​Some of you on facebook and Twitter already know that I have been swimming this thing with racery.com called the Eno River Swim Challenge. It’s a 40 mile race up the Eno River, only you are swimming the distance in a pool and you can start anytime and finish anytime. Racery’s motto is “real races, virtual routes.” In other words, it isn’t a race in the traditional sense; it’s a challenge to make your fitness workout fun and social. Anyway, I just swam 40.5 miles in 25 days, placing 5th among the 74 swimmers who are currently enrolled. So if you are reading this, it’s not too late to start the Eno River Swim Challenge or another race with racery.com (swimming, biking, running) that appeals to you. It is the most fun when you participate with friends or co-workers. A shout out to my supervisor Anne who set all this up for all of us who like to participate in team swimming.
 
I want you to know, gentle reader that yours truly held up his end on being social. Was there ever a doubt that I would not comment, or do my part to “talk” online? I was only reprimanded once by the moderator, “Racery Vika.” (How’s that for a title?) FYI: Vika means to bend, turn, wind but it can also be a woman’s name that means conqueror! Thankfully, I didn’t actually meet the “Racery Vika” in the Eno but I think she must look like “Boadicea” in a swimsuit.
 
Here are some of my comments that I made while swimming:

• Late start….forgot to set alarm for morning shift!
• Rocks in my trunks! Move back 3 spaces!
• Fisherman thought I was a fish. $40 to replace suit.
• Caught thumbing a ride with a submarine. Move back one mile.
• Methane explosion! Propel additional 200 yards!
• Caught swimming in the nude! Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
• Stole a jet ski, then totaled it. Move back 5 spaces and lose $500. Bummer! There goes my paycheck.
• Should I or shouldn’t I? Ahhhh….too late, I did.
• There’s my Grandma’s house! Hi Grandma, I’ll stop off later for cookies and hugs!
• Darn it! Now why did I park my car on the other side of the Eno?!!

Hmm, guess I should have signed up for a Racery hike to get back to my virtual car!

​Guess who had to go for another drug screen?
 
To be honest, this time wasn’t random. My most recent drug screening, I earned outright for applying for senior guard.(See December blog) All of these comic strips are based on true stories. If you are wondering gentle reader, the answer is yes. I did indeed drop my cup in the bathroom the very first time I was hired as a summer lifeguard. Don’t ask me how I managed to drop it, I just did. Thankfully, the cup is quite small so I just filled it again.
 
I keep finding Thomas to be a useful character in my series. He cares about little things, and can often get on his co-workers nerves for being too obsessive-compulsive. Thankfully, I’m only this way about artwork.

Liz will be a challenge for Kurt, but he's determined!

​Last week I tried something new for my cartoon on social media. I figured out very quickly that posts with cars in them get more likes. (I’m a car guy myself; guess which posts I like?) These two cartoons explored not only the involvement of a car, but also the “Suits and Guarders” characters going outside of the pool. Every other cartoon has taken place in the facility with only five locations: the pool deck, the guard room, the pump room, the locker rooms and the supervisors’ office. These cartoons were some of my favorite ones to draw due to all the detail with the early morning landscapes, but I learned shortly after posting one of these, that while you don’t lose followers with cars on social media, you don’t really gain any either.
 
Having the cartoon leave the building was a fun experiment, but I noticed that it was easy to forget that these characters are lifeguards. The humor of this cartoon is drawn (no pun intended) from the humorous situations that happen in and around a pool deck. After all, “Dilbert” rarely leaves the office and “Beetle Bailey” is forever in the army. And for now, “Suits and Guarders” will be staying poolside.
 

​Several weeks ago, I completed my 100th cartoon strip. It was a milestone in some ways but also a “what now?” since I had set that early on as a benchmark. While I didn’t feel that I was as far along as I wanted to be at this time, I had to keep reminding myself that I spent the fall of 2014 only working on sketches and ideas. It wasn’t until January of 2015 that I began to use the tools of the trade—vellum Bristol board, India ink and archival pens. I have this bad habit of being too hard on myself. Many cartoonists struggle with this apparently--the perfectionist character flaw that pervades our many thought balloons. Another common thread with cartoonists is that most of us doodled in our textbooks and workbooks as kids. Finding out that other cartoonists did this really gives me hope that I can make it!
 
After recently asking fellow cartoonists about their experiences and participating in a few Twitter “Ask the Artist” interviews, I am considering the Go Comics platform for my work. This will hopefully give me greater exposure and a wider readership. A big shout out to my Instagram buds and fellow Twitter cartoonists for their encouragement and taking time to answer my questions:
 
Justin Baglio of “No Ordinary Life”
Brad Perri of “Pirate Mike”
Dave Windsor of “Mieces”
Peter Rasmussen of “Fatherhood Badly Doodled”
 
The advice they gave? Love what you do, keep doing it, put your work in as many places as possible, develop a thick skin, and keep making cartoons that make you laugh, and in the end, you will make a lot of other people laugh too.