As I start to write this Year’s End customary diatribe, I notice that the clock on the corner of my screen reads 2:22. That’s 2:22 am. Its 5:22 am back home in Panama. And right after writing down these last two sentences I realize I really have no idea where I’m going with this… I just thought it was cool that I started to write this at exactly two twenty two in the morning, on the last day of two thousand eleven.


So the record will show.


Onwards now… this has been quite an eventful year for me. A breakthrough year, if you would allow me to call it that. It had its score of shit… and it had its score of gold. Truth be told, I think the gold outweighs the shit, for a change, and that is what makes it a good year in my book, no?


Let’s see… what have we accomplished in these last 365 days I have spent orbiting the sun? Maybe even cross-tally this list with the list of things I accomplished the previous year? –Who knows? I am certainly playing this by ear and letting things come to me as they will… not forcing anything.


Behold, then, what I would like to call “THE LIST OF THNGS ACCOMPLISHED! –The 2011 Edition.”

-Started the year with a bang –literally! Welcomed 2011 on a beach, shooting fireworks, surrounded by people I love –and who I like to think love me back as much as I love each one of them individually.
-Was christened with the title of Prince of The Pencil, Protector of The Metal and Author of the “Merolus Indiscretus”.
-After dating for a few months, started a serious relationship with my Cherry Blossom Queen .
-Got TWO haircuts all year long…
-Hosted the “All Ages Show ”, featuring SK, LEMMIWINKS and RENCILLA at the Teatro La Cuadra.
-April saw the longest, steady posting schedule my webcomic has ever had… it lasted a good few months… I even updated the webcomic while on vacations abroad…
-After yearning to go back for almost 20 years, I went to Disney with my Queen … and had the best trip ever,...

As I start to write this Year’s End customary diatribe, I notice that the clock on the corner of my screen reads 2:22. That’s 2:22 am. Its 5:22 am back home in Panama. And right after writing down these last two sentences I realize I really have no idea where I’m going with this… I just thought it was cool that I started to write this at exactly two twenty two in the morning, on the last day of two thousand eleven.


So the record will show.


Onwards now… this has been quite an eventful year for me. A breakthrough year, if you would allow me to call it that. It had its score of shit… and it had its score of gold. Truth be told, I think the gold outweighs the shit, for a change, and that is what makes it a good year in my book, no?


Let’s see… what have we accomplished in these last 365 days I have spent orbiting the sun? Maybe even cross-tally this list with the list of things I accomplished the previous year? –Who knows? I am certainly playing this by ear and letting things come to me as they will… not forcing anything.


Behold, then, what I would like to call “THE LIST OF THNGS ACCOMPLISHED! –The 2011 Edition.”

-Started the year with a bang –literally! Welcomed 2011 on a beach, shooting fireworks, surrounded by people I love –and who I like to think love me back as much as I love each one of them individually.
-Was christened with the title of Prince of The Pencil, Protector of The Metal and Author of the “Merolus Indiscretus”.
-After dating for a few months, started a serious relationship with my Cherry Blossom Queen .
-Got TWO haircuts all year long…
-Hosted the “All Ages Show ”, featuring SK, LEMMIWINKS and RENCILLA at the Teatro La Cuadra.
-April saw the longest, steady posting schedule my webcomic has ever had… it lasted a good few months… I even updated the webcomic while on vacations abroad…
-After yearning to go back for almost 20 years, I went to Disney with my Queen … and had the best trip ever, including such amazing highlights as a bus stop breakfast and Thor on a Llama …
-Los Colorados –the Cartoon I animated- premiered on Panamanian TV.
-Created and published PUPU The Narwhal .
-Saw Ozzie live… much like I saw METALLICA live, in my country.
-Got promoted from Telemarketer (or Regional Sales Manager, if you will) to Training Manager.
-Quit my job as a Corporate Monkey, vowing not to return to that life anytime soon.
-Got one of my two Ravens tattooed -the one on the right shoulder. It bears a Valknut. The other one will go on my left shoulder, just like Odin The Allfather.
-Hosted the “Butter is Coming ” Gig at El Sotano, Featuring Animedley, Gargage and Radicales Libres.
-After spending a third of my life –so far- trying to get here, I was finally able to come North… to Vancouver, Canada and enroll as a 3D animation student at VanArts.
-Became a pupil of experienced animators that have worked on such films and series as Tarzan, Hercules, Transformers: Beast Machines, The Care Bears Movie, The Land Before Time, Mulan, An American Tail, etc…
-Got my first business cards ever. I am a 2D Animator, Webcartoonist, Counterculture Promoter, Free Thinker, Outspoken Daydreamer, Jack of All Trades, Human Being.
-Ran into a shooting of both FRINGE and SUPERNATURAL while wandering the streets of Vancouver.
-Went to the last soccer game ever held at the Empire Field, where the Vancouver Whitecaps lost to the Seattle Sounders.
-Attended the GET ANIMATED workshop here in Vancouver.
-Saw Jay & Silent Bob live , while they recorded a Podcast at the Vogue Theatre.
-Saw Dinosaur Jr. interviewed by Henry Rollins. Prior to the show –and as a total Hail Mary- I wrote an email to Henry, asking him if I could bring one of his books I own to get it signed…
-Henry Rollins signed my copy of See a Grown Man Cry .
-Attended the Vancouver Comic Con where I…
-Met Dave Crossland and Jim Mahfood –who did and Original Commission Piece for me.
-Went to a few Vancouver ComicJams, where I met Brandon Graham, Ed Brisson and Rebecca Dart… and this gentleman who actually worked with Harvey Pekar. These Comic Jams happen in The Wallflower. Funny fact? The Wallflower is right below the apt where Y: The Last Man was done.
-Had poutine.
-Visited EA Canada .
-Got a ton of books I had been unable to get back home.
-Became acquainted with several comic book shops.
-Learned to talk to a deaf dog. His name is Lenon.
-I am alive and well.

