For the next couple of weeks, I am re-releasing some old comics from a few years ago at the rate of one-a-day until July 1st.

1. Kansas. In 2008, I went to Kansas to visit my husband’s family.
2. The Sunflower State. I didn’t know what to expect. It was everything I had expected and more– including a tornado! Stay tuned.
3. What’s in Kansas? Kansas was a complete unknown to me.
4. Tornado Alley. I knew Kansas was famous for tornados, I just didn’t really expect to be in one.
5. Cawker City: Home to the World’s Largest Ball of Sisal Twine. The day started out, um, normally…
6. Rain Tornado. A rain tornado is one you can’t see, because of rain and darkness, until it hits you.
7. Tornado Shelter. The more doors you can put between yourself and the tornado, the better.
8. Tornado in Manhattan Kansas. It destroyed the True Value Hardware store. The K-State campus nuclear reactor wasn’t damaged.
9. Tornado in Chapman, Kansas. Everything you know can change in a matter of minutes.
10. Kansas Flip-flops. I found people from Kansas to be generous, practical and unpretentious.
11. Prairie Cathedrals. Parts of Kansas are so featureless that one often uses non-geographic landmarks for navigation.
12. Toilet Alley. Everyday life can sometimes seem rather dull.
13. Deja Vu. Everyday life can sometimes seem rather dull, without surprises.
14. Driving and Sex. This is my friend Dani’s favorite Encore Seraphine comic.
15. The Pretty Girl. Losing one’s confidence is a horrible feeling.

I have to wonder, though: What sort of person becomes a butt doctor? I’ve met thousands of people in my lifetime and never once has anyone told me their life’s dream is to be a Rear Admiral. I can understand the desire to be a brain surgeon or somebody that can restore eye sight; I can’t imagine wanting to be up in somebody’s business.
The thing that scares me is– if they go far enough into the colon, through the stomach and past the esophagus– they might eventually find my head. Oh oh.

YouTube video of Katie Couric’s colonoscopy.

Dr. Kylie Johnson’s MADtv colonoscopy. “Alright, Robin, to the batcave!”
“Roll up the windows, kids, we’re going to pass a farm!”

The Japanese government conceded yesterday that they can’t contain the radiation at Fukushima Dai-Ichi’s damaged nuclear reactors. The likely solution will be to entomb the reactors with sand and concrete. Water around the reactors is currently emitting a deadly 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour. Small levels of radiation have been observed in milk as far away as California.

The ongoing health impacts of Chernobyl has had a devastating effect on survivors: damaging immune and endocrine systems, leading to accelerated aging, cardiovascular and blood illnesses, psychological illnesses, chromosomal aberrations and an increase in foetal deformations.
Quotation from Greenpeace, Chernobyl death toll grossly underestimated.

They have concluded between themselves that it is inevitable some of them may die within weeks or months. They know it is impossible for them not to have been exposed to lethal doses of radiation.
Quotation from the mother of a 32-year-old worker at Fukushima Dai-Ichi, according to Fox News.

Blueberries are still in season and I’m finished with finals.

It is better to travel well than to arrive.
Quotation from Buddha

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
Quotation from Mother Teresa

I’m not a mother but I still like to nurture and make pancakes.

I remember when I was a kid I used to come home from Sunday School and my mother would get drunk and try and make us pancakes.
George Carlin

What did you wish for? I can’t tell you, because then it won’t come true.
Wishes are the opposite of worries.
I hate asking myself “What’s the worse that can happen?” because I already know.
If I think about them, they might come true. And I’d have nobody to blame but myself.
Mea culpa.

Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.
Quotation from Arthur Somers Roche

Don’t be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed.
Quotation from Lily Tomlin

Here’s my plan: I want to be practical. I want to work in the writing/photography/graphics field, but my background is in banking/economics/finance. I need to be completely honest with myself, but I’m torn. Do I make the risky choice or the safe choice? Tell me– What should I do?

Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.
Quotation from Janis Joplin

I have been struggling for many years in pursuit of a career in opera and am finding that it’s the people who have money behind them who are getting places, whether or not they have the best voices… So, yes, I’d marry for money at this point. After all, having the career would make me happy.
Quotation from “pvlstar” on iVillage.com

While $1 million or $2 million may sound like a lot to people making $30,000, it’s hardly enough to transform someone’s life or make them “rich” by contemporary billionaire standards.
Quotation from Robert Frank, Marrying for Love of Money

I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants. It has been a month since I’ve been told my department will be shutting down in six to twelve months, so time is precious. I’ve decided to take the Series 66 Registered Investment Advisor examination. I don’t know if that’s really what I want to do, but it gives me another option to pursue careerwise. And that means my updates to Encore Seraphine (and my time online) will be less frequent for a few weeks to a month.
Yes, I’m doing this on purpose. I love you all, and thank you for understanding.

Happy were she could finish forth her fate
In some unhaunted desert, where, obscure
From all society, from love and hate
Of worldly folk; then might she sleep secure.
Poem from Robert Devereux, A Passion of my Lord of Essex

I want to be free. No responsibilities. Sitting in a cafe drinking kir royale while reading a book, observing life and people between the pages until they become real.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Quotation from Steve Jobs, Commencement address delivered to Stanford University

It’s like being in high school and knowing I’ll graduate in six months. The real world is out there and I’m wondering what I’m going to do. People tell me: “Some day you’ll look back at this and think how wonderful it was.” Ha!

Richard Vernon: What did you want to be when you were young?
Carl: When I was a kid, I wanted to be John Lennon.
Richard Vernon: Carl, don’t be a goof. I’m making a serious point here.
Quotation from the movie The Breakfast Club

Andrew Clark: You don’t have any goals.
John Bender: Oh but I do.
Andrew Clark: Yeah?
John Bender: I wanna be just like you. I figure all I need is a lobotomy and some tights.
Another quotation from the movie The Breakfast Club