What are your favorite "Jenny" comic strips from 2008?

It's time for the National Cartoonists Society to dole out their annual awards and "Jenny" is eligible for the first time!

You can help get "Jenny the Military Spouse" recognized by her peers this year in a big way: tell me your favorite strips from December 1, 2007, to December 31, 2008.

I need at least 6. (Go to the Archives)

"Jenny" comics will be considered in the Newspaper Comic Strips category. Past winners include Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Scott Adams (Dilbert), Lynn Johnston (For Better or For Worse), and Rick Kirkman (Baby Blues), to name a few.

I'm not saying we can WIN anything (in fact, I don't even expect it) but we'll at least be included on the list of this years' contenders. It's exciting to think that this little comic strip about our lives as military spouses could be recognized on a national level.

Have fun reading back over the 2008 strips and send your votes to jewls@jennyspouse.com with the subject "Votes" before January 15, 2009.

Cheers!

~ j

"Jenny" photos from Army Wives, Season 2

I've finally received photos of the "Jenny" comics used on the set of Army Wives, Season 2.

A few locations where you can spot the strips are: on the refrigerator in the Holden House (Michael and Claudia Joy), in the Burton House (Joan and Roland), and on the wall by the desk in the ADAPC office.

Melissa Berent, the set decorator, sent me two from the Holden's fridge and three from the mock base newspaper. Here they are (click the images to make them larger):

The three comics shown in this photo are, from top t0 bottom: Episode 51, Officers' Wives' Bob, October 22 , 2006; Episode 4, Are We There Yet?, December 4, 2005; and Episode 37, It Needs to be Bigger, July 16, 2006.








This is the front of the fridge. The featured strip is Episode 31, New Spouse Orientation, June 4, 2006.

This episode was one of my favorite strips to draw because I channeled Dave Berg's (MAD Magazine) style.

It came out exactly as I'd planned.




At this point, I need to say that Melissa and her crew totally "get" the message I'm trying to convey through the "Jenny" comic strip.  Not only is it tough to be married to a military member but sometimes it's also hard to get along with the other spouses, cope with all of the traveling, the incessant rules of the military way of life, and so on and so on.

These few comics alone are perfect for instilling the "flavor" of military spousehood into the psyche of the actors on the set; it's a great way to use the strip. I commend the set decorators for their ability to climb inside our minds and "go there".

Here are the rest of the photos...

This newspaper (held by AW graphic designer, Paul, and created specially for Army Wives) was used in several episodes and was shown being read by different characters, including General Holden.



I haven't seen those episodes yet so give me a couple of days and I'll find them for you! :)

Here's the "above the fold" of said newspaper.








Here's their featured strip. Looks like it was on the outside so the cameras could see it. :)







That's all for now. If anyone has any other "Jenny-spotting" to report, let me know.

I spotted the strip on the Holden's fridge on Season 2, Episode 16, but totally missed spotting anyone reading the newspaper.

That's all I have for now. The next episode of AW airs in either June or July. They told me they'll be using "Jenny" more than ever during Season 3.

Get your DVRs ready!

Needless to say...Discussion to be Continued!

~ j

Two New Interviews

I've recently completed two new interviews.

One was via a stateside phone call from DC to Okinawa by Washington Times journalist, Karen Goff, and the other was a long sit-down chat at Chili's with Joelle, a journalist from the website, Okinawa Hai.

Joelle and I talked so much, and about so many things, that I sometimes forgot we were interviewing! haha

Make sure you check that site out...it's truly an informative and useful source for those of us living here on Okinawa.


Follow the links above or cut-n-paste these:

Washington Times - "Jenny's Mission of Mirth"
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/28/jennys-mission-of-mirth/

Okinawa Hai
http://www.okinawahai.com/my_weblog/2008/09/julie-n-works-t.html

Enjoy!

(All of this year's interviews are listed on my homepage at jennyspouse.com)

My Facebook Account

I'm trying to increase my professional contacts so I made a Facebook page last year. So far, I'm not that great at updating it but today I made a "Badge". Still don't know what to do with it.




~ j

One Night on Mt. Fuji

I was walking on Mt. Fuji one day...



Okay, wait a minute. Change that first sentence to "climbing miles of rock, straight up, in the rain, in the freezing cold, in the dark" - and then add that all of this was just to see the sunrise from the summit of Mt. Fuji.

My husband has been planning this trip for months and I was never really fully "on board". Climbing Mt. Fuji, after all, is a tad outside my comfort zone and just doesn't sound like that much fun.

Nevertheless, I went, I climbed, I froze, I endured, and I survived - rather sore and barely able to walk, talk, or think straight for the first couple of days - but I did it. We both did.

So now we look at these pictures and groan together. (It's a strange way to bond, I know.)


Before the ordeal...around 12:30 pm on Monday, August 25, 2008. We went to the Sengen Shrine - the gateway to the mountain itself - to start getting good vibes.





It begins. 5:08 pm, 25 August



Two Hours Later: wet, cold, tired. Taking a brief break at one of the
many mountain huts on Fuji-san. 7:32 pm



How dark was it? This was taken at about 4:24 a.m. Those bright dots are headlamps. That's about all you could see. Earlier, when we were rock climbing, all we could see were the rocks right in front of our faces. The sky was so overcast and wet that no moonlight shone through at all. At around 11 p.m., we found room at one of the huts and slept for about three and a half hours. Just enough to get us to the top in time for sunrise.



The Sun. Almost at the top of Fuji, the sun begins to wake up. 4:43 am



We made it! Just as the sun pops over the horizon, we're standing in front of the final station's Torii gate. 5:21 am



Rainbow at the End. We were so tired and just relieved that it was over. We walked around the compound on top of the mountain in sort of a daze but my husband was lucky enough to get this shot... 5:31 a.m.



That's about it for now. It's three days later and we're still tired, sore, and recovering. Take it from me - it's a hard hike. Seriously.

~ j