Another periodic missive from this relatively antiquated platform.  I sold my house.  Thus part of my plan to exit the USA should the GQP do well in the 2022 midterms has been executed.  The details: I sold it to my neighbor without going through the usual process.  I may have left 100k or more on the table, but garnering the net amount I wanted would've required a sale price at least 200k above asking...and that is never a sure thing no matter what a potential realtor tells you when they want to get the listing.  Thus I did ok and to quote one of my investment types, 'Congrats for selling during an oversold market.'  It is generally better to get out while the wave is near its' crest than when it is breaking, and I believe I did so.  There was quite a bit of mixed feelings about the whole thing.  At one point, I had thought my prior home would be lifelong.  However, events external and internal precluded that.  The quality of my life in the house, especially once Choppy dog had to be put to sleep, really took a turn for the worse.  The pandemic and the creeping homeless thing in the 'hood did not help one bit, though having a veggie garden there helped save my sanity during the depth of the pandemic.  As I posted on social media, 'Goodbye old friend.'  It is helpful my neighbor got around to redoing the place almost immediately, so it will not be around in the same form as a ghost of sorts.  

The relationship with the girlfriend has gotten a bit complicated though.  It seems as if she was merely patronizing me a bit, and did not expect me to go through with it (though she is definitely on board for me selling the house), nor the rest of my long term 'get out of the USA before ReThug fascism takes over' agenda.  There's been a few updates on that front as well that I will address:

1) Australia is off the table for several reasons.  She found out that her notions of getting around that country's highly regulated system was a non-starter.  Thus the $ I had to spend to to do a Zoom session with an Aussie attorney was worth it as it provided the sort of clarity that my second-hand reading of regulations could not (not that she can bothered to do her own research beyond instagram, but that's a whole other thing).  

2) I was also wrong about the EU: I had thought Belgium was the only place where we could go with her as my partner.  Nope, this applies to the entire bloc including the three top destinations: Portugal, Spain, & France.  To repeat, as a citizen of an EU country, Belgium, I have the right to live and work in any EU country, as well as my non-EU citizen partner or spouse (the French use the word 'spouse,' whereas the Portuguese & Spanish use the word 'partner').  All we would have to do is show up, rent a place (which I can do), and then register her within 90 days, DONE.  And for a whole lot less than Australia.  

3) The princess did bring up a cogent point: Czar Putin's invasion of Ukraine has certainly made waiting for events to sort out a good idea.  Europe is in danger from this truly dangerous megalomaniac, especially since not all of his lackeys within the EU like Viktor Orban have not been consigned to obscurity.   Nonetheless, I will be proceeding to take the steps to enact my long term agenda.  At some point, her & I may need to speak with a therapist of some sort as a mediator.

In other news, another long delayed project (artists are the bane of my business existence, as they flake off far too often) is being released May 15, 2022.  I'm really proud of Wunderman Comics' new release, War Medicine.  I also have another project from a query email, where I'm serving as Editor / Publisher.  The latter is requiring a lot of mentoring to the point of lecturing.  

Anyways, with the sale of my now former house, an era in my life is coming to an end.  I emerge from in hopefully better health, physically, emotionally, and financially.   

More than a year has passed, thus comes time for another post.  I usually do when I've reached a landmark of sorts, or have made a decision.  This is the latter.  I have decided as a long term goal to leave the USA.  Orange Anus and his cracker doodle acolytes are carrying out a slow motion coup, and the rest of the American political establishment is unwilling or unable to stop him.  The looming SCOTUS decision that will more than likely give the o.k. to Texas' Taliban-esque anti-abortion vigilante 'law,' along with the ReThugs planting their minions in election boards all across swing states -- an idiot would be blind not to see the handwriting on the wall.  The sole saving grace about this slow-motion coup is that there is time to plan and execute an escape well before the flood arrives.

There are three landmark dates coming up: Election Day 2022, my final trust disbursement in 2023, and Election Day 2024.  If Election Day 2022 goes as badly as I believe it will (the ReThugs retake the House & / or Senate), the die is cast.  By November 2024, I want to be well ensconced outside of the USA, my legal situation to live and work fully sorted out.  Between that eventuality and now, a lot will have to occur.  I will need to liquidate as many of my physical assets as possible including my house.   The idea is to raise as much cash as possible, and invest most of it in something like an index fund (preferably one with a green focus).  I asked the girlfriend about this and she agreed with my assessment that the longterm outlook for the USA is not good -- surprising me just a bit, but ok.  Our sole disagreement is where to go: I want to go to an EU country, while she wants Australia.  Going to the EU will probably be easier, and cheaper based upon my current research into the topic.  Australia wants young, skilled, (preferably in a profession they have a need for...and nursing is one worldwide), educated, English speaking immigrants, and her point total passes the mark.  I do not.  To go the investment route would require investing the bulk of my net worth factoring I net the minimum I want from selling my house for 4 years in three investment funds of the Australian government's choosing.  Not great.  Our optimal Australia option is that she gets a skilled worker visa, and I go as her partner.  Of course, this is the sort of thing one gets professional advice that is not cheap to hire, but the due diligence should be pursued.  Lastly, the application process can take from 20 to 30 months, so the sooner what route can be pursued is determined, the better.

