23/4/2015. Rest in peace, Chuckie.

On the 23rd of April 2015, my partner lost her special friend "Chuckie". He had become someone special to me as well, a personality like no other. The loss hit us very hard. I had the opportunity to contribute to Comicoz's 'Australia!' anthology last year, which was created to raise money for Beyond Blue; and since Chuckie assisted the fight against depression on a day-to-day basis, and was a "supervisor" on later issues of 'The Soldier Legacy', I was compelled to bring him into 'Soldier' continuity too. A cheeky character on and off the pages, he was our little Aussie hero, and we miss him greatly, every day. 
Rest in peace, Chuckie.

Process: Anatomy of a Cover/Pin Up: Retro Sci-Fi Tales #3, April 2016

After a post it note thumbnail, this was scribbled up. 

In a nutshell: Was approached by friend Darren Koziol, DarkOZ publisher of 'Decay' and 'Retro Sci-Fi' Magazine, to to a short story. I'm flat out finding time to sleep lately with all the other commitments, so a cover was proposed. From a list, I chose to draw 'Space Amazons', as I have a thing about drawing trees for some strange reason. *Shrug*- and thought it would be a cool challenge. The Alien landscape elements sounded like a fun opportunity. I scribbled something up, and tried to utilise the trees as a circular framing device for the figures in the composition, and place the figures in a staggered "fan" formation, countering the lines of action and heights for a bit of variety in their placement in relation to one another. I dig perpendicular lines in compositions- something I've seen Kirby pull off, or shown in Disney books on avoiding parallel placement of limbs in a pose, so this was attempted with the spear placement, for instance. Well, that was the thought process, anyways.

Raw scan. Inking is not my jam, but I take the Steve Ditko approach of using inks to "draw" the detail in, that the loose wrireframe scribble is missing. Keeps the job "fresh" in my head, rather than feeling I'm re-drawing something I already drew. Ultimised blacks in the foreground to re-enforce the framing of the figures, so that I didn't loose them in the image.

I'm not a Cheesecake artist, and frankly, that stuff doesn't interest me; A good drawing is a good drawing. In this instance, the subject matter and reference material suggested figures a bit too cheesecake for my comfort zone, and figured the Amazon component, coupled with the "John Carter of Mars/Sci-Fi fantasy/Red Sonja/Robert E Howard" vibes, should speak to female forms of more athletic frames, than buxom bikini types. So in this case, UFC/Women's Boxing and Olympian forms were referenced, at a poor man's attempt at what a Frank Frazetta drawing would look like if he drew like me (a monkey with a pencil taped to his paw, in comparison). If I can learn from a pose, I will. 

Cleaned up scan, with pencils eradicated. The handy part about drawing in Prismacolour animation pencils (actually, mine had died by this point; I think this image was using cheap, kids colouring in pencils that came free with a marvel pencil case :P), is that Clean ups after scanning the image is super quick in photo shop.

So this was the scanned image, with a black and white adjustment layer/filter applied to "knock out" the colours from the pencil roughs. Saves a heap of time (relative, without a Cintiq that is…*sigh*) in the clean up process, rather than deal with smudged/scribbly graphite that photoshop can confuse with ink lines when darkening/adjusting levels, contrast etc.

Re: inking- a discipline in itself, and something I continue to try and learn/challenge myself, particularly when I have the tools, time and courage to move beyond the cheap, store-bought calligraphy markers and art line pens. The smoke, for some reason I love trying to draw different sorts of clouds; the cross hatching with the thick to thin lines, is another poor man's attempt- in this case, Joe Kubert. The attempt is to at least give each element its own treatment- a Klaus Janson tip- so that the mud doesn't look like bark of a tree, the moss looks different to the bushes, the mist (it looks kinda Arthur Adams-ish, but I wouldn't point it out to him, it would be an insult) looks different to the heavy smoke clouds etc. I figured at least I could use colour to reinforce the difference.

If I recall, the colour scheme shifted during the course of this; Colouring for me is the ultimate fight; make this image work, or at least get as close to the vision I have in my brain not always the case- but the main idea was to simply select a main colour, and work in terms of complimenting the main colour, without overdoing the values, and still supporting the focal points.

