2018 R.I.P.

I wanted to post this as early in 2019 as possible. 2018 wasn’t as bad a year as it could have been, but it was chaotic, disjointed and unproductive. On a positive note, I did meet a bunch of amazing people in 2018 and feel inspired by them to create more. I don’t really have any resolutions, but I do have a bunch of goals for 2019 built from seeds I started cultivating in 2018.

Firstly, last year I took a step back from a lot of my socializing. Not saying I was ever the socialite or that I’m going to extrovert myself in 2019, but I am missing a regular game night. I have a couple of things lined up online, but I’d also like to host some weekend one-shots here at the Green Jenkin Walk in Closet Home Bar. I also plan on coming up with some more themed movie/cocktail nights at the Bar for some close friends after the Cobra Kai night went so well. I mean, I put together a bar, it’s there to be used.

I’ve started a local Absinthe Instagram account in the hope of building a local interest in the spirit (I didn’t make a Facebook group for it because, fuck Facebook, I’m slowly thinning out my use of it for my own mental well-being). I really have no idea where to go with the Instagram page yet, but I’m hoping it can develop into some local tastings here in Providence (I am offering tastings here at the Green Jenkin Walk in Closet Home Bar for those people I actually know and trust to come to my house, again, I put together a bar!). I figure, it’s worth it just to put it out there and see what happens. I’ll probably start a section here on this site for general Absinthe basics in addition to the old reviews that I plan on picking up again. I’ve been neglecting my love of Absinthe as I’ve been exploring Whiskies thanks to The Whiskey Tribe, but that shall be remedied.

On a creative note, along with the old need to revamp the jewelry line that I really wanted to get moving in 2018, I’m trying to figure out a medium for presenting my Mythos Absinthe Cocktails in the form of an alchemistic grimoire. I may produce a page a month? A cocktail a month with extra pages of illustration and backstory? Maybe collect them all and sell a printed copy? Integrate them with a comic?

Along the line of comics, I am really psyched to get some form of regular comic going. My goal is to post some form of short form comic every month. The themes will be different as I try to find an idea/ story/platform that is enjoyable to make, has room to develop and expand, and is received well by readers. After posting a variety of experiments, I’m hoping to have a solid foundation for a regular, continuing story before this year is out.

I have 4 or 5 different things that I’m already working on and will be seriously looking for feedback from the 2-3 people that actually read my posts here. I have “Treats if History with Nugg and Yebb” where my old pet rats draw from some odd bit of history. “Cutting Teeth” is a story about a wererat escaped from a secret lab who is hunted by a rigid order of monster hunters OR it’s a dieselpunk story set in a post human word where that rat is the dominant species, I haven’t decided which but I may just make them completely separate stories. “Fire and Steel” is a sword and sorcery fantasy story about a Dwarf blacksmith trying to build a name for himself with his travelling companion who is a drunken gnome fire magician. One idea that I’m also working on again is the return to the old cyber/splatterpunk comic “Electric Funeral” that was published in the late 90’s that I never got a chance to finish.

Ultimately the idea is to produce one page a week as a webcomic with the possibility of selling printed collections at the end of each chapter or story, depending on the page count. I’ll be posting these here, of course, but the ultimate goal would be to use some sort of web-comic platform for wider exposure. The one thing I suck at the very most, is self-promotion. I just hit a concrete wall when it comes to selling myself and recede into my hovel. We’ll see how this goes.