oddeo’s blog

What do you get when you mix a short sleeve polo shirt, thunderstorms and unstable air mass?  A freaking 20 minute hail-storm where yours-truly plays "save the eye-balls" with Senor AlphaOmega himself.

I won this round Mr. bearded almighty guy with cool robes. It'll take more than ice pellets thrown from the heavens to take me out. 

With that said, I will be devoting June to my Comic Ambitions.  Not the stand-up type but the cool kind of comic ambitions. (snap!).  I'll be drawing every day for the next 30 days starting June 1st.

So, mark your calendars.  June is Brandon Draws a Comic month.  30-days full of pencil and paper lovin'. The National Safety, Rose, Dairy and Rivers people can get a new month, June's officially mine now.  Want to test my ownership?  I'll grind up some roses in your milk and throw it all in a river while not wearing a life-jacket.  That's just how dedicated I am June, so stop yerbitchin.

Get ready for your eyes to get some dental work because June's going to be sweet as hell.

No?  Yeah, sorry about that. How about a sweet idea for a Halloween costume instead? Well...take three.

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Real short post tonight.  I realize I really screwed the couch as they say in certain corners of my imagination with this month's 30 day trial.  Mostly, a few things piled up this month along with me really sort of dooming myself by trying to add too much at the same time and I eventually just let it all go to the wayside. 

Next month, I'm going to refocus again but this time, I'm going to put it towards 30 days of drawing.  While April was 30 days of no-gaming that resulted in me picking up my beloved pencils again, June will be devoted to that cause which is something much more appealing and exciting to me than a 30 day workout regimen.  Maybe once I have my comic flushed out I can worry about making my workout plan golden but for now, the random runs with Nicole as she prepares for a Half-Marathon and the tri-weekly workouts I've been able to commit too will suffice just fine.  If nothing else, my burning out on working out too much did get me addicted to the actual act of it.  Went and worked out tonight and made my upper-body feel like rubber which means its working.

So, more tomorrow when I've better collected my thoughts on what June has in store for me.

Aside from all that though, my Australian Connection has reserved his flights to the Americas and will be testing the local bars infrastructures here in Denver this summer.  I've decided I'll totally be getting him a leather cowboy hat, 2 or 3 stuffed alligators and 10' bowie knife so that he feels authentically Australian while he's here, as I'm sure everyone will ask him if he's seen the movie Crocodile Dundee and I'd love if we can try and convince people it was an actual documentary.

As well, my bud Lee qualified for Tae-Kwon-do Nationals it seems, so that's freaking sweet.  All those times he accidentally split wood beams with his forehead finally paid off it looks like. He can splinter trees with a single thought it's foretold.  A single thought.

Wow, I've really done poorly on the posting for this month.  Not sure if I just wasn't that inspired by my goal this month or if I've just let myself have an excuse that I've been a bit stressed over somethings be the reason for it?  Odd how that works.  Also odd how you can have a month's worth of work behind you and it only takes a few days for you to really just jeopardize all the progress.  Need to get myself back on track. 

Thankfully, I've got a good lady that gives me the punch to the noggin when I start getting out of line.  She doesn't know  that I know when she's trying to hint that I should keep up the work but I know...you know?  She's subtle like that and very, very wise in that respect.  She runs her own business, making jewelry, while working a full time job where she has to drive an immense amount of miles each day and still finds time to fit in designing logos, planting a garden, walking 100 flights of stairs each day and going running nearly every other day.   So, anytime I get all whiney, boo-hoo, I'm tired I remember that she barely ever complains about being Super-woman.   Damn her unwavering willpower! 

So, over the weekend, we went running both Saturday and Sunday.  I'm a terrible runner.  God awful at it.  Really, I look like I'm being chased by a horde of zombies and that I've sprained both ankles and have a 50lb weight wrapped around my waist.  Now, picture that, only more pathetically.  That's me.  I like to say it's because I'm a lumbering giant with tree trunks for legs and a precariously high point of balance.  However, I also secretly realize that it makes me feel better when I think that than me saying I simply lack running experience.  I run when bears chase me or after the ice cream truck, not for the fun of it.  So, this whole running on purpose thing is a bit awkward for me.  Making my lungs feel like I swallowed a porcupine is not necessarily my idea of a nightly routine I dream about.  However!  I'm getting much better at it.  In fact, I might say I'm overcoming my exercise asthma quite nicely.   Well, that or I might have overcame that at age 15 but I just use that as my explanation for the searing pain in my lungs after running.  Either or.

