I can’t believe the return of Fred updates happens in just a few more days. The time seemed to fly by like crazy! I need to work over the weekend, because this new cartoon took a lot longer than I expected. I blame school and it taking up time that was usually not taken up before. But school will end up making the Fred cartoons better in the long run, so it’s a sacrifice that needs to be made right now.

Has anyone guessed what the next Fred toon will be about yet? It shouldn’t be difficult, given its release date. Hopefully everyone will download the song after watching the cartoon and drive their friends and family crazy with it. If that happens I’ll know I’ve done my job well.

Have a good weekend, everyone! Tuesday will be here before you know it.

This week I have to create a flip book for school. It has to be about something and an indeterminate number of pages long. It pains me to have such a loose assignment, because I have no clue what to do. Even if there was a broad theme it would be easier. So now I need to brainstorm a bunch of ideas as to what to create. I’d like to stick to something simple, because it’s due in a week and I have all sorts of other projects to work on as well.

The teacher said on day one that if we spent more than two hours a week on homework she would be shocked. Lies! Terrible, horrible lies!

At school there is going to be an upcoming event where one of the professors essentially “fixes” your original characters. I’m considering entering Fred into the foray. This would mean several things:

1) He would likely look very different. Think old Mickey Mouse to modern Mickey Mouse.

2) He would probably have ears afterward. I don’t know why I never added them, but I bet the teacher would.

I’ll probably go ahead and see what could be improved, even if I don’t change the character in the end. It would be nice to have a fresh take on the design, since I created him for comics when I was in middle school and it’s a pretty crappy design (don’t blame me, I was only 12!).

I’ll post the modified version here on the blog whenever it happens. Not sure when, though.

Last night we made about fifteen different colored dyes for the annual Ukrainian Egg making sessions that take place around this time of year. Easter is early April in 2010, so I wanted to get rolling on the decorating as early as possible. My goal is to have over 100 eggs completed for the show that takes place at my church this year. The first year there were around 70, but last year was a lot less because I ran out of time. So far I have six or so completed, and another six in the stages of being done. I’m hoping a few more people work on them this year, because I could use all the help I can get.

I’m considering using the profits from the egg show to have new lights installed at the church building. Right now it’s extremely dark around there at night, and it would benefit the neighborhood a lot if there was more visibility. We have bus stops in front, and people use them at all hours of the night. I don’t know if it’s possible to get that done, but I thought it would be a useful project to help people.

Today I have to go to the dentist to get a cavity filled. I’m not a huge fan of the dentist, so I’ve been putting it off a bit, but it’s not a huge deal so I’ll have to cave and get it done today. I also need my wisdom teeth out, but that I dread even more since it will require them to knock me out, and that’s not something I have any interest in. I ALSO need a new cap on one of my back molars, and the simple removal of the one there has me queasy, because it fell off once and I felt the horrible, dead tooth underneath. It made me sick.

Maybe I’ll write a cartoon about Fred going to the dentist to materialize my horrors in hilarious animation form. Of course, I already have three cartoons in the lineup for Feb. 2nd and onward, so it would probably be a bad time to add in another.

The upcoming cartoon features a flashback from SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO! It’s very interesting to think what the gang might have been up to way back then. In reality, Fred was just a spark of a thought in my mind back then, and Space Chicken (let alone any of the other characters) didn’t exist at all yet.

It also made me wonder just how old the characters are and how long they’ve been living together. I don’t think I have any formal time line. It’s more like The Simpsons where the backstory might be a little different depending on who’s remembering it and when. The characters can still develop, but they probably won’t age much in the years and years I keep making cartoons. Guess they’re timeless.

No school today, as it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Which is kind of a drag because I like school. Ah well, there’s always next week. Besides, I don’t have my homework done. I have to work on it today.

Saturday I spent the day with BDDB recording music for the upcoming cartoon. It was difficult, then went smoothly, then difficult again, and then finished well. I have no idea how he manages to play instruments as well as he does. I couldn’t even keep up while watching. Today I’ll be recording the lines and then enlisting some FAA help with some of them. I really need to make a few new mouth movements for Fred. At least a “letter L” one, because I’m always missing that. I tried once before and it didn’t turn out well so I deleted it.

There’s a new Fred Cartoon ready for watching! And it lives right here.

Go watch it, and then come back and read the rest of this blog post so nothing is spoiled.

Okay, so as you now know, Fred updates will resume on February 2nd, 2010. I’ll be using the time in between to not only catch up a bit and get onto a normal schedule, but also work with BDDB on what could be the biggest FtM musical event since “Year of the Monkey”. I hope everyone will look forward to it. We’ll be recording a lot over the weekend. It’s a song that captured my heart when I wrote it years ago, and one I had always hoped to share. The day has apparently come. Well, it will come February 2nd anyway.

That also gives you a bit of a hint as to what the song is about. I shall say no more.

As far as Fred’s “announcements”, who knows which if any will come true? I can cross off a few straight away for you: There is no game releasing tomorrow. I am also praying that Fred vs. The Supreme Court doesn’t happen in 2010, or any year for that matter. I don’t think he would win. In fact, I’m relatively certain that if he appeared before the Supreme Court he would somehow wind up with several life sentences in prison. How I’m not sure, but it’s Fred, so I don’t put it past him.

The rest I shall leave open for your musings. Just don’t hold your breath. Again, it’s Fred.

Happy 2010 once more, everyone! See you all in a few weeks!
(Well, unless you’re checking the blog daily, because I’ll still be doing that.)

Today’s the big day when we’re off to get a nice, shiny new DSi! I’m excited. I’d be more excited if I still didn’t have a lot of work to do, but ah well.

We have a Nintendo Points card at the ready to check out some DSi Ware stuff. If anyone has any suggestions for what to get, be sure to post ‘em in the comments! I have my eye on the Mario vs. Donkey Kong one.

Apparently replacing windows costs a bajillion dollars. I now know this because we need to swap out the windows in our house before it’s ready to sell, and we’ve been getting quotes. So if you’re in the market to make a ton of money, forget becoming a doctor or lawyer, apparently you want to manufacture windows and give them all sorts of crazy non-universal designations to set them apart. I would suggest “Class 7 Vapor Barrier Solarflex with a triple coating of Superior XY40 film” or something. That sounds good and means absolutely nothing.