caronavirus – Page 7

Selling my services; taking commissions

fiverr13 I’ve never been one to take commission work, but in these hard times where I don’t have money coming in, I am taking commissions. In the past I did a lot of work for newspapers and magazines – and books – single panel and editorial cartoons – and drawings for advertisements. I remember when I was in high school I used to do spot drawings for a local magazine. I still have all that published work somewhere, probably at my parents house in storage.

I’m also selling comics that I’ve sold before. What I mean is, take this Flintstones comic. Over the years I have sold this to numerous realtors.

I didn’t set out to sell it, I didn’t realize it was online anywhere. I may have posted it online a few years back and perhaps people shared it and it got around that way. My copyright info is at the bottom of the comic and thankfully the people who shared the comic left it there, as that is the proper thing to do when sharing other peoples’ work. But anyway, people reached out to me, they literally searched for my email address and asked to purchase the rights the comic. This has happened many times for this exact comic panel. Out of the blue I got emails, I blogged about it here.

I made a deal to sell them the rights, they purchased the comic and used it for their marketing – usually on postcards or business cards according to the buyer. And all of the buyers were realtors so far I think, except for a magazine publisher.

Anyway, I’m selling the rights for this and I’m doing commission work, starting off with low prices, until I get volume orders. I know my work is worth more, but I need to start somewhere and test the waters. It seems that every time you start a project, there are so many other people out there doing the same thing, especially on the internet. But the good part about cartooning, illustrating and art is that everyone has their own style and that’s what sells, rather than everyone competing to sell the same thing like a regular product or service.

colorize — Before and after colorization.

I am also recoloring old black and white photos. I learned how to do that with Photoshop so I thought I might as well make use of my “talent” and make a few bucks.

It’s amazing how this downtime is changing lives, people are doing things differently and thinking differently. Friends have told me they have taken up cooking and they are working out more and so many of us are doing Spring cleaning and so on. I have a friend who is doing workout classes online and it’s really such a renaissance for so many people.

Anyway, please reach out to me if you need art for anything – personal or commercial: tom@tomversation.com. Thanks!

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Nature’s Revenge; the reverse of climate change?

spring

I’ve seen in the news that the world seems to be resetting itself. It’s being caused by all of us, or most of us, staying inside, and businesses being closed; they say that climate change is reversing. Caronva virus is stopping climate change in its tracks!

The canals in Venice are clear; China is seeing lots less smog, a Stanford University study says between 50,000 and 75,000 lives are being saved due to the breathing of clean air.

Is nature, God, saying, “Enough!” Stop and reset! I think so. We are being forced to stop and slow down, to think, to meditate, to let nature breathe.

From an article in Counter Punch: “UN climate experts say humanity has about a decade to prevent ‘irreversible damage’ to the world from the monster of anthropogenic climate. Ten years is the time we need to, at least, limit the chaos of climate change.”

Is this pandemic Mother Nature giving us the extra time we need to fix the climate change problem? Pesticides are not being used these days due to the complete stop of everything; factories are not spewing poisonous smoke, people are not driving much so there is not much fossil fuel being used; all due to the caronavirus.

Researchers say that more diseases like the caronavirus are on the way due to encroachment on wild habitats and over population, so unless changes are made, this will be an ongoing nightmare.

The Counter Punch article ends with this: “Meanwhile, the coronavirus has eclipsed climate change and everything else in America and the world. Yes, people are dying and the shutting down of the country has merits. But unless we connect the virus with the horrors of climate change and the anthropogenic impoverishment of the planet, we imperil ourselves and this beautiful Mother Earth, Mother to All.

Is this proof enough to stubborn politicians who don’t believe climate change is man made?

Every day is a winding road

moving

So in my last post I was talking about the Boho van, which I would love to own and use, but in reality, I don’t like to drive – not even a mile away, so I don’t see myself on long road trips any time soon, plus, where would I park the Boho while in different states? Do you just pull up to a parking meter and that’s that? It seems so glamorous and easy on old tv shows like “Movin’ On” and “Route 66.”