I am sure there might be a few more things that have slipped my mind… but who cares, really.


I am grateful to be here, where I am today. It took me a long, long time to be able to do so. There were a lot of tears and broken hearted moments… and I was really –REALLY- close to give up on all this. I thank my Grandma and my Mom for allowing me to be here. From the deepest, most profound part of my soul: Thanks.


This year, 2011, ends in a few hours. It’s about 4:22 a.m. now, here in Vancouver. It took me a while to fact check all that nonsense up there.


I remember a conversation I had with my friend Harold , ten years ago… back on 2001. That was a horrible year for everyone, especially him. I remember he got his computer stolen, and a palm tree branch fell on his car, destroying his windshield… I was really depressed that year too, and I remember him telling me that “all was gonna be O.K.” All was gonna be O.K. because it could not get worse than that back then. You see, he had a theory: 2001 was “El Año del Pupu” –The Year of The Shit- and it was about to be over. I was working in a bookstore at the time, and I remember that based ont hat conversation, I gave him a book as a Christmas present. It was a book about shit; human, animal, everything… just a ton of pictures of stools. I think the book was called SHIT. (I wonder if he still has that book.)


Those were simpler times. He was right –after a fashion- the years that followed were not that bad. Other than being constantly frustrated by not being able to get up here, there was not really much to complain about. I did some growing up –that is, I did a lot of shit I might not be too proud of, might’ve wounded some people, got hurt by others… you know, the usual things that happen as you grow older.


Then came that horrible year… where everything seemed so close yet… *SIGH* -2008 was a shitty, shitty year. It took me a while to bounce back from that… but I did, and although I was changed by the events that transpired back then, I like to think I did some more growing and learned more. I became more human, if you will.


I guess Henry is right when he says that “Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, and move on”.


Invariably, I think 2011 has indeed been a good year. There was that stretch of time where I was really down. I found myself away from my Queen, stuck in a job I hated, and facing a growing sense of dread and doom thanks to my frustration festering within me. I was ready to give up when my grandma threw me a bone from the great beyond… and here I am, fulfilling the quest I set before me so long ago.


I am ending this year on a really good note. I am once again in The Court of The Cherry Blossom Queen. I champion her, and I love her. I keep in touch with my family and my friends back home. I miss them all; the north is lonely and cold… but I carry on with my quest. I have found good friends here; they are different from the ones I had, and each will never replace the other.


And for that, and for everything else, I am grateful.


As is customary, I shall not declare any New Year resolutions. They are dumb, and –like cop cars- really REALLY gay. If there is something that needs to be done, then it shall be done. As simple as that. Just get up your (my) fat ass(es) and… DO IT.


So, instead of leaving you with lame and totally irrational New Year resolutions, I will end the year with all my warmest, fond and good wishes for you, and those you love and care for.


If you are going out tonight, please be careful.


“May the BEST of your past, becomes the WORST of your future.”