I’ve used today to try and figure out my expenses for the rest of the year. So far, things aren’t looking so hot. Trying to balance out a budget of rent, utilities, food, gas, miscellaneous purchases (haircut, night out, ect.), and games has proven quite the challenge. This year also will mark my fourth PAX in a row (missed the first year) and that is always the biggest expense of the year for me. Being on the east coast, my airfare is absolute murder. After you factor in hotel, car rental, and food, it becomes a wonder that I have any money left over for anything at all.

What’s worse is that I can’t be as generous as I want to. I honestly feel terrible about not being able to give out gifts for my brothers, sisters, and friends. Birthdays and Christmas come and go and I hardly give many gifts to anyone. I used to be so much better about gift giving a few years ago, now I’m just downright pathetic at it. This year promises to be different though. This year, I’m going to make a much greater effort to give more to my friends and family, be it a card, picture, or whatever. I’ve got to get better at putting the people that matter most in my life in front of my own personal expenditures. I’m not saying I’m going to bankrupt myself mind you, just be more thoughtful is all.

Therefore, unless this site starts paying me a bunch of money soon, I will be looking into getting a second job. I was thinking about something part time on the weekends to help ease up the financial strains. My biggest concerns would be paying off my PAX trip and trying to get some money put away into a savings account. Right now, I’m one big hospital bill away from being bankrupt, but then again, I guess everyone is. It’s times like this that make me regret never getting a college degree. Of course, I hated every single minute of high school and the two quarters of college that I attended, so maybe I shouldn’t beat myself up about it too much. You reap what you sow after all.

Speaking of money, the week after next will commit more money from my account in the form of Advance Wars and No More Heroes. I’m slightly peeved that No More Heroes got pushed up on the release schedule. Normally, I’d be all in favor of it, but I already wrote out a comic about the game to be put up on the Monday before it’s release. That was supposed to be the 4th of February, so now our comic will be late to the party. Doing a weekly comic means that we have to have our comics planned out a few weeks ahead of time and when something hot happens, say Star Wars characters in Soul Calibur, we can’t whip up a comic right away. Therefore, I run the risk of repeating a similar idea of another web comic and to me nothing could be worse. Then again, it’s nice not to get lost in the shuffle of similar ideas. The internet moves quickly and I’m being forced to pick and chose my scripts based on what I see coming up on the horizon.

Oh well. See you next week!

- Dover

Greetings from Beau’s Eight-Sided Cage of Pain . . .

I have been tired. Damn it, putting my thoughts to paper takes energy. So I took a few weeks off. I am back people, and you may keep your applause to a minimum. I already know that you love me and need my words to feel fulfilled and so you may have them.

I was challenged recently to a street race, a la Need for Speed Underground on my way home from work. The challenger was a local idiot driving that king of underground import racing, the SUV that was older than he though he was no spring chicken. That said, the one being challenged - me, an educated and handsome fellow who drives a white Jeep equally as old - so I am not throwing stones. I bring up the age of the vehicles in question to illustrate the following point.

Street racing is usually engaged in by minors. People who still think themselves invincible. I am not as young as I used to be and I am fully aware of my own mortality. Not to mention our vehicles are not the models of street racing norm. Automobiles with fins and body kits and turbo-charged bafmodads - these are the markers of the street racing elite. As an aside to my new archnemesis, dents and dings do not qualify as body kits.

What neuron in the brain triggers to make someone think that racing jalopies at 80 MPH is a good idea?. It must be the same nerve cluster that issues said challenge by screaming obscenities at a complete stranger. I am a patient man who is completely secure in the size of my penis and have no need to engage in adolescent games to prove my manliness. Perhaps if I had a racing type auto and the ego of a thirteen year old I would have accepted the challenge laid out before me. No, I would not have. I can only refer you back to the previous statement concerning my penis.

If you are reading this Nemey . . . do you mind if I call you Nemey? Please let wisdom guide your decisions. Think before you act on an impulse. That next time may cause you severe bodily harm. As peaceful a man as I am at 6:30 PM while listening to Alice Cooper and facing a long drive to my home, if you say mean things to me . . . well, I may be forced to pull you from your car window, beat the piss out of you, strap you to the hood of my car and drive into a wall repeatedly. I believe in tough love, what can I say? So in case we don’t run across each other again (I can only hope), thanks for the memories. DUMBASS!

- Beau

I just figured out that DLC stands for "downloadable content". I always wondered to what all those Joystiq Rock Band posts were referring. Damned buzzwords and their even damned, um, damned-er acronyms . . .

- Irving