Web comics and other cartoons by by Helen E. H. Madden
I promise, I will color this later on and repost. But for now, it's late and I'm going to bed.
PS – InterventionCon was FANTABULOUS!!!
I’ve been sick off and on all last week. Using the iPad to draw and post today’s webcomic. No idea how this will turn out. Sorry, but I haven’t left the bed in 14 hours. Soooooooo not feeling well.
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My freshman year, we had a cadet first sergeant who was tough as nails and mean as spit. His name was Cadet First Sergeant Phillips, and I believe he went on to be a Navy Seal after he graduated. He was tall, ugly, and hell-bent on whipping us rats into shape. He sort of succeeded with me. I did somehow survive my freshman year at any rate.
This comic and all the ones that follow were drawn the year after I graduated from Virginia Tech and got my commission in the Army Reserves. I moved off campus that summer, moved into an apartment with two friends, and then headed off to Officer Basic Course that fall. While I was at OBC, I had to mail in my comics to my new fiancé, a smart, gorgeous young man named Michael who eventually became the Hubster. Michael would then hand-deliver the comics to the Collegiate Times. This went on for five months, and then I returned to Blacksburg, got a lousy part-time job at the Hardee’s at Squires Student Center, and eventually moved into my own apartment, adopted three cats, started graduate school at Radford University. Honestly, at this point in my life, I had no idea what I wanted to do, even though I had my bachelor’s degree and my commission.
So anyway, the next two years’ worth of comics were drawn with a more hind-sight view of the VTCC. My view of the Cadet Corps as a graduate may have been a bit different than my view of it as a cadet. I can’t say for sure. You’ll simply have to read the comics and tell me.
By the way, I realize the earlier comics, from episode 01 to about episode 80, are screwed up. It has something to do with the change over from my old webhost to my new one. All I can say about it is that I am working to fix it, but will have to fix each entry by hand, so it will take a while. Also, GoDaddy sucks. ‘Nuff said.
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I seriously though this was going to happen last week at TRX class. That is one intense exercise class, and both Mich and I are amazed that we’ve been getting up before 5AM to make it there twice a week. We’ve also been getting up at around the same time to get to the pool three times a week, so that means every Monday through Friday, we are up before the butt-crack of dawn. We are so tired. But dang, we are lookin’ good!
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I graduated from Virginia Tech in 1991, but continued to draw “Rats!” for another two years. The summer after graduation, I worked for the VTCC as a recruiting officer, greeting visiting students to campus and telling them about the VTCC. The aide to General Musser, the Commandant of Cadets, had asked me to put together a booklet of “Rats!” comics to keep in the Brodie lounge. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a bunch of my favorite comics I had photocopied at Kinko’s and then stapled together. I drew a quick cover for it, and then added this page as an introduction.
General Musser actually enjoyed “Rats!” as I recall, and I remember at least two instances when I was called down to his office and was asked by his secretaries to draw a comic about particular incidents that had happened to the general. I think both have run on this website by now.
Unlike General Mouser, General Musser had a great sense of humor, and I remember him fondly. Hopefully, he always thought fondly of “Rats!” too.
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Oh holy cow. It’s amazing the difference one little pill can make. As of writing this, I’ve been on a generic brand of Paxil for over a week now, and even the kids can tell the difference. I’m no longer constantly worrying about things, I’m getting stuff done, I’m not brain dead come suppertime anymore, and I’m actually enjoying things that used to drive me up the wall. I can’t recall the last time I felt like this. It’s amazing.
There have been a couple days when the medication hasn’t worked, or it’s suddenly stopped working, and then suddenly I feel abysmal and over-anxious again. But overall, things have been good.
The diagnosis has changed, however. It’s no longer menopause, but polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS for short). When the nurse called and told me that, I immediately looked it up, and boy, is that a fun medical issue. Complications from PCOS include endometrial hyper-plasia (which I already know I have), heart disease, and insulin resistance or Type 2 Diabetes. There’s a chance I may also have some thyroid problems, so the doc is running a couple more tests. I go back in a few days to get all the results and discuss treatments.
But right now, things are fine. Work is getting done. I’m having fun with the kids, and I’ve stopped cleaning the house like a harpy on speed. In other words, I can now handle life without the stress killing my brain. We’ll see what happens next week. Until then, have fun!
