Actually, I talked to myself a lot even when Michael/the Cornfather and I were roomies. It only gets creepy for me when I don’t realize I’m doing it, as in today’s strip. You know how it is, when all of a sudden you’re like, Did I just ask myself a question, then answer it? Out loud? At least I hope you guys know how it is. You do, don’t you???
And sorry this strip came out a day late! Trying to get a ton of stuff done before my first convention of the year, WonderCon, which is going on next month. *gulp* Okay, gonna stop writing here and get back to it. But I’ll be posting some info about the con (in Anaheim, CA!) and the new merch I’m working on, soon.
SHADES? =D
indeed, Deviemn! the Shades of Firsting are yours! wear them well: nothing is cooler than having a conversation. in a room. by yourself. while wearing sunglasses. especially when they’re as cool as these!:
😎
By the way, what was the feeling of being alone after sharing a room for a long time?
it’s weird. especially when i was in the same apartment (i moved out soon after), Deviemn. different. but kind of exciting in a way. pros and cons to having a roommate and living solo. not sure which i prefer.
I remember in college when my roommate got kicked out of school and I had the room all to myself for a quarter. Lets just say more than once I found my self talking and laughing out loud to the TV or my computer as if he was there and definitely made me question my sanity.
funny how fast and easy it is to lose one’s sanity, JP! it’s probably not a good thing but i’m always questioning it. and living on one’s own when one’s not sure of one’s grasp on reality probably isn’t healthy. or maybe it is? i’ve been sequestered in my apartment for the past 24 hours, working on BOTstuff, so i should probably get out and take a walk. 🙂
Wow! I was on twitter when you posted that it was up!
ANd, don’t worry, I talk to myself too… At least right now I kind of have the option of saying that I’m talking to the fetus…
yay for twitter! (i need to get back to tweeting more, actually.)
glad you talk to yourself too, Ky! now i feel better. 🙂
Get a cat (or a real life abraxas) then you’re not talking to yourself but to them 😛
i had a couple cats a while back, dj, and they did, indeed, help during the times when i’d be talking to myself. donated them to my niece, tho, so she’d have some companions to keep her company. also: i hope my sister Lin/Xin doesn’t see you mentioning a real life Abraxas! she still wants to smuggle one into the state for me! O_o
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFBOT! hahahhahaha you pick, Jumping or felines…
i know the feeling for sure, i have a 3 bedroom house to myself since christmas and im totally having golum moments. you never realize just how much you miss someone then when you see something cool on the tv or net and have no one to share it with, even worse when you forget you have no one to share it with till you’re halfway to their old room
oh, man. i feel for ya, Erebus – there’s always people walking around the apartment buildings i’ve lived in, so i never feel quite as isolated as i would if i was alone in a big ol’ house. feel free to come by the site here to voice opinions or post random comments if you’re ever feeling too lonely. 🙂
SERIOUSLY JEFF?? You post this AFTER I check your site? Man.. I could’ve had the 1st comment. UGGH. Although I’ve already accepted the fact that you’re crazy, I was hoping bot wouldn’t be too unfluenced by you. (;
Blah.. you’re a poo face.
sadly, bot can’t help but be influenced by me, Natalie! it’s a shame, really. 😉
as for achieving the Shades – keep trying! i wish i could tell you a more accurate time to check the site for when the strips go up, but lately, it’s been difficult.
…well. There’s another sign that I’m a tad insane. I tend to talk to myself when I’m alone, but I’ve known I’m not the perfect example of sane at all.
at least you’re still questioning your sanity, GG, which means you aren’t completely bonkers. yet. 🙂
I don’t understand how people can get by without talking to themselves. I mean, I can talk to myself (AKA think out loud) and learn a lot from the conversation, and be in a better place to brainstorm or write. People who don’t talk to themselves are…weird.
i do the same thing, flabajaba2213 – sometimes when i’m writing JEFbot, i’ll either read the strip out loud to “hear” the conversation, or i’ll just kind of talk ideas out to myself, which gets the creative juices flowing.
I totally agree with flabajaba. Talking to yourself isn’t necessarily a sign of an unsound mind just a noisy one. Sometimes, you’ve just got to vocalize an idea in order for it to rise above the cloud of thought into the forefront of your mind.
exactly, ThePaul: voicing stuff out loud does tend to get ideas past all the “noise” in the brain. glad you feel this doesn’t mean a person’s necessarily “unsound.”
