01-01-02 Tuesday
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well I can't believe it! Another year has come and gone. 2002 is here folks and I have a feeling it's going to be a good year. For the most part 2001 was a pretty good year except probably for the last 6 months of it. 2002 is going to be way better.

Boy the wind was blowing pretty hard this morning! We lost a lilac tree out front. I'm going to have to go outside and check everything out and batten down the hatches.

I feel pretty good this morning. We had a fun mellow evening last night ringing in the New Year at the Wagners, We had an awesome crab feed. I would like to think it was the alcohol that made us do it, but we saw the Britney Spears concert last night on HBO. Man was that bad. When did I fall out of touch with the American youth? I can't even understand what the hell Britney was doing up there. Wow that stunk. It was fun to make fun of though.

I'm glad it's January now. I feel like I can get back to work now. The last few weeks of December were a bit hazy with the holidays and all. Now I feel like I can get back on track.

For resolutions I'm going to get more organized creatively. I'm going to get some of the easy house repairs done. I'm going to put to rest a few nasty habits. I'm going to get some good work this year. I'm going to read more books this year. I think I'm also going to attempt to get some of these credit card bills down.

01-02-02 Wednesday
The second day of the year. YEP! Counting them down.
Last night we rented and watched Steve Martin's movie "The Jerk". What a classic. I love that movie. I think maybe we'll have to rent "The Man With Two Brains" next.

Yesterday I had a good day of writing and organizing some of my past notes. A pal of mine suggested during the New Year's eve festivities that I should do something with the old, original Jack Noodle comic stuff. So I thought yesterday hmm... you know she's right. I'm currently in the middle of entertaining the idea. I'm putting all of the old notes in one place now. I actually wrote quite a bit of new ideas yesterday too. We'll see. I think I may do a lot of writing up front and then start in on the drawing.

I have been looking into 3D programs over this past week also. Does anyone have any suggestions on one that they prefer? I was looking into Poser 4 originally for character, people creation but I'm starting to think that program is kind of lame. Then I looked for Infini D on the web and saw that program has been rolled in with Ray Dream designer into a whole new program called Carrara Studio. I think I'll investigate that puppy and download a demo.

01-05-02 Saturday
Woo Hoo! Let the bouncing begin! I was checking out Ebay the other day. I think I'm going to start selling stuff for some extra dough. I wonder if anyone would pay money for old underwear? I was thinking about selling some art on there, eh but I don't know. That sounds like work.

I haven't been sleeping very well the last few evenings. I've had some good plots and plans figured out while tossing and turning, but when I get up in the morning none of it makes any sense. I probably should get up during the evening and write the ideas down right when I get them. Boy I had an awesome nap during the day yesterday though. I usually am not a nap guy so that was pretty cool.

The President of the United States is in our lovely town today. That's just great. I hope he likes our handsome town. Ha Ha! It kind of sucks that the thing that brings him here is that Oregon has the highest unemployment in the country. Come on Jr. tell us what to do buddy! Help us out. Get our people some jobs! God bless America! Some of my buddies went down to heckle the fine man. I would have went but have a lack of sleep, and don't feel strongly about anything enough to heckle.

01-06-02 Sunday
Good morning all. Wait I've got to go get my coffee cup... There that's better.
We haven't been doing too much over the last few days. Just laying low and hanging out. I started doing some comic sketches last night. That was pretty fun. My PC is down which has the scanner on it so I shan't be scanning in the drawings. Hmm... maybe it will be like the old days. Perhaps that's a good thing. Drawing without the aid of a computer. Boy can it be done though? I think I will keep with the sketching on paper, then if and when I get the PC back up, I will have quite a bit of work waiting to be scanned and worked on. Yes I think that is the plan.

I think I'm going to do a Flash animated music video here one of these days. I do need more Flash examples on here for sure. Well that can be something for you to keep in the back of your mind Mr. Noodle, to work on in the future.

Tomorrow the vacation is over. Time to get cracking dude! I'm gonna get on the horn and give some people a holler, see about getting the red car fixed, see about getting the PC fixed, and start a project or two for the paying public.

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01-08-02 Tuesday
I had another whopper of a nightmare last night. Thank goodness I awoke with a start. I would have been hurting if that dream continued on. I dare not speak of it too much but it involved knives, stabbing, blood and dismembering a murdered corpse. I was totally frightened when I woke up and I thought "Well I guess that's it for sleeping tonight" because I didn't want to fall back asleep into that dream again. It was 3 in the morning and I had to get up and look around because it felt like somebody was in the house. Eventually I fell back to sleep. Whew! I made it to today though finally.

Yesterday I successfully got the PC back up and running! Now that it is all figured out I think it's a shame that I didn't take the time sooner to fix it. It wasn't that big of a fix. Just type this there type that over there, enter, enter, punch, enter.

I will never buy anything from someone who calls me on the phone. You're just sitting there minding your own business and RING! It's a telemarketer! I thought it would be a member of my Party Posse on the other end but no! I was in the middle of working on my computer, trying to be nice... Maybe that's the problem I'm too nice. Ha! Anyway I don't want your stinking windows so leave me the Hell alone and let me go before I have to hang up JERK!

01-09-02 Wednesday
Some of the enemies of the Noodle way of life have fallen to the wayside. I shouldn't be happy though should I? I'm glad that the organization is continuing to crumble but I still don't feel good about the people being harmed in the wake. It's not good I don't think to wish people harm even if they have caused you harm... but still...
Ha ha! It wasn't me! I was in the right all along. I WAS a good employee, you were just bad employers!

Of course though I knew I was a good employee all along... Uh yeah. I never once doubted my abilities or talent... hmm.. uh.. Yeah that's it.

The sun is shining and I'm feeling pretty good today. I think in a little bit I'm going to go walk over to Hawthorne and have a look around. Perhaps I will peruse through the books at the bookstore, look at CDs I would like to buy at the CD store, and then maybe I will top it off with a mocha at the local Coffeetorium.

God those window guys. What's the story there? I Don't HAVE ANY MONEY! I'm NOT going to buy windows from you. If I meet with you for 90 minutes or 5 hours the situation will be the same. Put the samples back in the bag.
Something seems a little fishy with those guys.

The new Window Salesman conspiracy is part of my new paranoid theory that evil forces are sneaking around the corners spying on me, lurking in the darkness, joining powers and getting ready to pounce on me. I can fight them though if I stay focused. Don't let them trick you Noodle. Don't even blink your eyes or they'll get you. Keep 'em open. Must not blink.

