Having some eye problems, folks. The dry weather of Arizona killed my poor eyes, esp the lack of air conditioning and sand, and so I am resting them by trying not to focus too hard on things. So if things are misspelled, there's the reason. Drawing's not too bad, but it's the inking that's being difficult. I actually have the next comic fully drawn out, but that's all. So it will be up saturday.
Slowly getting back into the swing of things... I apologize. I didn't think a mission trip would wear me out so bad that I'd need a week to recoop. I bet it was the lack of amenities. We are SO spoiled with air conditioning, working showers, not sharing a bathroom with 14 or so girls, cell phone service that's not just at&t, ... trees ...

For those of you wondering, the trip was organized through my church to Hardrock Arizona, which is a compound in Navajo nation. We put on a 5-day program for the children, w/an adult and youth program. It was really quiet there for me, or "still" would be a better descriptor, since there's no inundation of stimuli from society (w/the exception of iphones). It was really nice to really get away from it all, and just sit and read for awhile. We were kept really busy, anyway. You get used to being hot and sweaty all the time within the first few days, although it sucks when you have to take a shower in the middle of the day (girls' shower stopped working only, so we had to use the "snore"house's showers at certain times) and break out in sweat as soon as you towel off. To try to keep the houses cool, the windows are left open, but then dust and sand are continuously blowing in. And it does jack for the top bunks anyway. And the bugs ... are freakin' huge! (and everywhere) I was chased down the sidewalk by a red fire ant that looked like it was out for blood. The big flies are really annoying because they're so loud, but they're really slow so even I got one. Bugs don't squish, it's so dry. They just kinda flatten and then spring back into shape.

As for our transportaion, we rented 7 vans to transport ourselves as well as the navajo who lived off the compound. they're old vans. Let's just say ... I now know how a tin can's contents feel rolling down the stairs.

Well, all that aside, the children are adorable. Yeah, they're loud, noisy, rambunctious and have way too much energy, but they aren't shy about showing affection. Or rather, they aren't as afraid to show affection. I couldn't help comparing them to kids back home, and the navajo children just feel more pure. They kinda attacked/mobbed one of our actors (playing a roman centurion) because he was being unfair, and one of them didn't want to come back because he thought we were actually going to kill Paul (we were acting out the Underground churches in Rome during the time the apostle Paul was in jail). They love hugs and piggyback rides, and the people are beautiful and welcoming. Oh, and food was good, thanks to our head cook and kitchen staff. Actually, the food was really good, and not something you'd expect to get when there's no A.C.

.... ... ... ... I'm afraid I have no energy to do anything, so I will have to miss an update. Sunday was a "wake up at 4 am, plane is late, sleep at 1 am", so you can probably guess what I did all Monday.
I am enjoying not being in 116 Fahrenheit weather without air conditioning and with working, adjacent showers, and no dust everywhere. And with vehicles that don't break down every other day.

Since Twitter cut my message short, I'll mention it here too.

I will be out of town next week, but there WILL be updates. I've been kinda working on the next 3 comics in assembly-line style: working on all the drafts, then all the underdrawings, etc. That means Friday the 10th's comic will be posted on Saturday. Hopefully, this will feel like a small price to pay for having updates next week (especially since I was a day late aaalll last week... >.>).

And a quick heads up: Monday, July 20th will probably be a day late to Tuesday the 21st, since I get back late Sunday (19th).

(And for those of you wondering, no I'm NOT going on vacation. It be a workin' trip.)