praying and searching.

An old post from the Mrs.

This was a fantastic little trove of wisdom written and buried in my wife's blog from 2004. I had never seen it until now.

For Everyone Else: Life Lessons: "1: Be specific with your prayer requests. God apparently thinks that, if you are not specific, then you really aren't wholly interested in j..."

Aneurisms and Contradictions

There are some days where it just doesn't pay to surf the internet. You end up on some column reading the most willfully ignorant comments that make you need to shoot blood out your eyes. I don't claim to know even half of all there is to know, but I do my best to thoroughly know what is necessary and accurate when I cover a topic. (One of the reasons I'm often so quiet is that I have nothing to add to a conversation. If I'm ignorant, I stay silent.)

One of my buttons is speaking out of willful ignorance. But I suppose no matter what is said or done, no matter how much resource and truth you provide, people will do what they want to do. I was ministering for months to one of my dearest friends, and at the end of it all I simply asked him, "If God were to appear before you right now, answer all your questions and validate everything the Bible has to say, would you repent and put your trust in him?" His answer was an emphatic "No".

The thing I find ironic is that the very word "truth", regardless of topic, of what one believes, or the angle from which they are approaching a topic, has become almost a dirty word. In our Universalistic, strong-armed-PC world, truth insinuates that something is right and something is wrong. Or to make it closer to home, someONE is right and someONE is wrong. We don't seem to like that very much as it's an inconvenience. We want everyone to be able to do as he or she pleases. We want to be the masters of our own destiny. We want every way to be right for each person.

The irony here is that by laying claim to a philosophy that says there is no right or wrong way, you automatically denounce people that claim there IS a right and wrong way. So what you really end up saying is that your way is right.

Day Planner

I think a big part of the American dream is about having the freedom to be your own boss and do things the way you would choose to do them. It always has been that way for me anyway. But there's an inherent problem with that: you actually have to be self-motivated.

I'm ashamed to say my motivation often times is that of an 8-year old. When I have to force myself to get out of bed, it's usually to avoid getting into trouble with work. I am by no means a morning person in any sense of the word, so I'm happy to say I work nights. This is great for my job but bad for anything else I would want to do. You see, working nights means I don't have to schedule my waking around the need to get up and go to work. Working nights means I can sleep in, and the lack of "getting in trouble for being late to work" is no longer there.

On the surface, this sounds great, but it means that by sleeping in, I sacrifice the time surrounding work that I could use to be productive. When I work days, it means I get up, go to work, come home, and have the rest of my conscious evening to take care of business. It's more structured and productive even though I hate dayshift.

I'm afraid that my own personal endeavors have not been enough to drag me out of a completely comfortable bed in the morning when I don't absolutely HAVE to get up.

So in other words, I need to grow up.

I realized a lot about myself this past year and I've made a number of resolutions to better myself as a Christian, an artist, a husband and as a man overall. I think in order to make them work, I'm going to have to have a more regimented schedule myself if I continue to work nights. They say if you don't have a plan, you're planning to fail. So I suppose I need to be even more thorough in my outline of daily details.

Step by step, I'm tweaking the things that keep me from taking care of business. I think I've got my attitude and mindset hammered out, so now, I guess I need a schedule.

Imperfect Heroes

In my brainstorms regarding my writing and stories I'm often reminded of the Bible and its flawed heroes. We have an odd mindset toward heroes in general in the West that I can't quite figure out.

Nearly every single person depicted in the Bible is documented to have some fatal flaw or actual wicked act. However, the Bible does not document every single sin as having a direct, in-your-face consequence, or for that matter, some instance where God Himself brings judgment raining down on that person. For some reason, many readers in the West, particularly those who wish to discredit the Bible, seem to think that God's presumed silence somehow condones the actions of these flawed men and women.

Generally speaking, we are unable to deal with complex, genuinely flawed characters if we put them on a pedestal before seeing said flaws. Let's take one of the most loved fictional representations of good in the West: Superman. Superman, to the Western fan, is supposed to represent the best of humanity. So imagine if DC Comics decided to write a story where Superman cheated on Lois Lane. What would the possible reaction from the fan base be? I could confidently say many fans would accuse DC of violating the pristine nature of such a character. But the real question is, would they accuse DC of actually condoning such behavior simply because Superman is meant to be such an iconic example? In other words, is everything he does expected to be a perfect example of behavior?

Now imagine that story was written with the intent of showing Superman as a flawed person, not just an iconic hero. Imagine the story arc comes to a close after a few years and had subtley illustrated the destructive consequences of Superman's actions as opposed to an overwhelming condemning diatribe from the narrator. Would people get it?

This analogy isn't the greatest but hopefully you get the idea. Logically, DC would have to have a reason for showing Superman to be imperfect, and since he's fictional, they can do as they wish.

Any historical account should be simply a "just the facts" unbiased documentation. It doesn't matter if the writer likes the person being recorded or is worried about their reputation. History should be an uncompromising record of what has been done.

The Bible is written in such a way, but with a twist. The people recorded, heroes and villains alike show their true colors. Not all sin is directly punished and not all good is directly rewarded. It simply is. Just the facts. Not everything recorded in the Bible is condoned, even if done by its saints. Sometimes you have to examine the underlying consequences of an action as opposed to an outright condemnation. That's also why it's important to understand what type of book you're in: historical, poetic, instructional, etc.

The twist is that these men who could otherwise be idolized by their nation, or by readers, for the amazing accounts of their faith also show just how fallible and helpless they are- just like the rest of us. The weakness and sin of the heroes of the Bible illustrate their imperfection and need for a savior. All of these heroes point toward the promised Messiah- the one who truly was and is perfect and blameless.

Who do the heroes turn to when they can't even save themselves?

Digital whats-it

A new blog to get organized and official. This will be the place where I post news updates regarding my art projects as well as musings, essays, and sermonettes as they come to me. I'm trying to organize all my online stuff. I plan on having my articles, resources and links on the main RMK World site. This is for more of my personal musings and behind-the-scenes stuff. I'd rather not clutter up my intended showcase website with ramblings. Hope you enjoy.
-RMK