|
FROM THE FORUMS
On February 26, 2002, David L. Watkins wrote:
"And when the Sluggites saw that the shirts were good to wear, and that they
were pleasant to the eyes, and a garment to be desired to make one nifty, they
did look upon the Stick Figures, and said that they were good; but in doing this
they sinned, for they lied.
 And
the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and
they took the T shirts, and clad themselves in them, though the man was sore
disappointed, for the woman was comely to look upon and looked like Zoë.
 And
they heard the voice of THE ARTIST walking in the garden in the cool of the day,
saying "BEER! BEER!": and the Sluggites hid themselves from the presence of THE
ARTIST amongst the trees of the garden.
And THE ARTIST called unto the Sluggites, and said unto them, "Wherefore hide
ye?"
And they said, "We heard thy voice in the garden, and we were afraid, because we
had looked upon the Stick Figures; and we feared thou wert Tom and hadst more
for us to look upon."
And He said, "Who gave thee those T shirts? Hast thou looked upon the Stick
Figures, whereupon I commanded ye that you shouldest not look?"
And the male Sluggite said, "Don't look at me; it was her idea." And the woman
gave him a dirty look, for he lied again.
And THE ARTIST said unto the woman, "What is this that thou hast done?" And the
woman said, "Tom beguiled me, and offered me a Dream Fighter T shirt, and I did
look." And then she muttered under her breath to the man, "Thou owest me big
time."
And THE ARTIST said unto Tom, "Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed
above all PETA people, and above even Dr. Laura; upon thy Stick Figure legs
shalt thou go, and no beer shalt thou drink all the days of thy life:
"And I will put enmity between thee and art; never shalt thou be able to draw,
for thou wilt slaughter it every time thou attemptest it."
Unto the woman He said, "If thou wilt let me sign thy belly, all will be
forgiven." And the woman rolled her eyes, and let THE ARTIST sign her belly, an
activity in which He exhibited childlike joy.
And unto the man He said, "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of this
cute woman, and hast looked upon the Stick Figures, of which I commanded thee,
saying, 'Thou shalt not look upon it': cursed is the Web for thy sake; in sorrow
shalt thou wait for updates every night at midnight;
"Spam also and pop up windows shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt have
only a dial up connection;
"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou come up with crazy theories, till I choose
to reveal the Truth, for I am cruel, and enjoy taunting you with only part of
it: and I'm going on vacation now for a year, for thou hast royally pissed Me
off."
And the man called his wife's name Zoë, because she looked much like her; but
the woman again rolled her eyes.
Unto the man also and to the woman did THE ARTIST make Quatrix shirts, and
clothed them.
And now THE ARTIST said, "Behold, thou hast been naugty in My sight, so now must
thou leave; for I wish to play DoA3."
Therefore THE ARTIST sent them forth from the garden, to surf the Web until the
next update.
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden little cherubim
without wings, and a flaming laser cannon, which turned every way, to keep the
way of the Art of Life.
And the man would know Zoë his wife; but she said, "I have a headache, and thou
hast gotten us in trouble again, and moreover lied to THE ARTIST;" and the man
was sore disappointed, and went to surf the Web for porn.
(I'm going to hell for this, you know. I hope you're all happy.) " |
 This
one time, at band camp...
One day, years ago while I was playing an online rpg, someone mentioned
something about how the then-current Sluggy Freelance story line mirrored
what was going on in game at the time. I innocently asked what the heck was
Sluggy? I was given a link and got immediately hooked. I'd never read a web
comic before, and it just seemed like such an amazing idea! I fell in at
about the first Kitten and found it so strange, so absolutely crazy and
funny that I became a regular reader and fan. The next year I went to Dragon
Con and I was very excited because Pete Abrams was going to be there that
year, and I wanted to meet him. My then boyfriend and I found him and I was
so freaking excited to meet Pete, that I was probably fan girly...maybe. Was
I, Pete?
PETE ADDS: You TOTALLY were!
 When
I introduced myself, Pete asked me what I did. At the time, I was still a
broadcaster and was a traffic anchor for a few stations in New York. All of
a sudden, HE was all acting like I was a celebrity and excited that he was
meeting ME. Talk about role reversal! I never thought of myself that way,
and it was very confusing. Shame on you, Pete. I'm easily confused! Don't
confuse the Gloria! No fan boying me. It makes me nervous.
PETE ADDS: I TOTALLY was not!
Little did I know what the hell I'd begun there. We kept in touch, we
emailed a few times, called and chatted, I got invited to some get-togethers
and before I knew it, I was hanging out with the family, meeting Rachel and
Leah (Wow she was tiny! And spunky! And hyper! Oh, wait, she's still
everything but tiny) and drinking tequila with Pete and Joe. We did a lot of
the drinking, a lot of the playing games, making dinners, chilling with the
family and sharing hango...I mean, cups of coffee over bright, cheery,
perfectly healthy and definitely not hungover conversation!
I figured out that we'd become really good friends the one year Pete asked
me to play Basphomy for a Halloween Party. I had no idea what I had said yes
to. Weeks later, I'm standing in Pete's den, in a black body stocking thing.
Pete had to paint the costume while it was on me in order to have it look
right. If you look at Basphomy, you may notice where the "bones" on her are.
Yeah. Rachel thought it was absolutely hilarious. She laughed at us. A lot.
We both looked about as comfortable as someone having a prostate exam in the
middle of Times Square at noon. Joe laughed himself stupid and just held my
drink out for me when I needed it. Joe's only saving grace that night was
his quickness with the drinks. It wasn't as funny when the paint dried and
we found out the paint had stuck to me. It was kind of like taking off 50
little bandaids...everywhere. Ouchies. The suit took about 3 hours, and the
whole costume, makeup included, took another 2 or so. That was one
uncomfortable costume, but damn if it didn't look great! Pete may not look
it, but he's pretty handy with the makeup. Being Basphomy sounds like a fan
girl's (and boy') dream, (and I did have fun here and there) but I stayed in
character per request the whole party. Ever been to a party where no one
will talk to you? Did I say just how good of job Pete did with the costume?
It was all good, though. He had a bottle of tequila for me at the after
party. That's when I knew we were good friends. Okay, okay, it wasn't the
booze. It was the limes. You know someone loves you when they get the limes,
too.
Sluggy is still amazing, still surprises me and still makes me laugh so hard
I spray whatever I'm drinking all over the place. (I've gotten better,
really!) And I (me!) get to be a small part of it. I've made a few friends
through Pete I'd never have met, (all those darn web comic authors and all
those bottles of tequila and just not enough convention time!) I've gotten
to some great conventions and gotten to play cat-herder, bodyguard and
drinking buddy, sometimes all at once! I've modeled shirts for Pete, been
the kick-off Belly Girl at many a convention, the doodle board for everyone
at Comic Con last year, and the author of the occasional prank. (pink
Choo-Choo Bear shirt with Randy, Pete?) But more than just Sluggy, I've made
some amazing friends that I love and love to spend time with. I got Pete,
Rachel, Leah and now Sarah and THAT'S nifty.
-- Gloria aka Tequila Mockingbird
|
Hi from
Iraq!
%20Happy.png){kind=small}
Happy 10th Anniversary!