Lately, I've been bored a disproportionate amount of the time. It's not that I have nothing to do, it's just that none of it is terribly appealing.

[[Cat toy]]

[[Dumb but painful DDR-preventing foot injury]]

[[Junk]]

So between napping, video games, and half-assedly cleaning my house (a square foot at a time), I think about what people did for entertainment before computers.

Somehow I don't think it was really all that different than it is today.

[[Weblog circa 1867]]

I know better than to tell my friend Delphine whenever I'm bored though. She always wants me to help her work on her car.

For some reason I still can't figure out.

fluffy: What's this?

Delphine: The engine. Come on, help me with this timing belt.

fluffy: Won't it get my hands dirty?

Narration: I spent all day today inside because I was covered in spots. The itchy, red kind, all over my arms, legs, and face.

Fluffy: [[thinking]] Gnnh... So... itchy...

Narration: As opposed to the cute, playful skin coloration kind.

Narration: The other night my friend Geoff decided he really needed to have a long one-way discussion in the middle of his front yard , irrespective of my comfort or level of caring. Mosquito: [[thinking]] Just one more hit! I swear!

Narration: So today I decided to see if these were symptoms of the West Nile Virus.

Narration: Nothing matched about it, and all the of the symptom lists said, basically, "Either you won't ever notice anything major, or you'll die in a couple days."

Narration: Now that I'm drawing the comic, though, I'm realizing that the itchy red dots are just the mosquito bites. I mean, duh. But one of the symptoms is a breakdown of mental ability... Or maybe I just need to cut down on my caffeine intake a bit.

Caption: Shooby, actually drawn as a tabby for a change.

Caption: Toby, still full grown.

Fluffy: [[thinking]] How big is he going to get?!

Narration: Yes, that sounds good about now.

[[Scene: in fluffy's office in grad school. Grad student Tom is in the background, hunched over a laptop.]]

Random dude: Excuse me, do you know where these stairs go?

fluffy: Yes, they go upstairs.

Random dude: Upstairs where?

fluffy: Upstairs to the second floor.

Narration: This is my neighbor, Jesse.

Caption: riced out Honda Civic hatchback

Caption: Dur! Pot makes you so smart (and cool!)

Jesse: I am functionally illiterate!

Caption: (Yummy Bud Light!)

Caption: You could fit an entire Pre-Colombian tribe in his pants

Narration: Jesse is an asshole and I wish he would [[drawn very large]] Die Die Die!!!!

Narration: Sorry, no joke today.

Narration: After last night's Jesse-inspired rum-and-coke-and-phenylalanine festival, I feel like crap.

Caption: note: actually drawn the night before to save time in the morning. I may not actually be hung over.

Narration: Well, time to drive for four hours across the state to visit my family!

Caption: I still can't draw cars.

Caption: Or trucks.

Caption: Not my actual license plate

Narration: No comics until I get back, unless I decide to draw some anyway. (Text posts are likely, however.)

On Saturday, my sister, a college friend of hers, and I went to Ojo Caliente, a spa built around a natural hot spring.

It was pretty relaxing.

Part of the package we got included a "wrap," where after you get hot...

They put you under a warm blanket to "detoxify" you.

[[The view for an hour: two slits of light through a mask of darkness]]

After I got past the thoughts of this being the premise to a cheezy science-fiction movie where aliens trick humans into willingly being mummified so their organs can be harvested to make pâté, I found it quite relaxing and meditative.

Afterwards, my sister asked me how it is that I'm so good at getting into a zen state, anyway.

"I had a lot of practice in high school English," I said.