Damn, I had to kill a snake today. A real snake! It wasn't all that big, but it was still damned scary. I was washing dishes when I suddenly heard whacking noises in the dining room. I looked, and my mom was pointing to this snake which she seems to have killed. I looked at it and thought that it might only be stunned. I got a dust pan and when I picked it up, it jerked and coiled crazily. I ran outside to the garage and crushed its head with an umbrella. And damn it was still going nuts. I had to crush it in several places to make sure it was dead before I threw it out the road.

It was the second snake we discovered today. My cousin Kute found another, much bigger snake out in the patio earlier today. We had to kill it too. Why is man's instinctive reaction to snakes is to kill them? I don't know for sure, but there are chances that they could be poisonous and could kill us, I guess.

And speaking of other cold blooded animals, a lizard took revenge on me the other night. Remember the stupid lizard story I mentioned earlier in this journal? The one whose tail I accidentally cut off? I had come to call him "PUTOL" fondly. Putol meaning something like "cut off, cut in half". Well, he still hangs around the room, but he's amusingly paranoid. Unlike the other lizards, this one reacts strongly to me. When it sees me, even when I'm far away, the thing quickly scampers away and hides. Well the other night, something happened. I was about to go to sleep. The lights are out, I'm lying on my bed, my shirt up to my neck because I was scratching my stomach. Then I suddenly felt something wet drop on me. I felt it on my stomach and it felt ew, DISGUSTING. A lizard shat on me! I turned on the light, and on the ceiling I saw it, trying to scamper away. It wasn't Putol. It was probably a friend of his. Oh man, I was so pissed. I picked up whatever I could in my hands; coins, erasers, candles, combs, pencils, whatever and I tried to hit the damned thing off the ceiling. But damn it, no matter what I do, I couldn't hit the damned thing! He got away clean. DRAT!

Drawing Ochlocrat

I knew that most of the action taking place in Ochlocrat would be in a stretch limo. I needed reference. I went out to buy magazines and I tried to see if I could find a model. I looked at SM's Toy Kingdom and other toy stores out there and I couldn't find what I was looking for. The best I could find was THIS:



What can I say? It was the only one I could find. It looks too old for what I need, but I got the magazines for that. I can at least use this for figuring out angles and perspectives and to get a feel of how a vehicle of this sort looks like in 3D.

Saturday was break day for me. Me and Ilyn would usually go out to Megamall or Makati, but at the last minute, we decided to go to Manila instead, and visit the National Museum, for a change of pace. It's been, my God, 15 years since I went there? The National Museum is located at the old Senate Building near Luneta. I have heard that there is a new museum, an extension of the old one, at the Finance building right next to it. I heard that the new Museum here was kick ass so I was rather excited on seeing it.

The old museum is where the colossal SPOLARIUM by Juan Luna is located. Measuring at 4 meters high and 7 meters wide, it literally dwarfs everything in the room.



The room contains other remarkable Juan Luna paintings, but aside from the Spolarium, the only other painting there that truly impressed me was a portrait of Juan Luna himself painted by Hidalgo. I looked for other Hidalgo paintings, but it seems it was the only one there. I remember seeing more the last time I went.

The new museum contains the wreck of the Spanish Galleon "San Diego" and many of its artifacts, found off the coast of Nasugbu, Batangas. The presentation is really amazing. They tried as much as possible to lay out the wreck in very much the same way it was discovered. Can't describe it more than that. It has to be seen to be believed. Not only does it have this wreck, it also has a lot of artwork. Paintings by Hidalgo, Juan Luna, Amorsolo, etc., and a couple of sculptures by Jose Rizal.

The one thing one will notice is the huge amount of potteries there. Some of them look like potteries I have here at home, but the difference being some of them are more than 700 years old! One funeral urn is purported to have come from 700BC. 2,700 years OLD!!

While I have been truly humbled by what I have seen there, I have discovered something that has disappointed...no, CRUSHED me terribly. For a long time I entertained the notion that somehow, somewhere, dinosaur bones would be discovered somewhere beneath some land or in some cave here in the Philippines. Sadly, I discovered that it would be impossible. In one interactive display where the geologic history of the Philippine islands is played, I learned that the lands that form the country have only come to existence 60 million years ago, 5 millions years AFTER the dinosaurs became extinct. AAARRGGHH!!

