House Beautiful

One of the things on my list for 2016, to do as soon as possible, is to take up the last of the carpeting in my house.  Almost a year ago my mom helped me with the floor in my living room and hallway, but the bedroom and office are still the same.  It's time to say goodbye to that filth of a floor covering.  Did you know that the backing on old carpet disintegrates over time and looks and feels a lot like sand?  Not to mention the years of crumbs and other stuff that have seeped through.  Not that I ever really eat in those rooms, but things have a way of getting tracked around.

Which leads me to reveal my next plan: paint the rest of the living room and finally make real curtains.  I have one of those giant vertical blinds over one of them and a piece of fabric tacked over the other one.  It's been like this also for about a year, mostly because I haven't gone out yet and picked fabric for the curtains.  Making them won't be too hard.

Today's weather was less crappy than normal so I dumped a shitload of stuff into the compost.  I hope I'm not ruining it by putting in things like cotton stuffing from a moldy cushion, or particles from the bagless vacuum cleaner.  I'm good at adding things to the container but not turning  it or keeping it damp, so I don't think I'll have usable compost for a very long time.

OK, enough about that. What I really want to talk about now is how awesome it's going to be when I go see Earth and Super Furry Animals in February, FOR FREE because I've had this McMenamins gift card lying around unused for the last five years.  Until now.

AND ALSO that I have another DJ thing coming up, it's been official for a couple weeks but I'm going to have a slot at the upcoming Twilight Rummage Sale in February.  I get a free table and $20, so I guess I'm a pro now.

The January edition of the rummage sale was last weekend and I had a pretty good time.  I spent most of the money I made two days later on my table for the Frankenstein's comic book show that's coming up in March, and my page/publishing cost for Vision Quest #4 that's also on the way.  Just doing my part to keep the comix economy alive.

Things That Make No Sense

I don't need to reiterate what a bummer week this has been, what with the news about David Bowie and Alan Rickman.  It's been difficult in other ways for me too, and I've been avoiding social media even more than usual as well as current events.  Why punch yourself again and again?  I know it will seem like I'm trying to be funny, but I'm looking up stuff about Amebix to feel better.

This works too:

I took three grocery bags mostly full of old coats to Goodwill last weekend.  Since I only use coats when it gets really cold, I didn't really think to try them on or see if I even like them anymore since last winter.  If you weed out your coats, don't forget to look in all the pockets, especially on the inside.  A lot of them have roomy interior pockets where stuff can be forgotten.

I'm not really with it though.  I put laundry in the washer two nights ago and it's still there.  I'll remember it for five seconds and then go back to whatever I was doing, which for the last two days has been drawing comix, eating, and watching Last Tango in Halifax.

Symbolism Overdrive

It's the first day of 2016, and it's sparkling out without a cloud in the sky.  Some people are taking advantage of the clear weather and clearing out space.  That means free stuff on the sidewalk for me!

I think this is a small bookshelf.  I also found a small, pretty painting of a woman's face, turned backwards here.  I'm not one to sneeze at a free set of shelves.  It was heavy!  I carried it down the block a little way and I was already carrying my laptop in a shoulder bag.  I included the clay flower pots in the photo to show you when free stuff goes wrong!  I carted these home over a year ago and they are still in my driveway because I think they might be full of spiders.  I haven't had the nerve to pick them up and toss them.

I don't really make resolutions, it's more like a to-do list, and most of it is stuff I was doing in 2015.  I just want to do many of the same things but more and better.   Here are some things I didn't do last year that I'd like to do now:

• go to Iceland
• adopt a pet
• publish a comic/zine other than one of my own

I met up with some of my best friends to celebrate last night and we watched Logan's Run.  I walked home in the freezing starlight and I played music from my phone distract me from the cold.

I'd forgotten that Falling and Laughing was the first book I read in 2015, a memoir by Grace Maxwell about her partner Edwyn Collins' recovery from a major stroke.  Edwyn is the guy singing this song, in case you didn't know.