For many years I would drive down to Key West, maybe five or six times a year. I didn’t mind the three hour drive because I guess I was driving through so many small villages and there was something to see. I had friends who lived on the west coast of Florida for many years and when I would drive up to see them in Sarasota, Port Charlotte or Venice, that was torture. It was just nothingness for hours on I-75. Naples is just about an hour and a half and I often think of going just for the day, but that’s a long boring drive even thought it’s not a very long drive.

But this pandemic has me thinking, there is lots of time to think.

My realistic plan, and Universe, I hope you are reading this – is to sell my condo, I have a lot of equity in this place. I’ve lived here many years and I can make enough money to retire on if I choose. The good part about that, too, is that I have about three neighbors who have relatives or want the place themselves. So I don’t have to look for buyers or pay a realtor commission.

The only reason I didn’t sell it to neighbors in the past is that none of them is willing to give me an offer that they are willing to pay, and I never gave them a figure that I wish to sell for. So we’ll have to pin that down now.

I would love to move to a lower cost place, in the area, not far away, and then travel and cartoon. I have always dreamed of spending the summer in Italy or even North Carolina or Connecticut or New Mexico, and just live there for the season, cartooning while I am there. So my main goal is to cartoon and travel.

I have a business I would sell, for whatever I could get. It’s either that or just shutting it down, but if I can get a few dollars, why not? I think the website URL and the mailing list is what competitors would want; they probably wouldn’t want the actual business, they would just fold it into theirs.

I could live on the equity I get from the condo I sell and I could make money in the future by re-investing the money and also from the comics/cartoons. If I get enough followers on social media, I could get paid for product placement. It’s done all the time with people that have thousands, if not millions of followers. And I have a plan to start doing commission work now.

So there is my manifest. The goal now is to clean out the apartment, you don’t realize all the crap you collect over the years. A friend told me a few years back that the worst part of his move was all the books, and he is right about that. But little by little, I am going to empty this place out – books, old clothing, old electronics, old plates and kitchen stuff – everything. I am making way for new owners – you know, telling the Universe that I am out of here!

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Moving on down the road

boho3

I’ve been wanting to move for the longest time, but I’m too lazy to move. This whole lock down/Caronavirus thing is sort of resetting our lives; it’s resetting the whole Universe. I have been thinking differently about my future and how I want to live.

I want a change of pace and I would also love to take the money out of my current place and re-invest it and live. I need to start enjoying it. I started cleaning closets and other things out so that there wouldn’t be so much to move when and if the time comes. With all this free time now I guess I should start the “spring cleaning” again. I think if there is less stuff here it might be more motivating in getting me to move.

boho1

I saw this thing on Shark Tank last week, it’s a van turned into a sort of trailer. So basically you live in the van, there is a kitchen, bed, shower, everything, but it’s easy to drive and maneuver since it’s not a huge RV. Trouble with that is I hate long driving trips, but I still do love the concept. The vans are called Boho campers. But I’m sure there are similar vans available, too.

boho4

Oddly enough, on the same episode, this girl had portable solar panels, which you hang on a window, it charges up, and you use it to charge things. That would work perfect in the small camper. That can be seen here.

Now all I need is the balls to go ahead with it and see the country, but first, I need to sell this condo I’m in, and clean it out first. I’m putting it all into the Universe along with the end to the Caronavirus so all this can start happening. Oh, and I would draw comics and post them from my Surface Pro along the way!

boho2

But I do have a more realistic plan that will work better for me. And I can retire in the process if I want. Stay tuned, I’ll explain that in the next blog post.

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Things seem to always work out

Shelter-in-Place I don’t mind the self quarantine or shuttering in place. I’m not sure why, perhaps because I work from home normally and I’m used to it. Some days do seem drawn out and I’m tempted to invite friends over, but I know that’s not the thing to do.

Last night, the City of Miami was put under a “Shelter in Place” order. Which sounds quite a scary proposition, but I’ve been doing that anyway, I guess it just didn’t have a name and order attached to it before. We are still permitted to go outside, take walks, do things that need to be done – go to get groceries, go to the pharmacy, pick up food, etc.

