I was going to pick up the new Beck album yesterday, but was about a buck short. I want to buy it as opposed to downloading it because a) it's good to be excited about things and b) I think Beck Hansen is the kind of guy who should have my money. So, being a buck short, I didn't get to buy any new music. While talking to the sales guy, though, I saw a small advertisement for the new Gorillaz album and expressed interest in that. I put it on reserve for two dollars and got a neat little book with drawings and "what have they been up to?" blurbs on the fictional band members. I'm quite excited about this one.


I'm coughing and congested and running in the nose. It came pretty suddenly. I blame it on a pretty hard week sleep-wise. Couple that with a new job and some travel and a lot of sun and a lot of human contact. Bam. Petri dish for disaster. Stefani's sick too, though. So kissing's O-Kay.

I'm in the mode where I'd very much like to create something and even have a vision for what I'd like to create, but lack the focus and easy skill that would make creation possible. I'm sure that, if I tied myself down (or had someone do it for me, rowr), I could narrow my eyes and just carve something out. I want to play with colors.


Don't have crushes on anyone ever. It is always a frustrating state of affairs.


So, Soulseek is pretty keen. I've been getting diverse high-quality music. Saul Williams, Cat Power, Bright Eyes, Pedro the Lion, Regina Spektor and The Arcade Fire. I'll admit the latter took me some time to get around to. I had no desire to check them out, but Brenda liked them, so I figured they were cool.

I've got this reaction to music that has people's attention. I tend to avoid it. They could be the greatest muse-ick-ill act to grace the cement, soil, and sea, but I won't give them a listen. Example: The Shins. Aren't the Shins amazing? All my research has pointed to "yes". They are quite amazing. I'm quite sure they'd make my list of bands I like, but I've never actually checked them out. There's a very rich tapestry of reasons for this reaction, but I'm not getting into that now.


This Skype program is pretty amazing. Online, I've talked to this guy Phil for quite some time, but I'd never talked to him with voices and everything. It was pretty rad. It helps that we're both pretty easy-going guys. But hey. If you want to talk to me, I'm ntopp2. Go for it. I'm told that you can talk even if your connection's bad, but I think I've confirmed that this is a dirty lie. I could be wrong though.

So, I've been given the opportunity to draw for the San Diego Union Tribune. It is not a small paper. It is a big one. This is exciting as well as intimidating.

So, I'm not drawing normal San Diego scenes, but stuff from the South Bay. This place isn't exactly packed with tourist destination, so I'm coming up with landmarks and events that make southern San Diego special.

Unfortunately, I can't get started on that immediately. My grandpa's memorial service is on Sunday. So I'll be flying out to Massachusetts tomorrow and will be gone until Friday.

rocking out is love
brought to you by the isLove Generator

And don't you forget it.

My grandpa had a massive heart attack the other day. He's still alive, but he can only use about 25% of his heart now. I'm told you can survive with your heart at 10%, but you won't be very happy. A side effect of this is that his leg with the poor circulation would have to be amputated, thanks to a run-in with a deer tick many years back.

My grandma's in a rough situation now. I guess my grandpa hasn't woken up yet and they've given her the option of "pulling the plug". I can't imagine what that's like.

I'm not sure who decided it, but when he does eventually die, his body will be cremated and the ceremony held in Massachusetts. See, they live in Illinois right now, but they raised the family in Mass. and have a lot of history there. Over here, we think that's a good way to set it up.

Now, how do I feel about this whole business? It hasn't really hit me yet, actually. It's not very surprising that he had a heart attack. He's in his early 70s, smokes a pipe, eats mayonaisse sandwiches, and sits listening to the radio all day. He wasn't exactly Carl Lewis, but it's still strange to hear about this happening.

lonelyplanetgrl (whom I love like a step sister) asked me some questions for a meme thing that I never answered. So I'm gonna answer 'em like I'm crazy.

(1) If you could have your nose picked by anybody, living or dead, who would you chose?
Oscar Wilde. I think he'd have clean fingers.

(2) What's better the cake or the ice-cream?
Oh don't put that over my head. The cake and the ice cream are complementary. They go together so well. But if you want to get into it (and you do), the ice-cream totally trumps that lazy cake. Scavenger hunt in the sun: Cake dries out and crumbles. Ice-cream, on the other hand, spreads out to cover more area.

(3) Anywhere in the world, cost isn't a concern, where would you go?
Baliwood.

(4) When is the best time to enjoy a nice, tall glass of Tang?
When you are also enjoying a nice, thick slice of Rice Krispies treat.

(5) Why can't we all just get along?
We're all sort of mean. And a lot of it is our parents' fault and the fault of all the people that were here before us. And kids. Fuckin' kids.

(Extra Credit) How would you prefer to go out: Spontaneous human combustion while on a magic show stage -OR- imploding/exploding in outer space?
Spaceship explosion. I'd make the news and little kids wouldn't get nightmares like they would with the magic show thing.

I hope you found this edifying. If you didn't, I hope scrolling past was pretty easy.

I'm doing okay right now. Was pretty sick this week, what with the dizziness, the fatigue, and the sudden headaches. I've missed three Herstory classes in a row. Regrettable, but I never learn anything in class anyway.

