Snuggling the Wife’s Pillow
How can I relate to today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse?:
1. I used to snuggle my wife’s pillow when she took trips away. Then she got a special foam pillow to help with head support that she likes so well she takes it with her on trips. I miss the old fluffy pillow.
2. The bed feels awfully big without Elly. There is the obvious comment that Elly is so big she takes up all the bed space. When my wife is away I find that I enjoy the extra space. I can sleep in the middle of the bed and stretch out without worrying about hitting someone.
3. It gets pretty lonely. I would like to say this thought crosses my mind, but to be honest, when my wife is out of town and I am handling the kids by myself, I am usually too busy to get to the lonely feeling. I am much more in the mind of, I can’t wait until she gets back because it is so much easier handling the kids and the logistics of getting them to all their activities while I am still trying to work at my job when she is around. Most times in these situations, when I finally get to the bedroom, I am too exhausted to worry about loneliness, and then I stay awake at night worrying about what I have to do the next day. If I am the one taking the trip, and I am away from my wife and kids for awhile, then that is when I feel lonely.
4. I’ll be macho in the morning. The fear of not appearing macho if you are caught snuggling a pillow. I can’t say I have ever had this thought or this worry.
Overall, this strip isn’t too bad. I can relate to it to a certain degree, and it does actually fit within the context of the storyline. I think I could enjoy it, if it weren’t for a few things:
a. For the first time that I can remember, Lynn Johnston has drawn John Patterson with a different face in every single panel. She’s done that with lesser characters before, like Ted McCaulay, but John is her most consistently-drawn character. It was a little shocking to see his jawline, nose, eyes and hair line change around like that.
b. I am trying not to look on this strip as a jab at the way Dr. Rod Johnston should be feeling without Lynn in his life; but I find I cannot.
c. The ever-changing headboard on the bed. Is there nothing Lynn can draw consistently any more?
1. I used to snuggle my wife’s pillow when she took trips away. Then she got a special foam pillow to help with head support that she likes so well she takes it with her on trips. I miss the old fluffy pillow.
2. The bed feels awfully big without Elly. There is the obvious comment that Elly is so big she takes up all the bed space. When my wife is away I find that I enjoy the extra space. I can sleep in the middle of the bed and stretch out without worrying about hitting someone.
3. It gets pretty lonely. I would like to say this thought crosses my mind, but to be honest, when my wife is out of town and I am handling the kids by myself, I am usually too busy to get to the lonely feeling. I am much more in the mind of, I can’t wait until she gets back because it is so much easier handling the kids and the logistics of getting them to all their activities while I am still trying to work at my job when she is around. Most times in these situations, when I finally get to the bedroom, I am too exhausted to worry about loneliness, and then I stay awake at night worrying about what I have to do the next day. If I am the one taking the trip, and I am away from my wife and kids for awhile, then that is when I feel lonely.
4. I’ll be macho in the morning. The fear of not appearing macho if you are caught snuggling a pillow. I can’t say I have ever had this thought or this worry.
Overall, this strip isn’t too bad. I can relate to it to a certain degree, and it does actually fit within the context of the storyline. I think I could enjoy it, if it weren’t for a few things:
a. For the first time that I can remember, Lynn Johnston has drawn John Patterson with a different face in every single panel. She’s done that with lesser characters before, like Ted McCaulay, but John is her most consistently-drawn character. It was a little shocking to see his jawline, nose, eyes and hair line change around like that.
b. I am trying not to look on this strip as a jab at the way Dr. Rod Johnston should be feeling without Lynn in his life; but I find I cannot.
c. The ever-changing headboard on the bed. Is there nothing Lynn can draw consistently any more?
posted by howard at 10:54 PM
17 Comments:
howard,
I am trying not to look on this strip as a jab at the way Dr. Rod Johnston should be feeling without Lynn in his life; but I find I cannot.
That raises an interesting question: how does Rod feel about not having Lynn is his life any more? Is he happy, sad or (the thing that scares her the most) indifferent to the change? If Rod doesn't particularly notice a difference in his life now that he isn't waking up to her, that's gotta hurt.
