Sure, I mean, there often comes a point where you realize that no amount of "trying" is going to make magic happen that day. You're too hungry, or cold, or tired, or bored or just in a mood or whatever. Part of effective time-management is harnessing the power of "what I want to do RIGHT NOW" to get more done.

Everyone feels the urge to quit sometimes.

The difference between those with discipline and perseverance and people who seem to be serial quitters, are that after you say "Ah, $%!& it", you either a) pick yourself up the next day and get right back at it or b) realize that you have a responsibility and a deadline, and push through it.

"Finishing" is a talent that needs to be developed on its own.

I colour using alcohol-based markers. Most of my colours are Prisma, some are Copic, some are a weird Korean brand (“Touch”? I can’t remember). I don’t have an overall brand preference, different markers work best in different situations, and the colour pallets vary slightly by brand.

I scan the comic (using a regular-ol' flatbed scanner) and mess with the levels until it looks the least bad, then I save and upload them to my site!

Well, I haven't read all of the fantasy/sci-fi that is out there, so it's likely that what I dream up in this little box will likely already have been written! But my personal favourite type of story are those that exist in a world completely apart from Earth and humans and imagine new species and societies from the ground up. I read a great short once that imagined the world from the point of view of a creature that "saw" with echo-location.

I also never tire of post-apocalyptic dystopian futures/fantasies but they are more often mishandled than done justice, I think.

My mom had a rule: I was never allowed to have a toy that a) I saw advertised on TV or b) had batteries. My mom's pretty tough and I can't ever remember her backing down, so there was really no reason to challenge it. Also, we didn't have cable and I was never really a normal kid anyway so I can't remember ever coveting a toy like that. I was always pretty happy just climbing trees or drawing. I had TONS of stuff to play with, it was always just generic and/or more on the sciencey/creative side of the toy spectrum.

When I was thirteen I BEGGED my parents to buy me a scanner, so I could put my stupid pictures on the internet. (this would have been in '97) They were ADAMANTLY against it, and kept saying NO, and that's the only time I can ever remember them actually denying something that I truly, genuinely wanted from the bottom of my heart.

But they were just doing it as a sneaky tactic.... so I would get doubly surprised when I got it for Christmas!! And now EVERYONE suffers from my stupid drawings on the internet.

Theee end.

I watched Inspector Gadget a lot as a kid, and though I now know that he`s a robot or something, when I was a kid I thought all that stuff came from his coat and hat... So I'd like the coat and hat that makes anything appear when you say "GO GO GADGET ____"! :)

Ever is a really long time!

Obviously we've already managed to get into space and motored around, so while it's challenging and expensive it would be silly to say that the hurdles are insurmountable. It's really just a matter of prioritization.

Now, whether the human race will ever achieve "Star-Trek esque" interstellar travel is another matter. When I think of Star Trek, I think of space travel that is habitual. Anyone can get from one planet to another, it seems to be only about as challenging as booking a plane ticket is for us today. Another major facet of 'Star-Trek esque' interstellar travel is how often humans travel to other inhabited planets. A Vulcan can attend university on Earth, a human travels to Risa for vacation. Statistically, it seems likely that life exists elsewhere in the Universe, but these planets might be very, very, very far away. To have the kind of inter-planetary society Star-Trek envisions we would NEED 'Warp Drive' or 'Space Folding' or 'Hyper Space' or some other technology that, today, is not much more than sci-fi nonsense.

So we come back to the question of 'ever'. I feel like if we prioritized space travel and if 'Warp Drive' or something like that is even possible, we would build it......eventually.

To me, the real question is whether we have enough time to make these discoveries before going completely extinct.

It's gonna take a whole lot of evolution.

Uh, I'd probably just call my husband to say "so this blows, eh? Welp, s'been fun, love you."

HMMMMMMM.....

I have a lot, and many are people you may never have heard of. Mostly entrepreneurs, other artists and other engineers.

