I sure do miss trick or treating. Free candy… I really don’t think you should get “too old” to get free candy. But I find myself just unable to make the rounds as I did in my youth. Too many stairs. My back just isn’t what it used to be. Also people yelled at me when I went out two years ago because APPARENTLY if you are of legal age to drink and buy a house, you are not permitted to get free candy anymore.

Now I must go buy my own candy instead. But alas, I have no money. So I must visit my mother’s house, because I’ll never be too old to go trick or treating in her eyes at least. And not only that but I get to take as many Mr. Goodbar bars as I want. Yay.

So to all those who still trick or treat, and even those who got screwed over by growing old, have a happy halloween and a fun annual-sick-on-candy day tomorrow.

There was no blog update today, Monday October 30th, due to the system refusing to let me log in to anything Fred related. Good for it.

*BEEP*

I am getting really tired. I was trying to get as much Fred stuff done as I could before sleeptime, but I think I’ve reached my limit. Ah I recall the days of my youth when 1:40AM was about the time I started playing video games and I could sleep from 5AM until 1PM. Good times. Gone times.

And now for the question on everybody’s lips. Their chapped lips. Their CHAPPED lips… Do you think Phil- oh wait, I mean, what’s going on with today’s update?

I’m happy to report that the second part of “And the Winner Is…” (which yes, finally tells you the winner) is coming along quite nicely, and I’ll be spending my Friday working on it until it is complete. Still lots to do, but the hard stuff is out of the way now, leaving only the long, tiring animation of mouths and such. And for Pip fans, you’ll be glad to hear he makes his second appearance. Speaking of Pip, I guess he needs an entry in the ol’ Fred Characters Page, eh? I better get to that. Just like I better get to a lot of things.

Pip the space chicken

Yesterday I was doing the rough drafts (which are basically stick people just to get ideas and images down) of the Cubetoons for Friday, plus the guest comic for N-Philes.com. Having an extra comic to draw when I’m already super busy set me on edge a bit, hoping I could finish everything on time. And so, of course, what happened? I got an idea for a new Cubetoons Bonus Stage.

Now, one would think I should ignore this spark of inspiration because as it is I will not be sleeping tonight in order to get what I already have to do done for tomorrow. However, when you are a professional artist, you quickly learn that every tiny bit of inspiration needs to be tackled to the ground and captured in a small metal cage, because it sure doesn’t come around very often. So I found myself jotting down the rough for a THIRD Cubetoons comic to be done this week.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some working-til-I’m-blind to do.

On a scale of 1-10 on how busy this week is for me, I’d rate it about a 17 and a half. Okay, realistically, perhaps closer to a 9.5, but it’s still pretty crazy. Not only do I have the normal Cubetoons comic to do alongside the Fred update for the week, but the semi-guest comic I was invited to create for N-Philes (see yesterday’s blog entry) needs to be done too.

Normally one extra comic wouldn’t push things over the edge, but remember that deer that assaulted the car on the Boston trip? Yeah, that mirror still needs fixed which happens Thursday, along with an inspection of the vehicle. We’ve also got a plumber coming to look at a whole lot of projects and I need to take care of that. Plus the bathroom is currently down to bare studs and putting up walls will soon be needed. Not to mention all the other things I’m not even listing.

So yeah, busy week. But I’m sure I’ll get it all done. At least, I will if I stop writing here at get my butt to work. Cubetoons City, here I come…

I got an email from our friendly neighbors over at N-Philes.com yesterday about a comic contest they are running currently with the grand prize being a Nintendo Wii! So if you have an interest in the system and are lacking $250 at launch, be sure to check it out. I’ll be submitting an exclusive Bonus Stage of Cubetoons in the coming week too, and though I can’t win (I’m just submitting it for fun) be sure to check it out when it goes up.

Aside from that, I’m eating pizza for breakfast for the third day in a row. There was a party this weekend, and a lot left over. I think I’m finally at the point where I am sick of the stuff. I need a day or two break in between…

Every two weeks. Oh I’m sorry, did you think I was going to say the winner of the preloader contest? Nope, that will be this coming Friday.

