I finished my

I finished my cartoon. I sent it away to the guy who needed to see it. He was... well... unimpressed, I guess. I mean, I thought it was pretty average myself, but I also thought that it was absolutely the best cartoon he could have bought with the money he wanted to spend on it. He kept comparing it to this other web toon he saw. He said himself that this other 90 second toon was created by a team of 6 people over the course of a month. My 3 minute toon was created by 1 guy over the course of 2 weeks. Of course it wasn't going to be as good as the other one. In the end, I told him I was capable of the type of cartoon he was looking for, but not for the kind of money he was willing to pay, and not in the unreasonable amount of time he gave me to do it. But it's frustrating. I doubt this will lead to anything else, really. His expectations are too high. He'll probably spend a long time looking for someone and never find them. But, such is life, and I guess I never put too much stock into it anyway. I was hoping I could work for him for a long time and get some consistent income out of the deal, but I've learned to not bank on that ever happening. Freelancing is a frustrating business. I'm not sure how much longer I can live with being so ridiculously poor. And on top of it all, my stereo is about 15 seconds away from dying. I've learned to love my surround sound, and I'm not sure if I can go back. But, until I get some of this debt paid off, I'm sure I can't afford a new one.

But, I'm keeping my chin up through it all. Or trying to, at least.

Sam Diaz sent me an email today. I went to college with him. He was the 1 of 2 guys I knew in college who actually hung out with me when we weren't in class. At the time, I was underage, but he'd buy me beer. We'd go get some pizza and eat it and drink beer under overpasses and on street corners. I don't have many fond memories of Chicago, but being a hoodlum on the streets with Sam are good ones. We used to walk around thrift stores and buy t-shirts and coats. So, it was good to hear from him again.