My goal is to be as happy as possible, so I mostly look to people who seem very happy and satisfied with their lives, and examine how they are doing that. I don't really look at accomplishments (i.e.: he wrote a book and is happy therefore *I* should write a book then *I'll* be happy) but rather habits, inspirations and outlook.

It's useful to study as many people as possible because 1) no single person's life is as good as it looks from the outside and 2) you start to notice common trends.

If by "sporting" you mean "begrudgingly toting until my contract expires", it is an HTC Touch Pro. http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchpro/overview.html

I abuse the crap out of my phones and this one held up really well for a long time. It's only with the newest line of smartphones that it's really starting to show its age. It's my first smart phone and I can't go back, I'm waiting for the next batch of Dual-Core Android phones to come out, and then I'll upgrade :D I'll probably stick with HTC though, I really like their phones.

If you are enjoying my twitter, you can thank my TouchPro :)

Nope!

I don't think I've ever been to a show I wasn't working. NEWW1 maybe but that was an unusual show. When I do my run-arounds of shows I'm working, I like to see original work, concepts/styles/products I haven't seen before.

I try to bring a variety of things to shows and change it every show-season. My display kit is always a work in progress but these days I spend most of my prep-time on food. A bad food situation really ruins a show.

nope!

It's a really weird result, and it just goes to show how much regional opinions can make a difference. Canada doesn't seem to have exploded in the past week, so I guess it's a wait and see situation.

I feel like I shouldn't need to explain myself here, but evidently I do.

As you mentioned, marriage is not a 'breeding license' - nor is it a prerequisite. Many couples choose to live together and have children and never marry, and that works out great and is totally fine.

Trevor and I had been together five years when he proposed, and there just came a point, for us, when we wanted to make a conscious decision to stay together permanently and celebrate that (through marriage) rather than just drift together along the same path without facing the decision one way or the other.

Now we can confidently make plans together that go out 3, 5, 10 years forward. I refer to him as 'my husband' and everyone gets what that means. There's less legal resistance for some things and other protections are automatic. (You can get the same protections as common law, but it's not always automatic - it's a procedure.)

The ceremony isn't really important. It meant a lot to me, but I get why people might not want it. The decision is the important part. I'm trying very hard here not to say anything that would lessen the magnitude of love and commitment that permanent common-law couples share because, as I mentioned, I get it.

Getting married was right for us and it is a decision that we made independent of the decision whether/when/where to have children.

And I can hear wedding bells sounding in the distance as I submit this :)

Haha... cats we can talk about I guess.

I don't know! There is little in my way right now, I guess I just need to get into the mood to go get it done. Could be soon!

Ok well first of all, if Hollywood is ever in such dire straights that they get to ME, there is a serious, serious problem.

Secondly, by the time that might happen, everyone currently relevant would be retired.

Sooooooo Brad Bird I guess.

That is too difficult a question, I have so many wonderful readers. Many have sent me really touching comments or emails and often they come just at the right time - when I'm sad and it's just what I needed to hear! The Ask an Engineer panel on the blog is entirely staffed by readers and I'm so grateful to them - that's a feature that I continue to enjoy and I think it helps a lot of people. I've met so many wonderful readers at shows, a few of which I'm really starting to forge friendships with, even!

Oh my goodness, though, the readers who helped put together that video for the first dance at the wedding.... I think that's got to be it. That was just a stressed-out-crazy idea that I had and I threw my wish out there and it came true. That was pretty awesome.

I have the experience-time required, I just need to take the test, so not long at all :D

Oh also I need to write that massive experience report D: Should be ok.

YES. It wasn't in the cards for 2010 because of how crazy busy I was but I am thinking I really want to do it again. I have ideas on how I can run it, just need to figure out logistics. Don't want to announce anything yet but pay attention during the summer :)

The biggest problem is how long it takes me to do custom art :( I hate making people wait and I hate turning people away, but it's the nature of the thing.