Camilo picked me up and we took the motorcycle - a sporty Suzuki, out down Mulholland Dr through Topanga & Malibu. We sped past the beaches, through the mountains, on windy roads where the bike was about as horizontal as vertical. Lunch at the top of a mountain. Talking about stories that make us who we are. We drove through upper Los Angeles, just speeding along through the highways and the traffic, weaving between cars in ways I wouldn't feel safe doing by myself, but I trusted him completely. He got me home safe. :)

It wasn't a picture taking experience, just an actual feeling experience. It was really cool. And I think I could use back-of-a-motorcycle as my primary mode of transportation and I could be truly happy. Haha. I'm jealous of how much nice weather they have here in which to do exactly that.

We went out and saw Where The Wild Things Are which was great - a lot of fun, and sad in its way. I miss seeing Lauren Ambrose in things, even if she was just a voice.

whyelaborate invited me to a get-together in the Hollywood Hills. It was fun - Korean table-top BBQ, it was silly and fun, and the guy's house was incredible. I had fun - we had impromptu dance silliness and Camilo and Cassandra got into this giant debate about men vs. women which I found riveting and amusing, but Camilo didn't. Ah well, I had fun! Plus, motorcycling past the Kodak theatre and stuff was just kinda cool.

We got home late, he went back to Venice and I went to sleep pretty much instantly - though I had a really cool conversation about that continued women vs. men debate with my hostess, and she also thought it was a fun interesting thing to think about.

Today - Venice. Because I'm in love with Venice.

http://store.dieselsweeties.com/

The end is nigh! This is the last new stuff I'm unleashing on you, dear Internet, until after Christmas.

Zaggy Starbucks is a shirt that I've been working on for over a year and my Christmas gift to myself. (Happy()Sad) Diagram is a masterstroke my friend Ariana made. And people keep asking for "Best Before December 21, 2012" shirts so I brought it back for the season.

Top it off with the half ton of fresh pixel squid and skull socks that just landed on my door step and you've got a party!

http://twolumps.net/d/20091111.html

Two Lumps comic for Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Why yes, that IS Sonic the Hedgehog's pal Tails menacing a Warhammer 40K Space Marine with a "chainsaw sword" while Frank Zappa saunters by in the background with a disapproving look on his face. What of it?



Bunches more, including one (1) image of two (2) David Byrnes, in the COMMISSIONS GALLERY. That place is getting to be the coolest gallery on my site, actually... If only my whole professional life could be nothing but Serenity Rose and peculiar commissions.

If you'd like to request your OWN rendering of Frank Zappa (or anything else) send your angry demands to SERENITY@HEARTSHAPEDSKULL.COM. The base price is $50, and $30 for each additional character on the same page. Shipping is all kinds of free within the U.S., and a mere $3 to parts beyond.

I probably won't be able to dig into any new commissions until around December 1st, so this is pretty much THE call for CHRISTMAS REQUESTS right here... And I already have a few folks in the queue, so if you were hoping for a sketch of mine to wad up in somebody's stocking this year, NOW IS YOUR TIME!

HERE ARE SUPERHEROES:



One of these guys is called "Wiccan." Not to be confused with Brendan "BAD ASS" Li's immortal character of the same name. (COMIX: Not just for kids anymore!)

A car to myself for the entire day today. Manual transmission - I've never had a significant amount of practice with one - always had another driver in the car and usually was a short trip. Today? Braved Los Angeles (a city I don't know at all) and managed to get from Van Nuys to Venice without much problem. I'm now fairly comfortable with the 101 and the 405. I only stalled twice - both in inconsequential situations.

Anyway, got to Venice, met up with whyelaborate had a tasty veggie lunch and sat in the sand and talked for a while. I hope to hang with her again soon & often while I'm here - she's one of my new favorite people. Not to mention beautiful!

After she left for yoga class, Camilo gave me a tour of some of the boardwalk and we hung out at an impromptu dog park and he introduced me to his roommates. We practiced some capoeira on the sand. We watched the sunset from his living room couch - straight through the screen door and the porch OVERLOOKING the beach. Wow. I want his house. Wow.

Yes, this is the third day in a row I watched the sun set over the beach. Santa Monica, Malibu, Venice. Where next? :)

I'd almost forgotten my dinner plans with Ron C. - an old friend of my Aunt Eibhlisebhe's, he lives in Los Angeles. We met in Culver City for dinner and talked for a while, him telling me about my Aunt and my grandparents. It makes me wish I knew my Aunt, but she left my family around when I was born, and I've never met her. I hear she lives in Texas. I hear she has kids.

Anyway, 9pm rolls around and I decide I should head back north. Ron & I part ways and off I go, down Venice Blvd, to 405 N to 101 SW.

I've got this. :)

Tomorrow? Motorcycling in Malibu and Topanga, I believe.

We'll see.

Slept in till 9, adjusting myself to the time.

Having met Miria here the night before at the Groundlings show (I knew her a long time ago), she suggested I check out Topanga and Malibu, so Sunday we packed up the car, the two of us and her dog Kyoshi, and we drove up through the mountains. It was ridiculously beautiful. I loved the mountains of Colorado, but these ones are SO close to the ocean as well. It was breathtaking, and hey - I could still breathe, unlike the Colorado ones. ;)

We wound our way down out of the mountains, not before stopping in "downtown" Topanga to pick up some sandwiches and tea - my cold's still holding on a bit, so I ordered this amazing "elixir" made of honeysuckle, goldenbell, suspensae, chinese bellflower, grandiflori, burdock, common reed, chinese mint, soy bean, glycine max, chinese licorice, lophanterum (bamboo), and schizonepeta.

