Tim Blair, my former boss’s boss (er… something like that), puts it quite eloquently:

Inexperience in Washington politics is a lot like recruiting a rookie to play on a last place team. They certainly won’t make things worse and might just make things better.

Tonight is the night I see Radiohead. (And Liars!) It’s also the night I get to hang out with Leah and commemorate what would be the birthday of JD Rhea. We’ll both have goosebumps and tears for more reasons than can be counted.

The best part of all this, aside from having the potential to be the most memorable night in recent years, is that there’s a rumor buzzing that video of the show is going to be broadcast online. That means that, by next week, I’ll be able to find a professionally-shot video of the most significant concert I’ve ever attended that I’ll be able to keep forever. Now that’s cool.

If you care to get a play-by-play, you can be watching my Twitter for updates.

This is shaping up to be a wonderful day.

I didn’t feel like drawing a comic this week, and I’m at least half a week late anyway, so here’s a crappy drawing of my shoe that took maybe half an hour:

(Click for full size, as always.)

It’s been a long time since I sketched something I was looking at. Despite that, I don’t think I did that bad. What do you think?

Also, a hearty CONGRATULATIONS to Amy (yes, the one made “famous” in my dumb comics) who got engaged on Tuesday to the dapper and charming Dan B. The only downside to this moment of awesomeness is that now I have to work my vacation time schedules around their prospective October wedding date, seeing how Amy wants me to be there and stuff. I know, life is rough. Way to not work around my needs with your little wedding, guys. Jeez.

I get to be the funny one in this one. Weeee. Also, Amy said she didn’t want to wear a smock any more, and she wanted… uh… more evident lady parts.

(Click image for full size)

Other than the fact that I accidentally gave her black lipstick in the second frame and that I seemed to have trouble drawing myself consistently, I think it turned out decent enough.

I’m on a roll. Once again, this was an actual conversation, barely edited so it would fit into comic form, and clearly not censored whatsoever. That’s how I like it. And I’m posting it without running it by Amy first because she’s gone all weekend. Whoops.

(Click for full size)

I tried drawing it bigger this time, which meant it took two pages to get it done. It made the job easier, but this whole scanning, cropping, cutting, pasting thing isn’t very fun. Other than screwing up the proportions of Amy’s head on the third frame, I think I did a decent job. I’m finally starting to get comfortable drawing the characters, which helps a lot.

Drawing number two is done. I feel kind of guilty about scrawling out some rudimentary cartoon characters and calling it a “drawing.” But whatever. I’ll draw something legit at some point. Maybe.

(Click for the full size)

For the record, all these comics will be heavily based on actual conversations with Amy. So if they don’t make sense, that’s why.

I decided to pen over the pencil on this one, then erase for a cleaner drawing with more contrast. In the process I smeared the ink and had to clean it up. Then the scanner made a really uneven scan so I had to digitally alter the image to clean it up.

As promised, here is the first of what will hopefully be 26 drawings that I’ll be doing this year:

(Click the image for the full size.)

A year or two ago my good friend Amy and I said we would start a web comic of our conversations because we are the funniest people ever. Or at least she is. So this is my first try at that. I’ve got plenty more material for these so this may not be the last you’ll see of Josh and Amy comics.

I’m open to criticism and comments on anything about this drawing, so go right ahead. I’ll even beat you to the punch and say that clearly I have problems with consistency between panels. Hopefully that will go away over time as I get more comfortable with the characters.

I just stumbled across an old blog entry of my friend Tim that expressed my current attitude about faith, art, wisdom and understanding in ways that I never could express myself.

Tim was expounding on Ecclesiastes 1:18, which says:

For the greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. (NLT)

Tim says:

To be a person striving towards intelligence is incredibly difficult unless you can close yourself to the outside world. It’s easy to be discouraged by those you witness who appear to be unable to comprehend the intricacies of art and theology. Even more so is those who may be able to understand these things if it weren’t for their own complacency. It’s a wretched path, because the further you go down, the less people you are able to relate with. I’m sure there are countless people out there who view me with the same shaking head and downtrodden spirit that I view others.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. As I continue to grow and discover who it is that I am, what I’m passionate about and why I must strive to grow in knowledge and wisdom as much as I can with these passions of mine, I grow increasingly frustrated by the lack of understanding I get from others. Trying to explain this wordless passion I have for music and how it deeply affects me is neither easy nor is it entirely possible.

From an optimist’s perspective, though, it might be said that in the realization of my own passions I’m beginning to understand what it is I desire and search out in the more intimate relationships I have with family and close friends. It also brought me peace to know that I’m not alone in my struggle, and that there is scripture that mirrors my frustration.