25 things Jason Elder probably doesn't know about me.

My ex-stepson, Jeremy Morgan, had a friend named Jason Elder. Jason and I have recently gotten back in touch on Facebook. Jason posted a piece called "25 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me." I decided to reciprocate. Since I don't find nearly enough time to write, I decided to repost it here.

25 things Jason Elder probably doesn't know about me.

1. I was born a poor black child. No, wait, I think that was Steve Martin.

2. I started smoking when I was eight years old.

3. I have lived in Michigan, Illinois, Oklahoma, California, Washington State, Virginia, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Venezuela.

4. I'm allergic to cats and they think I'm their meow.

5. I was a fairly accomplished equestrian before the age of fourteen.

6. I attended five high schools in three years.

7. I enlisted in the Navy three weeks after I turned seventeen.

8. I was raised Unitarian. I became a Christian when I was seventeen, then agnostic, then Christian again in 1999, then agnostic again about 2005. Still haven't figured it out.

9. I have had over two dozen surgeries.

10. I have been a student at four different colleges, Army and Navy technical schools, a photography school, and never got a degree. I did graduate from the police academy.

11. I have been an ordained minister since 1993.

12. I have taken viola, piano, guitar, and drum lessons and don't play any instruments.

13. I read about 100 - 150 books a year.

14. When I got out of the Navy I was seriously considering going to Ringling Brothers Clown College. I went to AA instead.

15. I have never killed a man with a cheese grater.

16. My mother converted to Judaism while I was in the Navy.

17. I'd trust most dogs more than I trust most people.

18. My first car was a 1967 Ford Falcon. I have had sixteen cars and trucks since.

19. I have Jews, Blacks, Muslims, Asians, and Gays in my family. I love them all.

20. I was in the Army between the two Golf Wars.

21. I used to be able to walk on my hands from one end of a basketball court to the other and back.

22. My daughter's middle name, Kasidy, is after a black character on Star Trek: Deep Space 9.

23. I have been to South America, Canada, Israel, France, Greece, Egypt, Italy, Spain, Crete, Antigua, and the Philippines.

24. When I was a wee lad I wanted to do cartoon voice-overs. I still talk in funny voices.

25. I have too many dead friends.

ARRRGH!

Santa Claus pooped down our chimney and we don't even have a fireplace!

Looking for rental house/double-wide or rent to own. 2-4 BDRM/1.5+ BATH, 1,000 SQ FT or more. No trailer parks, crack neighborhoods, or high crime areas. Must allow one small housebroken and well behaved house dog. Need by February first. $600.00 or less. Spartanburg / Boiling Springs / Moore areas.


Hi All,

Things have been looking up lately. I scraped together a few pennies to get some broken teeth fixed and with some web site work had a Border Terrier puppy on the way at the end of the month! Alas, God said, "Uh uh, Buddy." The man who owns the land my trailer is on called me yesterday morning as I was having the serpentine belt, both tensioners, and coolant jug replaced on my Taurus after they went out the day before. He told me he had sold all fourteen acres of his land, including the one my trailer is on. I knew this was a possibility, but he said I would have six months notice. Nope. Yesterday he told me we have thirty days to find a place and be moved out! ARRRGH! Fortunately, he said he would buy the trailer back for a whopping five hundred dollars, so we don't have to pay to move it.


Unfortunately, we don't know where we are going to move. We'd like to stay in Spartanburg County since its where Marecho works and most of our friends are. We are trying to find something decent with the rent at or under $600.00 a month if at all possible (I rented my land, with water, for $100 a month, so that's a big jump!).
If anyone knows of any rental properties in a decent neighborhood or out in the country, or of anyone who might have some, please e-mail or call me ASAP!

We have two small dogs and Fat Dazey needs to go with us. I don't think Big Pink would adjust well to communal living. She barks at cars (we don't get many at the end of a deadend street in the country, is not fond of cats, and is a tad rowdy. She is housebroken and plays well with other dogs. She is also very sweet. The best guess I can manage is that she is a Basset Hound/Lab/terrier mix, about two or three years old, and she weighs about thirty pounds. She needs a good home ASAP, preferably with a fenced yard or someone home most of the time. We have a crate and doghouse for her too. Please call if you can help.


Its not the end of the world. The trailer is falling apart and cluttered. Its entirely possible we are being blessed rather than cursed.
We'll see when the dust settles!