Thus my plan so far is to spend 2022 preparing: selling off or donating as my of stuff as possible, getting experience hours in Teaching English as a Second Language via the LA Public Library (I'm just a bit too young not to have a profession of some sort even if it is not as mobile as that of a nurse), plus waiting and watching.  If November 2022 turns into the debacle I dread...then the next step happens.  The plan to put my house on the market goes into effect.  Thankfully, the lease on my eGolf expires in February 2023.  Around that time would be a good time to prep my house for sale via some touch up work towards putting it on the market in Spring 2023.

Part of my preparation to leave the USA comes from my prior experience as a Gast Arbeiter in Switzerland: California taxes their former residents abroad.  Before leaving the USA, I plan on changing my state of residence to Nevada.  It has the double benefit of no state income tax plus my overseas vote in federal elections counting for a lot more than they would in California (NV has far fewer voters & is a swing state).   I will live there long enough to establish residency, then once a final determination of which overseas option to pursue, be out of the USA by Summer 2024 at the latest.  I will still have to deal with the onerous FACTA requirements (something that was not a factor when I was in Switzerland), but oh well.   If I had my choice, I would not mind getting used to the EU in Belgium where I have family, with Antwerp my favored choice (it has a vibe similar to Amsterdam with real estate costing 25% less), though the overseas family member I have the best relationship with lives in Brussels.  After then, it depends upon whether or not I want to live in a sunny climate or not. 

It is truly sad that it has come to this, but the USA seems hopelessly damaged from within by those whom want it to revert to another Gilded Age replete with Robber Barons luxuriating in a 21st Century version of corporate feudalism.  My ancestors did not survive various pogroms, holocausts, etc., for me to get jacked up by some conspiracy theory nut bar trying to impress the latest Conservative Infotainment Complex media personality du jour.  In the meantime: www.theliberalgunclub.com           

Life in the time of pandemic

Posting again after another long interval, and things have gotten even more cracker doodle as Orange Anus is making Dubya, Cheney, & Co. look competent.  What we hoped would never happen has: a major crisis of a generational scope is going with an absolute narcissistic sociopath occupying the White House.  Meanwhile, my life has gone forward.
On the comics front, the Boogeyman release happened and belly flopped.  Giancarlo Caracuzzo's lack of marketing push was not unexpected, but disappointing nonetheless because I made it a point to emphasize to him more than once.  On the other hand, his hired writer, Massimiliano Grotti, really stepped up and did his part like you're supposed to.  It did make up for Grotti's tortured English prose that I had to edit during the script writing and copy editing stage of the project.  Not surprisingly, Caracuzzo wants to continue with Boogeyman under the same economic model...that will not happen unless the marketplace picks up on the comic (sort of crossing my fingers the Eisners will notice, but I'm not holding my breath).
I am working on a new project with Hannibal Tabu: Native American Shamanism versus Voodoo in the Old West...and the hero is a half Native American, half African American female who kicks ass.  Hopefully, this project will get some traction, but I'm enjoying doing it already.
Personally, the hottie and I are still an item, though it not always the smoothest of sailing.
I've also begun the process of acquiring Polish citizenship (and this time, I let my siblings know...and their response has been silence).  As I thought, it may be possible via my paternal grandfather, who was born in Poland.  One might ask why I am going through this exercise even though I already have American and Belgian citizenship.  Well, until I was 20, I was stateless (I might blog about that in the future, perhaps if I get a Polish passport), so excuse me for overcompensating.  Anyways, over and out!

Back again after a bit away...

