Or rather, how ridiculous weddings have gotten. I read a board where girls making $23k a year talk in casual tones about their 600 person guestlist and the $70/plate dinners, registries at Tiffanys and complaints that their (financed) ring is only 1.5 carats. I love seeing posts from the brides-to-be complaining about the lack of wedding gifts received yet - even though the wedding is still a month away. These girls who monitor their registries with a sad obsessiveness and post with every purchase.

I read these posts and I just want to grab these girls and shake them, I want their parents to explain to them the difference between a wedding and a marriage. I want them to stop searching for the perfect shade of blue and start thinking about what life will be like after “the best day of your life”. Or, as one of them recently referred to it, “A really awesome party for just you and one other person”.

But while I understand where the writer was coming from, and agree, I was bothered by the fact that she didn’t provide any alternative to the blown out affairs she complained about. I know it would have taken away from her shocking “we’re a happy loving couple and we’re NEVER GOING TO GET MARRIED” to even mention inexpensive alternatives, but they do exist. If you’re against big weddings, don’t have one! Go spend $75 for a license and have the Justice of the Peace do it.

Ok, this is the oldest thing in the world but I just found it and it made me die laughing. Literally, right now I am a ghost. A typing, blogging ghost.

dance dance dance video

Since I have been getting so many people emailing me lately, I just thought I would officially write out the cost and information for the cartoony illustrations.

1. email me to let me know you want one. Include a couple of pictures of yourself that you like (or link them). The cost of the drawing is $40. Please paypal this to my address, orehlrig@yahoo.com. Some people feel awkward pre-paying, but because this isn’t a tangible product, I have had a couple of people just take the proofs and never pay. Sorry! You can totally publicly shame me on your BLOG if I don’t come through! And I have references.
2. in the email, let me know if you want anything special. If you want your cat there, send a picture. If you want your shirt to be incredibly ironic, tell me. If you want to be flipping the double bird, I will make it happen. I just ask you tell me in advance, not after I send you the final.
3. In 2-3 days (if longer I will contact you) I will send you the line art. You can ask me to change things at this point. The thing that I am most commonly asked to change? People are always telling me to make them fatter! I will try super hard to make you happy!
4. After you approve, I will color it. I’ll send it back to you and you can request adjustments on color.
5. I do the shading and send you the final version. You are happy! Maybe you do a dance.

My hipster squid shirt is up at threadless!

please go vote!!!

also, for some reason I can’t bring up threadless on my PC. It works on Phil’s, but not mine. I tried both ie and firefox. cleared cache and cookies, rebooted. Any ideas??

My younger brother has finally ended his five + years of service in the Army and has set up home in his new apartment in Madison, WI. Words can’t really express how happy I am that he is getting this chance to start his civillian life.

I’m trying to come up with something nice to get him for a housewarming gift, and coming up blank. Keeping in mind that nice is a subjective term - any suggestions? He has a long-term girlfriend who is helping him with most of the bigger things, furniture and dishes and the like, he just needs his ridiculous sister to provide him with a “what huh?” gift. I’m thinking about drawing (or trying) a bear on a unicycle, it’s an inside joke and would be something he could appreciate, however briefly before his girlfriend buried it in the back of a dumpster.

Spent yesterday working on concept logos for the black tie martini club podcast. This was my favorite, but ultimately I think we’re going in a different direction.

I still haven’t heard back from threadless about my submission. It was my first one, I don’t know if it normally takes this long. I will update as soon as I hear.

It is awesome to discover that after two weeks of faxing resumes in response to employment ads, that the online fax service you have been using doesn’t work. I am happy that potential employers all over town have been receiving faxes from me stating, “Please find the attached resume in response to your advertisement in the Austin American Statesman. Thank you for your consideration.” followed immediately by three blank pages. I can only hope that these faxes found their way directly to a garbage bin, and have not resulted in me being blacklisted by half of the companies in Austin, as I am clearly too stupid to work a fax.

(click for full)

Illustration for group called Black Tie Martini Club.

I’ve decided to try to do a new drawing every day. I don’t know how long I will actually keep this up, but hopefully I will do something small at least. Overall, I prefer quality over quanity, but also feel I need practice.

They’re coming for you, Clay!

Sarah wanted a cartoon of herself riding a dinosaur to the book fair. I set out to give her the opposite of what she wanted. In the original sketch, the dinosaur was actually riding her.