Banal Hemorrhage

We’ve had two chihuahuas since Covid. Since then, at least a third of my comics have been about this non-sensical breed. I apologize profusely. The fact of the matter is that I still stare at these organisms and wonder how they are evolutionarily possible. And apparently they’re one of the oldest breeds out there.  Our particular twosome are in okay physical shape (except for a few tumors and skin tags), even though they spend 95% of the time in bed or on my wife’s legs. Their emotional shape, however, has a lot of room for improvement.   The male specimen, Conan, can go from looking like this: To looking like this, in a nanosecond. He will bite you. Thankfully their bites are harmless, because they have the worst teeth ever granted to canines. The female one, Xena, looks like she was caught farting on a hot mic all day, every day. But in all honesty, I can’t overstate how much these guys have made our lives better. Sometimes, you just have to say yes to things you never ...

Do I have social anxiety, or do I simply get anxious when socializing? I don't know. Labels aren't always that important.  When it comes to socializing, I’ve found success by forcing myself to go through the whole thing. The whole sweaty palms and quickening pulse of it. Therapists call it paradoxical intervention (it's very much like systematic desensitization for behaviorists), and it really works. Past that anxiety wall there’s been more good than bad in my life. Anxiety, like the state of Ohio, gets better when you power through it. I know I pick on Ohio, but driving through that state is when I realized Trump would win in 2016. Even so, after all these years, my body still thinks there’s danger wherever I am in a new social situation. All the lights in my dashboard start blinking. Much like with conservative radio, I'm better off ignoring the hyperbolic warnings. This comic is about something I really wanted as a kid; glasses that would make me forget that I’m an a...