Fruit and Fish.

page2, originally uploaded by camille94019.

I went to the doctor's yesterday. I had made the appointment for a variety of achey, malais-ey, vague-ish reasons probably related to that 20 lbs I acquired during my stay in this fattening, foggy town.

My doctor was very understanding, he didn't predict that my eyeballs would explode, nor that I'd keel over suddenly. He just said I'd better return to my Flip Flop weight, otherwise he'd have to put me on medication. Which is icky to me, since right now I am med-free. He gave me three months to get it under control.

When he asked me about my favorite foods, I sheepishly told him about my new skills of baking bread. He recommended baking small loaves and eating more fruit and fish. Since he put it that way, it doesn't seem nearly so onerous. Also, Dutch has to go on the diet with me.

Salmon and Regrets

That didn't stop me from going home and crying all over Dutch's shoulder. Nor from hitting the market and bagging a trout salmon. I was mostly crying over the elysian fields that populated my dulcet sojourn in Flip Flop. Oh, those sunny skies! Oh, those fresh market veggies! Oh, kick-boxing and taco Tuesdays! Oh, Eleven and Seaweed Girl taking me swimming! Oh, going biking down the River Trail! Oh, those sundrenched shores! Oh, the trees! Oh, Pogonip! After Dutch's shoulder was thoroughly drenched with tears of self-pity, I remembered why I left Flip Flop (oh, the poverty! oh, the commute! oh, the nights-alone!). When I left, I had no idea the price I'd pay in terms of the girth of my patootie.

It is berry season right now, somehow Dutch and I will survive. Hopefully, we'll be a little thinner by the end of Summer.

Action Packed Tacos

I just wrapped up two intense comic workshops with the Small Set. In the morning I had the fourth to seventh graders and in the afternoon I had the second and third graders. Quite a few kids have taken the class before (serial offenders or fan club members, depending on one's perspective). Both groups were great. I have found that nearly all the kids take the class because they want to take it, and as a result, their behavior and attitude is stellar. The class has no pretensions to fine art, high class or something that a neurotic parent would push their children into. I never have parents reminding me that their child's Ivy League education is resting on my shoulders or anxiously asking me if their toddler has "talent".

Au Contraire

It is the cool parents who sign their kids up for my class, the ones who think childhood is for fun and exploration. I love being a catalyst for healthy projects.



Ezekiel and Dave

Ezekiel and Dave appeared on the page last spring, as yet another pedegological sample (like Fat Camille). In fact, they predate her. I was trying to show the students that writing legibly was very important-- nearly as important as content. (Not to be confused with the nefarious content issues that plague adult book artists). There is a reference to them in Camille's Eye Balls.



I have started a few other ED stories, but never got around to finishing them. The characters are rather dense and pathetic, and there already is so much of the underdog aesthetic in the indy comic world that I hesitate to even put any more energy into them. Usually the students say they don't get them, but that they are funny. I suspect they add the "funny" statement to protect my feelings.

Action Packed Tacos

That is indeed a penguin. The story revolves around an evil, trident-wielding mouse, a magic taco and a penguin who just wants "a refill." The artist is 8, and male. To see more kids stuff, come to the table, I'll be shamelessly selling them.

The Missing Page, 39.5

Here it is! If you recently bought a FC and are wondering about the missing page, and I haven't given you a copy yet, you can download it. Go ahead and click on the title, and it will take you to the print-ready version (300 dpi)

Publishing

I picked up 36 copies of Fat Camille today. Its the biggest, longest thing I have ever produced.

The girl who gave them to me was very excited. She said I had a good sense of humor.

She was a big girl, too.

thank you Nori for the gift certificate that made it all possible!

Vindication

3, originally uploaded by camille94019.

I have been editing the Fat Camille opus in preparation for an actual hard-copy printing. All day long I have been cleaning things up, correcting spelling and adjusting technical print stuff so it will look good on paper. I just got to this page and I decided to "fix" the so-called technical problems with the Professor's speech. Two people (you know who you are) commented that he (I) got it all wrong. Since I wanted to show that the character was "right" all the time, it was important to the story to get it right. So I just went on-line to clear the mix-up.

I found out some interesting things.

Crazy English

Good generally is an adjective (although, according to notation 49 on that page it can mean "well").

Well generally is an adverb, although it can be correctly used as an adjective as well (ha ha).

Adverbs do actually describe verbs.

Adjectives do generally describe nouns.

Perhaps the dog should have recommended, "I am doing well." But is not "am" a form of the verb "to be?" It seems that "I am good" would be correct also (colloquially, at least).

Case in Point

I understand that things can be technically correct, but still sound bad. Be that as it may, I am a bit peeved-- mostly at myself for taking what those two readers said seriously and spending all this time trying to untangle the mess. It is so funny, this incident illustrates my entire small-brain insecurity.

Corrections

English is a fucking kluge. I started this line of inquiry to actually find something new, to repair a hole in my knowledge, but as it turns out, it was pointless. If there is a hole in my head, I share it with the rest of Le Monde Anglais-phone.

Fat Camille Goes Kickboxing

The title is self-explanatory. Another masterpiece liberated by the clean drafting table. This one was started in Bear Town, while I was waiting for El Cab to finish some work.

Eleven didn't actually loan me a bra, but she did loan me a pair of padded bicycle shorts once. The appropriate nudity in the story has been censored, just in case, um, family members are enjoying this.

Fat Camille Goes Shopping

I just finished this last night, on my newly cleaned drafting table. I started it one afternoon, drinking coffee in Cafe Perg with El Cab. He was busy writing theology, so I bummed some notebook paper off him. It was a rare day when the cafe was staffed by quiet baristas, so I wasn't distracted by anything.