Geekasaurus started in a moment. I had been taking a free cartooning class at my local library with cartoonist John Klossner. At the end of the first day, with about 10 minutes left in the class, John said, “Okay, now I want you all to draw a character.” I had no opportunity to overthink this. I literally had to come up with a character on the spot and all I had in my head were dinosaurs. Why? A) Because dinosaurs are pretty awesome. B) Because I had been reading the comic Lilith Dark by Charles C. Dowd. C) Because Alice has always been the Dinosaur and whenever I leave the house I am plagued with thoughts of my infant daughter. Thus, my first character was born. I didn’t know that she would become me in a webcomic about my family. I just rushed through a quick sketch of a made-up dinosaur and called it good, figuring that I could always create a better character later on down the line. But I kinda liked my little dinosaur and she grew on me quickly.
A couple of weeks later, I was leaving for cartooning class. Due to the frustrations of not being able to find a parking space the week before, my husband offered to drop me off. It was a welcome favor. As I got into the car I was preoccupied with whatever was on my mind. Honestly, I have a ridiculous number of thoughts at any given time. Seriously. It’s nuts in here. My husband mumbled something to me which sounded exactly like “turpentine thermos” and I looked at him like was trying to smuggle a can of Spam underneath his hat – meaning that I was terribly confused. What secret code is “turpentine thermos?” Is this a thing now that all the cool kids say while I’m still stuck in the 90s with my love of Eddie Vedder and missing Bonne Bell Lip Shades in Mocha Sheen? Is this a new invention; a thermos specifically designed to keep your turpentine at the optimal temperature? My mumbling husband of course clarified by telling me that he had actually said “curbside service” and was trying to be all gentlemanly, but I had ruined the moment in a way that only the two of us find hilarious. Unless you also find this hilarious, in which case, welcome! Make yourself at home!
That was the moment that made me think, “Hey, this should be a comic.” Maybe I’ll be the only one who finds these things amusing, but at the very least, this is an interesting way to document silly memories that I never want to lose. Hopefully, when I look back on “turpentine thermos” years from now, I’ll snort loudly and have to explain to everyone in the grocery store check-out line that I’m not laughing at the rainbow eyebrows of the high-schooler bagging up my avocados and chicharrones.