Check out the 2nd Annual This Is What We Do event, taking place Saturday February 11th, 2012. The party starts at 8pm, in Elmhurst, Queens NY. Accessible by the M and R subway lines. It’s free admission, which means you have to come up with a really good excuse not to show up.

This What We Do 2012 Flier

I’ll be showing my artwork along with many other artists. Sergio Zuniga, Steve Pavlovsky, Thomas Doerrer, and Jose Rivera. The bands playing on the bill will be The Barrens, Air Academy, and Losing Constitution. Light show by Liquid Light Lab. Artwork and comics will be for sale. If this event is anything like it was last year, then this guarantees to be a lot of fun.

Where do I begin? Considering the past year had so many choices, all which nearly cemented my misanthropy even more. Almost.

For what I can see, 2012 already has a few candidates. Despite wishful thinking, it looks like 2012 just might continue where 2011 left off. We’ll see.

Anyway, back to some of the candidates for this ever-prestigious title. Who can forget Charlie Sheen? Who can forget his winning formula of tiger blood and goddesses? What cancels him out though was he supplied enough comic material to keep us running for the first half of 2011.Winning!

Jersey Shore. Could it be that they just might snag the honor for the second year in a row? Nah. Just let them burn themselves out, and eventually they’ll all wind up in your local AA meeting. Unless one of the cast members really needs the moolah. My bet is on Situation. Can’t you just see him on a program such as “Celebrity Rehab,” milking his 15 minutes for all its worth? Don’t even get me started on Snookie.

Then there’s these politicians vying for the GOP presidential nomination. Each and everyone of them truly deserve the title of “Douchebag of 2011.” Each and every one of them, but that would be too easy.

On the other side of the fence, Obama isn’t doing so hot himself, especially since he signed the NDAA act into law. Makes you wonder exactly whose side he’s on.

One strong frontrunner is Lt. John Pike, better simply known as “the pepper spraying cop.” The campus cop who causally pepper sprayed peaceful protesters in California. He’s kinda-sorta getting his already, since becoming a popular internet meme during the latter part of 2011.

In the end, the prize stays on the East Coast. The person with this dubious honor is none other than NYC Mayor Bloomberg.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The recipient of the Douchebag of The Year award for 2011. Congratulations.

Bad enough Bloomberg had his mayoral term limits extended; so when he was part of the NY Occupy eviction, he looked like a hypocrite. It wasn’t just the Occupy incident though. He was consistent all throughout 2011. Starting with the snow blizzard in the beginning of January 2011. You would think as a businessman, he would know better than not to be better prepared for a NYC winter storm. Anyone who has grown up in New York City can tell you, sometimes its winters can be pretty harsh. Yet, Bloomberg was out of town during this snowstorm, and therefore was severely under-prepared for the Dec. 2010 – Jan. 2011 blizzard. The result of his oversight didn’t affect most of Manhattan as much, but when it came to the outer boroughs, he failed. Passengers traveling on public MTA transportation was stranded for hours, as local buses broke down. In some cases, right in front of some people’s houses. Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and other areas weren’t plowed – in some cases, one or two weeks later. Bloomberg successfully managed to do what many others couldn’t….had NYC temporary shut down.

Bloomberg tried to make up for his winter fiasco by over hyping Hurricane Irene. Okay, I’m not saying Irene wasn’t dangerous, but it barely passed through NYC. Instead it had more of an impact in the more suburban and rural areas such as Long Island, Upstate New York, Massachusetts. Hey, at least the local supermarkets made a profit.

During the Irene press conferences, Bloomberg tried to not only warn city residents in English, but in Spanish as well. Normally, not a problem but he mangled the Spanish language pretty bad. He just should’ve hired a professional translator instead. It’s not like he didn’t have the funds. Besides, people needs jobs, don’t they? No comprendo.

When I was doing a bit of research for this blog post, I discovered this little fact; Mayor Bloomberg wasn’t even born in NYC, nor was he raised here. Bloomberg was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in the surrounding suburban areas.

Without further ado…here’s the Douchebag Of The Year for 2011, going to Michael Rubens Buttberg, er, I meant Bloomberg. Congratulations, Mike. Not only did you earn it, you deserve it.

Douchebag of The Year Award.

We are now two days into the year 2012. If you believe the hype, supposedly there’s something called the 2012 Mayan Prophecy. Okay, whatever. While I respect the ancient Mayan culture, I seriously doubt doomsday is gonna come on the winter solstice of December 21, 2012 AD. I think what will happen is a shift in world consciousness. To what degree remains to be seen. The end of the world itself, however…not gonna happen. The rapture, Mayan end dates, reptiles, Armageddon, apocalypse, or whatever – ain’t gonna happen.