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Some of you may know I was a member of VTSFFC as well as the VTCC while I was at Virginia Tech. VTSFFC stands for the Virginia Tech Science Fiction and Fantasy Club. I was president of the club for a year. The Hubster was Vice President. A few friends of ours nominated the two of us together because they thought we made a cute couple. Twenty-two years later, we’re still together, and at least the Hubster is still cute.
Anyway, VTSFFC ran, and still might run, an annual science fiction convention. Looking at this flier, I have to admit, for a small college convention, we somehow managed to snag some pretty impressive guests. Larry Elmore (http://larryelmore.com/) is one of the best known fantasy artists in the business, and Ruth Thompson’s work (http://redrooart.com/) will always astonish me. Mark Ryan is from England, and I can’t recall how we managed to get him over to the US for this tiny little con, but somehow we did!
This is the last drawing I’ve got from the second year of “Rats!” I graduated and got my commission in 1991. I continued to draw “Rats!” for another two years, as you’ll see. But life was definitely different for me from that point on.
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A couple of weeks ago, I became so evil even I couldn’t stand myself. Yelling, snapping, having meltdowns. I was just foul. I’d had several nights of insomnia, but that by itself wasn’t enough to justify how absolutely miserable I was. I was so furious over the mess in the garage I went and renovated the place. I, who had never picked up power tools before, painted and put up peg board, and then installed a rack of shelves. By MYSELF! And I made several trips to the dump, the thrift store, the hardware store. Some days, I’d start on that garage at 8:00 AM and keep going right through the day until about 8:00 PM, when I’d finally collapse, drenched in sweat and absolutely filthy from all the cleaning and scrubbing and painting. A few days, Pixie was able to convince me to take her to the pool, where she’d swim and I’d float around in my floaty chair and just stew. I was mad at everyone and everything. I told the Hubster to not say one word to me about the garage. I was going to do whatever the hell I wanted to do with it. Fortunately, the man stayed out of my way for most of it. And then there were these moments when I’d feel the whole world just drop out from beneath my feet.
Yeah, something was wrong with me.
I knew something was wrong, too, and it was affecting the kids. So I made an appointment, went in and told my doctor that if he has seen me the week before, he would have declared me rabid and had me put down. After a bit of discussion, he concluded I might be starting menopause. When I told him about the yelling and snapping and renovating of the garage, he said, “So you’re a bit manic…”
And then he gave me a prescription to take the edge off my mood.
I have to admit, that prescription works. We’re waiting on blood work to see how my hormone levels are doing. In the meantime, I’m on a very mild medication that seems to have nipped all my stress in the bud. I’m not a brain dead zombie, nor am I comfortably numb. I just feel really relaxed and that’s good because now I can finally spend time with the Hubster and kids without worrying about whether or not I’ll end up on the 11PM news.
I’ll let you know how things go. In the meantime, I need to go replace my couch. I chewed a few holes through it before the meds kicked in.
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Being in command is not nearly as much fun as sitting back and laughing at other people who are in command. Trust me on this one.
I hope you new seniors at the VTCC are ready to take charge. You’ve got one year left until you graduate and then the real fun begins. NOT!
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Meet Magic Mike! He’s the instructor for the 5:30AM TRX class Mich and I have started taking at the Y. That’s right, 5:30AM. The class is very strenuous and I’m not sure Mich will ever truly forgive me. Why she puts up with me, I will never know.
In addition to the TRX classes, Mich and I have also been going to deep water aerobics at 6AM a few times a week. And I’ve been biking 15-25 miles on Sunday. And I manage to sneak in karate classes at least once a week.
All that exercise. And yet somehow my butt is still expanding.
I know it’s a combination of stress, change-of-life hormones (i.e. menopause), and bad habits. And these three factors just feed on each other to make things worse. I’m not sure yet how I’m going to get a handle on it all. The exercise does help, but I need to be very careful about what I eat, and that’s something I just don’t do when I’m stressed. And of course, the hormone surges that come with menopause just jack that stress level right on up, and when that happens I turn straight to comfort food…
The Hubster tells me not to worry about it. He thinks I look fine. And I love him for saying that. But my jeans are saying something else entirely. So I’m going to do something about it, I just don’t know what yet. Perhaps Magic Mike will be able to magic the fat off my butt at the next TRX class.
Assuming I don’t hang myself on my straps first.
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