So mercury is retrograde, which astrologically means that the planet is moving backwards through the sign of the planet. Also unfortunatley it's running backwards through my sign piscese! Now not that it only affects me, you should all watch out for communication snafu's and general mechanical snarks, it seems to have already hit me hard. Starting on March 2, its starting to get bad the last few days! I have in 2 days, cut my hand on a tree, overdraft my bank account, cut my thumb on a soup pop top lid(it bled a suprising amount!). I can tell communications with some people have been strained, and I've been definatley doing my best to suffer it all with a smile.

Not that everything that is happening is bad, some is good, and some is merely annoying. Let me tell you though, having this amazing girl to help me not sweat the small stuff is nice. Just look at my profile pic, that face really revs my engine, and I can't believe that she wants to be with me too. So fuck you mercury. Do your worst. I can take it, (but feel free to be gentle, I can take that too..)

QUOTE OF THE DAY!!!
""Peace will come when we replace the love of power with the power of love."
Sri Chinmoy

For a few hours now I've been thinking about a song lyric. It's from a song by The Ataris that I probably havn't listened to in about 3 years.
"Today was a good day.
I didnt even have to use my A.K.
At least I didnt get my heart broken anyway
Wasting time in east new jersey."

I read my horoscope today at cainer.com and I am pretty sure that it said that you can't trust astrology, so there goes that. I mean if you can't trust people who have never met you making predictions based on the positions of planets, who can you trust? I have been reading up on astrology lately, and it's pretty damn interesting. It's funny though I think I usually read my horoscope at the end of the day and see how it matched up to the day I had. It seems to match up pretty damn good most of the time,(it did today) and maybe it would be productive of me to read them in advance and plan accordingly. But like so many things in life its all about your outlook, and what fun would it be to know whats happening before hand.

Anyways, I will leave you with some quotes to sum it up. Greater people than me have been through this world, and they said it better than I could.

"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him learn it within himself." Galileo

"People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest persons with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest persons with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.."
The Paradoxical Commandments! by Kent M. Keith

"I am not afraid of storms, for I have learned how to sail my ship." Louisa May Alcott

I wrote my first recomendation this year. It was for a student of mine named Matt Battaglia, and honestley it was really easy to write it for him. He is a hard working, talented artist, and I have been really amazed at his skill from when I first met him. I am really excited about his future, and I think he is going to go far. With my recomendation he got accepted to both PRATT and SVA. I think thats just great, and while I am sure that it wasnt based on my recomendation, I am so happy I could have helped. Check out his stuff at his deviant art site... http://darkchroniclesart.deviantart.com/ Quotes of the Day "Your better than having to deal with assholes. Your better than dealing with people who don't honor you." -Greg Bernhardt Writer/Comedian "I am afraid that being afraid will stop me from doing something thats really gonna enrichen my life." -Anonymous

So I am back everyone in NJ, and near my computer, and soon to be back to a "normal" day, but I doubt anythings gonna be the same as it was. So if anyone in NJ need to get a hold of me now I am here. It's weird how after just 2 weeks my apartment seems small, and empty. And I am hungry and it looks like I have no food. Oh well. I got shit to do. This is gonna be a big year, no time to dilly dally. You all need a new quote to start the year! QUOTE OF THE DAY "When the child was a child, it was the time of these questions. Why am I me, and why not you? Why am I here, and why not there? When did time begin, and where does space end? Isn't life under the sun just a dream? Isn't what I see, hear, and smell just the mirage of a world before the world? Does evil actually exist, and are there people who are really evil? How can it be that I, who am I, wasn't before I was, and that sometime I, the one I am, no longer will be the one I am? " -From the movie Wings of Desire (1987)

A couple of character designs for To The Last Man. I totally based the chick off of someone famous, bu I think I changed her enough that no one could really tell. Can you?? Quote of the Day "Lie becomes truth only if person want to believe it." Mr. Miyagi

1. Inspiration: It excists everywhere in this world, whether the tune of guitar, to the beaty of a forest, or a woman, or something like walking through the streets of NYC with your headphones on. Something about that makes it seem like it was all put there for you. 2. Love: Friends and family man. Thats whats important. I love everyone I know, and it might not be overt, but your all good in my book. But if you can read this bulletin, your definatley alright by me. 3. Mountain Dew: Man that shit is good! I am never going 5 minutes without one again. 4. Art: It's something I am obsessed with. I think we all are. From the TV we watch, to the movies we see, to the comics, and cartoons, and paintings, and the songs. The amount of art we consume every day is staggering. 5. Modern Plumbing: Seriously. Imagine life without toilets or showers. (I think some peopple don't have to imagine life with out showers, which is gross.) 6. Internet: It makes it easier to talk to friends and family, and even make new ones, that you would never meet otherwise. Plus its easy to find videos of fat kids singing funny songs. 7. Life: It might not be long now, before me, and you, and everyone are gone forever. But its ok. Its gonna be fun while it lasts. Quotes of Thanksgiving Charlie Brown: "Holidays always depress me. " Sally Brown: "I know what you mean. I went down to buy a turkey tree and all they have are things for Christmas. " Charlie Brown:" For Christmas? Already? " "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -JFK

