About

I guess I really should have an “about” page. It never occurred to me that anyone might want to read it, but I started thinking about how often I tend to use the about page as a way for getting into a new blog, and knowing where to start with things.

Typod Mary

My name is Jenn Myers, and I started Typod Mary as an online portfolio for my art and occasionally for my writing. I tend to have rather poor grammar, and my spelling is often hit-or-miss. Sometimes my inability to communicate using the English language is so powerful that it will destroy the abilities of others who are exposed to it. I started thinking about how corrosive and infectious my shortcomings were, and named the journal as a pun on “Typhoid  Mary.”

It was funny to me at the time, but most people either don’t get it, or don’t laugh if/when they do. That’s okay. I’m okay with laughing at my own jokes.

Webcomics – All the Growing Things

A few years ago, I started doodling around with comics. I’ve always drawn comic book characters, and I have a few atrocious attempts at “Serious Graphic Novels” that are stashed in a box that I will burn before I die. My friends suggested that I post my non-serious doodles as a webcomic and after a certain amount of procrastination, I started posting All the Growing Things.

All the Growing Things was inspired by my inability to easily garden. I’ve always wanted to be a gardener*, but I’ve never really known how to be a gardener. I’ve read more than a few books on the subject, but can’t ever seem to manage to get things to work out they way they should. A few people have suggested that it’s because I live in the desert and that things don’t always do as well in the desert as well as they might in, oh, say, the Midwest, but I’m not so sure it’s not just me.

I’m also into horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres, so those all bled into the comic until there was very little about gardening left. On the other hand, I really like the tagline “A tale of gardens, monsters, and old ladies,” so I keep telling myself it’ll come back to gardening eventually. Even if I have to do something cheesy and say it’s a “metaphorical gardening.” I’m in art school – I can BS with the best of them.

Webcomics – The Vagus Street Rehabilitation Project

My husband expressed an interest in writing a horror webcomic. One that would be like an old fashioned horror movie (think “The Haunting of Hill House”) where you don’t ever really see the ghosts, but that they creep up on you anyways. The story takes place around a haunted housing complex, that (funnily enough) John wrote about before the big housing bubble burst. It’s a ghost story about a young boy (Ray) who is trying to find his way home. It’s called The Vagus Street Rehabilitation Project.

I liked the idea, and wanted to experiment with different styles of illustrating, and John was probably a little too encouraging when he said that he liked that idea. I’ve done some art that I still feel a little ashamed of, but I’ve also done some art that I can’t believe how well it came out.

I have a drawing teacher that told us to “Never be afraid to fail,” which is good advice, because, 1.  I tend to fail a lot, and 2. I also tend to find some beautiful pieces of art as I sift through the broken rubble of failed expectations.

Quite a bit of life tends to be like that, as well.

Other Stuffs

I also play a lot of video games. Like… I’m sort of obsessive and addicted to them. I try to minimize my playing, as in I only play on the weekends (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) unless there’s new game I’ve been jonesing for, or some dlc (downloadable content, for those of you that don’t indulge) or unless I’m feeling super depressed and my husband is trying to remind me that I enjoy life and playing “shoot and loot.”

Currently I’m playing:

  • Skyrim – which is pretty. I keep playing and wishing I was playing something Fallout though, although I’ve identified several quests as “Very Fallout-esque.”
  • Fallout: New Vegas – which is good in that I haven’t finished it yet. I keep getting close to finishing it, and then I start a new character so that I can experience EVERYTHING from a different perspective.
  • Mass Effect 3 – which I’m mostly playing the multiplayer because it’s a fun sociable game that I can play with my husband when he feels I’ve been neglecting him for too long.
  • Borderlands – when I can convince people to play it with me. When I play by myself I tend to listen to a lot of NPR and then go out and grind against monsters. It makes for weird dreams later that night. Also, Crawermax! How are we ever going to kill him if we don’t try?!
  • Dead Island – I have a wicked bad zombie phobia, but my husband loves this game the way I love Fallout 3 and Borderlands.**
  • There’s also some other games, including Rainbow Six: Las Vegas (one and two) as well as Saint’s Row (2 and 3) and Sacred 2, and, well… anything with a multiplayer in it. It’s sort of how my husband and I have learned to work together as a team.

That’s all I have for now. I’ll put more here if I can think of anything.

* Sort of the same way I’ve always wanted to be a jogger. But, well, turns out that exercise is both hot and sweaty. And takes commitment.

** I know everyone likes to have a zombie contingency plan. You know what is more likely? We’ll all die. THAT is what happens. Even if you are physically superior to most humans, well trained in martial arts, and own your own crazy compound, you just have to be unlucky ONCE. My contingency plan involves creating a society where we cremate our dead. Which really isn’t a “contingency” plan, so much as it is a… societal shift? I don’t know what you’d call it.