We’re a few comics into the new “year” now, so I feel qualified to say that I’m quite happy to be back in the saddle. It’s not like I have some huge backlog of terrible great jokes I’m waiting to unleash on the world, mind you. Rather, I’m coming at the creative process just a little bit differently. I doubt I could explain it. Maybe after two years of this I’m getting better at finding humor in the more unusual places in my psyche. We’ll see.

Also? The chessboard is an idea I wish I’d had most of two years ago. I love the texture it brings to the table (har har) and that it elevates the set enough that I can get a closer, better angle on the shots. I could’ve achieved the same angle by lowering the tripod, but earlier experiments along those lines on the original desk surface didn’t come out very well at all.

I’m still working on a new backdrop, however. That gray cardboard thing must go. My vague idea so far is something involving curtains, which is to say some kind of hung fabric. I know that’ll end up obscuring the “gallery,” but in reality that would help tremendously; I have a “thing” about covering the faces of the ducks up on the shelves, which leads to some awkward bubble placements on occasion. (You’ll note that sometimes I end up covering faces anyway. It can’t always be helped. I agonize over it every damned time, though.)

At any rate: Full steam ahead. Enjoy, won’t you? (And tell your friends…)