Activities

Running, running and more running.

Also I've been doing push-ups and the usual not at the gym routines when there's 1,002 people at our small apartment gym all vying for the weights.  Me, I like my gym-time quick and painful.  I'm not there to chat with you talkative buff guy that wears shirts too tight for you on purpose.  Move away from me, I'm socially awkward when working out.  If I wanted to talk about how much you wish you were not living in Denver and how you never pay your rent, on purpose, I'd stop ignoring you by walking away.  Seriously, I'm a professional weight lifter now.  I have stuff to do.

I've been practicing drawing hands.  Yeah, seriously, those damn things are hard.  Somehow, mine alway turn out looking oddly similar to what toothpaste dripping out of a tube looks like, if you can imagine such things.  So, that's my other goal this week.  Draw bad ass fists and hands.  Simple as that.

Quick Facts

Weight:  247
Diet: Lots of food, really too many to list but I assure you, they were all vegetables, water and tofu, as is custom for me.

So, I love food.  Really, love it.  Sometimes, I dress myself up as a Chef just so I can feel closer to food.  My doctor says it's completely normal though.  Isn't that right Dr. Snuggles?

Long story short, we had a lengthy meeting today at work, so lengthy, lunch was purchased for us which is always cool.  We ate some fine Chinese cuisine, mine strewn with sesame and chicken.   All seemed ok.  That is, until it hit me.  Yeah, that it.

So, went home a little early today and feel much better now.    Safe to say though, there was no physical activity present that could be slated as exercise other than my standard walks to work.  I feel that this is understandable and excusable given my circumstances of digestion woes experienced this afternoon.

Aside from not being able to really sort my feelings on my friend's murderer being caught and the resurfacing of that painful memory, I've been a little burdened with family matters lately to be honest, which has kept me from my tasks regrettably.  The 5ish-day hiatus was mostly due to things just finally getting the best of me really.  My Dad is still out of a job and it's leaving my parents in a tight spot.  Several factors play into the whole matter, most of which deal with poor health of my parents that deter them from doing physical work even to the degree of standing for hours that makes their hunt for gainful employment difficult.  At any rate, it's got me pretty stressed for the most part.  My dad's a fine, fine Salesmen and it worries me that he won't find a job that can pay the bare minimum that my mother and him have set for just getting by.  I've as well been sending what spare cash I have and am starting to stress out from that as well knowing that I'm in no shape to fully help their financial perils.  At any rate, wish I had some connections or something where I could get my dad some great sales job and be done with this black cloud above my family and I for the past nine months. 

I'm quickly running out of optimism when my father calls me daily for advice and a pick-me-up.  Hard part for some to understand is that given my life, is that my parents have just me and my sister for support.  There's no grand circle of friends for them to call on nor can they rely on their relatives for a multitude of reasons.  So, when the worst comes knocking on their door, the call for help falls usually with me as they've really got no one else to fall back on. It's incredibly hard to watch your parents face something like possibly losing their home and health care knowing your best attempts to help haven't been able to slow it, let alone stop it.   Not an easy task to put the fate of your parents to chance and hope that it all just turns out ok while you try desperately to think about what they're going through facing their mid-60's without a penny saved, failing health and bills they can't pay.  It used to matter how they got there but right now, bringing up their mistakes serves little more than rubbing salt in their wounds.  All the while, I know that we all must face our own obstacles and demons and my parents, theirs but that's something much easier said when you're not front-row to the spectacle. 

I guess all in all, I just needed to write that all down as I like to internalize things a lot and putting it down here helps lift some of the weight that's been heavy on my shoulders recently.  I've been a therapist in one way or another for my parents since I was old enough to understand why they'd argue and I'm just ready for them to find some happiness and peace in their lives.  If I could get one wish, it'd be that their last years on this earth could be spent worrying more about getting rid of their sock-line tans than if they can sneak one more late month in on an already late mortgage so they can afford their diabetes medications.

At any rate,  just needed to vent via blog. 

Activities

I did get my draw on again and am quite pleased as a matter of fact.   Got my draw on real good.  Feel the sheer power, of the Gnome.

 
Yeah, I know.  He's bad-ass.

