1520 I’m An Aduuuuuuuuult!

Have you ever had one of these moments? One where you want someone to tell you it’s okay to live your life how you want? I expect everyone does. Kids usually think that you’ll eventually hit a moment where you’re an adult in your head, but it never really comes. From day to day you’re the same inside that lump of meat with no real delineation. At some point you just get put in charge of yourself. At 18, in the US at least, society says “If you fuck up from this point on it’s on you.”. Except for drinking. For some reason we wait 3 more years for that to be your fault. In my opinion drinking age should come with a standardized test you have to pass. It wouldn’t change anything, but fuck you. Adulthood and maturity are different things and they don’t always coincide. I’ve known my grandfather to do immature things from time to time. You’re young but once, but you can be immature your whole life. Society has, on some level, realized that age, maturity, and all that goes with it, are basically arbitrary. Video games aren’t just for kids anymore, you can have Halloween year round if you like, and anything you want to eat can be breakfast.
I can piss away my money on Lego bricks if I so choose. The teen thinks it’s foolish, but she liked getting drunk, and I think that’s foolish. At the end of the two purchases I have something that lasts practically forever and can be whatever I can imagine and she has piss and regrets. Which of us is more mature, I ask you?
When I was young people called me an old soul. Or said I was smart for my age. As time went by my age advanced to fit my personality, but my intelligence didn’t similarly advance. Things that were special in a child were mundane in a teenager and adult. I’ve never felt like an adult. I’ve been confident in decisions and lived how I thought was right, but never in my head have I felt any different. Some of my biggest mistakes have come from trying to do the “mature” thing. I’ve found that just listening to my internal compass works. I can make a living telling stories to people and drawing ridiculous things. If I’d believed that when I was in school I’d be so much better at it now, but I didn’t. I thought comics were never going to get me anywhere. I wanted to make them and be involved in the process, but didn’t believe I could do it to survive. Even in all my arrogance I didn’t believe in myself enough to think I could be a cartoonist. In spite of years of people telling me I could do it. I didn’t believe in myself or in their assessment of me.
I still focused on art in school, but it was 3d stuff. Stuff where you have this statue, or whatever, at the end of it. I never really believed I could make a go of that either because I think fine art is a con. I can’t lie to myself hard enough to sell art as a conceptual thing. A pile of candy wrappers on a floor may make a statement, but it’s also a fucking mess that needs clearing away.

When I was in JuCo I got some bullshit art award, but part of the deal was I had to get up and give a little speech about what I thought about art, or some such nonsense. I tried not to accept the award. Partially because I thought it was bullshit, as I mentioned before, and partially because I’m terrified of public speaking. It’s an irrational fear because if I’m in a room full of people I will joke and do things that get everyone’s attention, but if it’s a for serious thing I suddenly freak out. I can’t memorize lines, or anything like that for the same reason. I just go blank and panic. This time, however, I was forced to do this presentation by various people and could not escape it. It was supposed to be 5 or ten minutes, I forget now, of prepared remarks. The thing was I knew what was going to happen if I wrote anything down, so I just ignored it. Never wrote down a word. Tried not to even think about it. I figured that if I crashed and burned then no one would ever ask me to do this sort of thing ever again and that would finally be an end of people trying.

My parents came to the event, against my wishes, and I honestly barely remember the event because the part of my brain that usually runs things just switched off. It was more like watching someone else than something I did. Basically I got up and said that artists were too precious and needed to stop coasting along on the idea that we’re allowed to be flaky and strange, so no one ever expects anything from us, along with a lot of other stuff that basically was in total opposition to the beliefs of the organization that bestowed the award. Somehow though it was coherent. It all flowed perfectly from me in a way that made sense and encapsulated my thoughts about art at the time. Then it was over, everybody clapped, and my life didn’t change at all.

Years later my father reminded me of that story because I had essentially forgotten about it. He told me that when I got finished speaking he knew that no matter what I chose to do with my life I would be okay and he didn’t need to worry about it. That’s probably the highest praise my father ever gave me. So now, whenever I’m not sure what to do, or am forced into a situation I’m not sure how to handle, I just sort of walk into it and do whatever feels right.

30 Comments

No! BAD! There is only one Mario. That movie is not cannon.

Someone once posted the (obviously non-scientific) theory that you don’t really have lives in video games, you just switch to a parallel universe every time you fail. And since most of us fail a lot, that means that for every Mario that saves the day, there’s (depending on the specific game and the player) anywhere from 10-+1000 Marios that failed, failed, failed. And we doomed them for the sake of our own entertainment. We are the monsters, not Bowser!