I am always a little impressed by GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons. The GoDaddy girls are hot too. Here is a recent sagely piece of advice for businesses in these difficult economic times.

Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.

Big Three Bail Out; NOT!

Hi all. I'm going to step away from talk about caricature for a moment and talk about the proposed bail-out of the Big Three. I am glad the Senate knocked it down. I have nothing against Michigan or it's people. As a matter of fact, Detroit is my birthplace.

A bailout should never have even been proposed. It is illegal and unconstitutional and any elected official who voted for it should be impeached. Period. The same goes for the Fannie Mae/Bank bail out.

Visit www.notyourstogive.org. It is a phenomenal piece by Col. David Crockett that will help anyone understand why this is a misappropriation of funds, illegal, and absolutely wrong.

It closes with the following quotation;

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage."

The above was penned by Professor Alexander Tytler over 200 years ago while we were still a British colony.

I hope you will take the time to read and study that piece and then contact your local news media and elected officials.

Rock

Rock's Really Lame Motivational Posters

I was putting some pictures on PhotoBucket, I stumbled across some of these pseudo motivational posters. Some really lame, offensive, pseudo motivational posters! I though to myself, "HEY! I can do that!", and the rest, God help me, is history. Some con pictures, some friends and family, and a few others.

Before I am a caricaturist, I am an editorial cartoonist at heart. Sometimes I just have to make a point, even if it isn't a good one. I hope enough of you will share my warped sense of humor that this was a worthwhile endeavor.

Please feel free to laugh and retaliate!

Everything I need to know about life I learned at the NCN Convention

Everything I need to know about life I learned at the NCN Convention

Compare your work to your work, not to others. There will always be somebody better than you.



Good is often the worst enemy of best.

To have a friend, be a friend.



You reap what you sow.

What goes around comes around.

Just because someone looks different than you doesn't mean they don't speak English. ARRGH!



The Irish are all nancy boys or disco queens.

If you love doing something, it stops being work. If you hate doing something, it is worse than work.

Be prepared.



Asian chicks dig me.

Inspiration can come from anywhere.

Roger Hurtado isn't a megalomaniac. He's just really good. Well, maybe he is, but a hell of a nice one!



Keep moving or the world will pass you by.



With the possible exception of Adam Pate, most people are a hell of a lot taller than their avatars.



It hurts falling off your pedestal if you have clay feet.

Sean Gardner has a really pointy nose.







Sketch.

Asian men and women both look good from behind unless you are Mike Giblin and you get there after Joe Bluhm is done!



Rock and Roll is still king.

Its a poor craftsman who blames his tools.

Macs crash too!

Sleep is overrated.

Kidney stones still suck.



Everybody likes Barenjager.

Adam English is an awesome caricaturist as well as musician.



Great caricature doesn't have to be brutal.



The only person who can make you feel second class is you.

Tad wants to talk about sex when he drinks.

Start at the beginning.

The truly great caricaturists are all people people.



The Japanese bring their own Paparazzi to conventions.

Caricature can be a lucrative business as well as a joy.

The NCN is about people.

Busy week or so

My wife, Marecho, is visiting the Philippines and I miss her a lot. Its to be expected. Its been a hell of a ten days since she left. Our dog Dazey was in a lot of pain and having trouble breathing Tuesday due to some extremely swollen lymph nodes in her throat. Once again the good vets at Pine Street Animal Hospital saved her fuzzy rump.

Saturday I received a phone call letting me know that my friend, Chavin Kendrick, had been shot and killed in a club in Gastonia, North Carolina.


Donations will be accepted at any Ink Link Tattoos (NC), Tattooing U (Charlotte, NC), Belmont Tattoo Studio (Belmont, NC), and Tattoo Wearhouse (Spartanburg, SC).


I am trying to get ready for the 2009 National Caricaturist Network's Annual Convention in Raleigh and keep running into unexpected expenses to slim down my already thin budget, piddly car troubles, kidney stones, and other not so peachy surprises. Fortunately, unless God really hates me, I'll still make it okay!

I am looking forward to meeting so many great people and inspirational artists/caricaturists. There will be folks from all over the USA, Japan, England, Ireland, Belgium, China, Australia, the Netherlands, and who knows where else! I am quite jazzed about the whole thing. Regrettably, not all of the fantastic NCNers from the Forum can make it and many will be sorely missed.

I'll be posting a lot of pictures after the Convention. Check back soon!