I am seeing a LOT of myself in this strip…
Or, as pixie would say….
I’m seeing a BOT in myself!
YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
8D
or 8)
You know, whatever brings up the emoticon.
heheh. it’s been said before, but puns are always welcome around these parts, G-Man0091. especially when delivered CSI: Miami style. 🙂
Well, crazyness does run in your family, so I am not really surprised :D!
I am really hoping you will make a comic about you and the Angry scarf. It kinda creeps me out, I feel like its gonna try to take over my body next or something like that. As always, AWESOME COMIC!
ha! don’t let Xin/Lin see you type that, DAS! (at least, i think you’re talking about her. heheh.)
the Angry Scarf will definitely be back in strip! as for whether it’s going to try and take over your body next – well, it’s definitely possible. might wanna keep your windows and doors shut at night. 🙂
hahahahahaha!!! I do that all the time! It’s kinda sad. I tend to blame it on only child syndrome, but I’m not entirely sure that’s really the cause.
“only child syndrome” is probably not the sole cause of you talking to yourself, Megan, since i’m the youngest of three! could be a big factor, though.
I saw somewhere a definition of the “levels of insanity”: Level 1 is talking to yourself (which is about average – most normal people do it). Level 2 is aswering yourself and getting into discussions with yourself. (As flabajaba2213 points out, this can actually be useful.) Level 3 is when the discussions turn into arguments. Level 4 is when you start losing the arguments! And (thanks to Bob Thaves, author of “Frank & Earnest”) level 5 is when you try to talk to yourself and get a recording saying “not here now, try back later”).
thanks for the “levels of insanity,” Stonefoot! but, yikes! i think i’m about a level 4, since i argue against myself and lose all the time! thankfully, i’ve never gotten that recording from reaching level 5, but i’ll be sure and let you guys know if that happens. 🙂
Talking to myself? Not realy.
Humming on the other hand… yes, sometimes. Especialy if im thinking about something and cant find a solution.
Everyone has their quirks. Its what makes it fun to get to know people.
hmm… i don’t think i ever hum to myself, Maryz, but i sing all the time, so that’s pretty close.
and you’re right: most quirks are what makes people interesting and fun to know. if people weren’t “quirky,” the world would be a lesser place.
I give it five more minutes before Jef forgets where the front door is and freaks out.
heh. well, we’ll see the further depths (or heights!) of bot’s insanity in the next strip, Infamous Nefarious. 😀
Happy Saturday BOTiverse!
Uhhh I have conversations out loud with myself all the time….
No RenFest for me this year, I’m afraid, milady Pixie, due to lack of funds. Maybe next year. Hope to see you there.
After the way i was treated by them when I worked there, I just refuse to give them any of my money. I worked too hard for it and for them to have been treated like dirt. Now the people in St. Augustine are a delight to work with and I hope everything turns out well so that I can work with them again.
You know I realize now that I don;t know if you are Milady or Milord? Please to be specifying?
It’d be ‘milord’. I also am known as Darenthar Shadowlord, Shaarthusian deity of Thieves and Ninjas (Dungeons and Dragons; shaarthuus.myfreeforums.org).
I am Guy by day, but when evil threatens, I become G-Man, leader of the Elements, to save whoever happens to be threatened by said evil.
Powers: Sand, Air, Electricity
going to try and get out to the RennFaire in L.A. this year! will report if i get a chance to attend.
hope you had a great weekend, Pixie! glad to hear you’re an “out loud” talker, too.
I lived by myself for four years. If I called out from work, or got snowed in a weekend, or just didn’t feel like going out the only human conversation I had was with myself, and I annoy me a lot.
ha! it’s pretty scary how easy it is to annoy oneself, TPC.
What’s so bad about having conversations with yourself? I find it to be the only way to get a decent response…
sometimes i’ll get a decent response, Popeye, but more often than not, i’ll get a response from myself that i don’t like. or worse yet, no response at all. 😛
When you talk to yourself, you’re having a conversation with an interesting person.
