I’ve now been working as a Programmer Analyst with the school district for seven months ( The Coolest ) …and the difference is night and day. I feel like a valued human again – not a cog or number. The work is all on-site – so no more treadmill, but I’m also not walking 14.6 miles daily in frustration, either.
Happy as I am – it’d be a waste of a good comic to not post it, so here ya’ go!
September was prostate cancer awareness month. For me, and every other person that’s ever had, known, or loved someone that’s fought cancer – every month is.
Like Star Wars? ( Hate cancer? ) Me, too. Here’s another one from almost four years ago : That’s no moon!
Take care of yourselves, people. And please, get checked.
-Scott
P.S. I’ve posted ( and drawn ) a lot on my cancer journey over the last six years. If you want to know more go here : Prostate Cancer
A flyer I churned out for our Halloween performance.
Happy Halloween!
Alacran Court invited “The Rubber Band” back to play for their annual Halloween block party. This year we had a band of middle-schoolers, called “Dencity”, open for us. Dencity played through a set of five songs – including a couple of originals – before we took the stage. I wish I had their guts back when I was their age. It took me another 30+ years to gain the courage, I guess. Better late than never. We played for an hour before retreating to our respective halloween festivities.
I just finished walking in the 2025 ZERO Prostate Cancer Walk at Liberty Station in Point Loma. Some of my closest friends and family joined me for a leisurely early morning stroll with several hundred other survivors, patients, families, and supporters. This year we raised just over $1000 dollars. Thank you so much for your support.
ZERO reached out to me ( literally ) the day before the event and asked if I would speak. I reluctantly agreed, prepared a speech, and was more than a little relieved that, in the chaos, the organizers never invited me up to the microphone.
Sometimes things sound better on paper, anyway – especially when you’re vying for the attention of a half-awake crowd under the San Diego flight path, with jets doing their best to drown you out.
So, here’s what I was going to say…
Hi. My name is Scott.
I’m a prostate cancer survivor.
This is my fifth walk.
I missed my first one in 2019 because I was still reeling from my diagnosis and all the awesome decisions that go with it ….
Decisions like….
Do I tell my kids?
My family?
My friends?
The answer for me was yes.
And I’m glad I did because they were, have been, and continue to be my own little support group.
A lot of them are here today —-
——-aaaaaaaand I squeezed donations out of the ones who couldn’t be.
For such a common cancer, prostate cancer isn’t really talked about much. And I get it – sure – the prostate just isn’t as sexy to talk about as boobs.
And …. while I see sports teams of every shape and form wearing pink every October, blue is typically just an afterthought – like an accent color on a uniform.
That’s not to diminish any other cancer – we all have our battles to fight, right? But the fact is : guys don’t like talking about their prostates. All of the accessories attached to the prostate are fair game – sure, but problems and worries and cancer? Hell, no.
That’s why I appreciate ZERO and this walk and their mission to keep men informed. ZERO gives a voice to something that no one wants to talk about.
After my diagnosis I remember spending a lot of time on Google playing doctor
——-and a lot of time with my doctor telling me to stay off of Google.
The problem with Google is that if you tell it you have a papercut? Google will have you wrapping a tourniquet around your finger and racing to the emergency room for a blood infusion.
And then there’s ZERO – a concise, informative mecca of information.
If you haven’t visited in a while, you should. There’s information for those who have been newly diagnosed, caregivers – and survivors, like me.
Surviving is part of the battle, too – and I mean any cancer, not just prostate cancer.
Diagnosis and treatment is just part of the battle.
After all that shit, you still gotta’ survive. And, I don’t mean just live – I mean you gotta sort out what the hell just happened to you, pick up the pieces, glue em’ all back together, and try and make something beautiful out of the mess it left behind.
When I was diagnosed years ago no one could tell me, honestly, if I’d be alright – and I don’t think I would have believed them anyway.
I’m still working on it – but, yeah, I think I’ll be okay.
