Everyone's a Critic...

Everyone is especially a critic when you ask for it... But sometimes unwarranted critiques find their way to you.

My friend Sarah and I co-write and in some ways co-draw the comic Teacher's Pet, which follows the lives of two college-aged superheroes who are best friends, but whose superhero alter egoes are mortal enemies. This is an idea we got during the planning for a party -- and we have managed to turn it into a webcomic of which we have written about 14 chapters, though only 1-4 are available online right now. Anywayyy...

A website called "bad webcomics wiki" has seemed to find us (HOW?!), and has decided we have made their list. They haven't officially reviewed us yet, but if their forum post is any indication it won't be pretty. They doubt our age (and apparently our sanity) and say that pretty much everything about the comic sucks. Here's why that bothers me...

One, because well... I'm a fragile artist. Wah wah and all that. But really, I try to work really hard on my writing, and I have never done a comic before. I'm figuring it out as I go, but I never look at a script and go, "meh, that's good enough." So the work they tore apart was my BEST work as far as comics go, and I'd like to think that I'm improving as I go. I can say the same for the primary artist, who has also never done a comic before. We both try very hard, and we never ASKED to be torn to pieces.

Two, I'm a writer, musician and hopeful English teacher. Sarah's a musician and therapist and athlete. None of those read "visual artist." This isn't our medium, but we're doing our best.

Three, if you look at chapter one and then look at chapter four, we have both come a long way in a short time. Saying "you suck" is like saying that all the improvement we have clearly made counts for nothing. We are genuinely trying, and they don't care. They just want to take a dump on our efforts and make us feel bad.

Five, what "sucks" is so subjective. Are people really yellow with huge overbites and four fingers? No, but The Simpsons, anatomically incorrect though they may be, will always be my favorite show. It's not fair to say something is "bad," when what "bad" is has no remotely clear definition.

Okay - I know I've been hard on things, in the same way that badwebcomicswiki hates on us. Like Twilight. But that's because Twilight isn't well-written OR a good influence on its readers. Not only do you have to interpret Twilight as you read it, you have this horrible, dysfunctional, even abusive relationship staring at you from the pages -- and these terrible ideals are glorified! I maintain that if Twilight were a Lifetime movie, Bella's friends and family would have had an intervention and removed Edward from her life. The creepy guy who "loves her a little too much" is not supposed to win. No. That's not okay. That kind of relationship should not be what young readers want to pursue, and yet thousands of teenage girls are out there looking for their Edwards.

So it's justified in saying Twilight sucks, I think. Our story, however, is about friendship, tragedy, moving on, and good vs. evil -- while often questioning where evil comes from and what actually makes something or someone "Evil." We.... might not have gotten to all that just yet. I'm wondering if my pacing is off -- but that's the downside of publishing as you go.

In conclusion, unwarranted critiques by self-proclaimed experts are not nice. Cut that out.

It's kind of a long story, part 2: the certification situation

In this installment of "It's kind of a long story," AKA "Kimmy Vs. The Evil Red-Tape Monster," our brave heroine approaches the cave of the monster only to get brutally slain and left for dead on the rocks outside. Oh boy, sounds great! Let's read on to find out how this happens!

As previously covered, Maymester is counted as another semester entirely, and so grades from Maymester do not go through until August. So effectively, I could take the class now. Or last month. It wouldn't matter, because nothing, no matter what, will be processed until August. The problem with that? My certification depends on my grades. The problem with THAT? Getting a JOB depends on certification.

And so, our heroine returns to her castle to lick her wounds and mourn the loss of $1300 she never really had, while simultaneously searching for a job related to her content field.

I found some job postings, some job fairs, sent out more resume emails and filled out more applications that I can count. Apparently I can't count higher than fifteen. Oh well. Every day my poor references had more and more forms to fill out and fax, mail, or email back to the powers that be in various offices across the state (and a few surrounding states). I woke up last Wednesday to an email asking if I could come in for an interview in about two hours. So I did. The following Friday, I woke up early and prepared for a job fair an hour away, having not heard anything about the Wednesday interview. Oh well. Win some, lose some - and other stupid cliches. While I was at the job fair, I checked my voicemail and found a cal from the Wednesday job. And then... *Drumroll* I was offered the position! Hooray! BUTWAIT!

Lurking in the shadows and ready for round two....was the RED TAPE MONSTER! The monster, apparently not satisfied with just one victory, was out for even more blood this time. In order to actually GET the job, I had to have my certification. Wait. the certification that is impossible to achieve -- that elusive piece of paper, that currently resides many miles away in the town of Processingville? Oh no! It simply isn't possible! Not even Tom Cruise and his magic repelling-from-ceilings-wire could save this day!

Unfortunately, Tom Cruise was busy being the Messiah of Scientology. Or having babies with Katie. Or...filming Mission Impossible Four. Whatever, he didn't answer the phone. I DID however, call the certification officer, the registrar, the president of the school, the provost office, the registrar again, department head, other people from my school who were waging more successful battles with their own Red Tape Monsters (theirs are considerably more tame, though. What's that all about?) --- and to no avail. The Red Tape Monster whipped his tail at me, knocked me down, stomped on me, breathed fire in my face, and shouted: "NO CERTIFICATION, NO JOB!" in a loud booming voice that echoed throughout the land. And with that, the figure in the shadows rescinded the job offer and vanished.

