lydamorehouse | My weird little hobbies

I've been thinking that one of the ways I want to live my life is as if I were in a slice-of-life manga. You know, something like Laid-Back Camp or Super Cub.

But, because I am also like this, I actually started drawing it. I am, because I am a weirdo, drawing it as if you should read it right to left. I started on the last page of a book that I was already using for doodling and other art projects. Because I'm pretending this is a manga, I'm also including translator's notes, as though you are stumbling across this on some pirate site.

Because I'm not sure if this will be a one-shot or a full volume, there is no cover or title yet. I may continue in full-color, though I should really, if I want to be manga-like only have a few opening color splash pages and then move into black and white.

I kind of like coloring, though.

So perhaps this is an imaginary collected webtoon or manhua.

Cartoon image of my actual kitchen.

Image: a rendition of my actual kitchen in most of its actual colors and me (a little skinnier than I really am) doing the dishes, while looking out the window.

The narration starts, as manga often do, with the main's full name, age and occupation. So the first panel of this this reads: "I'm Lyda Morehouse, 56, a not very successful self-employed writer." Now before you yell at me for not talking up my successes (and I do actually think I'm VERY successful, thank you very much!), this often the type of main character you find in slice-of-life. They're doing OKAY. They're usually not on the fast-track at their job. Sometimes they're not-very-popular high schoolers, FREETs (someone who is content to live off a parttime salary,) or other people who are mildly out of step with the larger, fast-paced society. Not always? Like, I read a very delightful slice-of-life called Sweetness & Lightning that is about a single working dad trying to find the time and energy to make meals for himself and his only daughter.

The lower panel reads, "One day, I decided to imagine what it might be like if I lived my life as if I was in a slice-of-life manga."

Very self-referential so far! Very meta!

The next page looks like this:

Second page of the manga - lots of outdoors, no people

Second page of the manga - lots of outdoors, no people

Image: second page of the manga -- lots of outdoor images, no people.

So, remember, you're reading this top, right panel, then left. This page's narration says: "Outside of the kitchen window, the black-eyed susans and golden glows were a riot of color against the grey siding of our neighbor's house. All of my gardens are like this. Wild, out of control." Then you see the cicada who has a very Japanese cameo here, signaling not only that it is summer, but that today is VERY hot. The next panels read, "The weather forecast said there would be a be a heat index of 100 degrees.* We could tell. The cicadas were singing at 10 am. I hoped to harvest some chives before it got too hot." The bottom dialogue box is from the supposed translator and it reads, "T/N: America uses Fahrenheit. To most of the rest of us, this is 37."

I'm pretty impressed with my cicada:

A close-up of a cicada

Image: cicada hanging on a tree. She sings: "Bzzzt! Bzzzt!"

So, yeah, this is what I do in my copious free time when I should really be starting on the next novel. I mean, to be fair this did not actually take all that much time. I probably spend more time playing Solitaire, so, I mean, look forward to that chapter! ;-)

I started this in part, in response to a conversation I had with

pegkerr over Zoom about what other people find boring. She's been doing a weekly visual journal and has been feeling like her life is boring, as if no one would care about the little things she gets up to every day. First of all, please! I will point the gentle reader to the above. There is an entire deeply successful manga genre devoted to people reading about people's boring lives.

Also, I have long resisted the idea that life is EVER truly boring. I mean, part of what I love about slice-of-life manga is that they often call to the reader to slow down, look outside their window, and revel in the fact that eating good food nourishes the soul. This is literally the stuff of life. Hear the cicadas. Feel the heat. Consider the wildness of the flowers outside your kitchen window. Do the dishes. Tidy up. These are all GOOD and valuable things!

So we got into a bit and so I have now dedicated my life to being as f*cking mundane as possible it and drawing beautiful images about my utterly plain life to prove that dullness is in the eye of the beholder.

Maybe you wouldn't read 57 volumes of this, but maybe I can give you an interesting peek into my day-to-day life.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

profiterole_reads

I love this! <3

Also, I'm reading Welcome to Boy.net. I am so late to the party.

From:

lydamorehouse

It's never late to the party! Yay on both accounts!

From:

profiterole_reads

I made a quote post. Also check out garnetrena's tag, lots of good stuff there.

From:

overlord_mordax

Oh I love these! Huge fan of Yuru Camp, and I agree, its a great outlook on life to have.

From:

lydamorehouse

Isn't it? Do you watch Laid-Back Camp or read it? The manga amused me by having actual information about the places they visited.

From:

overlord_mordax

I watched it! The anime had a lot of camping info in it too, but now I kind of want to read the manga as well.

From:

lcohen

it takes a lot to bore me in terms of people talking about their actual day to day life. the last time i can recall being actually bored was someone talking about their magic the gathering deck and referring to all the cards they had and since i have never played MTG or seen any cards in a deck, after about ten minutes i simply couldn't relate anything he was talking about to anything in my head and my brain turned off. you washing dishes and looking at a garden, otoh, relates to a lot of things in my head!

