The last time I found myself single, I tried on a million and one ideas/ actions/ behaviors, and was able to throw them into "This is me" or "This is so wrong" categories. I had kind of lost myself in my last ex-boyfriend and swore that whenever I figured out who I was, I'd stick by that no matter what.

So then along came Nate, and we probably fell in love with poor timing, but I'm so glad I did, especially after I had the time to figure out who I am, and trust myself that I could operate as a Solo Mallory. I guess that's why I've been working so hard to wrestle this OCD/depression thing into submission--I don't want anything getting in the way of my doing what'll make me ecstatic.

That said, I equally want Nate to do whatever will make him as happy as possible, because that's how you're supposed to love people. He never really got the time to test himself in terms of how he handles himself by his lonesome, because he's never really been there, and with our impending graduations from college, he's really feeling it. It wouldn't be fair to either of us to try to work as a unit when he wasn't confident in himself, and for Nate, that means going wherever the wind (Okay, the US Forestry Reserves) takes him, doing whatever, till he felt great about himself.

In the meantime, I guess I'll do whatever I was going to do before (draw comics? adopt a cat? grow my hair out? move somewhere cool?). I'm sure things will not only get better as the days go by, but start to make everything a little clearer, too. Nate'll feel more like himself, and I'll make my comic magnum opus. It's a rough way to end a rough year, but hopefully 2010 will be the start of a lot of happier things. I'm excited to see what Nate discovers in himself. I'm excited to see what will happen to me, too! And who knows what will happen with us.

Happy holidays, and I'll get you my comics as soon as I have all the parts of my scanner. There's a necessary cord lurking in Nate or Kim's backseats.

Love,

Mallory

Tomorrow is my last day of classes before my winter break!!!!

Unfortunately, that also means I'm only three pages into a fifteen page paper due at 2PM, and I don't have the time for Comic Wednesday right now. Soon, soon! Maybe the topic of my paper (I'm essentially writing a fan letter about Rebecca Kraatz, James Kochalka, Kevin Huizenga, and Craig Thompson for my professor) will inspire me! Who knows!

Instead of cartoons probably featuring a lot of Nate, I give you a Very Professional picture of him for his college yearbook. I removed the watermark from this. Am I a jerk? Either way, he looks about a million times different (if that makes sense) than senior-in-high-school-Nate. So handsome! So grown up! I genuinely love how he didn't shave, too. I don't think my school does yearbook photos, and if we do, I guess I'm not getting one. I say this all the time, but transferring halfway through college has put me so out of touch with the whole culture here (also, I am really shy). Pssh pssh!

Whenever I hear Alanis Morrisette singing "You Oughta Know" I feel like I should be really bitter about something or other. Hm.

I am armpit deep in conference work! Right now I am drawing a cartoon about the life of Rudolf Arnheim, the first art psychologist. He's adorable. This cartoon is not (at least, not yet, but that's optimistic of me). But I'll keep plugging away! On Friday, I'll be staring at a free month!! Then my last semester of college!

Ugh, actually, I don't want to think about that.

A comic in which Nate looks like a total jerk! Ha.

It's only when I've got a crazy-long list of Very Important Things To Do before I can go home for winter break (and to SF to visit Krissi!!!) my brain has its best ideas. Well, I don't know if itching to sew quilted chair cushions for our kitchen is one of my "best" ideas--maybe it's more like I'm just desperate to be actually making something, not talking about things other people have done/written/drawn/thought about.

I am thinking about applying to comic book school. There are some things I really wanted to do for my portfolio (embroidered comics, for example) that I just won't have time for if I apply for this fall, but I kind of think if I don't do it now, I'll have a really hard time convincing myself to try to be brave enough later. Who knows if I'll get in, but I guess I'll just try to get everything together and then take it completely out of my mind.

This weekend Nate and I saw "The Fantastic Mr. Fox". Neither of us had read the book as kids, but we both loved it! We also went down and petted the cows/horses/sheep at his campus. The past few days have been very animal intensive for me (...and on that note, I really should get back to work).

comic party time

Three weeks' worth of diary strips. Click on something to make it bigger. :-)

As promised.

I guess this isn't the best compensation for my e-silence after all, but hey! 21 new comics in one sitting! That's totally a smorgasbord!

This is one of my favorite Nate related stories, but I've got tons of those. I know I'm dating him and that makes me biased now, but I swear he's been one of the weirdest, funniest people I've known before he was officially ever my dude.

Oops. I didn't realize I was being THAT bad about comics. Well, I guess I did but I was in denial.

Thanksgiving ruled. Nate's family ruled. My family ruled. Twice baked potatoes rule, too (my mom puts buttermilk in hers, which I feel is what makes them so good). Now it's pretty much the end of the semester, and I wish I could crawl back to Thanksgiving again. Oh well. In a few weeks, I'll be home for a month.

As an apology for being so lame with the dailies, maybe I will scan the color story I did for my Words & Pictures class involving Nate and his dream about a forklift! COMPENSATION, people!

Sometimes I wish I could take my knitting or sewing to class. Maybe making yo-yos would help me relax enough to talk more. Or maybe I should just be in craft classes all the time.

I want to make another quilt so bad. That, or I'm daydreaming about making a really crazy patchworked robe with fuzzy insides.

Class time!

batch two

And now we have this week's comics:



Kids in my class were confused about this, but the other guy dressed like he's from the 19th century is a male. I don't know if I did a bad job with his white wig, or if SLC is really, really, really PC.

Last week's comics

Remind me to avoid ever making plans on a Wednesday, ever again. Doing two weeks' worth of coloring in, scanning, and (crudely) fixing is a super-pain!



My friends are cuter in real life than the way I draw them. FYI, Nichki doesn't have this nose (I, however, have frizzy hair and glasses outside of cyberspace, too. I guess the only off thing in me & Cartoon Mal would be making my making my body look like it never hit puberty. Without sounding like a snot, that's just something I don't want to bring into my comics. I have a rule with myself, though, that if I am still making comics after I ever have kids, it might be appropriate to give me some boobs).



I don't know what the deal was with my hair and this when I scanned it, so I just made it all the same. Um, I know it looks a little weird.