After years of having an empty domain, I now have a website up! My DeviantArt site will still hold my latest artwork but at least I have a proper portal to send people to!



You can also now purchase any of my available con sketches or you can commission your own here.



Please also enjoy my new webcomic EGORAVEN at the link above

Thank you!

Sorry for skipping a week. I kept reminding myself last Saturday that I needed to do my weekly report but before I knew it, it was Monday. :P

Financial

I'm still getting used to my new bank. They are finally releasing my funds now that the account has reached the first month mark but not after I had to raid my savings just to pay my bills. I am hoping my next check finally direct deposits and the automatic transfer to savings goes through. Once that does then my financial goals are pretty much set for the year. I also found out that I can close credit card accounts without affecting my FICO score as long as the account has a zero balance. I may have shredded the Chase card but it would be a nice final nail to close it completely.

The Capital One card stays open until we can raid the mileage points. I think we may have enough for a free plane ticket.

Health

I fell back into my rut, which always seems to happen after a good 2 week stretch. Something in my brain keeps me from making past that first two weeks so I need to do something really specific to change it. I made myself a menu for the week, spelling out exactly what to eat through the day. I was also doing some research and read that grogginess in the morning is actually the result of overnight detoxing so to help with that they recommended drinking water just as you're getting up to help flush the system. If I don't wake up early, I have a big problem getting my day started so I'm hoping this helps.

I broke down and bought myself a Vita-Mix blender after coming across a week long demo at the Whole Foods near my job. It ran me about $400 but I love it. I spent the last two weeks making smoothies and soups trying to get the right combo of veggies/fruits down. It was a very tasty experiment except for the one day I made a green smoothie with no fruit in it and took it to work. The green drink turned into a green congealed mess and the goo almost made me wretch when I tried to drink it. I made the same thing the next day except with a fruit to cut the "green" and it came out so much better. I didn't take it to work this time. My only issue is that I make too much at one time and this stuff doesn't exactly keep well. I should have bought the smaller carafe when I had the chance.

Art

I have up to page 13 inked for Egoraven and I decided to get all of the pages colored as well. I thought that I would be able to catch up over the weekend but coloring is a lot more time consuming than I thought. I have up to page 7 completely done. I sat in front of my Cintiq all weekend and I'm still a bit frustrated that I didn't get as much done as I wanted. However, I feel pretty confident that I can finish the first issue by the end of the month... ish. I'd like to get enough work done so that I can start uploading pages twice a week but let's not get ahead of ourselves. ;)

Welcome to the fourth page of Book 2 of EGORAVEN: Heir of the First Unicorn. I have been coloring my pages like a fiend all weekend but unlike inking, coloring takes a lot more time than I thought. I was hoping to have more pages done but that's not quite how it's working. But I am confident that I can finish this issue by the end of February so all is good for now. :)

The Remarked Edition of Legend of the Silk Rose is still available in the store so pick up a copy and help support the site!

Thanks for visiting!

Welcome to the third page of Book 2 of EGORAVEN: Heir of the First Unicorn. I almost forgot that I had to actually color a page for tonight's upload and boy I had to hustle! February is going to be interesting as I go full speed ahead to completely finish issue one (I'm tired of looking at it! :D ). Wish me luck!

The Remarked Edition of Legend of the Silk Rose is still available in the store so pick up a copy and help support the site!

Thanks for visiting!

Oops! I had everything finished and ready except I forgot to upload it! Well, now the new page is up. Welcome to the second page of Book 2 of EGORAVEN: Heir of the First Unicorn. Coloring a full comic is a bit more daunting that I had anticipated but the end result seems to be worth it. :)

The Remarked Edition of Legend of the Silk Rose is still available in the store so pick up a copy and help support the site!

Thanks for visiting!

My mother and I decided to have lunch at a sushi restaurant in Midtown (alas it's not there anymore). Being lunchtime the place was very crowded and the waiter put us at a table squeezed between two businessmen on one side and a mom and her son on the other. The mom and son were talking about high school/college stuff while the businessmen spoke about office gossip. My mother and I tried to talk but the noise in the crowded restaurant made it difficult to hear each other.

