Say "Shark"!

My sister had a baby recently - my first nephew! As you can see, baby talk isn't my strong suit. My mission is to make "Shark" baby Zachary's first word. While I'm at it, I should teach him "baby shark do-do-do-do". 

Hugging Day?

I was supposed to post this yesterday. That's how much I care about "hugging day". I can't believe they actually have a "hugging day".

Stick to slapstick!

I did wonder what it is we mean when we refer to someone having a good sense of humour. In my case, I'd like them to make me laugh. And if they don't laugh at my jokes, I will have to resort to slapstick.

Chennai will rise again!

Some of you may not have heard much about the Chennai (Madras) Floods. I was mercifully spared from the worst of it because I had to leave the city a couple of days before the rains started. I heard from friends that the water levels were rising. Something like this happened in 2005 and we didn't have power for 2 days. But it wasn't as bad as this one. People had water levels reaching up to the first floor of their houses. Many of them didn't have power, food, medicines, transport or drinking water. There was no way to get out of their houses and soon communication devices died. This would have been a hopeless and miserable situation. Then something amazing happened. Everyone reached out to each other. Homes were opened up. Food shared. Amazing people braved the flooded roads to get people out. Stories after stories poured in about how every available resource for used for the victims. The 'victims' became volunteers themselves. When disaster strikes, the beauty of humanity gets the chance to shine through. And the people of Chennai grabbed that chance with both hands. I'm so proud of them. Chennai will rise from the waters.
I hope the cause for such destruction will be discovered and if man-made, they will fix it. I also hope that once the city is restored, the people will continue to strengthen the bonds that were built and that they will make the city even better.

New Year Resolution: Try to be nice!

This is a remake of the New Year sketch from a couple of years ago. I'm guessing that a fool-proof way to be nice to everyone is to stay clear of them - this is probably why there are all these people running away to "find themselves".
However, the trick really is to be nice despite all the annoying people out there (like the ones who run away to "find themselves"). Oh well, I said I'd try.

Sharks in my living room

Remember my first "Sharks are friends, not food" drawing? I've wanted to do a coloured version of that one since I did the Central Perk one. So here it is.

Nightsharks #2

This was part of my original vision for my Nighthawks parody. I think it would be rather fun to have coffee with Shaaark!  by Phil Watson and Sherman from Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to draw their sharks but they look recognizable enough, don't they?

I'd like to have a fourth shark to take the place of the barista though.

To Kill a rocking-horse: Happy birthday to my dad!

It's my dad's birthday today so I drew (pen & pencil not tablet! :D) him this card. I have to explain the concept behind this. When my dad and his brother were kids (probably between 5 & 7 years old), they were apparently very naughty (and brave) - they'd run off into the garden to explore and claim they saw lions and tigers. 

One day, their grandfather bought them a brand new rocking-horse. Shortly after that, his parents left them at home for a little while and when they came back, they found the rocking horse missing its head and tail. The boys had used a blunt knife someone had given them (they needed weapons for their expeditions) to kill the "beast". 

These days, kids don't get such "dangerous weapons". Those days, it wasn't such a big deal and kids were disciplined if they behaved badly. The boys grew up to be surgeons not axe-murderers. 

Anyway, my grandmother still can't figure out how a blunt knife was able to chop up a wooden horse. My dad says it was "persistence". 

In case some of you are wondering, my dad has never hunted or condoned hunting of real-life big cats or endangered animals. He loves wildlife and the forests - and he got his not-so-brave kids to love them too. Happy birthday to my dad! :)

ps - My dad carries a torchlight everywhere he goes which is why the shark is holding one.

Pet wolves and zombie roadkill

I've wanted a pet wolf for ages. I may have to move to Canada or Alaska for that, right? I once adopted a wolf from the Sawtooth pack of Nez Perce via one of those adopt-a-wolf things. The wolf I wanted (Kamots) died by the time they got my application so they gave me another one (Wahotts).
Can you tell that my wolf drawings are inspired by Balto?
A friend of mine refers to ferrets and possums as roadkill. Zombie roadkill just seems funnier.

2012: A shark's eye view

Well, it seems that I did complete all my goals for the year. I try not to make elaborate plans because they never seem to work out the way I intend them to.
Anyway... let's recap the year, shall we?

• American Samoa became the most powerful shark protection territory.
• Shark Week didn't get aired on Discovery Channel India which seemed to be another indicator for the whole "End-of-the-World" thing. The biggest indicator was the success of "Fifty shades of grey".
• The World, as we know it, did not end. I was kind of looking forward to that bit of excitement ...things were getting a little dull. 
• Megalodon may not be the Great White's ancestor.
• "Oh, Dakuwaqa!" Facebook page reached over 600 likes and actually got over 100 shares for the Christmas card! (would have been slightly disappointed if the World had ended at 99 shares).
• Had a sketch made into a card for Congratulafins and another sketch translated into Chinese! 
• Did a few sketches for a couple of other shark conservation organisations - Hjelp Havets Haier and Shark Defenders.
• Sharks did not really swim around people's backyards after hurricane Sandy. 
• Started an experimental store on Zazzle.
• Did not get bitten by any leeches this year. Came close though. 
• Switched to digital drawing with Intuos 4!
• Finally bought a Kindle. It's not the Beast's library but I love it.
• My mother probably thinks I should be out looking for a husband and not doodling sharks. 
• Did not get a pony this year either. 
• I made shepherd's pie all by myself. But I was too nervous to taste it. Everyone else said it was nice though. (cooking is not something I do for fun). 
• I'm not yet tired of receiving shark-related gifts or links on my wall. 
• It's strange that I can't think of much else. But it's been an eventful and memorable (even though I can't remember much of it) year... I'm very grateful for everything good and bad that's happened to me. I'm a bit more grown up than I was last year.

