2006. 2nd Anniversary of SKOOKUM!

January 5th, 2006

Happy 2006 Everybody!

I know that I missed last week’s update, and for that I am terribly sorry about that. Like everyone else, I was celebrating Christmas and the New Year. This year’s Christmas celebrations at w’Note’s house were awesome! Not only did we have a pretty unusual dinner consisting of salmon and whelks (Gosh! Still can’t believe I ate those on Christmas!) we had a simply mind-blowing Berry Cheese cake as desert which simply added such a wonderful touch to the already very enjoyable celebration! Crazy as it seems, we actually watched Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 after dinner. No, it certainly isn’t the typical feel-good Christmas movie, and no, we’re not psychotics. It’s just that we want to watch something impressionable on Christmas. Especially when I am still haunted by the experience of my mind going numb after watching the horrible “Elf” last year!

To top it all off, we caught The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe the very next midday (not before we had an awesome lunch at Carl’s Junior)! It was such a good movie, it’s gotta be the only movie this year that truly moved me at several levels! I know the reviews for the movie weren’t exactly hot, but the movie really worked for me and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

On the whole 2005, ended with a very pleasant note, although I have met with some personal disappointments which made me depressed for a while, I must say 2005 was just as thrilling as all the other years were.

I could only wish that 2006 could be just or even more thrilling than 2005 have been.

Yes, I reckon all of you know that January 5th is the official SKOOKUM! anniversary, and as of today, SKOOKUM!’s TWO. It certainly does not seem that two years had passed, especially for me when I haven’t even scratched the surface of what SKOOKUM! is about anyway. Drawing SKOOKUM! for the past two years have been an incredible journey for me, not only have I felt that I have improved artistically, I feel that it has become an anchor of my life; when times I get lost in life’s maze, I know that I’d always have SKOOKUM! to remind me that there’s always something more to life.

I am glad that w’Note too shares my sentiment and told me how much SKOOKUM! has too, become a part of his life. Nothing pleases me more than knowing that SKOOKUM! has made some small impact on people’s lives. I get all excited whenever readers are able to relate with some of the characters or some part of the story, for it shows that the story or the characters of SKOOKUM! is actually speaking to the readers. It is not just a story found on the Internet, it is something that you can relate with, and it is something that represents a small part of your life. I do not want SKOOKUM! to be just my story, hopefully, everyone can feel that they own some part of SKOOKUM! after all, everything on the Internet is meant to be for everyone.

I used to have really high hopes and expectations for SKOOKUM! and I think right now I still have, just that I have developed far more realistic expectations for SKOOKUM! Long time readers will notice that SKOOKUM! has moved from a Three times a week update to a Twice a week update and finally to a Once a week update, and lately, sometimes it’s Once every fortnight. As I mentioned many times before, webcomic artists have their lives too and I am trying my best to be a more social person, and I am not afraid to admit that I have been hanging out with my new friends quite a lot. I am not sure what my schedule is gonna be like next year, but what I do hope is that I will be able to more punctual for the updates. I respect all those webcomic artists who are able to churn out three or more pages every week. I don’t think I have the energy to do that, I wish I did, but no. My primary aim for now is really to get more readers. I mean, it couldn’t hurt right? Other than creating a great page every time and finishing this work, there is nothing that I really ask of SKOOKUM!

My RESOLUTION for this year, for SKOOKUM! especially, is that I want to move the plot much, much faster. I have been a little dowdy last year and SKOOKUM! has admittedly been on the slow. I have received comments telling me that the slow pace of the story is making them lose interest. So, for the benefit of current and future readers, I very much hope to accelerate the story and push it to its climax as soon as possible.

I am sorry that I couldn’t find the time to have a nice anniversary update this time, since I was spent doing up the Christmas Special, but who knows? Maybe we’ll get one next year or something. Every year I give away some juicy spoilers for the readers, well, I decided that I won’t do that this year, I prefer to hold all of you in suspense till it is time to reveal everything.

To all of you who’s reading this, THANK YOU.

Have a good one everyone.