"Well I guess we'll just have to wait until we're done here to talk," my mother said.
"Don't worry," I answered. "We'll just sit here and listen to other people's conversations."

The next thing I knew, the Mom next to us looked over to us with a horrified expression (which I ignored but strangely took pleasure in). She spent the rest of her time in the restaurant trying to NOT hold a conversation with her son lest myself and my mother find out what her son has been doing after school.

The businessmen however never missed a beat. Not only did they continue their gossiping of officemates, they went on in detail about a horrible divorce one of their partners were going through.

This happened years ago. To this day I remember the mother and her son sitting uncomfortably silent their entire meal, holding in their precious information about high school level after-school programs lest someone nefarious like me get wind of it. Meanwhile a businessman's dirty laundry was aired for all to hear because GODDAMN does an ugly divorce make for an entertaining story.

I still laugh about it. Figures that the people with nothing to say would feel their information was so important that the thought of someone overhearing it would be dangerous. I mean, how many times have we held conversations in restaurants or in public in general without someone making a lame joke about just sitting there and listening to complete strangers talking?

When we went to Vegas and Atlantic City, I noticed that no matter the casino we went into, there were always gambling addiction warning signs and an accompanying hot line posted. The warnings even appeared on billboards.

However, while standing in line behind an indecisive woman buying scratch off tickets (after handing the clerk a wad of lotto tickets to cash in for the amazing amount of $12) I realized that no such warning appeared anywhere near the Lotto machine and the scratch off tickets. In fact, I don't remember any warnings listed on any of the Lotto subway signs. Not that the warnings would have been paid attention to by the lady hogging the lone clerk because she couldn't decide which scratch off ticket would be her retirement pay-off.

But then again, I tend to get annoyed at people who play Lotto like their lives depended on it and I'm the lucky one stuck behind them on line.

I am so glad this week went mercifully fast. It was such a mess, let me tell you. Since Monday i had been feeling like I "crashed" from some high. I couldn't get myself to do anything. By Friday I was dragging myself like you wouldn't believe and I just slept in this morning just to finally shake it off. But, the resolutions still continue (as best as I could make it this week).

Financial

Citibank is finally teeth to the curb. I transferred the last of my money to the new bank and closed the account. The lady at Citibank did a fake "awww" and asked me why I wanted to do that. All I said was that I found another bank that suited my needs better and don't seem to want to rape me with fees while freebasing on my tax money. I'm surprised how much that really bothers me but hey. It took less than 5 minutes and I was out of Citibank as quickly as I got there. Good riddance.

I'm still getting used to the other bank. I don't like the way they have their online banking set up so I figure I let everything sit quietly until my direct deposit kicks in and clear everything up then*. I am hoping the separate deposit to my savings account goes through this week as well. I will be ecstatic to not have to keep making sure I put some money into savings every paycheck. If that works then the money I get into checking will be exactly what I need for bills. It will be fabulous. It will be AUTOMATIC! :D

Just gotta clear up some final small payment on my credit cards and it's plastic to the shredder.

*Edit: Dear TD Bank, It would have helped IMMENSELY if someone had bothered to tell me that checks deposited into a new account would be held for one month before clearing especially when the website and your own advertising tell me the checks will clear in 2 days. I could have made alternate plans for my bills which are now late. I really, REALLY don't dig that. Thanks.

Health

Didn't work out this week at all. I'm wondering whether I crashed because my body is just not used to what I'm doing. And if it is, it's a good thing because it means that my workouts are effective as opposed to when I was phoning it in at the gym (and paying for the privilege). My eating is still a bit messy but I made a menu for myself and the goal is to get through the week on it. I've been reading some books on Raw Foods and although I like the "not cooking" aspect I don't think I can do a 100% raw diet. And all the days of sprouting and hours of dehydrating is such a turn off. I would like come up with a middle ground between Raw and Atkins since both work for me. I need to get a juicer and a 3hp blender but the ones I want are $300+ a piece so I need to plan this. Who knew I would get to a point where I would have to decide between a Burberry purse and a juicer!

