Comments and conversation

Reed points out that Jimmy was incorrect with his assertion that Chuck Klosterman may have me shot for threatening his world record for gratuitious footnotes. He says David Foster Wallace has retired that trophy, and I’m inclined to agree. I like to say I’m just like David Foster Wallace, only without the clinical depression. Or the genius. (Note: If you read nothing else this week, read the interview I linked you to. It's a great interview of a great mind.)


As it happens, this isn’t the first time Reed and Jimmy have crossed paths. Reed is my editor at United Feature Syndicate; Jimmy is Jimmy Doom, lead singer of the seminal Detroit punk band The Almighty Lumberjacks of Death. I recently drew Jimmy into a Sunday Frazz strip, which of course was then handled by Reed. That’s my purpose in life: To bring cool people together.

Scott asks: “Given all that you do (triathlon training, writing Frazz, eating, sleeping) and that there are only 24 hours in a day, how do you manage it all? Any tips for the rest of us?” Now it’s Scott’s turn to be incorrect. He probably shouldn’t have put “sleeping” on the list. I don’t do enough of that, which is even dumber than sitting in a doctor’s waiting room a week and a half before an Ironman. I’m not proud of this and I’m not endorsing it as any kind of solution. It’s my own deal with the devil, and as soon as I can weasel out of it, I will. The more flattering answer is that you adapt to your conditions, and if you give yourself abusive conditions, you adapt to that. If you leave yourself time to waste, you learn to waste time. The axiom has to be reversible. Plus, you’re more efficient when you’re fitter, and wider awake when you’ve been active. Until you pass out.

But mostly, I … uh … I don’t really manage it all. I’m constantly off the back, in the weeds, deficit spending. But, hey. That’s the new economy.