Promises, Promises

I am married. I am wed. I am, for all intents and purposes, one half of a Mr. and Mrs. The long journey that began when I proposed to Katie six months ago, though truthfully it began even before that, is now over. Of course, a new journey is beginning with the small fanfare of tediously moving all my belongings into a smaller (but cleaner!) apartment.

I say all this because I’m at a point I haven’t been at in a while. The road is open with promise and waiting for me to grasp it by the teets and fill my cup with voluptuous wine. I know you may not have ever heard of a road that has wine-giving teets all over it, but that’s because it’s my road. My road of opportunity. And teets, apparently.

Stupid metaphors aside, I’m at a place to start writing again. Usually when I have a project in my head and heart, I can’t stop until it’s done. But in the previous case, it wasn’t a project but a person. Katie means more to me than anyone in the world and I couldn’t stop until she was mine. Also, spending time with her was way more fun than writing, so the choice was simple.

But now that I’m a husband, I have a much higher responsibility, to her and myself. Not that I’m going to stop spending time with her, heavens no! Really it was the wedding planning that got in the way. But I can’t just laze my days away eating grapes and planning weddings. I have a woman to provide for, and I’ll be damned if I get stuck doing it behind a desk. Unless of course, that desk has a screenplay or comic or art project on it.

The point is, I don’t know what God has for us in the future and I don’t know what it is I’m supposed to do with my life. I’ve spent too much time thinking of blog entries and not writing them because they weren’t good enough. Being in America for the wedding made me realize how precious my time is here. I started this blog to have a record of my time in Japan and to communicate my experiences to people I love (or don’t).

Now my time in Japan is over half finished and almost eight months or so are unblogged. I need writing skill for whatever I do in the future, because Lord knows my art isn’t good enough to stand on its own. And my writing isn’t going to get any better by not writing everything (though the wisdom to know what sucks is pretty invaluable).

So my purpose here is twofold:

1. To have a record of my time in Japan.
2. To increase my writing skill so I know my weaknesses and can work on them and use the blog as an outlet for art projects so I can figure out what I want to do with my life so I can make money someday doing something fun so Katie doesn’t die in a box. Also me not dying in a box too.

Okay, so that’s severalfold. But I feel God has been pushing me lately to develop my skills so I’ll be ready when He throws something my way. Also I’m really gonna miss my kids when I’m gone. They’re such a bunch of punks that piss me off all the time, but they’re really sweet and I’m gonna miss all of them.

I know this is a big promise. I’ve promised this so many times on so many blogs, like the husband who promises he’ll change and then gets drunk and falls in a well. I’m sure it’ll take some blogging then failing to blog and then blogging before I get a pattern down. But the important thing is I’m writing right now.

So to everyone who has stuck with me and keeps telling me to blog, thank you so much. I wouldn’t be writing this right now if it weren’t for you. You know who you are. But other people don’t, so thank you Katie, Mom, Dad, Gioia, Ryan, Aaron, Grandmommy, Aunt Shandee, The Walshes, Eric, Erik, Justin, Glenn, and many others I probably forgot.

Sorry if this entry is too serious. I’ll put something weird at the end. I want to start blogging soon, but it will have to come in between getting back in shape for Halloween and setting up a new home. Thankfully I have a year of Japan experience to recollect with both joy and bitterness in my heart. Also, I’ve been working for about six months now on a nine-page comic that’s both weird and awful. Once it’s done, I’ll post that too. I think it’s the best thing I’ve drawn in years. You be the judge.

Thanks again and it’s good to intend to be back.

-マイケル



Here, this oughta be weird enough to counteract the seriousness. Especially the first clip in the series. By the way, all of these openings demonstrate a hard and fast rule in Japan that holds true even today. Japan loves trumpets. They're in every major and official song. Brass band is a huge deal for my kids. It's just a fact.