And what is it with Raw Foods that bring out the hippy-dippy in people? I have only found ONE guy online who really wants to make raw foods mainstream and knows that the woo tends to turn people off but he's only one guy in a sea of new age dippies. It is such an effort to get real information around the discussions on third-eye chakra vibrations, spiritual hair growth and urine therapy (ugh). Uh, I just want to eat better, guys.

I am intrigued by five-finger sneakers though. I thought they were horrific until I found a pair that's good for yoga. I still think they're gross looking but not as gross as flip-flops as shoes. Just a side thought.

Art

I was able to work on my inking for only two days this week (that's two hours in real time since an hour is all I can seem to manage every day). Tomorrow I'll finish inking page 12 and I just finished coloring page 2 which I'll upload tomorrow. I'm not going to stress out over how little work I've accomplished so far no matter who laughs about it. *dirty look* (hey - I wasn't getting much more work done when I WAS freaking out about it!) I must make the effort to get more done in a week if I'm even going to come close to having 128 pages by the end of the year (and that's not counting the 48 page Tall Tails color special). This is why I don't consider myself a professional. The goal this week is to have up to page 16 inked by next Saturday (and page 3 colored). That will at least put me on the halfway mark on the first issue.

Ugh. Epics. Why did it have to be epics?!

And they're off! Welcome to January 17th and the first page of Book 2 of EGORAVEN: Heir of the First Unicorn. And now to keep everything on track for the next 32 weeks! I hope you enjoy it!

And if you missed out on the Remarked Edition of Legend of the Silk Rose you can still pick it up in the store (remark and all) except now the price is slightly higher to make up for the Paypal fees and first class shipping. Remember that every penny goes to support the site and keep me off the streets. ;)

Thanks for visiting!

My Mom sent me this picture of what the title called a "bandit parakeet" but putting the name in Google didn't help. She wants to know if it's a real bird or Photoshop. I don't think it's Photoshop but I have no idea where to start in terms of identification. And of course she had to send it when martes is at FC.

In the meantime, last night I saw the butt end of a documentary about orcas who hunt and kill great white sharks. The orcas are so badass the great white sharks have completely abandoned this particular area where these orcas live. It makes those Sea World shows even more demeaning.

Dude - Orcas can so totally destroy GREAT WHITE SHARKS and you have them dancing in a pool?!

The second week is supposed to be the week all resolutions go to die. But I think I was able to get through it without too much of a hitch.

Financial

I'm still in the process of transferring everything over from Citibank. My job is doing some weird things with my direct deposit that I have to clarify with payroll but I don't think it will take too much longer. Either way I have to close the old account by the end of the month. So far everything with my new bank is working without any problems. Now I just have to try out their online billpay and I'm pretty much set.

My 25% contribution to my 401k was less painful than I thought and I learned I can also have a separate amount deducted to my savings account although that's after tax. I'm hoping I can add that to my direct deposit when I harass payroll on Monday. The more money I can save the better. And remember kids, make it automated!

Health

Still pretty consistent with working out although I missed two days again. Missing days make me feel awful but doing the entire routine every day is getting a bit tiring. I can get through cardio and yoga every day but I probably have to allow myself some breaks from the strength training just so everything can stop aching.

My goal for the end of the year is to be able to touch my toes and go up a flight of subway stairs without getting out of breath. (Oh to be 16 again but without the BS!)

I'm going to start keeping a food diary again just to keep myself on track. I'm still eating a lot of vegetable "soups" but I know there's more I can do. Sugar cravings still are an annoying issue although I know I eat significantly less sugar than I used to. But vegan brownies and ice-cream are still brownies and ice-cream.

