What's in the box?!

A mini update plus some fun reads

What’s in the box? Just bits and pieces of my life. Again.

After a lot of talking and trying to make it work in our current location, my partner and I are moving once our lease is up. With this move he can be closer to his family and we can both be less stressed by the high-cost of living.

Fun random fact if you find yourself moving: Costco will give you boxes for free if you ask them.

It’s going to be a long drive. But we’ve got our masks for when we venture into gas stations, and several books downloaded to fill the hours.

For me hardest part of packing is always the maddening discovery of yet another drawer, cupboard, or random box under the bed that must be sorted through. I tend to scrawl notes on whatever paper is nearby if I am working on other things with the promise to come back later to transcribe the notes properly.

As you can see from just one of the piles, I never did. Thus making it another “to do” on a list of “to dos” with a ticking clock.

Did I mention we aren’t buying new groceries? Besides greens. We are making an effort to eat every can in our pantry. Including ones we never should have bought.

I’ve been writing less for the past week, so here are a few classics you may enjoy.

Stories:

Excuse me, a bag of what? Some terms for breasts throughout the years.

Alternatives to Tiger Moms you might not want to encounter.

From making dogs go mad to spoiling wine, these are just a few of the things Pliny the Elder wrote about periods.

If you like medieval art humor, this is for you.

Back to packing, then work, then packing more. Also must find a recipe for those beets…

Kyrie

Enjoy my writing and want to support me by helping me pay for coffee/also maybe gas for the cross-country drive? Click here or on the image below to do just that.

A reading of "Ask Your Doctor if Laughter™ is Right for You."

This year, when discussions about the cost of healthcare are more important than ever, one company would like to remind you that their Laughter™ is the way to go.

I hope you enjoy this live reading. If you prefer to read the story then click here or on the image above.

Should you need some extra dosages of Laughter™ here are a couple of stories to help:

The truth behind that girl who appears in the most-used stock photo on Medium.

Face mask ideas inspired by classic stories and movies.

Have a wonderful start to your week!

Kyrie

Music in audio: Life of Riley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400054

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

How a Bad Top Bun Became Good Inspiration

A peek at how the comedy got made

Have you ever been frustrated with a task? Probably yes, unless you’re a robot who subscribes to this newsletter to better understand how to be human.

If you’re not that robot, then you know what it is like to struggle with something simple for so long that at some point it becomes almost funny.

And if you write humor, you should use that moment to brainstorm. Once you’ve solved the problem that is. Or given up.

My frustration arose as I tried to create top buns. I can’t do them. I want to so bad but that super casual ball of beauty eludes me.

I.

Just.

Can’t.

Eventually (like 30 minutes and 2 YouTube tutorials later) I thought “Can I use this?”

That’s when the notebook came out. I started to jot down whatever I could think of in terms of top buns and what kind of format I could use them in.

Later, on the bus, I explored two of the ideas more in-depth. In particular the “what your bun says about your personality” one started to develop into something solid.

That blueprint led to this piece. Click here or on the GIF below to see the final illustrated version.

And, if you know the secret to top bun success, please tell me.

Kyrie

A Reading of "Christmas Gifts From Me, The Cat"

Hey everyone!

Instead of waiting for perfect conditions I went ahead and recorded a story again. You might hear some background noise (neighbors, soup boiling, partner on phone) but I did my best to get rid of all of it. I hope you had a wonderful November and are ready for the last month of this endless year. I’ve been on a bit of holiday kick when it comes to my writing. The story in the recording, Christmas Gifts From Me, The Cat, is from last year. But if you’d like more recent (and darker) holiday humor then check out some of these posts below:

Christmas mugs for 2020

Plus a short comic showing some different traditions you can expect compared to other years

And if you love holiday romcoms you might love these new stories below:

I’m a pretty girl without a date for the holidays, let’s fake a relationship!

I’m just a nice guy who’s starting to suspect my fiancée wants to marry her best friend.

Your holiday movie relationship problems solved by Auntie Mabel.

As always, thank you for reading. Now I must go eat soup.

Kyrie

Music in recording:

Canon and Variation by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

A hello, a peek at some work, and an update

Do you know your dog's favorite scary movie?

Hello everyone!

Let’s start with a positive behind-the-scenes look at some satire, shall we?

Last week I came out with a “horror movies for dogs” piece on my blog. I love Halloween and scary movies. This premise (creating satirical horror films) is nothing super original but had been on my mind since July (when I start thinking about Halloween). So my job was to give it my own spin.

Deciding what to make into horror movies was the first step. To do that I played with topics I thought I could riff on.

But because I’m trying not to spend an inordinate amount of time in the planning phase, I cut that list down to the ones I felt I could do something new or interesting with.

Then with the choices I had, I started to brainstorm what that subject might find scary. The dog one happened to have a lot of ideas that flowed into the other topics.

Sometimes an idea gets hijacked halfway through. In my quest to think up horror movies for trees, I ended up thinking of The Giving Tree, and from there started creating horror movies out of kid’s books.

Dogs won and I decided I’d illustrate some posters. Here are a few preliminary sketches.

I moved it to Procreate to finish.

And that’s how I came up with this piece in Jane Austen’s Wastebasket.

How have I been?

You know what? Not great. Early October was marred by a tooth infection that sucked. Even if one can afford a dentist, most of them are booked. So I did what many an insurance-less person does.

It’s back to manageable, which is good. Though, honestly, I’m not alright. It could be chronic pain, stress, or hormones, who knows? I won’t go into details here, suffice it to say, I’m sad, tired, and a little out of it of late. So, sorry about the lack of updates, I didn’t want to bring anyone down, particularly during the period before the election for my fellow American readers.

Welcome to the humor newsletter by the way, if you’re new here. It’s not usually this bleak, but it is today because I got stuff to get off my chest.

Anyway, you might wonder how I do manage to put out so much regardless of my mental health. Here is the answer.

screenshot of my draft section

And that’s just on Medium, not my personal folders. I always write a surplus of drafts when I can. Creativity or the ability to make something from scratch is hard when you’re in a dark space. Editing is somewhat easier, and soothing if you’re lucky.

Guess I should sandwich all this negativity with another fun topic, huh? Well here is a fun thing I found.

My parter got me out of the house for a day trip. We did one of our favorite things, which is to explore used bookstores. That’s where I found this note inside a rare copy of Buddhist and Indian stories. In it the book-giver tells the recipient it belonged to her great aunt who traveled the world with her handsome husband, collecting books with their amassed fortune. They had no children. Except for a monkey.

Yep, a monkey.

I couldn't stop laughing at how specific this note was and the picture it painted of a woman who is long-dead.

And if felt good to laugh. So I hope that as I work toward feeling like myself again, I can still make you laugh with my writing and pictures, to make your day a little better when you need it.

Kyrie