Wow – this is really, really good. I dunno if it repeating patterns is something that some folks are meant to do, but it would be difficult to not learn & grow from each experience. Maybe some things need some repeating to learn.
I must say that I didn’t get a sense of stability in myself until I hit my 30s (I’m now 38).
Oh wow, Lucy. This is wonderful. YOU’RE wonderful. I love how you just know how to articulate and make sense of the most muddled up anxieties with such carefree eloquence. Reading this came at such a good time; I’m not moving anywhere any time soon, but I’m a 24 year old considering leaving family and friends for a shot at comics and art abroad. I have dreams to study, but sometimes I wonder if the debt and grief will all be worth it. I know what I want, but the idea of uprooting myself is so terrifying, I’ve come to just comicking every mundane day in and day out without really hoisting myself up closer to The Goal.
“Oh so the future really is going to happen? I thought that if I ignored it, it would go away.” <3 <3 EXACTLY! I love you, lady!
I’m a born-and-raised Californian who is leaving for South Carolina in 2 months to begin my MFA in Acting.
You’ve encapsulated and put into words the paralyzing fear I’ve got regarding the transformation ahead, but the quiet assurance that life goes on, in spite of the Sisyphean odds.
I always felt that we were always repeating the same phases, just kind of going through the motions. This was definitely more apparent during school. You start at a school, you graduate, you start at another school, you graduate–and so on. Now that I’ve graduated though (for good, it seems) I feel like I hit a wall and I find myself wanting to go back to school–anything to escape from the real world I suppose.
I agree with Arp, sometimes repeating things is good for learning purposes, as least that’s what I want to believe, hehe. I can only imagine the slew of emotions you’re going through right now, but I feel like it will calm down and I think the move will be good for you! (Plus, hooray for moving to the east coast It seems as though everyone is leaving!) Good luck, Lucy, if you need anything, let me know!!
I’m continually impressed by your work, Lucy, and this strip is so good! I’m just hitting another period of change myself and like Reg said above, the line “I thought that if I ignored it, it would go away” is exactly how I’m dealing with it!
Curse you, pesky and unexpected change in life events!
That reincarnation/snake skin image is awesome! I love how you added the hand reaching out of your current head, like the future-you is blindly grabbing, not sure what its looking for. I’m not sure why the old skins are bursting into flames, but surely it adds to the awesome.
Also, FWIW, its going to be Chicago’s loss when you go. I’ve enjoyed boasting my friends “Stop shoving hot-dogs in your face and check out this local comic artist!”
New starts are always good and I am confident that you’ll do just fine! I can definitely sympathize with this feeling… But the adrenaline rush you can get from it will help you move forward!
You’re kind of fantastic. I’m feeling much like the wastrel child heading off to college in the “I think I’ll take a nap” stage right now. But literally. As in I’m becoming nocturnal because of naps. The future is exciting though and I feel like it always gets better. New opportunities! New people!
..and I think people don’t lose their old selves as much as they use them as transformer limbs or something like that, each past piling onto who you are now making you a super person!
Lucy, I LOOOVE your comics. I know you probably hear this a lot, but you have such an insightful and honest way of conveying the events that happen in your life. I too know what it’s like transitioning over and over again over the years. It does feel sort of like a cycle after a while. I’m not sure if it is a function of our age group (20 somethings) or if it’s just the way life will always be, but this is not an uncommon occurrence for most people i know. I myself just went through a pretty drastic transition this past october and am heading into another one this coming august. Hopefully though i will have some long term stability afterward. I wish you the best as well, with your move to NY and that everything with John goes as smoothly as possible. Even with all the feelings and not so fond memories you have of the last time you lived in NY, im sure it will be nice to go back to a place that you loved.
Another wonderful story. You are my favourite author at the moment, I hope to have soon your new book in my heroes’bookshelf, near Bill Watterson, Eisner, Spiegelman, Andrea Pazienza, Marjane Satrapi, Milo Manara….
