puzzle!

So if you made it this far, you haven't made it very far at all. But you don't have much further to go. This is hard to do, but I feel like it's a fairly creative way to message someone for the first time.

Anyway, proceed to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185187678187734, and in the meantime, feel free to check out some of my comics!

Bud

Always "Studying"

So basically, the background behind this strip is about Johnny and what he brings home from school. Every day, Johnny's notebooks are full of doodles, and I can only imagine that his school day goes something like what is pictured above. He looks super busy, but in fact, all he is doing is drawing. Which is awesome. It's what I do (or did in class), so I get a kick out of the fact that my little brother does the same.

You may notice, I've tried editing on the computer lately. The backgrounds are filled in using photoshop, and in my opinion, they look pretty good. Who knows, I may try color soon!

I haven't updated this blog in about a week, so no one knows what has been happening in my life (because obviously everyone read this blog, and that is their one and only method of finding out how I'm doing). THEREFORE, here is, in list format, everything semi-significant that has happened to me recently (that I can remember):

- this past Sunday I flew down to Pensacola to get a flight physical

-so I can hopefully go to flight school after OCS and TBS and become a pilot

- on the flight down, I sat next to a pilot in the Marine Corps, who flies in HMX-1

-HMX-1 is the Presidential Helo Squadron (i.e. they fly the President and staff around in Marine Corps One).

-So that was awesome, and I got to talk about all sorts of stuff, and we went out to dinner.

-Very lucky for me.

- Pensacola rocked. The other Officer Candidates and I went out and hit the town. I danced with a 70 year old lady. Swam in the ocean at night. Drank multiple margaritas. Took a jello shot.

- got back on Wednesday, and nothing really significant has happened until yesterday.

- yesterday, Johnny had a football game, where he played QB and did fairly well. However, they lost pretty bad.

- Johnny's best friend from home, Ben Wilson, and his sister and mom came to visit, and well as my Godfather, Pat Connelly. I cooked hamburgers (burnt them. shit.) and we all drank some beers and watched football. Good stuff.

- today the Johnwa had a lacrosse game, and he kicked butt.

That's my life. I have had no deep thoughts lately, so consider yourself lucky, you don't have to listen to me ramble. Just enjoy the comics! And if you have any suggestions for future strips, just leave a note, and I'll see if I can't sketch it up!

The Hawk Story

Since this was more of a story than a one-liner, the strip had to be much longer. Which means a little more planning went into it. So I had a whole "rough strip" that you can see here.

The story behind this story is Nicky's. I wanted a Nicky story, but haven't had much interaction with neither him nor Stevie recently, since they've been at school. So this is a story that Nicky got to witness, and told me about. Basically, he spotted a hawk in the sky, watched it dive to catch a duck, it missed, and as it was flying away, the hawk ran into a building. It plopped to the ground, apparently dead, and as students gathered around, it perked up, looked around, and flew away as if nothing had happened. It's not hilarious, just humorous.

Since I haven't updated in a while, I have two comics to add today, so I'll write more under that one.

Logic?

The other day, I was thinking about the stage of life that I'm entering now, and trying to put together exactly how I got here. I mean, don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of occurrences in my life, along with subtle influences, that have shaped who I am (in regards to my future military side). But I think that to many people who don't know me in that, this decision doesn't really seem to fit my persona.

I am definitely a nerd at heart. I've always loved science, starting with dinosaurs and ending up with theories of relativity and discussions about the dreaded quantum mechanics (I hate QM, but only because it goes against conventional thought, is difficult to swallow, and worst of all, it works). I graduated with a BS in Physics (almost magna cum laude, short .01 GPA points. damn.), have held an engineering internship that I believe could've blossomed into a job by this point, participated in a significant amount of research as an undergrad, leading me to believe that I could have gone to graduate school.