So this was essentially the colours, sans ink lines. Flats to renders and final flourishes etc. Always starting with a base gradient/colour, I wanted to further reinforce the alien landscape, and support the light/framing of the inks to tell the "story". An illustration can still convey a story, which is why I always promote th importance of understanding composition, and visual storytelling language regardless of the chosen medium; knowledge and practice of these elements always lift an image over a mere "drawing". 

I think the hardest part of the colouring was that damn Alien Parrot in the foreground...

The Final image: A bit of a challenge to say the least, but at the moment, I don't hate it. That's a win, in my books. The problem with something like this is that the variety of colour elements run the potential of clashing if not handled subtly. Being able to utilise complementary colour-rim lighting, helped further separate the figures from the environment, without having them feel like their colour scheme clashes, or that they don't belong/feel part of the image. Some Colour holds and bits used to knock the edge off some of the parts in this pic, and given the number of these I got a chance to scribble a signature on, over the last weekend at Adelaide OZ Comic-Con (where the book was launched), I guess some people thought it was alright, so I'm content.

Thanks Darren for the opportunity to draw your characters, and for publication of the image. You can find DarkOZ publications on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DECAY-horror-comic-249103491793685/?fref=ts, or from their website  www.darkoz.com.au.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=995150443855649&id=249103491793685

Scribble Dump 2

More Stuff I haven't thrown up lately. Tried some things; not sure how successful I was, probably because I'm not 100% happy, but then again, I never am. Anyways, back to the drawing board.

Scribble dump

Can't share what I'm doing book/pages-wise, so here's some muck around images. Cheers!

Something different: LoveSac Australia

Every now and then, when the right request drops into the inbox between comic book pages, I dip my toe back into freelance graphic design-style gigs. Too many "Clients from Hell" over the years killed my taste for this sort of work (not all were, but some expected so much in no time for little money, regardless of other commitments I may have had at the time), but in the case of Lovesac Australia, they're good people. Bottom line, if you trust them, they trust you, and they pay for your time, they're worth your consideration. Cheers, guys grin emoticon Love your products!

This job involved drawing cartoons to liven up the 'SacVac Pack' instructions:

http://lovesac.com.au/products/sacvac-pack?variant=9290608901

"Comic book artists are tackling subjects like depression and war history in their work" - ABC News 21st Feb, 2016

ABC News - Australian Comic Arts Festival
Comic book artists are tackling subjects like depression and war history in their work #comics #Canberra.
Posted by Siobhan Heanue on Sunday, February 21, 2016

Many thanks to Journalist Siobhan Heanue and her crew on the day, ABC News, and Cath Brinkley of The Australian Comic Arts Festival, along with Bruce Mutard.

Guest for OZ Comic-Con 2016: All Cities!

A busy year awaits. Cheers OCC! Looking forward to seeing everyone in Perth and Adelaide in April, and Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane later in the year. Thank you :D
 http://www.ozcomiccon.com/2016/guests/paul-mason/

ABC News national coverage of ACAF

A great weekend at the inaugural Australian Comic Arts Festival. A pleasure to hang out with good mates, catch up with old ones, and meet some awesome new ones. Many, many thanks to Cath Brinkley, and Wolfgang Bylsma and Bruce Mutard for the event- am so looking forward to next year.

Cheers too for the lovely ABC reporter and camera men who spearheaded this coverage. ABC iView cleared the news program already (which in all reports went nation-wide on Sunday and Monday on ABC), and the follow up article. Humbled to see 'the Soldier Legacy' book strike a cord. Also discussed were mates Mark Sexton, and Ryan Lindsay, along with quotes from my partner, and panel presenter Amanda: http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-22/comic-artists-tackling-hard-subjects-through-their-work/7188278

Also a big thanks to Mal at Impact Comics in Canberra Civic. A sponsor of the event, he is also stocking trade paperback volume 1 and 2. An awesome shop, I managed to score some Wil Eisner material. Very pleased :D

Gotta run, but also want to send a quick thank you to the meet up crew at Brisbane Square Library for holding the fort while Amanda and I were away at the event. See you next month. Cheers!
Oh, you can read Amanda's far more comprehensive account of the event here: http://backflipbacchi.com/2016/02/21/aussie-comic-book-secrets-revealed-acaf-debrief/

Guest at next month's Inaugural Australian Comic Arts Festival

Running February 20th - 21st in Canberra, and organised by the awesome Cath Brinkley and Comic creator/scholar Bruce Mutard. Many thanks for the invitation to attend. A whole host of Comic creators will be teaching development workshops on the Saturday 20th at the Novotel, including my good mates  Wolfgang Bylsma, Mark Sexton, Tristan Jones, Jason Franks, Julie Ditrich, Queenie Chan and Ryan Lindsay. I'm also looking forward to touching base with Louie Joyce, and meeting Thomas Campi. My partner Amanda Bacchi is a professional interviewer and panel host (for events such as OZ Comic-Con across the country, The Brisbane Zombie Walk etc.); she will be MC'ing a few panels on the weekend as well.

