But, masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass.

-Wm. Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4, Scene 2

It’s out there, it’s acknowledged, so now it can be dealt with.

Recently, it was brought to my attention again that I am an insufferable ass. It’s not a point of pride, just a facet of my personality, just as intolerance of cruelty towards others is a facet of my personality. I am much less of an asshole than I used to be. I work hard at being a better person, and emphasizing those parts of my personality that I’d much rather be seen by people than just my being an ass.

Perhaps being an ass is not a facet of my personality so much as a product of the things that make up my personality. Could it be that an ass is not as accurate description of one’s personality as much a convenient and brief descriptor of the various aspects of a personality? Lend me, if you will, a few moments to explore the issue.

I am curious about the world around me. It’s not the type of curiosity you exhibited by small children, where everything is something to be explored and tested.  I pay attention to the news, to politics, and things that catch that generally catch my eye. I’ve been that way for so long, I cannot understand how anyone can cease being curious. Problems may initially seem to big to understand, but experience has taught me that there is not a problem too large for a human being to understand.

I am an intelligent person. I’m not bragging. I have been told by people that I am knowledgeable about a great many things and I have tested well whenever the circumstances have arisen that my intelligence has come into question. I retain knowledge well, and have enough sense that when confronted with a problem that I do not immediately recall the answer to, I can generally find the answer in a limited amount of time.  I do not claim to be a fountain of knowledge, but I do get constantly amazed whenever I see a lack of knowledge in others.

I think this brings up the aspect that may make me an ass. I cannot fathom people not being curious or feeling proud of ignorance. In this week’s episode of Real Time, Bill Maher went on about the statistics of belief that Americans held. These are baffling to me, and yes, if you respond to me commenting on my cold by recommending Zicam, yes, I will probably correct you on the ineffectiveness and the potential harm of overdosing on Zinc. If you want to espouse on how man didn’t evolve because it disagres with a literal interpretation of the Bible, I may just dismiss you. If you try to dismiss intellectuals as not having common sense, I may remind you that without those intellectuals you might have already died from smallpox, influenza, polio, or the measles. If you tell me that Obama was born in Kenya, I may just ask you for proof.

Yes, I guess I should probably just let people live in their ignorance, but ignorant adults raise ignorant children into more ignorant adults. Ignorant people gather together and reinforce each other’s pride in their ignorance. Ignorant people are ready to believe things blindly and that leads us into witch hunts, unjust wars, and death. I cannot tolerate prideful ignorance, and perhaps that is what makes me an ass.

The quote is from Dogberry, a character that Shakespeare used to poke fun at citizenry given power that they are unqualified for. It was written before the days of American law where we would like to think that those with power are qualified, yet that all are equal. We all have access to the same knowledge, especially in the age of the Internet. However, if I respond to ignorance with overpowering correction, I can appear to be arrogant, and yes, let it be written down that I am an ass.

So, in the effort to not be an ass, I believe that I need to try a different response to ignorance, even willful ignorance needs to be an approach that encourages curiosity. Where did the Moon come from? Well, where would you go to find that out? I need to be less confrontational, and more encouraging of exploration. I need to lead them to the truth, not prove that they’re wrong. I’ve been going about it the wrong way for years. It’s not just about me being right.

So yes, I am ass. But I’m trying hard not to be.

I’m making the Original Art for several strips available within the next 24 Hours. Initially, I was going to make them available on the store page, but finally decided that the best way to offer them is in that bit of text that goes with every comic posted. So look for that button you see at the top of this post and own a strip that you like. Some artwork will cost more than others, but the price for most artwork will be $25.00.

Why are am I doing this, you ask? Well, I need money, yes, but as long as I have it scanned and backed up on multiple disks, I don’t need the original art at all. Also I do need the cash, which I’d rather earn from something I drew than going out there with my hat in hand and begging. This also brings me to the next bit I wanted to talk about this evening.

I really can’t go into too much detail, but suffice it to say that I want to feel comfortable talking about my life. That being said, I am going to be on the serious hunt for a permanent, full-time day job, so I can pay my bills, put some away and afford to pursue other interests. Mainly, it’s these other interests that I’m a little fixated on at this particular moment, but in the hierarchy of values, I need to first feel good about myself and in how I can present myself to others.

Tonight I’m going to prep tomorrow’s strip for posting, and post the button on the appropriate strips so people can buy them. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to ride my bike. Then I’m going to shower, e-mail some resumes, and look into some fresh starts and call about some money owed to me. Any time left will be spent cleaning up my room and making my space a lot more of what I want and less of what will do for the time being.

Okay, I’m feeling pretty good. So, how are you?

Right now things are pretty good. I don’t want to jinx anything, but I feel all right, albeit a little overwhelmed in my attempts to organize my bedroom. Still looks like I’m moving in, and that I don’t have enough space for everything. I still have a horrible-paying day job, but that may change for the first quarter of the year. I’ll know more by week’s end.
I am looking at posting the next strip in Factor of 01 tomorrow, but there’s a lot that I want to do today. Speaking of which, I need to get started on it. I was waiting for it to warm up a little outside but I guess high 40s is the best I can hope for. I know, you people up north can’t feel bad for me, but I can live with that.

Well, as I’ve been updating on Twitter, I’ve been doing the heavy job search for full time gainful employment here in warm and (very importantly this month) snow-free Orlando. The success rate has been zero and a very promising lead from Monday has not progressed past the point that I left it. That’s discouraging, but I’ve tried not to let it get me down and I’m still hopeful that something may happen in the near future. If so, then this plan of action is moot (Hopefully, it doesn’t materialize after I’ve executed this plan). Now, let me explain the plan of action.

I’m moving back to North Carolina. I’ll continue to scour want ads in the next week just in case a last minute option comes about, but for the most part, I’ll be watching North Carolina want ads more than Orlando ones. Hopefully I’ll have better luck in the Lenoir/Hickory/Charlotte area, but the further I have to travel for work, the more it needs to pay. I’m really looking for office work, as that’s what I’ve been doing for the past nine years. I’ll also set up the web site to showcase a little more design work and maybe get a little freelance work. That part is a loose plan, but let’s go back to firmer parts of the plan.

I still need to talk to my friends here in Orlando to get a sense of the exact date that I’ll be moving. I can’t afford to stay in Orlando long, and once I move the real pressure is on to get full time employment as quickly as possible to avoid prospects worse than having to move to North Carolina. I am trying to look on the bright side of the move, if for no reason other than to avoid thinking about moving all of the books I own again. I do look forward to attending Sunday meetups with the Gastonia Society for FreeThought. I hope to be able to attend HeroesCon, which is something I may not have been able to do from down here. I do look forward to being close to my family, since they are growing older. I most importantly look forward to making my life better. The past four months have been hard, and next few weeks will be harder, as I have to leave good friends that have supported me as I made a huge transition. They also got me drawing again, and that is something that I will not let ebb away from the drawing sessions.

The drawing being brought up, let me assure you that I’ll try to keep the strip on weekly Monday updates. A week may get missed in the near future, but not in the next two weeks. The great thing about ComicPress is that I can pre-load the updates. I’m also going to reprint Jet-Pack Jenny and the Flight of the Virginia Dare with Ka-Blam, in one volume with annotations at the back of the book. Bunkee #5 will be coming as well, again, with annotations towards the back of the book.

In the meantime, please check out the commissions page, the shop page and my Etsy store if you want to help out in any way. Commissions may take a little longer as I’ll be spending a lot of time packing up boxes, but I will get to any requests as quickly as possible.