Misprioritizing

I'm seeing this a lot lately. People putting undue emphasis and effort into things that aren't warranting it. Also folks blowing off things they really shouldn't. This isn't always the person's fault. Sometimes things get misunderstood, but there are times when it really should be more obvious.

I have a family friend who doesn't seem to be able to delegate properly. She constantly seems to be behind at her work and it upsets her. Some of the tasks that are presented to her don't have to be done by her, but instead of passing the orders on to people who are there to assist her, she spends her time at work grumbling about how she'll never be able to get everything done. However, she's also the first person to say she'll handle something despite an already massive workload. Some things really don't need to be micromanaged. Those who know this get less ulcers.

Then there's the things you shouldn't blow off, like family and your bills. My neighbor just evicted a tenant who did not pay his rent. The court said everything in the condo had to be gone by a certain date. Well, it wasn't. Now my neighbor has a bunch of plasma TVs, blu-ray players, surround sound systems, fancy leather couches and bunch of other really great stuff in his garage. The stuff in that garage is worth more than all the stuff in my house. Going to be one hell of a yard sale.

That's an extreme case, but I think we all know that person who has to have the latest toys yet always seems to be completely broke. Hey, I spend my money on comics every week, but if the money isn't there, or I need it for something more important then I won't be buying them.

And speaking of comics, Deffie McDouchebag was spouting off about what's really important about comics. The list basically goes 1) art, 2) monetary value and 3) story. This is an obviously flawed list, especially for anyone looking into actually making comics. The art is there to help tell the story. Of course the art is important, but without a story you just have a series of pin-ups. The truly great works in the medium of comics are not great based solely on artistic merit. Maus did not win the Pulitzer because of the art. Superman, Batman and Spider-man are not still in publication because of the art. Having a great artist on your book is definitely a bonus, but that artist has to be able to contribute in the telling of the story

As for the monetary value of comics: bitch please. The collector's market died miserably over ten years ago. The comics with the variant covers and the fancy-Dan shiny foil covers are current taking up space in the quarter bins of you local comic shop. Got a buddy of mine, Big Rick, and he buys collections. He came across an old fella who runs a sports memorabilia shop and happened to have a bunch on boxes of comics behind the counter. Rick offer the guy ten grand for all of them. The guy refused saying there's one hundred thousand comics in those boxes and he wants at least one dollar per book. Rick explained that that's not a competitive rate and told him where he could look up how much collections like his were actually selling for. Old fella was still adamant about the price so Rick is waiting for him to die so that he can buy the collection from the guy's son.

Rick drops by the store every-so-often to ask if he's dead yet.

So, if the collector's market is deader than Elvis and focusing primarily on art over having a good story is where Deffie's head is at, then where will that leave him in less than a month when he claims his books are going to hit the shelves? Most likely in the same place as the guy who didn't pay his rent and lost all his stuff and my friend who spends her time at work miserably swamped: scratching their head wondering 'why didn't I think about going about this differently?'