Moody People

Isn't life strange?

Where did the weekend go? I think I had a weekend. It can’t be Monday without a weekend, right?

Let’s see, Friday eventually ended and I did that thing. Then I finally slept longer than usual, maybe even the amount doctors recommend, and woke up to do that thing I couldn’t do earlier because I didn’t have any time. Oh, and then I did that other thing that needed done. I put off that one thing because, let’s face it, it’s the weekend and it can’t all be about getting things done. But then I had to do that other stupid thing that took way too much time. Saturday must’ve become Sunday and sleep was involved, but I couldn’t swear to it.

I think I had fun. I know I don’t feel rested.

But we’re off to start a new week. How joyous. It’s a time of new beginnings with old responsibilities. What am I supposed to be doing? Ah yes, that one thing. It would be nice to put off things so I could just relax at home and enjoy my things, but doing things allows me to enjoy my other things and where would I be without those things? Thingless, that’s we’re I’d be. A frightening thought.

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I thought I’d select strips with the theme of moody people for today’s post and I stupidly thought it would take some time to carefully select such strips out of the archive. It winds up that most of my strips revolve around moody people. I didn’t even make it out of the year 2022 with my selections.

“I’m tired of showing people how to operate their $1,000 phones!” That was said by Jerry in 2022. Jerry, sadly, is no longer with us, but the $1,000 phones are. Some of those phones have grown up to be even more expensive. Wherever you are, Jerry, I hope it’s analog afterlife.

During my thing-filled weekend I went to the art museum. I have to go there frequently because it’s where my friends hang out. Well, they don’t hang out so much as sit there bolted to the walls, but but that’s how I like to phrase it. The museum closes at 5:00 p.m. sharp and I can always see, from the distance of the parking lot, people still wandering about inside without a care in the world. I like to look at the security staff buzzing from one group to the other so they can tell them, as politely as possible, to get the hell out. I can’t relate to the mindset of a person who is unaware of closing time at all, but I suspect that somewhere in their head lies the secret to a stress free life. It must be nice to not worry about time. The problem is that a timeless mind like that requires the caretaking of those who are aware of the time.

This was a 2022 strip in which Penny actually went on a vacation to France with her boyfriend Harvey and their dog Claremont. Somehow, she got talked into watching the hotel desk for a few minutes and, naturally, was confronted by a group of Americans. Poor Penny. Escape is useless.

Ah, 2022. Supply chain problems were everywhere and prices were going up. Today, of course, the shelves are full of items priced so high that you think of 2022 in black and white. People think I’m making this up, but back then (so very long ago) Walmart had a box of crackers for only 79 cents. It was amazing. You could live in cracker heaven. Sure, the generic crackers were a bit rough and would cut the roof of your mouth, but by golly they were a cheap way to consume a lot of carbs and maintain the weight you should be losing. Today, that same box of crackers requires a credit check and payment plan.

This strip isn’t about moody people, it’s the result of moody people.

If a customer offers to pray for you, the answer is always yes. It may seem a bit passive, but the goal is to get the encounter over as smoothly as possible. They may have to pray for you as you help the next customer, but this isn’t the place for religious debate. I’m all for the separation of church and everything else, but getting along is the goal. Call me controversial.

There was a time when we were told that we didn’t have to wear masks anymore, then suddenly we were told to wear them again. I saw a lot of bold, maskless people who were armed. I never made fun of these people because, frankly, they had a gun, but I never understood the “I must remain armed at all times because there is a potential enemy everywhere” mentality combined with the “I’m not wearing this thing that might protect me from the germs that are everywhere” mentality. All I can say, anecdotally, is that I never got sick when I had to wear the mask, and I get sick a lot. My immune system gave up years ago. I should actually start wearing a mask just to see if I stop getting every stray cold that wanders my way, but not wearing one keeps the bold, armed strangers from starting up conversations.

Early April Bloom! She had shorter hair then. At first, people assumed she talked like Janice from Friends. That mystified me. I had to steer them more strongly towards a Southern dialect. Inflation was the constant theme back then, but it quickly became the ongoing yearly theme that we see today.

These people exist. I would never have imagined a customer threatening an employee with her job because they “know a lot of people in this city.” It sounds way too cartoony. Yet they exist. I wonder if they know that they are a real life cartoon.

I know it means something to the customer who says they are never shopping in a store again. It’s an emotional moment. But for the staff it’s so devoid of emotion that you might as well be telling a mortician about a dead body.

On an unrelated note, I’ve been listening to popular hits from the 1920s, according to Apple Music, while writing this post. It’s pretty wild. I’m not sure I want to come back to the 2020s. I may have to put these characters back a hundred years. At least the prices were definitely lower in that post-pandemic era.