It’s easy to get lost in the libraries at Stanford.  Though not the largest university library system, it still holds almost 9 million volumes.

I was wandering through the stacks in the Green library today.  Many books appeared to have gone years without feeling the loving touch of human hands.  The situation called for an experiment: how ignored were the volumes?

I went to an obscure corner of the library and selected a very old book, one that seemed to have sat idle since not long after its 1923 printing.  I opened it to a random page and slipped in a note to myself:

The note says: “I have tried — therefore, I have succeeded.  <Signed> Jeff Keacher, September 25, 2008”

I plan to visit the book again, some time in the future, to see if the note remains in place.

Yet again, just when I think about mothballing the project for good, a new influx of traffic hits my webcomic, Zoitz.  I keep thinking that its 15 minutes of fame should have expired long ago, but it seems to have remarkable staying power.  This time, the traffic is largely to a strip that pokes fun at the career opportunities for English majors.

The comics in the series have now been viewed by about a million unique visitors, driven mostly by popularity on Stumbleupon, multiple front-page appearances on reddit, and a mention in a front-page story on Slashdot.  Thanks to everybody who’s added a link!

I wonder how I can develop funny ideas with greater regularity.  I’ve tried brainstorming techniques like mind-mapping, but the bits that have gained traction have all come to me in moments of inspiration:  I see the joke instantly as a completed entity.  It seems like there must be a more efficient to develop funny ideas.  How do the other artists and writers do it?

Related problem: how to monetize the strip without destroying its soul.

Time is marching on.

A year ago today, I was settling in for my first night at Stanford.  It seems so far in the past and at the same time, so recent.

The past 52 weeks have brought me new friends, a rejuvenated interest in photography, much knowledge, and a modicum of fame.  Most important, it has been a time of personal discovery and reflection — refining not only who I am, but who I want to be.

In about three months, I will be done with grad school.  What then?  I’m looking forward to the surprise.