Oh well, it was a great experience nonetheless, and it's something I'd recommend anyone here in the Philippines to try.

Drawing Ocholocrat



Here is the inked version of the panel I put up here earlier. Pencilling it took less than 15 minutes, but drawing it in ink it took several hours. I'm pretty slow now. It's been a while since I've really drawn like this. I hope to get faster as I draw more. Gad, I'm going to have to.

I'd Like To Put Some Morons in a Jar

Damn, I'm so gullible, I can't believe it. Someone sent me a link to this site: BonsaiKitten.com. It's a site that purports to put live kittens in a jar for decoration purposes. Wow, I found myself getting angry. I love cats. And to see something as horrible as this being done, well, it could get anyone mighty steamed. Well, it turns out to be a huge cruel joke, and no kittens were really harmed. Well, that's one joke that's done in really poor taste. Who knows how many whackos out there who believed it as much as I did and started doing it to THEIR kittens?

It was so easy for me to believe in it. What does that say about me, and about my fellow man? Man was capable of killing millions of Jews simply because they were Jews. Man was capable of dropping atomic bombs on Japanese cities with thousands and thousands of innocent people. Man was capable of throwing Filipino babies into the air and catching them with their bayonets, laughing in the process. Compared to that, kittens in a jar is NOTHING. If man is capable of doing those things, I'm capable of believing the worst in them.

Secondly, "Free Speech" is probably one of the most abused phrase ever in the history of modern man. I thank it for allowing me to say what I want to say in this forum. But sadly there are a lot of stupid, cowardly people out there who say all kinds of stupid, moronic, insensitive, horrible and despicable things and then hide behind the skirts of "Free Speech". I say cowardly because they flaunt their right to say what they want and yet refuse to accept responsibility for the consequences. In fact, they throw back what consequences their words have created back at those that they have victimized. You think you're smart, but you're NOTHING.

Who Wants to be A Millionaire, Pinoy Style

For want of something to watch on TV, I turned in to the Pinoy version of "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?" hosted by Christopher De Leon. They really must have spent a lot on production values because the sets are amazing. The pacing is quite fast and the watching quite enjoyable. Oftentimes I found myself screaming at the set saying something like "The answer is D! you fool! Ringo Starr is the oldest Beatle, everybody knows THAT!!"

And just as I was really enjoying the show, it pissed me off BIG time. One of the questions asked was, "What does a magazine called "Bondage" contain?" A. Sexual Techniques B. International Espionage C. International Banking (or something like that) D. James Bond.

Pervert that I am, the answer is simple! Sexual Techniques! I kept screaming the answer at the contestant, who seemed to honestly didn't know what the word meant. He looked quite religious and quite conservative, so it's understandable that he might not have encountered the word before. He used up ALL his lifelines just to have a hint as to what it could possibly mean. In the end, he chose Sexual Techniques. Guess what? They called it wrong, and said the right answer was James Bond. Why? The host Christopher De Leon said that it was a family show and that they cannot have an answer like that. The contestant lost. What the FUCK? If they cannot allow an answer like that then why the fuck did they pass that question in the first place?? Morons. It's MORONS where ever I go. I can write a whole article on my typical day where I can enumerate the many instances of stupidity I see on TV, on the street, on the bus, jeeps etc., and I'd continue writing to Kingdom Come and I still won't be finished.

Drawing Ochlocrat

Here is a panel from a page I'm doing for this book. Believe it or not, this is as far as I go on the pencils.



Very loose huh? Sometimes it's even looser. It's probably why I can never be just a penciller, because I find it difficult to be more tight with my pencils. I have to have to ink it myself because I don't really draw with the pencil. I draw with ink. I come from that school of comic book art where separate pencillers and inkers are really unheard of. All the artists who originated in the Philippines (at least until recently) have pencilled and inked their own work, and treated that process as not 2 separate steps but as one. It is only mainly in America where comics need to be turned out on a monthly basis did the drawing of the page was split into two steps between two people so the pages could be finished faster. The aesthetics of having one artist as opposed to 2 is a whole different article all together. Maybe next time.

I'll put the inked version of this panel here later on...

Feeling better (I wish!). I'm leaving (I wish I wasn't). I'll be back in a few days.