So yes, that's me. I am a math/science guy. I love knowing how things work. I love solving problems. I love getting to break through into new realms of understanding, to discover that unquestioned truisms are not actually as simple, or as true as I might have once thought. It is this side of me that has shown through in my academic life. K-BS (kindergarten thru bachelors). And while my "nerdy" side is 100% me, and I have always been extremely passionate about it, I have another side as well.

I am a competitor. I am a fighter. I am a believer. The latter is actually the best way to describe this side of myself. I believe in God. I believe in Right and Wrong. I believe in my country. I believe in my family. I cannot put into words how intensely I believe in these things. My competitiveness and my willingness to fight are just tools to uphold my beliefs.

You will see this side if you play a sport with me, if you get me started on a topic I care passionately about, if you insult my country, if you attack a member of my family. Generally, I am a very laid back person, because I understand that people believe different things than I do, and I respect their right to hold those beliefs, just so long as they don't impede on mine.

Also, it is worth mentioning, my two identities do clash, and quite often. On one side, I am a stubborn man: solid in his ways, willing to fight for a way of life or thought. On the other, I am a curious scientific observer: questioning EVERYTHING and open to the possibility that I am wrong (given a compelling enough argument). This has led me to continually reshape my idea of God, and I still am not sure precisely what I believe, only that there is a Creator, a Higher Power, something more. I am not a hardcore conservative Republican. I think that gays are people, and should be treated as such. They will not burn in hell for following desires that hurt no one. However, I do not believe they should be allowed to be openly homosexual in the military, as it has the possibility to change the dynamics between the men on the front lines fighting. More than that, this stupid "politically correct" movement to change the law NOW, of all times, is preposterous. We are in the middle of the war, and messing with a proven system is out of the question.

I believe in my family. Never questioned that. Never will.

Anyway, I ramble. It is the second side of me who has pushed me as I played sports, and as I ran for class president. It is this side that has enabled me to become a leader in the communities I've been in, and allowed me to forge strong and lasting friendships. It is also this side that took over in the beginning of my senior year of college and said, "Bud, what are you doing? Yes yes, science is awesome, and you can get back to it soon enough, but you need to be a man first. Go out and fight for what you believe in. Earn your freedom. Earn your liberty." So as always, I listen to the best argument, and the Marine Corps won.

I warned you that I'm going to start treating this like a real blog. Readers beware.

Oh yeah, and that last version of the strip was my attempt to more clearly articulate the logical progression of my life, and how poorly the last panel fits in. I don't really think it's necessary, but what the hell, there are some serious dumbasses out there.

So onto the life and times of ME. Finally I have someone to hang out with down here in VA. My neighbor across the street is a girl my age with nothing to do, and she plays guitar (a lot better than I do... damn.), so I'm sure we'll have plenty of jam seshes in the next 2 1/2 weeks. And Tim's old roommate lives like 3 minutes away, AND he's in the Corps, so I have a drinking/workout buddy before I go to OCS and he to TBS.

I went out for a walk in my new boots, with my mom, in an attempt to break them in a little. But after a few unfortunate events (me thinking we didn't need to turn around, then having to anyway, but by that point we needed to run in order to pick Johnny up on time), but boots wore ME in. I've got paaainful blisters on the backs of my heels. Sucks.

Oh yeah, and I'm flying down to Pensacola, FL on Sunday until Wednesday to get a flight physical done so I can hopefully be a pilot (SWEET!) Seems as though the Corps is willing to pay for me to be prepared to go to flight school even though they couldn't give me a flight contract. So I've got my hopes up.

Anyway, thats enough blathering. I'm tired. And no one has actually read any of this. So goodnight. You suck, no one.

bud

ps... don't worry, in future posts I won't be talking about how great I am. Sorry about that everyone.

