I got a new phone.
Look at my new phone.
LOOK AT IT.
This phone has 4 cameras. I think we all know what that means …
And there are filters!
I will leave you with this because I cannot stop laughing at it:
I got a new phone.
Look at my new phone.
LOOK AT IT.
This phone has 4 cameras. I think we all know what that means …
And there are filters!
I will leave you with this because I cannot stop laughing at it:
I saw that someone had left me a phone message at the wee hour of 9:00 am in the morning. [Don’t judge. I’m vampirish in nature].
I pushed play and it went something something something MEDICAL “please return the call as soon as possible …”
O, crap. My heart went into my throat. I immediately knew my lady bits Doctor took another look at the lady bits biopsy and found something amiss with my lady bits. [It’s called hypochondria].
A new month is dawning in 2020 after all. What fresh hell could possibly lay ahead? lie ahead? be in store?
I followed the phone message instructions.
A friendly voice answered and enquired about how she might help me.
“I was instructed to dial this number and then press the number 2 —
So I did.”
There was a bit of a pause and then a giggle. All I heard was “to schedule a mammogram” and I groaned a long toddler-like groan, “Whyyyyyyyy?” I finally surrendered. “Fine. Do it then,” I snapped oh, so tersely.
Another snicker.
NOTE: I did not realize I had choices in mammograms! These are exciting times! O, advanced technology, thy name is – 3D.
She went on with, “For verification purposes could you
P̷̘͎̈́̄͐́̂̾̉̓̋͌̆̅̊̒́̚͘͝l̶̢̨̬̠̹̥͇̆̃̍̅͂̏͘͘͘͜ẻ̶͓̗̮̳̜̼̪̙̻͕̭̜̰̝̙̲̏͆̀̈́͛̔̽̆̌̂͛͘̕̕̕͜á̵̩̃́̀̄͒̂̈́̾̈́s̸̢͖͓̗͉̖̺̟̤͉̦͆́̓́̇̋́̓̒͝͝͝ȩ̴̢̛̱̖͓̟̫̻̳͙̹̯̰͍̘̔̐̒͂̑̓͌̈́̾̃̔̈́̚͝ͅ ̶̧̢̰̪̫͙̠͈̌̎͂̆̃̿̆̿̊͂̓̉̀̿̍̊͘͜s̶̬͚̳͈̟̲̞̝͎̗̫̮̬̳̰̲͑̋̄̎́́͗̌̀͛͂̏̿̊̎͆͂͝t̷̡̗̖̼̲͕̥͔̰̟̫̃͐́͛̋͆̆͘͘a̷̢̢̖̞̻̝͙̗̟̹̻̦͍̝̪̪͕͗̉͑̾̇͛̑͘͜͝t̵̖̹̭̹͖͙̙̦̩̫̞̠̩͍̟̲̙͙͛̄̌e̴̡̨̢͖͖̥͙̱̝̍̀̽͒́͜ͅ ̸̧̥̹̺̫̙̞͇̗̯̗̪͉̼̹͖̦̂͊̿͜ẙ̶͈̰̯̺̘̯̼̖̬̄̂̽̋̅̊́̈̅͑͌̀̿͗ͅő̸̝̝͔͚̼͎̘̹̙̣͍̻̀̓̋̂́̀̕͜u̴̧̢̡̦̞̙̻͖̗̯̩͇̬̳̯̘̿͆̊̇́͆̈́͆̀̑͂̊̑̈̄̋͘͜͠r̸̙̬̖͖̗͖̿̍̏̔̓̉͗̌̋͂͝͝ͅ ̸͍̞̹̩̐͂̈́̆̐̍̈́́͑͆͋̉̋͑̆̽̚̚n̸̢̡̖̬͎͔̺̬͕͔̝̟̳̞̼̦̩͗̇͆a̵͙̣̝̭͖͒m̸̛̰̫̖̭̽̒̃̓͊͌͐͌̐͒̆̽̀͒̚͝ͅė̷̹̯̝͈̖͆͆̇̎̂͋̏̋́͝͝ ̷̥̯̖̬͂́͌͑͌̏̾̊͗̊͝ͅ ?”
Me: WAT
The woman on the other end of the phone suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.
