What I also love about Yumi's art is the whole way she lays out the pages.  It looks like it was meant for a book, it would look really good printed out.

This is a very clever little movie, but its not at all worth watching if you are sensitive to animal violence. A whole bunch of toads are dressed as conquistadors and blown up. YES I KNOW you can't embark on a spiritual journey without blowing up toads, but that is what unconvincing special effects are for.

The cartoon is excellent, I just read the whole thing now! Working for Shannon, ha ha!  DON'T LET IT HAPPEN!  They should ask Yumi Sakugawa to illustrate the whole BSC series, her style is fantastic! I love the best case scenario with Stacey the Manhattan trophy wife with her rich old husband! And Yumi complaining…

I'm picturing you on a date with Alan Grey now with him getting lost and starting to cry and the store manager buys him an ice cream to calm him down and announces over the PA: "Will Claudia please report to the front desk, we have a very sad little boy waiting for her."  And of course his face is all red with dried…

Why did seeing your classes make you upset?  Is it the reminder of another year to go?  Are you really that unhappy and eager to go home?

Why are masks part of decora?  Is EB wearing a mask for his allergies?  Okay, big question: if people expect you to wear things like Hello Kitty masks, then if you wanted to surprise, what would be the LEAST LIKELY thing that people would expect you to wear?

Can you talk to your cousin about how you feel about EB?  I'll bet she must already suspect that you have mixed feelings.  Maybe that's why she keeps baking brownies for you. Does EB have something to do with your decision to not stay on at school after this year?  I mean, the pressure of continuing to live in the…

How well is EB getting along with your cousins?  I mean, if you were to take a break from dating do you think he would feel uncomfortable living there?  Its such a tangled situation, I can't even imagine it.  Its really too bad you can't spend more time apart from each other, I think it would be a lot easier for you. …

It sounds like you were in a kind of crazy mood yesterday!  Is it because of the sudden break from school?  Like, you know how deep sea divers have to decompress or something before coming to the surface?  You didn't sufficiently decompress before starting your holiday!  You have the school bends!

Why do you think you are being selfish?  Just for wanting to stay home and draw?  You hardly ever get any time to yourself!  Two people can bowl as well as three or four, right?  Its not like you are keeping anyone else from bowling.  And you are on holiday! Art and peanut butter cup shopping sounds like a proper…

Claudia, nobody wants to lose you!  First your homestay family, now your new school and your cousins. It must be very sad to think of the goodbyes to come.  Do you think your cousin will come to visit you in the states?

Everyone in your school sounds so nice, I can see the temptation to stay. I can't imagine any of my principals ever crying.  Except out of frustration.

It shouldn't even be called Spring Break if you aren't getting a break.  It should be called Spring Business-as-usual. How is Ms Grin trying to convince you to stay?  I don't blame her for trying!  But I know how difficult it is to stick to a decision when everyone is trying to make you change your mind.

What you say is true, that the best discoveries come out of frustration.  Like, your hand is just refusing to draw a certain way, its trying to figure out a new way of doing things.

Disqus is eating posts again!

Claudia, you don't have to feel bad about your worm drawing, Picasso was never inspired by a worm either.  I never took biology so that's probably how I avoided the dissecting.  Also I never took chemistry.  I only took physics and I failed.  I have no idea how the world works!

Yeah, you told me how you got stuck in the mud!  Mary Anne really is useless in an emergency!  Was it hard balancing while you waited? I was once walking on packed snow by the riverbank when I suddenly plunged right down to my hips!  My feet went underwater!  I don't know how I got out of there with my boots still…

The snow is nearly all melted again, it will just get warmer now.  Our beach isn't for swimming either.  There are some sandy spots but the tide is too dangerous. That one time I was recording the surf I nearly got swallowed up because I was on a sandbar without realizing it and the water had moved past and around…

You had a noodle party!  There was a noodle party in Early Spring, and since then I've thought about hosting my own.  Was there other stuff mixed with the noodles?

Ha ha! I'm imagining your teacher asking if anyone knows why you aren't in school today, and EVERYONE in class knows because everyone saw you!  Have you ever played hooky?