Yay! I finally get to reveal a major aspect of the new comics: Flashbacks. Since I wanted to keep the comic universe basically in present day, but I really wanted to be able to tell the story of the early days of my comicing career, I decided to juxtapose certain events with relevant and revealing looks back into the characters’ past. I wanted to be able to write from the perspective of someone who’s been doing this (comics, parenting, marriage, etc) for a while, but I kept thinking back to all the weird shit that’s happened to be over the last 5 or 6 years that would make for great jumping off points for story lines. From a storytelling perspective, this is the best of both worlds for me and I’m pretty excited about it.
COMMENTERS: Did you ever get fired from a job, get dumped by a significant other, or in some other way shat upon by the Universe and have it turn out to be a catalyst for a major positive change in your life?
NEWS TYPE ITEMS:
We are putting the final touches on the new HE store which will hopefully launch tomorrow this week(?) HERE.
UPDATE ON THE FANCY DIGITAL SKETCH DRIVE: If you are still waiting on your Fancy Digital Sketch, I am SUPER BACKLOGGED on these. I am very sorry it’s taking so long. Doing 50+ original pieces of finished art always sounds easy, until you agree to do it and take money for it. I am working through them, but if you need yours urgently, feel free to let me know via email.
Have you seen my wife’s Etsy store, “Science and Fiction?” Check out her Tetris earrings!
Comments (56)
@AesirRey · 89 weeks ago
My most recent adventure in this regard was badly breaking my leg and hand, it forced me to postpone finishing my masters degree. I then was promoted at work and since then I have finished my MA in the summer break, got even more teaching and now I’m sitting relatively happy where I am. Albeit with a sore leg most of the time and a slight limp.
Wesley · 89 weeks ago
I’m pretty sure that I would have ended up a 40-year old virgin if not for that.
Jeremy · 89 weeks ago
Bill Murphy · 89 weeks ago
Oh, and the comment question…
No.
Varmint · 89 weeks ago
Rather than wait for the process of performance evaluations to begin, I decided rather uncharacteristically to get off my ass and start aggressively applying for jobs in a field that I actually went to school for, because at this point I figured that I had little left to lose, rejection be damned.
Long story short, it turns out that I aced my last interview; I start my new career next week.
2 replies · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
Varmint · 89 weeks ago
@docbeerio · 89 weeks ago
Doug · 89 weeks ago
@kellyskritters · 89 weeks ago
rattify· 89 weeks ago
Looking forward to seeing what you do with them 🙂
Didu· 89 weeks ago
1 reply · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
bubujin_2 · 89 weeks ago
So I’m sort of enjoying at the moment a semi-retired condition. But still too young to be fully retired and still have a kid to get through H.S. and college. So catalyst is still pending on what I want to be when I grow up. Now if I can just get off these damned comics boards…..
1 reply · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
samldanach· 89 weeks ago
At the time, I had recently finished my education to change fields, but was having issues finding a position that a) would accept education without relevant experience and b) would pay a decent wage.
My mother-in-law happened to need a database built (my new field). She agreed to pay relo costs to move us and put me in for a security clearance. I agreed to accept about 80% of the going rate (which was still a raise for me).
Ten years later, I’m an in-demand professional with an excellent resume and a great salary. And it probably wouldn’t have happened without that initial boot to the rear.
1 reply · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
Carol Elaine · 89 weeks ago
Ahem.
I was laid off from Disney over 10 years ago. At the time I’d been there for eight years and, though I hated what I did (some weird hybrid of legal, finance and marketing), I was comfortable.
Getting laid off was the best thing that ever happened to me. I’ve since worked in politics – which was fascinating – and I’m currently working at JPL, where I’ve been for over seven years. I love working here. It may not be my dream job (I’m an assistant, but I’d love to do more creative stuff), but I strongly believe in its mission of space exploration. It’s the first place I’ve ever worked that I could actually see myself retiring from.
