As some of you noticed, Monday was not the 7th…I think I was looking at last year’s calendar and effed that up.

Having a few problems since we’ve got back from the States. First I was going to buy a nice warm winter coat in Tokyo for 30% off, but by the time I convinced my wife that it was worth the money, the store had closed 10 minutes before we got back to it. Next I found that I had lost my cell phone somewhere so I couldn’t get back in touch with people for work. Then today I went to teach a lesson to find no one home, and with no phone to gather more info, I just had to leave so I’m out $50 on that one >.>; Not to mention it was snowing and I could have had a snuggly new coat.

Having some problems with Wordpress also, the media insertion thingy is all jacked up and I can’t upload files without having to go to internet explorer to upload the file, get an error, then come back into Firefox to insert the “errored” picture file into the post. So I need to work on that as well, hopefully a quick WP upgrade will fix that, but I fear 2.7 will kill a couple of plugins that make the comic side of this thing work easier. Oh swells, 99 problems.

I might start rolling the comics out tomorrow, I need to get back into the swing of things, but I’ve pre-emptively updated to the 12th which would have been the correct date if I had looked at a proper calendar…

Planning to start a short storyline tomorrow if all goes right, if not then Monday I’ll start with the next installment of Japanese Pirates.

Something I’ve been working on, trying to get a solid reference image done for Yaju to use in the cast section of the site. I think this might get posted after the site design get upgraded for wordpress 2.5

As an aside, I’ll be going back to America for a couple of weeks starting on the 18th of this month, so I likely wont be putting up comics during that time ; ; Maybe I can use some of the downtime to write some new material, but I’m sure I’ll be busy meeting people and doing all the things humans do during this time of the year.

I do however plan to bring my notebook with me, so maybe during the middle of the night when I’ll undoubtedly be awake from the time zone swapping jet lag, I can get some code work done on the new site that I’ve been wanting to do for months and months now.

I’ve heard about people experiencing a ‘reverse culture shock’ when they return home after living abroad for a time, but I find the concept of that ridiculous. I mean, how can it be ’shocking’ to return to normalcy?  I don’t see myself dropping random Japanese words, or acting strangely in otherwise familiar social situations, but I suppose only time will tell. I think I have a good buffer from it built up being that I live with my Wife, and speak English on a day to day basis with her. Not top mention the amount of American T.V. shows, movies, podcasts, and radioshows that I listen to in order to comfort myself with English speaking voices.

I’m a little nervous though, all told, to go back home. I don’t feel like the past year has been much of an objective accomplishment for me. I’m only working part time, my Japanese isn’t exactly impressive (maybe first year of college level), and my supposed focus on my cartooning has been pretty much fruitless. I’ve made some strides personally and with my art, but as far as success or goal reaching goes in so many areas, I just don’t feel like I’ve done anything. I’m not prepared for the barrage of questions about life here, answering those same questions over and over again to everyone that I haven’t seen in the past year and a half…I wonder if the friends I’ve abandoned will even make the time to indulge me in a conversation to catch up.

Ah the worries and the woe…I do not look forward to my return to the States, though I do look forward to the cheeses. A new mathematical formula for me to memorize (as apparently no references are available in the real world when you need a mathematical formula, forcing you to memorize them all for the test) 5 beers + 2 a.m. = block of nonsensical text. I will regret this post in the morning ^_^

I promised to show the advertisement for my cafe job before, so here it is! It’s quite small, but at least I can say my face was printed in a Japanese magazine ad.

::insert other thoughts here::

So I introduced a new recurring character by the name of Yaju during my Thanksgiving story, as I’m sure you noticed. This person does actually exist and is a friend of my Wife and I. Granted I’m taking some…artistic liberties with her as a character I hope that you guys will enjoy having more than two people running around. If it feels a bit odd right now, let it ride out, her origin story and such are coming up so that it will make sense in the comic world. Now that I’ve laid some groundwork from that time warp I did, I can start going back and explaining things a bit. Whew~! Lots of text!

Something also worth mentioning, it seems that the real Yaju has made some mention of this comic, and I’m seeing alot of hits coming in from that…this makes me nervous. Typically I don’t like to advertise, especially not to the people that I know personally. I think that there’s a certain insecurity that comes along with doing something like this. Not only do I constantly worry that my drawings are crap, but I also get the bonus of worrying about the story as a whole, and whether it’s at least mildly entertaining. Basically I suppose I’m saying if you happen to think I’m being too harsh in my characterization of your friend, or if this comic isn’t your cup of tea…be gentle with me ^_^v

Also, this week, I finally broke the 200 comic barrier! When I look back on all that work, I can’t help but feel a sense of…well shame. Most of those 200 comics are terrible, HA!

Looking toward the future however, I’m feeling pretty good. Insecure, but pretty good.

Sorry, I know I’m off schedule right now and everything, but I had to take time from my schedule for a photo shoot for the local news magazine.  Watch out for my super awesome photograph on the 25th for S-Style, where I’m totally in a photo for the English cafe that I’m working at. One step closer to fame and fortune.

Disclaimer: Not nearly as big a deal as I’ve made it out to be.