Swim Day in Orange County (Summer - Day 13)

Thirteen has been my lucky number ever since Mack was born on Friday the 13th. Emily was born on Halloween, the 31st -- 13 in reverse. So, it's not surprising when thirteen-centric days are met with happiness. My thirteenth day of summer was a happy one because it was so simple. No work. No school. No errands.

We drove to our Orange County friends and hung out all day. Cheri went with her friends to see a movie and have lunch/dinner. Joshua, Joel, and I watched the kids, talked shop, ate pizza, and swam in the pool. We went to Islands for dinner, so now I'm full of cheddar fries.

Duck Town still looms, waiting to be complete. But today was fun and relaxing. 

Comics Assemble! (Summer - Day 12)

I have probably created my graphic novel in the most backwards way possible...

Keep in mind, I'm not technologically savvy. I'm still in 1990s mode -- which explains why I still like to blog. I've seen Facebook and Instagram feeds of illustrators creating their works on iPads and Wacom Tablets, but here I am using good old fashioned pencil, paper, and ink. Then, phase two, was a good old computer scanner. But sometimes my drawings were so big, they didn't fit on the scanner.

But the most backwards phase so far has been trying to organize the individual images into the panels. It's been a fun challenge to say the least.

So, I was able to work on that, and finish Chapter Four. That means we still have eight more chapters to be assembled into Photoshop. I foolishly thought I would be done before June. Now the race is on to finish before July.

What else did we do today? Cheri and Mackenzie went to the second performance (sunday matinee) of Hello Dolly! Emily and I brought some goodies from Costco, as well as Stonefire Grill. She and I had an exciting psychic in the car. Emily was trying to get me to harmonize a Capella the Imagine Dragons song, Demons. I tried and failed several times, and she playfully scowled at me, then decided to turn on the radio so she didn't need to hear my out of tune crooning. GUess what song was playing on the radio? Demons. WHOA!

The cast and crew for Hello Dolly celebrated on the patio. Food was enjoyed by all, unless you arrived late. Mackenzie went out with some theater friends to see the new Alice movie. It's strange that the girls are getting old enough to go out without mom and dad.

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon...

Cheri and Rena's "Hello Dolly!" (Summer Day 11)

Much of today was spent going back and forth to the Canyon Theatre Guild. Cheri and Rena (she's the co-director of the show) were busy putting the final touches on the set. Sam Novak stayed up until four in the morning finishing the backdrops, and they look marvelous. The downside was the little bit of paint splatter on the stage. So that called for more black paint! President Doug Holiday was also on hand, helping up post some diner signs to an otherwise blank wall. Things are looking good!

Mackenzie also had some last minute lighting problems. But eventually, everything was fixed -- for the most part.We even returned home for a few hours in the afternoon. We walked the dogs, and I worked in Photoshop, assembling six pages of Chapter Four.

We were back at the theater at 6:30 -- and the show began on schedule at 8pm. We had a large crowd too. Not sold out, but at least 85% full I'd say.

Everyone involved deserves many paragraphs of praise written about each of them. But since I don't yet have the time or the energy, let me just say that Cheri and Rena knocked this one out of the proverbial ballpark. The whole cast and crew did. Everyone took things up two notches and the audience was with them the whole way. Emily sat next to me during the show (we were third row center, so awesome seats) and she kept whispering things like, "That's so cute! That's so funny! I love that so much!" If you can make a musical that is beloved by senior citizens and teenagers, you've created something pretty amazing. But what else would you expect from an amazing woman like Cheri?

Phase Two Complete! (Summer - Day Ten)

The scans are finished! (With the exception of the final page. I want that image to be the last thing I illustrate/ink/scan/edit -- to give me a sense of completion. (You know, as if I'm not going to need to do multiple drafts on this baby.)

May 27th was the day I made the most progress in a single day. It started out with a bunch of other errands -- going back and forth to help with the set of Hello Dolly! -- all the while taking the girls to their classes. But once the ladies left for dress rehearsal, I got down to business. I must have scanned over a hundred images. Stayed up till 2pm, diligently walking back and forth between the keyboard and the scanner, all the while listening to the audiobook of Stephen King's 11/22/63.

Here's a sneak peek at one of the action sequences in Duck Town. Our heroes jumped into a canal to get away from a villainous gang of rats. But then Penny (the chick who thinks she's a princess) starts to float down the drain...

Well, now it's time to move to Phase Three. Operation Photoshop!

New Projects: Coach Ted and Radio Play (Summer Day Nine)

Our errands for today:

• Took daughter to her art class (she's an assistant teacher!)
• The Bradford Family swept and painted the stage (more Hello Dolly! stuff)
• Family lunch at Fresh Works. 
• Walked the dogs. 
• Returned stuff at Home Depot.
• Picked up some Mic tape at CVS.
• Quick run to Trader Joe's. 

We hadn't been to fresh works for a long time. They have a new soda machine by a company I've never heard of... and I really liked it. Plus, at least according to their signage, there's no high fructose corn syrup -- so it almost seems healthy! (Seems being the operative word.) 

I think it's an off-shoot of Pepsi (which I loathe), but these drinks were good. Really liked the Cream Soda. 

Wow, I just realized how suburban I am, droning on about a new carbonated beverage in the neighborhood. 

Anyway, I only scanned a few more images of Duck Town this evening. Most of my creative time was working on a new play idea. I'm tentatively calling it Coach Ted for now. It's unusual -- it gets a bit out of my comfort zone, which is good for a writer. 

Chris (from Bullshot Crummond) and I have tasked ourselves with an ambitious endeavor. We want to create a script by the end of the summer that might be performed with Randy and other CTG alum. We met at Barnes and Nobel tonight to brainstorm another idea -- one that will probably turn out to be the script we use because it has a lot of potential, and seems more mainstream/user-friendly. This one is based upon old time radio shows. That's all I'll say -- I never want to give away any spoilers on my blog. But whether or not these projects come to life, it's already fun just collaborating.  

Balancing Errands and Creative Time (Summer - Day Eight)

More progress today with Duck Town. I scanned in the rest of Chapter Seven and got started on Chapter Eight. Unfortunately, I found four more pages that needed to be inked! Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!

In between creative tasks, I still had a lot of errands to run. Here was my itinerary:

• Daughter #2 to biology class.
• Daughter #1 to assist teacher in rocket science class.
• Walk the dogs.
• Picked up Daughter #1 from college.
• Took Daughters to Martial Arts. 
• Took daughters to the theater.
• Helped backstage during Hello Dolly rehearsal. 

Yes, as Calvin and Hobbes say, the days are packed. I do wish that I had the time and energy to finish my graphic novel before May draws to a close.

Getting Unstuck (Summer - Day Seven)

As you can tell, I've been blogging on a more regular basis again. So far, it feels like I'm just keeping track of mundane events. For example, today (May 24th) I spent a lot of time running errands:

• Grocery Store Trip (for Cheri's cauliflower crumbles)
• Picked up daughter from school
• Took daughter to dental appointment (she scored 100% on brushing techniques!)
• Dropped off both daughter at karate.
• Hardware Store Trip (for a big bucket of black paint)

I probably managed to carve an hour or two of Duck Town scans. Emily and I helped backstage at Hello Dolly! The show is coming along swimmingly.

I should be working on a script scene for the Big Sandwich Theater Company -- but the words are a bit stuck. I'm hoping that journaling / blogging will get me unstuck, but so far I haven't generated anything I'm happy about.