WORK: I lost my job. The school jerked me around all Summer, never giving me a straight answer as to when I would start, what my hours would be, and how much I would get paid. Then, at the last minute, they cut the program completely, leaving me unemployed. Needless to say, this is a devastating loss. Not only did I enjoy the job and the kids I worked with, but I also have rent and bills to pay on my own. To say I’m completely fucked would have to be an understatement. I have no idea if/when I’ll get any work from Penn, so yeah, things are pretty dire.

ART: I have a solo show coming up in December. It’s my first show since that little group thing I did in 2006, and the first showing new work since early 2005. I’ve been working on some new prints, with plenty more germinating in my brain and sketchbook. Hopefully I’ll finish a good amount of new stuff in time for the show. The opening will almost surely be on Saturday, December 6 from 6-9 PM. I’m telling you all now, so you have plenty of notice. So if you aren’t there, it’s because you choose not to be, and are an asshole.

MUSIC: As I’ve said many times, I am rarely able to be creative with my art and music at the same time. Regardless, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do. While I’m working on new art for the show, I’ve also started working on new music for the final Dark Disco Club CD. So far things are going well, but I’m sure we’ll be well into 2009 before it’s complete.

LIFE: My car is damn near dead and has a range of maybe 10 miles before it dies for the day. My Batcave still pretty much sucks, mostly because I can’t afford to get it going, and also because my slacker landlords still haven’t replaced my carpet. Also, I think I should get a big tattoo on my chest.

I don’t think I’ve ever posted about this directly, but for those of you who don’t know, I’m an avid fan of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). I originally started seeing ads for UFC pay-per-view events in the early nineties, but I was completely turned off by them. It was quick images of brutal knockouts and a bunch of talk about how it was this crazy no holds barred bloodbath type freakshow, which I didn’t really want any part of. It just seemed barbaric and excessive. I enjoyed boxing for many years, and I’ve always had an interest in martial arts. In fact I studied Tang Soo Do when I was a child, and much later, Seven Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu, which is the original form of Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Anyway, as some time passed I grew curious about the UFC events and decided to watch one. For years I had this funky illegal black box attached to my cable that let me watch any PPV events for free, so it was pretty easy to tune in.

Needless to say, once I watched it I was hooked. By that time it was probably around 1998 or so, and the sport had already evolved quite a bit from UFC 1. Since then it has continued to grow by leaps and bounds and it no longer resembles the no-rules “human cockfighting” that fucknut John McCain described when he tried to have it banned. Instead it’s jam packed with some of the worlds finest athletes and the most exciting moments in all of professional sports.

In the last few years I’ve taken to ordering most UFC (and some others) events on PPV and having a few folks over to share the love of the sport and the cost of buying the event. It’s good fun. As a side note, there is a guy named Brock Lesnar who’s pretty new to the sport (only 3 fights), who seriously has the potential to be one of the scariest fighters ever. And for you wise asses, yes, I know what his last job was, but whatever. It has as much to do with his MMA career as his job as a paper boy when he was 12, so get over it. Here’s a video of his last fight (for as long as it stays online):

So if any of my peeps are interested or curious about this stuff, hit me up and join us for some of the live events. There’s usually about one per month.

For the second UFC event in a row, I placed bets on four fights. I bet $8.75 on each of the fights, a total of $35.

I bet on:
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to win over Dan Henderson. I won.
Matt Hamill to win over Michael Bisping. I lost a totally bullshit decision.
Cheick Kongo to win over Mirko Cro Cop. I won.
Houston Alexander to win over Alessio Sakara. I won.

In the end, I turned my $35 into $61.53.

Being the lovable and popular guy that I am, no one joined me for UFC last night. I ordered it anyway, because what the fuck else was I going to do? Here’s how I did:

Alberto Crane vs. Roger Huerta • LOSS

Josh Koscheck vs. Georges St-Pierre • LOSS

Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga • WIN

Renato Sobral vs. David Heath • WIN

To summarize, I put in $30 of my own money. The site gave me a $3 bonus. I won two fights, and lost 2 fights. I now have $35.26 in the account. For those keeping score, I won a whopping $2.26. Of course, once you factor in the cost of the event, which I paid for by myself ($40), that leaves me at -$37.74.

Great.

UFC 74 is this Saturday night. That means I will be buying the pay-per-view as usual. That also means that some friends should be coming over to keep me from going into debt, while enjoying some kickass Mixed Martial Arts and probably some pizza. I sent out some even invitations through myspace, but who knows if anyone looks at those things. If you live anywhere near me and know about this site, there’s a good chance I sent one to you.

Anyway, I’ve never been much of a gambler. I’ve been to casinos twice in my life and stuck to slots and roulette. I won the first time, and lost the second. Since I’m a huge fan of the UFC, I’ve been tempted to bet on fights, since I’m usually pretty good at picking winners. I finally caved in and placed some bets through bodog.com. It’s a well known, legit betting site for all sports and casino games, so I wasn’t worried about that. I put $30 in my account and the site gave me an extra $3. I don’t have much money to blow, so that was about as much as I was willing to risk. Here are my choices for those who are interested:

bold = my choice • italic = underdog

Alberto Crane vs. Roger Huerta
Risk $3.00 to win $9.00

Josh Koscheck vs. Georges St-Pierre
Risk $10.00 to win $18.00

Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Risk $10.00 to win $10.50

Renato Sobral vs. David Heath
Risk $10.00 to win $4.76

Let’s hope for the best.