This week feels so very chaotic, and I’m not sure why. Wait, yes I do. Besides Office Depot fucking up my god damn order. Is there another printing service that can get my images done within a day, but in a correct manner? Please let me know, please let me know. Niggas fucking up when there are no planets in retrograde.
None, no such retrograde exists.
*Deep breathe
My ability to type and have stuff flow out is being damned up by some force that is rather bothersome at the moment. I think its the week, yeah we are blaming it on the week. Wait we are in Mercury Retrograde Shadow period, maybe that is what it is. FUCK IT!!
That is what we will blaming this blah on.
True to my word, I said I would be releasing issues at a faster rate. At least for now.
OMG Jano why?
Well I’m waiting for issues 6-13 to be proof read by one of my homegirls. And since she has real life grad school responsibilities and I am not a cunt, I have no plans to rush her. But lets hope by the time i release issue 5 the other issues will be done and i can have a consistent release schedule.
Lets hope. Hell lets hope I can color the last 295 pages of my JRPG anime level epic.
I really just want to be a regular boy without a million things to do.
NO REALLY!!! OMG, i just wanna chill yo. I did a web diagram of my life and projects.
NIGGAAAASS!!! It is so much shit, so much shit on my plate.
Enough of that though…for now. Its time for the release of Level 4 of my series.
*Prepares to read script.
Abyssal returns to the battlefield with a new source of power no one expected. An alliance forged from the desperate need for survival is formed among those who started off as enemies. The Empress and newly revealed masked ally race to the battlefield, but will they make it in time.
Spoiler Alert, Souls will be crushed…nothing compared to what happens in Level 5
And head on to the publications page to order your copy of Level 4…and the other levels if you haven’t already.
And just like that this is issue over. Now to work on my task list like getting ready to show my work at the high school of my homegirls daughter for Black history month.
Yep, that is a thing I never thought i would say. Any of you ever watch Insecure? When Issa was speaking at school then somehow her broken pussy rap was discovered by tech savvy children?
Yea that may be me by the end of the week.I don’t have a broken pussy video but my mouth is pretty rancid….HA. Legit hoping I piss off the PTA the same way Eminem pissed off parents in the early 2000s but that nigga flourished despite that. Lets hope Janolytes.
First off, let us talk about something. I legit have never feared for a group of Anime Protagonist the way I do for the Straw Hat pirates as the assassination attempt on Big Mom has failed MISERABLY.
Holy fucking fuck.
Not even Team Toguro had me this shook. The next 50 episodes will be interesting…as fuck.
Anyway. How goes it? Was your October as exhausting as mine? When I was at UNCG I had periods in my semesters were it was just periods of Academic rape for at least a month.
On Kami October 2021 felt like an retro 2000 academic rape session.
OMG Jano, did you just say Academic Rape? You’re canceled.
Eh, ok. Spoiler Alert, I coined that phrase between 2002-2009. I just haven’t had a reason to say since graduating it in 2009….until now.
At any rate, if September was emotionally exhausting then October was just fucking taxing in the sense of having too much to fucking do. It has been the culmination of events I started back in March of this year.
Er before all the car dilemmas that plagued my spirit and my wallet.
Let me explain.
At some point in Jeff Bezo’s slave pit I thought maybe I should heed the psychics advice in December of starting my own business. It has something that has teetered in my head for random parts of the last decade, but i never fully pursued it. But when a psychic who is speaking with your ancestors tells you that you will be successful at something you have been too timid to do, you say fuck it and fuck it raw with big black mega meat. BOOM BOOM.
I met with my non profit boss and thus the laying of a foundation began. We discussed products, vendors, and all that other businessy stuff. Transitioning my brain from coloring to mathematical shit is a transition, especially all your jobs have been basic slave nigga shit. A week later while at an art show, i drafted up some designs for keychains and pins. The goal was to keep it as simple as possible since i’m literally still working on a comic series. I had to figure out I was going to make said keychains and pins, yeet to the gawdz for youtube.
YEET.
Shortly after I found out from a friend where I could get stickers made. And a friend who I made via my girlfriend helped me get some shirts. At this point I think we are in May when I wasn’t driving my car because the stalling and starting was taking its toll and was a safety issue.
