Thursday, January 03, 2008

Worst lunch of the New Year

Things are a little slow at work this week so I thought I’d take a long lunch and do some work on my novella. I packed up my first draft and headed over to Chipotlé for a burrito. My first mistake was deciding to try something “new,” which meant steak instead of my usual chicken. Might as well have ordered a gristle burrito for what it was worth. Horrible, but I got my revenge by using a fat stack of napkins spitting out bits of fat. Kinda messed up my literary aspirations a bit, but I got back on track. My second mistake was in thinking I could get any writing done there. I swear I’m a magnet for the most deficient people. No matter where I sit, invariably, the most obnoxious of people locate themselves next to me and today was no different. Two college girls plop themselves at the table right next to me in a vacant seating area. (See what I mean by the magnet thing?) They then delve into the most vapid conversation I think I’ve ever heard at a volume normally reserved for rock concerts. Here’s a smattering of the thought provoking conversation that derailed my rewriting:

“So, like, nobody, like, likes her, ‘cuz she’s, like, a total tease.”

“Are you, like, serious?!”

“Totally. She was, like, at this party, like, New Year’s with, like, four guys.”

“Are you, like serious?!”

Obviously these young ladies were English majors. I hope that when Lilah grows up she doesn’t talk that way. Depressing to think such thoughts, but such is the life of a Dad.

In creative news...my Friday deadline for ear boxing will hopefully be met, but it might not be until late, late Friday night. Figured out I’ve been using the wrong quill. For some reason I was so focused on using the Hunt 102, which was frustrating me to no end last night with its unwillingness to lay down a line, that I forgot about my fave quill, the 512. Laid down as many lines in ten minutes this morning as I did in a couple hours last night. Ugh. Looking forward to diving back into the page this evening and hope to knock out the lion’s share of the remaining art tonight with fine tuning and clean up tomorrow.

8 comments:

todd said...

man, i LOVE that monkey-flunkin' ring! that is, like, so, awesome!

feel bad 'cause i missed your blog of yesterday too--but been busy (and happily productive) doing some lettering, so...

can't wait to see what you're inkin'!

Christian D. Leaf said...

Thanks, Todd. Felt like Ralphie getting his Red Ryder BB Gun with Compass in Stock. I knew what present it was under the tree, but I still opened it last as to savor the moment.

No need to feel bad. You're lettering the 'Haps, which we're all jonesin' for. (Now get back to work!)

You may change your tune once I post it. May have bit off more than I can chew after taking so long off. Still it's been fun. I'll post Byrne's pencils along with it as to further add to my embarrassment.

Adam Hutch said...

Leaf, I share your fears of my little 8 month old girl growing up into something like the Community College co-eds I see loitering around my town.

Anonymous said...

Yeah...I look at the youth of today and cringe for my two girls. Hopefully, with Daddy following everything they do they will not be popular, and stay away from the riff-raff...;)
Who knows what will come of them, we can only hope for the best, and teach them some good manners..which seems to fall by the bay these days...

Christian D. Leaf said...

If all else fails we can alway enroll them in a martial art. That way they'll at least learn respect for their elders and be able to defend themselves against the riff-raff. I'd be willing to forgive the abuse of the word "like," for the other two pluses.

renecarol said...

I think kids talk like that to be cute and then they get stuck talking that way without even really thinking about it. Pretty much how all habits begin.
I think martial is a good idea though - I hate to think what my kid would be like without the little bit of respect she's learned at Tae Kwon Do. Today's kids are a product of their environment. I was talking to someone at work yesterday about how today's kids don't appreciate things the way that our generation did. My daughter got spacers on Thursday and he asked how that went and got an earful about how much money all her ortho work is going to cost;)

Matt Wieringo said...

Mom used to say the same thing about my generation and would always finish with, "I can't wait until you have kids so you can see what I'm talking about..."

HA! No kids! Take that, Mom!

renecarol said...

I think all generations are a product of their environment. My parents grew up during the Great Depression - the fact that they had so little made them appreciate things more than my generation. I think your parents are a little younger than mine though. They may have missed the Depression affecting their environment but I imagine the years after it 'weren't no picnic either.' Today's kids (iGeneration) have so much - cellphones, iPods and portable dvd players. They're a product of their environment.