Last week the urge hit me: time to be non-antisocial. It’s a rare and delicate condition, trust me.

So I went to lunch with an old buddy of mine. His name is Chris Nicholas, known in some circles as “Uncle Staple” for reasons forthcoming. Chris is the writer for an indie comic titled You Chose Right the First Time. I remember when he first showed me some pages. As I recall they were clipped inside a three-ring binder. He was planning to Xerox them to sell at local shops, which seemed like a sketchy business plan to me, but it was plainly a labor of love and I wished him well.

Then something cool happened: His comic came out and got good reviews. He was hooking up with indie comic artists and writers. In what seemed like no time at all, he had masterminded a local gathering of comic creators that he called Staple! (2008 will be its fourth year running. Click the link to learn more.) He was on the ball and scoring.

I never mentioned this to Chris (though he may be reading now) but he’s a big reason I started Gordian Algebra. While I was twiddling my thumbs, he got off his ass and made things happen. When that fact hit me, I decided to get off my ass, too. And here we are.

So Chris, if you’re tuning in, now you know why I paid for your (oh so extravagant) lunch last week. You da man.

(Just don’t get used to it. I’m not made of money, y’know. Sheesh.)