I just worked two really busy days at my job.  I kept thinking about how I spent my time last Thursday and Friday at a hotel in Pearland.  I was down there for my uncle's funeral.  I spent two nights working on my "Richy Vegas Comics" issue 32  while cooped up in my hotel room.  I got a lot of work done on that book.  I'm now at the illustration phase of the book.  I first had to finish laying out  the text on the paper plates.  I listened to baseball on the internet radio and my iTunes collection.

What to do with myself while cooped up in hotel rooms helped motivate me to commit to abstinence from drugs and alcohol in late 2008.  I would just get really drunk on lots and lots of beers in hotel rooms before I made my commitment to quit that stuff.  Thinking about how I made that change so long ago really helped me to get through the craziness at my job these last couple of days. The paper plates book is one I'm only going to work on while away in a hotel in these next several months.  It's a good road book.  I don't have to worry about making a mess in the room I'm staying in on those paper plates books

I completed fifteen pages of the outlines of "Richy Vegas Songbook" last month.  I have outlined twenty-five pages of that book so far.  I'm going to make a goal of outlining twelve pages of "Songbook" for September.  Last month I made it my goal to outline eight pates of the book and I did fifteen.  I hope to finish outlining the book in October sometime.  I hope to finish illustrating the book by January at the latest.  Once I finish "Songbook" issue 3, I will work on "Richy Vegas Comics" issue 32 in earnest.

I managed to practice guitar on twenty-three days last month.  A LOT of those days saw me only practicing one song, just so I could give myself credit for practicing on that day.  I'm thinking about coming up with a system that marks on my calendar whether or not I practice one, two, three, four, or more songs on a given practice day.

I've been picking up some negativity from a couple of young women in my world.  I don't know what to do about it other than to turn the other cheek and make no attempt to match their energy.  My next, and maybe last gig at the Carousel Lounge is two weeks from Friday.

I get the impression that I've sublimated much of my urges to chase after unavailable women through my comics production and musical activities.  It's definitely a better way to pass the time to learn guitar and try to do good comics.  I didn't get much done in those days when I chased after women such as Wanda and Veronica Ortega.

I had a really good open mike performance tonight.  I'm plugging up the remaining holes in my performance of "Ziggy Stardust."  Performing that song onstage really gives me an opportunity to see what parts of it still need work.  I also did a cover of Tom T Hall's "That's How I Got to Memphis." That one is not as hard to perform, but I could still improve on it for next time.

I'm going to ship a lot of my musical equipment (guitars, banjo, amps, etc.) to my new home in Western Massachusetts.  There's not going to be the music scene there that there is here.  That gives me a lot of incentive to learn as many covers as I'm able to before I head up there next April.  There are open mikes, and I figure that playing them frequently will give me the opportunity to meet people up there.

New York City, and It's vibrant comics scene, will be a place I can visit only two or  three times in any given year, I figure, so I really have to lean into the local music scene, such as it is, if I want to get out and try to meet new people.  I'm pushing myself to practice more frequently nowadays for that very reason.

I'm shooting for outlining eighteen pages for the month of August on "Songbook" issue number three.  I'm also working on a road book for when I travel and have nothing to do in some hotel room or other.  Fall is a travel season for me.

I should finish outlining this 48 page book sometime around October 15th.  I've finished outlining eighteen pages so far.  Yes, I am moving across the country in April.  Really.

I hope to finish outlining these pages by the 10th r 11th of October.  I should finish this book well before I move out of Austin next April.