Hello to all who might stumble upon this missive.  More than an entire year has gone by since I've written here, and true to form, much has occurred. 
First has been the ongoing process / progress of Wunderman Comics.  We published two limited series', Scoundrel & Irrational Numbers.  Doing both presented different challenges (particularly Giancarlo Caracuzzo limping to the finish of Irrational Numbers -- I will never hire him again for any comic that has a deadline, period), and gave their own unique satisfaction.  One of the positives was working with artist Dug Nation.  He is professional, receptive to editorial feedback, and has a unique style that suited Scoundrel well, and has breathed new life into E.I. - Earth Invasion (Caracuzzo's work was getting sloppier and later the last few issues he did on the title).  The writer for E.I., Paul Benson, has helped as well, but requires a lot more editorial supervision (though it should be mentioned he has had some heavy duty health issues to deal with).  Also, in a bid for an Eisner Award, Wunderman Comics put out a limited physical print of the collected edition of Scoundrel.  We even managed to put it into a couple of Westside comics shops, and even did an in-store with the whole Scoundrel team.  I should find out soon whether or not the Scoundrel collected edition physical print was a worthwhile exercise when the Eisner Awards nominations are due to come out this upcoming April.  In a couple of days of this posting, I will be participating in a panel at Wonder Con.  This will be the second time I will be doing such an activity, I hope the audience will be more numerous than the one I did at Comic Con back in 2017.  Lastly, even though I have yet to formally tell Caracuzzo that I will never hire him to do an ongoing comic with a publishing deadline; Wunderman Comics will be partnering with him to release his creator-owned property, Boogeyman.  Boogeyman is a dystopian science fiction piece (think Mega-City One in a Latin American context) mixed with Lucha Libre wrestling.  Not completely original but informal test marketing has shown it might hit somewhat decently.  After much negotiation, Wunderman Comics has exclusive publication and exploitation rights for a good number of years in exchange for financial remuneration.  It should be mentioned I offered Caracuzzo a much less onerous deal, but he wanted the sum he wanted...so I made sure to get generous terms for Wunderman Comics to maximize our possible recoupment. 
Anyways, you can keep up at the company website: www.wundercomics.com.
As for my personal life: I'm still with the hottie.  In fact, we're going to Costa Rica in April.  She has proven to be a surprise of sorts as she definitely has a career plan she is determined to enact (something that many with her life story do not come close to fulfilling).  I guess being supportive and giving advice when asked is a solid strategy to stay in the good graces of a driven, smart, & really attractive woman.  Having means of a sort does hurt either, but not being the sort entitled asshole many of that ilk are is probably another positive in my favor.  Sometimes nice guys do get the pretty girl if the female is smart enough to see past the flash and the cash, and want something more.  That doesn't mean that one of the small pleasures of my existence is to show pictures of my girlfriend and I...it is. 
The entire Dump shit show has made my decision years ago to acquire a Belgian passport even more prescient than the Dubya, Cheney, & Co. fiasco, especially with Idiot Amin spouting he wants to do away with the ACA again.  Reminder: one of the main reasons I went through the often seemingly quixotic effort to get Belgian citizenship was for the healthcare.  I currently pay $919 per month via Wunderman Comics' corporate plan, and if the ACA goes -- it could get worse, or even impossible to get given my age. 
I also got quite a bit of delayed venom from my sister last holiday season because I did not tell her about my Belgian citizenship quest until it was done...and she was not hearing my reasons as to why:
1) She had not resided long enough in Belgium to apply for naturalization in the same manner I had (which was done away with when the Belgian Nationality Statue was changed January 1, 2013, so it is now a moot point).  That she still believes we came to the USA in 1971 when our USA immigration file says our entry date is May 14, 1970 is besides the point.  She did not reside the required five years and the official records of both the US & Belgian governments say so.
2) She would've needed Mom's help...and I doubt highly either one of them would've lifted a finger to help the other (their last 'meeting' when we spread part of Dad's ashes by his parents' grave and their argument in the bar afterwards with me literally in between was the personal cringe worthy moment of that year).  Mom's hand written letter very much helped fulfill the very vague 'Ties to Belgium' requirement of the now defunct Belgian Nationality Law, plus she also went to the specific Belgian government offices to get the documents from that side that I needed.  For my sister, fat chance.  Mom said if Belgian law had permitted, she would've disinherited her.  Perhaps notifying her of my quest when I first applied may have been better as the inevitable blame for her not getting Belgian citizenship could then be laid at the door of Belgian Law / Officialdom.  That is my sole regret regarding her in this matter.
I've also hired a genealogist who specializes in Belgian genealogy to find out as much as she can about my ancestry on both sides of my family.  I do not expect her to get too far with my Dad's side, and she will probably refer me to someone who specializes in Polish Jewish genealogy.  If that yet to be hired person can dig up records of my Dad's family that can then be used to apply for Polish citizenship (Poland is an EU nation), I will present it to my sister and her daughters.  I expect my sister will pass, as do recall what she said in reaction to my first showing her my newly acquired Belgian identity card, 'I want one,' was always more about her 'getting hers.'  It would not surprise if her older daughter, Chloe, follows her mom's lead (she did during the venom session).  However, I can see her younger daughter, Josephine (who remained silent during the venom session), taking advantage.  I will also let Mike know about it too, though I've already told him more than once that if he wants to get an EU passport via our dead father (it is not possible via his mother), he needs to pursue the Polish angle as our late dad was never a Belgian citizen even though he was born in Brussels, albeit the child of Jewish refugees. 
Anyways, I needed this bit of blogging therapy of sorts...perhaps I'll come back sooner.

