Severe no for Trader Joe’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies. The cookies are dry and the chocolate is not satisfying and tastes cheap. I’m Yankee thrifty, but I’m tempted to throw the rest out! Ingredients look fine (ie, no corn syrup, which I won’t eat anymore), and there’s a bit of honey, which will usually raise the rating, but not this time.

Perhaps not the most appetizing photo. From here.

Part of my bitterness is because they used to make a chocolate chunk cookie that was totally great, maybe 8 years ago. It was dense, hard, but not too hard, somewhat grainy, with good quality chocolate. (may have been Guittard’s.) All you needed was a couple to make the starving (or sad) feeling in your gut go away. ( I met a guy standing in line behind me once, buying only these cookies, and he told me he would eat the whole bag in one sitting. Ah, men, and their lucky, lucky metabolism.) A bag in the cupboard always made me feel happy. Grrr at TJ for always always dropping good food. I wrote a lyrical poem about Trader Joe’s in my other blog, here. It’s not very nice. Read more »

Shoe sale, 75% off! But none in your size, Nancy. Nancy is unlucky at shoes.;)

I’m not a boat person, but sometimes I’m a shoe person, especially when they’re on SALE! The assignment was to do an interpretation of the subject Sail, for the fascinating ongoing project, Illustration Friday.

Of course, when you compare me to the other IF folks there, I am not worthy, but somehow I wormed my way into the group. I love this drawing for the repetition in her dress and in the bricks. And she’s carrying a purse I want! But mostly, because it’s funny.

The amazing and funny and talented Manolo, of Manolo’s Shoe Blog once had a contest and I was so impressed by him that I donated a signed cartoon as a prize for one of his winners. I picked this one for the lucky woman. He mentioned my books, and also used this one in his blog. So it has provenance, too!

If he wants to go any further with me. Well, there’s probably more than one. But I’ll let you guess at some of the others.

Here’s the question some – just a few, mind you – guys can’t resist asking me, as soon as they find out I’m a cartoonist:

“That’s cool. So…. do you actually make a living doing that?”

Is there anything ruder? It’s always when we first meet, too. Are they just now considering it as a career?

And often they had been flirting with me earlier, so there was a little buzz going on between us up til then. Good luck, pally, and adios.

Syndicated cartoonists make an ok living at 100 papers, and good at 200, so I’m told. Magazine cartoonists (which is what I do mostly, although I am in some papers, books, etc.) did well back in the fifties, when there were tons of magazines around that used cartoons every week! Sigh. Even when I started, the Cartoonists Association want list, defunct for a long time now, had varied magazines that were buying. Like Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist – I think they’re still around, but I have no idea what they really were looking for. And I remember an opera quarterly that was always looking. I would think to myself, there’s an interesting niche. Even though I hate opera, loathe it. Still, it made me happy it was out there, happily looking for cartoons that someone else would have to think up and draw!

And the New Yorker guys – it’s still mostly guys, and why shouldn’t it be? – do very well. I could go on and on here about how bitter I am about THAT, but I fear I may spiral out of control and end this post on a really down note.

My father is a Sagittarius, so sometimes he’s a little blunt, but I appreciate his advice:

“Don’t worry about it. All artists are 50% more famous when they die.”

Now, that’s the cheerful spin I inherited, and intend to share with others in this blog.

I like the theatre. Spelled re.

Me. /small voice.

An important editor is coming to LA on Wednesday, and we’re going to meet for the first time. EEk!! My first thought: what should I wear? I mean, I know what I SHOULD wear: a summer frock and high strappy sandals. But I don’t have a frock, and my sandals are at the dry cleaners. Really, what should I wear?

And I’ve been working out more for a month. Not just running, but yoga and ballet, too. I can see a little difference, but not enough to make me happy. I’ve also been whitening my teeth, but those strips are so annoying, I keep “forgetting” to put them in each day. I got a haircut, too! Some days it looks good. Better do something about my nails, too.

But it’s not just the looks, oh no. It’s what to talk about. I need to ask for a raise. Renegotiate. But I don’t want to be crass, in my not-summer frock. If I was thinner, I’d wear a dress with lots of spring colorful flowers on it, to distract him from business. I remember one like this from 8th grade… Maybe I should wear a headband.

I rarely meet editors out here. I’ve met only a couple in NY. I met both of my book editors at BookExpo, so that was fun. I’m honestly curious about them, and I think I’ll just pepper him with questions about himself and his glamorous job. Marty Murphy said firmly, “Just be yourself.” Okay, maybe I’ll try that one, too.

*Update: Meeting is postponed until Labor Day week. Phew! I hurt my toe in my nervousness, so I’m hobbling a bit, anyway.

______________________

A male friend writes:

Good luck with your big meeting. Be optimistic! Remember that you’re incredibly talented, intelligent, charming, pretty, thin, etc., etc.!!

And don’t forget to wear a headband!!! (That always works.)