Second Negative

Sharpie doodle artist

I’ve never been a morning person. When confronted with the startling news that I’m going to be late to work if I don’t get up, I usually offer a slightly slurred, “yeah, in a minute” in response. Sadly, this doesn’t fool Nicole, the morning person who has just spent countless minutes trying to wake me up. I might as well say “yeah, in a few hours” or something else equally meaningless.

The brain has trouble comprehending limitations of time during the early morning foggy state. Perhaps it would be more effective if Nicole screamed, “THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE YOU JACKASS”. That might get my attention. Maybe.

After I stagger into the shower, Nicole usually has time to make her own lunch, and throw a couple of items into a paper bag for me. I usually only eat things that can be completely thrown away afterwards, but I’ll save that story for the therapist. At some point during this process, Nicole takes a Sharpie and draws a daily doodle on the front of my lunch bag. You have to understand that Nicole is an unnaturally happy person, the kind of weirdo who looks for the good in others, and is easily excited when good things happen, or when someone comes up with a fun idea. The notion of crazy bag doodles might sound a little silly to you, and believe me, I’m well aware of my age, but I find that it’s the one thing I most look forward to each morning.

I thought I’d share a few of the bags in the photo section of this site. They are individual works of art, and I treasure them. They say more about Nicole than I ever could, but she is very special.