Author Archives: admin

Joustification

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Make today count.

– me

Today is pretty significant in my life. Besides being my birthday, it’s the one year anniversary of liberating myself from alcohol and tobacco. It’s not the exact date. I quit smoking before my birthday, but cheated a couple of times (no worries, I forgive myself freely) and I quit drinking some time after my birthday, but I will forever keep this day as the anniversary because it’s easier to remember.

If you ask me why I quit, the short answer is pretty simple…it got in the way.

When I would drink, I could draw for two, maybe three hours before I had to stop. When I took a “smoke” break, all I could think about was getting back to drawing, so I ended up sucking down a cigarette in about a minute. After a while, it didn’t make sense (Actually, smoking makes NO sense – period.)

So, I quit. No patches, no AA meetings. I just quit.

Anyway – happy anniversary to me and happy birthday as well.

 

Shiphead

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I have been posting for a year now. I can count on one hand how many times I have missed this past year. I have sacrificed many vacations, including family time traveling to my boyhood home in upstate New York. Most nights are spent in front of the computer, posting my thoughts and drawings.

As of Thursday of this week, I am taking a short break. I have decided to take my boys on a short vacation – much deserved and a year over due.

I just wanted to say thank you so much for all of your kind words and support.

I have decided to continue my Sketch of the Day for as long as I can hold a pen, pencil, marker, or brush.

Back to Work

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If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t posted in a few days. I really don’t want to get into the details, so I will just say I needed to direct all my attention to a very worthy cause.

Tonight, I helped my oldest son stage one of the most brilliant “scare” jobs on his brother ever concocted.

“concocted”…another bizarre sounding word.

Stephen had decided to take a shower in the master bath, as usual. There was a load of clean clothes on my bed. I had Caleb lay on the bed and I covered him up with the pile of clothes, exposing just one eye, so he could see his brother walk out of the bathroom. It went off without a hitch. Stephen let out a long, high pitched scream. I wouldn’t feel too bad for Stevie, he got in a couple of good shots on his brother before I pulled them apart. My thought process is we can talk about this for years at the dinner table…or therapy couch. Either way, it was fun.

Fool for Love

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I picked up my ten year old son this morning from his mother’s house. On the way back to Smyrna, we had several deep discussions regarding life, death and a lot of the other important stuff that happens in between.

The stand out conversation was about love.

He said;

“The heart has one function, and that is to pump blood through your body to supply it with oxygen, right? Well, then how can you say you “feel” love in your heart? You only think you’re in love and that is in your mind.”

My reply;

“…uh… wanna get some ice cream?”

Cancer Sucks

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Throughout my life, my brother hasn’t asked me for much. In fact, I can’t tell you the last time he asked me for anything. He has called me every day in the past three days about designing this tattoo for him. You see, his wife is a cancer survivor of about five years now, and last week, they received news that it’s returned. They celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary this month as well.

My best friend’s wife is also battling it right now. I haven’t eaten at their house since Thanksgiving and, honestly, I would give a day of my life for just one more spaghetti dinner in front of the TV watching Two and a Half Men with my Jones family.

I can’t help but be selfish.

God says he won’t give us any more than we can handle (Actually, not a bible verse, but a combination of many – look at 1 Cor 10:13 for starters) and I just have to be okay with that. Whether you believe in God, Yahweh, Allah, or whomever, I believe we are made in his or her image and we return there after our life here on Earth is complete.

That’s good enough for me.