Very much looking forward to seeing everyone in Canberra next month, and hopefully an event which will continue to grow!

I have been approved to run 2 workshops available ( and I believe a third one on the Sunday for kids.)
"Sequential Narrative" and "Essence of a Panel", which will aim to condense information from classes I teach at The Queensland College of Art.

Info at the link: http://www.acaf.com.au/product-category/workshops/

Info on Sequential Narrative:

What goes on in the panels and between the gutters

"What makes up a narrative-driven comic book page? What happens between scenes? How do writers and artists utilise the medium of comics to tell stories?

By learning the ‘rules and tools’, and conventions of visual storytelling though case studies and examples, we can better understand the medium of comics, and how to improve as a visual storyteller and writer.

Whether you are simply interested in how the comic page communicates with the reader, or an aspiring/developing creator, the idea is better awareness of the possibilities of visual storytelling via comics, and noting prominent creators in the history of the medium."

Essence of a Panel

Empathetic characters, acting and illustration considerations

"You are the director. Your characters are your actors. Before a character utters a word in a speech balloon, your panel must convey the story visually. The importance of character considerations in writing/development of that story, and the visual representation of that character (from thumbnails and design to finished panel) are paramount to creating the empathy felt by the reader. Dynamic poses, how choices and structure conveys character, where to use subtle acting/poses, the importance of referencing, and how character relates to cinematic storytelling and the visual grammar of comics.

The aim of this workshop is to give attendees a better understanding of how to plan compositions in relation to character, who their characters are, and how to “show” and not just “tell” how a character is feeling.

The outcomes from this workshop will be to assist aspiring and developing pencillers/illustrators in telling stories visually, and also assist writers to understand story from a visual sense, particularly when approaching script in relation to character and conflict."

Posted on the Soldier Facebook page earlier:

ACAF (The Australian Comic Art Festival) Workshop panels in Canberra on the 20th of February are now available for...
Posted by The Soldier Legacy Comic Book on Wednesday, January 13, 2016

A reflective 2015 Recap Rambling

Well, another year is drawing to a close. Not sure why exactly I felt the necessity to write down what what I managed to knock over this year; perhaps it's a positive exercise to stop and reflect before pressing through to the new year, pat myself on the back, rather than simply continue to mentally beat myself up while I draw another page (the usual process). Actually, I caught myself laughing in amazement this year at John Romita and John Buscema on an old Jack Kirby tribute panel from many years back (via the magic of youtube) who stated how hard they found drawing, and the agony of getting out what they envision on the page, which is exactly the sort of torture that passes through my head while trying to figure out the image, panel to panel (a far cry from Kirby and Barry Windsor-Smith for instance, who state they are simply tracing the idea they already 'see" on the page). Anyway, perhaps it's just me forgetting that a blog can sometimes just be a somewhat self-indulgent, self congratulatory BS exercise for prosperity; if I don't stop to acknowledge a win, why bother be in the game in the first place.

Anyways, before I get into a long-winded time waste of an exercise, I just want to touch on (for my own sanity) what I knocked over, and the people I wish to thank, anything I dug about 2015 before plugging on. In no particular order, just whatever pops into my head:

• OCC: The Full OZ Comic-Con tour (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney) as a comic book guest of the show, travelling with my lovely and supportive partner Amanda (who is the Stage 3 host and manager for OCC- very proud of her- her panels were always entertaining and I was thankful to share the stage with talented writers and illustrators)- I want to thank Carissa and Rand for their invitation, support and thoughtfulness, and the crew that looked after us; too many to name, but everyone from front of house, to drivers, guest co-ordinators, Cordie and Kate, the security boys, the volunteers, everyone! Thank you. Humbling to be treated the way we are as guests for the days before and during the show. Being able to speak in conversation with comic book, TV and Film people is a surreal and rewarding experience. Catching up with good friends Christian, Andrew, Nicola, Wolf, Skye, Justin, Jon, Doug, Tristan, Tom, Gary, Dean, Chris, Emily, Katie, Stewart, Wendy, Jason, Darren, Ryan and more that I've surely, and apologetically slipped my mind as I type this late at night, making new ones like Hai, Sasha, Mark S, Mark N, Freddie, Kiki and many more. And, I am thankful for the friendships and current and future collaborations that have come from hanging out with some of the best Australia has to offer in the creative fields.
  
