Never underestimate the power of lunges, for they can affect your butt muscles greatly.

My Tio Marcos (or Uncle Max for those non-Spanish speakers) died last night about 4:30. We hardly ever saw each other, especially after I became the black sheep of the family. But when we did see each ther, we weer good friends.

When I moved back to Texas, my father told me we were gonna have a barbecue. I thought it would just be a little affair with my immediate family. What I came to was at least 100 family members crammed into the back yard of my house (There are roughy 400 people in my extended family...they breed like rabbits). One of the first to welcome me back was Tio Marcos.

Tio Marcos and Tio Martin played a LOT of music together. Mostly Spanish polkas with him on the "Bajo" (Bass acoustic guitar) and Martin on the accordion. During the barbecue, they began to play a song, which I don't know the name of (Damn my terrible Spanish skills), directed squarely at me. They serenaded me with a song about how they missed me while IW as away, and how they were glad to have me back. And that if I ever went away again, I wouldn't be alone, because they would ahve a picec of my heart. It was a beautiful song. One of the few days I've had with my whole family where I felt like a princess.

When my mom had a surprise birthday party this last January (which she made the cake for, if you can believe that!), Martin and Marcos played music for the whole time. Marcos was very sick by that time, and refused to NOT play his music. He collapsed once, and we tried to get him off the stage...but a few minutes and a bottle of water later he was up and playing again.

His health was failing terribly in September and he was admitted to the hospital a few days after I came home. He had cancer of the stomach, and had mos of it removed. Complications from that caused a blood clot that resulted in the amputation of his right arm. His whole body was shutting down. But he never lost that smile of his. He knew he was going, and he was okay with it. A few days before he died, he specifically asked for Tio Martin...so they could sing together one last time.

I was planning on visiting him this weekend, to thank him for the serenade from my birthday. I will most likely be seeing him on Saturday as they bury him.

But his memory will burn bright - sitting on my computer right now, are MP3 versions of all his songs. More of which mom and I will digitize tomorrow night, to burn a new CD collection with ALL his songs on them. I think he'd be proud.

I love my drafting class. Mind you, I took in in High School, back in 1991-1992...but that's where I learned the 30-60-90 rule...and I put it to good use on Panel 6 of Day 5. A nice overhead shot I'd NEVER had been able to do if I was freehanding that baby. Wow, I took the class for an easy credit, and I'm actually USING it. Who woulda thunk.

While drawing, I flipped through the TeeVee channels for some noise, and came across Kiki's Delivery Service. If you have a small child, and want them to see a japanese cartoon/anime movie NOT BASED ON MERCHANDISE, go out and grab a copy of Kiki's Delivery Service. I first saw this movie when it came out on VHS at one of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization meetings so long ago. I forgot how beautiful that movie is...as are all of Hayao Miyazaki's movies. IT's the story of a young Witch who runs a delviery service and a crisis of faith. It's a wonderful movie. Now I remember why I got into comics to begin with, why, with all the Pokemon and Transformers and Card Captors, I still wanted to write a story that didnt' need toys or merchandise to sell. I love this movie. And you will, too. Go watch it. I'll wait.

Never underestimate the power of lunges, for they can affect your butt muscles greatly.

My Tio Marcos (or Uncle Max for those non-Spanish speakers) died last night about 4:30. We hardly ever saw each other, especially after I became the black sheep of the family. But when we did see each ther, we weer good friends.

When I moved back to Texas, my father told me we were gonna have a barbecue. I thought it would just be a little affair with my immediate family. What I came to was at least 100 family members crammed into the back yard of my house (There are roughy 400 people in my extended family...they breed like rabbits). One of the first to welcome me back was Tio Marcos.

Tio Marcos and Tio Martin played a LOT of music together. Mostly Spanish polkas with him on the "Bajo" (Bass acoustic guitar) and Martin on the accordion. During the barbecue, they began to play a song, which I don't know the name of (Damn my terrible Spanish skills), directed squarely at me. They serenaded me with a song about how they missed me while IW as away, and how they were glad to have me back. And that if I ever went away again, I wouldn't be alone, because they would ahve a picec of my heart. It was a beautiful song. One of the few days I've had with my whole family where I felt like a princess.

When my mom had a surprise birthday party this last January (which she made the cake for, if you can believe that!), Martin and Marcos played music for the whole time. Marcos was very sick by that time, and refused to NOT play his music. He collapsed once, and we tried to get him off the stage...but a few minutes and a bottle of water later he was up and playing again.

His health was failing terribly in September and he was admitted to the hospital a few days after I came home. He had cancer of the stomach, and had mos of it removed. Complications from that caused a blood clot that resulted in the amputation of his right arm. His whole body was shutting down. But he never lost that smile of his. He knew he was going, and he was okay with it. A few days before he died, he specifically asked for Tio Martin...so they could sing together one last time.

I was planning on visiting him this weekend, to thank him for the serenade from my birthday. I will most likely be seeing him on Saturday as they bury him.

But his memory will burn bright - sitting on my computer right now, are MP3 versions of all his songs. More of which mom and I will digitize tomorrow night, to burn a new CD collection with ALL his songs on them. I think he'd be proud.

I love my drafting class. Mind you, I took in in High School, back in 1991-1992...but that's where I learned the 30-60-90 rule...and I put it to good use on Panel 6 of Day 5. A nice overhead shot I'd NEVER had been able to do if I was freehanding that baby. Wow, I took the class for an easy credit, and I'm actually USING it. Who woulda thunk.

While drawing, I flipped through the TeeVee channels for some noise, and came across Kiki's Delivery Service. If you have a small child, and want them to see a japanese cartoon/anime movie NOT BASED ON MERCHANDISE, go out and grab a copy of Kiki's Delivery Service. I first saw this movie when it came out on VHS at one of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization meetings so long ago. I forgot how beautiful that movie is...as are all of Hayao Miyazaki's movies. IT's the story of a young Witch who runs a delviery service and a crisis of faith. It's a wonderful movie. Now I remember why I got into comics to begin with, why, with all the Pokemon and Transformers and Card Captors, I still wanted to write a story that didnt' need toys or merchandise to sell. I love this movie. And you will, too. Go watch it. I'll wait.