I wish I had your ability to draw and write, I struggle to express myself even in journal entries yet you do it so concisely in a few well-observed drawings.
Hey I’m well into my thirties, and I’m still reincarnating/reinventing, and yeah, it’s about every 7 years. Still making the same mistakes, still a lazy procrastinating beast. I try not to sweat it. To steal a quote from Walter Kirn: “None of us really knows what we’re doing; we’re all just guessing. That’s all it means to be human.”
So I think you’ll be all right. And as always, awesome comic.
i recently feel like someone explained that every 7-10 years, your body actually changes a little bit too. some people become lactose intolerant, i know someone who’s hair has suddenly turned curly….i guess it’s not crazy to think that your brain does that too, a system reboot with everything you never had before!
new york! i live here now (for the last year), its such an everyday adventure!
Have to agree with Fidget ans Arp — there are definite cycles in life for all of us. The psychologist/scholar Erik Erikson even created a theory of psychosocial development describing the ways in which people grow over time, and there are definite life stages that can be affected by real-life occurrences. http://tinyurl.com/z53ex
Best of luck in your new life. New York is such a great city.
Another great comic!! Do you have an apartment already? A friend of mine who is leaving for Spain next week
want to sublet his coop on Jane Street. He’s looking for someone relatively long term.( A few years at least)
It’s small but REALLY beautiful and a steal.
Let me know soonest. He’s putting the word out
Carrie Tuhy
Carrie
Wow, I had that exact same haircut at 18. I too was trying to emulate Amelie. It wasn’t particularly flattering on me either. I’ve never seen anyone other than Audrey Tautou be able to pull off that uber short fringe. Dyed black hair didn’t suit me much either, because I’m really pale and freckly. I had the matching goth/depressed ‘arty’ teenager wardrobe as well. I feel so far removed from that teenage self now, still essentially the same person but evolved and changed, and still changing. I’m feeling like am at a new beginning phase of my life as well. At almost 23 I’ve just begun a nursing degree, something which my teenaged self would never have aspired to. It’s weird looking back at who I was and how much I’ve changed. I think sometimes we do repeat the same patterns, particularly when we take on the attitude that we have no control over our future and just kind of drift through life. Or when we don’t self-reflect and realise the lessons that an experience has taught us and consciously decide to either keep something or break away from it. Anyway, just wanted to say that your comic really reflects my own thoughts at the moment. I really enjoy your comics, and as a fan all the way down here in Australia I wish I lived in America so I could go to a comic convention and meet you in person.
Hi,
do you have a mailing list to let peeps know when the newest comic is up? Really great stuff Lucy, found you’re site thanks to CBR (I’m guessing quite a few others may have too.)
Oh wow!!! you have captured, exactly, the feelings I’ve had. Awful, insomniac-wondering feelings. It’s so comforting to know I’m not the only one feeling uncertainty and anxious deja vu as a grownup.
Though I’ve never dyed my hair…And I’m living in the city I grew up in. That’s it’s own special kinda weird.
Yes, you’re right about the reincarnation/reinvention of self. It does happen like that,- sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. I’m staring 68 in the face, as of tomorrow. I keep hoping this gig (teaching English in Korea) will continue for the foreseeable future, but that ain’t how life works. Most of the phases I’ve loved change every ten years. I haven’t seen any warning signs here yet. (Or, maybe I have…) The learning part of transformation works if you are open to it. A wise old man once told me, “Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from making mistakes. All I did was learn from them.”
Hugs and Best Wishes, ~derien’s mom
Be happy that you’ve lived else where for awhile, I’ve only been in another place for a year, that was 3 years ago.
I’m buying my NY con tickets this weekend. If you’d like to go, and not go alone (if that’d be the situation), shoot me an e-mail.
I’d say a mix of the two choices … if that’s not too wishy washy. Life does feel annoying cyclic in some ways, but you should take the opportunity to grow and learn from it.