Or the only intelligent conversation depending on who is in the room LOL.
ooOOoh… i’m telling Pixhubbie!
ha! that’s a good way to look at it, KB. unfortunately – speaking for myself, of course – that’s not always the case.
Talking to yourself is good for you, helps you organize your thoughts, and no one should be discouraged from it. The reason it’s associated with crazy people is crazy people do it more often because they really need to get their thoughts organized.
At least that’s how I like to think of it. I have arguments with myself a lot.
i hope you’re right, Irene – it’d make me feel a whole lot better if that’s the case! but yes, talking out loud to oneself does help to organize thoughts, so it can’t be all bad, right? 🙂
Hey, was that the cornfather on a Subway commercial? Kind of strange seeing the gap between webcomics and real life (TV) broken!
Rent Grey Skies! You get to see both Cornfather AND JefBOT! I was down right thrilled to see and hear them. Not a bad lil spooky movie either. WAY better than some of the junk I was watching this weekend on Chiller.
awww… thanks, Pixie! see? you’re a way better promoter than i am! 😀
As long as it’s nothing like ‘The Fountain’. I left the theater at the end, scratching my head and wondering what I had seen. I was so confused.
i can say that Grey Skies is most definitely nothing like The Fountain, KB, although you still might leave the movie scratching your head and wondering what you’ve just seen. heheh.
yep, that was the Cornfather, Nick! i keep seeing the one where he’s shouting “NOOOOOOO!” 😀
I lived by myself for a while after a roommate moved out. I thoroughly enjoyed having things left where I put them and never having to search the apartment because something got moved. And only cleaning up my own messes, which meant the kitchen was always clean, and the living room got nasty for some reason…
But having the place to myself meant not being disturbed by other people when I was working on projects. And if I wanted company, theatre people tend to have semi-flexible schedules and could come over for evening revels whenever I needed people. 😀
there’s certainly something to be said for the joys of living alone, Tiana; i, too, love being able to play video games and/or watch shows on the tv whenever i want, to be as messy or clean as i want and to have it as loud or quiet as i need it to be. unfortunately, for good or ill, it allows my mind to wander as much as it wants to, too.
That’s weird, This wasn’t up when I checked the site yesterday. Strange.
Speaking to yourself isn’t that weird unless you’re doing it like Gollum does.
you might have gotten here before it went up, Fijiman, as the strip was posted in the late afternoon on saturday.
oh, and i also use the gollum voice on occasion, my preciousssSss…
The first time I noticed the habit of talking with myself, someone walked into my room and I karate chopped a lamp in response.
I still don’t know why I attacked the lamp…
ha! maybe you “chopped” the lamp as a distraction before you bolted from the room, Rinthia? probably some ninja tactic locked away in your genetic memory.
I talk to my self all the time, really. And most days, it’s the most intelligent conversation I have all day!
heh. glad you have such stimulating conversations with yourself, R.H!
The last time my family went away to a family reunion for a week (I had to work), it was marvelous for two days—Queen of the Remote! Onions on the pizza!—before I started eating out of cans and muttering to the cat and myself like Ferris Bueller crossed with Gollum.
So good luck to ‘bot!
heheh. yeah, those first few days are awesome, Sarah W! then reality sets in. (which is almost never as fun.) 🙂
The road to insanity is steep JB, once you take that first step there’s no turning back. Lucky for me I’ve got an anchor who will help me before I fall off. JB ought to have someone too, hopefully someone not too busy chasing after aliens
that’s awesome you have a mental anchor, Jiro. sadly, i think finding out more about cel will only drive jefbot further into the mental abyss!
Noooo, it’s completely sane.
I do it all the time.
‘Course, I don’t get much sleep.
…
Maaaaybe I’m not the best example.
Keep up the good work Jeff.
The Irish
i talk to myself all the time and don’t get much sleep, either, Joe. i wonder if there’s a connection? reality’s certainly harder to discern when one’s mentally and physically exhausted. hmmm…
thanks for the encouragement!
Isn’t that’s why we become cartoonists?
it could very well be, Stan. i certainly talk to myself a lot when putting together a comic strip!
I love the expressions in this strip. You can totally tell what he is feeling in each panel. I still think that your acting has something to do with how good you are at this – you think about how to make yourself look like you are feeling a particular way. At least that’s my guess at why you are so good.