Happy New Year, everyone! Have a wonderful 2013!

Why don't you go get a cat then?

It's true. Cats simply go find their own food and then continue with their planning on how to kill you for not feeding them.

Stop complimenting me!

I don't think "Shark Face" qualifies as a compliment just yet. It will someday. 

ps - This is my 200th post!

Relationship matters/Relationships matter #3: The spaghetti incident

We all probably have a "Spaghetti incident" in our lives. I thought I'd posted mine in my old blog but I can't seem to find it. So I'll give you a brief summary. Once upon a time, my family went to Universal studios. It was lunch time and we were all crabby and getting on each others' nerves. I wanted to go watch the "Beetlejuice" show and we had about an hour so we went to get some food. I wanted my own plate of spaghetti and meatballs but my parents were asking me to share some of their food or share with my sister. I was like "No. I want my own". And so I got my own plate of spaghetti. I had totally underestimated American food portions. What I got was way more than I could handle. My parents said that I couldn't go anywhere unless I finished that entire plate of spaghetti. "Beetlejuice" was about to start and my mom and sister went ahead to watch it. It was all very tormenting and finally when I'd eaten about 90% of my meal, I was allowed to go watch the show. One would think that I'd never eat spaghetti and meatballs ever again. My family still laughs about this (even though they don't remember which amusement park it was or what Beetlejuice was about). It's not even that funny.

Anyway, while these are moments that may seem annoying (aka sitcom moments) at the time, they're certainly not ones over which you'd give up your family or relationships for.
People seem to be giving up for smaller and smaller issues compared to what they tolerated just some years ago. Some say we grow to love people, some say that some people are just impossible to love, some say it has to be a gut feeling... I don't know what works or if different things work for different people. I just hope I have what it takes to stick it out and that I find someone who'll stick through it all with me.

Everything? Like, forever.

Well, "gross" does also mean "total", "whole" and "entire".
We're a needy race. We always have one craving or another and there are tons of things the world has to offer that can satisfy the need for a moment or two. Then we overdo it and those things suffocate us. It just gets way more emotional when people use other people to fill up the emptiness. Eventually someone smothers someone or the one finds that the other isn't enough (because on top of being needy we also can become quite discontent quickly). It does make one rather cynical when one expects fulfillment from other humans, doesn't it? Even sharks have no use for them because they apparently taste bad.
However, in the grand scheme of things, we probably will see that we must do our best for each other and help those who are down look up rather than look to us. Otherwise, you may end up with a stalker.

Beef and Mr.Potato Heads

Again, sharks are NOT mindless eating machines. :D
I had this script in my mind a couple of weeks ago and drew out all the characters but didn't add the text until recently. I found that I'd drawn one panel for which I simply couldn't remember what my intended text was. It was so annoying... I never learn that when I think I will remember something, I usually don't.
I'll probably put that panel up anyway and have you all fill in the conversation.

Mindless eating machine

I think I was craving burgers when I drew this. Or at least I was craving them after. It's a random sketch but I like it. 

This is another notion about sharks that people simply have - that they'll eat anything. I think it's all those film snippets showing sharks cut open and finding license plates, shoes etc inside their stomach. I've heard they're pretty fussy eaters. They'd probably like burgers though.

Cats shed stuff too!

Well, it would still be cooler to have a shark than a cat (personally, I think it's cooler to have even a ferret than a cat). This is just a random one - a bit more "sharkish", if you like. I like how sharks simply lose their teeth every now and then and are quite nonchalant about it whilst we humans get all excited about finding fossilized shark teeth and selling them on ebay (I will not buy a Megalodon tooth. I will not buy a Megalodon tooth).
Interesting fact: Sharks shed their teeth continually over the course of their lives. At any given time, a shark will have between five and 15 rows of teeth growing behind their functional front chompers. As the front teeth fall out, the ones behind them assume the duty as the mature denture.

Strawberry de-seeding

I'm not one to crave fruits ever. Even though I do like mangoes, berries and apples (sometimes), I never bother buying any. Whenever my dad thinks I ought to be getting some fruit in my system, he cuts them up and de-seeds them and hands them to me (yes, I'm very spoilt when it comes to fruit). When I learnt that all those tiny eyes on the outside of strawberries were their seeds, I wanted to get him to de-seed those. But it is probably the one fruit he can't stand so he wouldn't even listen when I said "so... about those strawberries...".  

Until we meet Facebook to Facebook

I do love forbidden cake. 

This strip was probably done just for the "Facebook to Facebook" line. Also, I can't make up my mind if I'm needy for some web communication or could not have less of it. 

The Art of Listening

This is true. I can appear to be listening very intently. This skill was very handy in school. I'm guessing now I'd have to face several "Are you really listening questions?" but I can appear to nod in acknowledgment as well.