Oh nothing, except I can see through time.

On Sunday, January 21st, I drew this cartoon. I finished it up knowing that I was leaving the next day for Los Angeles, where I was figuring on moving. That plan didn't really fly, it turned out, so I just ended up in the Hollywood International Hostel drawing the first five panels of Everybody vs. Bob the Angry Flower Part 6: The Worst Place On Earth. Rather bummed out I was.

My out-bumming was in for a boost. I called home for my messages to find one from my friend and next door neighbor Darren. He'd called to tell me that he and another friend (or rather, the other friend and him) had broken my door down looking for drugs.

Now this is the point where your mom says, "You know, if they're breaking your door down, they're not really your friends." I spent a pretty annoyed rest of the evening at the hostel, and even Booty Call on the lounge TV was slim consolation. tThose dickheads! They were so gay, and by gay I meant bad!

The upside, however, was to be mine the very next day, when I checked my messages again, this time to hear that Jody (the primary door-breaking friend) had already replaced the lock, good as new, and in fact, my old key would still work. Well, all right! That's good news! In fact, I was better off now than I was before. I was sure they had their reasons and I totally forgave them.

When I got back, I heard the rest of the story. Jody had not really intended to break my door down. He'd playfully shoved it, and the one part of the door that was supposed to be the strongest --the lock-- simply blew apart to his total surprise. Astonished, they stumbled in, found this cartoon sitting on my TV, and laughed their asses off. Jody now becomes the only real-world person to have two analogues in the Bob universe: here, as L'Apostrophe, and he was also the model for the scary shoe salesman guy.

It all fit. The casual betrayal, Darren's "Me too!" Freddie-like role, Bob's baffled amazement. Somehow, I knew it was going to happen six days before it did, even down to the burly French man busting my door open in a shower of broken lock pieces. If I'd actually set out to depict this event in my life, it would have looked like this cartoon, except probably worse. To be able to come home to this bizarre coincidence was the best thing about the whole trip. I felt like I was hooked into the universal narrative or something, and I rode that cloud of satisfaction for the better part of a week. Yes!