But only because of the support I’ve had from
——-my family
My friends.
My doctors.
——-and organizations like ZERO.
Thank you.
If you want to read more about my prostate cancer journey I’ve posted ( and illustrated it ) here on DrawnAndCoded.
I can’t emphasize enough how I wouldn’t be here today without the love and support of so many people.
Thanks again.
Live live. Stay Healthy. And take care of yourselves out there.
The Rubber Band was invited to play at Rancho Bernardo’s annual Oktoberfest festival at Webb Park on October 11th. We opened for Par Avion, an instrumental surf music-inspired band from Santa Monica, to a crowd of 900 beer aficionados.
The local paper and ( no joke ) Union Tribune picked up on the event, and ran articles in which we were published. As our lead vocalist announced to the crowd ( jokingly ), “Yeah, we’re kind of a big thing.” We almost laughed him off the stage.
The Chieftain interviewed us. Other local papers, including The San Diego Union Tribune, re-published the article. My co-workers at Twin Peaks Center found out and surprised me with my own copy in the main conference room.
Would we do it again? Absolutely. However, we couldn’t have done it without the help of a lot of people…
Thank you Eric and John from San Diego Event Pros for making us sound so good. You guys are awesome!
A “quick and dirty” flyer I created for RBHS homecoming.
I went to my first homecoming in 31 years last night – sort of. My daughter, Ashley, is in ASB at Rancho Bernardo High School. About two weeks ago she and her friend, Lizzie were brainstorming a tailgate party for the upcoming homecoming game. When asked about a live band, Lizzie suggested – The Rubber Band.
RBHS Homecoming Tailgate Set One
We played for about an hour over two sets. We even got the principal of RBHS to join us for a cover of “I Wanna Be Sedated”, by the Ramones.
The Rubber Band played for the neighbors’ of Chieftain Court at their Labor Day block party this weekend. We kicked it off with a set of songs from 60’s through early 2000’s. In a little over a month ( October 11th ) we’ll be playing at Rancho Beer-nardo for Oktoberfest, so it was good to get in some stage time.
John Hatcher, our bassist, mastered the audio, combined it with with video we captured using a GoPro, and posted it on our new Rubber Band YouTube Channel. Here is just a few of the videos….
And that’s all, folks! Thank you, as always, for your continued support. And….if you could subscribe to our YouTube channel, that’d be great …..m’kay.
Originally, I named it “Scott’s Jewels” and used it solely to showcase programming projects that I had been working on. Over the last ten years, however, it’s become a platform for showing off my illustrations, comics, musings, and more recently – music. I guess my interests have changed over the last decade – or, more accurately, I’ve finally decided to let them out of their respective cages.
Like any teenager, Drawn and Coded – specifically the logo – needed what my daughters call a “Glow Up”.
Here’s what I came up with…
There were, of course, some “failed” experiments. At first, I was kind of caught up on the whole “computer” thing. Keeping with the new direction I’ve taken, however, it didn’t make much sense – I haven’t posted anything technical for over a year.
Next, I wanted to emphasize art and music, but having a guitar fretboard front-and-center didn’t jive with the name, “Drawn and Coded”. Then there was Jodie’s remark, “You don’t paint. Why do you have a paintbrush?”
So, there it is – all glowed up. Now I can finally get back to drawing comics!
The Rubber Band played at yet another block party on June 13th to celebrate the end of school and the start of summer break. We played for about an hour-and-a-half, running through about twenty songs.
Good photographs were few and far in-between this go around. I stole this one from a GoPro we clipped onto the speaker stand.
I think everyone had a good time. The only complaint was a lack of water bottles – but that’s what happens when six guys plan a party. Beer? Plenty. Water bottles? None.
My oldest daughter, Ashley, and I.
The band is going to take a much needed break for the next two weeks before hitting it hard for our upcoming gig at Rancho Bernardo’s upcoming Oktoberfest celebration, “Rancho Beer-nardo”.
drawnandcoded.com 