One of my favorite things about fall is the sudden overflowing abundance of persimmons. Any stand at any farmers market proudly boasts baskets and boxes bursting with them. Persimmons are one of my beloved fruits. They are so delectable and autumnal. Just a few weeks ago, I started eating them with the skin on for the first time. “Like an apple,” as some farmers market vendors have said.

ps – speaking of persimmons, here’s a gorgeous haunting poem that features them somewhat. Introduced to me by Peg. Here’s an excerpt:

“Some things never leave a person:
scent of the hair of one you love,
the texture of persimmons,
in your palm, the ripe weight.”

Ideas of mortality, the body’s vulnerabilities and frailty, and corporeal suffering have been plaguing my mind lately. These things slap you in the face when you cut yourself while slicing tomatoes and proceed to bleed like the dickens.

Then others share their horrific kitchen accident tales (please be careful when you wash glass tumblers).

Then you see your dad’s elderly (but perfectly “functional”) neighbor sitting on her own front steps covered in blood because she fell and hit her head and the wound is so bad you can see the bone of her forehead, and there’s a thick gelatinous sheet of coagulated globular blood just jiggling off her chin. You ask her if it hurts and she calmly says no. She’s perfectly lucid and not flipping out.

And your roommate gets hit by a car while riding his bike (any day now it’ll be me too). Even the video from first aid training at work, though funny, had me a bit spooked.

It’s terrifying how in a blink of an eye, injury can happen. The most mundane, habitual activities can wreak havoc in a split second. Even leaving the house can have grave consequences. Anything can happen!

Uh, I guess what I’m saying is. BE CAREFUL out there.

Highlights! And I’m not talking about the Scholastic magazine either…

* I enjoyed the splendor of breathtaking Big Sur with the San Hos earlier in the month for our annual local getaway. We had a spacious (though slightly creepy) cabin, in which we overdosed on junk food, magazines, and soulful conversation. Photos.

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In a very rare occurrence, a 70 ft long blue whale washed ashore near Fort Bragg two days ago, with an 8 foot gash on its body. If elements were in my favor I would’ve driven up to see it in all its tragic but beautiful majesty. I just can’t get over how saturated and fake the blue looks. Its eye capsule is so fragile. Such an amazing creature to behold.

photos via AP

PS – I can’t even imagine what it would be like to photograph that

The second issue of Electric Ant — a compendium of cool given birth by my pal Ryan Sands — will debut tomorrow at APE (Alt Press Expo). It’s definitely something you’ll want to check out if not POSSESS for your own library. And look at that juicy Hellen Jo cover!

CLICK HERE TO BUY A COPY OF THE ZINE!

Some of my closest talented friends have contributed to it, and I guess I did too. I had the great honor of drawing a page for the comic jam. It’s a zany adventure of a scruffy guy, his cyberpunk-looking ex GF, a put upon pinniped, and a lovable tooth. Sci-fi overtones, lots of humor. Even better is that I came after the distinctive Ryan Germick and before Lisa Hanawalt — she’s one of my faves.

Check it out. Comics, stories, photography, interviews, illustrations…all kinds of goodies.

CLICK TO BUY ELECTRIC ANT #2!

CLICK TO BUY ELECTRIC ANT #2!

ps – I somehow ended up on a panel on comics, zines, community, and the Yay Area at APE tomorrow. Phoebe Gloeckner is on it too. GULP. Wish me luck! Please send me all your best eloquence / public speaking positive vibes!

This was so classic and hilarious. Backstory: Hellen and Anthony both had artist-in-residency stints at the Asian Art Museum and were talking about it. If only I had an audio clip of Anthony saying “Jesus GOD.”

So one nutty night at the red velvet cake, I took advantage of Germick‘s scanner / kindness and Hellen’s laptop / kindness (thanks you two!) and scanned some crap from my “sketchbook.” I thought I could slowly put some oldies up here as filler. I plan on getting back into the swing of “blogging” beginning with boring banal travel content, but there’s a lot on my mind right now. Plus I’m not quite acclimated.

Oh and for those of you who’ve seen this a million times already, I apologize. Call me a sad one trick pony

ps – Hellen was sitting on Derek’s bed, and Anthony was using the computer, which I conveniently did not draw

I’m still at work getting personal stuff sorted as I leave tomorrow for Seoul! They announced my five year anniversary at the staff meeting this morning. Coworkers were sweet and kind bestowing me with congratulations through out the day. It made me feel warm and fuzzy. Was it bad that I likened the five years to a (dysfunctional) longterm relationship? But I meant it in a good way.

The Tsingtao beer factory/museum (in Qingdao) was kind of fun, and the tour culminated with pitchers of free beer and delicious beer nuts (I would’ve preferred if THOSE came in a pitcher). It was a bit awkward since both my guide and me were complete lightweights. That, and the fact that he was shamelessly hitting on me during my day or two in Qingdao, made for a peculiar time. BTW — did you know Qingdao has a history of German settlers?