So I did what any red-blooded American would do: I returned the revelry.
For 10 minutes straight.
I have no idea what the hell we were laughing at or about, but I got a runner’s cramp.
She finally continued:
May I have
T̴̬͉̤̜̗̺̰̝͕͉̙̳̜͐̈̄̐̐̒͜͝h̵̨͓̗̰̦̚e̸̛͇̱̭͓͕͓̙̣͔͑̈́̅̍̆̊̂͆͜ ̴̬̎̐̀̊͒̌͗̀̌̀̓̽͂̍͘͝͝ͅl̵̛̟̮̱͒͊͛̉̒̽͆̈́̏̉̈́̔̄̇͆͘͠a̶̛̭̙͓̼̜̫̥̘̬͂͋́̈́̅̓̀̒́̆͗s̴̡̪͈̺͇͚̘̞̲̰̣͑̒̈̽̽̇̌̿͝͠ͅt̵̖͙̫̦͌̆͗̉̒́͂̍̒̋̌͂̚̚͠ ̴̧͍͎̯̇͌͊̐̓̚̚f̴̙̹̠͖̘̲̺̅̀̀͜ȍ̸͉͙̜̏́͗̈̅́͌̐̌͝ư̶͈̲̻̭̱͔̎̀͂̓̓̃̐͂̋̍̃̀̈̕̕͝r̸̥͎̼͈̀̓̀͌̒̆̿͛̆̉͂̋́̀́̚͠͝ͅ ̴̧̬͓̦͍̅̾̊͑͘͝͝d̷̛̪́̈̓̈́̂̌̆̽̌̚ͅi̸̢̛͖̱̞̺̙͍͚͙̮͈̽̏̆͋̅͠ǵ̵̢̢̛̯͉̙͕̙̦̬͓͎̟̳͙̺̭̓͑͊͑͌̀̉̚͜i̸͍̖̰̘̞̣̲̟͛̇́̽̈́͘t̵̨̢̨̞̙͓͓̬̫̟͚͕̠͍̏̓̌̈́̏͐͒̄̀̄̌̓̚̚͝͝͠ͅs̵̢̛̜̭͇͎͖͎͈̳̖̮̰͒͐̍̌̐̈́̄̃̂͑̚͝ ̶̮͔͉̭̟̦̤͉̟̥̱̩̽̋̃̑͋͒͂͐̒͘̚̚͜͝ͅơ̵̝̤͍͇̠̭͌̀͌f̷̡̱̩͓̝͍̘̱̘̟̠͙̰͓̺͖̖̆͌̐̕ ̴̧̥͓͇̙̯̰̞̻̼͍̹̱͐̄͆̇̈ẙ̸̡̨̧̡̱͉͓̘̹̳͇̣̥̗͕̫̓̓̒͆͗̈́̂̔̒͂͗̒̔̿̚̕͜ớ̸̡̢̪̹̝͎̲̰͈̰͍̈̑̈́́̄͂͗̓̔̾̊̾͌̕u̶͍̳̣͈̯̘̰͕̺͈̜̪͆̈́͜͜r̶͈̝̩͎͎̜̻̫̩̲̠̖̥̯̾̄͛̃̌̅̕͠ͅ ̸̧͔̮͓̪̘̬̪̮͎̜͚̗͖̝͌ͅs̵̢͍͈̼̻̊̋̈́̈́͌͂́̈͗̅̽̚͘͠͝s̵̛͔̓̈́̊̂ ?”
Me: WAT.
And it all started again.
Eventually, we did manage to get to the most important information such as we both gained lots of weight during quarantine, she lives near me and we both have noticed the inordinate number of local skinny suburban housewives in yoga pants that we both lovingly referred to as “Karens.”
“You know,” I say, “you may have seen me walking to the lake. Can’t miss me. I have long red hair and dress, comparitivly to Karen, dumpy.”
Her: OH MY GOD! DO YOU WALK LIKE YOU’RE ANGRY?!
Well, obviously it was me. It’s a no-brainer. Hey – you would look angry too if you had daily existential crisises criseeze crises if you were a nihlist.
I directed her to my website to see my photo for verification.
OH MY GOD IT IS YOU!!
She was looking at the comic.
The conversation and chortling continued.