Woo! New merch! I hope a Chubman and Scrawn T-shirt is among them! And the book(s)!
awww… big thanks, shanna! glad you liked all those expressions. i’m unscientifically but most assuredly certain that you’re right about my acting informing my drawing. now wouldn’t it be cool if i could make a live-action JEFbot and act in it myself? maybe when i have the free time to put something together… (like, never. blegh.)
i’d love to do a new Chubman/Scrawn shirt! i’m kinda deciding what new shirts to do for this year’s convention season, so i’m happy to hear that feedback. 🙂
talking to myself?
I do it daily, therefore I would say it’s normal…
…but on the other hand; I had several “vacations” in sanatoriums.
well, in front of this fact I would rather say talking to yourself is not “sane” but also not unusual…
meh, there are a lot of people out there who do it, therefore you don’t have to fear some upcoming insanity
Act normal and avoid doing so in public and all will be fine…
Keep playing the mask-game, like we all semi-insane people do
glad to hear you’re putting your vote in for “normal,” Malkav, even if you’ve had some trips to the sanatorium. heheh.
playing the “mask game” is probably good advice – wouldn’t want other people (especially people like my boss and work associates) to know i dabble in insanity once in a while. it’s easy to close my office door and talk to myself every now and then if i have to. 😉
Talking to ones self is not in any way, shape or form crazy. At least, that’s what I tell myself….
ha! i see what you did there, TCG.
😉
Don’t worry, I have conversations with myself aaalll the time… I also argue with the hi-fi, and the dictionary, the carrots, kitchenware etc.
And all this in English, great way to pass the time, we can talk about ANYthing.
i have the worst arguments with carrots too, Formel, and try to avoid conversations with them whenever possible! now, my dictionary and kitchen ware on the other hand…
Oh, I do that all the time. I like to think of it as having a conversation with the smartest person present—which, if you’re by yourself, leaves only one option. 🙂
heh. i’m sure in addition to “smartest” you’re talking to the best looking, most interesting and coolest person in the room, too. right, Insectoid? 😉
I don’t call it talking to myself, I call it thinking out loud. It makes me feel a bit more sain. It’s when my thoughts start using “we” and “our” when only reffering to myself that I become worried.
“talking to myself” definitely sounds less crazy, GardeBlaze. and yeah, once you develop a “Gollum” complex, it’s all downhill.
I often find myself “thinking out loud”.. I’m cool with it.. but it seems to unnerve people when you do it while wandering around the hunting section at the local Wally World.
there’s a “hunting section” at the local Wally World, Senso? i’m totally unnerved right now.
I totally have *no* idea what you’re talking about, with the whole “talking to yourself” thing
Yes we do!
No we don’t!
We’re talking to ourself right now…
…
Sanity is overrated.
You (plural tense) know it!
yup, sanity’s totally overrated, wyverndragon. at least until you lose it. then it suddenly becomes the most underrated thing in the world, methinks. 🙂
I’m a writer, and I have this thing where I usually talk out all my conversations my characters are going to have while I’m in the shower. The funniest part is when my wife walks in and says, “Whew, for a moment there, I thought there was another person in the bathroom with you.”
Yeah, I do get carried away sometimes. And when I ask myself a question and answer it and it’s outloud? That’s when I know it’s time to go play a game like Skyrim for an hour to purge my brain of too much thinking.
i do my best thinking in the shower, McClaud! and yes, it’s much easier (and by “easier” i mean “less insane looking”) to talk out loud in there than pretty much anywhere else. (well, in the car might be an exception.)
haven’t started Skyrim, yet. still making my way through Skyward Sword and Arkham City, both of which i haven’t played in weeks! blegh. gotta make time.
I cry in the shower. 🙁
the only problem with our shower is everyone else in the house can here it, and I do mean everyone.
Panels 1-2 are acceptable, 3 is scraping psychological unrest. 4 is were you crossed the line. lmao
ha! as long as you keep lyao, i’ll keep crossing the line, Anime fan. 🙂
Panel 3 is how I feel most days! Well done on the lifelike sentiment! You’re strip continues to soar!
Incredible range of emotions! This is one of my faves, Jefbot.