Aw, man, I feel so bad again. My nose clogged with like a huge ball of phlegm, coughing fits, I'm glad I don't have a fever but I fear I may be getting there. I've been feeling like this for the past 3 days. Trying real hard to fight it off because I've got lots to do. So far I've kept my hair straight. You know when you get sick pretty soon your hair is all messed up and you look like a zombie. But I've managed to avoid that and look like I'm NOT sick. God damned mosquitoes. It's their fault. I've been sleeping without a mosquito net for years now. Maybe that's the problem. With DENGUE so common today (5000 cases reported nationwide, 50 dead), I really got to be more careful.

Anybody else getting those damned Nigerian spam email that reeks of money laundering scam? I've been getting an average of 2 of those a day! It's getting ridiculous.

Another earthquake! This time it lasted less than 10 seconds, maybe only a little over 5, but it's the third earthquake within a month. What's going on?

Today I realized just how much the Internet has changed how we live. I know it already has, but I see more and more changes every day. I was watching the premiere of C.S.I. on AXN last night. It looks to be like a terrific show and it looks to be something that I'll be watching on a regular basis. Well, the pilot episode ended pretty much on a shocking, and unbearable, cliffhanger. The way it ended, it looks like they just fatally shot one of the major characters. Well, in the old days, you would have squirmed, writhed, and suffered horribly for 7 days before you found out what happened next. Not so with the Interent so close at hand. A few texts typed and a click of a button, you FIND OUT what happens next. It would have been better to have watched it 7 days from now, but jeez. I knew I couldn't resist.

Anyway, showing right now is The Immortal, starring Lorenzo Lamas. Oh boy, am I really starting to HATE this show. I haven't been particularly thrilled to see Lamas in anything, but to see him star in a show thats oh so obviously, and unashamedly, a Highlander rip off is just too much. I'm a HUGE Highlander fan. Both of the movies and the TV series. To watch this thing is just too painful. I'm tuning somewhere else now...

BHONG.COM

THIS is what I'm talking about. This is a site of a friend of mine from here in San Pablo. THIS is the kind of site that should get nominated for the webbys and should win every single one of them! I think he's an amazing talent. Set side by site to MY site, mine looks like road kill. Congrats on your nomination, Bong! You should damn well win it.You deserve it. All the best to Maia.

Whoa hey, look! I've rearranged, repainted and repaired my blog! Cool eh? Blogger added a whole new bunch of templates to choose from. Which is great for me since I still don't know HTML that well yet.

Gad, I'm feeling a little bit sick again. But it's not so bad. hung around the bed longer this morning, but I'm back to drawing. I'm really feeling good about the pages I've so far done. I had been scared because I had been inking and not really drawing for such a long time. I was concerned that I may have lost it, that I can't draw anymore. I'm still struggling, but things seem to be doing OK. I have to finish doing Ocholocrat within a month because sometime middle of next month, I'll be inking Leinil's new book for Cliffhanger. He sent over a promo piece of the characters before he left for San Diego and it looks cool...and a lot of FUN!

Oh, I relented and accepted the nomination of my site for the Philippine Webby Awards. I looked at the other nominess and they're TERRIFIC. I don't know what the hell I'm doing with all of these guys. Ibalik.net for instance, is nicely designed, as well as Arnold Arre's site, designed by the talented Cynthia Bauzon. Maybe I only accepted the nomination because I really don't want to put off whoever nominated me! he.he. Whoever you are, thanks. I really do appreciate it.

This is the time I usually pack my bags and leave for San Diego for the comics convention. I want so badly to go. If I had the money I would have. It's always fun going to America, to San Diego and the convention. I miss the cool air, the unmistakable smell of brewed coffee and newly baked bread that defines the smell of America for me. I miss the uncensored Cinemax and HBO, the huge servings of chili, burger and fries. I miss the thrill of striking out on my own, with only my wits and my maps to guide me. This is the time of year I feel my wanderlust more strongly than any other time. And it's painful when I don't get to go anywhere for some reason or another.

The feeling passes quickly though. There was a time in San Diego in 1999, the last time I went, when there was nothing else on my mind but to go home. America is a nice place to visit, but I feel I can't stay there for long.

My site was just nominated for a Philippine Webby. I'm quite unsure as to how to take it. I'm flattered that someone out there feels my site is worthy for nomination, but I've seen many other sites out there that have blown my mind. My site is simply not in their league. I have to reply to the nomination so that my site can be entered and I'm still debating whether to do it or not. Any opinions out there?