Spoiler Alert, the creation of these products probably was as complicated as my mermaid and candy queen shoots. As the late great DMX Said “I wish it was a lie, but everything I said meant it.”
June came and I finally was able to get some of the supplies I need, but of course there were complications. Complications in the sense of ink cartridges disappearing and reappearing (no really, like really fucking really), and buying the fucking wrong type of shrink paper. Fun. Things hit a halt until July when I had money to spare to buy the things I need. But didn’t really get going again til September a few weeks later after starting this new cottonfield after coming back from New York City.
*deep breath*
Ya’ll, I’m tired just from explaining all this.
I bought my stickers, had to do trial and error with the shrink paper, and various other supplies i needed. I finally got the tshirt press machine from a friend I use to pick cotton with, the goal was to get the machine in the spring but her and I were both having issues in our life. Even making the shirts were a problem.
YO I PROMISE ALL THESE RETROGRADES CHOSE VIOLENCE AGAINST ME, MY SPIRIT AND MY PEACE!!!! THE ENEMY DID NOT WANT ME TO SUCCEED!! ON KAMI!!!!
I just heard a church organ play in my head. SMH.
But here i am with all my products ready finally. I told my non profit college friend boss that I wanted to have my store up and running either before the art show I had last week, or the QC city zine fest I will be this saturday. I didn’t have it up last week, but now it is finally up and running.
Oh, yea I had an art show last Saturday. I was going to make a whole other issue regarding it and the pieces I make for said shows, but since you are here now. I have a gallery for you to check out. Go ahead and take a look then come back when you are done.
Did you check it out? You did and you came back? Yeet.
Even though my store wasn’t ready, i did take some merchandise to be sold in the forms of prints and stickers.
YA’LL PEOPLE ACTUALLY BOUGHT MY SHIT!!!!
It all happened so fast, literally. Within 20 mins of each other I made four sales. I was so floored.
Am I one step closer to becoming a pretty art idol like i want? EXTOL ME MEAT SACK HOES!!!
Excuse me my Vegeta level Narcissism was flaring up again. Pardon me humans.
But in short my store is finally up, and at the moment i don’t think I need to buy anything else…right now. Side note, I got my table banner for art shows. I looked at it and I feel like a One Piece pirate.
Def part of the Worst Generation.
Anyway. Without any more delays or awkward side rants I present to you
I plan on adding more items as time goes on, but right now this is my starting point. And as I have told you I still want to finish my comic series, so please be patient. I’ll make announcements as usual if I had anything new. I’m still navigating through this business owner space. As I navigate remember to sign up for updates on my site.
Also if you reside in Charlotte, like zines, comics and other printed materials. Come to the Queen City Zine Fest to check out me selling copies of my comic series.
Real shit, if you were to tell me my awkward shy ass I would be doing shows, with colored hair, looking kooler than usual to promote my book to get an idol fanbase I wouldn’t have believed you.
Fuck, I don’t even know how to start this issue. Although technically I did just start it with a nice medium size fuck.
Fun.
You know what else is fun? The fact that I’ve been checking my website stats and people are actually coming to my website on a more frequent basis. I’m impressed because no one was coming here for a while when this first started. Are people actually reading the lengthy thesis level issues I present on a monthly basis? I have no idea, but you’ve been logged in the record book either way niggaaaaaa.
Anyway.
So Spoiler Alert, this isn’t going to be your standard issue of me recalling a photoshoot. Honestly at this point in my life I am too exhausted for it right now.
Despite the fact that the next few issues are pretty straight forward and simple. Probably because they aren’t my ideas and don’t involve the chaos of me trying to find a model, a location, etc, etc, et fuckin cera.
Yay, I guess.
But right now I am legit not in the mood for a flashback of Jano Bizarre JRPG Adventure….and I may not be for a month, or two…or more…..
I type this as I listen to Minthaze latest album which matches my somber mood as of late.
OMG Jano are you ok?
Eh, its a litany of things honestly.
Hey Google play H.E.R. I’m not ok. If this was Myspace i would totally have that song embedded on this issue. Simpler times…kinda.
I’m not sure why September sucks for me, but it does. Every year for no apparent reason, maybe it is some form of seasonal affective disorder. You may think I say this in jest, but I’m not. Like clockwork when September arrives my spirit withers for the bulk of the month, even if there is no type of dramatic saga occuring.
