11.25.02 Ho-kay! If you're bothering to read this, then you've probably already noticed that my site is in the midst of a make-over. In the hopes of ever dragging anyone to come and look at my website, besides my dear family and friends who are endlessly supportive, I've decided to try and make it appear a little more flashy. So you'll have to bear with me if links don't work or pages have extremely odd layouts for a day or two. I don't know Java Script, I don't have Flash, and I don't have Dreamweaver. So I'm painfully making do for the moment with HTML. Besides that . . . has anyone noticed the long-awaited online comic is up and running??!! (Ignore the fact that I've emailed all of you to tell you to come and look at it) Yes, my dream has finally come true. . . . having a comic that people might perchance read without being forced to by me . . . . Okay, so that hasn't happened yet since I told you all to look at it--but still! Someday soon some lonely web-surfer will happen upon it. And from then on I could die happy. SO! It will be updated regularly, I'm not sure as yet how regularly, but definitely more than once a week. For the moment, though, my progress has slammed head-on into a brick wall. This can be explained by the extremely awful, orthopedic-brown colored brace strapped to my right hand. At the ripe age of 23 I fear I'm getting the beginning symptoms of carpal tunnel, or tendonitis, what have you. And it freaks the bloody heck out of me. For the moment I will continue to wear this stunning contraption and hope it helps/cures me. In the meantime, I will manage to update the comic, and if you happen to see me with a big tan thing on my arm DON'T LAUGH.

11.3.02 Good googly-moogly it's been a while. I fancy that I've been pretty busy. I had a birthday (the big 23), I finally got to visit my boyf in Ohio, I've been working M-F, 9 to 5 at me new jobby-job, and I FINALLY GOT MY COMIC SENT OUT!!! This is a huge deal. How long have I been promising this? The 14-page short story comic I've been werkin on for months is finally being whisked away to comics publishers in the hopes of getting picked up. If this works, I'll complete a few short story type comics for print, while working on a continuous online comic that can be viewed for free. These are my hopes and aspirations, anyway. So yippee, step one is complete! If you haven't already noticed, there are a few pages to view from this new comic, "Degree of Separation", here. And if all goes well, sometime in the distant future it will be out in circulation, sitting at the bottom of a large pile of unread comics, in a dusty corner of some distant comic store out in the middle of nowhere. That would make me endlessly happy! And as soon as I get my next act together and quit getting massive headaches from staring at the computer screen, the timid beginnings of my online comic will start to show up here. Very exciting! Stay tuned!!

9.12.02 Call for celebration! Break out the champagne! Or in my case, the girly wine!! Monica's got herself a job, a real job, folks!! I know, I can hardly believe it myself. Health insurance? 401K? Life insurance?? I didn't dare to dream these things would ever be possible for me. It is kind of a drag, working 9 to 5 in a place quite a drive away from my apartment, but totally worth it. I feel such a sense of accomplishment! Now I belong in the real world! I can go to happy hour and gripe about my day and tell jokes around the water cooler and stuff. I'm part of the economy! And maybe, just maybe someday soon I'll be able to afford to live on my own! Wow, the possibilities are endless for me now.

8.22.02 Things are winding down. Two out of the three people leaving this fall are gone. Hmpf. That's all well and good -- we didn't want them here anyway! (I'm talking to you, Matt, Dan, Stacey) Nah, only joking. All these people are heading off for a fall semester of discovery and adventure! And the rest of us are stuck here. But we'll be fine. It's time for self-improvement of our own home-grown variety. We don't have to ship off to exciting lands and alienate ourselves from our friends just to grow. (This is meant to be encouraging -- not depressing) We can have adventure and excitement and fun too! Yeah, that's right. Mark my words. Fun will still be had. In the meantime, I have sadly joined the ranks of the millions of people out there anxiously awaiting the arrival of Harry Potter Book Five -- ugh, hopelessly dorky, I know. But they're so good! I promise! Slowly I will admit all of you to the Harry Potter Appreciation Club. I've already got Lauren and my dad -- two rather tough cookies to persuade, normally -- so watch your backs! (Actually, come to think of it, my dad persuaded me to read them -- hmmm rather tricky of him) The time has come for once to embrace popular culture!!

8.12.02 Just got back from another vacation . . . and boy was this one an adventure! Living in semi-squalor with a bunch of scary high school-age boys, being careful not to set bare feet on the nasty dirty floor, trying to sleep squashed on the top bunkbed without plunging to my death, ah the memories. Actually, it turned out not to be so bad. My boyfriend's sister put up with me marvelously well considering as soon as I got there I wanted to high-tail it back home. And we got to lay on a beautiful beach (for those of you who don't know this already -- everything compared to Ocean City is beautiful), visit some bars, take in a few flicks, look at some horrible souvenirs, and of course go to the Dixie Stampede. Whoever would have thought to mix eating dinner with watching horses do tricks? It's a magical combination, I tell ya. So now that I survived vacation, all my peeps are leaving come fall, and I begin my job search anew. And keep up with the comic-ing. For those of you good souls wondering, "Where in the blasted hell is that online comic, Monica? C'mon, you're unemployed, what on earth are you doing with your time???" Well, if you must know, I'm finishing off the print comic and working out story with the online comic. I swear, I swear, I'm in constant production. (But I do have to admit the Harry Potter books have been a huge distraction for me -- bow to my dorkness!) So keep checking in. Eventually it'll be worth your time.