My goal is to regulate sweets (what one website calls 20% foods) for the weekend. I think I can do this by next week. Then the goal after that is to get the sweets down to just one day then phase them out all together. Yes. Sugar is a drug, thank you.

Art

Finished inking page 11 of Egoraven. Slow pace but at least I'm keeping a pace right now. Still getting used to the Prismacolor pens. It surprises me that I've pretty much retired the tech pens after using them for decades. I'm not happy with the simple linework but I am inking this for color. I did a color sketch using the pens and I was pleased at how beautifully the ink behaved with the markers. No smudging or running so they're definitely keepers. The only problem is that the ink HATES white-out and really makes a mess unless everything is super dry. I just have to be careful inking and not make so many mistakes.

I'm actually nervous about uploading the Egoraven comic pages. Whatever happens, I guess. The goal is to keep the first issue of comic (32 pages) running every Sunday without a skip.

* * * * *

I had said I wouldn't reward myself until I reached some goals but I ended up going into a small sneaker shop as a fluke and found a pair of pink-plaid Nikes that I had been searching for about a year now. I didn't want to risk not being able to find them again since I couldn't find a reliable seller online so I went ahead and bought them. I told Jose that was my shopping for the month. At least these plaid sneakers were a fraction of the cost of the Burberry ones so I still satisfy my plaid fetish without breaking the bank.



And we all know Burberry can always be obtained later. Nova Check never goes out of style. ;)

I am completely convinced I could be buried under 17 layers of reindeer pelts and still be freezing my ass off while I'm trying to sleep. But WHY OH WHY does the bed only seem to get finally warm and cozy 15 minutes before the alarm goes off?!

The other day after I took a shower I slipped into a deep nap just being under the covers. But when I really have to go to sleep I'm uncomfortably cold with 4 layers of pajamas and 2 comforters.

I'm trying to figure out what happens different on those odd times I can just sleep rather than the times I have to and can't.

Drafty house is goddamn drafty. :P

Snagged from ysabetwordsmith 

People all over the country are choosing to move their money out of bigger banks and into smaller, community-oriented financial institutions that generally avoided the reckless investments and schemes that helped cause the financial crisis.

Fueled by the personal initiatives of thousands, it’s a grassroots effort that has the potential to shift power in the financial system away from Wall Street and to Main Street.

My moving my measly money from Citibank won't even make them itch much less blink, but if enough people pulled their money and diverted them to local community banks instead, then maybe Mr. Too Big To Fail (as long as he gorges on our tax money) will begin to pay attention.

We are NOT helpless.

MOVE YOUR MONEY!

I just want to sent a heartfelt thanks to everyone who read Legend of the Silk Rose and enjoyed it. Now before the big unveiling of the main comic starts, I'd like to give everyone the opportunity to pick up a hard copy of Legend of the Silk Rose.

I'm not much into the whole "donate" thing so if you enjoyed my work so far and would like to support my work and my site, please take some time to purchase a copy of Legend of the Silk Rose. Every book that is ordered THIS WEEK ONLY (deadline 9pm next Sunday) will have their copy remarked with an original color sketch done by me on one of the inside pages.

If you have any problems with the"Buy Now" link, you can Paypal your payment to egoraven@egoworks.com

So until next week, when I'll really start the comic pages! O_O

Thanks again!

Financial:

In the process of dumping Citibank like the bad habit it is. Sorry, but I cannot support a bank bailed out with tax money who then turns around and dumps ridiculous fees on me as thanks. I've already opened a new account with TD Bank which only requires me to have $100 in my account at all times to avoid fees as opposed to Citibank's $1500. Once my direct deposit goes through, it's Good Riddance, Citibank.

Waiting for a new, lower fee credit card (also from TD) before I mulch my Chase credit Card. I do not plan to use this card except as travel backup (because hotels do weird things to debit cards) and emergencies.

Capital One is out the door once we get a proper business credit card for Dream Weaver Press. Capital One started adding finance charges even if I pay the card in full and on time so they're getting a boot to the face as well.

