Science Class Well Spent

As you may or may not have been able to tell, I am a relatively talented cartoonist.

This was clearly evident in my chemistry class today.  See, my chemistry teacher doesn't seem to quite get the concept that if he's not here, we probably won't be able to understand the information that he wants us to learn, especially if the substitute looks like he'd rather be home in his bed watching the golf channel.

I kid you not, this substitute teacher was definitely not into teaching this class at all.

The most words he could string together was "Are you ready for the next slide?" as he switched back and forth between slides of increasingly cryptic notes relating to the subject of starches and sugar.

Sugar: Not quite as sweet when you are trying to figure out its chemical formula.

Either way, he probably said a good twenty words the entire 55-minute class period.  Once we finished writing the notes down, he slumped over in his chair and looked like he was asleep.

Which he probably was.  I mean, seriously, I can't take the stinking class seriously enough and I'm full of energy.  This guy was well past retirement age.  I would have fallen asleep before I even had the powerpoint started up if I was him.

Either way, none of us knew what exactly we were doing, and he wasn't exactly sure what he was teaching us either; he seemed quite content with letting us do whatever we wanted.  Now, normally, I would stare at the busywork for a couple minutes, do the incredibly easy problems, laugh, and then put it away just so I can lose it at the appropriate time, but the girl sitting next to me had some markers and was coloring, so I had to silence the child inside of me.

This was not easy to do.

The little kid in me said, "LET'S MAKE PICTURES!"

I said, "No, let's try to figure out Disaccharides and triglycerides!"

I really wasn't making a really compelling case for this homework.  But I persevered somehow, and as I was grumbling about my troubles, I thought of how some people had it so easy.  And immediately, I got an image in my head about a person who didn't have to worry about the 20 types of amino acids or exactly how these amino acids join into peptide bonds.  This person was angry, southern, and for some reason, had a hairstyle that was both metrosexual and "Hell's Angels"-esque.  I wanted to draw this character and his family.

So I did.  And I present Butch , Bertha, and their son, Billy.

It took me about six tries to get this right; THE FAMILY-OWNED SCANNER (My mother likes to remind me that I don't actually own this stuff) is dysfunctional.  As usual.  But yeah, this is Butch and Bertha.  They were rednecks in Alabama.  For some reason, they decided to move to the farthest reach of human existance, AKA suburban Minnesota.  I've decided they got on the wrong side of a really bad fight down at the tractor store and had to go into the witness protection program.

See, the great thing about this family is that while they really know nothing about chemistry and all the complex things going on in what you thought were simplistic sweet-tasting sugar, they're okay with that and get on with their lives.

And now, I want to start a comic strip.  It probably won't be about the stereotypical southern family, because, quite frankly, I really know nothing about this subtype of American Culture, apart from the massive amounts of alcohol ingested and a frenzied passion for NASCAR.

So, I am currently in the planning stage of a comic strip! Isn't that fascinating?

Nod your head in agreement.  I know you can.

Love, Hugs, and Less Than Threes,

Sprovis