Took a little break from posting there accidentally, wasn't anything intentional but just sort of fell off the cart for a few days there.  My everything was in pain from my 8 days of workouts in a row and I sort of just let my arms get back to where they could reach over my head.

However, whilst on my break from all things journaling and working out, had a pretty interesting weekend.  Nicole, Becki, Brent, Ronnie, Jessie and myself all went to the Roller Derby match here in town.  (Match? Game?  Bout? Not sure).  Had a freaking blast.  Nicole and I ended up sitting directly in the front row.  Now, you might think front row in a cushy seat with a big plexi-glass window in-front of us.  No, this was actually the front row, Nicole and I sitting on the floor, separated from the actual derby by yellow tape stuck to the ground, guarding us from wild-women skating at the most insane of speeds at one another.  Only one instance did a derbite almost fall into my lap but thankfully I wasn't paying attention and would have most likely been knocked unconscious in an instant by her. 

We've got pictures, I just need to get them on here.  It was a tremendous event and I'm pretty sure that we'll make it a habit to go to them. 

Short post I know but I would much rather fill this space when I have something more than just my Derby Exploits to discuss. 

This isn't a happy post, so I apologize.

About six years ago, a friend of mine named Carrie Nelson was murdered at Blue Mound State Park and today, there were stories saying the murderer had finally been caught.  Not exactly sure how I feel about it other than uncollected thoughts.  Hearing that the cowardly monster that killed her for a cash-register full of money brought up some weird memories and feelings.  Hard to put my mind around such a thing really, as I had six years to put it to the back of mind never really believing they'd ever find her killer. 

It's unsettling the feelings of hate and anger you feel when you see the face of a person that stole the life of someone you cared about and the dark thoughts that sweep over you regarding what you'd do to her killer if you had only a few minutes alone with him. That mixed with the resurfacing of memories of who she was and what it must have been like for her in those last few moments makes me feel powerless and sick again like I did the day I first heard she had been murdered.

She was an incredibly sweet, witty, fun and attractive woman and I hate the fact that her life was ended over something so meaningless as a few dollars.  I'm glad she and her family will finally find some justice and thank god for the investigators that didn't give up looking.  There's a level of closure now for at least me.

http://wcco.com/crime/local_story_128101404.html

Real short post tonight.  Need sleepy.  Stupid apartment gym full of people, only machines left were the ones that double as vending machines.  Good thing too as my friend Lee recommended that working the weights too much would make my arms explode.  Ran in the rain which was probably opposite from what I should do fight my runny nose. Decided to draw but then realized maybe I should go back at the drawing from yesterday.

Activities

Amazing to at least me the differences really paying attention to details make.  Wider and fuller eyes, a cleaner jaw and a cleaner mouth/chin make him look a lot more ... non-3rd grade fingerpainted.

Does that rhyme?

Well, yesterday was a bit of a long day to be honest, so I completely forgot to even make a post until right before I was going to go to bed, which just doesn't work for me.  Saturday started with a 7am house-call by Comcast, or as they're referred to in this house, El Diablo.  It seems that as I previously commented, the actual company that provides cable has no real idea on how to manage it.  Yeah, I too thought this would work hand and hand as they're the guardian of all things cable but when it comes to say, turning said cable on or off it seems they never really read that part of the manual.  Lest to say, our 7am Saturday was not exactly what we're used too.  I've always just assumed Saturday's have a 7:00am just like every other day, it's rare that I've actually experienced it first-hand. 

From there, we got ready for a trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to meet Sara and her esteemed Joshua for a morning of learning.  Safe to say, we all realized that these museums cater to the young, it's flashing lights low to the ground, it's buttons large and immune to the most intense smashing and even the most dull facts blinking against the wall in full neon splendor.  I won't lie, we were somewhat put off that there weren't adult lines for such things as the radio controlled Dock You Space Ship game.  Try as we could, the children always managed to get to the buttons first.  The little monsters, their lessons at sharing fully forgotten.  Well, jokes on them that they actually learned something.  I bet that kept a good deal of them up after getting home, realizing in horror they actually remember that Ben Franklin helped institute the Postal Service as they were quickly pushing buttons marked with neon-colored stamps. 

As well, it marked my first time in a Planetarium since perhaps my younger years.  We learned all about Black Holes and  I tell you what, Liam Neeson could narrate the Home Shopping Network and I would sit, engrossed, with credit card in hand as if God himself had shown me the necessity of a new set of steak knives.  A very good time was had by all yet about the time we had all left Wahoo's Fish Taco's I started feeling quite ill. 

