Some May flowers

As the famous saying goes, "April showers bring May flowers". Not completely true this time round.
The weather this month has been pretty much bi-polar - some beautiful warm days, but also some nasty wet days. It never stays settled for long in this country.
The same could also be said for my mood, pretty much - and the main reason for that is because of my fast-approaching US trip. I'm excited about it, but also anxious at the same time, because of worrying about money and whether or not I'll get any further than US customs. I really have to learn to stop letting stuff like this overwhelm me, because when I do I just shut myself off, lash out at people and say or do stupid things, and all it does is make the situation worse. I can't help how I feel though.
No need to say anything about the jobsearch front - same old story there. On a better note though, me and Nicole have now been in a relationship for 8 months, can't quite believe it's been that long already, they've just flown by, much like this whole year has so far. Needless to say, I really want the 6 weeks I'm in the US to drag.
Staying on the subject of the US trip (sorry I keep going on about it), my brother's girlfriend will also be going over to the US, but for a different reason - she'll be working at an AmeriCamp, looking after kids for three months. I wish her the best of luck with that, hopefully she'll enjoy it.

As always, I'll end this with some artwork, and a new character for you to check out:

Meet Dunston the dinosaur.

Spring at last

Well, it took a while to get here, but Spring has finally arrived, the weather's gotten that little bit warmer, and it's generally feeling a lot less Winter-like. Even the annoying April showers are a welcome relief compared to the endless deluge of snow in February and March.

Things on the jobsearch front aren't warmer though, in fact they're the same as always. I'll do what I keep doing though, and keep looking.
I can't seem to go through a month without some sort of problem with the house - this time some heavy winds decided it would be fun to try and rip the faring off the top of my bay window, half of it came undone - however as I type this it's being fixed.
On a much more sombre note, I'm sure most people will have heard about the events that took place at the Boston Marathon. I just can't begin to fathom what could've driven two people to try and inflict death and destruction on others. It's events like this that really make me wonder what this world's coming to.

Onto a brighter note now. My fears about all things finance-wise beyond this month proved to be unfounded. I'll just say that some things didn't go up by as much as I thought they would. Of course, this time next year that might be a different story, but that's a bridge to cross when the time comes.
There was a very significant date for me this month, April 23, for two reasons - it was my lovely Nicole's 25th birthday, and it also marked 2 months until I fly back to the US for 6 weeks to see her. It's getting closer, and it's now more or less at the point where I can say it's weeks away rather than months. I just can't wait for it.

As always, to finish off, some artwork:

 My entry for FAC-AgentC's "Wacky Races Revisited", Bob & Flyer with their Dune Bug.

  

That's that for April. Hope you all had a good Easter.

  
 

The Great Spring Whiteout

Happy Easter to all you readers, whether you had an Easter egg hunt or not.

Indeed, March has been and gone, and normally winter would go with it, except this year it's had other ideas. While this year isn't the first time there's been cold temperatures and snow in March, it's still took most people by surprise, especially considering that this time last year there was some great weather. And all things considered, in my area we were relatively lucky compared to other areas of the country - I saw pictures of 10 foot high snow drifts on the news, scenes normally associated with December, January and February. It can't last though, here's hoping that April will see some warmer temperatures (and more than likely lots of rain).

I'm still on that "work programme" that I started back in October, however there's been a change - instead of it being a drop-in and check up appointment, it's now a group training session for 2 hours on a Wednesday afternoon, once a fortnight. I've had to go on worse and longer such courses in the past, so it's really the best case scenario as far as that goes. Just wish one or two of the others on that course would quit reminding everyone constantly how much everything sucks.

Had some internet issues as well, me and my brother's internet router decided to give up the ghost, so we had to wait about a week for a new one to come through the post. We were still able to get online though, thanks to our next-door neighbours letting us use their internet, many thanks to them for that, we owe them one.

On a lighter note, I decided to take the plunge and get myself an eBay account, along with making my first purchase on it, a model plane (for the plane fans, it's a KLM McDonnell-Douglas MD-11). Whether or not I'll ever sell anything on eBay remains to be seen, though I do have a few things I want to get rid of.

