I wonder why it is i feel like can’t really give the real reasons for problems i have with the comic sometimes. The biggest “problem” i’ve been dealing with for the past five weeks or so has been something i really can’t talk about online, but it hasn’t been the only thing. I’m a bit stubborn, i guess - i either overdo it and am too open about stuff, or i give the world the silent treatment and just can’t bring myself to blog or rant or sometimes even draw. I may not be an artist, but i have an artist’s temperament, i think.
Of course, part of the problem with ‘dark hints’ and ‘things i wont talk about’ is that everyone assumes that its something really bad or sinister or just ‘big’. I’ve even had people email me asking if it is this or that, even to the point where one email was asking if i was occupying my time with was vulgar -_-;; Feh. The joys of having a large readership. I make no effort to hide that i’m an idiotically emotional person, but that doesn’t mean i think people really want to deal with the raw me 
Being the way i am is part of what enables me to do what i do - it’s a double edged sword. Art is a way we express things we can’t describe, and doing so opens up vulnerabilities that can be hard to quantify. (Oh, that reminds me, you people who label me as “Emo”… Don’t do that. I view it as a derogatory label, so don’t apply it to me. People and their need to pidgen hole people…)
Still, if you’ve ever met me i don’t think i come off as a total nutter… It takes a lot of guts to be truly sensitive in this world. I take a lot of shit for it, but whatever - i think that my skin is a hella lot thicker than most people realize.
Even so, sometimes things get to me, and i admit, i blew mondays comic because i was worried… about my cat.
Our little girl cat Hime is at the vet right now undergoing surgery at a local veterinary hospital. I felt a lump behind her shoulder blade last week and immediately decided that she needed to go in to have it checked out. The vet said that what it might be is an injection-site sarcoma that probably came from a Feline Lukemia vaccine she got when she was younger. All indications are that she’ll be fine, and hopefully this won’t effect her life much more than having the lump removed and keeping an eye on her, but… it’s something that i just can’t help but be worried about. What’s sad is that the word ‘Sarcoma’ didn’t scare me, but the next day when Sarah used the word ‘cancer’ to describe it… funny how some words are scarier than others.
Anyways, i know i’m worrying too much, and i’m sure that most of you would not rate that high enough to warrant the missing of comics… but i was so damn pathetic yesterday. I sat and worked on the drawings for seven hours, and at the end of it had four drawings that didn’t work together and a script i realized didn’t do anything. Not only does the little bugger chew on cables, she just bombed a comic for me.
dumb blog entry, i guess. I’ll feel better this afternoon when i get Hime home 
If nothing else i have a good start on Wednesday’s comic.
- pirotunes: Lusine - Everything Under the Sun from “Serial Hodgepodge” -
That was a plenty good reason for me. (It was kind of you to tell us.) This art thing is hard. Life is harder still — funny how it gets in the way. Best wishes to Hime.
-r.
I agree, kitty surgery is plenty reason to be stressing out. Heck, my cat just has a bladder infection type thing and I’m a little tense. These are our fur-babies. I really believe it’s no different than having a child in surgery (at least ot those of us who’ve never had children yet).
Good luck to Hime in coming out of surgery and continuing to chew on cables.
Their right fred, cat surgery is an incredibly important reason to miss a comic. I know how worried I get over any little thing happening to my cats, so I can only imagine with a big issue like this how you must feel.
It’s also true that words like cancer are just naturally scarier now than other medical terms. I went to the doctor recently about something and the very first thing he did after examining it was to say quite conclusively that it was NOT cancer. I guess people are quite scared by the idea.
Sorry, but it is kinda easy to get annoyed when you wont tell us what’s happening when there aren’t comics. So many of us really look forward to the comic and when it isn’t there we want to know the reason, but that isn’t just cause we are worried about the comic, it’s also because we are worried about you. You do give your readership a lot of yourself and I think worrying about you, saraphim and your kitties is how we try to give back. Here’s hoping everything works out.
Best wishes for your kitty - I know lots of people with “cat-children” including my sister & brother in law. Our cats have competition from human kids, but they are still members of the family.
Some who respond are sure to be jerks, but just tell yourself they are to be pitied if they don’t know what it’s like to care about something outside themselves.
Fred,
Dependents of the four footed variety give just as much stress and everything else as the “real” children do. Family is more important than some silly comic. I know how you feel, my cat is over 20 years old with no obvious illnesses or such but the worries still remain. And thoughts of mortality still bring the rest of your day/week/month down. Take care Fred and glad that everything went well!
best wishes from us - Alan and Hiromi
I don’t think anyone will ever be able to sufficiently explain why people get worked up over pets (especially cats), but they do. As far as I’m concerned, feline sarcoma is as much a family emergency as one’s grandfather having a stroke. Monday’s lapse is perfectly excusable.
I completely understand and vet issues are a perfectly understandable reason to miss a comic.
I hope that it turns out to be nothing. I just went down this path to the “bad ending” with my cat. Feline cancer is scary and even if your kitty does have it there is always hope these days. I know it was always hard on me when my cat was away at the vet undergoing surgery and treatment. I can completely understand a DPD under these circumstances, and you shouldn’t be hard on yourself for it.
Fred,
You’re human like the rest of us. We love our pets like they were a part of the family, and when they get sick or pass on, the family worries and suffers. It’s not a stupid thing to be worried about. Take the time off, make sure poor Hime is alright. Then when you feel everything is good, go back to the comic. We’ll still be here hoping everything is alright.
