Long Time, No Blog
Dear Blog,
I have been remiss in updating. I apologize. Things have been very busy and good and busy and not so good and busy.
Previously, on Patric, I had finished graduate school. This left me without employment. The week after graduation was Springcon at the MN State Fair Grounds. Chondrion and I went to that and I sold quite a bit of stuff as well as saw some good friends. It was a fun show, as always. I miss it being in the Fall, but not like I had much going on in the springtime.
After the show, I started my job search. I figured I needed to find _anything_ for the summer with the hopes of a teaching position for fall somewhere. I hit the webbertubes monster job sites and sent off my resume' to a bunch o' places. Two days later, after i had pounded pavement looking for just something to get some money (telemarketing!) i got a phone interview with this brand new school called MMI. The following Monday I had a face-to-face and by the time I got home (it's in the Cities) I had a job offer to start teaching in two weeks.
I love MMI! It is so awesome! It's our second semester and it's a small art school for videogames and music. This semester I'm teaching writing, but there are other classes for me to teach in later semesters. That's right, it's a forever type of job! I am so fortunate to find not just a job, but a good job that pays fairly well that I have job security in! This job is a dream job! I always wanted to be part of building a program or department, and now I am! I am going to be helping to rewrite the writing program for fall, including potentially helping to edit a book. You can't tell me that's not cool. A large part of why they hired me is because I am not a typical English major, which was my biggest issue at SCSU. They liked that I am a cartoonist and a musician. Almost everyone here is a musician and artist, so it's just awesome. My coworkers are the coolest people on the planet and the faculty and staff is a pretty close-knit bunch. This is a great job and I feel so fortunate to work here.
Since I'm now commuting at least two days a week about 75 miles one way, the Mustang just ain't cutting it. I've upgraded to something with better mileage. I still have the Mustang, and I think I'll sell it. If anyone's interested, $6000 and it's yours. Meanwhile, 50+ miles per gallon is nice. Also, I really like the hatchback. It feels roomier.
FNS seems to be going well. I just passed the 1600th comic, which feels like a lot, but not enough. I said I would go to at least 2000 strips. The art is better than ever on the strip, but something still feels off to me. I feel like the color strips from last year are a disease the strip never really recovered from. I think moving them out of the little boy's room is problematic in a lot of ways. I'm thinking about getting them back into the house.
I haven't drawn Fun Factory for about half a year. I don't have any script currently, but I'm hoping to change that. I think FF is best in bursts, like TV seasons. It's a side project. Maybe if I ever stop FNS it'll be bumped up to the main event.
Alas, I did not get the funding for my graphic novel. It worked out okay as I was thinking that would be my summer job if it had to be. Now that I'm fully employed, I really don't have any time to devote to it. I'm still working on it, but I'm only doing writing right now. I'm not doing a script, but prose writing. That works better because I write things rather than try to plan visuals.
Band is going okay. I've kinda taken a more laid back approach. I'm not as active as I was before. I still like to play, and that was the reason I originally joined. That hasn't changed. I don't trust a lot of the people there, but I don't need to to play the music.
I have been remiss in updating. I apologize. Things have been very busy and good and busy and not so good and busy.
Previously, on Patric, I had finished graduate school. This left me without employment. The week after graduation was Springcon at the MN State Fair Grounds. Chondrion and I went to that and I sold quite a bit of stuff as well as saw some good friends. It was a fun show, as always. I miss it being in the Fall, but not like I had much going on in the springtime.
After the show, I started my job search. I figured I needed to find _anything_ for the summer with the hopes of a teaching position for fall somewhere. I hit the webbertubes monster job sites and sent off my resume' to a bunch o' places. Two days later, after i had pounded pavement looking for just something to get some money (telemarketing!) i got a phone interview with this brand new school called MMI. The following Monday I had a face-to-face and by the time I got home (it's in the Cities) I had a job offer to start teaching in two weeks.
I love MMI! It is so awesome! It's our second semester and it's a small art school for videogames and music. This semester I'm teaching writing, but there are other classes for me to teach in later semesters. That's right, it's a forever type of job! I am so fortunate to find not just a job, but a good job that pays fairly well that I have job security in! This job is a dream job! I always wanted to be part of building a program or department, and now I am! I am going to be helping to rewrite the writing program for fall, including potentially helping to edit a book. You can't tell me that's not cool. A large part of why they hired me is because I am not a typical English major, which was my biggest issue at SCSU. They liked that I am a cartoonist and a musician. Almost everyone here is a musician and artist, so it's just awesome. My coworkers are the coolest people on the planet and the faculty and staff is a pretty close-knit bunch. This is a great job and I feel so fortunate to work here.
Since I'm now commuting at least two days a week about 75 miles one way, the Mustang just ain't cutting it. I've upgraded to something with better mileage. I still have the Mustang, and I think I'll sell it. If anyone's interested, $6000 and it's yours. Meanwhile, 50+ miles per gallon is nice. Also, I really like the hatchback. It feels roomier.
FNS seems to be going well. I just passed the 1600th comic, which feels like a lot, but not enough. I said I would go to at least 2000 strips. The art is better than ever on the strip, but something still feels off to me. I feel like the color strips from last year are a disease the strip never really recovered from. I think moving them out of the little boy's room is problematic in a lot of ways. I'm thinking about getting them back into the house.
I haven't drawn Fun Factory for about half a year. I don't have any script currently, but I'm hoping to change that. I think FF is best in bursts, like TV seasons. It's a side project. Maybe if I ever stop FNS it'll be bumped up to the main event.
Alas, I did not get the funding for my graphic novel. It worked out okay as I was thinking that would be my summer job if it had to be. Now that I'm fully employed, I really don't have any time to devote to it. I'm still working on it, but I'm only doing writing right now. I'm not doing a script, but prose writing. That works better because I write things rather than try to plan visuals.
Band is going okay. I've kinda taken a more laid back approach. I'm not as active as I was before. I still like to play, and that was the reason I originally joined. That hasn't changed. I don't trust a lot of the people there, but I don't need to to play the music.