I’ve got this French test tomorrow and a lot of research notes to still complete on my final Kafka paper. The research is what is eating up my time. Tonight after posting this, I’ll be working on French.

Regarding the election, I don’t feel too bad about it. I live in Utah Valley. My vote counts for nothing. Either the folks I was going to vote for lost by double-digit margins or they won by the same margin. Besides, our local representatives are basically nothing but a rubber-stamp for the Eagle Forum and most recently for the Tea-partiers (I don’t like the term tea-bagger because my dad really identifies with the tea-party basic premises). The national milieu is far more mixed. I guess the best way to describe my mood right now is slightly left of center with a small government penchant.

The biggest problem with politics in America is that there is that the two dominant parties really do not differ much from one another. There are reasons for this of course (most Americans are slightly right of center moderates), but a little more political diversity would be nice and actually better reflect our national identity.

Like it matters. The election is over and now the two parties will get back in bed together and start looking for ways to make more money for themselves and their supporters who got them elected. A bit pessimistic I know, but these guys rarely represent the values their constituents do beyond making sure they can be reelected once more.

Sorry for the long absence (for the two of you reading this), but there have been a lot of changes in my life recently. The biggest one is that I am going to school again. In a way it is good that I let the web comic go by the way side because it has taken me a long time to get back in the swing of doing research and writing papers. I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I am an English major and have been a senior for over four years. I’ve had to drop out from time to time to raise kids and earn money (too many credits for financial aid–thank you Bush Administration). Right now though, the kids are raised (one even moved out permanently–my oldest has moved out three times, but keeps coming back, but he’s going to school in New York (Culinary Institute of America) next fall so that should take care of him). 

I suppose you saw today’s comic. Groceries are a concern for me. My youngest (a UVU freshman) is allergic to anything with manufactured soy byproducts in it (soy-sauce is safe) so we have to make everything from scratch. That’s quite nice since my oldest wants to be a chef, but in his spates of movingoutedness my youngest or I get to do the cooking. Not too bad, but while I do fine with tv diners and pot-pies, my youngest blows up like a balloon and gets a rash.

1) Cellia – Cellia Cohen is the second of Cohen’s three children. She’s four and loves princess dresses and playing with her older brother Martin.

2) Cohen – Perry Cohen is a convert to the church in his youth from Cleveland, Ohio. He is married with three children. His best friend, who also married his sister, is Johnson even if they are political opposites. He has a Ph.D. in American History and teaches in Utah Valley. He met the other primary characters while on his mission. By a weird perversion of transfers in his mission, he and his companions lived together in the same apartment, without killing each other, for eighteen months.

3) Flanagan – Walter Flanagan is the only of the primary characters from Utah. He grew up in Provo and teaches seminary at Provo High, his alma mater. His wife graduated with him and waited for him while he was serving in the Seoul West Mission with Cohen, Johnson, and Kwan.

4) Gramma – Since all ten of her grandchildren are living in Utah, Gramma Cohen moved here surprising her son, Cohen, by just showing up.

5) Joey – Kyong-Min Joey Kwan is Kwan’s only son. He is seven years old and goes to Toad Mountain Elementary. His best friend is Perry J who shares the same birthday and lives across the street.

6) Johnson – Dallas Nachadoches Johnson is from Texes. He married his best friend Cohen’s only sister and then had seven kids. She’s been telling him she wants more, but stays out of that discussion.

7) Kwan – Hong-Un Kwan was oddly left out growing up in UiJongBu, South Korea and never really had any friends until he met Flanagan on his mission, who he served with for nine months before transferring in apartment to be companions with Cohen for six months and then with Johnson for three more. He is married and has one son.

Martin – Martin Cohen is five years old and begins kindergarten in the fall. He follows Perry J and Joey around mostly and is in turn followed around by his sister Cillia.

9) Perry J – Perry J is named after Johnson’s best friend Perry Cohen. He is seven years old. He has six sisters. Two are older than he is.

During summer-break between fifth and sixth grade, my best friend, Ming Yang, and I decided we were going to sell lemonade. If it weren’t for Ming, I would’ve caved, but he was hard-nosed and made everyone pay including his parents. We made a couple of bucks and spent it on rulers and circle-templates (we were drafting-nerds).

Eventually, he would get part-time jobs so he could buy more stuff. I moved two years later and I have no idea what happened to him.

This strip is part one of four looking into the editorials Jack Klugmann and the SLTrib have run for during the last two weeks regarding deficit-spending as a solution to the oncoming depression. Both are smart and I respect their opinions, but I don’t buy it. This week, I am going to tell a story. I guess if you were going to be technical, this would be act 1 of three. I like telling stories and so, I hope this works out.

I think I might go back to photo-safe blue mechanical-pencils soon. I had to re-ink several lines after erasing. The next step will be to do everything on bristol. Not yet, I still have to work on my handwriting (I am working on it, but I’m not satisfied with how the handwriting works  - it takes as long to tighten-up handwritten text as does to do anything else, so I have to perfect it before I try to put it in the strip (maybe dip pens?)).