• Dr. Paul: Completed my 55,000 word DVA thesis on Australian comics, writer and artist methodologies and comparisons between the US, UK and Australian comic scenes, and documenting the process of development for The Soldier Legacy comic book series. This blog in fact, documents the very beginning of that process, starting from my honours in 2009, and arriving at this point where on the back of this comic book work, I graduated mid-way through 2015 as a Doctor of Visual Arts. (Eternal thanks to Andi, my mentor, supervisor and rock throughout the entire process, along with primary supervisor Paul, and the others thanked in the main document that supported me throughout the duration of the work (such as Evie the QCA editor, colleagues Peter, Kay, Louise, Darren F, Darren P, Marianna, Briony, John etc.). On the grand scheme of things, it most likely means nothing to nobody; it is the Australian-way after all. But, at the very least, it allows me the opportunity to continue pursuing my academic goals of being able to teach while continue as a practicing illustrator, and discuss and analyse methods for an medium virtually invisible in this country, and try to prove its merits, one kid/teen/adult at a time. The document I finished sweating on this year for this has probably only been read by a handful of people. Hoping to rectify this in 2016 by way of academic journal, or perhaps if I can beat it into a book topic…? Find the right publisher??? As for the Soldier Legacy, the final chapter of the saga will be completed next year. This is one of the other goals. As an aside, I am very appreciative of the acknowledgement of this by Oz Comic-Con, with panel cards and media throughout the show stating the title in Brisbane and Sydney shows. I was very touched for the acknowledgement!
  
• Comic Book wise: Soldier Legacy issue 6 was completed and released in April this year. I tried a sepia tone to make it feel like part of the era, which I'm still not 100% happy about. But, the full colour version has started, and will be released as part of the volume 3 trade paperback. the Original volume 1s sold out, and I originally planned on calling it a day with those. But I have found that newcomers are still coming across the book for the first time, be it via conventions, word of mouth, etc.etc. Either way, a new cover was completed, some updated interiors, and a re-release occurred for this book. Also at the last minute, the 1st edition of Volume 2 trade paperback was packaged together, and released, with quotes on the cover from good friend and fantastic illustrator Nicola Scott (currently producing 'Black Magick' with acclaimed writer Greg Rucka for Image Comics), good mate John Higgins (currently illustrating 'Jacked' for DC Vertigo) and great writers Christian Read and Andrew Constant of Gestalt Publishing. I could not have achieved any of these books this year without the support, assistance and high quality print work of Baden Kirgan of Jeffries Printing services. I always highly recommend his company's print work (even Gestalt produce their work through Jeffries), and can't say enough how thankful I am for his assistance and generosity. I have to thank Amanda again for the suggestion for a Volume 3- I was stressing how to fit all the work I needed to achieve to wrap up the storyline convincingly, and it seems the answer was right in front of me. 2016, I hope I can do the ending justice. pages have slowly begun.
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• As well as the two trades and the single issue, other Comic stuff for the year:
• ComicOZ's 'Oi Oi Oi #4' featured a 10 page black & white preview for Soldier Legacy #6 (Cheers Nat!)
• A 5 page colour contribution I, along with a group of other Australian cartoonists, was invited to contribute to- ComicOZ's 'AUSTRALIA'  raising money for Beyond Blue. This was admittedly hard to do- with close ties to depression, and the recent lost of a beloved family pet (and drawing companion), I wrote and drew this quick little Soldier tie-in as a tribute. Difficult process to say the least, but despite the flaws I always hate in my own work, I was happy with the result given the short deadline I had to deal with, due to the other work tying me down. That will be available as a hardcover book very soon.
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• Cloud9 Comix 'Trail' #3 double page spread- pencils and ink (Cheers Ben!)
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• The prose anthology 'Cthulhu: Deep Down Under' - 1 page illustration for Jason Nahrung's short story.
• I'm hoping by the end of this week to have finished about half of the pencils and inks for a graphic novel collaboration with writer Christian Read on a book for Gestalt Publishing. I have had a great deal of respect and admiration for Wolfgang, and Skye and the other creators onboard with the Australian-based publisher, and the drive and attitude behind the work they produce. To be part of the fold is an honour, just like the height of Black House Comics work with Baden, Chris, Jan, Jason, Chewie etc. Gary Edward's wise words, and pleasant encouragement, along with Christian's enthusiasm and faith in the project and what I'm putting on the page (it's a struggle! but I hope the end result makes him happy) along with Nicola and Andrew's support, and Wolf's meticulous and valuable feedback on the pages, has helped immensely. It's more pages than I've been able to achieve in recent years- maybe because I'm not colouring them, or working on the thesis, or perhaps no world championship in the mid year? Who knows. It wasn't smooth sailings by any stretch of the imagination- family sicknesses, death of pets, and a full teaching load writing classes and marking has taken many days, and hours away from sleep. But again, though progress on this has been slower than anticipated, I'm hoping something sees the light of day in the new year, if not the completion of chapter 3 and 4 for wrap things up.
  