Yeah so I think getting some fresh air will do me good.

01-11-02 Friday
I am on hold on the phone while I type this. Hmm... Into the arms of an angel... gosh that's depressing. Why is she singing so sadly? Who is that? Is that Sarah McLachlan? Oh I'm not on hold anymore...

Hey it's Friday! Almost the weekend for you poor working slobs! Anybody have any big plans? Not I said the fly.

I did up some pretty good music CD artwork yesterday. Now all I need is a band to use it. Anybody know of any bands that are looking for artwork? Give me a holler if you do. It's all set up on me buddy's CD packaging, die cut design which is pretty handsome also.

Thank God for coffee once again. I was feeling a wee bit sluggish when I first got up this morning, but now thanks to a nice hot cup of Joe, I'm wide awake!

I'm thinking of having a little section here of photos I take during the day. What do you think? Nothing too big. I took some pictures yesterday that I thought were interesting.

One other thing I need to do very soon, like today, is update the playlist on the transmissions. There have been quite a few of you lovely people listening in. Thanks that's SWEET!

Hey! I'm an uncle again! My brother just called. His lovely wife gave birth to 7 pound, 8 ounces, 20 inch baby boy last night. Woo Hoo!
Elijah Jordan Noodle.
Excellent!

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01-13-02 Sunday
K has been working all weekend. Sucks. She had to go in for some special something or other. I've been taking care of my chores and waiting patiently for her return. It seems more like a Friday instead of a Sunday without her around which sucks because tomorrow is Monday. I think this morning I will do some vacuuming, put the dishes away and then play some more Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3.

I'm back! I had to go put some coffee on. Maybe I should start exercising and get healthy so I'm not so dependant on coffee in the morning.

We saw the movie "Spy Games" at the Bagdad last night. It was alright. I think possibly the director could have pulled it together a bit more to make it better. Robert Redford and Brad Pitt did pretty good jobs acting. I never quite believed that Redford was in danger at all during the movie. Maybe that would have made it more suspenseful if the viewer believed he was in trouble. How old is that guy now 100? He sure looks good for being a grandpa. Brad? What can you say about Brad? He always looks good. I think I would watch a 3 hour infomercial on brooms if it had Brad in it. The movie was a pretty entertaining way to waste 6 bucks and drink beer.

Saw the new baby the other day. He's a cute little guy. A bit red, and he cried a bunch. He'll fit into the family quite well.

01-15-02 Tuesday 12:15PM
Well today it actually feels a bit like winter out there finally. We had to scrape the windshields this morning. I dropped K off at work and then got Mr. St. Pierre Caffeine Bunny III his heart medication. The heart Dr. was way out in Beaverton. Gosh I hate driving out there! I thought about calling my buddy, G to see if she wanted some lunch but it was like 9:30 AM when I was out there. Plus there would have been some strange espionage associated with that whole event. The one good thing about Beaverton is once you are there you want to leave as fast as possible.

It was pretty fun driving around this morning. I haven't been out much lately. I saw a funny sign during my travels. It said: FAILING PED. BR. It was on a pedestrian bridge crossing Interstate 5. It wasn't a warning sign, just a regular name sign. Is the bridge defective? Does pedestrian health go bad when they cross it? Maybe it was named after a man named Simon Failing?

I went to my local hipster record stores and had a look around. I was trying to get a CD by this band I'm investigating called the Microphones. Sold out, I couldn't find it. I did buy a CD I had been investigating called "Oops, I Did it Again" by Cex. Very good. I'm listening to it now. Electronics.
For all you rap fans "The Cold Vein" by Cannibal Ox is awesome. I would have totally got it if it wasn't for lack of funds.
Yeah lack of funds... Hey wait! Noodle why are you even thinking about CD purchasing? I don't know. I'm bored I guess. Over the weekend I was checking out things I hadn't heard of before on the internet. There's quite a few good best of 2001 lists out there now.

Here's my list of CDs I'm currently investigating:
The Microphones "The Glow Pt. 2"
Mum "Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is Okay"
Cannibal Ox "The Cold Vein"
Dismemberment Plan "Change" (I think I'm shying away from getting this one.)
Tindersticks "Can Our Love.." (I have another Tindersticks album and like it lots.)

I added some new tunes to the transmission section yesterday. Go and visit it again. There's about 140 songs on there now.

Okay, well I've got to get back to creating some more artwork and schemes now...

01-16-02 Wednesday
I saw snowflakes this morning! I swear I did. They didn't last very long though. Boy I am cold this morning. I think I am going to go turn up the heat and put a stocking cap on. I was going to walk to the bank this afternoon but I think it may be too cold for my liking.

Thanks goes out to G and Big Joey W once again. Your acquisitions have proven fruitful to the Noodle Foundation. Some minor manipulation was involved but nothing I couldn't handle.

Gee did you cats hear those F-15 fighter jets last night? Wow was that loud. I thought the sky was falling. I guess they were scrambled to stop some plane that wasn't returning radio transmissions. Everything turned out okay in the end I guess.

Hey check this out. I'm spreading the Noodle love throughout the world. This is a pretty cool site that lets you post your artwork for free. WYSI ArtSight
I am in the illustration section. Or I think you could find my name in the J section.
If anybody knows of any other sites like this one let me know so I can post up there also. Perhaps I will do some investigating this morning to see if I can find some more like it.

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01-18-02 Friday
So you know when you write your name or messages or faces in the fogged up windows in your friends car, then notice it again a few months later when the sun is shining on it?
Well I'm sitting in the front room the other day staring at birds outside the window. The sun breaks through the clouds and shines brightly through the front windows. The angle at which I'm viewing the left window in the sun, reveals the mark of the beast! Someone had written 666 on the window with their finger!

See? I told you a few entries ago that Evil was waiting to get me, and this is just another sign. If you connect the dots you see that it is definitely the Window Salesmen! 666 was on the WINDOW. I got a frustrating call from the Window Salesmen the other day. It ended with HIM hanging up on ME! Bastard! I thought I was the one that was suppose to hang up? Needless to say we're not buying windows from them for sure now. I'd totally give you the name of the company but I don't have the pamphlet within reach.

