You Can Take The Lady Out of the Lame, But You Can’t Take The Lame Out of the Lady
I’ve been writing exactly 100% less than I expected to, and for that I apologize. A small army of reasons is at my call, but I’ll spare you.
Should you be bored — and I would be if I were you — I recommend you head over to Project Waldo, which I’m adding to my link list. It’s a new site started by Nathaniel Simpson, who is taking a sabbatical from doing game concept art in order to teach himself how to make comics. The caveat? His comic art is the most fucking amazing, complicated, beautiful art I’ve seen in recent years. I’m a devoted fan of Moebius and Enki Bilal and Simpson is like some fucked up beautiful linework baby of the two. I’m also addicted to watching other artists’ process, and Simpson is logging his in spades. It’s slow going, but add it to your feed and enjoy your hard work.
October 8th, 2009 | New Zealand, Totally Unrelated
Hi Sunday!
Thanks to Google Analytics, I noticed some folks linking to my blog from your blog.
I actually never reverse-web-stalk people, but when I saw that you were writing about Crohn’s disease, I decided to break my rule.
I was diagnosed with Crohn’s back in 2003. Wouldn’t it be awesome if they discovered that the gene that triggers Crohn’s also correlates with an abnormal enlargement of the areas of the brain associated with artistic creativity? I’m mostly basing that claim on your lovely burger-totem. It sort of looks like a tag-team effort by Geof Darrow and Hayao Miyazaki. Radness.
I’ve lived with Crohn’s both in the States and in Korea, and have had all sorts of fun experiences (if you haven’t tried it yet, I heartily recommend popping a squat under a bush next to a pedestrian-packed Seoul viaduct – very exciting stuff).
I’ve been on just about every medication, tried just about every diet (sugar-free, gluten-free, everything-free) and finally started Remicade infusions about four months ago. This is my first time being symptom-free, and I don’t think it’s a complete coincidence that I’m suddenly able to concentrate on a big project. Hooray for chimeric mouse antibodies!
Just wanted to share. It’s great that you’ve set up this forum where people can talk frankly about all this. Maybe because of your irreverent tone, you’ve almost made it feel cool to have Crohn’s. Sort of like being a nineteenth century poet with consumption. It’s the hip disease for comic artists!
Anyway, thanks for saying such nice things about Project Waldo! Cheers!
Hooray!
Is it terrible that I’m excited you have Crohn’s? Probably, yes. But still: no way! Far out! I feel like we’re doing an invisible high five. I totally yelled to my boyfriend (also a big fan of Project Waldo) “NATE SIMPSON HAS CROHN’S DISEASE!” and his response was “No way!” We’re a predictable people.
It sincerely means a lot to me that you shared your story. Since I was diagnosed with Crohn’s in 1996 I’ve found myself being increasingly vocal about it. I don’t know why (I’m a pretty shy person) but I decided almost from that first day that making fun of having a “butt disease” was better than hiding it. And I’ve met so many people since then who are surprised and relieved to confess that they’re also afflicted.
At some point I’ll tell the store about having diarrhea while driving down a single-lane, unpaved road down Mauna Kea at night in a van full of journalists, but it still occasionally gives me the shivers.
And I’m terribly flattered that you liked the burger-totem. I got fairly blushy and squirmy over that. Anyway, carry on with Project Waldo, please, you’ve got people eagerly waiting for the next installment.
I’m happy that you’re happy! I’m totally high-fiving you right now. The Mauna Kea story sounds both familiar and terrifying. I haven’t had the dreaded “accident” yet, but I’ve definitely been at my wits’ end and willing to drop trou in some dodgy/quasi-public places. The setup I fear the most is the 6-hour tour bus trip. Those are very popular in Korea, and I’ve been on a couple where disaster was only avoided by inches. Thanks again for the great site!