Don't worry, I haven't disappeared again. Sunday's update will be a bit late because we went to a fur meet here in Boulder and ended up staying about three hours later than we usually do. So I'm a little behind; comic will be up at some point today but I don't really know when exactly.

Another reason I'm a little distracted is because my roommates brought home a strange-looking little ball of fuzz. I've named him Eddie.

I really really want to apologize to everyone. Ever since that horrible job at the grocery store, my will to do anything has pretty much been drained from my body. I hate to say it, I really do, but the thought of completing a single comic - even one that's been sketched and awaiting coloring - just doesn't sound fun right now. I don't want to say that I'm stopping the comic entirely (that would be truly tragic) but I honestly don't know when the drive to keep doing it will come back. Epic fail on my part, especially since we just came back from a month-long hiatus, and I'm sorry. Every now and again I tend to suffer from a pretty hard-hitting depression, and my job situation seems to have triggered it once again. It won't last forever, but it could be a while.

And not that I really deserve it, but voting on the Ursa Major Awards closes on the 20th - that's three days from now. I know that some of you like to wait until the last minute, well ... this is it! This is the last minute! Vote for whomever you feel deserves it the most, there's tons of talented folks in the running. What am I doing among them?

So you've hopefully noticed the glaring lack of updates this last week. Here's why:

I started a stupid stinky job that I hate with every bone in my body, every hair on my head, and every one of those little eye-crumbs that you always wake up with. I'm working at a local 24-hour grocery store, on the night crew, stocking shelves and getting yelled at for not inexplicably coming into the field with eleven years of experience behind me and an encyclopedic knowledge of every single product the store sells and which aisle within which it can be found. Oh, and on Thursday night I ran over my left big toe with a 150-lb pallet jack.

Re-read the highlighted part again.

This job not only leaves me exhausted physically, but emotionally as well. I get home any time between 6:45 and 9:00 am, you see, because nobody can leave until the entire shift is done, schedule be damned. Then I have to be in bed by 12:00 noon in order to wake up again at 8:00 pm. This means I miss everything that happens during the day, and away from everything that happens at night. I may be a nocturnal person, but I hate being required to be somewhere during that time.

Re-read the highlighted part again.

So basically, this leaves me with little motivation to do anything at all when I get home, other than just vegetate in front of the computer screen and the TV. Then I wonder where the day has gone when I look and see that it's bedtime already.

Fear not, for today I start looking for something better. Something that I can enjoy. Something that actually allows me to think creatively and offer my skills. Oh wait, I've been searching for that job for the last four months. It doesn't exist. It's ... Job-ri La.