I just saw Castaway on DVD. I never expected I'd like it as much as I did. Tom Hanks is truly one heck of an actor, and truth be told, I was never a Helen Hunt fan until I saw this movie. She really blew me away. She was on screen for what? 15, 20 minutes? And yet her performance was both subtle and powerful and so moving that I could not help but fall in love with her a little bit. The plane crash was simply harrowing. It was probably the most frightening plane crash I've ever seen on any movie.

I also finished reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods. It's a wonderful novel and I strongly recommend it to anyone who not only loved Sandman, but to anyone who likes to read something unique. Damn, this Gaiman fella is GOOD.

STUPID LIZARD STORIES

I was lying in bed talking to my girlfriend Ilyn on the phone when I noticed this lizard on the far end of the ceiling slowly making its way towards me. The lizard moved slowly but deliberately towards the part of the ceiling directly above me. Now I've seen this happen before. Lizards hate me for some reason. They'd position themselves on top of me, then they drop a load of shit. I'm not kidding. Like I said this happened before and now there's this lizard, a bit of a large one, maybe planning on doing the same thing. I wasn't about to let him. Still lying on the bed, still talking to Ilyn on the phone, I picked up a coin, intending to throw it at the lizard to scare him off. Ilyn expressed concern that the coin may fall back on me and I said it's cool and that I've got it handled. Lining up my shot carefully, I threw the coin. It hit the lizard square in the back, cutting off its tail. Flailing wildly, the tail fell right on my face. Naturally, I freaked. If there's one thing I hate are those ungodly things that moved of it's own volition. I had let go of the phone as I wildly shook and patted myself trying to get the damned thing off. I swear I could hear my girlfriend laughing.

And then I saw it. Right on my bed, still twitching. God, what a horrible sight. Good thing I didn't swallow it. Mustering my guts, I picked it up with two pieces of artboards and threw the damned thing out the window.

What the hell am I doing? This is a perfect Crest Hut story and I just spoilt it! Aw, it's going in there anyway. Next to chickens, I love telling stupid stories about lizards.

A new issue of PULP has just come out. I think all the files to this were already in Hong Kong for printing when the fire happened. Fortunately, this was also the issue of PULP where the last installment of WASTED appears in. I'm not sure if the magazine will still continue, but it's likely because Vernon doesn't seem like a guy easily fazed by things like this. Plus, one of the editors told me that they are currently rebuilding their offices.

A new Fantastic Four Annual has just been released. It includes a short story written by Jeph Loeb, pencilled by Leinil Francis Yu and inked by ME!! he.he. Cool beans inking the Thing. Bummer they spelled my wrong again. For the Xmen annual, I contacted Richard Starkings directly. No mispellings on this one. I made sure of that! Once I get a copy of the FF annual, I'll post the cover here, as well as artwork from it.

I just learned today that Ochlocrat will be in black and white. Which is just fine with me. I just need to go back to the pages I've done and add some texture on some places to compensate. I think I may have gone overboard with some of the textures, I think. Oh well. I think I'll be able to post at least a panel here or there when I'm done.

I went on a Big Country CD buying binge. I bought a couple of them in the past week alone. Pretty much everyone I talked to know Big Country for their song "In A Big Country", but they've got lots of terrific songs aside from that. Though they are an 80's band, their music never gets dated or old. I bought all their cassettes when they first came out, and now I'm buying them again on CD. I sometimes go soundtripping and nostalgicate (tm). :) A friend of mine says I'm on that nostalgic mood again, but I realize I'm a nostalgic person by default. Does that mean I like to live in the past? Maybe, but naah. I just like to reminise a lot, and get on with my work and my life.

CITY OF LIGHT

I don't know what happened to the story and when it's going to come out. I have all this artwork sitting here and I thought I just might as well share a page. This is page 2 of the story I drew.

Heh. Messed around with the fonts and text sizes. Cool! I can do it!! he.he.

I went to bed at around 12:00 midnight. I read a chapter of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Neil's new novel which I'm enjoying tremendously. Unlike novels I've read before, I'm reading this one slowly, taking in each word carefully. Neil's stories are deceptively simple, but in truth they're so dense that many stories are told at once without you even realizing it. I don't want to miss a thing! Getting sleepy, I fell asleep.

