Ivy holding a baby alligator on the Everglades Saturday, after her birthday cruise.

For years, Ivy and I have wanted to celebrate her birthday with a Cruise, and for her 50th last week we did just that. Luckily for us, one of the nerdiest cruises to ever sail the seas came along just in time.

The JoCo Cruise Crazy was a great week of on-ship entertainment featuring Jonathan Coulton and several other nerd demi-gods including John Hodgman, Peter Sagal, Molly Lewis, Wil Wheaton, Bill Corbett & Kevin Murphy, Paul and Storm, Mike Phirman and others. Over 24 hours of programming and never a dull moment.

I was already indebted to Jonathan and John for taking time out at Neil Gaiman’s 50th birthday party in New Orleans last month to comfort Ivy when I was rushed off to the hospital. They both remembered her as well on the cruise, and we got to spend some extra time talking to John, Bill and Kevin, who are comics fans in addition to being all around nice guys, and incredibly funny.

Also on the ship were two webcartoonists, David Willis (who was celebrating his honeymoon with the lovely Maggie) and evil genius David Rees. Rees’ comedy was a thing of wonder. As our hero Peter Sagal put it: “I don’t know what he does, but he does it really well.”

(Willis was wearing an Axe Cop shirt when he met Sagal, btw, and Sagal recognized it right away. NERD! <3 )

Watch for Ivy’s two part write-up on the cruise at her blog later in the day. She’ll have a lot more detail than me.

I’m returning to blogging today after an extended winter break. A lot has happened in the world of comics in the last couple of weeks, some of which I hope to get to in the next few days, but for now, I hope you all had a great New Year celebration—and will have a great year to go with it.

Thanks to all the great students who came out for this weekend’s workshop at LAAFA! You guys were a joy to work with.

A couple of benefit comics out there this week: Panels for Primates (promoting primaterescue.org) and this call for submissions for an anthology to help promote anti-bullying awareness.

I like this handy round-up of UK artists. Anyone want to attempt it with other countries and create single portal?

This is medical wrap-up week, with two or three procedures planned to hopefully put both my kidney stone and arterial fall-out to rest. Wish me luck.

While getting ready for this weekend’s Los Angeles workshop, I came across this elegant rotoscope-based video (via Jim & Misty) that reminded me how beautiful the human form is—and how far I still have to go, after all these years, to capture it on paper.

There are no shortcuts. Yes, comics is about much more than figure drawing, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth your time to practice, practice, practice.

Do the hard work long enough, and maybe, someday, you can make it look easy.

[Edit to add: For those attending this weekend’s workshop, though, don’t worry! Figure drawing won’t be the focus, and even stick figures will be most welcome. We’ll be focusing on the art of “writing with pictures,” not drawing virtuosity. :-]

…this sounds pretty interesting.

So, here’s a thought experiment: If you knew that the question of life on other worlds was about to be settled and you had to put money on Yes or No, which would you pick?

(I’m sure tomorrow’s announcement is nothing that conclusive or impressive, but it’s fun to dream).

Since the kids are getting Thanksgiving week off, and I have a lot of catching up to do after my recent health issues (see below), I’ve decided to take a week off from blogging.

Be back at the keyboard on Monday, November 29.

If my body doesn’t have any other booby traps in store, I’ll be lecturing at Stanford University this Thursday at 6pm.

Spread the word and I’ll see you there.

I’m back home from the hospital and New Orleans (see last two posts). I’ll be updating a bit erratically while I make up for lost time, but know that as long as I keep on the meds and take care of that stubborn kidney stone after this week’s Stanford lecture, I should be fine.

I was kinda proud that my “celiac artery dissection” was consistently described as “rare” and “unusual.” I wouldn’t want to get knocked flat by some mainstream, run-of-the-mill disorder you could pick up at a three-for-one sale at WalMart.

Meanwhile, please redirect all warm wishes to Randall Monroe who’s struggling with a more serious condition in his family this month. Randall’s wit, intellect, and imagination have been a great treasure for all his readers, and I know we all wish him and his loved ones better days ahead.

@ivyratafia has the details on Twitter:

Dr. Dan (who’s been much help) says: @scottmccloud has a celiac artery dissection. The treatment is BP reduction. He’s going to be OK.

Unfortunately, I also have limited Web access. Hope to be blogging again Monday.

Basically, I was at Neil’s 50th birthday party here in New Orleans for about 5 minutes.

New Orleans looks very hospital-like this time.

Neil in Ojai with Sky and Winter a few years ago

Our old—and I do mean OLD—friend Neil turns 50 years old today and the family and I are here in New Orleans to join in a little celebration tonight.

Some say that Mr. G isn’t like us mere mortals. That he doesn’t age the way we do. That he is impervious to the ravages of time and will wander the Earth millennia after the memories of all humankind have passed forever from this plane.

Well… maybe…

But don’t believe everything you hear.

Today is the mid-term election here in the U.S.

I love this crazy country of ours. Let’s not make it *too* much crazier this time around, okay?