I always have ideas and rarely follow through. Want to see how this one will turn out.
Write postcards containing personalized questionnaires to all of the friends I feel I’ve lost touch with.
Harder than writing an email. Easier than writing a letter.
If you enjoy comics, or meaningful portrayals of young adolescence, maybe this will be something you are interested in.
Hey everyone, I’ve decided to put my graphic novel about forests and middle school, Eighth Grade, online for free. I’ve been working on it for over three years now; it was on the strength of this comic that I got into the Atlantic Center for the Arts graphic novel intensive last year, studying under Craig Thompson. The art looks a little rough to me now (it gets better as it goes on, I promise) and it’s not perfect, but it’s still probably the best comic I’ve ever drawn. I’ve put up the entire first chapter for you to read, and for the next few months I’ll put up about ten new pages every week until I run out of material. If you’re interested, please sign up for email updates here.
At the Kyoto stop, I noticed that the man across the aisle dump his backpack in the recently unoccupied seat next to him. Our non-reserved car was nearly full, and the Kyoto boarders were shuffling through, trying to find an empty seat. I wished, not for the first time, that my Japanese was good enough to tell someone off.
Chivalry, sir—learn it.
Shrewdness won the day. An elderly businessman, clearly versed in the trickery of travelers, stopped mid-step in front of the knave, looked up at the empty luggage rack, and down at the offending backpack.
Businessman: <Is anyone sitting there?>
Knave: <Oh. No.>
Now imagine all of that was in Japanese: this is my life.
I am going to miss these kids! Why are they leaving me alone in this country?
I’ve had allergies this month, so I wore a surgical mask to disguise any sudden leakages that might have occurred during my trip to Koya.
On my fifth train of the day, I was about to finish sending a text to the friends I was meeting, when I was interrupted by a man armed with a point-and-shoot and halting English.
Him: すみません。Take off your mask, please.
Me: No.
You, too, can flutter around and be giddy!
Where we went: http://www.yumekoubou.info/english/
