Our trip to California was great, aside from the fact that we all got sick. The Slussers threw a great party for us, so we had the chance to see a great many old friends once again and make plans for most of the rest of our vacation. Fortunately - especially given our unforseen sickness - we also had ample time to relax and take in the natural beauty of the mountains. The temperature was pleasant, easily twenty to forty degrees warmer than what we had left behind in Minneapolis; it was like coming home to the springtime. Seeing the entire nuclear family again was great; it's neat to be able to spend time with them all and talk to them now that we're all adults. It was also great to spend some time with my nieces and nephew, though trying at times, kids being kids and we being childless. As Pastor Dave told me when I went to see him, having children shows you a new kind of love that you don't really get to experience when you're just a couple (as well as introducing a whole new world of responsibilities, obviously, and forcing you to develop a lot of patience). I look forward to finishing up my schooling in two years so we can go home again. We still have no concrete plans beyond that, but I think I can safely say that returning to California is a high priority in both of our minds.

So here we are, back in Minnesota, trying to recover from our colds and enjoying my time away from school. I'm quite pleased that I have around a month of time off before I start up again; the trip was a splendid way to begin my time off. I do have a comics project that I'm working on during my break - the story for Comic Heads Presents, which I've probably mentioned a few times before on this blog. I had originally planned to submit a 24-page comic using my Rome characters, but the school schedule turned out to be too much work for me to focus on it at all, and now that I've finished my final projects for Comics Publishing and Comics II classes, I find that I would prefer to do something shorter and in a different time period. Fortunately, the project doesn't have to be in pencils until well into January, but I still need to finish typing the script so I can e-mail it to the editor. I'm going with a story based on a parable explained by Kirkegaard, which was brought to my attention by Phillip Yancey in his book Disappointment With God (which I recommend). The story is set in a fantastic ancient Mycaenaean-like setting, about a prince who falls in love with a commoner, and what he must do in order to gain her love.

The parable was one big part of the inspiration, obviously, but I also have to admit that the setting of the story was inspired by playing "Shadow of the Colossus" at Pat's house before we left for California. If you haven't seen it (or better yet, played it), it's a beautiful game made by the same people who made "ICO", and shares many of its characteristics - a vast, open, mysterious setting, with excellent sound effects and ambient sound, the occasional dramatic music (which is quite cool), and little to no explanation or exposition to introduce the story. You're just dropped into the middle of this story about a guy riding a horse around and fighting giant monsters, apparently at the direction of an unseen deity or great spirit, while longing for a comatose young woman on an altar in a vast temple. I was hooked just by watching the main character riding his horse - the horse movement and gameplay is amazing by itself. Rent it out and play it, if you can.

My next post will be about my favorite fantasy novels, and I fully expect everyone who reads this blog to respond to it with their own, okay? I just need a little bit of time to start working on a list, so give me a day or two...

Happy New Year, by the way. We went over to the neighbor's for a delicious vegetarian meal inspired by the Moosewood cookbook, listened to some music and somehow managed to get into arguments about both politics and religion. If I had gotten drunk and flirted with or threw up on someone I could have finished the night breaking every party rule. Well, there's always next year.

I've become leery of resolutions, as I invariably fail to fulfill them and often forget about them after about two weeks. I suppose it doesn't matter, as resolutions are something you should consider on a day-to-day basis. If I need to make one this year, I'll go with something obvious: I resolve to do well in school this year, to become a better artist and writer.

Happy now?