Ok, so it's been a long while since I posted anything. A loooong while. It's not like I've had a lack of things to talk about - from the interesting turn of events at this month's Inheritace game, to the fun times at E's bachelorette, the beginnings of the Pirates and Serenity games, or how Layne defended his thesis and is now a Master of Science!! (I am a firm believer that "Science!!" should always be capitolized, followed by no less than two exclaimation marks, and possibly have a reverb/echo effect thrown in for good measure.) I even neglected to scan in and post a half dozen pictures that I've drawn up in the meantime and figured would amuse folks.

No, I have been busy. And not the regular, lame type of busy. This was a special, make-me-giddy-just-thinking-about-it busy.

I have a webcomic.

It's nothing special right now - the page is just something functional that I threw together (and Layne spent hours fixing up because he is awesome), and most of the links still say "coming soon", but it is there none the less, my own personal little chunk of virtual real estate and a tiny blip in the vast expanse of webcomic-dom. But its there. And its mine.

I bring you all.... Weregeek.com! Updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday. May my filler comics be few and far between, and may I never miss an update...

I spent this past weekend in Regina, visiting with Layne's family. The roads weren't actually all that bad, and as predicted, Hazel slept most of the way down. She even ate the little bits of kibble I left in her carrier, proving that she doesn't get car sick. I don't know how she'd handle long drives, but I'd definitely take short trips with her again.

The weekend itself was filled with more relaxing. Layne and I got caught up on our CSI-watching, and were once again reminded why we don't have cable. There's not enough good show on to warrant the cost, and the ads (and some of the programming) make me want to pluck out my own eyeballs just to escape the stupid. We also spent some time cooking. I made sushi with Layne's mom, and Layne cooked up a huge batch of padthai, and an amazing marinated steak salad with lime dressing. Yum!

Not that we just sat around all weekend. Layne and I have long been thinking of ways to get Hazel more exercise. She's afraid of her wheel, and seems to think that the giant hamster ball I got is just a rather odd place to sleep in. So we came up with the idea of a large playpen for her to run around in. Up until now, any time that she's been out for exercise, I've had to watch her like a hawk to make sure she doesn't climb into/under/fall off/get stuck under anything and everything. Layne came up with a simple and elegant solution. HIs idea was to build a series of boards, roughly 18 inches in length, with each boards attatched by two hinges so that the whole can be folded up into a small pile when it's not is use.

The finished product met with Hazel's approval. She ran around in the first night for just under an hour, and then promptly climbed the hinges like some sort of spastic monkey and launched herself over the top at me. If you've never seen a hedgehog climb, then imagine a short, round sausage with stubby limbs stretching itself as far vertically as it possibly can, flailing around with said stubby limbs until it manages to catch one on the top of the boards, and then hiking a stubby backleg onto the lowest of the hinges and suddenly lunging upwards to catch itself on its belly atop the board. Imagine the momentary uncertainty as to whether it will pitch backwards off the board or remain wedged there awkwardly balanced about the midsection, legs dangling, whole body slowly rocking back and forth. Then, imagine the frantic thrashing of limbs as it attempts to swim in the air, and your shock when it actually succeeds and comes crashing tumbling down the other side into your waiting hands. Imagine that this only takes a few seconds.

Freaking. Hilarious.

I remember speaking with a friend of mine from Arizona and trying to explain to her how it sometimes snowed so much that we had to dig our cars out of snowbank before we could drive them, or chip the ice off of them after it had rained. She shook her head in disbelief and asked, 'So why do y'all live there, anyway?'

I still don't have a decent answer for her.

* * *

It was my birthday last Friday, and to make things even better, I had the day off work. I slept in, went out for leisurely lunch with my grandma, and then spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying my time off by playing some video games. Mmm, sweet mindless entertainment... That evening, I met up with a bunch of folks at Otawa and had an amazing sushi dinner. The kitchen staff was even kind enough to make up a special roll at my request. Yum! Afterwards, the lot of us went back to my place and just hung around, talking and joking. All told, it was a wonderful way to spend the day.

* * *

Layne and I are planning on heading down to Regina this weekend to visit family, provided the roads aren't too bad. I hadn't been too worried about it before, since it was only November, after all, but with this week's huge dump of snow, I'm not too sure... Luckily, we're getting some new tires put on Old Red before we leave, so that should make a big difference.

It'll also be the first time that I've travelled with Hazel. We'll be gone for four days, so we figured that we should bring her with us. (Hedgehogs are fine for a day or two on their own, since they're pretty low-maintenance, but much longer than that and I would worry.) On the down side, African hedgehogs are quite sensitive to cold, and will try to hibernate if they get chilled. I'm planning on stocking up on those little glove-warmer packets that you can get from Canadian Tire, and lining her carrier with lots of fleece. That should keep her nice and warm for the trip from the door to the car, and I'll make sure the car itself is nicely warmed before we bring her out. Still, she's a hearty little girl, so I don't think the car trip will bug her much. In fact, I'm betting that she'll sleep most of the way there.

If you've been wondering why the posts have been so sparse lately, it is because I am on vacation. Things finally wrapped up on Season One, and after having parked my arse in front of a computer in order to get it finished, I made a vow to spend as little time as possible during my break staring at a computer screen.

It's been lovely. I've been going for long walks by the river, catching up on sleep, running in the evenings, and rediscovering what a wonderful thing it is to have free time. I have time to draw again, and time to spend just hanging out and talking with Layne. Spending time training Hazel is no longer the chore I do before bed, but something I can thoroughly enjoy. I've even had the chance to put in a good chunk of work on my comic! With any luck, I should be able to have it up and running by the end of the month. (I'll let you know the exact date as soon as I can the site design finished.)

Not that work doesn't still keep calling... I went back in the other day to sit in on production meetings for Season Two. I figured, if I could head off the forseeable problems before they wound up on my desk, I'd save myself a huge chunk of work down the road. Hopefully, it works out. It looks like they've toned down the number of effect shots in the next season, which is kind of disappointing. I know it's because they saw the cost of VFX for last season, and they're scared that since they're adding two more episodes to this season, the VFX will cost them that much more. What they don't realize is just how much of the cost came from animator mistakes and poorly directed shots, something that will be cut down on hugely in the next season. I've tried explaining that to them. We'll see if it makes a difference.