I'm known to get migraines from the most random triggers, perhaps now I can add Steak and Rice to that list.  I'm not sure really.  All I know was that my head hurt from about 2pm until we went to bed and it kept up, getting even worse as the night wore on.  Regrettably, due to it, I didn't feel up to our second plan of the day, which was heading out to hang with some of my new co-workers at a local Bar.  As well, it kept me from my daily workout theme, making me feel quite lazy for the rest of Saturday Night.  And as well, it marked my first day loading up a game, I decided to enjoy a bit of simulated flying.  Had a good time of it actually and felt like it was earned instead of expected.  Not too shabby.

However, today I worked out almost an hour and fifteen minutes to make up for it and I can say I feel completely exhausted.  I do think though I'm coming down with something though, both Nicole and I feel under the weather for sure.  Hoping it clears up by the morning.

Activities

Worked out for an hour or so this weekend, making my arms feel even more like jello.  Learning the hard way that this 30-days in a row thing is making it hard since getting to the gym, every part of me hurts in some fashion which forces me to switch up what I do each day.  However, I'm 100% positive that by May 30th, I'll be making my t-shirts explode by merely stretching as my muscles will be that deadly by then.

Set down tonight to draw up some character ideas based on my new concept for my comic and came up with a rough drawing of this guy.  He's a little more dirty sketched than most as I didn't really erase the guidelines as much this one so keep that in mind.  Trying to get him to look "strong" which I've learned is more than just making exaggerated muscles.  His jaw and head are actually cut with sharp angles to represent power, or so I'm told by my guides.

Crazy how even taking a day or two off from drawing makes it slower to start.  Proves to me that I need to make it a daily thing so I'm not constantly starting 2 steps back every time I grab my drawing gear. 

Quick Facts

• Weight: 249
• Diet: Cereal, Steak and Rice bowl, 1 mountain dew, OJ, 1 glass of water, grilled cheese, breakfast burrito, 4 cinnamon rolls (ack), cookie, coffee, 3 glasses of water, chicken-ranch footlong sub.
• I need to drink more water definitely and eat less cinnamon rolls.
  

Yeah, so reaching above my head is now a feat of incredible concentration.  Doing so makes me feel as though I've harnessed super-powers or something equally impressive.  Honestly, all this working out is now hindering my hygiene, if not my ability to participate in the wave.

Went and saw Spiderman 3 today and honestly, I liked it.  Now, I didn't love it as I did with the first two but come on, it's the third in a series.  How many of those have ever been great?  Honestly, the difference between like and love was mostly due to what seemed a somewhat scattered plot really.  Don't get me wrong, the plot was there but it just didn't feel realistic.  Granted, realistic in a ok, I can buy there's a kid with super-powers garnered from a radioactive spider-bite, a guy made of sand, a gooey alien and a guy riding a hover-snowboard but do they really expect me to buy everything?  Won't spoil anything but this iteration had a certain level of broken-immersion that really hampered the movie.  Several times did I find myself ripped from the story by some awkwardly placed cameo or scene that didn't fit at all.  It's natural though, after your movie has garnered record-breaking box-offices twice in a row, I'm sure there's a fair amount of "I could film a brick wall for 2 hours and still make a boat-load of cash as long as it said Spiderman in the title" going on in the background.  I will say, it's worth seeing only to see some of the incredible fight scenes but as far as the story and character growth that ruled the first two, it's just not there this time.

Activities

• I went and worked out for 40 minutes, working on arms primarily. Tell you what, it's getting easier as I found myself worried I was waiting too long to go the gym.  That's something that doesn't happen to me.  After a good talk to my bud Bill about routines, I got myself a little more rigid as far as doing something planned when I get to the gym across the street.  While my arms hurt and I can barely type without feeling tired, there's a good feeling as well there making me feel like I'm getting healthier by the day.  I can totally see how people get addicted to this whole exercise thing.
• As well, 34 days without touching a game.  How about that?
• I spent some time reading up on how to convert drawings to digital through Photoshop reading some tricks/tips from Penny-Arcade and a few other comics I like reading.   Lot of interesting ideas there as far laying out your strips before scanning them in.  As well, making clip art yourself to reuse in comics so that it's more of using parts for certain scenes than having to redraw each scene.  Lot of interesting stuff.
  