All of a sudden I woke up. And the bed was shaking. The whole house was shaking. It's an earthquake! It was rather strong. I lay flat on my bed really still because I wanted to feel it. I wanted to feel if it was getting stronger or getting weaker. I heard my nephew start to cry. I heard dogs start to bark. I heard our walls and ceilings creak. What's strange about earthquakes is that they make time seem longer than it really is. It felt like a long time passed before it stopped. But it was maybe just only 15 seconds or less. I got up to see what time it was. It was 1:20am. Turned on the TV and channel surfed for an hour until I felt sleepy again.

I just turned down inking jobs for Dark Horse! I can't believe it! This is the 2nd time I declined job offers from them. The first time I was offered to draw GHOST, but I had to decline because I was currently committed to inking stuff for Avalon. This time around, I'm committed to drawing Ochlocrat. And I prefer to be drawing Ochlocrat rather than do more inking jobs, even if it is from Dark Horse. I really want to try pencilling and inking a whole book myself. And I'm really grateful to Doug Miers of Conspiracy Comics for giving me this opportunity. Thanks man.

Are you a Filipino Comic Book creator? If you are head on over to the Filipino Comic Creator Directory and have yourself listed. The database is still small, but with the help of Filipino artists around the world, it could be a comprehensive source of information on Filipino Comic Art and it's creators. Contact the webmaster now!

I've updated my Filipino Comic Book Art Article. Actually, I've rewritten it, not to drastically change anything fundamentally, but to give due consideration to the many messages I received responding to it. These messages gave me new insight and new angles by which to look at what I had originally written. And hopefully, I've rewritten everything so people won't feel I'm attacking them..if they still feel that way after reading this well....

MAJOR SITE UPDATE!

Head on over to my MAIN SITE for lots of updates. No new art yet, but I've rearranged the articles a bit, added a new Artist of the Month, and added a Pictures section.

The new Artist of the Month is Alfredo Alcala. I've uploaded an amazing piece of art by him which I think has been rarely seen. It's a page from an old issue of Man Thing from Marvel. I got it many years ago at Booksale. The comic's cover was torn off but the art was really interesting. When I saw it was by Alfredo, I flipped. It looked terrific.

I've also put up a Pictures section. A little self indulgent, but what the heck. It's MY site. he.he. See me thin! With long hair! See Mimiws in the uh....FUR.

Holy SHIT, I gotta learn HTML. I've been browsing some blogs and they look fantastic. Ever since I started doing web pages I've relied on my trusty Netscape Composer and sometimes Dreamweaver to do my pages for me. For some reason, the codes produced by Composer, when I copy the html from notepad to Blogger, it doesn't work. It seems I have to figure out how to do the HTML myself, which I know next to nothing about. Maybe it will be useful to me later on....

CITIZEN KANE is finally coming out on DVD! And the features are simply awesome!! I can't wait to see it!

Working on this book Ocholocrat, I suddenly realized that 60% of the story happens in and out of a limousine. The story specifies a long sedan. I don't even know what a sedan is! I think I better do some vehicle research first before going on. I've been spending the last hour or so browsing the net for limousine photos and to find out just what a sedan is. Typing "What is a Sedan?" in any search engine gets me nowhere. I finally resorted to dictionary.com for the definition and it basically means 4 doors. Allright, a limousine with 4 doors. But I need to get the details right. I can't bullshit my way to drawing a car, specially a kind of car I've never even seen with my own eyes. I gotta have reference, at least so I know what I'm drawing is essentially technically correct. I'm gonna go to Toy Kingdom tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to get a nice limousine toy, get some auto magazines....

A preview of the X-Men annual I had been working on has been released at Newsarama. The annual is written by Grant Morrison, pencilled by Leinil Francis Yu and inked by some inker who suspiciously looks like me!! Check it out!

http://www.comicon.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000117.html

The format is fascinating because it's laid out horizontally. Nothing new in comics, but the difference is that the staples will be on the shorter side. Never been done in standard format comics yet, I think. It's been done in some Garfield books and other compilations of comic strips, but I think this is the first time it's been done on comics of this sort. Can't wait to see it myself!!.

Started working on Ocholocrat. Loads of fun because I finally get to strut my own stuff. I can't post any of the pages here yet, but there is one artwork that I can share. Nothing to do with Ocholocrat. It's art that I did for Filipino singer-songwriter Cholo Paz and his upcoming CD. I'm a huge fan of this guy and when he asked me to draw something for him, I was stunned, literally.