For 45 minutes.
She shared how to work out while holding an ice cream cone and I shared how to do butt and leg lifts while laying in bed at night eating potato chips – never missing a chip.
We even shared things I can’t write about publicly. Well … I shared things I can’t … you know … write about publicly because I have no boundaries. [The call may have been recorded for quality assurance] *ahem*
When there was a lull in the wackiness action I asked, “So what time is this appointment?”
“Ten a.m.”
“Wait. I asked for afternoon.”
Trying to stifle guffaws she blurts out, “I FORGOT!!” and then we returned, yet again, back to the beginning levels of jocularity. We did not pass “GO” we did not collect $200. I snorted. I cried. And – I peed my pants.
My rabbits looked disturbed and that made it all the funnier.
I realize there is a good possibility that this is one of those “you had to be there” events – Still, I highly recommend some good howling laughter for everyone.
Watch this:
Ok. Try watching it at 3 am after eating a family sized pack of Oreos, a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and thinking about death. It’s freaking hilarious!
It seems I found a lost member of my tribe. In these times of insanity and uncertainty, it was an unexpected connection and a much-needed catharsis.
It truly is the best medicine. Especially for existential hypochondriacs like me.
As one day bleeds right into the next, I thought I’d stop in and say “hi.”
hi.
I would now like to present to you, the reader, with my 2020 Working Calendar :
I both finished and started commissions that probably should have been done in March¹. I was not expecting Covid to not only shut down my quaint little burgh, but also my ambition to muster any motivation.
March² was more of the same. Each month of March¹²³⁴⁵⁶ brought something new and horrifying to the table. But I digress.
In moments of mind-numbing ennui, I went down many internet rabbit holes to discover many unknown facts. Whether it was learning about inside rifts of my favorite bands (it’s either money or a pink flamingo)
or finding the X with his future Mrs living in a brand new house on an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub
Big enough for ten plus me.
Forgive me. March⁶ has been particularly stressful.
I just had a Nickelback flashback.
Anyway, I found this gem:
There has been a plague of Biblical proportions! A “pandemic” if you will. For future history books I would like to state that pandemics trigger toilet paper hoarding.
The Corona virus had everyone in quarantine and we, as a planet, lost (and are still losing) our collective minds.
NOTE: Currently, the “19” in Covid-19 stands for the weight I am gaining on a monthly basis. #quarantinelife
But I digress …
If you want to really get a United States citizen riled up you can say one of two things [depending]:
We’ll fight you IRL.
Who knew medical masks could incite such violence?
Alas …
this is no place for political discourse. I save that for my friend, David Muir. We have intense exchanges on almost a nightly basis. Plus he thinks I’m hilarious!
As of now, Ohio is “slowly” reopening. Some places are more open than others. How a tattoo parlor can open but not a place of worship is beyond me. Maybe they could combine?
Welcome to:
St. Inknatius Cathedral of Perpetual Motion
Praise the Lord.
Why yes, I do have my next ink already picked out, why do you ask?
Hey — I never said I made ANY SENSE.
Not only have we (the entire planet) undergone the mysteries of Coronavirus, there were other exciting events leading up to it!
Aside from the usual earthquakes, flooding and rumors of war that get the end-timers excited, Australia caught on fire.
As in, THE WHOLE DINGED CONTINENT CAUGHT. ON. FIRE.
Over a billion beasts perished.
Let us not forget the locusts that invaded Africa.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, murder hornets.
And in case we might miss one:
I laughed at that frog cruising the turntable for a good ten minutes at 3:30 am one morning. John the Revelator at 33 rpms. It’s the little things, you know?
By the way — I am super behind on commissions.
IN RABBITY NEWS …
The RHD2 Virus is making its way across the United States. There are hot pockets in the Southwest and Northwest and if you connect the dots, it is looking a lot like a plague of Biblical proportions.
The 2018 MIDWEST BUNFEST was outright cancelled due to Ohio’s first confirmed case in Medina County (Think Cleveland, Ohio). As of yet, this lovely nation does NOT have the vaccine, Filavac, which protects against both RHD1 and RHD2. It is a “killed” vaccine so there is no chance of the recipient getting or spreading the disease.
