I guess you could say that I meet a lot of awesome people. At least I like to think that’s the case. I meet them online, I meet them on a bus I meet them because they’re sleeping on the stairs outside of the building that’s across the street. Why do I do it? That’s a great question. I just seem to genuinely have an interest in all different types of people. I love their quirks, their interests and the stories that they have to tell. I love to listen to everything they have to say and just soak it all in. Sometimes I’m meeting them one minute and leaving their lives the next, but other times they stick around in my life a little bit longer. You never know and that’s all part of the fun.

Like I said, the stories that these people have are awesome and I’m going to start sharing them here on my blog so that more people can hear their stories, too. These stories will be completely different from one person to the next, but I think you’ll realize just like I did that they’re all worth hearing about.

Meet Amber Demure

The first of many awesome people I’m going to introduce you to is Amber Demure who I met through my job at isocket. She has an awesome blog that she uses to display some of the more interesting and inappropriate stories of her life and she does it all through drawings that she scribbles on everything from Post-It notes to napkins (more on that later). When I first visited her blog I was instantly sucked into her storytelling and the amount of transparency that she lets us all see through her daily drawings. From the bad drunk decisions she makes to her lack of junk in her trunk – it’s all out there and there’s no holding back.

I was so intrigued with Amber’s life I wanted to do an interview with her so see what’s really going on in that head of hers. Here’s what I found out.

When I sent Amber an email asking her what she was doing, this is how she responded.

[box]1. So I just realized I’m interviewing you and I don’t really know anything about you besides the fact that you a blog with awesome cartoons on it. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?[/box]I got nervous about the interview and decided to get drunk at Whole Foods (I do that a lot). My co-worker Josh is sitting next to me and he says I’m a cross between Lucille Ball and Holly Golightly. I think I’m a pudgy drunk with a fear of commitment.

In all seriousness…

I’m a closet-Cajun that grew up in Southeast Texas and never looked back. I don’t have much of a family but my whole host of misfit friends gets me by. I practically live at Whole Foods and bike everywhere. I regret choosing so colorful a bike because when I fake-sick at work they know it’s me parked outside of whatever bar I’m at. I really enjoy characters like Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development, Patsy Stone from Absolutely Fabulous, and Bernard Black from Black Books. I relate to pompous, alcoholic villains. I like to see myself as one, but friends always correct me that my intentions are all good. They’re playing into my plan.

[box]2. OK, enough of that — back to the important stuff. Holy crap your cartoons are awesome. I mean, like really awesome. What made you first start drawing these things and how long have you been posting them to your blog?[/box]It’s been about a year…

I was always the kid getting in trouble for drawing all the time (and also distributing my own version of the school newspaper) and wow. It’s weird to think that I’ve been doing this all along, my entire life – I just didn’t have the internet.

A lot of what I make is born out of frustration. I’m really hard on myself which is a terrible thing when you consider just how much I get drunk and make absolutely painful mistakes, but in drawing down the hilarious parts of the situation I put myself as a sort of 3rd party and laugh at my own antics. I didn’t realize so many other people would jump on board and relate to my life, but that’s best part. The lighter side of that frustration I mention has to do with my desk job. It get’s really boring at times and it’s nice to have a place to make a really good joke about a co-worker and share the link with everyone, “Look what Taylor said! She used the term ‘tenurecy.’ WTF does that even mean? I’m going to draw the scene in the meeting when she busts out with that stuff trying to sound impressive to our manager.”

[box]3. Do you have some history with artsy stuff? Meaning, did you go for school for art or have any other type of training or experience?[/box]In all seriousness, people growing up called me, “the girl that draws.” My Granny made me swear to her I’d study art in college before she died. I swore it. She died. I didn’t. I thought that maybe I wasn’t good enough and the corporate world was the only way to survive.

The fun thing is: I find the more I accept myself, the more other people do. It’s like I’m publicly learning how to be comfortable in my own skin.

[box]4. You live in Austin and I’ve been there for a few SXSW adventures. I eat a lot of meat when I’m there and then usually end up drinking way too much. Is this pretty much what everyone does in Austin or is there more to the city than what my light-weight self has experienced?[/box]You’re way off man, we have vegans. But yeah… We got #1 drinking city in America by Forbes a few years back, and just recently we were named 1 of the top 10 cities to go bar-hopping in. I know that everything pretty much involves drinking and you can’t expect people to show up to anything unless there’s a bar. As my friend from Toronto put it, “People there think mimosas are breakfast smoothies!” And they are.

We have the music scene which is world famous and a lot of fun, but people miss out on the natural beauty of my town. We have a spring just minutes from downtown that’s cold year-round. Some of the best days of my life have been spent laying on blankets with friends playing acoustic guitars and harmonizing. There’s the always something to do, and there’s always someone to do it with; there is never a dull moment in Austin.

On a lighter note, everything revolves around breakfast tacos, food trucks, bicycle rides, shopping locally, and everyone has dated everyone else. It is the most incestuous of places, and for such a large city, we all know each other’s dirty secrets. I like how one friend put it, “Austin is the world’s slowest moving orgy.” It’s not uncommon to find your best friend is now dating your ex from 2 years ago, and people here are okay with that.

[box]5. You seem to draw on random stuff with different pencils, pens, crayons and who knows what else. I’m curious to hear about how you go from figuring out what you’re going to draw, to drawing something and then to posting the drawings up on your blog. Can you give me a quick run down of how you do all of that?[/box]I get a bit miserable at day job and whatever is sitting next to me gets used. I’m a messy, sloppy person and it shows. Recently I spilled marinara sauce in my purse (hence coating my sketchbook) and those comics still went up. As my friend Jillian puts it, “First draft = final draft.”

I mostly use legal pads and “discreet stuff” so my corporate overlords don’t catch on to the fact that what I’m writing is not even remotely work-related, but now and then I bust out my Japanese stationary. Writing letters has been a hobby of mine for years and I go all out. I actually spent Thanksgiving this past year with a girl from Nashville that got to know me as a pen pal. We met for the first time the day before Thanksgiving! She stayed here and I don’t even have a couch. I was like, “Hey Maggie. You’ll be sharing my bed with me, nice to meet you. This is not awkward at all.”

[box]6. If you had the chance to hang out with one person who’s alive at this very moment, who would it be and what would you do if you had a weekend together?[/box]Is Hunter S. Thompson still kicking, because I think we’d fuck some shit up. I can only imagine…

Who has the most impressive Champagne cellar? That’s what I’m asking, because 90% of my answer is based on that alone.

Yeah, she likes champagne (just a little bit).

[box]7. Name an awesome person who you would you recommend me to interview and why (preferably someone who you know personally and would actually answer my random questions).[/box]I think Tolly Mosely would be fantastic. She’s so engaging, and I mean that in the real way; not in the twitter/CRM/social media/whatever-they-call-it-now way.

Or The Glitoris. He has no filter; he is hilarious.

[box]8. Anything else you want to add? Now’s your chance — do it.[/box]

I think I went on a date with a high schooler the other day. That’s weirding me out. My frieds sussed it out, “That guy does NOT seem 24.” Also? A homeless transvestite that regularly wears a cheerleader skirt and thong was almost the mayor of Austin. This city is cool in ways you can’t even imagine despite my constant attempts to escape it and live in Stockholm.

Yep, that’s me and the homeless transvestite that Amber is talking about. Awesome.