My first eBay buy, a model KLM MD-11 plane

Another purchase I'll have to make is a new camcorder - my current one's record button no longer works, thanks to me dropping it one too many times.

Last but not least, me and Nicole have now been together for 6 months, can't believe those months have gone by so quick, let alone the 10-11 years that we've actually known each other for. Still looking forward to seeing her again in June, it needs to get here already.

As always, I'll leave you with some artwork, this commission piece I did for a cool cartoon artist and a recent new online buddy, Doctormetadragon on deviantART - go take a look at his works, especially his "The Show Goes On" comic:

"If We Should Spend the Night Out" - characters © Wiley Bottcher (doctormetadragon.deviantart.com)

February 2013

For me, February means two things for me: cold winter weather, and the yuck-fest that is Valentine's Day, which I've made my feelings very clear about in the past - however this year's Valentine's was ever so slightly different due to the fact that I actually had a Valentine for the first time in 4 years, the lovely Nicky of course. We both sent each other a box full of slushy romantic stuff, as you do. The dinner date will have to wait though. :P

My feelings on Valentine's are still the same though - it's all commercialised. You have all year to show someone you love them, why does it have to be that one day?

Aside from the slushy stuff, I also did something I normally don't do this month, I took a trip to the cinema, only my third time in total - the first time was in summer 2006, when I went to see "Cars", followed by summer 2011 when I went to see "Cars 2". (See a pattern here?) I think it's canny obvious that the only kind of films I'm interested in seeing at the flicks are those of the animated sort.
On this occasion it was "Wreck-It Ralph" I saw, just didn't want to wait for it to come out on DVD, and I'm glad I didn't, because it was a blast. If you get the chance, please go see it, especially if you like your gaming. My brother also saw it, and being a gamer himself, he loved it.

And now for the bad news - I mentioned that as part of my US trip this summer I was going to try and get Comic Con passes for myself and Nicky. Mission failure I'm afraid - I was in the right place at the right time on the sale day, but it seems the Comic Con site couldn't cope with the amount of people logging in to get passes, and loads of people got locked out of the queue, myself included, so I was unable to get passes. There will be a resale of returned passes at some point, but I've decided not to bother taking part, which means me and Nicky will not be going to Comic Con this summer. There is a reason for this, though - may be going somewhere else instead.

And now, time to leave you with some artwork - and it's a slushy one.

 My Valentine's pic for this year - dedicated to Nicky.

January 2013

Well, here we are in 2013 - new year indeed, but so far it's been more or less business as usual, apart from the recent deluge of snow here in the UK - last winter was much milder compared to this one, that's for sure.
I want to apologise for last month's blog, I was in a low place when I wrote it, thinking too much about stuff, which is a bad habit of mine. I won't lie though, I'm still worried about stuff, but I've tried my best to not dwell on it - those hurdles I'll have to deal with once I get to them.
January, of course, is my birthday month - turned 27 on the 7th, and so far it feels about the same. Then again, I say that pretty much every birthday. Me and my brother (who also turned 27 the same day) celebrated with our annual "Birthday Bowling" match at the Metrocentre - neither of us won, our friend Sean came from nowhere and took the match right at the death.
Bought a bit of music as well - the albums "www.pitchshifter.com" by Pitchshifter, "Dysfunction" by Staind, "Finelines" by My Vitriol and the much-awaited new album by Biffy Clyro, "Opposites" - however if I had to pick a favourite out of those, it would be "Finelines".
Aside from my birthday, another big thing happened for me this month - I booked my flights for this summer's trip to the US. They cost me £565, but it could have ended up more expensive than that. It'll be worth it though - I'll be flying out on June 23, and coming back on August 5. The next 5 months need to just fly by in a flash.

As always, here's a bit of artwork to end proceedings: 

"Cereal Killers: Nectar Nuggets" - my entry for TopperHay's art jam on deviantART.

Year's end

So another year's gone. 

It's safe to say that 2012 has been memorable for me, with plenty of ups and plenty of downs - with this being the first full year of me and my brother living in our own place there were times this year where things got too much, especially with the whole arrears situation at the start of the year, and of course my continued failure to find a job. Can't forget what seemed to be an endless deluge of rain for a month or two, either.

