(from a Patreon Update on 14 February 2017)
...Amanda and S caught a cab home and I walked. Not in a rush now, and after a very enjoyable day, I was in the right mood to fully appreciate the beauty of the city under a fresh blanket of snow.
Earlier in the day I’d read cartoonist Carson Grubaugh’s assessment of Dave Sim's Latter Days. In it, Grubaugh writes that
"If there is [a God], a Creator, conscious of its actions and aware of its creation then it is a despicable, selfish, pathetic, piece of shit. […] I have had a pretty good [life…. But] the day-to-day, moment-to-moment aspects of being alive are pretty much a gigantic pain in the ass and a massive responsibility. Balanced against every awesome thing I have ever experienced the weights fall resoundingly on the side of the ‘meh,’ and that is before you add in all of the ‘this is terrible'."
Several sentences later, Grubaugh approvingly quotes a passage by Sim in which he compares life to a party...
"…which turns out, upon your arrival, to be excruciatingly boring and not worth a fraction of what you had to give up to attend. The fact that you have to stay at the party for as long as eighty or ninety years, it seems to me, only emphasizes the level of stupidity inherent in your choice [to attend the party]."
Many years ago I realized that, if I’m bored at a party, it’s not the fault of any of the people at the party, and it’s certainly not God’s fault. It’s my fault if I can’t figure out what makes my fellow party-attendees interesting.
I was mulling about that while walking home after a delightful day in heaven.
CHESTER BROWN:
(from a Patreon Update on 20 February 2017)
Back on the 14th I mentioned Carson Grubaugh’s assessment of Dave Sim’s Latter Days. Reading that piece prompted me to pull out my copy of the book:
(What an ugly cover!) I’d forgotten that I make a cameo appearance on pages 224 and 225:
On page 481, in the notes section, he wrote:
"I decided to bring Chester Brown in at this point, since he’s a completely mild-mannered, even-handed and fair individual..."