Excuses

I woke up this morning with the words Gyrinophilus porphyriticus on the tip of my tongue.

I am going to be SO happy when this lab exam is over...

...so I can draw some more comics!

A new month, a new nickname

So last month, I revealed to you the first of my seasonal nicknames. But it's a new month, folks, and ushered in with cold, bleak, leafless November is the second of my unfortunate monikers:

THE MANFLOWER

One year ago:

"This doesn't make any sense. It's kind of a stretch, guys. I don't remember agreeing to this. The MANFLOWER? It sounds....dirty."

(My pleas, sadly, fell on deaf ears).

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The slightly more palatable, albeit more obscure variant of this one is:

THE MANTA MARIA (as in "The Nina, the Pinta, and the MANTA MARIA"--get it?)

Crotch Shots (NSFW!)

I am both disturbed and amused by this somewhat dubious photo credit on our Herp class's website, Herpalicious:

Trust me, it was no less awkward actually taking the pictures, like this one, of an Ameiva ameiva:

 

Me: I'm not going to lie--this feels mildly inappropriate.

My TA: .......Yep.

Halloween Sketches Continued

I went to go see Rocky Horror on Halloween Eve with Alex & Co. I was dressed as Magenta. On my walk there from dance class it was unpleasantly rainy and windy. I got leafed in the face. It kind of hurt.

Also, there's something oddly poetic about being leaf-slapped by a maple leaf, symbol of Canada. Hmm....

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The Best Thing Ever

So, at Rocky Horror, before the movie/floor show began, they had a costume contest. One of the entries was this pair. I don't know who started the "MAKE OUT" cheer but pretty soon, the entire audience was on board. Dorothy and the Scarecrow looked kind of uncomfortable at first (maybe they weren't actually a couple? although...why would you go as what is CLEARLY a couple's costume) but then they got pretty into it. The emcee's response was perfect:

"It is not every day you get to rewrite a classic story."

When they won said costume contest, Dorothy leapt into the Scarecrow's arms and they then preceded to mime having sex onstage. Ah Rocky Horror...you make me happy.

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Waiting for the bus after the show

For some reason there were a bunch of Orthodox Jews across the street, standing next to this crowd. It was . . . weird.

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Here is a picture of me, Magenta with my brother, Riff-raff!

Halloween Sketches

The Seedless--er, Headless!--the Headless Horseman rides again!

Katie and I saw this smashed up watermelon on the way to school on Halloween Eve Day and somehow it became this story about the Headless Horseman's penchant for intricate pumpkin carving, and his heated rivalry with Martha Stewart, stemming mostly on her blatant rip-off of his whole "Ghostly Equestrian" deal (see below, and yes, that is Martha Stewart).

Also, I just like the idea of the Headless Horseman going to the grocery store and discovering they're out of pumpkins which he would otherwise throw at scrawny schoolteachers. But, you know, watermelons will do (see above).

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Possibly the thing I love most about Halloween is seeing people in costume in the most mundane of places, like descending the stairs in the metro station, capes flowing theatrically behind.

November News

I don't mean to get your hopes up unnecessarily with some boring ol' words BUT I promise there will be a new comic/several new comics up by tomorrow morning (or really late at night, if you feel like checking then). 

I just thought I would update you on some things:

Blog-related things:

1) You may have noticed the new website hit counter I posted (that little purple rectangly deal on the right side of the page). It seems a little vain, I know, but I was genuinely curious as to how many people actually look at my work. The number's up pretty high already, so I hope it's not just Haley clicking back onto the page a bunch of times. 

2) Evidently I'm scoring pretty high with the mom demographic. This makes me happy.

Life-related things:

3) We have a mouse in our house! I have yet to see it. I'm working on an essay in the living room, and periodically I keep tiptoeing over to the kitchen and turning on the lights to see if I can surprise it in action. I have not succeeded at this yet. Do I sound a little TOO excited at this prospect? Well...maybe I am. 

4) November is the crappiest month. Expect less comics. I am sorry. I feel like I'm disappointing my public. But I'm trying! I spent a good hour drawing today when I should have been writing a feministy Jane Austen analysis. So...there.

5) I am having herpetofauna anxiety dreams. Ask me why.

Good night, and good luck.

You guys, we have a ghost!

We came home the other day, and the whole apartment smelled like one of Katie's perfumes. But like, strongly. And not just in the bathroom. Like, everywhere. There was no possible explanation other than ghost.

We suspect he was also responsible for the disappearance of four of our periwinkle plastic cups 2 years ago.

And that wooden spoon.

Happy Halloween you guys!