452 – Whoops

UPDATE: 10/4/13

My hands hurt. A lot. Here’s why:
My in-laws live on property in North Texas that has a lot of mesquite trees on it and recently I asked them to mail me several good-sized sticks that I could carve into wands for my family’s Halloween costumes (this year we’re Harry Potter themed – I’m Mad-Eye Moody). After spending most of Tuesday and a little of Wednesday carving these sticks, I found out something (later backed up with research on the internet): Mesquite is one of the densest woods out there and it has a reputation for eating carving blades. I had no clue. Now my hands are swollen and sore from having carved three wands using nothing but my Swiss Army knife. I can’t grip a pencil comfortably, let alone draw, and I can’t even clench a fist – it feels like I have thick gloves on. I’ll be taking a little bit of a break from drawing the webcomic while my hands heal up. ~Rob

I’ve been reading the Harry Potter books to my daughters, because I must raise my little geeklets right. Right now, we are reading The Goblet of Fire. Tonight, we finished the chapter where Harry and Cedric (SPOILER ALERT FOR A BOOK THAT’S BEEN OUT FOR 13 YEARS) grab the Triwizard Cup and get taken away by Portkey, with the next chapter detailing the death of Cedric and the resurrection of Voldemort. My girls have never heard this story before, they haven’t seen the movies – they don’t know what’s coming. When the oldest of my twins was walking upstairs to get into bed, she was so happy! “Harry and Cedric are going to win the Triwizard Tournament! Maybe they’ll split the money!” My heart broke just a tiny bit for her, after hearing her voice so full of optimism. I am seriously wondering whether to wait for a while to continue the series, because Order of the Phoenix is next and they like Sirius Black, too.

It’s hard being a Geek Dad.

Take care,

~Rob