6/6/2001:

This isn't really a strip I'd planned on doing. Well, none of them lately have gone through the same "written in advance and tested weeks later for freshness of the funny" method that went into the earlier strips. Are they better? Worse? What I do know is that a bit more of me is creeping in, now that the process is done by me and I'm not sure if so much me is good, but really, it's what we've got, you know?

So... I wrote this strip because Lia thought that her last appearance was funny but that the blurb underneath was mean. Upon rereading, I must say that a bit too much negativity creeped in and I'm sorry for that. So, above, the above strip is the real undercurrent. Why I'm uncomfortable around Lia. Plain and simple, no?

So yes, I once had a crush on Lia. No, I no longer have a crush on Lia. But yes, I think that she's become an incredible performer and I'm in awe of her talent and I can't wait to do improv with her at some point in the future. And I wish we'd talk more. And that she thinks Neil Gaiman's cool too and that's a great litmus test in my book. And that's all I really want to say about that.

Before I continue this incredibly huge post, I just wanted to link to The New Adventures of Bobbin. The author emailed me today and I went to check it out. She thinks we "we kind of share *roughly* the same kind of humour" and I think that she's a bit more bold in her choice of topics (you won't see many PMS jokes here at Scrubs). I really admire her more offbeat characters (oh yeah, we could use some of those here). Anyway, here's the link:

As promised last time, here's the continuation of my high school dance experiences. These were the Dances. The Formals.

I didn't go to any big school dances like Homecoming until junior year. My friend Steffi asked me to go to her school's Winter Formal. She asked me so far in advance, however, because she went to Australia over winter break. So it crept up on me. At the dance itself, Steffi towered over me. The pictures are hilarious. They forgot to cut off the feet so you can see that she's barefoot and I'm tippy toeing. That was my first experience with the whole group dance thing. Sitting around, eating dinner with other couples.

Then the dancing. I was still self conscious but by this point in my high school career, I'd finally gotten some self esteem so I handled it OK. I added to my rules of dance that people think it's really funny when small people (like me) jump on the backs of larger people (Jon) and dance around.

I also slow danced that night. Well, for a little. Steffi was off trying to mack on this other guy and so I was floating around hating my life. Then she came back and we did the slow turning in a circle dance. As you turn, the heads are pointed in opposite directions, looking at other couples who are actually there as couples.

Next dance, I went with Gwyneth, so I learned about the slow dance when you are a couple where you either a) have simulated standing sex or, if you were Gwyneth and I, you did plan b) which was to gossip about other couples while doing the above chaste slow dance. (Interestingly enough, the high school Gwyneth and Steffi went to is mentioned in that link).

By Prom of that year, I found out about the "slow dance with the girl who dumped you a week before Prom but you go with her anyway" dance, which is where one person attempts variation a) noted above while the other person does an impression of a curtain rod that wants the night to be over.

The next year, I went to Homecoming with Helen. We broke a major dance rule which is that close friends who go to dances because they need dates have a lot of fun unless one of those friends has decided that the other is his soulmate and gosh, a dance would be a nice place to tell her that.

We went with a bunch of Spanish exchange kids, because I was hosting one of them. We had fun in spite of the incredible amounts of tension. Helen told me that all of her past dates to big dances turned into people she never talked to again. Anyway, if you want more of that story, you can read it in gory detail.

Got a bad dance experience? Share!

Song for today comes from Cowboy Bebop. It's by Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts and the song is Blue. I've been playing it on one song repeat sort of in hope of inspiring me to get studying for finals. Just two more days and I'll be free. Freeeeeeeeeeee. Anyway, listen to the song. (song is gone for space reasons)

Never seen a bluer sky
Yeah I can feel it reaching out
and moving closer
There's something 'bout blue.
Asked myself what it's all for
You know the funny thing about it
I couldn't answer
No, I couldn't answer.
Things have turned a deeper shade of blue
and images that might be real
maybe illusion
Keep flashing off and on
Free...
Wanna be free, Gonna be free...
and move among the stars
You know they really aren't so far
Feels so free...
Gotta know free... Please...
Don't wake me from the dream
It's really everything it seemed
I'm so free...
No black and white in the blue
Everything is clearer now
Life is just a dream, you know
that's never-ending
I'm ascending...

-Kip