Gyah! It's almost half way through 2009 already! It's gone so fast and so much has happened!

First of all, I moved flats and did not have the Internet for 3 whole months! Man, it was like I was living in the dark ages. I realized how much I have come to rely on the www. I never want to be without it ever again! So here I am, back on DeviantArt, and all is right with the world again.

Another big thing that's happened: I started to get some comic strips published in the 360 newspaper. For those of you who don't know it, 360° - news from all angles - is the fortnightly newspaper for staff at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, where I work. The newspaper includes a mix of news, staff achievements and features that keep staff informed about the Trust.

Staff can pick up copies of 360° from 20 points across Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea, St Mary's and Western Eye Hospitals, and two points at Imperial College London, South Kensington campus. (I copied and pasted that from the website: [link] ) It has a readership of 10000+.

It sounds great, but it was hell trying to come up with an idea for a strip that was PC enough for them and didn't "offend" anybody. Apparently, to the people working at the 360, everything offends everybody. When I finally did come up with a strip, I got merely 2 strips published, and they decided to pull it. This is because the department that deals with counselling staff were concerned with how it was coming across.

I could use this journal to vent my frustrations and gripe for pages and pages about how these people don't understand that the whole point of a comic strip is to help people to have a sense of humor about life... but I won't. I'm tired of being angry, it's not worth it... it's their loss really. I'll just chalk it up as experience and move on to bigger and better things.

So I have decided to collaborate with my brother on a comic book project next - he will do the writing, I will do the art. It seems logical since we share a 2-bedroom flat now, and i've always wanted to do it. We used to make loads of comics together when we were kids, so it should be interesting. I will be posting most of what we churn out here on my DeviantArt page...