Today I was walking home from getting some lunch, and I saw something I hadn’t seen before. I saw a sweaty, shirtless man running down the street with two shiny, bouncing nipple rings. It occurs to me now this site is probably a fairly regular thing in some places, including Atlanta’s own Piedmont Park, but somehow I have gone this long without witnessing it.

Then it occurred to me that these were very shiny rings. These rings weren’t just pieces of body jewelry this man left in full time. They were recently polished silver nipple rings, glinting in the sun from yards away. Perhaps the guy has an assortment of nipple decorations. Maybe there are formal, casual, and exercise nipple rings? Maybe it isn’t just nipple rings, and he has a whole sexual organ body modification wardrobe for any occasions.

We got our engagement photos taken last week, and that is one of my personal favorites. We’re probably not using that one for the Save The Date card since it looks like a photo for an article on an indie rock band’s sophomore album, but we haven’t quite nailed down which photo that will be just yet.

A lot of other non weddingy stuff is going on.

Work wise, I may possibly get to work on ATHF again soon. Hopefully. JibJab also accepted a pitch for a new series of Sendable greetings that do not feature Mistor. I don’t know when the first one of those will be out the door since I need to write them first, and I’m still working on a Mistor birthday card. That’s even a little delayed because of something else going on I’ll mention in a second. That birthday card could potentially be my last Mistor cartoon for a little while. I’ve got the itch to make a new personal cartoon, but I haven’t quite found the “story” or whatever I do that passes as a plot.

I had surgery yesterday. That was a lot of fun, and I suggest everyone try it. The drugs I mean. The getting cut up while you’re asleep part is no fun.

I’m healing. It wasn’t a big procedure, so I should be back to whatever it is I say I do in a couple of days. I won’t say what I went under the knife for, but in a totally unrelated note: birthday cake scented shampoo is not edible and doesn’t even remotely taste like birthday cake.

My phone broke a few weeks ago, and Sony Erriccson refused to fix it. Somehow it got water damage and voided the warranty without activating the water damage litmus tag in the phone or, more miraculously, me getting it wet. They sent it back with a photo of the water damage and a politely worded “ha ha you’re screwed” letter. I liked that phone a lot, but now I’m all insulted and moody. Since I chose to be an animator and not a profession that can afford things like ‘data plans’, I longingly gazed at iPhone ads while I ordered a Nokia 5310 xtreme dumbphone. Hopefully that’ll show up today. I also lost all my phone numbers, but who calls me anyway?

I bought some paints, brushes, and a few little canvases in what has been turning into an adorable reminder of why I don’t paint. I really suck at this. The first one isn’t done, so I’ll reserve judgment on just how much I suck at this for the time being. I’ve got some other stupid ideas I want to paint to give me more time to practice before I decide if this was a terrible failed experiment or not.

I asked my girlfriend to marry me in the password protected cartoon I posted earlier. She said yes, so I we’re engaged now. Wee. More news to follow.

If you’re a friend and want to see the video, just give me a heads up for the password.

I’ve been half-past terrible with the updates, and I really don’t have much in the way of an excuse. Much of the interesting stuff going on in my life is of the family medical drama I’m not the type to share all over the internet.

The JibJab cartoons are still coming along. I believe every cartoon I’ve made for them so far is now currently available to view for free here. You have to pay to send it along to your friends or loved ones or whoever, but I get a cut of that money and frankly, JibJab has been very kind to me. Send Em!

Oh, I am still making some more.

I just got back tonight from Austin, TX where I was a groomsman at a friend’s wedding. This would be my first friend to get hitched. You’re older than you’ve ever been and now you’re even older. Oh, we saw TMBG last week, and they were amazing. Great show.

Also there was a tornado in downtown Atlanta like a mile or two from our place.

Also my name should be in the credits of not just Squidbillies tonight but also Aqua Teen. Huzzah.

Here’s a hot tip for new freelancers. Let’s say you make a bunch of money freelancing. Maybe enough to pay a few months rent over the course of a year. That isn’t a lot, but it is nothing to laugh at either at this stage in your life. Here’s what you do. When you get those check, put $755 of the first one plus 15% of that one and all future checks in an account and forget about it until tax time.

Something magic will happen.

That magic thing will be apparent the moment after you do your taxes and see how much you owe the government. You won’t have a total freakout like SOMEBODY did.

In a totally unrelated note, I had a bad night.

In case you actually are a new freelancer, my numbers up there are assuming you aren’t pulling in a lot of dough. Check your tax schedules if you think you’re pulling in some major change, and think about quarterly taxes. Personally I’d rather just bank what I owe and earn interest for the year I can hold the government’s money.

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