Spot Assist

My brothers and I play this video game called Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It's a war game, and the point is for your team to get more kills than the other team. Along the way, you can get points for cool kills and assists and whatnot. One type of assist is called a "Spot Assist." It happens when you see a member of the opposite team, allowing them to pop up on your team's radar, and one of your teammates kills him because of that. It's a pretty queer way to rack up points. Anyway, we like to joke around about it, and say, "O.M.G., I seen the bad guy, I seeeeen him. Now someone go killlllll him! yaaaay! Spot Assist! Yay!"

well, it's funny to us anyway, and that's all that matters.

But seriously everyone, wouldn't war be better if it was point-based? No need for excessive killing, just a point system: sort of "tag, you're it" deal. "Hey, HEY! I see you, you have to sit out the next ten minutes of this battle!" Ah, if only.

I decided that I am going to start making this blog more blog-like. No one really visits it anyway, so I might as well ramble in the text. Don't worry, I'll always start with the comic of the day and a description of what the joke actually means. Then you can continue reading, or just move on.

So on a personal note, I have applied, been accepted, and am shipping off to Quantico, VA for Marine Corps OCS (Officer Candidate School) in THREE WEEKS! Truth be told, I am a little anxious about the transition, but greater than that, I am excited to finally be moving on with my life, and especially into a vocation that I believe in and will be happy in. But yeah, wish me luck or whatever. Oh, and don't ask me what I'll be doing in the Corps, because I really don't know yet. Hopefully pilot, maybe infantry, maybe intelligence, maybe a friggin clerk.

Other than that, I am just hanging out at home, kickin back, exercising, drawing (finally starting again), and enjoying my last few scraps of free time before hell starts.

Axe Murderer

I managed to do TWO comic strips today (well, i guess technically yesterday), so you get the benefit of multiple posts! check 'em out!

Ok long story. I have a shorter version on facebook under the final draft of the pic, but if you are at this site, you are looking for the longer story.

I went to see the A-Team last night (awesome movie by the way, highly recommend it), and afterward was driving home at almost 1 AM. It was so gorgeous out that I decided not to head right home, but to drive around for awhile in my jeep (top down, obviously).

After almost an hour, I still wanted to keep driving, but was sick of doing so by myself, and I knew that Rachel also likes to drive around for no reason. So i contacted her, picked her up, and the two of us started cruising the valley for a little while.

Eventually, Padawan insists on switching positions (she wanted to drive) so that she could take me to see this really cool stretch of road. We did so. (oh yeah, I forgot to say, before all that, I took every opportunity to drive through fields of grass and various other off-road spots. very fun)

So we drive for a while, and our minds start to wander to some spooky scenarios, it being the middle of the night and all. At one point, Rachel makes a wrong turn, so we pull a U-ee (in a very creepy looking driveway). We are both kinda spooked at this point, so OF COURSE I take the opportunity to yell, "OH MY GOD, THERE'S SOMEONE CHASING THE CAR!"

Padawan screams and floors the car, and I get a good chuckle. Mucho fun night, and good story to draw!

PI-YOW!

This is a special post; for the first time, I am showing the development of the comic strip. I hope to do so more in the future. And you can only see these preliminary sketches on this website!

In our family, if you leave your neck exposed, you get a big fat slap right in the back of it, followed by a loud "PI-YOW!" Johnwa and the Fazsha are the main offenders (followed closely by the Fabulous Nicky D). Shown in this strip are Matt D (slapper) and Johnny D (slappee).

Pumpkins

Found this drawing I did near Halloween time back in '01 (9 years ago). I typed the expressions of the pumpkins next to each picture, so you can read them.

Rex Gets "Ninja"-ed

As you can see, I've finally started using pen (and sharpie) for my comics. They look a lot cleaner, so I'll continue to do so (even if it does add 20 minutes).

I had bought plastic toy ninja weapons for halloween, but changed my costume at the last minute, and never used them. So they were never removed from the case. A week ago, Stevie, Nicky and I opened the toys and decided to play with them. And what better way than to chase Rex around the house and scare the bajeebus out of him?

The Fazsha

This is my father (aka Fazsha). Keep in mind he has sported at least THREE of these looks. Really.