Remember, family first.
I understand exactly what you’re feeling, or at least I think I do. In December, one of our cats managed to scratch his eye. Don’t know if it was cleaning, or fighting with the other one, or just trying to walk under the Christmas tree, but wondering if he was going to be OK, wondering if he was going to have a cloudy, blind eye for the rest of his life left me an absolute mess for the day. I just curled up on the couch and completely stopped functioning.
As much as some people don’t know, don’t care, or don’t understand, others do all too well.
Aww, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope Hime has a fast recovery.
So you missed a comic, oh dear *shrugs*—your cat is more important right now. It’s a part of your family and I don’t think that those that have feelings think you should put the comic above your family in anyway. Just take care of your cat ^.^
Aww, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope Hime has a fast recovery.
So you missed a comic, oh dear *shrugs*—your cat is more important right now. It’s a part of your family and I don’t think that those that have feelings think you should put the comic above your family in any way. Just take care of your cat ^.^
Lumps in animals are to be expected–I have a 13-year-old dog that has had three surgeries to remove various lumps that are essentially benign tumors. Your cat will be fine, but I wish her good health all the same.
As long as I know you haven’t fallen off the face of the planet I’m not going to be too bothered.
Cancer is a very scary word to the point where it tends to only be used by the professionals for the more dangerous forms. For instance there’s a type of skin cancer reffered to by an excessively long technical name, because even your GP could get rid of it in about 5 minutes with some liquid nitrogen (the same method sometimes used for athletes foot).
Good luck to Hime, long may she continue to be a threat to tasty looking inanimate objects.
I hope your kitty’s okay. ;_; I just lost one of my kitties recently and I know how it feels to worry about their health.
It IS strange how some words sound scarier than others. It’s like bomb versus atomic bomb or something along those lines. >>
I hope your kitty feels better soon!!! I dont see why that would be a bad reason to miss a comic…^_^ I’m sure everything will turn out okay.
We used to own a couple of ferrets that we’d adopted from someone who had to move into a “no ferret” zone. After a number of frantically happy years, the first one died of pancreatic cancer quite suddenly. The second one was diagnosed with the same about a year later and we put him on insulin which gave him another year or so of bouncy happy life… but when his system gave out, he expired in my lap while i stroked him. ((ferrets almost seem to be born with cancer from what I’ve read - something to think about before owning one - they’re not cheap to own))
Not to sound morbid but these *are* life forms with their own level of awareness and they form bonds with us. People who decry the importance of these bonds are insecure about their place on the food chain. Some animals you eat… and some you make companions. The native americans had a clue when they apologized and thanked the animals they had to eat.
We still have a cat, but we probably won’t get another when it expires as we will be traveling a lot. She’s dumb as mud but she catches the occasional rat and functions as a footwarmer for my wife.
I guess this is just my way of saying “I get it”.
Im sorry youre having a bad day, I wish with a swing of a wand i could make everything better.
I realy hope your cat will be better, give the kitty an extra scratch behind the ear from me XD
ive been working on some fan art lately for megatokiyo…well, not realy fan art, just scetches of my characters, using some of the facial expressions and outfits that you have drawn XD nothng big realy..doodling is usualy the only thing I do when im sick..
anyway, good luck on your updates..have a great day
I hope Hime feels better. I know how stressful it can be when a pet suddenly gets some sort of unexplained illness or something of the like.
^^;; Happened to me when my boyfriend came up from Texas to visit. Our cat Tai had some sort of infection or something in his ear that was swelling it closed. We had to eventually take our dear old cat to the vet and he had to have a tube put in his ear to drain out the fluids.
Luckily he got better with little ill-effect, as I hope your poor kitty comes out of it with little ill-effect as well.
>’.'< Best wishes from my 3 kitties (Tai, Tiki and Bandit) and myself <3
really i like your comics an there awsome an all that but i dont hate because someone doesnt draw something for us an being sensitive is not all that bad i know how it feels to love a cat i had 8 of them ^^ an knowing that doing something right for your cat was the best choice i would have seen you do for the weekend an just for encouragement its always nice to know people care for there pets ^^ *not a girl*
good luck on your comic making for the week if you feel like breaking down for sometime you might as well… just dont overdue yourself now lol
I come from a long line of cat people. Therefore, I find it perfectly understandable for someone to be totally messed up for awhile due to their cat having issues. I was in a mad panic when our family cat got an infected eye. Anyway, your DPD sketches are almost always quite excellent so I don’t feel slighted. If anyone is givin’ ya trouble for missing a comic over a kitty, let me know and I’ll “take care” of them.
*sharpens weapons*
Many companies these days allow their employees to use sick leave to take care of a pet (even the federal govt!). Do not feel guilty or apologize for giving yourself the day off to take care of Hime. She needs and deserves your love far more than we do.
Take good care of your Hime. And as a vet tech, I just wanna let you know that it’s not just vaccines that can cause those injection-site sarcomas. It’s any sort of injection, so make sure that you keep an eye on her anytime she has an injection. Glad to hear that she’s doing well, though.
I work with animals so I know that pet mommies and daddies get worried.I was worried about my little ceaser and brutus when i had to leave them over night when they got fixed. Its understandable. Hime will be fine and back chewing your cables. Blessed Be.