I think my only concern now money; my business is at a standstill and that’s a concern, but things have always worked out so I’m not panicking. So many times over the years I would tell the Universe I needed this amount of money or that amount of money to make it through the summer and the money appeared in my checking account.

Now I’m not saying it happened by magic. Most likely I forgot to make a notation of a deposit or two earlier in the year, but more than once this has happened and it saved the day, or the summer. I am seeing that happen now, when needed.

I am cartooning, that is going great and I’ve started Spring cleaning, first time in my life I think, but I’m doing it. I just dumped a lot of canned food with expiration dates on them from 2008! A few years ago I got a new refrigerator and when I emptied the old one out, there was frozen food in there from 2007; and this was in 2015 or 2016!

Anyway, I know this is frivolous talk, but I”m just trying to fill this space every day.

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Skyping the news

I like seeing everyone’s houses and offices when they skype into the news.

skype1

Al Roker has been doing the weather from his kitchen at home on the Today Show.

skype2

He shows different angles of the room on different days.

skype9

Here Ari Melber is interviewing our Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. Suarez has been all over tv lately because he has the corona-virus. But interestingly enough, many people are asking him why he doesn’t shut down the beaches that are crammed with spring breakers and he may be too polite to explain that the City of Miami really doesn’t have big sandy beaches. All those beaches you see are in Coral Gables or Miami Beach of course, or Key Biscayne, so Suarez has no jurisdiction over these beaches. But I heard the county stepped in and shut down the beaches to protect those college kids from themselves.

ari

Ari Melber on MSNBC interviews a lot of people from their homes.

biden

Joe Biden has the best room, looks like a comfy den, well appointed.

skype5

This is a doctor, you can tell by the degrees on the wall.

skype6

Books are a common denominator, I’ve noticed many people are in their home offices or living rooms, which have great book shelves.

news

Another bookshelf, a small one.

skype8

Here is a bookshelf and a living room setup.

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You either see the glass half full or half empty; which are you?

panic It’s amazing to me how people react to our times today regarding the caronavirus. People’s true selves come out. Weird, when I do a spell check for caronavirus, it comes up as “carnivorous. ”

I have one friend who is all doom and gloom. He thinks the world has ended, all he does is watch the news, but I think he only hears the bad stuff, the scary stuff, and he also speaks to too many people who spread rumors and falsehoods.

When I heard that some of the islands around here are closed, I looked at it as a good thing – Key Biscayne is closed except for residents; the Florida Keys are closed except for residents. All hotels in Miami Beach are closed, tourists are asked to go home. I see that as a positive sign for fighting the virus. My friend sees doom and gloom.

Another friend told me the National Guard is coming in, she got the news from an informed source, “They are in Jacksonville now and making their way down I-95, you know why? To ward off chaos, riots and looting!”

The first thing I thought was that they are here to build field hospitals and such. It’s all how you see things, your own perspective. I always choose to see the brighter side of things. Maybe she is right, I don’t think so. For one thing – this isn’t a hurricane, we have food, electricity, tv and internet. Oh yes, food – she says we will run out of food because the food manufacturers are shut down. I don’t think that is the case, that’s like saying the N-95 mask and ventilator manufacturers are shut down.

Another friend refuses to stay home, he is out daily on his bike, he is a long-distance rider, he goes out with his biking group and hits places all over the county, he doesn’t like the fact that county parks are shut down to visitors, even cyclists. I have one friend training her clients in parks that she can get into, maybe large front lawns, I don’t know. I sort of don’t mind that as she has to make a living.

Another friend can’t stay home, he is all over the county, sneaking into places that are closed so that he can take pictures.

I fear that if these people don’t take this seriously, it will go on and on. We need to end this virus spread today. It won’t work with people like my friends, and these foolish Spring breakers who think “not me.”

As for me, I don’t mind the solitude, I guess that is the introvert in me, although yesterday, Sunday, seemed like it would never end. There wasn’t anything on tv and I didn’t feel like watching anything on demand. I do enjoy watching Governor Andrew Cuomo on tv, he is very calming and makes a lot of sense when he speaks. Others, not so much.

I finally received my food delivery from Wholefoods – at 10 pm Sunday night! Now I am afraid to touch the bags and the food, due to the panicking of friends who told me not to. I’m not sure how to eat now if I can’t touch anything.

