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.

fluffy: I had a dream that not only did Toyota come out with a low-cost amphibious automobile, but I had won one in a raffle.

[[fluffy is standing in front of an amphibious blue convertible. fluffy has fox ears and a tail.]]

fluffy: So of course, I took it for a spin in the water fountain at the mall with a few of my friends. Security was not amused.

fluffy: At the mall court we had to wait for a case involving some people in fursuits who had been traumatizing other mall customers. Apparently it was furry day at the mall. So of course, it was a kangaroo court.

There's this guy I know, who I'll call Bob (since that's his name). Bob is very eager to make good things happen.

Bob: We need to get more computer graphics going on around here! Are you interested in the idea of starting up a local movie studio?

Note that eagerness does not imply competence.

So when Bob attended my master's defense, he immediately saw an opportunity.

Bob: Are you still looking for a job? I think you need to show this stuff to the folks out at White Sands.

fluffy: Hm, I'll consider it.

So he got me an interview at the local army research facility, even though they weren't hiring and had no money.

But [a few of] the people at the research facility were interested, and made an interesting offer:

WSMR scientist [[Eager person who didn't understand the talk but saw a funding opportunity anyway]]: Would you be interested in presenting your work at a conference in September if you're still interested? If you present this work, you might get us some money to hire you with!

[[Bob, happy to have made a difference]]

[[Bored people who didn't understand the talk or why I just wasted an hour of their time]]

I tentatively accepted.

Several months later, out of the blue, Bob forwarded me some email...

fluffy: Oh no... please tell me he didn't do that. ... Oh no, he did.

It seems that without my knowledge, he decided to "help" by following up regarding the conference. But at this point I was no longer interested in it. (I had already even told him that I wasn't interested in this anymore and that I had some interesting leads. I think he was trying to force me to give the army group a try anyway, since he'd spent so much time working there himself.)

fluffy [email]: Bob, I'm not interested in the conference. I have some good job leads in things I actually want to do for a living.

But it was too late, they had already arranged for my travel and scheduled a time slot for me to give my presentation on my visibility research, and now I couldn't back out because they'd somehow "done me a huge favor in arranging this."

Bob [email]: You may not think your work is important [??] but it is! These people went out on a line to get you funding so you could go to this [blah blah blah]

So I fly out to the conference early tomorrow morning, which is why I'm struggling to get my cats to Delphine's house for a few days. (Oh yeah, I got a haircut.)

fluffy: Shooby! Quit playing with the door and get in! Toby! I told you, no driving lessons until you're older! My insurance won't cover you yet!

teacher's handwriting: Great story, but a little hard to swallow. B+ P.S. see me after class

[[fluffy is waiting around in the Washington DC subway]]

Woman: Excuse me...

Woman: Does this train go to Metro Center?

fluffy: Yeah, next stop.

Woman: Thanks.

fluffy: Huh.

fluffy: You'd think I lived here.

fluffy: Or know how to read a map.

Delphine: Any other ideas where he could have gone?

fluffy: No...

Delphine: I'm really sorry about this.

fluffy: It's not your fault.

Delphine: But I feel bad about losing your cat.

fluffy: Please don't. You know he does this from time to time.

fluffy: I just wish I had some way of knowing that he's okay.

{{signed: still waiting for you to come home -- fluffy}}