• A few other bits and pieces which might have legs in 2016. Pitches and decision-making doesn't happen instantly in the creative work it seems. Even Disney projects were shelved for years before being dusted off and re-worked. Positive waves always.
• The university commitment this year were very rewarding, and things seem to still be looking up for next year, with meetings next week to help assist in new course profiles based on the few years of teaching visual story, drawing etc. Having a hand at teaching 1st, 2nd and 3rd years, and seeing 3rd year projects come to fruiting, was very rewarding. I was extremely touched to received appreciation for advice and feedback from these talented and awesome individuals, and I wish them the very best. It's a satisfying job, and so much fun to discuss storytelling with the students. Those that see the value of hard work, constant learning, obtaining feedback and working with it to achieve great, creative work, will really go places. Thank you to Peter, Andi, Louise, Darren F, Darren P, Marianna, Leila, Briony, the tech guys James and Adam, Herman, Kirilee and the rest of the Film school.
• There was a bit of workshop seminar teaching this year- mostly at the front of the year, but still lots of fun. The beginning of the year was a number of comic book workshops for the state library of Queensland for their Story Lab program, including a full day event (Thanks Danny!). The feedback was great, although after 3-4 consecutive years of running comic book-themed workshops, they aren't running any for 2016. Hope that's not a small omen of the perspective of comic books in this country. Workshops ran in Brisbane Square Library (Thanks Emma!), Toowoomba regional Library (at 'The Grid'- Thanks Angela), and also while in Perth at The Grove Library (Thanks Debra!). Toowoomba has already pencilled in a few seminars for next year, including one for adults, so I'm thankful for that opportunity once again. Great kids and parents at all the events in 2015, so looking forward to what 2016 will bring.
  
• For the last 15 months, I have been hosting a monthly Comic Book Meetup group, along with my partner Amanda Bacchi (the brain child of the project) on behalf of Brisbane Square Library. We began with 6 people, and it has been consistently in the 30s for over a year, with regulars becoming good friends, and semi-regulars visiting when they can, on the 3rd Friday of every month. It's been a great deal of fun and a rewarding experience for Amanda and I, and after the success of the last meet up before Xmas (Secret Santa was awesome!), I am hoping the Library continue to see the value in this free event for Brisbane pop culture fans that do come along, and we get to celebrate 2 years later in 2016. Our 1 year anniversary in September coincided with Oz Comic -Con in the city, and good buddy Dean Rankine came along to discuss his Simpsons, Futurama and Itty Bitty Bunnies work. Nat Karmichael of ComicOZ is another local who has attended a number of meetings to discuss his work, as well as some other local creators (Kara Jay, Darren Koziol etc.)- but mostly, it's about having a laugh, watching big screen trailers, quizzes, games and comic book prizes. A fun gig and nice way to end the working week.
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• Free Comic book day sketching (and Halloween Comic fest) at Urban Fiction Comics in Nambour- thank you to the kind folks that came out, and for Drew and Alye  for being kind hosts, and working hard for your local customers.Cheers!
• Supanova Brisbane, as always, cheers to Daniel for having me be a part of the show, Tim, Royd for being a good mate and taking care of the comic guests, the volunteers, Quinny, Bruce and the crew, the opportunity to hang with good friends (Dean Rankine is a gentleman; both Amanda and I are thankful for being able to catch up whenever you're in town), Tom, Mark, James and meeting new mate Greg, catching up with the lovely Fil and Helen, Martin and Jamie, Chatting briefly to neighbours Bob Layton, and Dave Gibbons was very rewarding too. Despite some hiccups, a great weekend.
  