April update

Not quite as much time has passed between my last posting and this one as prior, so perhaps a bit of progress.  A fair amount of stuff has occurred in between.  I'm still going out with my hot ass girlfriend, and the 'L' word (love) has been spoken aloud.
The other good thing going for me is my comics biz is moving forward.  The first of my two long stewing projects, Irrational Numbers, is in the production stage with the 52 page prologue ready to go the outside copy editor for pre-publishing error checking.
The outside world is a shit show though.  Dump is worse than I thought he would be, and his creepy cronies are even worse.  If the planet makes it somewhat whole a complete Dump term, it will be a miracle.

Four things while I was away....

Bonjour again after another long interval of not posting anything at all. I may try to stay more current with this as I can sort of post what I like. Things have changed personally and in the larger world since I posted last. The first was the passing of my mother on May 17, 2015. I rushed to be at her side with three days to spare, and that included spending the night in her hospital room while her death throes were going. It was one of the more horrific and sad experiences of my life. There is much to unwind about the whole thing. My sister and mother could not reconcile in any way before my mother passed, and both were to blame. And for all of my mother's harping about how my grandfather had done sane estate planning, she of course did none of it, and my sister and I were left to clean up after her. I should share a morbid bon mot that came out of it (sung to the to the tune of 'Momma don't let you babies grow up to be cowboys'), "Kids, don't let your parents become hoarders." There is still pending business left with her estate, the sale of her apartment (which had been her parents and where my sister & I spent summer vacations when we were kids), and trying to unload the mountain of stuff, some of which might actually be valuable but requires the sort of expert appraisers found only on the East coast (and my sister is convinced they can be made to fly out on their own dime...YEAH RIGHT!). I did get one thing out maintaining a decent relationship with my mother my sister did not: my mother's help in obtaining a Belgian passport (and with the soon-to-be ascension of Herr Drumpf, I have the means of escape to a country with a sane health care system) in the form of a letter that helped fill the vague 'Ties to Belgium' requirement for Belgian Naturalization (the obtuse reasons as to why a guy like me born in Belgium had to apply for naturalization as an adult many years after the fact is a whole other blog entry). For that I am quite grateful to my mother: THANKS MOM, REST IN PEACE. The second thing is that my comics thing is still going and might actually turn into something bigger. I've hired a writer, Hannibal Tabu, to flesh out two projects I've long wanted to do but did not have the time to do. Not coincidentally, Tabu writes a fairly influential column on CBR.com, the buy pile. To say that he knows how to manipulate an ecosystem I and my web mistress have had a hard time being heard in is understating the obvious. Now if I can just secure the services of my preferred artist for one of the projects, things will be peachy keen. It also appears as if my trainer's long in-production movie is actually coming together. I have a supporting role in the production and one on camera. Thirdly, and sort of unexpectedly, I have a girlfriend. She is smoking hot and young. Of course, she is not cheap in the slightest, but she does stuff in bed that porn stars do. Fourth: this has been a year of change for my family as well as my sister is getting divorced from her husband of 25 years, my younger brother is getting married, and I have the aforementioned girlfriend (and I thought I would go through life without one as that part of the human existence is quite challenging for me). Add in the election of Dump and 2016 has been a freaky year par excellence. I now understand what the curse attributed to the Chinese, 'May you live in interesting times,' is about.

Meandering thoughts

An infrequent hello to all whom may come across this missive. This remainder from prior iterations of the web still serves as means to put out one's thoughts. As for me, I have approached a crossroads of sorts. My comics career has chugged along with the majority of my satisfaction gained from the work done, as the audience is not huge. Another thing is that a long running drama of sorts might finally come to a conclusion of sorts. For my part, I am resigned to what was decreed and have lost no sleep over it...unlike others involved. This is due to the fact that I have no nostalgia about he whom decreed. Nostalgia is one of the more socially scabrous things out there as it distorts and lies to no end.