We went and saw an excellent rock show last night at Lola's Room in the Crystal Ballroom. The kids were all very talented and had some great tunes. The Vespertines, Kind of Like Spitting and The Decemberists were the bands that played. The Decemberists were super. Folksy music with pop and rock and a little country thrown in. They did nice covers of "I'm sticking With You" by The Velvet Underground and "Please Let Me Get What I Want" by the Smiths. It was nice being able to hear what all of the bands were saying for once at a show.

It's funny, bands that I have been investigating are coming to town. The dismemberment plan, The Microphones, and Cannibal Ox are scheduled to be here soon. I can investigate them in person.

So have you ever seen your credit cards under a black light? I had no idea. American Express was my favorite. Good way to check for fakes.

I'm currently entertaining a new genre: RODEO CLOWNS. Keep your eyes peeled and give it some thought.

01-19-02 Saturday
Gosh sometimes I feel like I am just sitting and waiting for the water to start boiling with this web stuff. How does it go? Watched toast doesn't pop up? Yesterday I spent most of the day reading about cascading style sheets, then I finished off the day worrying about search engines and wondering how you can show up on Google one day but not the next. Wewf... Let it go Jack... Relax buddy. I think maybe I need to take a vacation from my vacation. I probably should read some books like I said I was going to start doing for my New Year's resolution. I do have to get to studying and teaching myself Macromedia Director 8, maybe I could focus on that for a while... Ah who cares.

I did find another couple of free portfolio sites yesterday that I posted up to again. I used the same images and write up as I used on the last one you saw. The more heads that turn this way the better, brothers and sisters.

I'm going to be sitting down with pen and paper very soon and do up some drawings and writings. That always gets me back to center. You guys are all probably wonder where that CAN comic strip went that I was talking about so fondly for a while. Don't worry, we'll bring him to life soon enough.

I am hungry! I think I need some coffee also. K and I were suppose to go to Zells Cafe this morning for breakfast but now it's starting to look more like lunch. That's it. I'm waking her up and we are out of here!

01-21-02 Monday
Well It looks like January is starting to wind down folks. Good, maybe that means Winter is soon to go also huh? Oh well I guess we still have 10 days left of January. Dang. What a long month.

I have got to get a new bed. I am exhausted after sleeping on that thing. It hurts just laying on it. My body is sore after spending the night tossing and turning on that horrible mattress. Springs digging into my back all night long. I'm still tired this morning, I feel like I haven't slept a wink! I got to do something soon because I need my beauty sleep.

We went and saw the movie "A Beautiful Mind" and then after that snuck into the movie "Black Hawk Down". Boy a double feature makes for a long movie day. Tickets are so expensive now days that 2 for 1 is a good way to go.

"A Beautiful Mind" was a pretty good movie. Russell Crowe did a good job acting in it. It was an interesting story for sure. I've always thought it would be cool to be a math genius. I can see why that movie is starting to pick up awards and getting Oscar buzz. It seemed to be one of those movies that is designed to go to award shows. I don't know, I don't think getting awards makes it that good of a movie. Russell Crowe did good yes, but why should he get an award for just doing his job? Isn't he suppose to be doing a good job acting?

"Black Hawk Down" was pretty good also. I think I liked both movies about the same. Man! Black Hawk was LOUD! K had to go get toilet paper to stick in her ears. Some of those machine gun sound effects were crazy. It didn't have much of a story and not too much talking either. It was mostly 2 hours of straight fighting, gun battles and lots of blood and guts. Some stuff was really sick in that puppy. Some of the camera work and effects were excellent, amazing. I bet that movie was fun for the director to make: 100% action with no time wasted on anything else. I could have used a bit more character development I think.
What a scary situation for those soldiers though man. The film was very good at making the viewer frightened for those boys.
Perfect movie to see for free.

Oh Man we saw a heck of a fire on our way back home from Washington yesterday! A warehouse by here and an old restaurant called the Monte Carlo burnt down last night. Boy the smoke was everywhere! A roaring fire. The Monte Carlo had been empty for quite a while. It was a kind of interesting looking older building. Well I guess they can tear down the rubble now, sell the land and build a Wallmart there. Well shoot, the fire that burnt down that vacant building could almost be seen as a convenient "accident" hmmm...

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01-23-02 Wednesday 11:15AM
Ah yes.. I slept in there a bit this morning. I'm here now though, back at it. Ha ha I'm pretty much here all the time huh? Boy I wonder how long I can keep this up.
There is no coffee in the house this morning! Oh NO! What am I going to do? Well I think I'm going to head off to hipster land before too long here and get a cup of Joe to help bring me up to fighting speed. I'll probably hit the bank on the way over and check out the scene at the bookstore and CD shop.
I think what I should probably do first though is shower and shave.

Oh the many schemes. God Oregon really has a sucky job market. I wonder how much longer this will keep up? I've been having to woo clients from other states and countries. I've got some schemes brewing though, don't you worry.

I'm hoping my chum and I can get Write Club started up this evening. Woops! I just broke rule number one of Write Club "You will not tell anyone about Write Club." "If it is your first night at Write Club you will write." I am in need of some serious writing. I've got to get to some of those comic scripting schemes and novel plots.
Oh. I just did a search on the internet for Write Club and it looks like several people are using it already. Ha ha!
We can change our name to "Two Jerks With Notebooks"

01-25-02 Friday
The week has zoomed by once again! Now for the weekend. This weekend may prove to be a busier one than the last few. We actually have been invited to a few things. It's been long enough I guess, for everyone to forget how much of a jerk I am in person.

Coffee is in the house now! We went grocery shopping finally and got stocked up. Coffee and cookies, an awesome breakfast!

A great idea was just emailed to me and I'm a little embarrassed that I hadn't thought of it before. I should go down and film the burnt out wreckage of the Monte Carlo. Dang! Of course. I have always been quite annoyed with myself when I don't film something I say I should film (which happens quite frequently). I should at least do it for our friends in Japan who use to live by there.

Yes I do believe I will be logged off of the online World today after this posting. I've got stuff to do out in the "real" World today.
I think after another cup of coffee I may go out, brave the cold, and rake leaves and pruned tree branches with my new found neighbor friend.
After that I've got to hit the books for study and research time. There are a few projects heading this way that I am going to try to be ready for. I've also got to start drawing some cowboys.