And so, leaving our heroine bleeding to death on the rocks, the Red Tape Monster went back into its cave to watch Matlock. That's what it does after a good day's work, breaking the spirits of valiant young challengers. Fear not, readers! For our heroine refuses to be beaten. She waited until the Red Tape Monster went to sleep on its giant pile of money collected from fees and taxes -- and our heroine dragged herself back to her castle in Gradsville, mumbling the whole way about how if the petition had been approved, the class would have counted as Spring and been finalized already -- meaning that certification and degree would already be obtained.

Moral of THIS story? Don't always believe offers presented to you, and definitely don't have your celebration dinner until you know there is something real to celebrate. Back to the job search tomorrow; I'm taking the day off today.

It's kind of a long story, part 1: The tuition situation

What have I done since graduating, you ask? Or maybe you don't, but that's what this blog is - and somewhere out there is someone who cares to read this story. Maybe even someone who doesn't already know the story!

Alright. Oh yeah, that's not a word, is it?

So, at my school, graduate tuition is roughly $4,000 per semester, whether you take 12 hours or more than 12 hours. Okay. Class started last June, and somewhere between last May and....now, I had to take one English class in addition to my grad classes. Just the one. No big deal.

So, I didn't take the class last May because senior year had JUST ended and geez that was brutal. Knowing that class started in June, I didn't want to be in class from August of 2009 straight through to May of 2011. So I skipped on taking the class last May. June and July were intense, super focused on the coursework, so I didn't take the class then. Fall was daily class, student teaching, and working at the library. Spring was more of the same. So I took the class in May 2011. Now, returning to the bit about tuition...

So, I paid for Fall and Spring semester, and I figured that the may tuition would just... kinda... come along with the whole deal. I guess I should have known that May was counted separately, but when you think about it it doesn't make sense. Why should I have to pay more (over $1,000) to be exact, for a class that would have been COVERED if I had taken it a few months earlier? Doesn't make sense, does it?

So, after calling (and insulting) most of the people in the financial aid and business office, I worked my way to a solution. Make a petition, collect signature, attend the class, and have it added retroactively, as though I HAD taken it in Spring. Presto change-o, magico and stuff.

Except no.

The powers that be called the issue a "financial planning issue" and refused to sign. One person even said that it causes errors in their bookkeeping and so they don't want to change anything in the records (BOOKKEEPING ERRORS, REALLY??). Finally the petition gets back to me, denied, with smarmy little notes on it about how I should know you have to pay for college. Of course I know that. But not when it would be FREE a semester earlier. What IS that?!

Soooooo.... Next step is to add the class legit, pay the thousand dollars that I don't remotely have, and move forward in the job-finding adult world. Right. Because it's that easy, isn't it?

The teacher of the class is now on sabbatical so he wasn't around to sign forms. Guess what the solution is? A petition. You know, there's a lot that can be done for you when you cry in the Registrar's office.

Anywho, another returned petition, this one approved, but with equally smarmy notes all over it about how this will not be allowed again (to which I responded with lots of flavor, something along the lines of "I graduated, ______" in my writing all over the neat little carbon copy. For my records. You know how it is.

So there we go, a month after class is OVER, the class finally gets ADDED. Time to pay for it. Which would be - should be - easy. Except that my school doesn't take Visa. That's right, the card that's accepted everywhere, endorsed by Morgan Freeman, "Everywhere you want to be." Well, either Morgan Freeman is a liar, or I don't want to be at that school anymore. and at the risk of making Morgan Freeman a liar, I will go with the latter.

Eventually Captain Discover came to save the day, except that now I can't USE sir Discover, which is unfortunate with the expensive gas/joblessness/moderate homelessness situation I've found myself in.

Moral of the story, kids? Bureaucracies suck. Forever. Tune in later to see the next exciting installment of "It's kind of a long story."

This song is about me

Because I'm waiting on a phone call, I'll make my first update be some Yellowcard lyrics. Enjoy!

I made this wishes with you
when coast to coast
and we both felt so alive
We traded safe for something,
Just had to be and we almost lost our minds

But we still here searching!

this is loud
this is cold
this is endless
and i know
growing up has just begun
but there's a place we can find
where this pain is useless
we'll forever be the young

summer came and flew by
twice as fast
it was close enough to feel
and after all this waiting
for skies to fall
i need this to be real

please let it be real

this is loud
this is cold

this is endless
and i know
growing up has just begun
but there's a place we can find
where this pain is useless
we'll forever be the young

when i was broken
i was healed
i learned to fight
i learned to feel
and i cant believe my eyes
you are still here next to me
all i need,you are all i see
in this life we hoped to find

this is loud
this is cold
this is endless
and i know
growing up has just begun
but there's a place we can find
where this pain is useless
we'll forever be the young

Something less cryptic to come later!