Tag Archives: conversations

Extended: Running Clueless

This is Pi Day #067.b – Bonus Extended Strip

I’ve been feeling a bit prolific lately so you’re getting some bonus #comics as i work out some ideas… and some #creativeanxiety about where i’m taking these #toons as the kid grows up and starts aching for #independence …and this thing called #fatherhood and #parenting enter the #teenagergirl phase… rife with #stories and #adventures I’m certain, but territory I’ve not intersected with for a few decades!

Extended: Space Invaders

This is Pi Day #067.a – Bonus Extended Strip

I’ve been thinking a lot about my role as a dad, lately, and how it is becoming less about saying and doing, and more about being… setting an example, being a role model, and just choosing good behaviors that I want the kid to emulate.

This means I do less hands on parenting these days, and more introspective self-evaluation. I have a feeling this is going to manifest in the comic as conversations with magpies… well… maybe more than a feeling.

The Script

Dad: The kid had a big fight with her friend last week.

Magpie: That’s too bad.

Dad: It’s tough for anyone to find a balance, but kids have it particularly bad. They spend all day together at school, go to each other’s birthday parties, and they’re sending text messages all weekend.

Dad: But how do you explain that balance to a kid … how to be there at the right time…

Dad: … but not wear out your welcome. That everyone needs space, even yourself.

Magpie: Isn’t that what video games are for?

Dad: They play those together now too!

Magpie: Seriously? I would go nuts if I spent that much time with you.

Dad: I know, right.

Comic: Parenting Dreams

This is Pi Day #066

Parenting… It’s the best job ever but it doesn’t mean you don’t sometimes wonder ….what if? A bonus #fatherhood #comic this morning because it’s cold outside (and it’s been cold outside for two weeks!) and I’ve got nothing else to do but draw and (apparently) feel sorry for myself as I ponder an alternate universe.

The Script

Dad: Do you ever feel like becoming a parent might not have been worth the cost?

Magpie: Cost?

Dad: Well, modern fatherhood? You are handed this job of raising a kid. It takes all your time and money. And then you emerge at the end old, tired and trying to figure out how you fit into the larger world again. I just wonder sometimes…

Magpie: Is this going to turn into another story about your long lost dream of becoming an adventuring archeology professor?

Dad: It could have happened!

Magpie: You fall asleep just watching a full Indiana Jones movie.

Dad: Like I said… old… tired… no time of my own…