I don't know when the CD is coming out but I'll let everyone know when it does. If you like Filipino folk music with a twist, I highly recommend it. Yep, I heard some of the songs already and they're terrific.

If you're a fan of the film The MUMMY, stay away from the Region 3 version of The MUMMY: Ultimate Edition DVD!! I was pissed because the package lists a full screen version of the film on Disc 2 but it isn't there at all. What a rip off. Get Region 1. Screw Regional Coding. I went to the Universal Pictures website to complain. I filled out their feedback forum. Bam! Error. The error message tells me to write to an email address listed there in case of error. I did. Bam! The email bounces back to me, telling me "Returned Mail: User Unknown". Holy Shit! Ah screw it.

Go to bed. Watch Wowow. Hope something interesting pops up. Wowow watchers know what I mean. he.he.

The Internet isn't what it's cracked up to be. Admittedly, it's still a fantastic tool for communication, but many other things have been a huge letdown for me, and for many other people. I guess people went into Internet expecting it to be the next big thing, and in many ways, it is. But for those people expecting to make big bucks, it's a major disappointment. I didn't come in expecting any money, but I made the mistake of trusting those people who expected to.

Disappointment #1: XOOM.com and NBCI.com

There are lots of free stuff on the net and like many people, I got caught up in many of them. Free web space being one of those. Many of these free services have promised free lifetime claim on your own home on the web. I put a couple of my sites on XOOM. In exchange for the free service, Xoom would put a banner ad on every page on my site. Which is OK. Free isn't really free after all. I trusted that my site will remain there for a long time.

Less than a year later, XOOM gets absorbed by NBCI.com. There was some concern, but NBCI promised to continue whatever service XOOM has offered. Less than half a year later, I am informed by NBCI that I need to move my site outside of NBCI. They were very coy about it, but the gist of their long-winding email is that they're closing their free web space service. I got a little angry at that. If you are going to usurp something like XOOM, then it stands to reason that you've got the machinery to back it up. What happened? Bite off more than you can chew?

NBCI recommended the site be transferred to Homestead.com. Doing some web research, I discovered that Homestead has gotten really good reviews and come well recommended. Going to Homestead, I was further disappointed to learn that they will soon be charging for their service. A free service will still remain, but bereft of features which made Homestead a good place to go in the first place.

Disappointment #2: NAMEZERO.com

A year or so ago, a new service surfaced on the net offering free domain names in exchange for an ad on the site. I got one for one of my sites. But less than a year later, they deprive me of the use of the domain, demanding that I pay for it or they will sell the name to the highest bidder. Fuck you. Keep your stupid name. And while you're at it, change your name from NAMEZERO.com to NAMENOTZEROAREYOUCRAZYPAYFORMEYOUSHILL.com
You reeled me in because you said it was free. Now that you got me you make a u-turn and ask me to pay. That's tantamount to extortion. If you couldn't hack it, why offer the free service in the first place? If that was the case, then I wouldn't even be here yammering about it.

Disappointment #3: Ravelly.com

Ravelly.com is also a free service on the net offering free message boards for your site. They haven't asked to charge, but they are down a lot. For a service that ought to provide a stable environment for communication, it's a major disappointment. I have gotten in touch with a lot of my former classmates and friends because of a couple of message boards I put up with them. Now they are gone, along with all those messages, and contact info I have of my friends.

Ok, ok, nothing is really free in this world. I know that. And while these people offered their services for free, I should have been wary enough not to trust any of them. But I still can't help but feel angry at them for not living up to anything they have promised.

I can't totally blame them though. They trusted that they could profit from ad based revenues, but it's just not cutting it. The only thing making any real money off the net are pornographers. It's a match made in heaven (uh, pardon the reference). The Internet is a place where you can buy porn while affording you the utmost anonymity. It's the best any pervert can ask for. (Hey, I'm no saint. I look at porn sites myself but only those that are free of course.)

Now I can't trust anything that comes to me with "FREE!" written on their foreheads. I still entrust some of my things to a couple of these services. (Including this here BLOG) I have to because there's no way I can afford to pay, and have no means to pay those offering the same services for a fee. I've put my sites up at Geocities and my mailing lists at it's partner, Yahoo. Because of their popularity, I hope they are some of the more stable free services out there. If these 2 go down, then I guess it's time to bail out of this area of the Internet for good.