Oh, and btw, I don’t do the New Year’s resolution bit either. I prefer to make promises I can keep.

The past year of 2011 itself was an interesting year. More like a roller coaster of sorts. A few episodes of the Shitty Mickey webcomic I work with writer John Reed is were posted up. Had my artwork exhibited in both New York and Los Angeles. I self-published another mini-issue of Psycho Bunny, which debuted at MoCCA Art Fest 2011. Sent something to the June 2011 Hyperallergic mail art show which got exhibited along with many other artists. My piece for the “Necessary Discomforts”/Christian Death/Rozz Williams tribute art show back in late 2010, was published 2011 in Gothic Beauty magazine issue # 33 (although uncredited). Besides self-publishing, an illustration of mine was published in the book “A Welsh Alphabet” by A Raven Above Press. That same illustration was exhibited in September at The 2011 West Coast Eisteddfod: Welsh Festival of Arts, located at Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood, California. Oh, and I got asked to vote on some comicbook award. Cool, huh?

What sidetracked me somewhat though, was school. Still continuing with college, which I love. So far I’ve been on the Dean’s List twice. That was a very stark contrast to my high school days. What a difference time makes.

What really captured me was the Occupy Wall Street movement. Looking back from September 17th, 2011, I’m surprised it didn’t happen a lot sooner. In between school breaks, I would visit Zuccotti Park a few times and from my observations, the protesters were sincere and peaceful. I took some photographs of the protest for the school paper, but it was more than just a news opportunity. It was a passionate plea for change, and for a brief moment, it took mainstream attention away from crappy reality television, like Kim Kardashian’s ass of a wedding.  Whether for or against, it woke people the hell up about what was really happening, as opposed to the alcohol content in Snooki’s body. Even if it was for a short time. My last comment about “occupy” is that it won’t be an outdated word, not to be uttered in 2012. That’s nowhere near the truth, and fuck you CNN for even saying that.

Hopefully I’ll get to post a more detailed blog about my feelings towards the Occupy movement. Not now, for I’ll only ramble and digress.

On a personal note, I’ve learned to cook really well. As a semi-vegetarian (no beef, chicken or pork, but I’ll have dairy and some types of seafood), my most recent dish was salmon with tomato bearnaise. Which was very delicious indeed. Very happy that Beavis and Butthead was brought back to television. Was hoping that it would kick Jersey Shore off the air, but no such luck. Oh, and I’ve been on this Marc Almond kick lately. Can’t explain it – just happened one misty morning, and it hasn’t stopped since.

So far I think I’ll be exhibiting in two local NYC shows, but details haven’t been confirmed yet. Just keep checking back for when and where. There’s going to be a few surprises too, but I’m not laying out all my cards on the table. Not just yet.

In the meantime, enjoy this Nettie and Squeaky cartoon strip. It picks up where we last left off, with Nettie and Squeaky occupying the kitchen for more cat treats. However, this time the pet turtle gets involved.

Shitty Mickey looks down at the OWS protesters. Based on the webcomic Shitty Mickey, written by John Reed, drawn by Michele Witchipoo

Latest Shitty Mickey Episode on The Brooklyn Rail Website: Link

http://www.laweekly.com/events/the-2011-west-coast-eisteddfod-welsh-festival-of-arts-1499873/

That’s the show in which I will be exhibiting one of my illustrations, coinciding with the release of the book “A Welsh Alphabet.” The book featuring a variety of styles by many talented artists, will be published by A Raven Above Press.

Forthcoming book "A Welsh Alphabet" to be published by A Raven Above Press, 2011.

Flyer for the 2011 West Coaist Eisteddfod show.

http://www.aravenabovepress.com/

http://events.la.com/los-angeles-ca/events/show/174058765-2011-west-coast-eisteddfod-welsh-festival-of-arts

The illustration I did for the forthcoming book “A Welsh Alphabet” will be on exhibit during this event. September 23, 2011 will also be the release date of the book itself, to make its debut at the the 2011 West Coast Eisteddfod festival.

Forthcoming book "A Welsh Alphabet" to be published by A Raven Above Press, 2011.

You can order your own copy of the book from Amazon.com after September 23 here

For some reason or another this morning, I had remembered this one kid. This was back in the 1990s, when I admittedly wasn’t doing much with my life. Many of the people I had associated with during that era were of toxic nature. People I shouldn’t have wasted my time with. My days consisted of various dead end jobs. My nights were spent wasting time hanging out around the lower Manhattan area. Did a lot of clubbing during that time. Went to a few ‘Raves’ and club parties, but was mostly lingering around small dives around the East Village/Lower East Side area. I regularly went to places like Mother and Coney Island High.