Dude, at 55 Greg Graffin still rocks. I saw Bad Religion tonight in LI and it was unbelievable. It was a good sized venue and I was front and center for the whole thing. They started with the first song from their new album "The Empire Strikes First" which is fast and loud, and it was so great. The crowd was pulsating from the very moment they got on stage. It was great. I havn't been to a concert in a while where I felt like I really knew the bands body of work, rather than liked them casually.(even though I am still bad at remembering lyrics, so I will start to sing along and then realize I have no idea what I am singing and then I have to trail off, and have the split second of worry whether or not anyone noticed... Shut up, you know you've all done that before too.) It was weird though. It was a very pushy pit and there were definatley some guys who had no idea what to do in a pit. One guy kept throwing elbows, and if security guards hadn't thrown 3 people out already I woulda liked to break his glasses. And infront of the crowd were 2 small girls. They werent young because it wasnt an all ages show, but still I thought it was weird they would want to be up front, but I think the security guys made sure they werent crushed. It was a ton of fun, and they played 90% of the songs I hoped they would (no "2010" though) and Anti-Flag was pretty cool too. Quote of the Day.. (saw this one on TV on sunday) "Roy Orbison had a line in a song called 'My Best Friend.' It was a line that says, 'A diamond is a diamond and a stone is a stone. But man is part good and part bad.' You know, I recognize the fact that I'm part good and part bad," - Johnny Cash

Everyone relates to celebrities. Everyone has those celebrities they like because they relate to them, or the art that makes them celebrities makes them feel like they think the same way. In some ways I guess thats the way to make money. Get as many people to like and relate to you. Some people get obsessed with celebrities. I mean an obvious one is Elvis. People love Elvis, still decades after his death. He was good though. My favorite celebrity is Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash was real to me. I have both of his auto-biographys, as many of his CD's as I have been able to afford, and a few other things or "merch" that prove that I love Johnny Cash. But possesions arent what makes me feel close to ol JR Cash. Johnny sings about life and feelings, and the songs he sings and the way he sings them help me out. Whenever I have a problem Johnny Cash helps me out, and he literally speaks to me. His words, from songs he wrote, to the ones he just sings, can help me through almost any situation. I've been having problems with a few people even lately and Johnny helps me get through it. Anyways, Johnny Cash died two years ago today. I know it sounds stupid but I really wish I could have met him. Just to tell him how much his words mean to me, but I am sure enough people told him that he wouldnt need to hear it from another punk ass like me. QUOTES OF THE DAY (Johnny Cash Edition) "So, I learn from my mistakes. It's a very painful way to learn, but without pain, the old saying is, there's no gain. I found that to be true in my life. You miss a lot of opportunities by making mistakes, but that's part of it: knowing that you're not shut out forever, and that there's a goal you still can reach. " "You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space." "You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. " "You have to be what you are. Whatever you are, you gotta be it." Johnny Cash Feb 26th 1932-Sept 12th 2003

So, I am exhausted and have been trying to sleep for hours. I had the TV on and was searching around and found this movie on HBO. It was called "Cleopatra" and according to my channel guide it was (AO) for Adult Oriented, and about "Archeologists try to resurrect the queen." "That could lead to some really sexy possibilities," I thought. So I decided to watch it, expecting what my good friend Shane Mauves used to call "Pant's Down Entertainment." Yeah I know, thats gross. So guess what! Cleopatra is a woman who has retired from teaching and ends up meeting a soap star who hates how fake her life is, and they take a weekend trip to get away from the men in their life. It takes place in Argentina, is all in spanish, and was quite an interesting film. I dont know why I couldn't stop watching it. I think I missed a few plot points trying to sleep everyonce in a while, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. The overall theme was about the dilema from doing what makes you happy, and what is expected of you. But alas I am an artist and this is a sketchblog and I doubt my mis-spelled, not proof read ramblings are very interesting to anyone, so here's what puts buts in the seats... A little drawing of my cartoon superego Zombie Jr. Quote of the Day "Things only suck if you let them." Zombie Jr.

If and when I ever draw a new comic of Rough Rider, I am going to make it totally retro marvel, with the tagline across the top, "Mom's Favorite Comics," mostly because it IS my mom's favorite character that I have ever created. It makes sense, as I think of all my characters it would probably be. It shows me as a smart, historical minded young man, with a good ironic sense of humor. So if your a pretty girl, and I know I have a few pretty girls who read this, show this to you mom. She will totally talk you into dating me, and that would be just ducky. Anywho, this is the Rough Rider. Things are annoying of late. I will probably go into it more later. I got a few more sketch's in me for this week. I am sorry for not posting anything for a bit, but I have been working on things that I can not show you, yet. QUOTE OF THE DAY (HOORAY ITS BACK!) "You only get one life. Theres no god, no rules, no judegements, except for those you accept or create for your self, and once its over... it over. Dreamless sleep for ever and ever. So why not be happy while your here? Really! Why not?" Nate Fisher on Six Feet Under.