The Rat Chronicles

We were missing a few players last night at Dungeons and Dragons, namely the two people playing archetypal hero characters. As a result, all three of our characters were slightly scummy, morally questionable heroes who would think of all kinds of dirty tricks to a) not fight b) trick the enemy c) inflict cruel and unusual punishment on the enemy. Worse, all three characters were unsympathetic to children.

We got into a lot of dumb conversations around dirty tactics to get the upper hand. One of them was about charming a monster so we don’t have to fight it head-on.

 

“Foot slugs” are what Monkey calls my socks, left haphazardly around the house. They look something like slugs, randomly crawling on the ground. When I go about my morning, I feel like I’m just eating and relaxing normally, but I often walk around dropping crumbs onto his carpet. This is what it looks like from his perspective.

 

I wonder sometimes about people who get married yet are totally the opposite types of people. Monkey is extraordinarily organized, likes to stack his books organized by series, keeps them in pristine, spotless condition. I on the other hand am disorganized by default, my books are all over the place in at least five locations throughout the house and regularly drag my favourite books to the bathtub to read.

He likes direct communication. For cultural or personality reasons, a lot of my communication is indirect, implied, and we fight sometimes when he doesn’t immediately understand what I’m trying to imply.

My mother says opposite types sometimes end up getting along pretty well. Here’s hoping!

 

A work in progress…I’m basing this sketch on an incredible dagashi bar I went to with my Monkey hunny in Tokyo’s Shinjuku. これから、どう生きるか。

I came back home for the first time in a long time. My father looked at me using this new tablet and said, え、らしくない！もっとこう貧乏くさいものでないと。He felt it was very unlike me to use advanced technology, that it was unlike me to be fashionable and trendy, that it was unlike me to have trendy nice Jin’s glasses.

どうしよう。わたしお父さんが知ってる娘と変わった気がする。

わたしはあらゆるひとを失望させている気がしてならなかった。でもおとうさん、わたしはまだおなじ私なんだよ。ちょっと変わっただけ。I am still myself. I’ve changed and evolved but I’m still none other than myself.

 

My dad thinks I ought to bave faith. believe in Monkey. I will.

I’ve finally compiled some of my Rat Chronicles comics into a book printed Volume 1 of “Rat Chronicles: the First Wave.”

Anyone interested in owning a copy, send $15 via Paypal to yukirats@gmail.com with your address and I’ll send one out. If you’re in the lucky first 15, I’ll insert a commemorative pin as well.

 

Tears of joy! I’m done Van CAF! There were a lot of valuable lessons in it for next time for me.

Was it uncomfortable as hell when watching people flip through books and not buy them? Absolutely. But it made me all the more ecstatic when they did read decide to get a copy for keeps. It was all kinds of emotions in me for the last day, and I was so grateful when someone came up to me saying she’d kept an eye on my comics the whole time and wanted to trade. So much thanks to the organizers for letting me in despite my profoundly silly drawings and stories.

My partner started off calling me conventional endearments, but now calls me “Rat.” Here’s how that happened.

We don’t have guests stay overnight always, but when we do, they inevitably take note of the various rat drawings and comics I’ve put up around the fridge and other places in the house. One of our recent overnighters was inspired to draw one of her own.

To these guests I extend a heartfelt welcome. (That’s Monkey in the background saying “仕事しろ” (Shigoto shiro), or “Do your work.”

My partner, the love of my life, dreams about me now and then. Whenever he dreams about me, he sees me as incredibly short (around 3 feet tall) and essentially as Edna Mode of the Incredibles.

He’s had some very bizarre dreams about me as well.  Even though I’m generally very nice to interns in the workplace, he’s seen at least two dreams where I’m abusing interns in silly ways, this time beating them with Chinese eggplants.