Work Related BS

So, today, at Suncom's morning meeting, we heard the latest company cost cutting measure...and its a doozy. Starting June 1st, our compensation is being cut in terms of our commission.

So what that means is that I'll still be doing the same, IF NOT MORE, work, and making LESSSSSSSS money...does the company realize that they will not be able to keep the best people is suddenly we are making $1000 less PER MONTH?!

Just when things were finally starting to look up a bit, they throw this bullshit at us, and why? So Wallstreet thinks we are making more money. But look at this from the sales associates side...

Currently, I sell between 50-70 new lines per month. Currently, the 70 range makes me about $2000 in commission. The new compensation plan has shown that 62 sales should average $818...a difference of 1100! Wow...to the company...

New Job to any of the employees. That's what we're all thinking, and its not going to get better. My current boss, Mike, has been promoted and there's no new boss in site for the foreseeable future...no one to bitch at, and no one to complain to. What this means, is even if he voices our opinions, we're not going to be heard.

Commission packages are set up by people that haven't sold in years, and would NEVER take my job over theirs, EVER again.

As hard as we're working and to pull this kinda crap is just ridiculous...and Suncom? Where's the TRUTH in that?

THE SHIELD

There are three shows I watch religiously, now, every week. They are 24, Scrubs and THE SHIELD.

Starring Michael Chiklis, I can actually say that this is one of those shows that I have watched since its very inception. Chiklis, who plays Vic Mackey, a guy that doesn't always play by the rules, but you can't help but root for him anyway.

The show is in its 4th season, and although it doesn't feel like its crossing any lines this season (The first season had nudity, the third season had a male on male rape and a serial rapist that went after the elderly), it still hits the wall at full speed. Glenn Close joined the cast, and at this rate, you get the feeling she'll still be back after this entry into the hell known as LA.

Anthony Anderson has also joined the cast this season, and if you think he tends to be a great comedic actor, he totally sheds that to be a totally radical drug dealer who doesn't look like he'd laugh at anything.

Cast, Crew and balls to the wall action...man, I'm gonna miss this one when its gone...but hell, at least I'll have NIP/TUCK and RESCUE ME to take its place again...and thank goodness, since I don't know what I'd do without my fix of FX.

Time to Chime in.

Helllllo.

Figured I'd update you folks on what's been going on. This past weekend I spent two days at the Cherokee Casino in NC, and well...lost my shirt, and two of my fiances. Just kidding, and I actually had a lot of fun, but now have to tightwad my money until this weekend when I get a commission check (which will go towards paying mortgage, 2 credit cards and ...dum...dum...duhhh....honeymoon). It should be enough to where I can at least put some of it towards all of it.

When I returned from my trip, I hopped online to see that Eric had gone and sent me another 4 pages from THIEF #0, and let me say, I can't wait to get my hands on these and have some fun. The other great thing to all this is I found my lightbox, so I may ink these with a different feel on a different paper...maybe adding a European or Japanese feel to it much like my last piece of art I put up here.

Ooh, I can't wait til he sends me some pages...I'm itching for them, now.

Other than that, I'm stoked that I now have three nights of TV watching...Sunday for Family Guy (I've already seen the season premiere and it's freakin sweet, to steal a quote), Monday for RAW and 24 (5 episodes to go, something big next week, followed by 4 more rip-roaring eps) and THE SHIELD on Tuesday which means I will once again get NOTHING done on writing, because NOW that show is finally kicked back into high gear and it only runs on 93 octane.

I'll check in later with more.

This is a drawing I did of myself and my fiance, Christy last night as an attempt to draw things a little differently. It definitely has a european or even japanese influence, and now that I am seeing it here, on the screen, I am starting to see the flaws, much like one can with any art after its taken time to settle in. I figured the way I added a little of a "Frank Miller" element to it by implying positive and negative space in parts was just to add a little more fun. Maybe you guys will see more stuff like this when I ink the pages from THIEF.  

Rob Nikolakakis and more

Ever heard of CafeDNA? Ever heard the name Nikolakakis? No? Check out Sniper and Rook #6, I'll try to get you folks a link for it. (Or go to his website, robniko.com) The funny thing about "the other Rob" (he probably calls me that, too, since we both have weird and unusual last names)is that both of us have a lot of common industry friends, and have actually technically worked on the same book together at one point. When Rob was picked to be the artist for EboniX-Files, and I personally wrote EboniX-MEN, Chris Crosby and his cohorts decided we'd run them as a flipbook instead of a single issue, which I thought was a good idea, because why would you put out two parodies that could steal sales from one another, instead of putting them together and possibly getting more people to pick it up. Crosby wrote the EboniX-Files side and Tony Furtado drew my story, which I still feel was a fun book and very oriented to those of us that actually like the convoluted history of the mutants.

