Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Gene Catlow's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, May 8th, 2008
1:00 pm	Hippo Birdy Erika! May you have cool stuff happen on your birthday! ^_^ (And, well, just generally all the the time, really. But especially today.) Current Mood: happy (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 18th, 2008
11:03 pm	I still don't think Kev's as old as he says ^_^ But then, I'm not sure I'm as old as I am, so obviously I can't be trusted with such judgments. :) ( Read more... ) Current Mood: happy (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 16th, 2008
1:02 pm	The world's greatest gearhound! Belated birthday wishes to the mighty Mako! Without whose assistance I might not have the job I've got now (having a working set of wheels was of crucial importance when I got the nod) and really for just being an all-round great guy. Hope your birthday ruled, sir! Current Mood: happy (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
3:33 pm	Happy Everything, Candy... To this amazing person, who has dealt with more unfair things than I could begin to list, and out of it all still manages to keep a positive outlook: Happy everything. Happy birthday, happy new year, happy year after that, happy forever. I cannot wish enough good things for you. May not another bad thing ever go near you again. *hugs* Current Mood: hopeful (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 31st, 2007
4:14 am	2008 is just around the corner... ... and I'd like to wave 2007 goodbye - and in doing so ask all my friends to take care and get there. "There" being 2008, of course. :) I'll always remember '07 as the year I finally got the chance to move my plans forward to get myself and Tawana together. But 2007 was just groundwork - in 2008 I want to get some actual decisions made. It's happening... slowly but surely. Must get rid of that "slowly" part... I hope all of you are turning *your* dreams into realities. And if you aren't... get busy! Current Mood: hopeful (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 19th, 2007
12:12 pm	Time's a'bastin! "If you could meet your sixteen-year-old self now, what five things would you say?" We'd probably say nothing coherant at all! We'd just make "Vworp vworp" (TARDIS) noises like crazy, yell "TONY!!" "DOUG!!" (Irwin Allen's "Time Tunnel" reference) at each other, and decide to use the opportunity to see if we could freak out Mr. Peabody by hitching a ride - twice - in his WABAC Machine. ^_^ Current Mood: amused (24 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
1:40 am	Happy birthday Catnel! Full-tilt birthday goodness to Catnel! Who is extra-awesome and thoroughly neato ^__^ Current Mood: happy (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
1:39 am	*whew* Now at last I have a spare moment to sit down and post about last Friday! Thought I would get a chance over the weekend, except too many things at work required attention because of my absence... and thoguh today was indeed Columbus Day it wasn't really a holiday for me, per se. It just meant that I was a lot freer to get more things taken care of from last week because there was less Monday overhead. So... how did it go for me last Friday? Not as good as I'd hoped. But not a total washout either. My biggest faux pas wasn't technical or administrative, it was a personal slip-up, the kind that unfortunately you just can't get away from or even predict. A gentleman at the meeting, who would be the equivalent of my district manager here if/when I qualified for transfer, had a VERY thick Caribbean accent. I'm used to that to a certain degree, of course, having visited Tawana as many times as I have, but sometimes it's still hard for me to make out what a native is saying - and this particular person was very sensitive about it. The fact that I had to ask him to repeat himself - twice - pretty much shot me down in his estimation, as courteous as I tried to be about it. One can say what one likes about how fair or how unfair it is that such a thing should count against me, but the real world is like that. Personalities figure into such things regardless of how well one might be qualified otherwise for a position. And like it or not, I rubbed this person the wrong way - and he had no problem saying so. -_- But everything else went well, thank goodness. (If anything else had gone wrong, I'd be in much poorer spirits.) The conference call with the corporate officials in the islands was very much a success. I answered all the right questions the right way and seemed to very favorably impress them with my qualifications and my willingness to take on problems on devices with which I have little or no training. If I'd only not stepped on that district manager's toes, I'd be in seventh heaven right now. But as it stands, the prospects aren't really too bleak for me. There are a number of items I have to address that have to do with personal identification and legal issues... Did you know that if your Social Security number (or any other piece of ID) is used in an unsuccessful identity theft - that's right, an unsuccessful attempt, where the person who tried it didn't get away with it and *no* actual crime took place except the theft of the personal info - that it's still an incident which YOU are involved in? Even if you never hear from any law enforcement agency about it, your name is still somewhere on the books as having your ID stolen? Well, mine is... and I've got to acknowledge those incidents and show that I have done so before I try for a relocation again. (As well as a few other work-related matters.) I can only hope that the gentleman in question either has moved on in the company or has reconsidered/forgiven/forgotten about my faux pas by that time. So... all in all, a learning experience, an unavoidable fault but a chance to try again, and another chapter in my ongoing adventures of Life, so to speak. Oh, and a really great dinner with Tracy and Brian! My longtime pal the mighty eagle was in attendance as well! And I got to see their little Samantha, who is beautiful. ^_^ And Brian promised to show me how to make tech things blow up, which I will someday need to know how to do. It was quite a week! Current Mood: optimistic (33 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
