ZLM_Encounter

Don't make me smack that smile off your face.
Zero Like Me #142:
The Cantabulous Life of Zero Zetsubo Pt.1 -
Random Encounter
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Fun_Cantabulous

So I was away this past weekend doing some field research. A part of it had me spending up some 28 hours, mainly at Leverett House. I had dinner and breakfast there, both featuring food I've had at Yale, and I have to say Harvard smoked Yale, no contest, on almost everything edible. They even have chocomilk in their dining halls. What kind of non-Commons caveman state is the rest of Yale in? No, choco-soy milk doesn't count, hippies.

The soft-serve and the hot-choco weren't as great as Yale, maybe the eggs, nuther, but everything else was miles ahead of Yale. I thought Yale's French toast rocked, but dude, they had real-deal FT up in that snitch. The Chicken Parmesan was just as surpassy to its Yale counterpart, too. They didn't have OTS (organic tomato sauce, for the laypeople), but their spaghetti sauce was as sweetly tangy as OTS on its best "candy days," as I call them. On top of that, Lev (home of the fightin' bunnies/hares/whatevs) was considerably more hospitable than JE's ugly sister, Eliot House.

Everything was better this time around--actual heat for the Common Room I slept in on The Game-eve, and incredibly hospitable students for the most part (met some of the dullest H students yet: I'm dressed in my Yale sweater with my Yale hat and Yale scarf and I get countless curious Cantabs asking, "do you go to Yale?" sans sarcasm. One even asked me to swipe them in somewhere and I had to point to my sweater and read it aloud before she realized what she was asking...just wow.)

Anyway, I met a super nice Harvardian named John, which I thought was funny because it's like meeting a Yalie named Elihu (plus it's such a refreshingly generic-sounding name), and we spoke at length about being minorities at the only Ivies that matter and more. Turns out he tries to look extra nerdy walking around Cambridge at night, to look like a less threatening black Harvardian; and I try to look extra tough walking around New Haven at night to look like a more threatening Mexican Yalie.

From our talk, I learned a lot about Harvard. Long story short, while Harvard's food is incredible, everything else just doesn't have as much appeal as Yale. I probably wouldn't even be drawing if I went to Harvard--he confirmed my suspicion that Harvard is just too track-oriented, whereas Yale is more about find yourselfism. Yalies are more willing to let academics slide to put heavy effort into extracurriculars, but it's the reverse at Harvard. John says they're greatly pre-law/med/business, so "you have to keep the numbers high." And in fact, even if Harvies are involved in a bunch of extracurriculars, he says that many are simply nominal members at most with nearly no true participation.

The funniest thing is that regardless of how pointless the organization, Harvard students always make sure they're funded, so the business boards are always the toughest positions to get because they always matter. It's so funny because at Yale it's almost as if business boards are after thoughts--the Yale Record struggled with this for a long while, and it's still not even quite there yet. The Herald is kinda iffy, too. But Crimsonians make sure their organizations are well funded before they even debut.

Ok, the wordcount on this post is embarrassingly high. So just a quick word about today's drawings--I drew them while camping out at Leverett House Saturday thru Sunday. I thought I was tasked with watching some Yalies' gear, so I decided to just stay up drawing all night and watching Cambridge TV. Highlights included "Lock Up," a documentary on Latin gangs, a Masterpiece Theatre movie about a murder, and a community access movie about a murder. Lots of murderers...

Turns out the gear I thought I was supposed to watch over belonged to some totally different person, but I was still stuck at Lev till about 4pm Sunday. More drawings and gossip from the Lev Session to come.

Reuxben

Fun_Jesters

I made a lot of mistakes.
Chief among my innumerable regrets and shortcomings is not being able to open up to people in a more meaningful or even in a merely more direct way. There are so many people I know only in passing, but I'm too wrapped up in my mind to hazard any further.

One Friday morning I was literally in line at Commons next to someone I've wanted so badly to talk to, someone I respect so much, but I couldn't get myself to even formulate a greeting. This after we had just spent a good ten minutes in that same small foyer waiting for Commons to open. This after being two of the few (the proud) Friday Morning Commonsers all year. It kills me to this day because even in that moment, as I was swiping in to breakfast, I was thinking,

Wow, this is senior year and I'm probably never leaving California again, let alone ever returning to the east coast, and I am choosing to let this moment pass unpursued. Wow.

All things grow.
I've never been too crazy about small talk, but I remember it was around fifth grade that expending serious effort to chitchat became beyond me. But now, some 12 years later, have I improved? Sorta. Maybe not.

In some ways Yale was the best part of my life. In other ways, it was such a monumentally blown opportunity. I avoided eating at JE because I always felt like such a fool going there, so it was kinda funny when I learned from some Yale archives one night that JE students were not originally called spiders, but "Jesters."

Anyway, I wish I could apologize to everyone who must have felt slighted by my reticence. I wish I could draw everyone a picture. I wish I could just stop wishing. But I probably won't.

lol

Reuxben

ZLM_HarvardCrime

That's an actual shirt design people wear to The Game.
Zero Like Me #141:
On Harvard Crime
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ZLM_FashMash

Shirk that wort and work that shirt.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #140:
Take Ivy FashMash
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ZLM_TigerBeat

What's this Prinstown you speak of?
Zero Like Me [Alive] #139:
Tiger Beat
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Fun_Sporty

An

old

and

sporty

practice

drawing.

Reuxben

ZLM_KeepCool

Suck it up, Zero, but don't suck up.
Zero Like Me [Alive] #138:
Keep Cool, My Cry Babies
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Fun_GoodGrief

Zero Like Me
[losers only]


It's not automatic.

