Forgive me. I have been lax in my blogging. But I have a good excuse: I've been living life! Let me tell you what's been going on:
The Sunday before Christmas, my church had its play, "Merry Christ-Mess: Beyond Time". It was the story of messy "Room 211" and the annoyed narrator and cleaning women who had to keep things going. In the midst of the mess, several Biblical people from the first Christmas appeared; I played on of them, a cranky shepherd whose group got lost on the way to Bethlehem. The cleaning women, thinking they're actors, gave them some old sneakers to wear. The shepherds act as if they've never seen sneakers before and call them a miracle. Playing cranky "Shepherd #2" was a hoot, and my pastor publicly recognized me as the best actor in the play. Well, I've had practice doing voices for my cartoons.
Christmas at my folks' house was wonderful as usual. My brother Paul was there, my niece C'Aira and her baby boy Christian (aka Red Chief), all three of my nephews and Paul's girlfriend Karen (ah, my middle name!). There was cooking and opening of presents: Everyone liked my original homemade calendars (featuring my cartoons) and home-baked peanut butter cookies (thank you, Ina Ross, for the recipe). The dinner was the typical Upshaw holiday meal: roast chicken, ham, dressing, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, chitlins, yams, rolls and pumpkin pie for dessert (with Cool Whip on top, or what's the point?).
I am typing this blogpost on my new laptop computer, my Christmas present to myself. I've got all new software, including "The Artist Bundle" from Smith Micro, which consists of Anime Studio Debut 9, Manga Studio Debut 4 and Poser Debut. Yes, I'm beginning again, and it's exciting! Expect more cartoons coming from me in the future. And a bonus: By buying this laptop at a local independent computer store, I am contributing to the economy of my city of East Chicago, Indiana. That feels good.
As of January 1, most of the United States (including the Midwest, where I live) has been hit with tons of snow and bone-chilling temperatures. This is a great excuse (or rather a very good reason) for me to stay indoors, create cartoons, houseclean, cook, watch digital TV, surf the Web, listen to FM radio, call friends...I'll think of more stuff later.