3:53 pm	Thanks everyone ^_^ One leg over the hurdle so far... (Would thank you all personally, but this hotel doesn't have ethernet - and the phone line quality is worse than yesterday... can't recall the last time I tried LJ at 36,000 bps O_O) But anyway, thanks for all your well wishes. I'm sure I've done the best job I can do at giving all the right reasons for why I'm right for the job; all I can do now is wait to see whether or not the rest of the people evaluating me agree. I'll know by Friday, that'll be when - now that I've succeeded at this first half of the hurdle, that I qualify for the second half. Being evaluated for working overseas is an exacting process, and it isn't just my work performance that has to be right. A lot of things about the person being evaluated are under a microscope, and as you can probably guess they all have to pass scrutiny. I usually don't get this stressed about anything, but I'm sure most of you how much effort I've been putting toward beiing able to get Tawana and I together. I know that neither my life nor hers will be over if this attempt falls through... at best it means that I'll have a better understanding of what to do if it falls through, and at worst it means that I'll just have to examine other choices, other employers if need be, to make this happen. But as logical as the rational part of me is, the emotional part wants there to be a payoff to all my effort. There are things involved that are not under my control, but everything that is, I've covered to the best of my ability - time in grade, work performance, necessary training (as far as what will be needed in that location as far as I know) and with all that comes both the rational knowledge that there's no guaranteed payoff, that life isn't always fair and that all you can do is your best. But emotionally, I want to win this one. I don't want to settle for less and I definitely don't want to take "no" for an answer. So these two halves of me will just have to wait, now. Now that I've made the first half of the cut, so to speak, then Friday I'll see my evaluator again, along with a combination conference call/in-person meeting with more corporate personnel with more questions for me. Not making the cut at that one, well... it'll depend on why I didn't, and whether it's something I can address. But as much as I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, the fact that I did well enough in my first meeting to be told to come back on Friday has me VERY hopeful. In fact, the rep told me that usually that first contact is, nine times out of ten, a pass/fail for the next one. That is, if you don't qualify, *period*, he can let you know after your first interview how worthwhile scheduling another one will be. (In terms of whether you should still be striving to be chosen for relocation, or whether "no" really does mean "no" and you should pretty much forget about it.) So I'm definitely closer to my goal than I was before... but by Friday I'll know if my efforts have really paid off (or if they haven't, I'll find out what other things I need to do). Less nervous, but still... Current Mood: less nervous Current Music: Not a funeral march, I hope (34 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 1st, 2007
1:00 pm	Nervous... Yes, nervous... for the first time in a long time. Today, I'm meeting someone who's going to be very important to my future and who I'll have to take the right amout of effort to impress. It could be said to be a job interview, even though technically it isn't - I have my already with the company that this guy belongs to, albeit he belongs to an overseas branch, and I won't lose my present job if this meeting doesn't work out. But I WANT this to work out. Everybody who knows me by now knows that I'm working very hard to get relocated to an area closer to where Tawana lives. :) This man I'll be meeting today is the person who has the authority to make the decision about my suitability for that relocation. I've already got enough time on the job to qualify for the move... now I've got to be evaluated for my skill set and whether its a right mix for relocating me. And I'm nervous. More than I have been in a long time. It has been a long, long time and I've never been closer to making all my efforts come to frution as right now. So... wish me luck, if you're inclined to. Just don't wish any bad things on me. Please? O_O;; Current Mood: nervous (26 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 9th, 2007
2:00 am	Home again, home again. Bleah. One of those things that everyone knows, of course, but every so often gets thrown into sharp relief so as to make it staggeringly obvious: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Coming home from the airport today, it was an absolutely stunning day, weather-wise and traffic-wise. Not one dificult time on any highway, and where there weren't lazy white balls of cotton clouds in the sky there was the type of buoyant blue that songwriters write about when they write about blue skies. Just the kind of day that could (and usually would) make one's heart a little lighter and one's step a little springier. But... I'm here again, and no longer there... "Here" being back home, and "There" being that little island in the Caribbean, and so the heart is noticably less light and the step distinctly lacking in springiness. Bleah. -_- However... among the emails I fished through upon returning was the outline from my present employer about the next steps I should be taking in order to qualify for the position I'm seeking that would put me in the vicinity of that certain island, and the wonderful person living there... ^_^ Hmm... yes, I can confirm a pronounced increase in lightness of heart. When I arise from catching up on emails and such I'll check on springiness of step. I'll wager that's jumped by a fair margin as well. :) Current Mood: calm (24 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