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A sense of normalcy

I’ve noticed one semblance of normalcy – tv an tv commercials. All of our tv shows are on and the commercials are running with them – KFC, McDonalds, Perrier, cars, computers, JC Penney, Macys – they are all still running commercials. Makes me feel like things will be all right.

And the newspaper is delivered every day. I know many of you don’t read the printed paper, but trust me – it’s there on the doorstep every morning.

But I am enjoying the sense of solitude. I know many aren’t, but I am usually home alone in the day working anyway. My only concern is lack of business – and money coming in. I applied for a deferral of mortgage payments and hopefully the state or country will just automatically do that like they did in New York state. Also I’m hearing good things about 0% small business loans, so I am applying for that.

I do agree with Trump on one thing – the only thing I’ve ever agreed with Trump on – is that the economy will come roaring back when this virus mess is over. When people start making money again and people are “let out” of their houses, they’ll want to spend, not so much spend for the sake of spending, but they’ll want to go out to restaurants; go to the movies, travel – they’ll feel like birds let out of cage and I think the economy will roar back sooner than later.

How is working at home working out?

working-from-home

My cousin and I were taking about working from home – we both do and are used to it. I’ve been working from home alone for many years. I have a regular business and of course I cartoon and I blogged for 15 years – all solo jobs that I do from home.

So this “Shelter in Place” and working from home isn’t really phasing me much, I’m just worried about lack of money at this point.

I’ve seen people post things on social media where they are going crazy at home. I’m more of a loaner, most people aren’t. They need all those people around them, which is good and healthy. But they say they are distracted while working at home. Maybe it is an art. I actually think people who work from home get more done than those in the office, I find there are more distractions at the office – people walking through, conversations with different people every other minute, more visual distractions, etc.

I’m seeing funny memes like this one pertaining to home schooling by parents: “Many parents are just about to discover the teacher was not the problem.” I sent that one to another cousin who is a teacher.

Or in my case, one meme rings true: “When you find out your normal daily lifestyle is called ‘quarantine.’ ”

One of my favorites says something like, “Your grandparents were called to war, you’re being asked to sit on the couch and watch Netflix. You can do this!”

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We’re under house arrest

1920s

I’ve seen this picture a few times over the years and I always love it. I feel like I want to jump in and be part of the scene. It’s sometime in the 1920s and these guys don’t seem to have a care in the world. They are gone now, but they are so alive in the photo.

I keep thinking this when I see old photos and not so old; a picture from just last month, for instance. I was scrolling through pictures on my phone and seeing so many great things that happened the is past year. Lots of travel pictures and family pictures, lots of events in town.

Today it’s like almost like being in jail. I keep thinking things will be different soon, one day soon we will be able to go out and play and eat and travel and do everything we did in the past.

doing-time

I guess I’m not really comparing it to jail – it’s sort of like house arrest, yea, that’s it, house arrest.

Oh sure, we can go out, but to where? To pick up food?

I walked around the neighborhood yesterday, I live on the waterfront, so that was nice and pretty. I stopped at a restaurant I like, I thought I could order take-out, but they were closed, so that was disappointing. It just adds to the depression and gloom.

It’s the new normal.

I keep thinking that when things are better and we have our full freedoms again, we are going to appreciate it so much. So many times things happen in my life which makes me appreciate other things. I feel down or something bad happens and then when that period is over everything is so great with the world, I forget the bad and appreciate the normalcy so much more.

guys — This generation listened to authority.

One thing that bothers me is the younger generation, the Millennials, the college kids, the spring breakers, who are not taking this seriously. They can get sick themselves, but even more so, they are carriers. They are extending this whole lock down period for months by their actions. I’ve seen them crowding into places with my own eyes and of course on tv – the spring breakers on beaches and restaurants.

I saw an older lady on the news telling reporters, “In my day, we listened to the authorities, now they [the younger people] think they know it all.” I thought to myself, I’m sure her generation felt they knew it all, too, and perhaps didn’t follow authority, but then she said, “How do you think I got to be 93?” And that made me smile. She’s right.

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