Have you all read or looked at the magazine "ArtByte"? Man I love that puppy. I would love to have some Noodle art in there some day. I went to the used magazine store on Hawthorne the other day and picked up some back issues for cheap. What's the name of that place? I want to say Periodical Paradise but I think that is the one that moved over off of Powell. Whatever the name, they have a pretty well organized large selection of mags for cheap.

01-26-02 Saturday
Let me tell you I did some serious yard working yesterday. Actually it was mostly just cleaning up some large piles of ivy and pruning the holly tree out front. I am kind of sore this morning.
It sure was nice to actually get out of this laboratory and jump into the cold and muddy outdoors. Yard work, rearranging the basement, checking to make sure the gutters were draining properly, building a mud wall and cleaning things up was very satisfying work for me.
Great. When did I turn into such a boring old man?

I was reading the paper last night and I see that JJ72 had played here last Thursday. JJ72 is a band who's music I was just being introduced to recently. They are pretty cool.
I am a little annoyed that I missed that show. I guess it's my fault for not stay up to date with the hip happenings. I wonder if anybody I know went to that show? I'll have to find out how it was. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it.

Today I have to bust out some fax and invoice layouts for the always dapper, Poppy Noodle, aka V. Baptist. It should go pretty quick. I think I'm going to set his paperwork up as a Adobe Acrobat file that he can type out and print from his computer. Yes that is the plan.

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01-28-02 Monday
We got some snow on the ground over the weekend. We were all walking in a winter wonderland. That's it now. Our one snow storm of the season is over. All the snow is melted. The news stations around here are so pitiful. They were out filming Oregon yokels talking about how good that there snow is, and showing people trying to snow sled in bark dust.

K's friend from school had a going away party that was kind of interesting. We journeyed out of Southeast and partied in Northwest. People seem to be a bit different out in those parts. Boy there were some cuties at that party. It was fun sipping a drink and observing all the pretty boys and girls. We didn't stay long and scurried back to Southeast.

Yesterday morning we partied down in Vancouver at Chucky Cheese's. Our buddy Amy was turning 2 years old. That Chucky Cheese's is something else. Kids were flying around everywhere rats and dogs were singing, laser lights were shooting, and music was on a repetitive loop. They had these giant hamster tubes twisted around on the ceiling that kids could play in. It was pretty cool except it kind of was bad on my knees crawling around up there.

01-30-02 Wednesday
Have I mentioned how I feel like this month has gone on forever? I think I have. Enough already! Lets turn the lights back on and get to the Spring. This Winter crap sucks.

Yesterday I was reminded again how much I love Radiohead's CD: "Amnesiac". Man! It is so good from beginning to end. You know I had forgotten about it when everyone was making their lists for best of 2001, but I think this would be my number 1 for 2001. If you at home don't have it, then shame on you! Run out and buy it today. You are only hurting yourself by remaining in the dark. I think I'm going to listen to it again right now.

I have also been listening to My Bloody Valentine's CD "Isn't Anything". I know I'm a little late to the game with them but it's cool.
I've taken a shine to some locals called The Standard. Their CD is pretty cool, good singer. The name of that CD is... oh "The Standard".

I watched Pink Floyd's "The Wall" again on DVD. Hey don't laugh! I love that movie. It's a little depressing though. For me it's one of those movies that everybody has that they watch 100+ times when you are in a certain mood. You know like "Top Gun" or "Sixteen Candles" or "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" or "Annie".
I love watching Pink go crazy in the Wall. Great stuff. I feel for him. Good tunes also.
"Crazy, over the rainbow I am crazy. Truly gone fishing".
Alright enough with the quotations, Noodle.

Well it's Wednesday, and I think I'm off on my weekly walk to see how things are going. My "Keeping it Real" tour.
I'm going to renew my Library card today. I need some books to reference for some of the drawings I have started.

01-31-02 Thursday
I didn't find what I was looking for at the neighborhood library. I did get a new library card though. Perhaps I will have to travel down to the main downtown library. It was all rather confusing and sad there at the neighborhood branch. It seemed to me that everyone that was there was there for the internet access and not for the books. Those poor lonely books.

I started arranging the pages of text for the Bubble Factory script that will finally be up in the library section of this fine website. Some of that stuff is a little silly. I did write it back 1996 so I guess there is a little room for some cheese right? I don't know, we'll see. I think I will add some pictures to it to spice it up a bit. It did have an interactive element to it, maybe I should finish it up all of the way like I had originally planned?

I'm starting to think that I shouldn't be squandering my new found extra time. I mean I'm keeping it together pretty well. I've been busy with projects here and there, but I think that maybe I need to really put the pedal to the metal and go full on nuts. Yes there is so much more for me to do! Come on Noodle hit it buddy! ARGH!

Congratulations go out to the lovely Jason and Kim. Kim gave birth to a darling baby boy, Carter last Saturday. Good work kids! One of these days the lady and I will journey out to your neck of the woods and share in your joy.

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February 2002

02-02-02 Saturday
Yeah a new month! I feel pretty good about this one! I felt good about January and now I feel even better about February. Things are going to keep coming up roses folks yee haw!
The sun is shining magnificently through the window now and filling me with a new energy. I've missed the sunshine this winter.

Hey A & S thanks for the lovely care package from Japan. My Bambi sticker is sitting right here and I am looking at it right now trying to figure out where I will put it in here. K is wearing her new pants right now. That Bonnie Prince Billy CD you sent along is pretty cool. Why is that guy so sad though? He doesn't sound very Japanese either.

We found a new hangout in walking distance from here called Bonfire.It seemed like that place was a different restaurant last week. It went in so fast. Well we think it shall be a place that we will be able to haunt. The drinks were priced reasonably which is good for budget minded individuals like myself.

I'm pretty excited, I've got 3 different things currently in the works for this here web page. I have to go now though and work on them before this fire under me burns out.

02-03-02 Sunday
I had some pretty silly dreams last night. At first I dreamt that a huge tidal wave was going to hit town along with a horrible storm. Looking off on the horizon I see the gigantic bright blue wave come towards and then engulfing the village. Nothing gets wet or destroyed, the wave creates a bubble over the village. Somehow I fall into the river, and start walking around on the bottom of the river. A huge barge drives over the top of me and the turbulence created by the barge, throws me up to the shore where I'm almost ran over by a car.

