Nearly a month into being 30 and I'm feeling more renewed with each passing day. I think I can really say I'm happy to have closed the door on my 20s and looking forward to a better life.

After writing, doing some redesigns and finalizing some story structure I'm finally ready to sit down and really make 1st Floor a reality. I went ahead and purchased the domain & hosting. With the rate I draw I'm hoping to launch in March or April. I've written it to be mostly self contained stories, and hopefully I can start out at posting once or twice a week and pick up from there. It depends on how the day job goes I guess. Launching it as a web comic was always the plan if nothing really came from San Diego on that front. On other fronts a few things have come from it (finally!) but I can't speak on that yet. The one thing that's really been helping me has been the book that Scott Kurtz and Co. put out this last year about how to market a web comic and make it successful. Networking and making friends with heaps of other cartoonists has been huge in my life too. It's pretty damn awesome really.

Other goings on? Well I recently started talking to my old roommate from college, Mr. Ben Cohen, more often. We kinda started kicking it off on Facebook and that's been pretty cool. In case you're wondering, yeah you can find me pretty easily by searching for Zak Kinsella. My avatar is a cartoon - easy to find.

I finally went to a Squidworks meeting this last month with Gerhard and Chris. It's pretty cool to meet the other cartoonists around Denver and see what everyone is up to. Enchanted Grounds may be in Highlands Ranch, but it's a sweet place. I can't remember if I mentioned that before, but I'm really looking forward to another one next week.

My back is feeling much better. It's getting back to normal after the accident, and I'm still waiting for my car to be finished. Right now I'm driving a white Toyota Yaris and I feel like Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles driving his little mini car in the 1st act of the movie. It looks like I'm driving an egg... and someone smoked in it before me. Gross. Funny thing about my stupid accident was that I was heading over to Rod's to score some sweet comics for the first time in forever that night. I need to travel over there soon... I'm just so damn paranoid about driving right now. How lame is that?!

On a serious note; my friend, Aly, is going through one of those life altering break ups right now. Kind of like the one I went through over a year ago. It literally just happened, and while she carries herself well, there have been some times where she just doesn't want to be alone and has a tough time. Thinking back on that time in my life... I can totally empathize, and it's kind of cool to see how much that event made me grow. I've been motivated to work on me, and this year has been great for it. So I'm trying to use my example to help her out. I met her through a friend at work, and we instantly nerded it up. We'll be spending a lot of Saturday nights sitting on the couch watching anime and playing lots of games now that she has the time for it. Before this it was limited times being dorky at the various bars around downtown here. She has a two year old daughter and she's a real pistol. Cute as anything else, and we have fun in the sun. But I digress, having gone through it all recently, it's nice to put it into perspective for someone who needs it.

Ah, what else? Oh I took the plunge and started talking to the woman from our sister location in Parker. K. made a resolution for me this last year - Don't be a pussy. And I've been following it for once. Anyways, Becky is a nice girl and we've been talking over myspace on and off. We've both been just busy enough not to set anything up yet, but we'll see how it goes. She too has a daughter... and while everyone says I'd be a great father, man that kinda scares the crap out of me. But I think the less said about this, the better. I don't know where it's going, but I'm stoked. I've been on a few dates here and there this last year. None of them really felt great, and all I could think of was that I could be home writing/drawing. This feels different all the sudden. Slam!

So yeah, 30 has been holding new adventure and prospects for me. I guess what got me thinking about this has been my friends. I talked at length about this with my friend Charmaine last week when we went out for the day. See, I kind of love spending time with her because I get along so well with her son Donavan. He's not quite a year old, but we're good buddies already. So anyways, her husband is turning 30 next year and is freaking out. And last year my buddies Chris and Trifon both turned 30. Actually, same with Becky oddly enough. Anyhoo... I told her I was on panic mode up until like 2 days before the big day. Then I had what alcoholics call "A Moment of Clarity." Tell me what movie that's from... yeah so it was weird... I just felt calm and realized that to me, God was shutting a door on some very rough times and that I was free to start again now. I know it sounds funny, but being such a fuck up in my 20s has allowed me to see that I don't want to be in my 30s. I've changed a LOT in the past year and I think that was really preparation for this year. So apparently that bit of advice has really helped Korby (Char's husband) and I'm happy to hear that. He's a damn good guy, and I'm glad to know him.

So I guess it's time to wrap this up. It was a fun Sunday. Spent it out with Trifon as usual. Sundays are our day of relax and fun. Hit the gym after church, do some lunch and catch a flick. Speaking of which - watch Rocknrolla. Seriously, that movie is awesome and it's finally out on dvd. I love Guy Ritchie movies, and while it's nowhere near as good as Snatch, it's a fun little flick. Plus it has Gerard Butler (King Leonidus from 300, ladies) in probably one of his funnier roles.

Ok, sleep good. Damn I wrote a lot there.