But in regards to updates for FredtheMonkey.com, I’ve thought/prayed/debated/read everyone’s comments about it and decided to go with a cartoon update every two weeks at least until the end of the year. If next year rolls around and some things change (I decide to take on an assistant or something) then we’ll go from there. For now, I will update Fred bi-weekly, and put the date of the next update on the homepage as well.

This Friday you can expect part two of the preloader cartoon. Also, the Fridays in between the main cartoon updates will sometimes have something new, like a wallpaper, download, or poll, so be sure to at least pop by every Friday to check. And I’ll keep on doin’ the blog thing daily, since writing (for me) takes hardly any time at all. And it’s fun.

Several people have suggested to me that I stop trying (and failing) to do weekly updates for FredtheMonkey.com. As the cartoons have gotten more complex and I want to add more to them, it has become too much for me to handle all by myself, and that is why the past few weeks have been so on and off. Sadly it seems even today’s cartoon will have to be delayed as well. Or scrapped, and I can just announce the winner. Which would be a shame, since so much is already done, just not enough.

So I turn to you all, who are the ones I do these cartoon for in the first place. Would you rather see updates more regularly every two weeks, instead of sometimes every week and sometimes not? Or should I keep shooting for weekly and often times miss the mark? It is now in your hands, and I hope you’ll give me some feedback. Please note, I will be happy to do either, so this is about what the fans want.

In other Fred related news, I am going to have to figure out a way to take the site to the next level. This is more than a hobby for me, and that needs to start showing.
So I will be working on figuring out ways to profit a bit from the site, and from that point perhaps hire or enlist an assistant to help with animating. The quality of the cartoons will improve and maybe they’ll actually get done on time. Any suggestions for ways to take these steps are appriciated as well. (Though that part may have to wait until the start of 2007, because the rest of 2006 will be quite busy.)

You know what’s a lot of fun*? Sitting down at the computer, turning it on, and finally (after a good long while) being ready to get some real work done and excited about it, only to have your real estate agent call you and say “Hey, the mortgage people didn’t get your information from the insurance people so if it doesn’t get worked out in the next two hours you don’t get a house.”

What is even more fun is already being a touch close to stressed out about not being far enough along in the Fred cartoon for the week.

And then we add even more fun when no one you call to get this sorted out answers their phone and you have to leave messages for everyone.

But that isn’t quite enough fun, so let’s have every single one of those people you left messages for call you back at the exact same time so you can’t actually talk to them all, and if you try to call them back you get voicemails again.

I think that’s about- Oh wait no. No, we can’t stop there. Let’s take it up another fun notch by now having every person you had to hang up on extremely angry at you for doing so, and the one person you didn’t hang up on angry as well because they are generally an angry person anyway.

Seems like a nice day for an anxiety attack, no?

I will do my darndest to both obtain a new home and do a Fred cartoon this week. And while I appriciate the “Don’t worry about the Fred cartoon, just stay out of the crazy hospital” comments, I will still feel guilty if it doesn’t get done. So, for today, I could use a few “You can do it!” and “Everything will be okay” cheers if you would be so inclined.

*Replace the word “fun” with “horrible, torturous pain”

They send me nice letters all the time. “Hi, JKR, how are you? Your books are due back in a week! Don’t forget!”

“Hi, JKR, how’s it going? Your books were due back yesterday, just so you know.”

“Hi, JKR, what’s new? You owe us $50,000 now, can’t wait to see you!”

I think I’ve given the library more money in my life than I’ve spent on video games. Okay, that might be a little extreme, but I DO always keep books until they are way overdue. I’m looking at a stack of them right now that I believe are due today, tomorrow, or yesterday. I’ve renewed them all as many times as possible to delay returning them. Oh I’ve finished reading them all weeks ago. I don’t know WHY I keep putting off taking them back, because it means a trip to the library which is one of my favorite things to do. Crazy…

I’d return them today, but I have to work on Fred and Cubetoons. Maybe tomorrow.