Then I realized I was late for a meeting so I hurried off to some crazy house, building thing. When I get there I see that it is some kind of church devotional meeting thing going on. I'm totally embarrassed by being soaking wet from the river so I start changing out of my wet clothes. I look at a sofa in the room and some of my friends are waiting for me and asking me what the hold up was. I then see my friend Martin sitting on the sofa drawing a tattoo with an ink pen on the bare chest of my other friend, Matt.

The dream then cuts to some art house, rock club, bar, place where I am also late at arriving to. The guy up on stage is talking about coming events, and everyone in the audience is looking at a flyer. The man on stage starts singing that "You Belong To Me" song by Bob Dylan. I go to grab a flyer and get into this war of words with some cool hipster kid. Apparently the flyers I was reaching for were his and he didn't want my grubby hands on them.
Then I woke up.

I think there is something called the Super Bowl happening today. I don't even know who is playing this year. I usually tune in to watch the commercials and have the game on mute, but I don't think I will even be doing that this year.

I am kind of interested in seeing U2 perform during the halftime show. Man those guys. What were they thinking? Didn't they see Aerosmith last year? It is so sad. K put in some old U2 yesterday, and man that stuff is so good. "unforgettable Fire" "War" "Boy", all good albums. Come on you guys what happened?
I guess the lesson to learn here is that we all get old, dorky and eventually lose our cool.

02-04-02 Monday
So I am thinking of redoing the design of this room I am currently sitting in. I think I want to go for something a little more robust in here. Something more of a classic den, smoking room, or parlor maybe. First I will start with building a new dark mahogany desk that covers one side of the wall for my computers. The desk will also have lots of shelves and cupboards that go all the way around the wall and up to the ceiling. Then I think I will have to paper the walls with some sort of dark red velvet patterned wallpaper stuff. I'll have to place large oil paintings with heavy wooden frames with depictions of landscapes and large naked women up. I'm of course going to need a large grizzly bear skin rug to cover up this light colored carpet. I will also have lots of candelabras around with burning candles and lots of statues and stonework around. Maybe a pair of horns above the large fireplace that I am also going to have to construct. I better get started on that right now.

I finally purchased "The Glow Pt. 2" by the Microphones. Excellent album. I had to look around everywhere for that puppy. Good rock mixed with mostly mellow floaty music. Very cool.
I also got "Point" by a guy named Cornelius. Pretty dope. Electronic pop stuff from Japan. Lots of cool sounds. I'm listening to it now and I think I can safely say that of all the albums that have been released so far in 2002 that I have purchased, it is the best. Hey wait! That's the only 2002 release I have bought so far.

God did this last weekend sail by or what? I want a refund. Not much of anything was going on here.

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02-06-02 Wednesday
I have been in the foulest mood these last few days. I think it is a whole bunch of little things that are starting to wear thin on me, not just one main thing. I slept in a little later this morning so maybe sleep will help get me out of my annoyance. Maybe the coffee that is brewing will also.

Yesterday during my funk, I thought that maybe watching a movie would cheer me up. So stupid me, guess which movie I watched? "Leaving Las Vegas". Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love that movie. I've seen it about 7 times. Man oh man it is REALLY depressing though. The guy spends 94 minutes drinking himself to death on screen! Didn't Nick Cage get an Oscar for that role? Rightly so I think. Absolutely devastating acting I thought. It felt good to remind myself that Nicholas Cage was actually good at one time and didn't always do "Gone In 60 Seconds" movies.

Speaking of 60 seconds, I posted up the work I have been doing on the 62nd & Radish page up there. I think it looks pretty cool. Quite a splash of color in contrast to this page huh? I think at first that was kind of the point.
I thought that the "62nd & Radish Design House" was a little more interesting than saying, "Here is my links pages, these guys are my friends and this is stuff I like".

What does it all mean, you ask? I don't know for sure.

02-07-02 Thursday
I went on my usual walk yesterday in the pouring rain. It was kind of fun. I don't think walking in the rain is fun all of the time though. You have to be in the right mood for it, and you should stay relatively dry and warm. I've been wearing lots of layers of clothes this week, just to try it out, so I was pretty toasty and comfortable on my rain walk.

A little birdy told me that someone had been posting JackNoodle stickers up around town, so I was also looking for them during my walk in the rain. I didn't see any. Maybe the little bird wasn't as reliable a source as I thought.

Does anyone know how I can get my hands on a butt load of cash?

Oh man that Microphones CD I keep talking about is excellent, I have been listening to it over and over again. They may be coming to town soon. I would like to see how they do live. I think I will listen to the CD again with headphones later today before nap time.

Tonight is First Thursday. For those of you who don't live around these parts, the first Thursday of every month is when all of the galleries around town have openings for their new month of art shows. A large cluster of galleries here are located in one area called the Pearl District. Around town there are also a lot of cool galleries, and shows that pride themselves on not being part of the Pearl District area.

It's alright. It's a crowded scene and lots of snooty people go to be "seen". When you get past the pretension, there is the artwork, which hopefully speaks for itself. Occasionally I see some sort of artwork that gives me a touch of inspiration. Most of the time I think I should get off my ass and get me self a gallery showing.
Anyway we're thinking about perhaps going to that tonight. It's free which is probably the best thing about it.

02-08-02 Friday
Kidnapped! Mr. Noodle was kidnapped yesterday afternoon! That's right folks, two Adidas employees skipped a mandatory work related meeting at the Portland Convention Center and took me out drinking. We found a place that serves pints of Pabst Blue Ribbon for a buck. We also went to a few other places and had some good fun. We caught up with K later in the evening at a place around the corner called Holman's.

Adidas employee who shall remain nameless #1 shut Adidas employee who shall remain nameless #2's hand in the car door on their way back home. I hope all is alright. See that's what you get when you kidnap Mr. Noodle. A fist full of pain!

We ended up not going to First Thursday though. We will try to redeem ourselves this evening and go to a couple of art shows and I think we might go see The Standard play tonight at a place called the Blackbird.

Gosh I'm feeling a little tired this morning. Oh wait, I haven't had my coffee yet.

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02-09-02 Saturday
Well I had a pretty fun evening again last night. I did end up going to a few art shows last evening with my friend Eugene. So now I feel a little bit smarter this morning for actually attempting to think the night before.

We went and checked out the Belmont strip of art activities. Those kids really get an A for effort. Good for them for trying to shake things up!