• Umm, drawing some blanks now. A couple of Golds in some national tournaments throughout the year, and a bronze for a tournament I had 4 months of comic drawing as preparation, so I was surprised to have survived; not many tournaments entered, and not sure what the future will bring Taekwon-do wise. I did enjoy the Grand Master Park seminar, despite the difficult personal period that it fell in. Will I travel again for fighting? Overseas? Is it worth it? Is there the opportunity? Dunno. I'm suppose to possible grade to 4th degree early next year, but again have heard nothing (the perils of being out of the loop). So I'll just keep training for nothing in particular, other than my own sanity :P Hopefully 2016 will be kinder in this department. A new gym during the latter part of the year has helped a little, but still not getting the time I want to be able to enjoy being there. And an injury sustained in August isn't going away quick enough, while older injuries remind me they're still around. I think I just need a goal. The KO and movement potential was still there, but I don't feel like anyone really cares one way or another. So why should I? A little like comics in this country, but there are still those here and abroad that do matter, and do pay for my scribble, so it's more than enough to keep firing on with it all.
  


• Anyways:
• 'Mad Max: Fury Road' and 'Creed'. Two great film releases this year that were thoroughly enjoyed- simple, classic stories told well. Best TV show; 'Daredevil'. Finally, they got the tone of my favourite incarnations of the character and his world right. The action sequences and shot choices; fantastic. The guy gets tired in combat. Excellent. Frank Castle in 2016? My inner nerd finally gets its childhood wish. I predict I'll be as excited as I was when I was sitting there during 'Creed'. A renewed love and respect for 'Lawrence of Arabia'.
• Caesar Campbell's Autobiographies were enjoyable, if not crazy for the "true to life" brutality. I read both cover to cover in about a week when I got to the mid-semester break. Currently devouring Jack Kinney's anecdotes about Walt Disney and life working for the animation juggernaut; from the early 30s to the late 50s/60s. Ennis and Parlov's hardcover 'Fury Max' series was my pick for series this year. Very much enjoyed Millar and Murphy's 4 issue 'Chrononauts' miniseries, the always entertaining Eric Powell's 'Goon', and Gestalt's releases 'Unmasked', 'Caddy full of Blood', 'Fly', 'Broken Line', 'Changing Ways' (you're a champion, Justin), 'MIDAS' etc. No missteps (and no bias). And again, lovely Amanda's xmas presents of Miller and Janson's complete 'Daredevil' run is just great.  
• Enjoyed the audio books for Mike McColl-Jones, a longtime writer for Australian live TV Comedy. I wrote a post on some of the words that he said that resonated with me, and the state of Australian audiences and their sentiments towards Australian talent, but I think it was more therapeutic for me to write it, rather than release it. Though listening to an Andrew Denton interview with George Miller today, there's a few more words I could add to strengthen it. I'll leave it in draft for now.
• Trawling youtube for every Muhammad Ali interview and fight I've missed over the years, to watch while I work. Plus, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jack Johnson, and other Boxing greats. 

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• We lost Chuckie, but gained 'Cheese'; adopted from the Bird Vet. She is a lovely little puff- brings out my soft side, it seems. Her friend Cookie wasn't with us for too long either, but she isn't forgotten. A helpful edition to the lonely drawing board.

Ok, I think that's the main things. As always, I want to thank Amanda and my Family (both mine and hers) for the love and support through the tough year. It hasn't been smooth for any of us, especially in the health of those closest to me. But, we're all alive, have food in the kitchen and a roof over our heads- better off than most, and that's something to be thankful for. Looking forward to seeing my family healthy by this time next year, happy as can be, and further runs on the board for 2016; keep chasing that light at the end of the tunnel.