Blustery Day

And I am slowly drifting into the afternoon..

Cant tell if its going to rain outside or not. I'll have to bring the book table in if it does. Today just feels like its moving slow- like sluggish veins, like a heat wave, like the last hour of class when I was a kid. Its not like I feel like Ive survived a weekend drunken binge or something.. although I do feel tired.. its more the tiredness that comes from just needing some time. Time to just stop, and reset, and breathe. I'm not blaming this on the extra work I did this weekend, more on my habit these days of filling in all the cracks, all my times between work, with time with friends. Its almost like I cant say no, I feel compelled now that Im working two jobs alot, to give them time too. Its more just that I cant say no. And I get lonely. Its hard to balance loneliness with being drained by people, I guess? Who knows. I'm going to take tomorrow after work at westside off, and just try an unwind. But I'm still either hanging with tanner an lauren again or goin an watching Top Gear with steve an drew an jack. I cant say no..

Ugh.I should.

Its a slow drift today. Its getting darker outside, kinda overcast.

Im glad subway is so close, I can grab a sandwich for lunch on my way from the parking garage. It gets me through the day without my hunger-induced weirdness. Saturday was hard- no breakfast, no lunch, and had to run to the church in time for service without dinner. I was a wreck. So I'm intentionally fixing that, so I can be normal throughout my day. Saturday was weird- would have grabbed a sandwich but they'd set up the parade route an I was worried about getting stuck across the street from the store I needed to open. Lame. Especially when the parade itself didn't show for a while, I totally could have made it.

I need to bring in some new music. There's only so much that works in the comic shop- motivating enough for me, background enough to not be distracting, happy enough to be welcoming when people come in. Really I just keep falling back on Band of Horses, my Wintersleep/Iron & Wine mix cd, and recently Manual and Ulrich Schnauss. And the Mendelssohn concertos cd I have. There's gotta be other stuff though..
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I definitely love Barry. I know his daughter too but Barry and a few other customers, when they come in, they are just these encyclopedic fonts of knowledge.. from music, to comics, to writers.. its just amazing to talk to them. Sometimes I know what they're talking about even. Its been fun to be able to talk to Barry about new stuff I'm reading though, customers like him make me want to expand my knowledge of these worlds more. And I really appreciate his suggestion. They've been really good so far.

I still think with comics though, with graphic novels, everyone's tastes vary so much, no suggestion can truly be as rewarding as the ones you discover on your own. Jack recommended We3, and Beasts of Burden, because he knows I love animal characters.. but they're dark and messed up and twisted, even though they're amazing achievements.. it just wasn't something I could enjoy. Lots of people have steered me towards things that I could see liking if I were a different person than me, just a shade off.. but I guess I'm going to stay true to myself. I tried liking Arkham Asylum: Serious House on Serious Earth.. because I know it was so ridiculously formative to comics two decades ago, and I am in love with McKeans art. I love it for its art, but the story is just hard. We3 was hard. Harsh, hard to swallow, thought-provoking for sure, but there just was no light in it. I don't think I read comics to find darkness. I think I read comics to find hope, and heroes, and coming out of darkness. Maybe people read for different reasons, those I think are reasons I do, and it shapes what I internalize and take home and hold up as good work. Morrison's Joe The Barbarian grabbed me like that. Its already something I'm in love with, 4 issues in. The character of Chakk just is exactly what i hope to find in comics. And the premise is amazing. The new S.H.I.E.L.D. comic threw me the same way.. gorgeous art, amazing location and setup. I don't think other people will see the same thing, but it looks like it will be worth my time. It made me break out my old copy of Red Star and I fell in love with that all over again.

Hellcyon seems promising too. Haven't done my research but I think the artist is the same guy who did Star Wars: Tag & Bink, and its a sci-fi dark horse title that looks like its going in a good direction. It looks mainly ground based though- Im still hoping for a mor space based combat title.. giant ships, stuff like that. The Ender's Game adaptations have so far been good, just not enough of that! Give me space and lots of it
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Oh good lord. Just had two extremely A.D.D. maybe 12yr olds in who genuinely believed I could provide them with manuals on killing vampires. Because they 'really needed to know how'. They only had 3 bucks, and we were out of the Zombie Survival Guide or the Combat Manual. Too bad. But frustrating when they're so freakin ADD they cant even concentrate on me when I am tryin to tell them how much the stuff in the store really costs.. where are these kids parents? Do they just roam downtown or something? Gonna get hit by a car with the way their brains were workin.. I sold them an issue of Astounding Wolfman an hoped that would satisfy them. Holy hell.

Its gettin pretty windy out.. might have to pull the book table in early..

Crazy afternoon