I'm trying to work but my mind keeps drifting to friends who have been evacuated from their homes by the wildfires in and around Malibu. When we talk about the proper role of government in our lives, I wish there was more concern given to dealing with natural disasters. Among the responders who are called into action in such situations, there seems to be unanimous agreement that they could use more manpower, more equipment, more preventive maintenance, etc. But somehow when there's no fire, no flood, no earthquake (etc.), it seems real easy to save money on those kinds of things.
Several folks have written to ask me what would be the best method to purchase a copy of the Space Circus hardcover if they want to put maximum bucks in the pockets of its makers. Anywhere is fine, thank you. Your local comic book shop would probably appreciate the business but if you don't have one, use my Amazon link. We have no signings planned. At the moment, the only place I expect to be appearing in the next six months is WonderCon in Anaheim next March and I don't bring books to sell. I leave that to the dealers.
When I write here about all the spam calls I get from people trying to sell me stuff, I always forget to mention that a lot of those calls ask for my mother. My mother passed away over twelve years ago and every time she was hospitalized in her last years, I put her phone number on Call Forwarding to mine and after she died, I never took it off. The phone company has long since reassigned it to someone else but — and I have no idea how this works — I now get calls for her at my number. Yesterday, I told a solicitor (a home improvement guy) who asked for her that she died in 2012 and that he'd bought a badly-outdated list of potential pigeons. He yelled "Shit!" and hung up. Didn't even try to sell me his services.
So now it looks like the plan to convert the Norms Restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard in L.A. into a Raising Canes is off. Good. I'm still largely leaving my home only for doctor appointments but when I get back to eating out, one of the first places I'll hit is that Norms.
I'm not following the news much but I see that authorities have arrested a man who they think is the man who murdered that United Healthcare CEO…and they seem pretty sure they have the right guy. I saw a few things online where people said this was good because it might prevent more people from wanting to kill CEOs. Okay…but that's not a crime that happens very often. I'm more concerned about people who want to kill mail carriers, Uber drivers, retail employees, the neighbor across the street, someone who plays their stereo too loud, comic book writers, Walmart greeters, police officers, ex-spouses, current spouses, anyone with a very different lifestyle, kids sitting in classrooms…you get the idea…