9:19 pm	San Diego Chargin'... then I flystaight to the Caribbean! Just about to hit the road to LA, do some quick TCB and then on to San Diego for the Comic-Con! Then Sunday night should find me out on a certain island... ^_^ Hope all my friends have at least almost as nice a next week and a half as I'm gonna have. :) Current Mood: ecstatic (26 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 10th, 2007
6:15 pm	Roo the day! A quick happy birthday to fellow webcomic artist and allaroo good guy Wallaroo. ^_^ If you need a Roo'd awakening, find one here! Current Mood: cheerful (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007
8:03 pm	The GC Synopsis page updated! Juat a quick note to my LJ pals :) I've had not only a lot of new readers but a lot of new feedback, and the biggest request has been to fix the Synopsis page - the overview of the entire comic with clickable links, so a reader can move hither and yon without the s-l-o-w page-by-page method - and after a little work and a lot of help from my cohorts it's all up to date now! I'm going to make a concerted effort to keep it that way from now on, too. :) Current Mood: accomplished (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 28th, 2007
2:44 pm	Art from Sunday I sure wish I could've stayed longer (or gone back today) and spent more time with everybody up at Castle Solfire. I miss Dave and Katie and didn't get half as much time to talk to them as I'd have liked. Plus Dave had several metric tons of brand new art that I barely got to look at! Oh well... at least I did get another boss rendition of the Catlows from him as well as getting to draw for him. And Thomas will be there all the time so that's cool. Still, I don't get to spend as many days as excellent as yesterday. :) Current Mood: creative (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 27th, 2007
10:37 pm	Karma & Pepe & Kev & Trixi & Tet & Fun. As in, lots of. ^_^ So I'm frustrated trying to get my cell phone out of a dead zone so that I can add a fourth answering machine message to the three I've already left for [person who shall remain nameless because he's a doofus] but since he IS a doofus hasn't answered (but is guaranteed to whine his useless posterior off later because I won't drop everything for his dumb project) when suddenly my cell phone rings! Lo and behold! It's the wonderful Ms. Dewalt wondering if I might be interested in spending the day at Castle Solfire with them (Them including not only Thomas but Dave and Katie, having returned from their SoCal sojourn)! One hour later I'm in Gilroy, drawing and having stuff drawn for me (which you'll see later ^_^) and making yummy pizza disappear, doofus quite forgotten. Thanks for saving my Sunday, mighty ones! ^_^ Current Mood: happy (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 25th, 2007
3:11 pm	Just wanted to say Thanks... ...to all the readers of the comic! This last story arc has been the most popular work that Tawana and I have ever done. The amount of site visits over the last few months have been higher than any time in the last seven years - I mean, really higher! The check I got from Keenspot this week has been the biggest single amount I've ever received from them. ^_^ It appears we are doing something right, CatsWhisker and I. Thanks, everyone! We'll try to keep doing it. ^_^ Current Mood: ecstatic (31 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 19th, 2007
1:05 am	You need Vincissimo art energy! Right now! The color version is doing duty as a GCP this weekend, but the B&W test looked too beautiful to leave stashed away, so... here it is! Toldja I'd ink Candy's masterpiece, didn't I? ^_^ Vinci_GCW B&W Inked & greyscale version of the Vincissmo's stunning pic of the Catlow Family! Current Mood: happy (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 15th, 2007
11:41 pm	Sunday Fun Ease (or: My god, it's full of cats!) Received an invite from the Most Totally Super Nice Couple In The Known Universe (and a top contender in many of the unknown ones) to come spend Sunday with them and see their new place! How could I resist? ^_^ Their new place is spacious and comfortable. Their cats seem to hold sway over most of it. Crystal thoroughly enjoyed sticking her butt in my face whenever possible. :) I found out a little more about Ryan's new job, and though I don't envy his commute (mine's bad enough, but two hours plus both ways... O_O) I can tell he's enjoying himself at this new location, so it's all good. Finally got to do the future comic for Vinci and Arty that Candy wanted (I've returned to the Vinciverse again!) and in turn she drew this utterly marvelous masterpiece for me! This will get inked and posted in a future GCP; for now, enjoy the peerless pencil perfection. ^___^ Current Mood: enthralled (17 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 4th, 2007
9:18 pm	Kid Gloves Fan Art! (C'mon, you know it's time!) Tying out my new (well, new to me) tablet-style laptop, an IBM ThinkPad 730TE... obviously not cutting-edge but with a startlingly bright, clear screen! I could draw on this thing for eons without eyestrain. ^_^ But hey! What you really need is some "NH Universe" fanart! No need to thank me, I know these things. :) Check Kev's KG comic, then you'll know where I'm coming from... (20 Comments |Comment on this)