From:

lydamorehouse

Yes, one of my points in my argument is that the only point of "boredom" for me is actually disinterest. Like, I've had people go on about their personal genealogy that I have also checked out of, but again, like with your MTG experience, it wasn't because it wasn't necessarily boring so much as I had no context for this list of names. Like, tell me who they were! Were you descendent from a pirate? Did your auntie have some mysterious job during WWII? Or even more mundane stuff, but, for the love of God, give me some context, something I can hang a hat on.

And a dry list of things you did yesterday can be boring, but most of the time people were thinking interesting thoughts while doing the dishes or, if coaxed, can tell me something they love about their kitchen and suddenly, I'm right there, not bored AT ALL.

Edited Date: 2024-08-26 09:04 pm (UTC)

From:

minnehaha

Completely agree. As a historian, I see my entire focus as finding pirates and mysterious jobs.

K.

From:

kore

Seriously, we all wash dishes and see flowers!

From:

ursula

This is really cute!

From:

lydamorehouse

Thanks! It's silly, but I'm enjoying it.

From:

naomikritzer

I love this.

From:

lydamorehouse

Thank you!

From:

pameladean

This is great. I would actually read it. I mostly can't connect at all to manga or any kind of graphic story, but this is great.

If I did one of these (I cannot draw), I think it would end up being about all the beautiful invasive species in my yard. I just found out that sweet autumn clematis, which I've spent a lot of time coaxing off the phone and power lines and onto the former rose trellises, is an invasive species and should be discouraged. Not that it can be, really. But I can be, and for sure I am.

P.

From:

lydamorehouse

Ugh, I'm really sorry to hear about the clematis. I, too, know I should be pulling the blue bellflowers, but I haven't had the heart.

Perhaps upcoming panels will include this!

I try not to be one of those anime and manga fans that proselytize, but of anyone I know you seem especially ripe for some of these incredibly gentle slice-of-life stories where people just reconnect with nature and eat good food in good company. It's delightful and wholesome.

From:

pameladean

I have the bellflowers too, of course. I've seen it suggested that one let them bloom, and then either pull them once they've gone to seed, or cut them back so the seeds don't have a chance to fall and sprout, and then pull them later in the season.

You won't be rid of them this way, but will slow propagation. I've done this haphazardly, and it does seem to prevent rampant spread while still providing some pretty flowers.

I think you're very likely right about that kind of manga and me.

P.

From:

kore

an invasive species and should be discouraged. Not that it can be, really. But I can be, and for sure I am.

Aww. I can see that as a great illustration tho! Those petals are so pretty.

From:

pameladean

I know, they're just delightful.

P.

From:

kore

I really like it! The bright light-washed colour and relaxed lines are neat.

From:

lydamorehouse

Thanks!

From:

sartorias

This is so charming!

From:

lydamorehouse

Aw, thanks. I managed another page last night. I've decided to make it a kind of daily devotion to boringness! :-)

From:

house_wren

omigod I love this so much.

Also, I strongly identify with your tags for this entry: "boredom, drawing, hobbies, my weird life." My weird life consists of boredom, because I'm always ill, and my hobbies that generally are of interest only to me.

From:

lydamorehouse

Well, first, thanks for the compliment, second... I'm sorry that you're so ill all of the time. That does make enjoying even the "boring" things very difficult. You have all of my sympathy. I had a brief bout with chronic pain (like three weeks of constant nerve pain) and I thought, I don't know how people do have to deal with this every single hour of every single day even survive. That really made me realize how much any kind of chronic problem can really affect your life.

From:

house_wren

Oh god, constant nerve pain is THE WORST! I'm sorry you learned this and glad it was only three weeks.

Along with other things I've got a chronic nerve pain problem but I also have meds that work and that have no side effects. This is a miracle! Sometimes I even forget that I have this diagnosis. Hurrah!

The surprising thing about my chronic illness situation is that in some ways I am very happy. I'm introverted and autistic (also adhd) and because I'm ill, I am home almost all the time. I get to read, sleep, make things, etc. All the obligations of life have faded. (Well, I'm also retired so had few obligations anyway.) Maybe I'm being a bit Pollyanna about it? But what choice is there? Ha. "Always look on the bright side of life...."

From:

rachelmanija

I LOVE this. I would read 57 volumes of it.

From:

lydamorehouse

Aw, you're a sweetheart. Maybe one day we can trade pottery for a copy of my "manga"! :-)

From:

elainegrey

WOW! I love your drawing style and coloring! Thank you!

From:

lydamorehouse

Thanks! Long ago, I used to teach cartooning, but I gave it up in part because one is always one's own worst critic and I never felt "professional" enough. I wish I hadn't let that stop me. But it did for a long time. So it's nice to come back to it and feel appreciated!