As one might guess from the long absence of any online presence, it's been Life In Hell around here. Back troubles, illness, hospital time, burning through ... (let's see...Bob...Mario...R.J....Ray...Jim...Jim...Jim...) ...seven! roommates, crunched deadlines, and the usual assortment of RT madness, among other things.

It's odd how for a fair bit of the last decade I've existed more in cyberspace than in meatspace. Barely existed on paper in the real world, but maintained a variety of websites ranging from Web Series to Hong Kong & Comic Book Movie Guides to Memorial Sites to 3D Modeling Resources - even an Art Project that existed in pieces on 33 servers around the world.

But the past couple years, I've barely existed in either of the two, spending far more time in a universe less shared.

I begin to feel as though my existence is mere shadow and whisper - with little beyond my work on La Muse to affirm my presence at all to the outside world.

Perhaps that's changing. I make no definitive claims at this stage, but I do believe it to be the case. Most definitely there are more tangible roots in the "real" world these days - little basic things like keeping a bank account again. (Yes, it IS possible to exist without one, despite what one might think to the contrary)

There are projects in the works that I expect to see the light of day soon. Will expectations form tangible results? We'll all have to wait and see together.

Illness crippled this years 24 Hour Comic Challenge, but didn't kill it. There was a locally hosted event this year, so I wasn't working in the void like last year, but I didn't have the energy reserved built back up to go 24 hours, especially not with deadlines looming at that point. Nonetheless, I did manage a 24 page comic - in 12 hours. A couple hours before the local 24HCD event began, I was hit by an inspiration that allowed me to zip through - a tale told primarily in hieroglyphics. While it doesn't hold up to last year's tale, I'm still pleased at being able to create it in half the alloted time. To make up for the speedy creation time, it took nearly seven weeks to get the damn thing posted online. But it is finally available through the 24 Hour Comic link in the site menu.

Besides the projects in the works, I intend to be back posting to the blog on a much more regular basis again. Besides talking about movies and books and such, I'll be going back to commenting on politics and related matters that I've avoided since the last major revamp of The Third Road. Perhaps returning to political cartooning as well. Some will recall my old T.W.A.T.* The MisAdventure's Of Bush And Dick strips from the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. I'm tempted to resume them with the current push to an even more disastrous war with Iran, but with Colon & John gone from the mix, I doubt that format will return.

In the meantime, let me leave you with the words of one of the most brilliant minds of the last century:

"A foolish faith in authority is worst enemy of Truth" - Albert Einstein