However this year it is coupled with a few things.
My Car still isn’t working sadly. I finally took it to the shop and I’m hoping next week ends me having to depend on lyft drivers and using my girlfriends car. At this point in my life I just wanna do hoodrat shit with my friends while surviving a pandemic and racism. That feels like a facebook status, but right now I think I am about to be in recluse mode and disappear off the internet for a while. But this saga has persisted for the last 6 months and I just want it to end.
Essentially I have been grounded and as such I’ve tried to make the best of my time. And with that I have been doing entirely too fucking much in hopes to get my art in these streets. Particularly in the streets of Atlanta, New York City and California via bookstores.
Thats the goal at least. I already have it in one here in Charlotte, but that isn’t good enough for me. I think going to New York City really changed my perspective on somethings. At some point I want to have a book signing event, but I’m still currently making merchandise to ideally sell.
Thats right, lil ol Jano is crafting up in these streets. Ideally before October ends there will at least be a store front. I say ideally because I wanted all this shit done over the fucking summer. But when you combine a Jeff Bezos cottonfield that doesn’t provide many hours nor chances to pick up extra shifts and a car problem that isn’t properly diagnosed, and other things that i can’t put in quick quip phrases. It makes any plans that involve cash rather difficult to fulfill.
So there is that as well.
On top of that I found out I have another art show in a month, which i need to make 2 new pieces for which isn’t so bad. However, I really want to finish coloring issue 13 and do the final touches on act 3 of my comic series. Sadly that may be the last full issue I finish this year.Maybe i can get through issue 14, maybe. The current cottonfield I’m in is busy until Halloween and after that everything tapers off. The real question is will I get kept afterwards and then how long. If i could be unemployed for a few months to work on my book that would be great, but things cost fucking money and its upsetting. Here’s hoping things work out on the art front of life and everything else follows suit.
In midst of all this I found out a friend from college passed away from cancer, adding fuel to the existential fire. Contemplation of how at some points we will either be mourning the lost of friends over the years or we will be the one who is being mourned.
Shit.
The concept of time is absolutely terrifying. As is how eventually we drift apart from each other after we leave a space, and eventually get caught up in the space of our new lives to the point where we rarely reach out to those we no longer share a space with. That sentence was probably a run on but you. caught what I was pitching.
It hurts….at least for me. I miss my friends as I navigate this trail of trials.
I realized in the 4 years I’ve had this site this is the most vulnerable I’ve been.
Sometimes vulnerability is needed tho. Especially when it comes to breaking a pattern I have established over the bulk of the past four years. Right now I’m not in the space to recall a saga with all the plates I need to prepare for consumption as well. Maybe I’ll be gone til November…maybe by then I’ll be back to just working on my book and an issue a month.
Hopefully.
In non somber news, I just finished Dear White People today. I legit loved that show. I was hoping to be finished with my comic before it was over, that and Insecure. However it does not appear to be the case. Ugh I just got somber and existential again.
FUCK.
As long as I finish before One Piece ends. That is still doable…I think.
Side note, if you want to help me get out of these bullshit seasonal cottonfields, while wanting to help have a meaningful job that helps the community and care about the black community. You should donate to Back to Black, the organization I help out with when not wandering through the art fields.
Was that a shameless promotion to help me the non profit work with to get funded faster so that I can have real job?
Yes.
Do I give a shit how tactless that was?
Nope.
At least it wasn’t as tasteless as a youtube ad.
FUCK, i just remember another Mercury Retrograde is on the way.
MAN alot has happened since the last time I wrote to y’all.
A whole fucking lot.
2020 was the unmitigated shit show that no one wanted. But here we are, most of us…..
For those who didn’t catch the …, I was alluding to all those who have died due to the Coronavirus…and racism, fucking racism.
Concerts got cancelled. FUCK. I was supposed to see Jhene Aiko, Halsey, Snoh, Aalegra, and R.LUM.R. Probably more but ya know humanity proved unequivocally that they won’t do anything to survive.
LIES FUCKING LIES.
But despite all the chaos of 2020, I found a way to clear a path for my art journey. Priorities folks, priorities.
