Pseudo-Celebrities in my building

Good morning, all:

Each morning I get up and get a cup of coffee which is made fresh each morning in the lobby of my apartment building at the corner of 5th St. and Massachusetts Ave. in downtown Washington DC. I like to chat up the doormen in the building. I recently discovered that among there are a few neo-celebrities living in this mid-rise building. A few months ago I tried to step into the elevator and was greeting by an enormous young fellow stepping out of it. I thought to myself, either that guy has to be a basketball player. After further investigation, I discovered that it was Andray Blatche, a 7-foot reserve center/forward for the Washington Wizards. That makes sense. Their arena is just 2 blocks from here.
Then today I noticed this tall, striking blonde young woman walking out of the building. One of the doormen told me 'hey, that woman once appeared on the show "Americas' Next Top Model."' He was right. After checking up on it I discovered that it was the tall, lanky 'Sara' from Cycle 6.
This is all great news for my nephew Sean (who wants to be a basketball star) and my niece Brandi (who wants to be a model). Not that I'll ever approach these people, but at least I'll have some good stories to tell the kiddies.
I find it strange that a semi-starving artist like myself lives in the same building as a millionaire basketball player. As I've said a thousand times: DC is a strange place.

Muy feliz ano nuevo

Back in the District

Sup

After spending a few days in sun-drenched Florida I began to dread my trip how to Washington because I knew what would be waiting for me: Gray skies. It didn't disappoint. Winter is here, and so is the nasty winter weather. Don't get me wrong, I love the snow and the cold weather, its the gray skies I can do without. Don't even get me started on the drizzle.
How can a brutha get inspired to draw cartoons when its so miserable outside? Luckily there's a few Starbucks in walking distance of my apartment, so at least I can drown my sorrow with a hot latte.
I had some fun down in Florida. I got to meet a few nieces that I didn't know and it was good hanging out with them. But don't get me wrong, I truly missed being in the Northeast. I took a much needed break from cartooning and focused on relaxing. Well, that's over. With the new year comes new ideas for cartoons. I'm going to try to be optimistic this year like my old friend Rick Tuma (cause I know you're reading this blog entry).
I'm also optimistic because "hope" and "change" arrives here in DC in a few short days. The inauguration site is just a few short blocks from my apartment and I'll try to make it to the National Mall if I can.
Enough with the rambling. Its time to go to bed.

The holiday season

Man, I can't believe that its Christmas time already. That means standing in lines at department stores looking for gifts and such. That means taking another flight back to Florida and battling my siblings for a piece of my mother's world-famous sweet potato pie. It also means literally battling my brothers in the annual Gary Family wrestling matches. Way to much testosterone for me.
I'm looking forward to the break, though. Since coming to Washington I've been working non-stop. Cartoons in the morning at the Washington Times at night. I'm planning on not drawing a single cartoon while I'm down there, but you never know. Looking forward to hearing my mother's stories about whatever. Looking forward to smacking my brother up side the head. Looking forward to seeing special people that I haven't seen in a while.
And looking forward to coming back to DC.

Some year end thoughts

Hello all:

As I approach the end of 2008 I can't help but reflect on what a difficult year it has been for me personally. First off, like a lot of folks, I was hit extremely hard by the economic slump. I lost my day job at the St. Petersburg Times mostly because of budget concerns back in May. I was very hard for me and strange because I saw it coming but still couldn't react in time. Then there was my divorce in July. My now ex-wife and I formally parted ways in mid July, which was way more difficult that I thought it was going to be. Divorce is hard enough, but when you bundle that with unemployment it becomes a nightmare.
After that came 5 months of unemployment. I think that was the worst part of the whole year. I had never been unemployed so long in my adult life and to tell you the truth it was downright scary. Everybody has an idea of how they'd cope with unemployment if it happened but I gotta tell you that it truly sucked.
Throughout this whole thing I started to lose a bit of my self. I remember not being very motivated to draw cartoons. Ironically it was cartooning that help pull me out of it. Doing two cartoons kept my mind occupied so that I didn't wallow too deep into my own self-pity and loathing. It gave me something to do during the day and that was important for the recovery process.
On a happier note the year ended on the rebound. I found another day job at the Washington Times, and I'm thankful for that. I also decided to up my skills by taking Flash and Dreamweaver courses at the Corcoran School of Art. For the first time in a long time I'm actually feeling optimistic. Here's to hoping that 2009 is better than '08. It certainly can't get any worse.

Back to school

'Sup, all?

I know that I haven't written a damn thing in a very very long time but things have been quite tough lately. I've started to adjust to life in DC and to my job at the Times. Finding time to draw my two strips isn't tough. Fortunately I'm on the late shift, which frees up my mornings for cartoon-related endeavors.
Being unemployed in NYC last summer taught me a valuable lesson: Skills should be constantly updated. Which is why I am happy to announce that I'm officially enrolled at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC starting January. I was shocked at the price for the class but I consider the whole thing an investment in my future. I'm taking an extensive Flash course which meets once a week for 4 and a half hours for 4 months. I gotta say I'm absolutely thrilled to be taking this course.
I'm so looking forward to using my new skills and exploring everything I learn.
I plan on taking more courses in the future, but I want to get this big one out of the way. More later.

Kinda sick

Hello all:
I've been fighting this nasty cold that I received courtesy of one of my co-workers. It hasn't stopped me from cartooning, but I've been sleeping a ton. Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but times have been difficult. Will discuss later.

Get out there and vote!

Today is the day! Today is the culmination of a very historic election season and I'm pretty excited about it. Unless a total catastrophe happens it appears that it will be Barack Obama. I've never seen people so energized for an election in my lifetime. I'll be at work when history takes place, but rest assured I'll have my eyes glued on the many TV sets in the newsroom. I think I'll call my father (if he's still up) tonight. He is a veteran of the Civil Rights era and watched as the world morned the assination of Martin Luther King. He told me that he would never see a black person elected president in his lifetime. I hope that he's wrong tonight.