Are We There Yet?

Firstly, I apologize for missing last Thursday - there hasn't been a free weekend over the last month and not being able to sketch up any new comic strips turned out as collateral damage from being busy. Busy having fun that is.

On the bright side, I promised that I'd make up for it by having two entries this week and I'm sticking to that promise!

Let's get to it then. Today we deal with how Mr. Ninja learnt about what I think is one of the less desirable aspects to my personality - my sense of directions. Because I'm terrible at it. The only way I would confidently be able to get anywhere is if I have walked that way before - and there's only so much walking one can do.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Mr. Ninja knew how bad I am at it..I think he just underestimated how bad. And I avoid using my phone for directions when someone already knows how to get somewhere because of all the 'magical' new alternative routes that are suggested - like I needed any more confusion on that front.

Let's Talk About The Weather

If there's anything that has been going wonky here, it's the weather (among other things).

First there was the delayed on-off winter which had Game of Thrones memes claiming "Winter is coming..and going..and coming..and going.."

Then there was the punch of humid heat which turned me into the Wicked Witch of the West (I'm melting!) and had me grabbing every excuse to have a Magnum ice cream (I'm an addict, who now saves the ice cream sticks to remember how many I've eaten so I don't go overboard).

As for now, it seems to be alternating between sunny days and rainy days. How do you dress for these days? When I wear sneakers it pours (I console myself saying my feet are getting wet in  "filtered" puddle water rather than direct exposure to crap infested water) and when I wear floaters its sunny and my feet get dry (no consolation except maybe it's not raining!).

But I'm here to talk about the other ways that the weather impacts Mr. Ninja and me.

The Curious Case of Curious Ninja

I'm not a great storyteller or anything but when I narrate an incident I totally enjoy myself - complete with colourful descriptions that are exaggerated for effect, voices and sound effects. But this only works if the chain isn't pulled on my train of thought.

Mr. Ninja is a very curious person - which means if I recount something to him there can be no space for creative assumptions, open endings and imagination. Curiosity is a great quality in a person but that pretty much puts a damper on my narrative (now become like a news report containing only plain facts).

At least if it's a story, I can answer these questions to a certain extent. But there are some situations I laugh and wonder, how does anyone respond to this?

Bada Banao

Although I have a funny feeling I may have to use the above title more than once (based on the number of stories revolving around this phrase) I figured it might fit today's topic too.

For a while I sat amused at how Mr. Ninja ordered his drinks whenever we were out - it was never a single drink, always one plus one more. At the time I thought he did it out of habit as the bar that he frequented after work always had happy hours with a one plus one offer on any drink.

Then one day I asked him why he continued to do this and he calmly explained it to me - something about the time saved in calling the waiter an extra time and getting your next drink without having to wait. And I thought to myself, wow, everyone must do this.

His method did go a little haywire in the beginning when I wasn't aware of this particular habit of his (oh how sweet, you got me a drink, too?) but he worked around it (get me 2 one plus one's). This week's comic strip is straight out of that phase.

Some nights

So Mr. Ninja and I occasionally have those nights when either one or both of us are too tired or sleepy for...you know, formalities like saying 'Good night' or even acknowledging that there is another person who has to share the same bed, courtesy any of the sprawled out sleeping positions below:

And we all have our sleeping positions - the foetus, the starfish and my personal favourite which, though nameless, I'm pretty sure can be compared to one of the steps in the Surya Namaskaar.

Before I ramble off topic, this week is about one of those very nights and my (futile) attempt to score some...err, brownie points despite the fact that both (or one) of us just want to shut down for the day.

Okay, maybe not both of us.

So enthu

I'm sure every other person in a relationship has been through the whole "hmm" fiasco - how a monosyllabic response to something that was so-enthusiastic-how-can-one-possibly-not-respond-the-same-way leads to a spat between the two people involved.

That's what this week's strip is about - clean and simple, and an illustration of just that between Mr. Ninja and myself.

Also, he isn't around this Thursday so I thought I'd use that as a (lame) excuse to experiment on my drawing presentation. Nothing drastic, just fooling around with some software instead of my usual scan-and-clean.

To Be Frank (and nothing else)

I just gave it a moment's thought and realized this (the title) is a statement I have never heard from Mr. Ninja... and probably never will. And that's because, to be frank (sorry, couldn't help myself), there is no other setting in his system but to tell it like it is - one of his best qualities that I've earlier mentioned I have a love-hate relation with (Being Mrs. Ninja #18).

One of the surprising drawbacks of this is that one tends to appear superficial, without taking a second to look into the deeper meaning of things - not exactly the kind of outlook you need to appreciate art.

With that I'd like to bring forth a clipping from our honeymoon - no, not that clipping - when we stopped at a castle on our way to Cork City from Dublin.