A week after my bday in March, thats when shit hit the fan at my previous cotton field. And when that shit splattered I took my chance to hide under a tent of what was left of the toilet paper.
Side note, can someone please explain to me why the fuck all the toilet paper was being hoarded. Why the FUCK was that a thing?
Anyway.
Cottonfield 10 decided to comply with my cities lockdown orders, thus not counting attendance against us for the next month. So guess who did not go to the cottonfield, not I said the hybrid, not I. Well I did but only to drop off my girlfriend off since she has more of a reason to go. Me, I’m just a lowly field nigga.
But me, me nigga I rested. It felt great not to have to go to a place where my throat swelled up despite allergy medicine and masks efforts. I watched so many shows, on Kami. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is the legit most beautiful ridiculous anime I have seen. Ill be glad when the next part gets on Hulu. Baby Yoda is so fucking cute, Community was Hilarious. Alot of shows were watched, movies seen for the first time over the next few months. I won’t go through them all but if you are that interested then you can go through my tags for this post.
But most importantly I worked on my comic series, yea the thing that has took a deep stake in my heart since 4 years ago. For those who weren’t paying attention I reached an impasse because of CottonField 10. Simply put I was so fucking tired, SO FUCKING TIRED. 2019 to early 2020 I probably only did at least 1 and a half issues, which was the rest of Issue 6 and most of Issue 7. Frustration doesn’t even describe how I felt.
Shout out to Corona for giving me the chance to color all night like I did in 2016.
But of course all good things come to an end. Masta sent out a message to us slaves early May saying attendance was about to be mandatory again. Had the pandemic ended? Spoiler Alert, it didn’t. Actually it is still very much thriving, like the plague of yesteryears.
But shirts take a priority over peoples health I guess, yay capitalism.
Despite that new mandate via electronic pigeons, I dreaded going back. My spirit said nah Nigga. You need to understand, I loathed CottonField 10 as much as Cottonfield 4. Maybe it was the swelling of my throat, maybe it was because no one in my position was ever going to get a raise, maybe it was the new 3 day 12 hr shifts that exhausted me more so on top of the only way to get my 40 hrs was to work a 4th day at the full 12 hour capacity. But I hated that place, contemplating what the fuck am I doing with my life, loathing that I couldn’t work on my book the way I wanted, the existential ennui I felt standing in front of a dryer wondering WTF am I doing with my life.
Fun Right.
Instinctually my spirit said don’t go back. If I went back I would be condemning my spirit and my throat. Pay checks be damned, especially when they are mediocre and stable to a point.
A snake popped in my vision. Relax not a real one but a spirit snake for lack of better words.
Some of you don’t speak witch and it shows.
I know I’ve lost some people, but if you made it to this point you may as well keep reading. That Friday I decided to take a walk at the park where I shot my mermaid adventures. Ironically the date of that Friday was the same date and day as me graduating from college, May 15. I walked around and again I saw that snake, but the skin shed to white as I contemplated my life. I googled white snake symbolism and what I got was transformation and rebirth.
My mind was made up. I quit that blasted slave pit.
I quit on good terms, gave some amalgamated mesh of why I can’t stay. Along the lines of why I left, that I didn’t want to catch it and pass it on to my elder family members. Blah Blah Blah. And just like that I was out.
NIGGA I YEETED. I would have yeeted more if they gave me my unemployment, but fuck them. I hope to never see them again. Side note, my girlfriend told me there was so many cases of Corona every week. As soon Lockdown wave 1 ended they went back to their bullshit slave practices of forcing everyone to be in the same area.
But me personally, I was good. I colored to my hearts content, more so when my girlfriend got me a new chair. MAAAAAN listen my cheeks were so relieved they yeeted. So fucking relieved. I had some revisions to do, 2017 should be slapped for just hastily throwing stuff on paper. Slapped so hard. but I finally finished Act 2.
OMFG, I’m literally at the half way point. 10 issues down. 10 issues to go.
I should have kept going, but back pain was a thing. When July hit I took a hiatus to ya know live. Play video games, finally hacked my PSP that I got 11 years ago when I graduated college.
That was um a process to say the least. bricked it a few times. But I got it, at some point. Joy is playing Phantasy Star 4, and beating it. Especially when you were stuck at one part as a child.
RPG JOY BITCHES!!!
