A Potpourri of Thoughts

I don’t have any one thing to talk about at length for today’s blog post, so here instead are a few short musings and reflections.

My son gets a lot of cavities, despite our having him regularly brush twice a day. His dentist told us we need to start flossing more reliably with him, and so we have. My wife is usually the one who takes care of toothbrushing duties, but she was away this past weekend. So it fell onto me. It went badly. He shrieked in my face and freaked out to the point of losing control of himself. When it finally came to bedtime, it was the first time he didn’t answer my “I love you” with one of his own. That messed me up for the rest of my night.

My son is getting better at games and it’s a thrill to see. He got a mancala game for Christmas, and I taught him how to play it. I used to beat him as regularly as I beat him at most games, but these past few days I’ve seen him begin to develop strategies and think ahead. This past weekend he even had a win streak, and as of this writing our last games ended in draws. I’ve never felt so happy to lose.

I’m getting ready to flood my local post office with book order fulfillments from my recent Kickstarter campaign to reprint Volume 2 of the Oracle for Hire years. I’ve become something of a local legend with them. The last time I did a Kickstarter fulfillment the regional manager contacted the post office wanting to know what they did to suddenly attract so many customers, and their answer was, “No, this is all from one guy!”

I’ve come to realize how few adults I actually get to speak to on any given day, besides my wife. She was away this past weekend, and so that was really brought into focus. Working from home as an artist certainly has its share of benefits, but perhaps I need to step away from my drawing desk a little more than I do.

A new album I’ve been seriously digging lately is Angus McSix and The Sword of Power. Fronted by the former singer for Gloryhammer, this album is a power metal powerhouse. His voice is grand and unique, and the songs are the perfect blend of silly and epic. It’s metal that revels in the ridiculous nature of itself and makes zero apologies for it. Highly recommended from yours truly.

And that’s my random collection of thoughts and reflections!