I’m totally like this.

And then I have times where I decide to buy SO MANY POKEMON GAMES because I played a parody one and just really wanted to play a real one again but my GBA is too busted to play Ruby.

Being a retail clerk in a used video game store for years, I’m used to being on the opposite side of the counter, playing the devil’s advocate.

It’s a common sight to see people that want a piece of there childhood wrestling with their desire to play the of “mature responsible adult’.

Honestly, people take adult life too seriously.

Oh god, this is my husband.

We’re in the grocery store buying some usual things, and he goes “I really want some cookies”. I’m like “Okay, let’s go buy some cookies”.

“No, if we buy cookies, I’ll end up eating them”

“Yes that’s what cookies are for”.

“But I’m not supposed to be eating cookies”

“You’re an adult, you can have a cookie if you want it”

“But…”

“JUST BUY THE DAMN BOX OF COOKIES”

I have somehow survived this adult nonsense by finding that point between Being Responsible (TM) and dicking around. In my household situation, I look after all the bills (electricity, Internet, phones etc) while dad looks after the rent (which is an easy 50% of his working wage (Australian property prices are complete bullshit)). I am sort of able to save, so long as not too many crises happen at home.

But I also reserve a bit for… well, my hobbies include anime, books, music and video games. Whatever it is that I seek at the time, I go and get it. It means that collections are slow, but by the gods is it sweet when it comes :)

Is Australia really that bad? I live just outside Toronto Ontario and the latest house prices are, interesting[?]

Google-power-engage
The average home price in the Toronto 905 area climbed almost 15 per cent to $685,278, while the MLS home price index, deemed a better measure, showed a gain of 11.3 per cent. In Toronto’s 416 area, [city core] the average price of a detached home is now above $1.2-million.Mar 3, 2016

Adulting is, and always will be, overrated.
I got told off for buying a $2 app the other day. Apparently I’m not allowed to adult yet. Also, shared bank accounts with people you’re divorcing is bad, but living on the streets is worse. I think. I may have to come back to you on that one…

“Have you ever had one of these moments?”

Dude, I have these moments EVERY DAY and I’m 43. Every day I wake up going “How can I adult today?”

Being an adult is incredibly difficult when you have to think about it at all. The rest of the time, it’s just paying bills regularly and being yourself (assuming you aren’t a monster or breaking the law).

Don’t know about you, but I may break 3 laws before breakfast. And, probably, so do you. (ever put your prescription meds in one of those divided holders? Speed juuust a little on the way to work? Talk on the cell phone while driving in the wrong place? You lawbreaker you!)

Oh, my goodness, so much this. I constantly feel the need to apologize for my taste in TV (Gravity Falls has left a huge void in my life, and I am a casual pro wrestling fan), music, books, and especially my soda addiction. I feel like my lack of adult status symbols (suits, a car, enjoying alcohol and coffee) is why people dislike me, even though I’d find my interests charming in another person. As if maybe putting on a mature mask would *make* me mature. Then I remember that not having those expenses means I can treat friends and family to whatever, whenever, and that makes me way more happy than a pair of sensible dress shoes.

And then there’s that fateful day when you hear something familiar come out of your mouth, and you suddenly realize where you heard it before…

“When did I become my father [mother]?!!”

am i the only one thinking that the jolene is jackie’s favourite character? to me it seems like he uses more passion to draw her

I like Doctor Who. I like WALL-E. I like Lego. I checked my finances and decided I could buy both of these.

http://shop.lego.com/en-IE/Doctor-Who-21304
http://shop.lego.com/en-IE/WALL-E-21303

Anyone who doesn’t like that can feck off.

I’m pretty sure you’re in the wrong crowd if you are looking for people to have a problem over you buying legos, maybe more like begging and wondering if we could help and stuff putting it together…

It was more my way of showing solidarity with the author.

It was my decision to spend my money, money I worked to earn, on Lego, I considered the consequences and feel I can justify my choice to myself. I don’t need anybody’s approval.

That’s what make me feel like an adult.

But if anyone wants to come over and play Lego I have a bunch of other sets too. I really like the Star Wars Microfighters.

I never get tired of Jo’s mature antics, I find myself often thinking of the line “I’m responsible! I’m an adult! I have keys!” one of my favorite lines from her

Leave a Reply to Crestlinger Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.