I finally got in to check out Realm 8. There was some interesting photos there by a guy named Marc Mondo. Sort of rock photography stuff. I was pleased with the scene at Realm 8. I hope Heather Q isn't too upset with me for staying in stealth mode. I would love to display some Noodle art there if they would have me.

Seaplane had some paintings and fashion design pieces. That place has always seemed cool to me.
The Alto Lounge was showing some surf movie projected really large on their front window. I guess there was some photography on display in there but we didn't get in to see it.

We went to both of the Stumptowns to see what was going on. There were some nice acrylic paintings at the Belmont Stumptown. They were by a guy named George Perrou. Very nicely executed I thought. Those paintings win my blue ribbon for the evening.
The Division Street Stumptown was packed. The art on display there was by the employees. There was some excellent stuff. I didn't get to see it all because of the crowd, and there was a band playing. Maybe I will check it out later this weekend. We stayed there for a bit, but then headed off to Bonfire for some drinks.

Ha Ha look at that I am quite the art critic. I should write for the newspapers!

K is off taking some college entrance test this morning. I wish she would hurry up and get back. I'm cold, bored and lonely.

02-11-02 Monday
Hey it's just another manic Monday! Oh man is it cold in here. Hold on let me turn up the heat. I hate Mondays!

Hopefully you all caught "The Simpsons" last night? It was a laugh riot. Oh my goodness, that show keeps getting better and better. I guess the part that really made me laugh was Homer snoring. Then he woke up and was snoring while he was awake. Oh gosh you had to be there I guess.

So are any of you keeping up with the Winter Olympics? Yeah, me neither. I did tune in yesterday to see the women's snowboarding half pipe competition. That was pretty cool. I saw some of the downhill skiing. They are really going crazy fast down that mountain!

Lately I have been having quite a few dreams about people from the olden days. I wonder what is causing that? A few nights ago I dreamt about one of my old roomates and he felt like he owed me some money so he gave me a wad of bad checks. Last night's dream featured the lovely Roberta. Gosh I wonder how and where she is now days?

Yesterday I did some good research and figured out a way to do some cool things to offer up here on this fine website. I think it will be pretty cool. I have to get started on some stuff before I give any details so be patient.

02-12-02 Tuesday 9:12 AM
I have quite a stack of dishes to wash today. Sucks. I've got a good creative, design work spurt going and I am afraid that doing chores will snuff it. Ha Ha yeah whatever Jack, quit making excuses! Get in there and do some dishes. I hate doing dishes. God it never ends. They keep stacking up. I'm a slow dishwasher also so I'm sure that doesn't help. I feel like by the time I finally finish them, it's dinner time and K already has 50 dirty pots and pans stacked up. I'll get over it I guess. I sit around all day playing on computers. The least I can do is the dishes.

This new project I'm working on is coming along nicely. I did get distracted yesterday for a while though. I got stuck trying to figure out color calibration between my MAC and my PC. What a headache. Files were changing colors left and right. This is too light here and too dark on this one. I pulled it back together though in the end. The MAC and PC are at least using the same color profile now so my color is a bit more manageable.

I shouldn't have been so smug in saying I wasn't following the Winter Olympics yesterday. I think I could be classified as following the Olympics now. I watched the snowboarding competition and pairs figure skating last night. I wonder how much work I could have got done during that time? Well such is my life, dishes and figure skating.

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02-13-02 Wednesday
What a lovely sunshine filled morning. My weekly walk will be awesome this afternoon. I'm a little afraid of going to the bank today. Bank hooligans are probably waiting outside of the doors to beat me to death with clubs when they see me.

Yesterday just flew by. I can't believe how fast the day went. I kind of felt like I was just about ready to start working on some stuff and the day was over. I'm not sure where the time went or what I was doing to make it go so fast. I don't think it was the dishes, although that did take up some of my time. Well I got up earlier this morning so that will add about an hour onto my day.

So my Mother and her husband are moving to Boise Idaho. That kind of stinks! The jobs in Baker City, Oregon dried up so he got a better gig in Boise. Good for them on already selling the Baker house. That was one of the things we were worried about, and just like that, no problem. I thought the kids were suppose to be the ones who left home for other states not the mothers! Well I guess it's only a hour plane ride or 8 hour car ride so it's still traveling distance.

Oh dear Lord, Valentine's Day is tomorrow! Give me a break. Didn't we just get done with Christmas? Oh come on honey, you know papa loves you. I didn't have the money for real roses, just these plastic ones. No I think I'm going to sell my pocket watch for money to buy K a comb for her hair. K is going to sell her hair for money to buy me a chain for my pocket watch. Ha ha, oh us sad paupers.

02-14-02 Thursday
Happy Valentine's Day all you pretty things!

I'm going to have to get cleaned up, have a shave, find a nice red sweater and get all dolled up for my lady. I feel really sorry for all of you other people because I have the best Valentine all to myself.
I had to laugh though this morning when I went into the computer lab and was surprised by my present. K had gotten me some new slippers. The sole was coming off of my old ones. The reason I chuckled was because I was reminded of that scene in "Leaving Las Vegas" where Elizabeth Shue buys Nicholas Cage the flask for a gift. He looks at it and says "Looks like I'm with the right girl."

We watch a really interesting movie on PBS last night. It was called "A Huey P. Newton Story". It was about Huey P. Newton, one of the founders of the Black Panther movement. It was directed by Spike Lee. It was absolutely fascinating. It was just Huey P. sitting on a stage in front of a live audience doing a spoken word, speaking engagement thing.
The only time I had even heard the name Huey P. Newton was on a rap song by Public Enemy. In this household we can't even pretend to know the first thing about Huey or the Black Panther movement. Perhaps that is why we were so mesmerized.
Knowing nothing about the subject matter is probably why we didn't know that the person on the stage was an actor portraying Huey P. Newton. We didn't figure that out until the show was over. The actor I guess also wrote the piece and had been performing it as a one man off-Broadway show. He did an excellent job. We couldn't figure out the ailment but there was something strange going on with that Huey P. Newton guy.
The show was successful in that it made you want to learn more about the man and the history. I may actually read up on him on the internet now.
Hey looks like it's playing again on February 17th at 12:00 AM PST. You kids should check it.

Oh gosh I got to go put some coffee in me.

