Primal scream...

It's been a while, and I told myself I wasn't going to abandon blogging regardless of circumstances. It's good venting therapy...somewhat. Some things have changed of late. My boss at Worlds of Fun, Len Hernandez, was asked to take over the operations at Fiesta Texas. It was, and is, a good move for him. He's from San Antonio to begin with, so it's going "home." But I admit to being saddened by his leaving. I think we made a good team. We could bounce ideas off each other, and we had a good handle on things here. And, as assistant manager, I could always duck when I saw a dungbomb coming. Managers don't always get to duck. So when he left I was asked to be "manager." It feels very daunting. I miss my friend.

I felt similarly about 10 years ago when Brian Miller left KC to move to Phoenix. He has been quite successful since the move and HiFi Colour Design has flourished. But we had good times in those embryonic years getting HiFi off the ground. I was stronger with him than without, and never quite found my way freelancing at home. I guess I just missed, and miss, my friend.

In 2007, Len went down with a serious medical condition which put him in a wheelchair. I had hoped that year it would be a short termed thing. It wasn't. I did my best to be "replacement boss." At times I found myself needing to vent like a crazy man. Usually when I felt at the end of my rope. One time my binder was on the dash of my van as I was driving to work and I had to swerve to miss another car only to watch the thing slide out the window and splatter on the pavement scattering forms and other paperwork everywhere. I had quite the primal fit, much like this...

(...incidently, this image is for a member of my Sunday School class, who has written a tract titled, "Don't Curse My God." BID.) I bottle stuff up a lot. And I felt that year that I couldn't "get away" from the park. It took a toll on me.

Along with this seems to be the "crashes" that come along, too. It never fails. In 2007 on top of everything else, my daughter was getting married and I had to deal with the emotional drain of it. 2009 is doing a lot of the same. Earlier this year, I set up booking with Young Audiences, as I do cartooning workshops through them. My son and his fiance decided to get married over Memorial weekend this year. Couple all things with getting "promoted" and trying to get the park season off the ground, learning and juggling new paperwork and responsibilities, along with working with newly promoted support staff needing to learn their responsibilities...and them my wife agrees to take in my daughter's dogs for the week! The Being commonly referred to as "God," must be having a good time watching me with this. After all, He is the original Jewish comedy writer.

Let me name the players...there are my two puppies, Daisy...

...and Sally...
And there are the "other" two belonging to my daughter and her husband. This is Henry...

...and Sophie...

As I was taking my morning "constitutional" yesterday, all I heard was this thundering of doggie feet up and down the hallway. And then they would descend on the bathroom where I was and proceed to roll and fight around my feet. Trying to herd them, "poddy" them, entertain them and get ready for work was...well...you get the idea.

Guess I should show the other "cursing" image I drew...


Oh, and Sally may have gone into "heat." Time for a primal scream.