Today has been an emotional crazyhouse, more downs than ups, and way too much stress for someone whose biggest worries are usually concerning drawing cartoons and not sitting in a pee-seat on the bus. Living with my mother, having barely enough money to get by even with help, my mother's occassional and not always unintentional rudeness to my boyfriend, the impending feeling that I will never be as good an artist as my heroes, the unwelcome prospect of possibly having to move to a town further from my sister to satisfy my mother's hatred of traffic or face living on my own or with the Boyfriend which -- considering a one-room apartment in Hawaii costs, at the very best, nine hundred dollars a month -- would mean my taking a second job and therefore having no more time for my cartoon... these are issues that have been pounding on my skull with giant hammers all day.

There were good things. My raise kicked in this week, and, as I found out today, the raise is a bit more than what I was told it would be, which means good news for my rumbling tummy. My wonderful boyfriend came to pick me up even though he said he couldn't, and he also bought me a collection of a fabulous Frank Cho comic strip that he said reminded him of mine (though I only wish) called Liberty Meadows. In spite of having a main female character that is perfect in every way with ridiculously large boobs and tiny waist and more or less modeled after Lynda Cater as Wonder Woman, it is a hilarious and beautifully drawn strip, right up there with Bone and Calvin & Hobbes, both of which he is clearly influenced by. I'm going to tuck into it once I finish this post, and possibly also one of those microwave soft pretzels that mum bought, very sweetly.

So please, my favorite people, help me out. I need to shift my focus. I need to concentrate on what's really important, rather than this petty stuff. Like trees. And the giant panda. And applesauce.

Send me photos, lists, stories, videos, of things you find wonderful, amazing, important, funny, soulful. A friend of mine, without any prompting, just sent me this incredible video of an elephant painting a self portrait. Hilarious, beautiful, emotional, even. Or maybe I'm a sap. But I want everyone to see it, and I want to see more.

Show me something great. Show me a photo of you, maybe. Put more happy out there, out here, where we need it.

Love you.