Upped my 401k deduction to 20% and with the returning company match I'll be saving a quarter of my paycheck like nothing!

Health:

Since December 28 I have been exercising regularly with the exception of 2 days. And on those 2 days I really felt it. I've finally came up with a system that I like, especially the strength training part and I already feel a difference in my arms (oooh! muscles!). Unfortunately I seem like the type that builds muscle easily but holds on to fat like a fiend but I'm hoping everything will balance out. I'm still a tad sore but it's all good. I am avoiding weighing myself because that is so not good for me mentally. Instead I will bee looking out for how my clothes fit, especially my work pants since they're the snug type. My goal is to be able to fit back into my costumes and convention clothing.

I've also still kept the habit of eating my "New Year's Soup" (the failed green smoothie) for breakfast and lunch and I am completely addicted. I love following Atkins but I felt I needed more veggies and less cheese. The soup made it really easy to get tons more greens in my diet (I could never eat that much salad as is) and it's very filling. The only problem is that I've been indulging a bit too  much on vegan brownies but I plan to rectify that this week. I still have cheese but I'm sticking to Goat and Sheep types. They seem the best for my stomach although drinking actual goat milk wasn't too successful.

I bought a book about "raw food eating" for the recipes. I hope to find a good medium between Atkins and Raw Food (so far I've been sticking with low-carb greens which seems to work). I don't miss pasta, breads, rice, etc at all - in fact, I actually got sick after eating an brown rice avocado/cucumber roll from Whole Foods so that reinforced it. My Mom is sending me her professional-grade blender so hopefully I can make proper smoothies instead of soup. But if not, I will seriously consider getting one of those 3hp blenders the Raw Foodies use in all those Youtube videos. I found one on Amazon for $400. I may have to sacrifice buying a Burberry purse but hey, I can always get that later. ;)

Art:

Since December 28, I have worked on my pages for 8 days (about an hour each time). I just finished inking page 8 of Egoraven which doesn't sound like a lot concidering I can only get 2 panels done each hour. I'm not going to dwell on how little work I have. Instead I am going to make sure I continue chugging along every day and just get as much as I can done. Inking for color is still throwing me off. I bought new inking pens from Prismacolor and they are a billion times better than Pigmas (the nibs don't shred). It's hard inking simply and I keep reminding myself the pages will look much better in color. I'm still on schedule so that's good.

Note: Yes, I usually ink with tech-pens but I got tired of constantly having to clean them when I needed to work. I had to get rid of that block and move on with tools that don't give me an excuse to not do anything at all.

The only thing that really bothers me is that I  have yet to work on my three other art projects: The Tall Tails color special, my color sketchbook, and my diet comic that I haven't worked on since we got back from SDCC. They are on my calendar but I just haven't gotten my schedule to the point where I can really accomodate them.

I have yet to work on my "new job" plan.

I must get my commission schedule and pricing in order since this is the "easiest" way to make extra money (short of getting that new, higher paying job). I will put together a plan by Sunday night.

* * * * *

I have a calendar where each day I have my important goals listed and each day I cross them off as I do them. So far I manage to get 4 out of 7 items done (since the goals are identical each day). I figure by the end of the month I can review my progress and adjust accordingly. I may have to remove the diet comic and the sketchbook for next month just so I can get some Tall Tails work in but we'll see. I have to adjust my actual hourly schedule so that I can work on things at a specific time in a specific order. One thing I learned that didn't work is that I cannot work out first thing in the morning. My workouts are better after I've been awake for about an hour so I'm going to have to change my schedule to reflect that.

So that's my first week.

Now excuse me, I have to go work out now or my body is going to make me regret it. ;)

I would like a dream driver to go with that dream car since I'm a typical New Yorker. Live all my life here and I just can't be bothered to learn how to drive. Actually I tried several times including failing my driver's test with so many points I was considered a danger to others.