John must be afraid Elly keeps a camera in their house. ;)
DreadedCandiru2,
That raises an interesting question: how does Rod feel about not having Lynn is his life any more?
The rumour is that the woman for whom Rod left Lynn went back to her husband. My understanding is that Rod went back into dentistry after having sold his practice, and had to give up being retired. My guess is that Rod was extremely disappointed that his plans for when he left Lynn did not work out.
Is he happy, sad or (the thing that scares her the most) indifferent to the change?
I can’t imagine he is indifferent after she went after him in the national press for over a year. I can imagine that whatever regrets he may have had in making his decision were eliminated by her behaviour afterwards.
aprilp_katje
John must be afraid Elly keeps a camera in their house. ;)
A logical reason for John’s behaviour, and I understand a lot of people have this same fear.
howard,
I can’t imagine he is indifferent after she went after him in the national press for over a year. I can imagine that whatever regrets he may have had in making his decision were eliminated by her behaviour afterwards.
I should say so; he may not be as ready to share his discomfort with the press as she is but he's gotta be pretty pissed off at the way things she says.
dreadedcandiru2,
I should say so; he may not be as ready to share his discomfort with the press as she is but he's gotta be pretty pissed off at the way things she says.
Or he may be used to it. After all, the guy has put up with 30 years of indirect slander via comic strip, and having to answer the question, "Did you really do that?" from something appearing in the strip, or all those strips showing him as an incompetent dentist.
The other aspect of it is that it hasn't gotten so bad that he made a move away from the North Bay area or discontinued his efforts with the North Bay Waterfront Park improvements. The people in Lynn Lake invited him in for that anniversary dinner to share memories and speak to the group. There are a lot of people for whom a man leaving his wife of 30 years to go after another man's wife would not sit well, and yet he is apparently able to continue on with national negative publicity. In many respects, that is a testimony to the impression that his good works have made in the community, and possibly a testimony to the impression Lynn may have made over the last 20+ years in Corbeil.
howard,
In many respects, that is a testimony to the impression that his good works have made in the community, and possibly a testimony to the impression Lynn may have made over the last 20+ years in Corbeil.
If I were to hazard a guess, that impression would be pretty much negative. I remember reading the obituary for Stephanie's partner; nowhere in it did I see any indication of who she worked for. If Lynn had made any sort of positive impression on the people of North Bay, she would have been at leaast alluded to.
I am trying not to look on this strip as a jab at the way Dr. Rod Johnston should be feeling without Lynn in his life; but I find I cannot.
I hadn't thought of that when I read it; now I can't look past it.
I think that, by keeping a low public profile with regards to the divorce, my estimation of Rod has risen, as it has when considering his community involvement and how well others in the places where he lives and has lived seem to regard him. Lynn has had the press and an army of fans at her disposal and it's unlikely any statement he made would be reported accurately or left unremarked upon by his ex.
DreadedCandiru2,
If I were to hazard a guess, that impression would be pretty much negative.
This is hard to say. She is a celebrity and many consider her to be a national treasure. I expect it would have more to do with persons who have had a personal interaction with her and what kind of mood Lynn was on that day – flaky, funny, or abusive.
I remember reading the obituary for Stephanie's partner; nowhere in it did I see any indication of who she worked for. If Lynn had made any sort of positive impression on the people of North Bay, she would have been at leaast alluded to.
It all depends on what the custom is for obituaries. I remember there were some odd turns of phrase with that obituary, so they may not include work history of surviving partner.
forworse,
I think that, by keeping a low public profile with regards to the divorce, my estimation of Rod has risen, as it has when considering his community involvement and how well others in the places where he lives and has lived seem to regard him.
At least one anonymous poster from Corbeil comes to the Howard Bunt Blog from time-to-time and has positive things to say about Rod. In contrast, no one from Corbeil has visited with negative things to say about him.
Lynn has had the press and an army of fans at her disposal and it's unlikely any statement he made would be reported accurately or left unremarked upon by his ex.