The ’90s was also when I first really gotten into tarot cards. Looking back, the tarot was my introduction to anything metaphysical. Walking around after an all night party, me and two friends were causally walking around the East Village. Somehow we started talking about Ouija boards. My friend said he had purchased one from a store called Enchantments. Since we were on East. 7th street anyway, we decided to browse inside the shop. On a lark, I brought my first ever deck of tarot cards. Going with my tastes, I chose the Art Nouveau deck. A deck which believe it or not, I still have to this day. To my surprise, I was really good with reading tarot. Started reading for friends and strangers alike. This is dating back to 1993. By the time the late 90s rolled around, I had already done professional tarot readings in clubs. It wasn’t too often. Mostly filling in for someone who couldn’t make it that night, and for a pal’s club party.

Anyway…during this time, I remember this kid who hung out at Coney Island High a lot. A short dude with a small black mohawk. Despite his attempts at networking inside Coney, reception to him was lukewarm. Me and him never truly spoke face to face. It wasn’t my choice; we just never had an opportunity to have an actual conversation. My observations were always from afar.

Over the course of the two years, I would see him hang around mostly at Coney Island High. One time he was drunk, his arm around some blond punky looking girl. My guess it was probably his girlfriend. They were living the Sid and Nancy dream, acting rowdy in the street. They were going to check out Texas Terri & The Stiff Ones around the corner at The Continental. Next time I saw him, he was flying solo again.

Why am I bringing this all up you ask. Okay, I’ll get to the point of this story.

Fast forward to either 2002 or 2003. I had long stopped crawling around downtown until the wee hours of the night. I was in a relationship that was going nowhere. Had begun involvement with someone else, also going nowhere. The early 2000s were ten years of experiencing a series of rough patches. My self esteem wasn’t that all that great. Constantly I was put down and discouraged from what I had really wanted to do. Put down for my interests at the time, etc. Meanwhile the main boyfriend was a hypocritical trust fund baby. A forty year old pothead going on seventeen. Looking back, I should’ve walked away from him a long, long time ago, but things happen for a reason. Everything is a learning experience.

Anyhow…this guy takes me to see Joan Jett and The Blackhearts in concert. Since he was the man with the van, we drove all the way to Asbury Park. We arrived at The Stone Pony, just in time to see the opening act.

The first band walks on stage. I immediately recognize one of the band members. The band member in question was the mohawk kid from back in the Coney Island High days. So in roughly seven years, this guy went from being an outcast desperately trying to fit in to the Coney club scene, to playing in a band that was opening up for the legend Joan Jett.

Don’t know whatever happened to that opening act after that night. Yet looking back at that night, that should’ve been a wake-up call. Proof that no matter how people can sometimes perceive you, you can still manage to accomplish anything. This mohawk kid didn’t care what people thought of him. Nah. He did what he set out to do, regardless. The result? He surpassed all the local band douchebags and scenesters, following his passion. He had a gig opening up for Joan Jett, one of my heroes.

As for all the people I used to hang out with back in the ’90s. Some I’m still friends with, most faded away from my life for one good reason or another. After 1999, I knew some changes had to take place in my life. After 2003 (although by accident for the most part), I set out to do what I had wanted to do. The result? While I admit I had made some poor judgement with whom I used to be associated with, executed some bad decisions, blah, blah, blah…for the most part I obtained some of my goals. I was snubbed, laughed at, rejected, slandered, sabotaged, back-stabbed…and still I managed to prove a good majority of people wrong. Still did what I had intended to do. Along the way, I changed and evolved into the person I am currently. I evolved. I learned from my mistakes. I’m still learning on a daily basis. Along the way, I also learned not to care too much about what others think. I stopped trying to constantly “fit in.” Instead, I’m living life on my own terms. Besides…how can I help others if I can’t help myself first?

Yeah, I should improve on my psycho/vampyric/liar/user radar more, but I’m getting a bit better. As I’ve said, I’m still learning on a regular basis. I’ve come a long way from the person I used to be back in the ’90s. I’ve come a long way from the person I was from back in the early 2000s. Quite possibly, I might be a completely different person in another ten years.

Which leads us to the moral of this blog entry. No matter how many times people may disregard you. No matter how many times you keep falling on your face…just get up, learn from your mistakes and try again. After all, at the end of the day, it’s your life. You only live once, so might as well make it the best way you can.

That is all.