Wow. That’s the surface of Titan! I saw a picture of Titan. That’s the most incredible thing ever.

I am beginning to formulate an opinion about How Things Ought To Be Done, which goes something along these lines:

When people meet because they like to do something meet, they should do the thing they like to do.

It still requires some tuning before it’s ready for mass consumption as a snappy aphorism, and could perhaps do with some kind of metaphorical presentation in an animal proverb or the like, but I think it’s a sound general principle. When singers get together, they should sing. When rugby fans get together, they should play rugby. When lion tamers get together, they should tame lions. They should not just sit around talking about taming lions. Get in there and show how it’s done.

When it comes to comics, I have always found that you can get a lot more talking about comics done if you do it while you’re drawing comics, which is why I have always enjoyed Funtime workshops. Apart from the heady atmosphere of good company and iced animal biscuits, they give you a block of time once a month when there’s no excuse to put drawing off for later. Stuff gets done.

Auckland does not have Funtime workshops, so Angelo and I have been formulating plans to start some. We have gained permission to use a room in the central city NatColl building on Saturday afternoons, ascertained that a reasonable number of people in Auckland are interested, and visited Gotham Comics this evening to make sure their regular Friday night gathering isn’t too similar to what we’re planning. It turns out we’re OK, so I can now announce that workshops will be taking place on the first Saturday of each month, beginning in February. Further details will be forthcoming.

Among the things you expect when renting a van, in the negative sort of way that you expect things when it wouldn’t have occurred to you that it might be otherwise, is that there not be an extra thousand dollars or so tacked onto the bill for no discernible reason. Some of the other things you expect would be that they take some notice of the address you give them to contact you, and that they would honour a promise to call you back as soon as they have worked out how they screwed up. You would especially expect this after you have pointed out to them that they have failed to honour this promise on two previous occasions.

I have reached such an extreme of annoyance and frustration that I am left with no option but to frankly state that I would not recommend Budget Rentals for any kind of van renting. Especially any kind that involves the slightest degree of not screwing over customers.

Yesterday C and T bought me ferns for my room, because a room isn’t a room without ferns. They had to hunt to find them at the garden centre, because apparently people don’t buy many ferns these days, but if ferns are out of style then I don’t care. You can keep your hi-fi mobile hardcore technoplants, or whatever it is the kids are getting these days. Me and my fern posse be kickin it old-school.

Today I bought a watering can. Nothing’s too good for my ferns.

No Right Turn is maintaining a table of tsunami aid contributions from different countries per head of population. This is the sort of international competition the world could use more of.

Sure enough, there was nobody at the café when we arrived. Also the café was closed. We waited around for half an hour to make sure it wasn’t some kind of trick and then left. When I got home I learned that one other person had shown up, but left a few minutes before we arrived.

I don’t feel particularly annoyed about this for two reasons: first, it was pretty much what I expected would happen; and second, on the way home we got cake. And it was a very nice cake that was sort of half cheesecake and half berry crumble.

To summarise…

Bad: comics people do not check that the venue is open before organising meetings with unspecified times.

Good: I had some cake.

Tonight I’m off to meet the comics makers of Auckland. Or rather, I have carefully scouted out the location of the Alleluya café and confirmed that it is the right place and I have the right evening. There are apparently many precedents for these events not occurring due to people showing up at the wrong time, or at the wrong location, or showing up at the right time in the right location but assuming everyone else is at the wrong location and going there. So we’ll see.