I hope, as I write this, that there are four new comics available.
Okay, I am now officially a web cartoonist because I fell behind in my schedule to the disappointment of my readers for the first time. I apologise to fans of Life on the Fourth Floor and each and every one of you. In fact, I’m pretty sure there is just one of you left.
It is no coincidence that the last post on this page, which has not been updated for the past week and a half, discussed my first day of work and the very next day, I stopped updating. My first ever job has hit me like a tonne of bricks. Bricks with grudges. Urgh. I’m getting into the routine of getting up at 6:45 in the morning, catching the bus into the city centre, working until 4:30, getting home and crashing. It’s been nothing but exhausting and intensive training for the past two weeks. I am tired. Anyway, here’s what happened.
I realised as I began to upload the storyline regarding Amy’s virginity that I had left it unresolved. There needed to be more. I drew another strip, inked, scanned and got it onto the site the day before work started. I still needed to draw another strip to resolve the storyline. I considered leaving it and returning to it later but that would have sucked. I assumed, however, that within the next two days I would be able to draw, ink, scan, colour and upload that final comic. Well, working is harder than I thought it would be and my meals have taken up more time than I expected, so I was actually unable to do this.
So then I thought I could catch up over the weekend and humbly apologise on the Monday. However, I forgot about my parents’ silver wedding anniversary on the Saturday, at which I would have to deliver a speech. I ended up writing the speech on the Thursday night and editting it on the train.
After that, I was kidnapped by goblins. They took me to the heart of their mountain kingdom, to the sacred stone which dwelt there. The stone asked me a series of complex riddles and set me three tasks. The first was to retrieve the skin of the serpent of Na’el. The second was to climb to the top of Mount Frightening and steal from its peak the Eyes of Jik. The third was to find a date for the grotesque Beast of Bras’kal. When I answered the riddles and finished my tasks, the goblins led me to a forgotten kingdom within the Forest of Steel. This was the kingdom of the trolls, from which no mortal man had returned. The trolls, seeing that I had proven myself worthy, entrusted me with the magical sword Flameblight, which only hurts evil people. Before I could use it, however, I would have to pass a final test: a test of virtue. To prove that I was pure of heart, I would have to fall on the blade. If I failed the test, I would die. If I passed the test, I would have to take the sword far into the North and slay the frost dragon Grixip.
I can’t remember what happened after that. To cut a long story short, I beheaded the king’s vizier, the kingdom was saved, the trolls’ plot was thwarted and I finally finished the strip. All of the strips which follow it, a buffer of about thirty strips, will now be updated on time. I promise. When the buffer runs out… well, let’s not think about that right now. I need some sleep. I hope you enjoy the writer’s block story arc. If you do, send me an e-mail. If you don’t, send me an e-mail. I feel I will have made it as a cartoonist when I receive my first e-mail giving me feedback for my work. Will you be the sender of that e-mail?
