Well, well, well, here we are. Another Monday. I wonder what your week looks like as it stretches out before you. What sort of people come here to gaze in upon the lives of these fictional people? Who still reads these kinds of webcomics that started out with little skill and a dream?

When I was little I drew enough that I was better than most other children in my very small school. Some teachers even tried to nurture that creativity by offering resources to me. When we moved to a larger city I quickly learned that my doodles were not really all that good compared to the work of the many other artistic kids in the area. I faded into the perpetual 3rd place of my life and stayed there until I decided I was never going to be able to get anywhere with my drawing. I took to sculpting and writing, although I never completely abandoned drawing. I just accepted that I was never going to catch up to people who were totally dedicated to it. The idea of being an animator got tossed aside. As the years went by I leaned more and more towards sculpting, but eventually I ran into the same problem I did with drawing. I was always average, or slightly above average, in a pack of people who were more skilled in every other objective way. My stuff was unique, but it didn’t lead anywhere really. If you want to make money as a sculptor you need to be able to sculpt properly and I never could. The problem is, and has always been, I have the spirit of the exceptional with the powers of the mean. I don’t improve quickly when I practice. It’s a long process of slow improvement, so I get left behind by people who can form those pathways quickly. Really my greatest strength has been not giving up in the face of mountains of evidence that I should. Outlasting the talented isn’t a totally valueless ability. Some days though I look at all those people ahead of me and it’s hard to keep dragging myself along doggedly behind.

Humans are endurance hunters. In the distant past we would hound our prey continually, until they were too tired to mount a defense, then swarm them. In some way I’m honoring those ancient people by slowly stalking my targets until they’ve worn themselves out. I hope my neandertal forebears can look upon me with pride as I struggle among these homo sapiens.

When you start a project it’s best to look at the small things you need to do right now, while keeping the end goal in your sights. You don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed by the scope of your overall goal by focusing on what you need to do now. The problem is that it’s difficult to see if you’re actually making any progress when you’re standing so close to the ground all the time. Sometimes I just have to take it on faith that I’m still proceeding at an acceptable pace. Fighting that feeling of doubt isn’t always easy. I try to not even think about all the children who are rushing past me at the speed of light. Struggling against people in my age range is bad enough. Recognizing that there are young people casually sprinting past the people I’ve been trailing behind for years already is almost to much to even entertain on a theoretical level. I guess that’s what my work is all about though. The struggle of the average to find something to keep them going in a system that barely accepts their lives as worthwhile.

That’s one of the reasons why I never believe it when large companies talk about how much they care about human life. If that were actually true they could start by treating the people in their immediate area with dignity, but they don’t. It’s all talk. Just a shield of words to keep all the nobody’s from stripping the system for parts and grounding up the leeches for mulch in our gardens. I hope I live to see they day when the nobodies realize there’s more of us then there are of them.

“Can you count suckas?
I say the future is ours, if you can count.”

Hope I see you back here on Wednesday. Until then, stay tuned boppers.

21 Comments

Sculpting? Neat.

I’m sorta waiting for a character to have had a past in it.

I wouldn’t hold my breath were I you.

I am a Help Desk worker. I answer the phone and try to solve your problems. If your problem is being a 3rd place creative type then I will say you are far beyond good enough, and the stories you tell carry you much higher than you believe.

That’s a generally thankless job, so I will offer mine for trying to help. I appreciate it.

You might also adopt the line of Richard Strauss: “I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer.”

I’ve been quietly reading your comic for a long while. Not since the beginning, but before color (in the #200s, maybe?), so more than 15yrs. Webcomics are a comfort zone thing for my weird brain. I’m not sure when your blog posts became as big for me as the comic, but they are now, and today’s really struck a chord. I’ve always had that thread of artistic talent that made me itch to make things, draw, paint, build, whatever, but I just didn’t have the focus to push myself beyond mediocre. My family says it’s good, but family has to like your stuff, right? Anyway, your words pushed me out of lurker space (have I commented before? I don’t remember), and that’s a Very Big Thing for me.

I think family is expected to like the work of other members, but that’s actually not the best way to be. Rather being supportive, even if they don’t like it, is better. My family doesn’t like my work generally but they support my efforts. Only a couple have actually read any of it, although some of them like it very much. Just like the general populace they have individual tastes so I don’t expect all of them to enjoy it. I don’t even expect them to be supportive. I do appreciate it when they are though. In any case, hello. It was nice to hear from you.

