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Today was one of those days where life tries to remind you that caring for something fragile is both terrifying and rewarding. I was playing with the kitten, Whiskey, and she slipped right out of sight. One second she was bouncing around the living room like a little cartoon character… the next, gone. Vanished. I was terrified she might somehow get outside, or get stuck behind something, or get stepped on. She’s so tiny and frail that she feels like she could break from the wrong look, let alone an accident. We put so much time and money into making...

Today was a day of errands and little victories. Mom and I went to the clinic to get my medicine—one of those routine tasks that doesn’t feel routine when you’re trying to hold your life together. After that, we stopped by PetSmart to pick up supplies for the new kitten. Then I treated myself to a spicy chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A, because quitting smoking doesn’t mean I can’t have a little joy. The kitten is still learning the house. At first, we let her roam only a few minutes at a time. Now we’re slowly increasing her freedom—longer periods of...

This morning mom let something slip that I never fully considered. She said she’d gotten lonely rattling around this big house by herself. Her only real company was Herbie, her cat — and cats are fantastic, but they don’t exactly fill the silence. It made sense, though. Mom had a whole home to herself. I had nothing and nowhere. When I moved in, maybe I brought more than just my boxes. Maybe I brought some noise, some life, some chaos — the good kind. Then today came a curveball. Mom went to the vet for routine errands…and came home talking...

Today I woke up to something I haven’t heard in a long time: a gallery calling me. Not me chasing them, not me pitching my books and art at a comic-con booth or an online store—they were asking me to submit paintings for a show in January. My art business is not just limping along anymore—it’s walking right up to my front door and knocking. The gallery is the Whittier Art Gallery, a co-op art collective here in Southern California. They found me the way all good things find artists: at the most random place possible. In this case, one...

Today I made my way over to The Night Owl, my old favorite coffeehouse, and planted myself at a table with my ipad and Apple Pencil. A few hours later, I looked up and realized I had actually gotten a lot of drawing done. There’s something about the hum of that place—the espresso machine, the indie music, the parade of people with their own creative worlds swirling around—that makes it easier to focus. And most importantly, it keeps me away from thinking about cigarettes. I’ll be honest though: today came with a disappointment. I found out I wasn’t accepted to Comic-Con...