Amelie!! Great, great film, and great, great comic. One that everyone has been through at some point in their lives. Glad to say I broke out of my cycle (though the procrastination cycle is stilll something I’ve yet to fully break…)
Just thought I’d let you know that I’m a huge fan. Its disappointingly rare to see artists use visual metaphors in comics, yours are really impressive. Every comic that I read I feel like I’ve just had an insightful conversation with an old friend and walk around thinking about it for a while. Please don’t stop creating amazing comics!
This is a great comic. I can sympathize with the author. I grew up on a small island and didn’t go to a mainland school untill I was 14 it was a huge culture shock. Later geting a job that left me spliting time in between ohio and ontario, later still helping a friend ( in what would wind up being an allmost hilariously horrible (for me anyways)) rent a place in albuequerque. After that fell apart(like toilet paper in a monsoon) I fled back to my island. Looking back I’m only in my thirties but I feel like I’ve lived at least 9 to 11 different lives.
Woah, I have felt this way before. Every time I come home to visit parents and friends I feel myself slipping into the same patterns that formed when I attend high school. I don’t know if its ok to feel like that shouldn’t happen so I try to break the cycle every time I’m here. When I leave again its alright but as soon as I come home it repeats it’s self
Wow – this is really, really good. I dunno if it repeating patterns is something that some folks are meant to do, but it would be difficult to not learn & grow from each experience. Maybe some things need some repeating to learn.
I must say that I didn’t get a sense of stability in myself until I hit my 30s (I’m now 38).
Oh wow, Lucy. This is wonderful. YOU’RE wonderful. I love how you just know how to articulate and make sense of the most muddled up anxieties with such carefree eloquence. Reading this came at such a good time; I’m not moving anywhere any time soon, but I’m a 24 year old considering leaving family and friends for a shot at comics and art abroad. I have dreams to study, but sometimes I wonder if the debt and grief will all be worth it. I know what I want, but the idea of uprooting myself is so terrifying, I’ve come to just comicking every mundane day in and day out without really hoisting myself up closer to The Goal.
“Oh so the future really is going to happen? I thought that if I ignored it, it would go away.” <3 <3 EXACTLY! I love you, lady!
I’m a born-and-raised Californian who is leaving for South Carolina in 2 months to begin my MFA in Acting.
You’ve encapsulated and put into words the paralyzing fear I’ve got regarding the transformation ahead, but the quiet assurance that life goes on, in spite of the Sisyphean odds.
Thank goodness we’ll be alright.
I always felt that we were always repeating the same phases, just kind of going through the motions. This was definitely more apparent during school. You start at a school, you graduate, you start at another school, you graduate–and so on. Now that I’ve graduated though (for good, it seems) I feel like I hit a wall and I find myself wanting to go back to school–anything to escape from the real world I suppose.
I agree with Arp, sometimes repeating things is good for learning purposes, as least that’s what I want to believe, hehe. I can only imagine the slew of emotions you’re going through right now, but I feel like it will calm down and I think the move will be good for you! (Plus, hooray for moving to the east coast
It seems as though everyone is leaving!) Good luck, Lucy, if you need anything, let me know!!
I’m continually impressed by your work, Lucy, and this strip is so good! I’m just hitting another period of change myself and like Reg said above, the line “I thought that if I ignored it, it would go away” is exactly how I’m dealing with it!
Curse you, pesky and unexpected change in life events!
That reincarnation/snake skin image is awesome! I love how you added the hand reaching out of your current head, like the future-you is blindly grabbing, not sure what its looking for. I’m not sure why the old skins are bursting into flames, but surely it adds to the awesome.
Also, FWIW, its going to be Chicago’s loss when you go. I’ve enjoyed boasting my friends “Stop shoving hot-dogs in your face and check out this local comic artist!”