So we scurry on
as we hurry on
in a furious flurry
of blurrious worry.

Art is the weapon,
but
my aim needs work.

Reuxben

ZLM_ModestMouse

Hate it when that happens.
Zero Like Me [Alive] #137:
Tru Tales Pt.2 - Video Killed the Modest Mouse
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Fun_Kat

 

Drawing on Friday nights is the only way to fly.

Reuxben

ZLM_NeverForget

How much would it suck missing out on your only chance to meet your hero?
Answer: A LOT.
Zero Like Me [Alive] #136:
Tru Tales Pt.1 - Never Forget
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Fun_SoSo

So close.

Yet so far.

And so on and so forth.

So it goes.

So...

Reuxben

ZLM_StenchiMucho

Light 'em up, just stay the fluff away from me.
Zero Like Me [Alive] #135:
Stenchi Mucho
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ZLM_Tru

Spoken like a tru deaufeatist.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #134:
Tru
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ZLM_NotCoolWhip

That's what you get for having fun.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #133:
Not Cool Whip
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SLS_Teeny

 

Keep your cell camera recording while the cops beat you senseless, it's Sick Little Suicide #21, "Teeny," in which I dig through the art archives for content and post it when it's semi-relevant again.

It's like how a broken watch is right at least twice a day.

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Fun_Medication

Aight, here's the dill: the inevitable has happened.
Gotta drop to two comics a week while I handle some other business. I hope I can show the stuff to you some day.

So once a week, I'll post some sketches and stuff, just like the good old days.

Please hold your tears. I know it's devastating. You'll survive.

This is what they make you take the medication for.

Reuxben

ZLM_Hamtaro

It's your classic "Conan to Jimmy."
Zero Like Me [Alive] #132:
Hamtaro Manifesto - The Ballad of Alan Everett
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ZLM_BlastingOff

Dairy will do that to ya, but it's so worth it, always.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #131:
Blasting Off
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YDN_zlm.Itchy

It's shameless the way we flirt.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #130:
Itchy And Scratchy
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Fun_SmokersFall

Just got a hot tip on a dope deal down at the docks by the dairy, y'dig? Dang, serious ice at stake; steady hands and nerves needed, natch (didn't hear it from me, man). And I gotta get it gonzo.

Gonna have to get a grain check on that corker of a comic today. But check this cheese instead, from back in the day, like black in the bay, featuring a fall fest finished freshly on Friday.

Ah--dangit, it's the fuzz. Found here fast. Listen, keep your nose clean, kid, I'll hang here, hold 'em, and heave 'em. See you back at base. And don't ditch the dice this time. Gonna blast those bones for bills, boy, believe it.

Now beat it, them bobbies gettin' bubbly.

Reuxben

ZLM_TheOnlyFriend

Shut up and miss me, you fool.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #129:
The Only Friend For Me Is You
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. Hikaru's (from Hikaru No Go) first costume in chapter 1, since Z and N's hair designs were heavily inspired by Obata's art.

Fun Facts: On October 14, 2008, the Yale Daily News printed the very first issue of Zero Like Me. Nyao's exact age is unknown, but she's adopted October 13th as her mirthday, which is like a birthday but not; she's been stranded on planet Earth for 2 years now. It doesn't seem to bum her out.

Since first starting at the YDN, I've been through three YDN eBoards (four if you count the present post-graduation one) and way too many editors, I've seen the frigid YDN-Herald rivalry shatter like the Berlin Wall; I've seen color arrive at YDN comics, I saw comicsers (briefly) treated like actual staffers; I've seen YDN comics go from being the laughing stock of the Ivy League to being the pinnacle. I've gotten chewed out by athletes and their cronies plus agents of Beauty and Justice, nearly got suspended from the YDN, survived bouts with censorship, got cited in the Herald, the YDN, and the Rumpus, won some money in a comics competition, published a comics compilation. I've switched to digital inking and coloring/toning. I had many breakdowns and resurgences. I had hits and misses. I may well have wasted my Yale career on this stuff. But so it goes, Dr. Jones.

Baa: Zero Like Me has enabled me to meet and interact with all kinds of amazing people, people I really don't even have any good excuse to be interacting with--even just plain people period. Off the top of my head, I've met millionaires and people with even less money than me, members from the three major societies and beyond, singers, rappers, rockers, sci-fi fans, Magic-playing footballers, cancer-fighting doctors, semi-condescending scientists, hipsters, cigar aficionados, photographers, dining hall workers, bloggers, former US presidential candidates, successful YCC presidential candidates; improv artists, street artists, fine artists, comics artists, an elementary school class of kids making their first comics. And many other random, wonderful strangers.

Thank you to anyone who has bothered to read any comic of mine. I wish I could tell you more, but I can't. I have to pretend like I'm not overly sentimental because we're in public. But I will say you make it worth it. I want so badly to entertain, help, and comfort people with my art. And that's what your visits mean to me, so thank you. Who knows what will happen in a year, let alone two more, but I hope to do as much as I can for you.

I still don't get why people liked the comic in the first place. And I guess I never will. And I dunno, but it seemed like girls are more into the comic than guys, at least when I was an undergrad...mysteries never to be solved.

Well, sincere thanks for visiting, you deserve a gold star.

Best hopes and wishes,

Reuxben

ZLM_HanaOnna

Why do they call her the "Flower Lady" when she's neither?

Zero Like Me [Alive] #128:
Hana Onna
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ZLM_ZacEfron

Men weep, women swoon. But mainly they just mace.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #127:
Zac Efron
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ZLM_ThatsWhat

Watch your mouth, kid, or you're gonna find yourself floating home.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #126:
That's What I Chose: Yale
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Fulltext and special features are Additionals.