Next Sunday, I turn 40.

The closeness of the date (November 24, thanks for asking) has really just hit me, because -- frankly -- life's been far too busy recently for me to even spare it a thought.

As an early birthday present, my dear friend (and Army of Dorkness Major General) Reyne bought us tickets to last week's Packers/Lions game, at Lambeau Field.

If you were a Packers fan, the game was a thing of beauty to behold. I've never been to a regular-season professional American Football game before (the only sports I follow are Football (Soccer) and American Football -- mercifully this means much of the year the inanity of Sports Talk Radio is something I can ignore). This was a GREAT one to start out with.

From start to finish, it was a crazed, brilliant, insanely fun time. The weather was perfect. Our seats were shockingly close to the action, and there was a TON of action down by our end-zone. The day lasted from 4 am (when we got to the busses) until 8 pm (when we finally arrived back in Madison).

I only bring this up because -- I realized afterwards -- it was the first time in a LONG time where I didn't think about work once all day. Not once.

And that was GREAT.

Now, I adore my work, and I love cartooning. But this has been a busy year. And there have been times when it's all seemed overwhelming.

Dork Tower #21 is (finally) going off to press, making it the sixth Dork Tower to be released in 2002. This is the first time DT has actually hit the mark as a bimonthly comic book, and I'm really proud about that. The Dork Tower Lord of the Rings special goes off next week as well.

But there have also been two Dork Tower trade paperbacks out this year, as well as two SnapDragons comics, which I create along with the wildly talented Liz Rathke. So that might make nine comics and two trades in 12 months.

Then the whole business management side of Dork Storm Press is another time-eater entirely.

And of course, there have also been a slew of games out that I've worked on, with more on their way.

To top this all off (BIG NEWS ALERT! BIG NEWS ALERT!), I just sold my first *game design*! I can't really go into detail about it until it's announced, but the game should be out by the first quarter of 2003, from Out of the Box Games. (I'm WAY happy with it, by the way. I think it'll be a ton of fun, and it's REALLY unlike anything else on the market, I believe).

The conventions this past year have been amazing. Despite my vow in 2001 to cut back, I think I've been on more trips than ever (I'm actually getting used to the Chicago-London flights that start off all of my European trips, and now consider them just one long commute). Plus, the lovely and talented Judith and I have also been trying to hit more of each other's conventions, since being apart from her (frankly) sucks.

This led to periods like one last May, where, one Saturday and Sunday, we were in Chicago celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary. Monday, we drove back to Madison. Tuesday, I took a bus to Chicago to catch a plane to London. Wednesday and Thursday, I was in London, visiting the family I miss so much.

Friday, I took another train to Birmingham, for the Dudley Bug Ball (the convention that had flown me over). Saturday, I was still in Birmingham (woooo!), and late Sunday I took a train back to London, where I remained until Tuesday, flying back to the US.

Wednesday, I was in Madison. Thursday morning, Judith and I woke up early to drive nine hours to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the Whad'Ya Know Road Show she had to help on. We were in Sioux Falls Friday, Saturday, and finally drove BACK on Sunday.

So turning 40?

Pshaw.

MAYBE I can fit it into my schedule at some point.