New starts are always good and I am confident that you’ll do just fine! I can definitely sympathize with this feeling… But the adrenaline rush you can get from it will help you move forward!
You’re kind of fantastic. I’m feeling much like the wastrel child heading off to college in the “I think I’ll take a nap” stage right now. But literally. As in I’m becoming nocturnal because of naps. The future is exciting though and I feel like it always gets better. New opportunities! New people!
..and I think people don’t lose their old selves as much as they use them as transformer limbs or something like that, each past piling onto who you are now making you a super person!
One of my older brothers, he goes in three year cycles. ups and downs.
I love the second and the last panels most of all in this one. Brilliant as usual.
I completely relate – you’re so luckily to have a supportive mom!
Last two panels are great Lucy.
You need to turn that second to last panel into a poster.
Lucy, I LOOOVE your comics. I know you probably hear this a lot, but you have such an insightful and honest way of conveying the events that happen in your life. I too know what it’s like transitioning over and over again over the years. It does feel sort of like a cycle after a while. I’m not sure if it is a function of our age group (20 somethings) or if it’s just the way life will always be, but this is not an uncommon occurrence for most people i know. I myself just went through a pretty drastic transition this past october and am heading into another one this coming august. Hopefully though i will have some long term stability afterward. I wish you the best as well, with your move to NY and that everything with John goes as smoothly as possible. Even with all the feelings and not so fond memories you have of the last time you lived in NY, im sure it will be nice to go back to a place that you loved.
Another wonderful story. You are my favourite author at the moment, I hope to have soon your new book in my heroes’bookshelf, near Bill Watterson, Eisner, Spiegelman, Andrea Pazienza, Marjane Satrapi, Milo Manara….
I wish I had your ability to draw and write, I struggle to express myself even in journal entries yet you do it so concisely in a few well-observed drawings.
Hey I’m well into my thirties, and I’m still reincarnating/reinventing, and yeah, it’s about every 7 years. Still making the same mistakes, still a lazy procrastinating beast. I try not to sweat it. To steal a quote from Walter Kirn: “None of us really knows what we’re doing; we’re all just guessing. That’s all it means to be human.”
So I think you’ll be all right. And as always, awesome comic.
I often find myself wondering the same thing at times. This is very cool, Lucy.
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later
I love your comics, but I think this is my favourite so far. I love it. And I think the answer is yes.
i recently feel like someone explained that every 7-10 years, your body actually changes a little bit too. some people become lactose intolerant, i know someone who’s hair has suddenly turned curly….i guess it’s not crazy to think that your brain does that too, a system reboot with everything you never had before!
new york! i live here now (for the last year), its such an everyday adventure!
Have to agree with Fidget ans Arp — there are definite cycles in life for all of us. The psychologist/scholar Erik Erikson even created a theory of psychosocial development describing the ways in which people grow over time, and there are definite life stages that can be affected by real-life occurrences. http://tinyurl.com/z53ex
Best of luck in your new life. New York is such a great city.
He have a drawing night waiting for you when we get here. There may not be any jam comics like Tubble Club at AWP, but we do have good snacks.
Aaah, brilliant as ever.
Hey Lucy,
Another great comic!! Do you have an apartment already? A friend of mine who is leaving for Spain next week
want to sublet his coop on Jane Street. He’s looking for someone relatively long term.( A few years at least)
It’s small but REALLY beautiful and a steal.