I empathize. I was considered a writing prodigy at the tiny rural school I attended.

There was a contest, way back when, for students to write essays about the future of the state for its sesquicentennial. We were allowed to pair up with another class of second graders and write. I was unpaired–it was a common thing at the time because, from what I can piece together, people were a little scared of me–and spent about 30 percent of the essay cribbing from reruns of “The Jetsons.” It was apparently good enough to qualify for a win, and my family and teacher got to bring me up to the capital for some celebration or another.

Assuming we don’t blow ourselves up in another 14 years or so, the essays will be uncrated and I’ll be invited back for another ceremony for the state’s bicentennial. Not exactly looking forward to that, and confronting the stolen fever dreams of a lonely eight year old boy’s precognition attempts.

A lot of that changed after getting into a special class for writing, where I met kids every bit as smart or more so than I was, who had access to better resources for a lot longer. It was part coming of age movie, part humiliation conga as I suddenly had to fight for my wins. I made a lot of good friends at the time. Saw a Weird Al concert with one of them. Discovered Mystery Science Theater 3000. Got my first kiss from one of them. Good times, in their way. Wouldn’t trade them for anything.

A_SMALL_NOTE:

I just added your comic to my list of clickable icons, & in the process I was struck by an anomaly…
…most icons are a generic placeholder symbol, but you took the time to personalize your icon.
—–
I just want you to be aware that I’ve NOTICED that you made that extra effort, & I want you & everyone else here to understand that I APPRECIATE it when someone makes that extra effort, rather than merely half-assing their way through whatever it is that they’re doing.
I think it’s also reflected in the quality of the storytelling that I see here…
…thank you.

Not that anyone has asked, but-

I’ve just been, very baffled, by a search on duckduckgo [tm], today.

I wanted to find info, on duckduckgo, about- ordering [picnic foods, + picnic supplies], online.

I asked DDG, “Is it safe to order baloney online”, and most of DDG’s responses were about:

“Are you trying to buy Viagra?”, and “Do you have erectile disfunction?”

…Uh,…

Even with my, [I like Sean Connery’s…+ Grace Jones’…007 films-type of mind, + my Tiny Toons’ motto-“expect the unexpected”]-type of mind, I did not expect THAT reaction from the internet, today!

I guess that duckduckgo, interprets, “Is it safe to order baloney online”, as [someone has problems with his “baloney”].

OK…that’s it. I’m going to stick only: webcomics, + paperback books, for my choices of entertainment, for awhile.

I’ve had my, “the internet has gone nutty”-quota, for today. ;D

[I apologize for going off topic, today. I just wanted to share this bizarre experience with someone.] :)

My goodness. The internet…Holy Geez. :D

BTW- I didn’t use quotation marks, around the sentence: Is it safe to order baloney online.

The picnic food is generally spelled “balogna”. “Baloney” is usually used as a synonym for “nonsense”.

Thanks!
This likely hints to the fact, that I don’t buy it often.
:D

So, I guess I can interpret this as: the duckduckgo site thinks that some men need Viagra to help them with their nonsense?

Also, please read this article, that explains-
In the US-type of American English, this meat is commonly called, “baloney”.

Such as, look at the 1970s, Oscar Meyer’s, ad jingle/song, “My baloney has a first name”:

https://www.wideopencountry.com/my-baloney-has-a-first-name/

I guess one way to give power to the customers, is: to buy only from [big companies, and any companies,] that see their customers [as people to treat kindly + fairly], and not see their customers [as faceless + powerless people to get money from].

“Can you count suckas?
I say the future is ours, if you can count.”

Is that from the 1970s film, “The Warriors”?

I love that film! :)

[For all interested readers- Walter Hill directed, “The Warriors”.]

Well spotted. It’s Cyrus’s speech from the start of the film.

Cool! :D

I’ve worked in places where the bosses had only the vaguest idea of what I did. When given absurd orders that couldn’t be followed logically, I tried to do it their way while they were around only, then fixed it when they left. My immediate supervisor was praised for his leadership in creating an upturn in productivity since I started there. The rest of us just laughed.

What a backhand, I’m pissed for him, but I have to accept his naivety as his strong suit

2702 Obstacool.

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