Simply D.L.

the road narrows

Hm, so I recall the past, past entry about the Man vs. [virtually] no Internet. Being April, I have been following one rule: no computer/internet past midnight.

Of course, there were some days I had been up to 12:05am, but other than that, it has been a long time since i have used the computer past 1am. It is when I wake up from sleep I am able to go on the computer again. In short, I have not been using the computer between 12:07am and 7am. Quite an accomplishment and a good place to start.

I realized I’m not much of a blogger, but I finally have a webcomic up and running.

the road narrows is now finally up! I have been thinking about this idea for a year, and one Saturday night, I decided to go out of my way and purchase a domain and web hosting.

Yes, I was fiddling with it today and I caused a database error. So I had to revert to a backup, and only loss are three thoughtful blurbs on the comics and some other additions. So it updates Mon, Wed, and Fri.

Although it was disappointing that it had happened, it was a reminder that I need to be backing up my files a lot more often.

Sugar High/Crash Aftermath

I think I’ll skip the typical introduction about my belatedness and the sense of determination to get this blog on a regular update basis.

Coming into the Fall quarter, I found myself in a sugar crash. The enthusiasm I had during last Spring quarter to get a webcomic up and running (as well with this blog with updates), produce minicomics monthly, and pursue other artistic, noble ambitions either halted or played a mean game of hide-and-go seek with me.

So I found myself stuck in this procrastination purgatory. And I hope by spontaneously restarting (for the [fill in the blank]th times), maybe it might get me posting something that does not begin with “I apologize for not updating this blog for the past month/decade/century.”

I am also restarting my comic blog, Panel Diet, and with it, signed up a twitter account for it. Although I have disliked twitter before, I found out it’s useful to twitter/post up links to comics, in print or on the net.

And the comics I have been drawing? I’ll get onto that, soon.

A Farewell to Borders’ Wonderful Coupons

Pepsi vs. Coke Cola for the masses.

Barnes and Nobles vs. Borders for the bookworms. For me, I prefer Borders.

Barnes and Nobles is nice, but it tries too hard to look fancy. Somehow, the dark shade of green comes off as pretentious. I guess the color tries to match the sophisticated theme of classic literature. The store makes you feel either smart or unlearned.

To have a B&N membership, you have to pay a yearly fee of twenty-five dollars so you’ll be able to save 40% off any B&N bestselling hardcover book, 20% on any hardcover book and 10% off everything else.

But I find this irrational because you have to pay $25 and then scramble throughout the year to buy books and save at least $25.01 to make “most” of that membership. Better to buy books you want to read and highlight and borrow the rest from a public library.

Just like any bookstore, I still enjoy visiting Barnes and Nobles and buying a book there now and then. It’s just I don’t feel like spending money on a yearly membership to buy books in order to save.

On the other hand, membership at Borders is free. The emails they send, or rather used to send, had these amazing coupons. There would be an email with a 30% off coupon, which is valid on any regular-priced item, every two or three weeks for the past two years I have been a member. I would print them out and present it to the cashier.

But then, every two to four months, there would be a 40% off coupon that can be used on any regular-priced item. To see the subject title “40% off coupon” was a delight to see.

The coupon that Borders send on your birthday does not make sense to me. Being your special day, it should be a pretty good coupon. So what is the percentage you can save on any one purchase?

25% off.

So a company would mass-email a 40% off coupon to all of its members on the typical Borders email, but on their birthdays, send them a 25% off coupon. Much as I found the logic a bit absurd, I appreciate the few 40% off coupons I was able to use.

Because of the economic slump we’re going through, I notice a change in the coupons. I recently purchased a book and when I looked a sheet of paper that followed the receipt, it was a “answer the survey and get 15% off” coupon. Hmm, 15% off.

The emails that Borders send usually have the news on the latest savings on bestselling and upcoming books and sometimes a conditional coupon (e.g. buy one book and get the second book 50% off)

Now I miss those 30% off coupons.

Good Stuff and Such

Once again, the staff of Simply D.L. would like to apologize what is known as a blog-lag, an irregular, huge gap of weeks between updates. The senior editor of Simply D.L. comments that he hopes the blog will begin updating on a weekly basis. And he denies to respond to any comments questioning whether he has multiple-personality disorder as his consistent reference to the staff members of Simply D.L. when it is only run by one person.

So with that aside, I have been reading and sketching, but somehow at the same time, lazy. Or maybe reading and sketching may have been considered leisure activities and somehow modified leisure to lazy.

I have been reading Schultz and Peanuts, which is a great book about Charlie Schulz. I remember I told my brother about this book and he replied, “isn’t his life already in the comic strips?” Yes, that’s true, but to learn about Schulz’s childhood and his years in high school builds on one’s understanding in the comic strips and appreciation on how he penned his life into the lives of his characters. Of course, I’m only on page 123 and the book is 566 pages. Intimidating the size may sound, David Michaelis crafts it so well that it is a smooth yet vivid read.

I don’t want to make much publicity about it, but I’ll just mention it. I decided to revamp Table for One for a smoother, neater style using Inkscape. It updates Tuesday and Thursdays (sometimes on Tues and Thurs nights, PST)

Table for One (new)

Beginning of Summer 09

Sure, no more stressful finals to worry about. Then again, the abundance of school-free days has lead me to the delight of video games and Internet surfing. Not that these things are bad, it’s just I was hoping to have a decent discipline of time-management. But having slept for 11 hours the previous night doesn’t sound encouraging one bit.