2 replies · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
Carol Elaine · 89 weeks ago
When he shows you the full scale model of Curiosity (and I know that will be a “when,” not an “if”), that’s in the lobby of the building where I work (Bldg. 180). I love seeing that thing nearly every day.
Becky S. · 89 weeks ago
Then, 1 month later, I was fired. During my performance review. Queue three-and-a-half months of job searching in between bouts of intense depression and anxiety in which I questioned my ability to be an effective and competent tech writer.
I took a job as a contractor building servers at a company a friend worked for. A monkey with reasonable power drill skills could do the job, but I was working with a buddy, the people in the company were friendly and laid-back, and I wasn’t using up my unemployment. The much-reduced comparative salary and lack of benefits didn’t bother me as much as unemployment did.
Then, through a series of conversations, the company realized I was a tech writer with a couple of masters degrees. Two years later I’m the solo documentation person, make a good living, and absolutely love my job and the people I work with and for. All because a financial company fired me.
I’m glad The Experiment seems to worked out just as well for you, Joel.
patti · 89 weeks ago
1 reply · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
Mr_MFS· 89 weeks ago
Mike Z · 89 weeks ago
There are always ups and downs and stress in any field, but given the choice between staying with something that’s “just a job” and taking the chance to try making something you really enjoy into your career, I highly recommend the latter.
You chose wisely, Mister Joel, because you took the chance.
2 replies · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
That’s beautiful.
What’s your game?
Mike Z · 89 weeks ago
And yeah, check it, the article even says “are to be laid off today”: http://kotaku.com/5406449/rumor-rip-pandemic-stud…
CalgaryKeith· 89 weeks ago
1 reply · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
@warholreject · 89 weeks ago
moffattbooks· 89 weeks ago
Tiffany · 89 weeks ago
A week ago I was hired as the funding assistant for an estate planning firm. A bit less an hour than the bank, but a guaranteed 40hrs a week, which the bank wasn’t. Best of all I never have to listen to complaints about fees I have no control over, get yelled at because no one keeps track of their balance, or get robbed at gunpoint again.
Honestly, the robberies were pretty good days.
@Hermetic · 89 weeks ago
I blew the interview due to being half out of my mind trying to secure alternate lodgings, and wound up moving back home, severely depressed, and with no real options. I piddled with freelance for a little while, and, in a fit of pique, threw an application at my alma matter for graduate school, which is something I’d considered doing off and on while working my shitty office job.
That was at the beginning of 2010. I’m now almost done with my MA, on my way to my PhD. What do I study, you might ask? Animation history. It is literally my job to babble about awesome cartoons all fucking day, write papers about it, and generally be a huge nerd all the time. I hang out with people who are doing amazing stuff with topics ranging from Tolkien to Indian cinema, I make good money (for a grad student), and my depression has given way to my old bubbly personality, so I’m actually popular among my peers for the first time in my life.
2 replies · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
@Hermetic · 89 weeks ago
Plus, I’ve always felt like non-research assistantships are technically for the job, but also for you to continue your research without having to worry about money.
So Randy Mulholand is into animation and animation history? Awesome! One more reason to add SP to my read list!
Mike · 89 weeks ago
1 reply · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
Neph Sy · 89 weeks ago
So with the help of some severance, unemployment, and the part time job, I had the time and a bit of money to take classes, so that I could get the skills to be self employed. Developing the business was slow as I was still working part time at night, plus I had a temporary teaching job. Then the owner of the store, where I had worked for 8 years mentions that we should talk about when I was going to leave??? She admitted that I was her best employee and had never done anything wrong, she just wished I had never started working in my craft (which she sold at her store!). One of her relatives was jealous of my business and felt threatened by me, since we made the same craft, and applied for the same events. So I was so insulted that I quit, my contract soon ended and I suddenly had so much free time that I was able to apply for more events and sell in more stores. Thus being forced to be completely self employed and more competition for the relative’s business.