There is a current push to import said vaccine via Cananda. The cost is astounding. And the general consensus is: no virus to speak of, no vaccine.
Here is a general info page:
RHD WABBIT WIKI INFO
Rabbit Folk are writing to their state veterinarians and talking to their personal veterinarians to move on this.
Now, correct me if I’m wrong — but when was the last time we were told a virus wasn’t near us and we had really nothing to worry about?
Humans never learn.
We are at 25K followers!
To say I am blown away is an understatement!
To celebrate, we here at Regarding Comic are giving away one 15oz Like a Boss coffee mug via Sammy’s Club! (Naturally, it has Sammy’s face on it! )
All we need is for you to FOLLOW regardingcomic on Instagram and tag somebody!
Or somebunny! (If you already follow, tag someone!)
Some random soul will be THE CHOSEN ONE next Saturday, February 8, 2020!
And yes – we will even spring for the (worldwide) shipping!
Would you like to play a game?
No. No, I would NOT. EVER.
I was perusing my email when a familiar “ding” caught my attention. An alert stating that I had requested an email change to one of my shopping app accounts. As you have probably already guessed, I did not. It was WISH. DON’T JUDGE.
Naturally, much of my info, money stuff, addresses, blood types and collected souls were connected to said email. I opened the letter and it so politely showed me the email it wanted. It was basically:
ima_hacker @ uvbeenhacked.xyz
I kid you not. It was THAT obvious. The cherry on this dessert was this: The email stated that another email was sent to the NEW address and for me to click on CONFIRM.
…
Now, I’m no MENSA candidate here – but if you want to ensure that I wanted the change, wouldn’t you send the confirmation link to, oh, I don’t know, THE ORIGINAL EMAIL?
I spent 24 hours calling banks, changing passwords, changing passwords again because I forgot the password I changed it to and I also changed passwords a third time because … well … like I said, no MENSA candidacy here. Oh, and running AntiVirus and Malware detectors a few times.
I was perusing my email when a familiar “ding” caught my attention. An alert stating that I had requested an email change AGAIN to THE SAME shopping app account. This one was Russian. Since I had already changed everything etc etc etc. I just let it sit. I pretend I have a Russian pen-pal and look at said email now and again. DON’T JUDGE.
Oh, Hai Vladimir! I am fine! Thank you for asking! How are you?
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
I am here to shamelessly promote the holiday cards in Sammy’s Place! These are the choices within the REGARDING COMIC. Click the link below the gallery and have fun! There are many card types to choose from as well. SILK cover is the shiny stuff!
Below is the holiday gallery for the OTHER WORKS holiday cards! There is still time! Well, heck, there are also the general “winter” cards as well. All cards are 5×7 and empty inside. Click the link under the OTHER CARDS HOLIDAY gallery to be magically transported there.
Prices begin at $4.00 and they ship WORLDWIDE!
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
– John the Revelator
A commission for the Four Riders of the Apocalypse blessed me a few years ago. With rabbits, of course. The story terrified me as a kid. I could not look at stormy skies for the longest time for fear I would see these figures barreling out of the clouds. Yet, it has been one of my all-time favorite commissions.
I have worked it and reworked this piece. Each rider is based on a rabbit from real life.
Illustrating Death has always been a fascinating task for me. This particular rider was based on my own Russette. She used to loaf and slowly but surely, her head would fall back until she tranced out and fell over. It was the weirdest thing.
I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I reworked this piece. To this day I am not 100% happy with it – but I do enjoy it.
The first go of it was a plain black and white design for one color screen print. I tried to also capture some of the menacing Biblical symbols that I was sure was going to come out of the sky when I was 8 years old. But alas – BUNNIES!
Then … it happened: I saw some art pieces that utilized the red/black/white theme. This is an ancient, tried and true color scheme. I could not resist.
I say all of this to get to this:
Every-so-often something comes through my email that just blows me away. I am honored and humbled by all of my followers … but sometimes my mind is absolutely blown.
I confess I squealed like a girl. In all honesty, when I look at my work on someone’s skin I think …
HOLY CRAP!!
WOOOOOOOOOO!
I HAVE ARRIVED!
These days I only WISH bunnies would come riding out of the sky.