Anyway, I was talking with Rob for the first time in many many moons, and he showed me his latest comic, although he said he's in the dvd menu making business, as well now. Hopefully both realms work out for him, and I told him any project he tries to develop if he needs an ear, or help, I'd be more than willing to help him out, and I sent him the script and discussed THIEF with him.

IT is really a good feeling when an artist in the same field tells you that you've come up with a story that is "so good, it could write itself." It makes you feel like you can seriously do some good in an industry that only about 3% of the people that ever enter get notoriety for. And I totally appreciate the compliment he gave me there. Hopefully he'll feel the script justifies the premise, since I worked hard on it, but still have some doubts, even though Eric has reassured me its some of my best work.

Going back to Rob, his art is heavily influenced by Travis Charest, and it is VERY easy to see that fact. Again, another interesting note is that Charest is probably my favorite artist, although very rarely is he able to get the work done because of the amount of time it takes him to complete a page...because typically he pencils, inks and colors his own work, and he has his own MSN group which I urge ALL to check out.

Til next time!

Jars of Pots?!?

Ever heard of the band, JARS OF CLAY? They are a Christian Rock Band, and tonight, they showed up on my turf...what did I do? I made them believe the devil was real by doing incantations in Karaoke and such...and...oh wait...Actually, I told them I really appreciated them coming to the bar and singing...the only thing I didn't like was that when they went to sing, I had to follow them directly, meaning its like an amateur comedian going up after Robin Williams closes a show...I did a pretty good rendition of WHEREVER YOU WILL GO by THE CALLING after they sang, "Don't let the sun go down on me..." which me and three other guys were yelling, "Don't let YOUR SON go down on me..." just to add humor to it...

All in all, it was a truly fun and lifting experience, and one that I am more than appreciative that I get to share here, with you.

UFC, wrestling, comics, and more.

Time continues to be passing real fast, so updating the blog seems to be something that is not happening as often as it used to...I'll try to be on a little more frequently.

Anywho, next week, I think I'm going to the Cherokee reservation casino for some much needed R&R and drinking and money losing. It's not even gambling if you aren't going to win, right?

Heh, so I watched the ULTIMATE FIGHTER FINALS and it was really good. The fights, the insight, all of it was good...except Ken Shamrock getting cut in the eye and then looking really bad. Tonight's PPV promises to be a good striking and grappling
experience with Liddell vs. Coutoure...the two best in the sport.

Well, in wrestling, HHH hurt himself, and now may have to take it easy as he passed out back stage and was in noticable pain...too bad...especially with Hogan coming back...again...(boo) At least this means that Batista may get the push he deserves as the champ. On the other show...they are boring me...hopefully they have that draft and really show it all up...that'd be great.

This week I picked up a couple good comics, but nothing really shocked me or made me want to jump at the next issue...maybe next week.

THIEF Update

I was talking with Eric the other night, after an absence from even emailing, and it seems that he's almost completely done penciling the #0 issue. This is great news, because he said he's already done all the breakdowns for the 1st issue of the series, as well.

From there, he's going to send me either the original pencils or photocopies of the pages so that I may start inking them. Either way, I'll probably make copies of all the pages so they can get scanned as both pencils, and then after the inks are done, so you get before and after pages, and finally get some good art on here =).

I'll probably start seeing the pages within the next two weeks, or so, and then with that added energy, I'll probably be able to get my butt back in the sling to write the next two issues =).

Just figured I'd give you guys a quick update. I am about 3 pages from completion on the #2 script and after that, I'll head fast into #3. The trick is to give everybody a good story in 16 pages while still giving them a reason to want the next issue. Fun stuff.

PSP...I got me one

Well,

As Christy, my loving, yet not always understanding, fiance said, I always need to upgrade and get better stuff...so today I did.

I traded in my GBA SP, and about 7 games for $100 and after paying the mortgage, used what I had left over from her to purchase myself a Sony PSP, the new handheld game system.

I have to tell you, the only thing I'd change is its size, and due to the screen on it, you really can;t...but it's beautiful. I bought the Spider-man 2 movie GAME to go with the free copy of the movie that comes with it. The game is stunning with its cartoon screens, looking MUCH better than what was originally seen in the PS2 version.

anyways, you may not see me on here too much for the next couple days, even with me being off from work, I need to discover how to rip movie files for a memory card for it, and then see how big the files are so I can see how much I need to spend on a memory card...since the gaming feature is nice, but that's what I REALLY want it for.

Later all!