Eric · 89 weeks ago
kathleensgratitudes· 89 weeks ago
Four years ago when the kids were in full time school I applied to go back to university. I was rejected because of my previous grades, but I appealed and wrote letters to the head of the faculty, the head of registration and everyone else I could, and I did eventually get in (there is a lesson in that).
in two years – the year I turn 50 (and 31 years after my first attempt) – I will be getting my BFA with honours.
jujyfruit0· 89 weeks ago
The comic’s new direction is also making this community so great. I love all the honest stories and feedback from everyone. It’s a nice place. I like it here.
1 reply · active 89 weeks ago
@RHaseman · 89 weeks ago
PokeyPuppy · 89 weeks ago
I got a job in DC (phone interview), drove from Washington state to DC in 3 days by myself, and started work 8 hours after I arrived. I finished my first day crying on the phone with my husband – the job was great, but I was just a mess.
But having a solid job helped pay for couples therapy, which was REALLY necessary, and the relocation is what landed (a) my husband’s job, and (b) my current ownership of my own business. Since I’ve been called “bookworm” since I was 3, owning a bookstore is a dream job. And both my husband and I are so happy together again. Money problems, PTSD, and chronic depression do not make for a happy relationship!
PokeyPuppy · 89 weeks ago
@AtheneNumphe · 89 weeks ago
1 reply · active 89 weeks ago
hijinksensue· 89 weeks ago
thelogos · 89 weeks ago
Pat Myers · 89 weeks ago
Zach · 89 weeks ago
“Hi. We saw your resume. Would you like to work for Major Tech Company?”
Suddenly I am an engineer making more money than I could have ever thought possible. All because I got fired from a crummy go-nowhere job.
Scarlettb · 89 weeks ago
My job? Admissions. So I spent my days reading their application packets, which were exhaustive, DETAILED accounts of what had happened to them, and what they had done to others.
This summer, the stress of the job combined with my MS and the heat, and I had a serious exacerbation. 6 weeks off on disability. Came back. Cried every day. 4 weeks into being back, my neurologist puts me on a new medication to which I had an allergic reaction that made me literally suicidal. Back off on disability, and was informed on Day 2 of said disability that they don’t want me to come back. Super depressing.
HOWEVER. My headaches are less than they were. My shoulders no longer hover around my ears. I have not cried since the day I left. And a dream job I applied for on a whim is flying me up to interview in person in two weeks. So…fingers crossed that this is the catalyst moment, but even if I don’t get this position, I am so, so glad that I don’t work where I did, because that was literally (and I DO mean literally) going to kill me.
@decimal0 · 89 weeks ago
May, 2009. I had a decent job at an ad agency in Detroit, where I lived my whole life. I was mostly doing flash work for car sites and tiring of it. I also had an ongoing string of 3D freelance work to bring in extra money. It was physically taxing and growing less and less fun. And I had a one year old son that silently urged me not to kill myself doing all nighters.
Then out of the blue I was laid off from the agency. I remember walking out of there not too worried. I had a small nest egg I had saved, and 3D clients to fall back on. I thought I’d spend a few weeks doing what I used to do when I was a kid: making video games. I would take the time to brush up my skills and experiment while I looked for more work.
Well Detroit in 2009 was a bad time to look, there was *nothing*. But I was having fun being a stay at home dad, learning to make spaceships blow up on my iPhone. We made ends meet for awhile, living cheap.
But making games takes longer than I thought. The money dried up, jobs did too. I was now banking on my iPhone game bringing in *something*. But by the summer of 2011, showing my wife something cool I had made that day started to feel more and more like ‘Check out this sweet lick I wrote today! My band’s gonna be huuuuge honey! How was work?’ I was promising my wife I would take a job, any job. I went on depressing interviews. I’m fairly sure my family thought I was having a Flaky Artist midlife crisis. Then something happened.
My little game (Awesome Saucer) was noticed by a friend of a friend who was a lead developer. He was looking to build a team for a new project and he had seen my beta. I flew to SF for a 6 hour interview, which I partly bombed. They liked me and my game, but I’m over 40, self-taught, and my coding skill was deemed ‘creative but unsophisticated’ for what they needed. I was devastated and went back to Detroit to quietly finish my game before moving on. Weeks later, right before release, they called me back. They changed the tech they were using and needed someone with my skill sets of both art and code. They offered me a job. I took it.