Until that day …
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
– John the Revelator (again)
Ahhh~ those reticent little creatures called “rabbits.” So demure. So quiet, As rabbitron.com states:
RABBITS ARE QUIET
They are good pets for apartments, as no one will ever complain about the noise from your pet.
As an aside, I have to stop them right there. I’m sure the article goes on to reveal more, but let’s face it … being a human servant to these beasts, I can honestly say that no, no one will complain about the noise (per se) in my building unless it’s about me yalping because I have just experienced a surprise attack of being bitten on the toe. (or other body parts).
“Wear a pair of pants around the house!” They said.
Or the all-hours-day-and-night of vacuum time combining the clinking of turds with the squealing of the vacuum as that one stinking piece of hay gets stuck sideways and I have to tear the hose apart to fetch the faithful hook (taped coat hanger) to fish out said offending piece of hay.
But I digress.
Civilians “know” that rabbits ARE good pets for apartments. Absolutely. The managers should not even charge extra for them! Rabbits are small, harmless and take up such little space!
The rest of us know that we will NEVER get that deposit back. Well, the joke’s on them! I didn’t want that deposit back anyhow.
But I believe this is a diversionary tactic. This isn’t about the chewed up carpets, baseboards, tile flooring, walls … This is about something far more sinister:
The Lagomorphs’ collective personal vendetta against modern technology. These seemingly innocent lovelies are doing their best to hold humanity back. Oh, yes. You can hide the cords, spray the cords with a bunny-safe deterrent, wrap the cords, cover the cords. I know. I KNOW. But these determined (but adorable) evil geniuses will find a way.
I present to the court: Exhibits A, B, C, D, E, and FFFFF
*A special shout-out to the beautiful hand model.
The exhibits above don’t even include all of the USB cords!
SO. MANY. USB CORDS.
Let us not forget the missing buttons on the television remote.
In fact, I can’t even find the remote. One of them threw the remote. It’s probably stashed with a third of my art supplies that are missing. But what does it matter when your cable looks like this?
FUN FACT: When getting a replacement at the cable company I was asked: Cat or Rabbit?
My GOD. It’s a conspiracy! Or should I say —
[ Well. No. I now find that I should NOT have said that. ]
They SHANT WIN this war! My cords will prevail! (I have next-day shipping).
You know what though? — perhaps all of the above could be used to deter people who impulse buy/buy without researching rabbits! Let us all turn to merriam-webster.com and bow our heads:
Definition of lagomorph. : any of an order (Lagomorpha) of gnawing herbivorous mammals having two pairs of incisors in the upper jaw one behind the other and comprising the rabbits, hares, and pikas.
They have the makings of a horror movie!
Then present this truth:
::DROPS MIC::
PS. I found the remote. It has half a button missing.
I am suffering from existential Ennui. At least, I think I am. Or was. Surely, I will be some time in the near future. Just to be sure, I Googled it. The first hit was an article titled: “How to Tell Whether You’ve Got Angst, Ennui, or Weltschmerz.”
Well … “Why not all three?! I *am* an artist, after all. Weltschmerz – there’s a “Fred and Ethel” joke in there somewhere. Alas.
(I give to all of you, a dark self-indulgent sigh).
Late at night, I tend to ruminate around in my head and get trapped in my thoughts. And in that 2:00 am alone-ness by the glow of my phone, I am usually surfing the more bizarre corners of the internet. Also, throw in some Pink Floyd to augment the trip. Everything needs a soundtrack.
Between ponderings of life’s meaninglessness, lack of motivation, and knowing I really should fold that laundry, I often wake the house with cackling laughter. Oddly, the dark humor of others’ presented in sardonic meme-form is some of the funniest brilliance I have found. The irony alone gives me the warm fuzzies.
It sure beats yelling at coworkers and/or openly weeping in a parking lot filled with vaping Karens in yoga pants. No offense if you are a vaping Karen in yoga pants – but COME ON.
Anyway, I thought I would share some of the memes that just did it for me.
Ok. Well, these are the ones that don’t have any swears. It turns out I severely limited my meme options for this particular blog. Is this a symbolic act of what I do to myself in life? (See what I did there?)
I share all of the above to say this:
This week Regarding Comic is chronicling the existential crisis of Lance. It’s ok to laugh.
ENJOY!