True enough. More importantly, I don’t think they ask. You never see, “Dr. Rod Johnston was called for this article and did not respond” or “Dr. Rod Johnston was called for article and had no comment.” The bias for Lynn in the articles is usually pretty obvious.
Yes, I think this strip is likely Lynn's delusion that Rod must feel lost without her. Indeed, Lynn seems to espouse the idea that all men are lost without their wives.
I have to say, the last few days of strips have been boring the hell out of me. Lynn certainly isn't doing her part to improve newspaper circulation.
qnjones,
Indeed, Lynn seems to espouse the idea that all men are lost without their wives.
My wife got a GPS, so now it’s a case of “But the GPS says to turn this way” to my “That way doesn’t make any sense. I’m going the way I always go.”
I have to say, the last few days of strips have been boring the hell out of me. Lynn certainly isn't doing her part to improve newspaper circulation.
Lynn has gotten away from the major selling points of the strip:
a. Semi-realistic art
b. Real-time progression
c. Soap opera-like drama
The strip, as it existed back in 1980 as a imitation of Peanuts, Cathy, and Dennis the Menace could not have survived to become as popular as it did. The new-run version is, as you have pointed out, as dull as it can be:
a. The art is worse.
b. There is no sense of real-time progression. If anything, there appears to be real-time regression as Mike and Lizzie seem to get younger and younger.
c. There is no soap opera drama, since Lynn is retelling her old stories from the time before she did that kind of story, and we already know what is going to happen
She isn't even "retelling stories" because she seems to go out of her way to avoid telling stories! She claimed the new strips would flesh out the old tales, but look at them--they're just filler, usually dull one-liners that add nothing substantive. For example, I don't see these strips of John caring for the kids as much of a "story." It's just a series of largely unconnected one-liner strips, with little continuity between them.
I think it might be a little unfair to call the strip's storylines "soap opera." FOOB's storylines never included anything that didn't happen to myself, my family, relatives, and/or friends. It seemed like a pretty undramatized slice of life. In fact, the endings to the stories usually ended up being a little too happy for reality. But there were never any evil twins, or characters back from the dead, or demonic possessions in FOOB. :)
What's wrong with a bit of soap in the story?
qnjones said ....there were never any evil twins, or characters back from the dead, or demonic possessions in FOOB. :)
I'm among the many awaiting the final episode of Battlestar Galactica--which has a heavy Canadian contribution, in fact.
Starbuck came back from the dead! As did Ellen & most of the other Cylons--some of whom came back many times. A human-appearing Cylon can act on "programming" in a way to mimic demonic possession; Boomer shot Adama! Evil twins? How about numerous duplicates, evil or not. (Boomer again--with Helo!) Yet many fans love the series, even with those "soap opera" elements.
Maybe LJ needs to add some serious soap-opera themes to the old stuff.
Or zombies! Everything is more interesting with zombies. Although the whole strip has been called Canadian Zombie....
qnjones,
FOOB's storylines never included anything that didn't happen to myself, my family, relatives, and/or friends.
But there were never any evil twins, or characters back from the dead, or demonic possessions in FOOB. :)
You are not giving FOOB it’s due. Farley has come back from the dead. Discussions about women’s lib have also come back from the dead. Michael and Lizzie are getting younger and younger. The younger Nichols’ boy, returned back to the womb and was unborn. When was the last time one of your family members did that?
As for soap opera, we have young Michael traumatized over the departure of his preschool sweetheart, while he was sick. And then there was the mysterious fate of Fred the fish, which no one seems to talk about, only Frank the fish is there now. Thanks to Lynn’s inept writing, we have tons of soap opera in For Better or For Worse.
maggie-texas,
Or zombies! Everything is more interesting with zombies. Although the whole strip has been called Canadian Zombie....
Hum! Farley could be a zombie. Or maybe a Cylon trying to make sure the humans of the 12 colonies don’t make the same mistake their predecessors did and leave the gate leading to the ravine unlatched.
*In many respects, that is a testimony to the impression that his good works have made in the community, and possibly a testimony to the impression Lynn may have made over the last 20+ years in Corbeil.*
Nail. On. Head.
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