On the other hand, my African American History class is working out pretty well. The way Mr. James teaches appeals to me. We come to class and he lectures the fuck out of us about interesting stuff. Then we have two major tests. One in the middle of the semester and one during finals. I just got the midterm back and I aced that mamma jamma.

Another schooly thing, I'm in the school newspaper. I'm the cartoon editor. I make sure all (one) of my cartoonists are working on their cartoons. Then I tweak the drawings in photoshop. There's drama, yeah, but it's a good deal. Someone there paid me twenty dollars for drawing something for her magazine.

Another nice thing about the newspaper is that it's the place where I met my current love interest, Stefani. She had black hair at the time, but it has since been bleached and pinkened. Having a girlfriend can be excellent. Especially if you are excellent to each other. *air guitar* Our personalities match up pretty well, which is a nice change of pace.

I love you all.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuugs.

Ali (who is our friend) asked me the following questions, which I will attempt to answer.

( They are fancy. )

So, I'm sure you've seen the 5 question meme going around. I always feel a little timid about asking personal stuff like that. But I don't mind sharing.

So, if you'd like to know a few things, please ask and I'll go on and respond. You can get as personal as you like, but I can't guarantee I'll give up Everything. Try my best, though. ;)

But please don't ask how I came up with "ntopp" or "lentilstew". I think those are both explained on here somewhere.

CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU ARE THE OTHER EASILY
STARTLED
CAT!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

WHICH CAT TOWN CHARACTER ARE YOU?
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Just so you, you know, know.

How the heck do you find waitresses? Are there special goggles or something?

Maybe James Kolchaka knows. Maybe I should've asked him.

Part 1: One sentence at a time
01. Woke up upside-down in bed to "Chewbacca's on my Underwear" by RBHID.
02. Went back to sleep in spite of being woken up by my mom on her way out.
03. Went back to sleep several more times.
04. Woke up with an "Oh hell" on my lips.
05. Got ready right-quick.
06. Wore the "Give me your (tater) tots" shirt with a button down shirt on top of it.
07. Caught the bus without rushing or waiting.
08. Completely rocked out to my new CD, "Out From Out Where" by Amon Tobin.
09. Asked some geeky punk kids where I should transfer to get to the convention center and ended up walking the half mile instead of taking the second trolley.
10. As it turns out, there's no line to get in when you show up two hours after the convention's opened its doors.
11. I signed up to volunteer at 6:00 and got my free Comic-Con passes.
12. Quickly found the Dumbrella booth and bothered the people there with unreasonable requests.
13. Ventured over to the Flight booth (though Vera Brosgol apparently wasn't appearing there) and ended up buying some books from a guy whose work I'd never seen before.
14. I bought a book from Greg Dean of Real Life Comics and he recognized me from the last two years though quickly lost interest.
15. Got in contact with my friend Matt (who had come dressed as Hellboy) and waited for him beneath a big plastic Yoda.
16. Met up and wandered.
17. Got delicious glowing alien lollipops from the folks at the Sci-Fi channel section.
18. Bought a poster from the movie Snatch.
19. We walked a few blocks to the mall and got pizza instead of paying 2.50 for a fucking can of Coca Cola at the con.
20. Ended up in at least five pictures from people trying to photograph Matt.
21. Got Gabe from Penny Arcade and Piro from Megatokyo to draw on my tube.

Part 2: Paragraphic
22. I went to do my volunteer work to earn the free pass I'd already been using. Sat next to some borderline mentally disabled guy hitting on some very kind woman. Ended up telling some guy that used to smell like dogs that living at home isn't bad, even if you're paying rent. I mean, he's got a T1 line that he doesn't have to pay for. What's food and cheap rent, anyway? Don't you eat ramen?
23.I ended up sitting around for an hour waiting to be put to use but ended up getting out two hours early. Apparently, there was no demand for paper-sorting, photo-prevention, or impromptu fire brigades. Their loss, I guess.
24. Met up with friendly folk again and found out that Matt talked to Mike Mignola (Hellboy creator and damn nice guy). Mike said it was the first Hellboy he'd met outside of Ron Perlman (who will be there tomorrow) and gave Matt a free book. Even signed it "To Hellboy". That's classy.
25. We ended up going to dinner at The Spaghetti Factory. The food was... okay. The ice cream was pretty boss, though. And I'm pretty dang sure the waitress fancied me. She told us that she'd be working tomorrow and that we should come by then. So, unless we were fantastic customers or she was concerened about the restaurant's fiscal wellness, I'm pretty sure she was being smooth. I regret not leaving my name and number on a stray sugar packet or getting her name, but I'll try and stop by tomorrow and see if I can woo her into a cup of coffee.

So, I went Tom Clancy on my surviving AOL software and figured out what the password to my old name was. I'd set it to something I thought would be simple to remember, but had never field-tested. So, I forgot it. Hardcore.

You know, though, "lentilstew2" was supposed to be a temporary name until "ntopp2" was available again. But, now that I've used it for a while, I feel attached to the temporary name. So, though the old name's available again, I think it's best that I move on.

We had some good times, baby. But I think you know that folks can't be apart for so long without things changing. So stop calling and give me back that cool Threadless shirt I finally received in the mail today. http://www.threadless.com/product/122.html