I may well write about some of these experiences some day. But in much the same way as the eventual writing I plan to do about my summer of going on 3-5 first dates a week, it will be with sufficient distance and fictionalization to protect the innocent (which does not include myself).
To be clear: The emotions come from realizing I’d been making this comic daily for an entire year and not because I was listening to The Cure at the time.
As a person who has written a good amount of fiction (even if very, very few of you have ever read any of it), you’re always thinking about how the story is going to continue from where you are. How the characters are going to change and grow. What comes next.
Writing purposefully about my life, as it happens, doesn’t make me immune from thinking about this project in similar terms.
How am I going to live in different patterns if I can’t keep myself from writing about my life in different patterns?
Once again, I find myself discussing my habits without saying that I think they’re correct or good. Seeing them is the first step towards any sort of change, though.
We have a history with this song and it played at a moment while we were packing up my old room that seemed too perfect to just be the clever programming of a streaming music site’s algorithms. The feeling as if we were caught in a narrative (rather than real life) amused me.
I’m not sure I quite captured it, but trying new things is what this project (and my life in general these days).
I have told one hundred versions of the story of this tattoo and this is the one I decided to put on paper.
If there seem to be punchlines here that you don’t quite understand, then it’s because you don’t get the Peanuts references that are peppered throughout these four pages. The solution to this, of course, is to go read Peanuts comics until all of this makes sense to you.
Of course, I think the solution to most of life’s problems is to read more Peanuts comics.
If … anyone thinks I’ve referenced too heavily and need to change anything for legal reasons, just shoot me a message. Especially if you’re big, scary lawyers. I love Schulz and his work with all of my heart.