Now two years later, I live in the Bay Area making video games for Disney, on what I can only call a dream job. We’re out of Detroit, raising our kid in a nice area and making ends meet. I’m surrounded by creative, intensely talented people who humble me. I wake up every day aware of exactly how lucky I am. I have a career I never thought was in reach, but that I always knew I was perfect for. It might all go away tomorrow and I’ll still feel lucky. It’s not Indie life, and I’m not rich. But it’s what I want to do with my life. One day, I’ll be indie again, and this time it will be doing what I love. Because I was pushed.
Jon B · 89 weeks ago
Then I launched a distillery. Life got pretty amazing after that. I refer to this year as the year everything changed. I sleep better. I weigh less. I talk to my wife and friends more. I worry about more things, but I care about life more.
Hang in there.
FuryOfFirestorm· 89 weeks ago
@blackpigshop · 89 weeks ago
But my attitude is we have one life to live (not that YOLO crap), I mean we make mistakes, we fuck up, we carry on going and sometimes we learn, sometimes we don’t. But each mistake or trouble put me where I am now. That’s with a wife who is amazing and a whole range of new friends that make me feel amazing.
The issue is never the problems we face but how we face them. I’ve had some shit times but each one of those was key to putting me on the path I am on and I would not change it for the world. No doubt the future holds further shit for me, remember that learning part, but I’ve always ended up somewhere interesting as a result.
florencedisapproves· 88 weeks ago
I worked for Apple for a while and for a small knitting/dye store where I learned tons of stuff about dying and fabric manipulation but would never advance in either company without drinking the koolaid. I convinced myself I was in love with a guy back in Los Angles and moved back down. It didn’t hurt that there were zero film industry jobs in the Bay Area and I had made some new contacts in LA.
The very night I moved back, I met his new girlfriend who is now his fiance. After the initial oh-shit-I-fucking-hate-you, we eventually became good friends and it was at her urging that I published my first book. Now, I’ve published five, and am a steadily working prop master for indie films. I’m not rich, will probably never be, but I love my job and love writing.
Do I wish I had more money? Do I wish I didn’t work 12 hour days? Do I wish I could fly back to see my parents more often? Of course. But last week, I had a 15 on 15 Nerf war with my awesome nerdy LA friends. I’ve had dinner with my greatest childhood hero. And tomorrow I leave for (exotic!) Bakersfield to work on a film with A-list actors. And that’s pretty rad.
Life is insanely crazy. I’m never sure if I made all of the right decisions. I think I made the best ones I knew how. And I’m still floundering a bit but man, what a story it will make!
Kaidah · 71 weeks ago
I was once the manager of two gas stations for a local chain and I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t making much, but it was regular and allowed us to do pretty much what we liked. Then my fiance (now ex-wife) got pregnant. I was 23 and we were living in my dad’s basement. The people I’d worked for at the same salary for over two years wouldn’t even discuss a raise with me. Needless to say, I was crapping my pants about how I was going to support my new family. About a month later I was offered a job with the maintenance company that serviced our pumps. I didn’t know squat about gas pumps, and it was for less money per hour but with better benifits and regular raises. I was comfortable where I was, and knew if I cocked up the new job there’d be no going back. Many a sleepless night followed
I then made the scariest decision of my life, and havent’ regretted it since. That was 13 years ago next week.
I took to the job like a fish to water and succeed beyond everyone’s expectations (including my own). My first year I made more than I ever had before (God bless overtime pay), and somewhere around year 7 I paid more in taxes than I had made a year managing those two stations. All because I was going to be a dad and had a family to support. It’s not glamorous, the hours are long, it’s often physically demanding and my clothes constantly reek of gasoline…but I love it and have never once been ashamed of telling my kids about what I do.