I Wanna Go Home

by on May 14, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

It’s a long flight from Miami to Suriname. We stopped in Curacao along the way. We landed about midnight (I really don’t recall, but it was super late). We got off he plane and were hit by that oppressive wall of humidity and heat that saps your very will to live. We threw all our bags on the giant bus and piled inside. This is one of the few comics I will draw from my time in the Peace Corps with Diabla in it. She hated it. She wanted to go home, I shit you not, that first night, right as we landed. I, on the other hand, LOVED it. It was one of the greatest adventures of my life. Maybe someday, I’ll do it again. I give talks about it to the local schools-my kids love it! I have a ton of artifacts and pictures. Most people have only heard a story or two, but there are so many. I hope this next series of comics is to your liking.

Trivia: Yes, the Surinamese Airline has a cool dragon thing for their logo. Sweet! I think it’s supposed to be some kind of bird. Riiiight.

Cape Fear

by on May 12, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

The staging area I was sent to was Miami, Florida. It was amazing! I ate Key Lime Pie, and a Dolphin Sandwich (sadly, Dolphin Fish, not actual Dolphin). I had Cuban food with all the other volunteers (I forget the title we had, since we weren’t volunteers yet). I stayed in the Crowne Plaza. It was great! During the pre-departure meeting, the moderator (?) had a big pad of paper and we all had to write down what we were most scared of in the jungle. It was what you might expect: scary jungle things. It was so far off the mark. Let me tell what what the scariest things are. For women, the dogs. Every single female volunteer was terrified of Bush Hounds. They were scrawny and mangy pathetic things. If you just made eye contact, they peed themselves. But, for some strange reason, all the ladies were terrified. For me? It was things I didn’t even know about yet. In practice, it was tiny creatures falling on me.

One Year In Triplicate

by on May 10, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

While watching the Summer Olympics, the idea came to join the Peace Corps. It took over a year to go from that moment to actually leaving home. There were a ton of Government forms to fill out, the usual nonsense. There were essays to write, medical and dental exams to conduct. I actually had to have my wisdom teeth extracted before I was allowed to go. My ex-father-in-law did it for free, which was nice. But he has REALLY big, meaty hands. It was then that I discovered I do not recover from anesthesia well, and that I do not care for Vicodin. We had to be interviewed. We had to do a bunch of volunteer work with refugees. I actually enjoyed that. I should do a comic or two about that someday.

Missed Exams

by on May 5, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

I missed one econ exam (the final) because I forgot and was distracted by playing D&D.

I missed one NetCom exam because I was getting my precious half-the-required amount of sleep.

Same thing happened with the same professor for a different course. He gave me a zero the second time it happened. I managed to work my way back to a decent grade. I really liked that teacher too. Burning the candle at both ends really took its toll. I couldn’t do it now (I tried).