Quick Facts

• Weight: 250 (dammit, this better be muscle I'm gaining)
• Diet: Cherry Turnover, Popcorn, Cherry Coke, cereal, milk, 3 glasses water, 1 glass Apple Juice.
• Wow, I really didn't eat anything good today.  I barely ate at all.
  

So, yeah, thought about it and having multiple day counts in a title is somewhat...lame.  I'm still working on my comic from last month, just need to scan some things in again to prove it.  Until then (tomorrow) you'll just have to take my word on it. 

As far as my workout goal, I've met it 3 days in a row.  That's something I haven't done since college and even then, that was something that was incredibly far and few between.  3 consecutive days of working out?  That should mean that tomorrow, my body will literally fall apart from exhaustion and I'll be forced to ride my Rascal to work.  Yeah, its a HEMI.

Little have I thought about the fact that this working out routine endangers my modus travelus so to speak.  My not having my Jeep anymore (moment of silence)...

...means that I'm dependent on my ability to move my legs to go to and from work.  Knowing full well that I'm on the verge of my 3 days of running / working out catching up with me, due to my possible limping and cries of pain that could possibly accompany my walk to work tomorrow, I may have people throw change at me from their car-window in hopes I'll use it for something other than alcohol. 

Aside from that though, I really do feel great.  It's been a long time since I've sweat this much in a 3-day period from something other than temperature.   Add with it, I've still not touched a video game (making this officially day 33 of that), and that I had a large amount of ideas that I wrote down in my headpad on my morning walk to work today regarding my comic, I thought this day was just too good to be true.  Then, out of the blue, my wonderful bosses gave me a gift-card simply because they wanted to let me know I was doing a great job.  Yeah, I'll let that sink in for a little bit Corporate America as the thought of a boss, let alone two presenting their employee with a token of appreciation without guilt or threat of lawsuit is something I know is unheard of.  Yet, it happened to me today.  I swear to Hasslehoff, I'm a grown man with a fine standard of not getting emotional but it's insane how a $20 gift card and a note saying thanks for the hard work can make even a six-foot-eight guy like myself get a little verklempt. 

I tell you what, I'm somewhat feeling like things are getting increasingly better and aside from getting a new job, which has helped a lot, but even more-so, I would like to believe my current attitude about life in general has had a big part in that.  I'm no hippie mind you, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'd say that a good amount of luck and good fortune is a byproduct of how you perceive the world and yourself.  Won't get all Dr. Phil here just yet though.

All in all, feel like if I can keep this working out thing going, that by the end of May, I might be able to finally feel good about my physical-self which standing in front of my mirror the last few years, has been hard to do.  Not that I'm yelling at myself while I cut all my hair off or anything hollywood like that but I've definitely been upset some mornings when I get a glimpse of my washboard stomach in the mirror.  Add in I've got one hell of a lady, that I'm getting really far on my drawing and having a comic and having a job I really feel accomplished at means I'm on track to getting myself together once more and back on track. 

Now, if only my father could find a job and I wasn't constantly worried about his and my mother's well being as they hit their ninth-month of having no income at all,  I think things right now would be pretty damned perfect.  I have to believe that something will come up for them because I'd rather not think of what would happen if something doesn't.  Anyway, way-off topic there but sometimes it's just nice to put it down on paper and out of my head.

Activities

Got home and went to the gym at our apartment.  Ended up working really hard on my chest/shoulders/arms.  After that Nicole and Koda had just come back from their run I ran with them back the two blocks to our apartment.  Oddly enough, being around everyone in the gym makes me realize that I've somewhat lost my idea of proper lifting techniques.  Makes me think I need to call up some of my more in-shape buds and ask them for some ideas.  While I'm not trying to life a bench press with my ankles or anything like that, I do think I could be doing things more efficiently.  I was happy that I got about 16 lifts from the bench press today.  Not at all the weight I'd like to have hanging from the bar mind, especially when I look big which is something I can't help but be mindful off as I do my weights as guys next to me half my height lift small SUV's over their heads like it's as pillow.  I could go into my theories of why height plays a large part in being able to lift weights but I'm pretty sure that might get into the excuses area and I'd like to avoid that for now.

Quick Facts

• Weight: 248
  
• Diet: Bagel, French Dip and french fries, 5 glasses of water, grilled cheese, 1 cheese cracker, 2 glasses of OJ, 2 glasses of Mountain Dew.