Hey guys… quick update about tomorrow’s strip. I’m going to be out of town, and I don’t know for sure if the hotel we’re being put up at has internet or not. I’ll bring along a phone cord, just in case, but I’m just saying that so if the strip doesn’t get up in time (it should) you don’t freak out and think I really DID cancel the strip (and to those of you who think I have, shame on you. It says plain as day underneath the comic that I wouldn’t do that.). Hopefully, we’ll have internet, and all will be well.
Also, thank you so much to everyone who has signed up for the RLSG so far. You guys have been a huge help, and if it all keeps up, we should easily be able to take care of all our expenses. Take it easy, guys!
Big news for Greg and Liz!
Okay, best place to start would be at the beginning. In May, when we went to E3, we returned back to our apartment to find that somehow or another, the tree outside our balcony had managed to grow in the way of our satellite dish (we would have cable, but our apartment complex has it’s own, very crappy cable company. Airwave reception was better, especially at $40 a month.). We asked them to take care of the tree, they said they would have the landscapers do it, case closed. So we thought. The tree is still untouched, and we’ve had to pay over $40 a month for satellite television we can’t even watch. That’s point one. Point two consists of the fact that the breaker boxes here are crap, and for a while we would come home to find that the a/c had gone out. Thankfully, it was only during the day, so we could flip the breaker and turn it back on, and all would be well that evening. However, we talked to them about it, and nothing really got done. Then we got back from comic con to find that the a/c had gone out while we were away, for a few days. Our apartment was over 100 degrees inside. Our cats were okay, thankfully, but my rat wasn’t so lucky. You can sort of think of that as the last straw.
So, last week, we went out looking for houses for rent. Aside from our apartment troubles, we’ve just been dealing with the lack of space. It’s a very small apartment, and we’re up to our ears in stuff we can’t find anywhere to put. We just flat out needed a house. And we found one! The landlord just said we got it on Friday, so I’m really, really excited.
In fact, I’m even going to show you a picture.
Now, bear in mind that I have to consider my own well-being when it comes to this sort of thing. If I just flat-out post a picture of the place, it’s easy for anyone to find it, and while I enjoy people, and love company, there’s always the off-chance that someone is going to come by and try to harm me. I mean, I’m sure Real Life has made me a few enemies. Mostly French people. So, I would definately have to edit out the address. But that got me thinking that perhaps the color of the house would make it still easily recognizable. So, I thought I would have to perhaps make the picture grayscale. Then I realized that simply the vegetation outside would be a dead giveaway… i mean, there’s a big-ass tree in front, as well as a few other plants, so maybe if I edited those out, we’d be okay. Hell, even after all that, with enough studying of a picture, anyone can link it to its real-life counterpart. So, atfer much careful editing, I present you with the picture I can show you of our new house:
Seriously, though, I can say that it’s in Sun River, which is the area I grew up in. I love the houses there… they have a very distinct interior style that just works with me. And the rent per month is actually very reasonable, considering that it’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a 2-car garage and a landscaped backyard.
Reality is just starting to set in, though. Despite the fact that we’ve paid a deposit, I find out that the landlords want both first and last month’s rent up front. In addition, the apartment is saying that we have to pay rent for 30 days after our 30 day notice is over, which amounts to a little over 1 month’s rent HERE. We would just wait till our lease is up, but that’s about 5 months off. Now, we work and all that, but there’s no way we can cover those expenses by the end of this month. Originally, I was thinking of perhaps doing something similar to what I did last time, when we moved here. After talking with a friend, though, I realized that probably wasn’t the best thing to be doing. I don’t want to alienate you readers… it’s not right, and I won’t do it.
However, I got to thinking about the RLSG, and I have some ideas that will make it a bit nicer for you, as well as helping me out right now. First off, many people have been asking me to allow users to sign up in advance, to save them the time of having to do it every month. That’s easy enough to do, so done and done. Now you can sign up for as many months as you want, and you will be automatically entered in the support group at the beginning of every month. If you’ve already signed up for this month, not to worry, it will be taken into account.
In addition, I’ve added a bit of incentive for people to sign up this month. As well as the Shirt Ninja wallpaper, you will also have access to two comics that have never run online. I did them as one-page deals for AmeriManga. They’re full-page format comics, and something of a preview of coming attractions. I plan on doing more in the future, perhaps even multi-page stories. But even if you purchased the issues of AmeriManga they ran in, these are in full color. They will be available to everyone who signs up for the Real Life Support Group this month, as well as everyone who has already signed up. Joining the RLSG is probably the best way to help out, if you can. It’s cheap, and every sign-up helps.
Lastly, I’ve made the past two gifts available with the current ones as a package deal. If you’ve never signed up for the RLSG before, and missed the past two month’s gifts, this makes it easy for you. It’s only $15, which is the same as it would have cost to join had you signed up for all three months. This gives you the current shirt ninja wallpaper, last month’s “Triple Self-Portrait” wallpaper, the 2 AmeriManga comics, AND the Real Life Magic Cards. It’s a good way to get started with the RLSG, or get the things you may have missed.
I’m going to be working on other projects on my own to try and come up with the money for all this. It’s a large expense, but hopefully with my efforts, and a bit of support from you guys, I’ll be able to pay for it all.
I’ll keep you all updated as to how things are going. In the meantime, back to the comic. I need to make sure I don’t lose focus. :D Thanks in advance, guys! You really are some of the best readers anyone could ever ask for. Take care!