After hours & hours & hours & hours & hours preparing, I finally filed my taxes this evening. One day before the extended deadline. I was stoked to finally finish and learn I'm receiving a refund. The last few years I've had to pay the federal government so I'm happy to finally get some money back. After filing I celebrated with a short hike up to Eagle Rock at Alum Rock Park. 

I went on a 2 hour hike at Alum Rock Park today and snapped a few pics along the way. It got dark on the way back and I came across a wild/feral cat, a little bigger than a large house cat, in the middle of the trail. It climbed up a hill and watched me from above as a I walked past. You can see it walk off the trail at the beginning of the video below.

Today I started writing messages on the protesters signs and went for a hike at Alum Rock Park, up to Eagle Rock. Can you see where I fucked up on one of the signs? Also check out the pics of the mutant bug (tarantula hawk) and a plant from outer space.

Last week I hurt my back after working out. I woke up the next day with pain behind my left shoulder. It hurt every time I moved and walked around. It's gotten better, but not 100%, over these past few days. Yesterday I felt good enough to go for a walk and today I did modified work out, to avoid hurting myself again, and went for a run. When I got home I had to cook up some chicken, bell peppers and mushrooms that were gonna spoil if I left them any longer. I threw in a few other ingredients and it came out really good. Better than I expected. Bork, bork, bork!

I drank a shit-ton of caffeine, stretched, worked out, went out for a walk, ran a bit, cooked dinner, shaved and trimmed my beard. 

As things started to reopen during the covid-19 pandemic I chose to stay at home for 2 weeks after DJing a wedding. I'm happy that before the gig I tested negative for the virus and afterwards I never developed any symptoms. What sucks is that during this time there's been an increase in reported cases and hospitalizations. Today, California's mayor, Gavin Newsom, ordered bars to close back up in several counties including Santa Clara. I believe things reopened too soon and a roll back is probably a good idea but I have a feeling we're all going to be dealing with the pandemic for the rest of the year if not longer. I just read about the 1918 (Spanish) Flu pandemic which lasted 2 years and hit in 4 waves, where the 2nd wave was much deadlier than the first. There are a few similarities between 1918's pandemic and our current one so I really hope we can hit the brakes on covid-19 and keep it from getting worse.

I went for a run today. It's been 2 months since the last time. I ran for 10 minutes before my body said "Hell naw" so I walked the rest of the way. I wasn't ready.

I drew this and inked it today. It's a little bigger that 4"x5". The plan is to draw a big one (18"x24") with a bunch of protesters in face mask holding up signs and fists. I got a good idea of how I want them to look but still need to figure out what pens/markers to ink it with. I mainly used a Copic Sketch on this for the varying line widths but it's too big for the small details like fingers & hair. I'm gonna try a Sharpie next and see if I like it better, then maybe a Micron Graphic 1 and other sizes.

I did my stretches & workout at home, cooked dinner (chicken & mushrooms,) went for a 3.3 mile walk in the neighborhood, came home, ate left overs and made microwave-s'mores. The only thing that would have made today better would be if they arrested all the cops who murdered Breonna Taylor (only one has been fired)

As I've been SIP'n for the past few weeks, after protests and DJing a gig, I've been working out less frequently. Today I went to Lake Cunningham to walk a couple laps (4.09 miles.) I had been exercising 4 days a week in April & May but have only gone out a total of 4 times in June. It's time to get back on the horse and drop some more lbs.

Between protesting downtown last weekend, getting tested for Coronavirus on Wednesday, and DJing the event yesterday, I've decided to stay home for the next couple weeks just incase I caught a case of the cooties and to avoid spreading it. I understand there's a 2 week incubation period where it's possible to be infected but not test positive so I'm gonna do my best to be a good boy for the time being. This coming week is also the start of the next phase of reopenings since the shutdown and I'm gonna stay clear from dining at any bars or restaurants. I'm seeing headlines of recent spikes on Covid-19 cases in states that reopened earlier than California. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping a second wave doesn't hit San Jose or the bay area.

I DJ'd an outdoor wedding reception at a private residence on Saturday. It was my first event since the Covid-19 shelter-in-place order started in March. We took precautions to minimize spreading germs:

• The DJ booth was roped off to keep guests from coming up to make song requests. Instead we had a clipboard set out front for people to write down their requests.
• All toasts were done using a separate microphone so I didn't haven't to share mine. We left a tub of antibacterial wipes by the mic stand but nobody wiped down the mic.
• Guests were having their temperatures checked when they arrived.
• The catering staff and I wore masks. (I only took mine off when I was behind the rig by myself) Unfortunately I don't remember seeing any guests were masks or try to stay 6 feet apart.
• All the dinner tables and buffet tables had bottles of hand sanitizer.

On top of all that I had to setup 2 extra speakers and run a few hundred feet of cable to cover the whole area. It was a 7 hour event but I was on the property for 12 hours. It was a 15 hour day from when I left home and came back. I was tired AF when I got home and I forgot to write a blog post.

Good news! I got my Covid test results back this morning, no cooties detected. I also finished inking Eyes & Mouths today. Next I gotta erase the pencils and go over it, and my the other two pieces, Brains/Guts & Hearts & Stars, with white-out to fix mistakes. I'm finally beginning to see daylight!

