My new tattoo. That makes 4.

A swallow on my right side of my neck (sorry the pictures kind of suck – taken with my phone camera). To sailors, a swallow tattoo represented succesfully sailing a certain amount of miles. They also symbolize loyalty and fidelity – swallows choose a mate for life, and will only nest with that bird and no other. Also they carry a message of hope or can be interpreted as a symbol of freedom.

I want to come back to NYC soon and get the other one placed on the left side of my neck.

I’m back from New York City and my wild and adventurous week away from the left coast. I’m trying to get back into the groove of things, but I’m having a hard time focusing for reasons that are purely my own.

I literally got off the plane and met one of the organizers of Buzzcock NYC, Roger, and we were whisked off by taxi to the Bowery Poetry Club to throw down and share tales of horror and humor about being fired for the WYSIWYG Talent Show. It was great fun to see all the friendly faces there and grin and gasp over some of the readings! Thanks for asking me to take part in this. There were so many friendly faces in the crowd and up on stage.

After this, my host and now good friend, Roger put me up for the night after a quick round of meet-n-greet all about NYC. In the morning, I walked over to Dish and had a mediocre meal with Jake the Barber. The food sucked but the company was out of this world.

Buzzcock was awesome. The staff at the Eagle are friendly, top-notch, and pour a mean drink. I started out with a “shot” of Tequila and a fine buzz while BJ kicked out ska, punk, and other fun favorites for the growing crowd all while it swelled to about 140 people! What a great time! I don’t think I paid for one beer.

Old friends, new ones, make out sessions, boots polished, good music, drew a drunken image on the door to the smoking area, and I even helped a handsome barber give a certain guy a head trip he won’t forget.

Thankfully, I was in good hands and got home to a warm soft bed with a gorgeous, funny man with the best smile, unearthly eyes, and so down-to-earth that it’s scary. I won’t name names as I don’t want to embarrass anyone, but I get goofy when I think about him. He’s intense and I have a deep connection that I don’t think I’ve ever felt. I got to see New York City in a way I never expected. Thanks, buddy. You are truly something special.

I ate, drank, and lived like a rockstar, keeping wonderful company the entire time.

Do me a big favor, if you want something to do once a month that is different, check out Buzzcock and keep this successful party going strong. I’m not askin’. I’m tellin’!

Good karma must be a real thing, because I did my deed this past week babysitting an ill cat and nursing him back to health and getting him into a home that is loving and caring. I’m going to miss Mr. Moon (yes, the vet told me that she was a he – oops! you’d think I’d know), brushing up against my face at night fresh from the bath I gave him. Yes folks, I went all out for this poor thing.

Great news!! The story, “Welcome Back Fuck” written by Dale Lazarov and illustrated by me many months ago has found a home! Best Gay Erotica of 2007! Our contribution is an 8 page sex romp. A skinhead greets his sexy ska band bassist boyfriend at the airport, who is just back from his long reunion tour. Finally, they are back into each others arms… and pants. Fun, if you like that kind of stuff!

The writer, Dale Lazarov, is best known as the writer/editor of STICKY (Bruno Gmunder Verlag), an album of slice-of-life gay erotic comics produced in collaboration with illustrator Steve MacIsaac. He’s currently working on three new volumes of gay erotic comics with illustrators Bastian Jonsson, Theo Bain and Amy Colburn. He lives in Chicago.

Some points of coolness about being in this edition of Best Gay Erotica 2007:

1. I’m the first comic book artist to ever be featured in the book.
2. They preferred “Welcome Back Fuck” to another story and the one I collaborated on with Dale got to stay within the pages.
3. I’ll be paid.

The collection of work will be out soon, available at all your local booksellers and Amazon.com.

I’m not a cat person. And I’m finding that I’m becoming less of a people person the more that time drags on.

I’ve already had a cat spayed and it has adopted me as it’s part-time daddy. I’ve installed a cat door and possum proofed it, I feed her when ever she wants, pet her and I buy her toys. I’m a good person.

Last night, I came home from dinner, I had a visitor. A long haired (or I should say, used to be) Persian purebred cat was curled up in a ball next to a broom I had on my front doorstep. It made no effort to run away but came toward me. It’s body is malnourished and all but it’s head and paws have been made patchy from mites in it’s weeks in the wild. I fed it food, much to my adopted cat’s chagrin and to the neighborhood feral and blind Siamese cat’s (that I feed) displeasure.

I made a 1 o’clock run to MAO Mart and picked up a large dog cage and assembled it in my garage. I already had a cat carrier to which the young Persian cat crawled into, so trapping her wasn’t a problem. I placed her in the large cage to keep her safe and placed an add on Craigslist and a Persian Rescue Yahoo group. The Humane Society is just not an option. She’s used the litter box, drank water and is eating food, but is so malnourished I can see her spine.

The point is, this was somebody’s house cat. It enrages me that somebody would spend $1500 on this breed and dump it on the street. The thought crossed my mind that it could be lost, which I hope that this is the case and somebody out there is crying their eyes out like I was doing last night when it tried to meow and couldn’t or every time it wanted a little affection and I wouldn’t touch it for fear of giving my healthy indoor/outdoor cat a kitty disease.

I’m beside myself with anger and disappointment. People disgust me. Events like this change a person. If you want to feel just a tiny bit of what I feel right now, pop onto Craiglist and look under the lost and found. There you’ll find a plethora of “pet” people who have “loving” animals but are moving and just can’t take care of them after having them for a long time. Well, how inconvenient for you. I want to go through the entire list and send nasty emails telling them what complete assholes they are. A pet is for life and if you can’t care for one, don’t get one.

Nothing short of the electric chair for people like this would be too nice.