Let me know soonest. He’s putting the word out
Carrie Tuhy
Carrie
Wow, I had that exact same haircut at 18. I too was trying to emulate Amelie. It wasn’t particularly flattering on me either. I’ve never seen anyone other than Audrey Tautou be able to pull off that uber short fringe. Dyed black hair didn’t suit me much either, because I’m really pale and freckly. I had the matching goth/depressed ‘arty’ teenager wardrobe as well. I feel so far removed from that teenage self now, still essentially the same person but evolved and changed, and still changing. I’m feeling like am at a new beginning phase of my life as well. At almost 23 I’ve just begun a nursing degree, something which my teenaged self would never have aspired to. It’s weird looking back at who I was and how much I’ve changed. I think sometimes we do repeat the same patterns, particularly when we take on the attitude that we have no control over our future and just kind of drift through life. Or when we don’t self-reflect and realise the lessons that an experience has taught us and consciously decide to either keep something or break away from it. Anyway, just wanted to say that your comic really reflects my own thoughts at the moment. I really enjoy your comics, and as a fan all the way down here in Australia I wish I lived in America so I could go to a comic convention and meet you in person.
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.
Hi,
do you have a mailing list to let peeps know when the newest comic is up? Really great stuff Lucy, found you’re site thanks to CBR (I’m guessing quite a few others may have too.)
Oh wow!!! you have captured, exactly, the feelings I’ve had. Awful, insomniac-wondering feelings. It’s so comforting to know I’m not the only one feeling uncertainty and anxious deja vu as a grownup.
Though I’ve never dyed my hair…And I’m living in the city I grew up in. That’s it’s own special kinda weird.
Great look on the evolution of oneself. The last panel will haunt me….
Yes, you’re right about the reincarnation/reinvention of self. It does happen like that,- sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. I’m staring 68 in the face, as of tomorrow. I keep hoping this gig (teaching English in Korea) will continue for the foreseeable future, but that ain’t how life works. Most of the phases I’ve loved change every ten years. I haven’t seen any warning signs here yet. (Or, maybe I have…) The learning part of transformation works if you are open to it. A wise old man once told me, “Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from making mistakes. All I did was learn from them.”
Hugs and Best Wishes, ~derien’s mom
Gah. Yes. I’m moving in two months, away from my best friend (who is getting more serious with his girlfriend) and my world feels like it’s MOLTING.
Be happy that you’ve lived else where for awhile, I’ve only been in another place for a year, that was 3 years ago.
I’m buying my NY con tickets this weekend. If you’d like to go, and not go alone (if that’d be the situation), shoot me an e-mail.
Argh, the moving thing! Between 2003 and 2006, I think I moved thirteen times… no fun at all!
So when do you put all of this into a new book? -_-
I’d say a mix of the two choices … if that’s not too wishy washy. Life does feel annoying cyclic in some ways, but you should take the opportunity to grow and learn from it.
/trite platitudes ‘r us
also, this is so me
particularly the shuddering under the blanket thing 9_9
Amelie!! Great, great film, and great, great comic. One that everyone has been through at some point in their lives. Glad to say I broke out of my cycle (though the procrastination cycle is stilll something I’ve yet to fully break…)
Just thought I’d let you know that I’m a huge fan. Its disappointingly rare to see artists use visual metaphors in comics, yours are really impressive. Every comic that I read I feel like I’ve just had an insightful conversation with an old friend and walk around thinking about it for a while. Please don’t stop creating amazing comics!
“Its disappointingly rare to see artists use visual metaphors in comics” – are you really so fucking stupid or do you do it deliberately?
You’re…something wonderful there, Lucy. Thank you!
Cheerio. Comic was great.
This is a great comic. I can sympathize with the author. I grew up on a small island and didn’t go to a mainland school untill I was 14 it was a huge culture shock. Later geting a job that left me spliting time in between ohio and ontario, later still helping a friend ( in what would wind up being an allmost hilariously horrible (for me anyways)) rent a place in albuequerque. After that fell apart(like toilet paper in a monsoon) I fled back to my island. Looking back I’m only in my thirties but I feel like I’ve lived at least 9 to 11 different lives.
Woah, I have felt this way before. Every time I come home to visit parents and friends I feel myself slipping into the same patterns that formed when I attend high school. I don’t know if its ok to feel like that shouldn’t happen so I try to break the cycle every time I’m here. When I leave again its alright but as soon as I come home it repeats it’s self