I did some protesting last week and I'm DJing a wedding reception this Saturday so I went in to get tested for the Coronavirus this morning. I was told to stay home till I receive the results which can take 24-48 hours. I hate waiting on results like this and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the results come up negative. 

Friday started off great. I met up with my buddy, Jon, at Lake Cunningham and we went on a (socially-distant) walk around the park. After one lap Jon split and I stayed to do one more then ran into another friend, Adam, who was getting off work at the park. He drove up to show me he was rocking my San Jose shirt. That made my day! I didn't realize I was wearing my San Jose shirt till afterwards. On the way out of the park I snapped a picture of this awesome hand-drawn found-dog flyer posted near the entrance. When I got home I showered, ate lunch, did some crossword puzzles, and started drawing. It was an awesome day up until that point. Soon after, I heard about protesters downtown and on the 101 holding up traffic. They were protesting in response to the murder of George Floyd by Minnesota police. Soon I was seeing friends videos on Instagram of people smashing car windows, police firing tear gas & rubber bullets, crowds throwing objects at the police, a trash bin on fire in the middle of the street, a car running over people, people looting a Starbucks, a cop getting knocked out. This shit is crazy and there are protests/demonstrations/riots happening in multiple cities across the US. I wonder if this is going to continue through the weekend and what will happen in its wake.

Woke up sick this morning. All I did was go grocery shopping, eat and sleep. No art, just farts.

Just went thru emails, updated my calendar, made a couple phone calls, worked out at home, walked for a few miles, and rented Jojo Rabbit. Tomorrow I go back to work on this sumumabitch.

Except for go on a walk and make this animated gif.

Today sucked. I felt depressed all day and I didn't know why. Maybe the loneliness of sheltering-in-place is finally getting to me. I barely did any work on my Hearts & Stars piece, just made a quick digital mock-up with a black background but didn't lay down any ink. I couldn't get myself to workout or go for a walk. I went for a long drive, took Capitol Expressway from east San Jose all the way to Campbell, but didn't feel any better when I got home. Later that night, still in a funk, I noticed the the note on my calendar, "MLK Exhibit Day One." Today was supposed to be the opening of my art show at the Martin Luther King Library downtown. I wonder if that's why I down all day. I wasn't aware of today's date but maybe subconsciously that's what has been bugging me. For the past few weeks I've kept my head down and worked on my drawings for the show. It was a goal I was working towards. I recently got confirmation that my art show, and all other exhibits, were postponed until further notice. Now I don't have anything to work towards, besides finishing my current drawings. There are no DJ gigs till June, if at all this year, and no event vending opportunities in the foreseeable future. I hope this depression was a one-day thing. I don't want to lose any more momentum and risk undoing everything I've worked so hard to do over these past few months. Wish me luck!

I did nothing artsy today but I did go groceries shopping, worked out at home, went on a 4 mile walk, then cooked dinner & ate. Tomorrow I'll get back to work on Hearts & Stars adding details.

This afternoon I found that my front driver side tire was flat before going out for a grocery run. I pulled out half a house key with a pair of pliers. Luckily I was able to borrow a car to run to the store. After disinfecting all the groceries and washing my reusable cloth bags I was still in a shitty mood so I went for a long walk to blow off some steam. I walked over 6 miles in a little over 2 hours. I went to Lake Cunningham to walk a lap before heading back home. While I was there I walked past my friend who happened to be riding her bike and recording it on her phone. I saw myself later on her Instagram Story. After getting back home & showering I had a few cocktails and worked on my drawing some more. I'm so damn tired from the walking and staying up late but I am feeling a little bit better than before. A little. I don't know how much longer I'm gonna make it thru sheltering-in-place without losing my shit. Wish me luck.

This is kinda what it looks like when you go to @sanjoseday on Instagram and scroll to my post. It's one long seamless image broken down into 10 slides. I laid out a bunch of different digital drawings & designs I've made over the past few years. It was fun making this and participating in the virtual art show since we're all still sheltering in place. The actual San Jose Day event has been postponed to July 18. Hopefully we'll be over the 'Rona by then. Fingers crossed.

Today I finished reading the book Erotic Comics. I've had it for almost 12 years and it took a pandemic for me to finally read it. I also did my stretches & warmed up at home to go running at Lake Cunningham Park again. It was a great workout, and as an added bonus, the entrance I came in from was locked when I was done so I ended up walking to the next exit and I got some extra steps in. I did some more pencil work on my Eyes & Mouths drawing. Just a few more things I gotta do before inking. Despite all the shit going on, today was pretty damn productive.

I went for another walk today at Lake Cunningham park. The plan was to run but I woke up still sore from running a couple days ago. Instead of running I did another brisk walk. 2 laps along the road that goes around the inside of the park. I fired up the Map My Run app for the first time at Lake Cunningham and was surprised that each lap is 2 miles long. Maybe tomorrow I'll be good enough for a run.

Today was my first day running in 17 days. Two weeks ago all the gyms in the county were ordered to close due to the coronavirus and I'd been working out and running on the treadmill three days a week since January. I've still been able to workout at home and have been going for walks when it wasn't raining. Today was beautiful and a perfect day for a run at Lake Cunningham park. I did my usual routine, walk 5 minutes then run 5 minutes, walk 5, run 5... for an hour. That's 30 minutes walking and 30 minutes running. It's been a year and half since I ran on concrete, I'm used to the treadmill. My feet and legs are beat. I'll be feeling it tomorrow.