Not knowing to drive is kinda a drag since I'm pretty much stuck if there's no mass transit available. My mother didn't learn how to drive until she moved to Florida where you can't get anywhere without a car. But my sister learned to drive the second she got old enough to do so. And I just sat in the back seat just not considering it at all (to this day!) for some reason.

Buuuuut, I would like a burgundy Jaguar with a tan interior though. But it has to have the actual 3D Jaguar hood ornament though, not that flat medallion I keep seeing on the new models. What's the point of owning a Jag if it doesn't have that iconic Jaguar on it?

And can I get Hugh Jackman as my driver? That would be nice too.

Welcome to January 3rd, where I manage to upload  chapter nine, the final chapter, of my first book in my Egoraven series, Legend of the Silk Rose.

Gotta start getting the color pages ready! Eeep!

Thanks for visiting!

After looking up some Youtube videos, I decided I was going to try to make a "Green Smoothie" for breakfast. It's supposed to be super healthy and has like a bazillion servings of vegetables. Since I've been having problems eating enough veggies, especially on my work schedule I figured this would be a good way to get my daily greens.

I don't have a fancy-schmancy $600 blender like the people in the videos seemed to have but I was assured by one video that if I chop the veggies into small pieces and do the shake in "layers" then a regular blender should do.

Well, after looking like I overdid it on buying veggies at the Chinese supermarket, and just on a side note, people who complain about how eating healthy is expensive really don't know how to shop, I made my first batch attempt at a green smoothie.

Well, I can see why they have a $600 blender. Even with pre-chopping the vegetables, the concoction came out chunky, hard to drink and I ended up with 6 cups of the stuff.  So what's in this mess?

1/2 bunch of broccoli
A small handful of cherry tomatoes
3 leaves of kale
1/2 cucumber
1 celery stalk
3 (ish) cups of water.
1tbs of almond butter
2 tbs of Coconut oil
2 packets of stevia

Moral of the story?

It makes a fabulous soup! After heating it up and mixing in 1 tsp of bullion I ate 2 cups like it was going out of style. And It's really cold here too.  What a nice start to the day. ;9

So "Raw Food Guru" is definitely not in my future. But now I have hearty soups to take to work! :D

Finally got my hands on David Bach's Start over Finish Rich - 10 Steps to get you back on track in 2010.

After reading the first chapters before I went to bed, I realized the book might be a super condensed version of The Automatic Millionaire. Concidering I still have The Automatic Millionaire book, I was a little annoyed but decided to keep reading to see if anything was different. The book goes into a whole chapter of the "Automatic File System" which I did already after reading the original book. I couldn't imagine how much different his suggestion could be now compared to then, but this morning I decided to revisit my filing system and maybe clean out the old statements or whatever.

I had to change the bag on the shredder three times.

Okay, David Bach. You got me again. Sometimes we really need to hear the same advice over, even if it's just in shorter sentences.

Now I just have to make sure I remember to work out today. I've been working out since Monday and so far so good. :)

Edit: I keep forgetting that if I don't work out first thing in the morning, I just end up not doing it at all. Oh well. Tomorrow is a new day.

With 2010 looming in about an hour I figure I make my list of what I plan to accomplish this year.

Artistically
• To finish the first Egoraven trade - that's 128 full color pages (although the trade itself will most likely be printed in black and white).
• To finish the Tall Tails color special - that's 48 full color pages.
• To put together my first annual sketchbook featuring new artwork created specifically for the book.
• To finish putting together my new job portfolio.
• To keep my Egoraven online comic on a consistent Sunday schedule.
• To build a proper and consistent revenue stream from commissions.

Financially
• To save 25% of my paycheck into my 401k.
• To break $10,000 in my emergency fund.
• To have a new job that doubles my salary.

Health
• To work out every day.
• To be back at 130 by the end of the year.

Things I'll be eyeballing this year but will only get as a reward for accomplishing each task above:

Imagine some Swarovski in there as well. I'll be looking to be really tight this year but make the rewards worth it. :)