Hi Systemics!

Time to try out something new on the site. Some of you have noticed (and commented) about “Rossmom” posts in the comments. Yes, those are in fact my mother. Well, after much debate and little planning, here we go. The chance for you to write in and ask my mother questions, and she’ll answer them here on the site. Here’s how this works:

Send an email to systemcomic at gmail dot com with the subject line “Ask Rossmom” and then, well, ask your question! We’ll post the answers here on the site as we can. Some suggested topics after knowing my mom for 28 or so years:

• Chocolate
• Organization
• “Mom advice”
• Life questions
• Silly questions

Really, anything except about the time my brother pooped in the corner at the age of 3 is up for grabs. She graduated magna cum laude from a very prestigious university and holds degrees in things, so anything is fair game. If it’s successful enough, maybe it’ll become a podcast? So START WRITING!

Good times!

Have you ever ran in those running shoes with all the toes and no shoe support? I did and I can say that it was interesting, but I don’t recommend it. I think I got a stress fracture in my left foot (I may be exaggerating, I’m not sure), but that’s probably because I didn’t ease in like they tell you to. Yes, I should’ve, but I didn’t. Also, my “stride” is exactly the wrong kind of stride for these shoes, because I land with my heel (which is “bad for you” according to half the Internet, and “okay fine” with the other half) and not the ball of my foot. Alas.

Those shoes do have the added bonus of making you look like a douche when you’re just out and about and wearing them, so at least I have that to look forward to.

UPDATE: Listen, here’s the deal with me and running. You ask for advice on the best ways to do it and you get a million different answers. My very wise girlfriend was taught that whatever your natural stride is you shouldn’t try to change it because you might hurt yourself. Others say you should because there’s a “right” way to do it and you should do it that way. I only run about twice a week for about 3-5 miles, so I’m going to just keep running the way I was running, and maybe I’ll try those shoes out again in a few weeks when my foot feels better.

Hey Systemics! A trip to head out of town (my mini summer vacation) snuck up on me, so there won’t be a new comic until Monday night. In the meantime, I’m happy that the current “better at things” comic is the one that’s up, that’s a good one to keep on for now. I’ll see you guys on Monday night!

 

-Rosscott

Today’s comic/poster/thing (which is available as an 11×17 print) is based on an experience yesterday I had after seeing the adorable wedding RSVP website of Jessica Hische and Russ Maschmeyer (jessandruss.us). Most of you will just look at that site and say “aww cute” or “that’s nice” or something. But every designer I showed it to had pretty much the same opinion, that I will now describe as The Creative Shitstorm. Here’s some highlights from what that swirl of emotion feels like, pulled from conversations in the last few days (and I swear only some of them are mine):

• Fuck, that’s really nice.
• Dammit, why am I not making awesome shit like that?
• I need to stop everything shitty I’m doing and only do awesome things.
• Crap, I’m incapable of that level of quality.
• That’s it, I either need to give up my career or the rest of my life.
• Why aren’t I dating a graphic-designer-creative-type that I can collaborate on awesome projects with like that?
• I want to get paid all the money in the world to do amazing projects that everyone loves.
• Shit, well back to the email I was writing to a client about why the color I chose isn’t “too new” and they still have to pay me.

That led to me tweeting “I need to work harder to be better at things.”

I think all artists feel this way sometimes, and it is probably the best example I can think of artists “toiling”. In my case it’s led to missing out on time with friends, gaining weight, losing sleep, failing in relationships, and hopefully getting a little better at what I do. There are days when it is the worst thing in the entire universe.

But at the same time, in some way it’s actually healthy. It’s a fire that makes you refocus and hopefully decide to improve for it. Double down on your goals. And that is important because it’s the only way to improve. Have goals and do lots of work, and decide that you want it to be good. If you want it to be good and you keep your eye on what you think is good and think about what makes it good, you can’t help but get better. At least, that’s my hope, and I’m trusting that process.

Who’s with me?

 

I’m trying to fix it. If anyone knows how, just let me know. Otherwise, stay tuned. It’s at the top of my list.