...And then came this:
http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/

The sun shines again.
Heh.

Melancholia

A couple of weeks ago I watched Melancholia. It was beautiful and quiet and sort of terrifying. It's still in the back of my mind. I'm depressed. And it feels like that front yard of Justine's in the movie: expansive, but with the potential for something to happen there. A party. A game of badminton. A picnic. But it's empty, and it's been empty for a long time. It keeps raining.

I usually think of it more as the island of me. I'm comfortable here, but I'm alone. Justine's front yard has more hopeful possibilities than the island of me, if you ignore the giant planet heading toward it. You see, recently I was sort of invited to swim off the island. I did. At first it was nice to be away from the isolation, but then...let's just say I got a cramp and reached out for help that didn't quite come. I guess I grabbed on too tightly and created a struggle. I made it back to my island, but I'm cold and uncomfortable now and nothing's right.

Before, it was just the way it always was on the island. But now I've reminded myself of what I had forgotten: how it could be...should be different. But.... I know some things I should do to move away from here, but I'm stuck in a few ways. Maybe if I transform my island into an estate's front lawn, I'll fool myself into seeing all the potential my island didn't have. Or maybe a giant planet will float up and make my queries all moot.

Technology:

It makes imaginary things seem real and real things seem imaginary.
I'm really not sure I like this at all. It makes me feel a little off-balance. 
It is what it is, but is it a good thing?

Slippery Time: Redux

Wow.  My pear clock is disabled. and they've changed stuff around at Blogger.  Are my settings the same?  Guess I'll find out.


Someday, I do expect Radish to return.  You know how life just changes, and you get busy doing different things than you used to do? Well, that's kind of what happened.  I'm still here. Spot's still here. Myrna is not. :( 

Stuff continues on. Yes, it does.

Be back later, whenever that is.

Slippery time

So Radish has (temporarily) disappeared again. Why?

Well. First I was on vacation and just plain neglected him. Which is kind of inexcusable, because I enjoy Radish and should set aside time to spend with him while I am not busy.

And then I had to go back to work. I had to move schools and so spent more than a week moving and unpacking my stuff and puzzling over how to approach my year. Then school actually started and now I'm on a bit of a learning curve as I re-acclimate myself to being an elementary-school teacher again.

And also my little cat got really, really sick. As sick as she was last year, but in a different way and much more devastatingly drawn out. We haven't figured out if she can pull out of this yet or not. Yesterday I would have said definitely not. Today I think it's possible she could be mostly fine. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Time is a slippery thing. And Radish suffers because of it...as well as my knitting projects, my quilting project, my sewing projects, my garden.........

Radish will be back. Eventually.

Breaking News

The citizens of Insalataville experience another odd incident. Hmm. What do you suppose will come of this?

Wahoo!

Motion. It looks different in my head than graphic-ized. What do you think?

The Expected

Given how my spring went, you should have seen this particular act coming. Did you predict it?

I read on the interwebs that 112 is the emergency number in Australia. I don't know if that's true, but at least it gives the location some...flavor.

The Dr. Salustiana Solution

According to Wikipedia, salustianas are a variety of orange grown in Australia. I don't think they are unique to Australia, but I needed another orange name, preferably one that could be found where Radish is. And what a great coincidence that evil Dr. Valencia has an evil orange cousin right where Radish could find him!

This is my first Beware theRed Radish colored with my upgraded paint shop program, so I haven't quite got the settings fully adjusted. Unfortunately, the Viner font that I usually use to title the comic is not available. I tried to find one that looked similarly menacing, but could not. This font, however, is appropriately called "Orange."

Sumsumsummertime

I am getting ready to take a roadtrip. Finally the sun will start shining here in my corner of the Northwest, and I am leaving for the toasty, humid midwest. Sigh.

In preparation for being away from the comforts of home, I got a new laptop and am currently attempting to sync my files with my old desktop. This has been a headache. Newer operating systems snub their noses at older ones. I really want to get my pictures and itunes transferred. I upgraded my paintshop program and I'm curious to see how coloring Radish works using it. And with the way things have been going lately, I'm anticipating a steeper learning curve than I would prefer.

FYI, I have a couple of Radishes that are currently uncolored. So stayed tuned. There is an incident coming up that I think is not entirely unexpected.

I also upgraded my car stereo (it was a tape deck/radio, and I own no tapes) for the trip. I have a book on cd to listen to (Craig Ferguson's American on Purpose), Italian to practice, and my iPod library to sing with. The stereo required three trips to the stereo store. They used a wrong antenna part which completely disabled any AM reception. I will be on the road for the World Cup finals, and it would be gutting if I couldn't listen. Still. Two trips too many.

I'm excited for the roadtrip, but the lead-up has been rife with little hurdles. The car stereo. Italy losing in the group stage of the World Cup. I accidentally erased my iPod. I broke one of my walking shoes, and for some reason Nordstrom couldn't get ahold of me to give it back. I had a negative experience with an Amazon seller (!) trying to get a copy of Craig Ferguson's book (sorry Amazon, Borders came through for me on this one). And the biggest one has been the whole computer transfer thing. But once I am on the open road, all those little irritations should melt away.

I hope.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world...

Will Kiwi survive his meeting with Radish unscathed? Or will Radish whack him with the spade?Hmmm. If you were Radish, what would you do?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, my school year has ended. It was a...hard one. My district is in the throes of "disruptive change." They keep telling us "disruptive change" is good. Three middle schools' worth of teachers have been displaced. I'm one of them. So the bright spot is that I still have a job, the cloudy part is that I don't know where yet. I will certainly miss the people I have worked with for the past 7 years. Our staff was a genuinely nice one, overall, with some truly amazing people. It's a shame to have this family dissolved. I hope I land someplace with people like the ones I worked with and with the camaraderie....and I hope that's not too much to hope for.

"Menace me!"

Poor Broccoli, always being menaced. I wonder what Radish is up to in Australia?

Summerfest in Insalataville!

It's a time to welcome the coming season with joy and relaxation. And yet, what we have here is an all-too-familiar scene from Insalataville. Garlic wouldn't be brazen enough to whack anyone with her cleaver at Summerfest, would she? Well duh, yes she would. But will she?

Apparently it's summer somewhere

...because it isn't even really spring where I live, which is odd. And much to the dismay of my neighbors, I'm sure, I have neglected my lawn. Well, besides the weather being unusually wet and chilly, it has been a pretty stressful last few months, so...there.

Anyhoo, it's good to see Broccoli out and about, but is he ever really safe? Maybe he should be wearing his fork-proof vest. But wait, isn't Radish in Australia? Maybe he can relax for a bit after all.

Good Guess!

I think Garlic realizes there was more going on here besides Radish just losing track of time while working on the escape tunnel. I wonder if the SWAT grapes are even still posted outside the lair?