02-15-02 Friday
See, just like that it's Friday again. Time for some more weekend fun.
The Sun is out once again this morning in all of it's splendid glory. Oh how I love and have missed you old great one. It's true friends, Spring is coming! Yesterday I spent 45 minutes sitting on the front porch basking in the radiant glow. Everything is going to be alright. The Winter had you believing that you were doomed to a tortured life in this evil World, but it isn't true. You are going to be just fine. Life is good.

I think it will probably be tough for me today to stay inside this dank laboratory and work on the Noodle projects. Gosh it's really going to be a struggle then when the Summer gets here. I declared last night that this Summer coming up will be the best Summer of my life so far. Boy that sure is putting a lot of pressure on the Summer isn't it? I think it is up for the challenge.

So I'm going to head out into the sunshine today. I've scheduled a drink with an old chum from the Group, and then I think I will head down to Eugene's shop and hangout with that fine lad for awhile.

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02-17-02 Sunday
Fun times. This turned out to be a fun weekend. Not like I was expecting it to be lame or anything. Friday was such a wonderful day. I went on a good walk around town, hung out with friends, and drank beer in the sunshine. In the evening Eugene and K baked a cake, and more friends came by to chat and hang well into the morning hours. Saturday we slept in and recovered.

We went out last night and had birthday drinks for the lovely Ms. T who was celebrating her 26th year on this planet. Once again we were at the Bonfire. That place is pretty cool. We've been there a couple of times in the last few weeks.

After the birthday drinks we went and saw a birthday movie. We saw that Tom Cruise flick "Vanilla Sky". Well hmm. It was a fair movie, not good but not that bad. The acting was pretty stinky. I think by the end of the movie when they explained everything I had lost interest and didn't care what the explanation was. I am also against the looking back, plot device in TV and movies. Someone explaining to a physiologist through the whole movie about what is happening is kind of lame, it doesn't give the audience enough credit to be able to figure it out on their own.

We have got some stuff to do this morning, but hopefully sometime today I can get back to working on my project. I was bouncing some ideas off of people to get more ideas and see what they thought. Sounds good. Those that were listening thought that I was on to something. Now I have to just kick it in gear and do the mountain of labor.

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02-18-02 Monday
Happy Presidents Day!
Do you all have school and work off? I do, yep. Everyday is Presidents Day for yours truly. K has today off also. I wonder what we will be doing to celebrate the magical Presidents? Oh that's right, I'll be washing dishes again. Gosh as soon as my ship comes in, I am going to buy a dish washing machine.

I didn't get to work on any of the projects over the weekend. ARGH! Dang it Noodle, you're going to have get on the ball and quick man. I have some stuff on Wednesday coming up that I would like to be in top form for. You've got a good start, just keep it going! Don't stop now. The Sun is hiding again today so that will make it easier to be locked away in the laboratory.

We went and saw my brother's family yesterday. That was nice. We got to hold the babies which was super nice. Those are some cute kids let me tell you. Us Noodles have some good genes. I think K and I are going to try to capture the eldest Noodle soon for baby sitting duties. I got to start working on that lad's artistic side. I hope that my mother will make it to town before too long to hold the babies. Hopefully she can get up here before the move.

02-21-02 Thursday
Hey! HA! HA! HA! HA! I'm back. You can all stop your worrying. Nothing bad happened, I wasn't sent to jail, and the house didn't blow up. I had a couple of good days of massive energy expenditure on the projects, spreading the good word and Noodle seed planting. Things are picking up my fine feathered friends! I'm at the point this morning where I just finished working on one battle plan, and am now trying to start up another one or go back to one of the old ones. A little bit of down time before I start or continue the next project.

I went and got a haircut yesterday and feel much better. They gave me the shave doo. #2 all the way around. HMMM. Now I am in prime fighting form. This haircut makes me feel like doing pushups!

I've been doing some good on the reading front. I've been reading "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket. I am on the second book in the series called "The Reptile Room". Part of the fun in reading these books is that they are beautifully crafted hard bound books that feel nice in your hands. The illustrations are quite good also. They are quick reads... Hmm? What? Oh I KNOW they are kids books... No they are still well written and adults can enjoy them... What? NO!... Look at all the adults that enjoyed the Harry Potter books. Oh you don't know.

I have also been following the "Weasel" comic series by Dave Cooper. Absolutely wonderful. That guy is so talented. I just finished issue 4 and am now waiting patiently till 5 comes out. It is definitely not for kids, gosh I've got both ends of the spectrum covered. "Weasel" has the feel of that wood paneling on the wall in the background of the 70's porno super 8 film that you found as a kid in the old barn behind your house in Beavercreek.

02-22-02 Friday
I really must put a stop to this now, with you all here as my witnesses. I must STOP watching the Winter Olympics. Someone please help me. This has gone on long enough. You should have seen me. I was on the edge of my seat during the women's ice skating competition last night. I was cheering on Sarah Hughes to win the gold just like all the other millions of dopes that watched last night. Boy her performance was amazing though and I was glad that one of the other snotty, stuck up, brats didn't win. She was so happy and excited after her program it was nice to see.

I think it is interesting though to watch someone who has been training and training for something for so long finally get up and have it all summed up in 4 minutes. All of those Olympians have worked so hard to get there. It is definitely inspiring when you see someone so talented. It makes you want to really go for it in your own existence. Damn it yes! I'm going to do it! I am going to go for the gold in design and illustration. If you dedicate yourself to training and working hard then you really can be the best one day.

ARGH!

So if you also have been trapped watching the Olympics you may have seen that new car commercial? The one where the miniature SUV is being chased by huge rabbits and a gigantic mountain lion. It's pretty well done. The car looks like a little toy racing over a mountainous terrain. That cougar really wants to catch that SUV. It's scary! I think there is another one where the tiny SUV is driving around with a bunch of giant ants.
Here's my question though: Why do they have the "Professional driver on a closed course. Do not attempt" warning on these commercials? How the heck are we the TV viewer, suppose to shrink ourselves down small enough to even fit into that tiny SUV? We can't attempt it. Let me tell you, if there was a giant mountain lion chasing my vehicle I would be driving as fast as I could to get away from that crazy thing, closed course or not.

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02-23-02 Saturday
Good morning! It was relatively balmy yesterday, then it poured down buckets and buckets of rain, and now the sun is hiding again. Shoot! We were so close to it being Spring finally and now look. I need some coffee and FAST! Hold on a second I'll go get some.

There that's better... hold on let me tip upside down for a second so the coffee can go straight to my head.