One thing I’m proud of is checking out a handful of graphic novels, comics, and books. Most of the books are from the publisher, First Second. Some of what I had borrowed are Vampire Love, Gus and His Gang, The Professor’s Daughter, and The Eternal Smile.

I had finished reading The Eternal Smile by Derek Kirk Kim and Gene Yang and it was enjoyable. When reading it for the second time, I caught the deeper meaning of each story and other visual details I didn’t see the first time. Three stories with three different styles yet somehow related in theme.

I hope to be updating once a week so I won’t be as idle on the blog. I’ll post a random drawing as a visual insentive like the one below:

I think I need braces

Procrastinated as charged

[EDITED: 6/7/09- I have put up the minicomic on deviantart.com for now so you can have access to it. The links to the pages are at the bottom of this entry]

Once again, my blog does its faithful job–collecting dust that consists of spam and ads. And I apologize for that.

I love the concept of the blog. A budding writer can just type out his thoughts and have it published in a click. Yes, there is no editor to reject it, but then again, a reader might wish there is an editor intervening.I guess I always have this fear when writing a blog entry; I get scared of the grammar errors that are invisible to me while visible to everyone else. Verb tenses can get muddled to the point I might accidentally send you back in time or into the future.

Anyways, an update on my minicomic Simply D.L. I managed to get the second issue finished, which will be priced for a shiny quarter (only local distribution for now). I will make it my goal this weekend to upload the “freebie first issue” so you can check it out online.

I am reading On-Time and On-Target Manager by Ken Blanchard and Steve Gottry to help me to unprocrastinate myself. The book is helpful by using a parable to teach me some insights though it can get a bit corny sometimes.

SDL Cover

SDL #1 Part 1

SDL #1 Part 2

SDL #1 Part 3

SDL #1 Backcover

World Baseball Cup Live and Lived

Although I write fluently and with a flow, penning sentences and paragraphs in emails (I love to read and send emails) and virtual word documents, and in hardbound journals, I always find myself freezing in fear before writing a blog entry that usually ends up as a draft that needs to undergo inspection rigorous as airport security for grammar mistakes and rotten sentences that do not belong at all. Do bloggers actually take the time to examine each verb tense and clause to make sure they’re grammar-error-free?

I recently in the month of March gone through this artist’s nirvana. I was focused on working on my graphic skills, but my love for writing was revived and can be seen apparently by the very fact I’m updating this blog! Anyways, about a fabulous event that happened recently.

I had the privilege the past Monday as a Korean-American in Southern California to attend the World Baseball Cup Finals with Korea vs. Japan.

It was held at Dodger’s Stadium and only a fifty minute drive from my house (add a little more to include traffic). My dad got two tickets for us, $50 each. It was not the last section, but second to last. Even though it was high, it was perfect to see all the action and I had a pair of binoculars with me. It pays to wear cargo pants to stuff all my items in though it brought the attention of an attendant at the front where they were checking bags and pockets for suspicious items.

I would have to confess that this is the most exciting baseball game I ever watch until the next match involving team Korea. My dad and I were seated with a multitude of Koreans with blue inflatable clappers. Every seven minutes or so, someone would signal the cue by blowing a whistle in a rhythmic tune and we would chant “tae-han-mi-guk,” Republic of Korea. I also got to see them do a double-play and one of their players hit a home run. And to see Korea tie up with Japan at the bottom 9th inning…that was spectacular. But as people know it, Japan scored two runs and so the game ended 5-3 and Korea lost.

The Koreans, along with my dad and I were bummed out at the score and the sight of the team Japan group hugging after the Korean batter was struck out. If one is familiar with Korean history, he would know that Korea does not really like Japan because from 1910 to 1945, Japan annexed the “hermit kingdom” as its own. So there’s this hostile colonized-against-colonizer relationship going on. It was as if symbolically Japan proved that they were still in power.

Much as competitive and entertaining sports are, I don’t think they are the best way to showcase a country’s greatness. It’s rather depressing, and yes, very heretical for me to write this about sports and I know how you sport fans out there are crazy about defending your favorite sport teams. Please let me explain.

When it comes to using sports to prove a country’s greatness would boil down to two options: win or lose. Apparently one is really a good thing and the other is really bad.

If a country wins at a sports championship, that’s awesome (and yea, I really wish team Korean won the WBC). It fortifies one’s pride for his country. It also gives it a good image and not to mention bragging rights…

If a country loses, then it just makes everybody associated with that country feel miserable and defeated and impotent.

Sure, it stings that team Korea lost, but I’m still proud of my identity as a Korean. I’m proud how the team managed to keep up in the game and actually made it to the finals! Geez, are we too spoiled and think that gold medal is only way to go than a silver or a bronze or even a blue ribbon for participation?

I think the best way for Korea to showcase its uniqueness is to export its culture such as books and movies to other countries, translated and subtitled of course. A foreigner’s understanding and appreciation about another culture is far greater than rubbing in the arrogant fact that it won a certain game that everybody except sport enthusiasts forget.