Beat Spiderman, Discovered AWICH, (YEET TO HER LIFE), did non profit work, went to Charleston finally, back to Atlanta because of the aquarium we saw in Charleston, Kayaked, climbed a mountain, taught photography to someone who helped me get one of the Infinity Stones, tried new recipes, read some books, got inspired by things for my next set of random ass drawings.Ya know all the simple things that ya don’t get to do when you are exhausted from a cotton field.
On Kami. On the Kami of all YEETS. If could just be unemployed and work on my art I would. Literally looking forward to my next unemployment stint.
I’m working at a place I never really wanted to work at again, but money is needed and I needed to loose weight from the past few months. I really became a chunky fuck. EWWWWW.
So October I restarted being a slave again, at a horrible fucking hour. The next place I shuck and jive at I hope I can wake up after the fucking sun. Thats all I ask bro. My comic work took a back seat to financial catch up, car registration and getting money for presents.
Ugh Life be like.
But my slave schedule changes soon, eventually I’ll be back to staying up all night while coloring as Spotify blares in the background. Nice to have to something to look forward to ya know.
Do I have any real hopes for 2021. nah bruh. I just wanna return status to zero by finishing all my art projects, enjoy concerts again, go to AfroPunk FINALLY, go to anime and comic cons, see my friends, not have anxiety attacks when I go out in public, survive a mutant super virus that has been ravishing the world for the past year, ya know the simple things.
I wish I could say I have alot of content for ya’ll, but I don’t. The typical Jano luck of photoshoots happening despite being talked about still ran true in 2020 as previous years. Actually I had planned on posting this issue when I did the photo and try to be con current with my life but obviously that didn’t happen.
Moral of the Story; If you hate the cotton field you shuck and jive and you get a chance to leave, leave that bitch if you can. ON KAMI. They don’t give a fuck about you or your life, and if you leave they will replace you like you never existed. Follow your dreams and take care of yourself.
It is the way.
This will probably be the most positive thing I say on this platform.
Maybe. Depends on how life goes.
At any rate thats all for now. I just woke up. Here’s hoping 2021 has way less fuckery than 2020, for the culture.
Yo first and fucking foremost fuck not having my computer, OMG first world problems is a real thing. I just got it back after having to send it off to Apple land. Why? Because the mouse decided that it wanted to frag up on me out of the clear blue sky. And not just any clear blue sky, when I was watching One Piece in my anime block. SHAME, SHAME, SHAME. I promise you before I sent it off I was hearing every old school 90’s r&b song that was about missing someone. So much sadness, ya’ll just don’t understand.
Anyway.
Now that I got my existential crisis out of the way, we can go on with the next stop of Jano’s model practice journey.
So once upon a time, I was dressed as Deadpool at Charlotte Comic Con December 2013, and there was this girl dressed as Poison Ivy. We met and became friends, and she decided to help me out. Because who doesn’t want to help a cute nerd with a smart ass mouth,who looks good in spandex and who went to the same college as you.The end.
Well not really, don’t leave yet.
Ironically enough the location we shot at I initially scouted for another photoshoot that got cancelled.(Which sucked because I totally could have used the money, Fuck you 2016). Anyway the location has a dead track, well that is at least what I was hoping as I was walking it. (Getting hit by a train is not part of my life goals.) The most aggravating part about this day was
1. That as we were getting ready to leave it rained, but only for an hour.
2.When it was over I was so fucking damn sore, NIGGA. I have to be the most skinny out of shape person in life. I have to be. This is what happens when you don’t go to the gym for a while, but the money is still be drafted out of your account. Yea, I need to work on that. I promise you the entire time we watched Sailor Moon R the Movie and ate pizza I questioned if It was normal to be this sore.
At any rate some of the pictures from that sore ass day are here.
Spoiler Alert: This won’t be the last time you see her. You should check out her cosplay pages in the meantime right here.
Meanwhile while ya’ll are doing that I need to catch up on my shows (Insecure, Boruto, DragonBall Super, Rick and Morty, Ninja Turtles, One Piece, X-Men, and Fairy Tail). Like I said first world problems are a real thing especially when you are not gonna pay for cable. That shit is high as fuck for no reason. Actually, no I need to do my hair, then I’ll watch my shows.