My cold's still here, but it's definitely much improved since taking that.

We drove into Malibu, where we played in the beach, explored caves in the rocks, and enjoyed the absolutely beautiful view.

Second day in a row I watched the sun set over the beach.

I could get used to this.

Today: most likely Venice.

http://twolumps.net/d/20091109.html

Two Lumps comic for Monday, November 9, 2009

http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive/2410

Pixel squid knee socks! Are here! Check out some new photos!

Saturday we had a nice leisurely day after everybody else woke up (damn me waking up at 6am ad not being able to sleep!). Breakfast (veggie omelet) was tasty, then we went to Santa Monica (from Sherman Oaks). After picking up DayQuil & coffee, we drove around Santa Monica, and went walking down the Third Street Promenade. We did a small amount of shopping, mostly of the window variety, but I bought a cute shirt at this tiny little shop where everything was about $7. We also watched some buskers/street performers and had a thoroughly fun time.

We walked down the end of Santa Monica Boulevard and walked through the sand and the beach, I watched the sun set while standing right beside the pier, watching the ferris wheel at Pacific Park (which made me think of Zombieland).

I took pictures and wrote my name with my feet in the sand. I walked to my knees in the ocean - it was a cool day, maybe only 65, but it was perfect for me, and the water was so much warmer than the Atlantic. I splashed for a bit, then walked back to Pacific Park. There was a touching Iraq War memorial there - a white cross set up for every American life lost in Iraq, and if it hadn't been so dark I'd have gotten better pictures. It's an ever-progressing installation, and I hope to get photos before I leave.

After much dilly-dallying in the sunset, we headed back to the car.

Parking in the garage on Santa Monica Blvd all day? Cost us $1. In Boston? That'd be about $30 please. I was shocked.

We headed back home, where we got all dressed up and headed out to dinner at Frankie's on Melrose. Nice Italian place, the owner, Frankie, is from NYC, so when he came out to check on our food and everything, he and I had a fun little Red Sox vs. Yankees banter. Dinner was delicious, bruchetta is fast becoming my favorite thing - with spinach fettuccine. So good. Met more amazing people, Tyler, Karen, Robbie and Camilo. We had a blast talking about all sorts of random stuff and eating until we could eat no more.

Then we walked over to The Groundlings show. It's a revolving comedy show with short skits and improv and sing alongs and all sorts of silliness. It was SO good. I had so much fun - and one of their improv skits was literally making me laugh so hard I cried.

By the time that got out, it was 3am Avens Time, which of course is only midnight here. So we headed back to the house, I took some cold meds, and slept. I just woke up at 9am - I think I may be slightly adjusted now.

Today will involve more beach wonderfulness and dancing at a club this evening. I haven't gotten the specifics yet.

Needless to say, I'm having fun.

Random awesome stuff found on the internet in the last 24 hours...

• 10:27 oy! wtf!? bit.ly/125yDq #
• 10:28 dying of teh cute. bit.ly/16I0uk #
• 12:38 everything's amazing and nobody's happy. bit.ly/tT6ij #
• 12:48 watch till the end. bit.ly/2ZGmVv #

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Ok, so, not angels obviously. But lately I've been remembering to write down really finny things that happen to me that could be made into comics, and pretty much every one of them happens while taking to Josh. He suggested I try to make a co-comic to go with BA, a lot of webcomic artists do it, so they can go back and forth between stories/characters and are more likely to update. So.. I'm trying that? I don't have a good name for this sub comic yet though. Josh and Seedlet seems kind of lame.

As for this comic, this EXACT conversation happened. Only differences are because I don't have a perfect memory and to be more concise. That's it. Enjoy.

The new season of Americana Showcase on AFC Radio kicks off this Wednesday, November 11th, at 10pmGMT/5pmEST. You can listen online at www.afcollective.com, and click on the radio/chatroom link at the top of the page. This is a weekly program.

The show is 1 hour each week of Americana, folk, bluegrass, old country and blues, western swing, and songs of America's history. I do a "retro" track each week as well. The inaugural show's retro track pays homage to the late Mike Seeger in the form of one of his recordings with The New Lost City Ramblers.

I've had a great deal of fun putting these together, and would love it if you'd care to listen in! These shows have gained the interest of a DJ in Scotland who works on several FM stations, so this may end up being syndicated!

I've arrived. I meant to sleep on the plane - even took a ton of sleep-aid NyQuil to assist me in that endeavor, but while on the flight to Dallas the man next to me was really interesting - an orthopedic surgeon from Boston Medical Center who has 17-month-old twins - he was interesting to talk to and he had ADORABLE pictures of his kids - plus a video of them dressed in their halloween costumes - Luke & Leia. So I chatted with him the whole time.

The 3 hour flight from Dallas to Burbank was a little bit less interesting but at that point I was just fading in and out - I slept and woke and slept and woke, it wasn't very pleasant.

When I finally arrived, I took a nap - which lasted 6 hours or so. Then I woke, had a little dinner, and slept again - from 10pm to 6am. Somehow I woke exactly at 6am. Granted, I often wake at either 7am or 9am my time, so I guess that's normal.

Now I'm just playing online and watching HBO until my hosts wake up. :)

I had a cold this week and it's been going away, but it got agitated by the plane ride, so I have a really dry cough and a little bit of nasal congestion. I really want it to go away, dammit.