Update: 6/3/2001: Sil just emailed me her blurb!

The Invisible Sil here. With a long overdue farewell. Here ye shall find the explanation for my mysterious disappearance. No, I was not abducted by aliens. Nor did I spontaneously combust.

I'm actually writing from Copenhagen, where bands of drunk people wearing viking horns and red and white skin paint are roving the sidewalk. I've been told there's a big soccer game here tonight for a slot in the world cup, so I guess that explains their behavior.

The keyboards here are slightly skewed by the addition of bizarre letters with circles and slashes through them, but I'm making a special effort to type this blurb so I can say thanks to everyone who wrote me saying goodbye. ~_~* I was very touched. I'm also taking this opportunity to convey my next six months in a nutshell so that everyone understands that I didn't just ditch poor Kip, leaving him to juggle the strip on his own. Believe me, I feel terrible bailing out while our hits are skyrocketing to numbers heretofore unfathomed by us. But I have faith in Kip, and I think he's been doing a fine job with my limited reservoir of images. Let's give him a hand.

So here's the deal: for the next month I will be in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, on a fellowship, in which I'll be studying historic and contemporary forms of resistance to violations of the human rights of ethnic minorities. I'm returning to the states in July, except I won't be going home to Chicago yet. Instead, I'll be headed straight to Washington DC, where I have an internship at the Center for Strategic and International Studies lined up until mid-September, at which point I hop another plane and fly to Spain. I will be studying abroad in Seville until the end of December.

So that's why I won't be able to illustrate Scrubs for a little while. I'm planning on producing strips during my stay in DC, and perhaps even a few in Spain, but I probably won't be going regular again until January at the earliest. I'll try my best to put out when I can, though, and Kip has a lots of surprises ahead, so stick around! And again, thanks so much for all the support.

-Sil

6/2/2001:

Rick's on coop this quarter. He works downtown and basically acts as cheap IT labor. He also has no problems sets due, no finals, etc.

Ladies and gentlemen... we finally have fiction in Scrubs. The real Rick would never ever suggest a dance club. But strip Rick does. Why? Because I couldn't make the art work for any other purpose. Sad, huh? Anyway, today was "experiment with the pen tool as a motion device." I like how it turned out. It just forced Rick into saying something he would never say. Like "dance club."

My dancing style has evolved over the years. When I was a little sixth grader and at summer camp for the first time, I was one of those kids who'd rather be playing UNO in the adjoining room than grooving away in the dark dance room. I mean, then I might be dancing with a girl... and then who know what people would think? I did venture onto the dance floor, but to call me a wallflower would be a disservice to the other wallflowers who at least looked as if they were too cool to actually dance. I just looked like I had a serious staring problem.

The next year, I was much more embarassed to be in the card/chess room so I stayed out on the dance floor. Wow. people could move. And if they couldn't, they at least were entertaining. I tried my hand at it, but I wasn't energetic enough (or tall enough) to really stand out. Luckily, I had friends there that year who also sat on the sidelines and we all practiced looking too cool to dance at times and then threw ourselves into the maw of dancers and then escaped back.

Final year, when Jason and I were among the oldest kids at camp, we went nuts.

In high school dances... well, I was still pretty shy. These were girls that I might actually see again. I went to one randomly organized school dance at the behest of my father and I went into the dimmed cafeteria and asked a girl to dance. She said, "To this? I don't think so." Using my scientifically trained brain, I deduced this: you don't ask people to dance to the fast songs, you just sort of move near them and see if they move away. The girl in question towered over me so I formed an additional rule: make sure you can at least look the girl in the eye.

On Wednesday, I'll tell you more about my high school dance experiences.

Today's song comes to us from James. My friend who schools in Ireland had this CD in his car two summers ago and I remember every time I got it, I'd ask him "Who is this, anyway?" By the end of the summer, he was saying, "James! James! It's the same CD! It always is!"

James - Destiny Calling

Song removed for space reasons, sorry.

so we may be gorgeous, so we may be famous, come back when we’re getting old
cover us in chocolate, sell us to the neighbours, frame us in a video
clone us in a test tube, sell us to the multitude, guess that’s the price of fame
she likes the black one, he likes the the posh one, cute ones are usually gay

chorus: here we come this is our destiny calling
we’re freaks
this is our destiny calling
unique
this is our destiny calling now

don’t believe the adverts, don’t believe the expert, everyone will sell our souls
get a little wiser, get a little humble, now we know that we don’t know
tell us when our time’s up, show us how to die well, show us how to let it all go

chorus

some fat cat’s playing roulette with lives this game is fixed it’s all a lie
some fat cat’s playing roulette with lives this time is curved there’s no straight lines
some fat cat’s playing roulette with lives forget myself we’re all entwined there’s no straight lines

chorus

chorus

this is our destiny calling
this is our destiny calling
this is our destiny calling
now
now  

-Kip