There's been good times too, though - the numerous times me and Chris hit the quasar at South Shields with friends; me getting out for my long hikes up the Deerness Valley Way and enjoying the sun and the countryside; hitting the beach at Tynemouth in the summer, plus watching the aerial action at the Sunderland Airshow. Can't forget about this year being the year that the Olympics were held in this country too, even though I didn't watch much of it.
However, for me this year has had one clear highlight - two awesome weeks at the end of May when my long-time friend Nicole from Connecticut in the US flew over to visit, just like I'd visited her the previous year. The weather was beautiful for those 2 weeks, and we made the most of it, seeing the sights and most of all being together - it was the push that made me realise that I needed her in my life as more than a friend.

I have to mention the festive season too - went to Christmas Eve mass with my grandma as I always do every year, it was a nice service, and it just felt like for that whole hour or so we were there that the outside world just disappeared.
Christmas Day was good too - I only asked for one present, but of course I ended up getting far more, from family, friends and Nicole. I also sent out quite a few presents and cards to family and friends. Me and my brother also had a nice quiet dinner, chat and telly at our grandma's house too.
Boxing Day was also good, spent the day at our grandma's house again, only this time a few of the rest of the family were there, along with a buffet, some music and a very animated game of Bop It - all in all, it was a good Christmas.

However I'm not going to sugarcoat anything, not even at this time of year. It's always the same, the festive season gets you feeling all warm and fuzzy and upbeat, only for the new year to come along and break it at the neck without any warning. 
I can't say that I'm really feeling very positive about 2013 - I have no job, the chances of getting one seem to get worse every year, with all the cuts the government are making plus the price of everything going up in April I'm worried about how I'm going to be able to afford the flat etc, not to mention the fact that I'm still hoping to fly back over to the US in the summer, and that stuff like that could wreck it and/or any other future plans I might have.
And then there are other things - stuff that's going on in my family that just really get me down, stuff that I'm not going to discuss here.

All the same - wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I wish everyone all the best for the New Year.

Snow Sam

With it being winter, and the festive season just about out of the way, I think it's time I said a bit about the backstory behind one of my many cartoon creations - I'll cover the rest at some point, but right now, I'm going to concentrate on my walking, talking snowman character Snow Sam. (tagline - "Move over Frosty, there's a new snowman in town")

A couple of things inspired this character - the first was when I walked into a post office in Durham in winter 2005, and saw a little snowman toy for sale, at a reduced price. Couldn't resist, so I snapped it up.

 The snowman toy bought from the Post Office

As well as that, both the song and the character "Frosty the Snowman" had a hand in it as well - and while the sketch of the character was originally intended to just be a seasonal one-off, I found myself wanting to try out a comic strip with a walking, talking snowman, and it didn't take me long to give him a name - I chose "Snow Sam" because it sounded similar to "snowman".

  The very first picture of Snow Sam, from December 2005

Snow Sam was officially created on 15 December 2005, and his first comic was created on 16 December 2005. Keeping in mind Frosty the Snowman, I decided to make him a friendly and cheerful, yet sort of "anti-Frosty" character who likes to take a grounded yet humourous view of life as a snowman, and everyday things around him - he's never short of a witty remark or two.

Sam's not alone in his comics - in Snow Sam Comic #2 I introduced his clumsy, baseball cap-wearing fellow snowman friend Fred, followed by a more feathered friend in Comic #3, Rosco the Robin. Completing the cast was another snowman, the adventurous and portly George, who I introduced in Comic #6.

Another twist to the Snow Sam artwork and comics is that I mostly only draw and upload them at winter-time (with the odd exception), as the comic is meant to be set in my home country (UK), and of course we usually only get snow during the winter months (again, there have been exceptions), so that's the premise that the comic schedule is based on. It's also so I can have time to work on other comics and artwork, of course.

 The cast of "Snow Sam" (l to r): George, Rosco, Fred, Sam

So there you have it - all you need to know about Snow Sam. If you want to check out his comics and artwork, just point your cursor at one of the links below:

Snow Sam artwork: http://bluebottleflyer.deviantart.com/gallery/949436

Snow Sam comics:  http://bluebottleflyer.deviantart.com/gallery/556370