Well the projects are going alright. I did some work on one of the majors yesterday. Hopefully it will be coming to a monitor near you before too long. I have a lot of pencil, ink and paper work that I am currently in the middle of. What I should probably do is, turn off these computers, get out of this laboratory, sit down and write and draw in a nice peaceful environment, like the hot springs.

I'm probably going to add some more tunes to the transmission today. I've got some new music that needs to get to your ears, and some other stuff I forgot to add earlier. I have to give Martin back the CDs he lent me. See if I remind myself here then I won't forget.

02-25-02 Monday
There you go buddy! Wake up to a face full of sunshine. Yes, sunshine for the whole week please.

Mondays are truly dreadful days. What can we do though? We can't get rid of them because that would turn Tuesday into Monday, and Tuesday is fine like it is. Grin and bear it I guess.

We didn't do much this last weekend. We rented 3 mediocre dvds: "Panic" with William H. Macy and Neve Campbell, That one was okay, kind of dismal towards the end. We saw "Rock Star" with Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston, it was just okay. The last one we saw was "O" with Julia Stiles and Josh Hartnett. It was basically a modern day telling of the Shakespeare story, "Othello". It seemed really good while we were watching it but about a half an hour after it was over it seemed just okay. That Josh Hartnett is a cutey. You know, he's the kid from "Black Hawk Down".

I also did quite a bit of writing and planning for the current project. Gosh Noodle, 144 pages is a good healthy target to shoot for but please one page at a time. I don't know though, I really have to have a large chunk of it figured out before I begin. Don't stop boy, keep on rolling...

K has a sore tooth that has been causing her grief for the past week. Poor thing. She's going to get in to see somebody today to see if they can help her out. Somebody better do something because I can't stand to see my baby in pain.

02-26-02 Tuesday
K ended up having to get a root canal yesterday. That sucks. The whole dentist office experience was quite traumatizing for her. Hopefully we can get her all fixed up soon. She's got to go back in a few days for more digging and scraping. They gave her some pain medication so that should take the edge off.

I think I will probably be taking the car to the DEQ today. They have DEQs across the country right, not jut in Oregon? You know the place where you get your exhaust sniffed. I can think of better things to do today besides that. What a hassle. Well maybe if I go at 10:00 or so everyone will be in work and I won't have to wait in line. Oh wait that's right, no one works in Oregon anymore. I keep forgetting that. Well hopefully my car passes the test.

I added more tunes to the transmission yesterday. There are quite a few of you kids tuning in. Thanks. I listened to it myself while drawing yesterday. There's some good stuff on there. I wish the quality was a bit better but it's a quality over quantity issue. In this case more is better. I'm just trying to do my part in the battle against the boy bands.

My PC is making some awfully sounds. It sounds like some sort of grinding in the fan area. It was driving me crazy yesterday. I'll have to see about getting that fixed when there is some extra cash laying around. I'll keep the old boy off today so I don't have to listen to his pain. My PC's name is Buster. Buster was the name of a man I went to college with. He was an older guy that went back to school to learn some new career skills. This computer here is named Pierre the 4th.

Hey Eugene, are we going to go out for our writing gang tonight or what?

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02-27-02 Wednesday
Yeah! Wednesday again! Quite possibly the best day of the week. It's sunny once again this morning and I am in a great mood. Yesterday was gorgeous also. K and I got out and did some yard work. It being Wednesday and all means I've got to head over to hipster land for my weekly "Keeping It Real" tour, or as I like to call it now, my "Freedom Walk". Today should be a good day for walking. Maybe I'll just keep on walking off into the sunset and never come back. Ha! That would show them.

Well I was terribly wrong about the whole DEQ thing. It was a piece of cake. I was in and out with no fuss. It seemed like they had new ways of doing things since I had been there last. I got my stickers right on the spot after passing. They use to come in the mail. I'm also use to in the past having clunker 10+ year old cars that would billow smoke all the way into the testing center. So maybe having a newer car that could actually pass is why it was so easy.

After the DEQ I went on a drive to the fine city of Milwaukie. I was checking out the old scene and walking down Memory Lane. I was going to go visit some of my old chums at The Horse, but I chickened out, screamed, got back in my car and raced off. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the old days lately. I must be getting old. It's strange how 5 to 6 years can just shoot by in a flash.

02-28-02 Thursday
I guess that's it for February huh? Well that was kind of a boring, disappointing month. It went by pretty fast though didn't it? Ah who cares on with the next one!

Gosh that whole "money" thing is a drag isn't it? I figured it out though. I need a patron. A sponsor or a sugar daddy would work also. I'm doing some good work here that is getting extinguished by the "money" thing. The Noodle way of life is expensive. So I'll be keeping the email lines open this next month to accept applications for patrons who want to help with the secret experiments. Thank you in advance for your contributions.

I had a great Freedom Walk yesterday. Couldn't have asked for better walking weather. I went and met some new friends, and got some scheme sparks going.

I visited my local comic book shop again. It's called Excalibur. Great shop. Quite a selection. The employees of Excalibur are quite a crew. I think the employees of Movie Madness, my local video store are tied with the employees of Excalibur on the oddness front. Odd in a good way, not odd in a bad way.

I'm interested in one day putting money down for a few comics. I like how the new G.I. Joe is looking in Image's hands. Beautiful looking comic art. Hey don't laugh, G.I. Joe is awesome. It's the one comic I followed religiously when I was a kid. Marvel had it then.

The other comic series I'm eyeing is "Alias" by Brian Michael Bendis. It looks pretty sexy and the story seems interesting. I really liked Bendis's earlier comic "Jinx".
Which brings us to a funny story. Remembering "Jinx" yesterday, before I went to the comic shop, I checked out Bendis's website. That's how I found out about "Alias". Reading along I find that he had recently moved to Portland. I think wow that's cool, I wonder if he would like to get a beer some day.
So while I'm at Excalibur, an interesting fellow walks in while I'm looking at G.I. Joe. I don't exactly think what I was doing was eves dropping because the Excalibur employees were speaking in such excited tones. Turns out that was Bendis in the store checking his box and stocking the place with his product. Needless to say I didn't buy "Alias" at that time. Maybe later when there's not so much pressure.

It's not that big of a deal. Portland is a big comic town. There are thousands of comics guys and gals here. You can't swish your cape over your shoulder without hitting one of them.

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