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So as you have noticed, Spoofy Randomness’s update schedule has been just about as irregular as an old man off of his fiber diet…  There’s a reason why I’m trying to wrap up the comic, and the main reason is it’s just too darn time-consuming.  Spring is chaos in general, but the last two weekends (the only time I really have time for the comic) have been occupied with my mother-in-law visiting in Colorado and work on the house, and I know I will be out camping with the Scouts this next weekend.  So, in short, don’t expect updates until Easter, but I’m hoping to push out several at that time (knock on wood) and, with a bit of luck, update semi-regularly after that (at least until I go to California and Pennsylvania in the same week…).  If push really comes to shove, you will get twice-a-week updates during the summer!

Spoofy Randomness made its way into the Johnson-Brock news broadcast! If you want to watch me talk about Spoofy Randomness, you can watch the video here.  The news broadcasts are something that J-B students put together about twice a month; they are pretty cool.

In other news, I found out that I will be spending two weeks in Japan this summer.  I got in on a Japan-U.S. Teacher Exchange Program (one of I believe 24 teachers in the nation, so I did not actually expect to make it in!).  Cool stuff!

So you’ve probably noticed that my update schedule over the last few months has been erratic.  After my computer had that little disagreement with the art program, I was attempting to get caught up again by filling in the gaps.  This had the downside of having to make two or more comics a week.  That…doesn’t work.  My average workweek lately has been around 55-60 hours.  I tell you this not as a sympathy plea, as I’m doing what I love (teaching), but so you understand that no, I don’t have the time to make multiple comics in one week if I want to keep up at my job as well as be a husband, keep up with REAL WORLD stuff (yuck) and be a servant to my spoiled kitty.  My goal was to get caught up by March, as that’s when life gets even crazier…that ain’t happening.  So I’m just pushing my script off a month, meaning no February updates.  The comic will update regularly starting in March.  I figure if I wind up really wanting the script I dropped from the finale, I can always update twice a week in the summer, when I have MUCH less in the way of obligations.

See you next weekend!

And GIMP caught up to OSX Maverick again!  Which means I can make comics again!  Huurah!  Here’s the color version of the most recent comic, and more to come!

So as you probably noticed, today’s comic was in black and white.  That’s not supposed to happen.  I’m having a couple technical difficulties interfering with comic-making.  Problem #1 is that I use a Logitech mouse.  Since upgrading to OSX Maverick, it has been a little touchy and won’t always drag what needs to be dragged.  This is a pain, but workable.  However, I ALSO have the problem of GIMP (my art program) crashing on me unexpectedly and frequently.  As you might imagine, this significantly delays comic production and turns making comics from a fun hobby to a pain in my butt.  The last few weeks have been very scattered in updates because of this, and that’s why there are no backgrounds or color in today’s strip.

SO, that’s where I’m at.  As we just reached the end of The Featherhead, it is a good time to put the comic on hiatus until I can get this sorted out/new drivers come out.  I don’t plan on being idle during this time; I will draw twice as many comics with the intent of editing and updating twice a week once I get my tech to cooperate.

So first of all, I’d like to thank Brianna for her help in getting the aforementioned GIMP issue fixed. That was a big help.  Turns out it was pretty simple; the version of GIMP that I had didn’t play nicely with OSX Maverick, which I had just installed.  Easy fix…if you realize that’s the problem!

The lack of comic today, however, has little to do with these technical problems.  It turns out that in making the comic (which was done ahead of time!), I realized I had come down with a severe case of nincompoopitis and accidentally skipped a week! Given that I had already made plans for today, I didn’t get a chance to rectify my error on time.  Today’s comic IS inked and will hopefully be posted in the next day or two once I color it.  The good news is that next week’s comic is already done!

So tomorrow’s comic is drawn, inked, edited, and colored. The only thing remaining is the text. HOWEVER, the art program I use (GIMP) is spazzing out whenever I try to type. Anyone familiar with GIMP who can help me fix this problem? I can’t finish a comic until I get it fixed! (And yes, IT Crowd fans, I have tried turning it off and on.)

As you have noticed, there is a lack of both comic and sketchbook this week.  It’s the end of the quarter, which tends to be chaotic, my mother-in-law is visiting from Colorado all week, we’ve had sewage issues (talk about a crappy problem…), I was out camping with the Boy Scouts all weekend, and I’ve been working through some personal problems.  I was hoping to get a late post up this week (it is already inked, after all), but I think at this point it would be best if I spent time with family and gave myself a chance to get back on my feet. Fall break starts tomorrow; I intend to get a buffer of a couple comics under my belt.  I know you guys are dying to see elf-Nikki; come back Sunday!

The Sunday comic may be a bit on the late side.  It’s been a really chaotic week with a couple of 12 hour workdays and a trip to Lincoln, so I haven’t had a chance to start it other than scripting and I’m on the road again today.  I am hoping to post by Sunday evening.

Also, yes, it appears I borked the website somehow.  Will try to fix later.