So much for the week notes every Wednesday. For one, this is coming to you on a Thursday. Also, last week I flat out missed updating much of anything. The week was weird with appointments and places to be (including a trip to and from Charlotte, which is always a drag no matter where you’re coming to or from) for an update to my pharmacology. This set a weird tone to the rest of the week. But hey, there’s some upshots here.

Taxes

I write this in the aftermath of the 2024 tax filing. Taxes are as fun as dental work (of which I had to deal with a few weeks ago) while getting a rimjob from a drunk scorpion. Weird, unclear, and you’re never entirely sure if it is as necessary as they claim it is.

My wife has a successful career underwriting insurance policies for the stuff you don’t ever really think about needing insurance. She gets a handy W-2 and has a few forms that come in for the various interest-earning investment stuff. If she filed separately, it’d be a cozy 20-minute process. But, life being what it is, my business being what it is, and the American tax code being what it is, our taxes end up being a days-long chore that we put off to the last minute because of the level of anxiety it brings about. Of course, this is the year that we think maybe, just maybe, we bring in an outside CPA to handle this stuff for us. But the hunt was fruitless, bringing about a single candidate who wanted to charge us what would have been 5% of our overall income (and that’s without audit protection).

CPAs have to be a scam. Right? Why not wrap up this knowledge in the boilerplate standard public education we were all supposed to be getting?

Photoshoots

I had the good fortune of making a ton of art this past Saturday. I worked with Izzy to shoot at Burger Bar to finally get the photo shoot I’ve had in my mind out and onto the lens. The results are exactly what I wanted them to be. Better, even.

This shoot will be making the rounds. It was good to finally get back into it.

From there Izzy and I worked at Colourfield for the Saturday sessions. Sketches, ink, messes – the usual.

Across town, I met up with another group’s costume drawing session where I drew and shot Daphne. The theme was something to the tune of “50’s Housewife” but the results were something between “Housed Wife” and “Demerol and Lace.” I didn’t hate it at all.

Self-Hosting the Print Shop

Uploading stuff, moving fonts, changing over links – it’s been quite the week for the online store. Namely, it finally exists. Still testing out a few things, but you can check it out here.