Rage Comics and Social Rules

The plan for an easy Spring break was foiled by foul weather and an outbreak of a stomach virus at our favorite childcare place.  I realize that Tyoma will eventually get whatever bug is circulating in southern NH, but I just don’t want to spend our vacation week sick.

Sadly, I needed to start my day with a bit of shopping. I won't be  shopping at Market Basket again. People swarm there as early as 7:30, leaving me  feelingly squeezed and assaulted.   inadvertent experience, I learned that singing softly to myself and playing keyboard on the cart handles keeps a number of people at bay.

After a day of shopping and   my attention between mom and Tyoma, I feel beyond brain dead.  Crashed out on my bed (hubby and I do have separate beds). I  up my little brain to my computer looking for entertainment. Enter Failblog.

Once upon a time I purused the LOLcat directory--cute, but glurgy. Failblog is worth a chuckle, but mostly I show up for Ugliest Tattoos. I can’t think of a more profound way to reveal your character than to display something permanently on your person. Looking at a gallery of shocking and delightful tattoos gives me a secret thrill.   the same sweet little rush I get when I see blue nail polish or a dyed goth princess. So I chuckle and smile my way through the absurd winged genitalia, disturbingly placed for public consumption. However, after the third Technicolor armpit monstrosity, it does get a bit passé.

So I pop on over to Know Your Meme (KYM) ,  to see what Bear Grylls is up to today. I visit rarely, but when I do, I really dive in.  While I never visit the anarchy that is 4chan or tumblr, I do like the whole Mad Magazine feel of KYM. It’s a guilty sort of pleasure that should belong to young men of a certain age, but it absolutely transfixes me.

So meet Rage Comics. I’ve seen the drawings, so I dedicated an evening (Saturday night) to learning all about them.  Last night, I noticed that there is an actual section at FB devoted to the comics.  So I must have read 150 of them.  they vary in quality, certainly, but overall, I think I have a good deal in common with the young men that make them. it seems that we are equally confounded by the same world and take pride in the same things. Liberating.  A mid-fortyish woman with the mind of a 24 year old man with nothing better to do.

I like the Rage Comics for their unusual blend of humor,  brevity, and poignancy. I like short stories for similar reasons.Direct and generated with agreed upon symbols Rage Comics make me laugh over something I share with a stranger.

And thus, my second search.  I finally joined Wrong Planet.  True to form, I lurked endlessly, not contributing a word.  But I found the most awesome forum, xxx. I read about seven pages of posts, smiling and nodding.  It felt so right to be there, knowing that I am not alone in being awkward and clueless.  Between the excellent forum and Rage Comics, I felt connected and content.