Small & Big

The proof is in the eyes, the bedroom eyes. ( Further evidence. )

When it knits you into an afghan, the Stairmaster has won.

“The finest seat in the house, m’Lord.”

It took another full day to get the eyes on.

From Small & Big's first month alive, in August of 2006: Separated At Birth? Stephen Colbert And My Cat Skunk Works Summer Dish, A Poem My, we were young.

A YouTube channel called Dancing Elephant Productions gets its name from the Small & Big story, You Are No Longer A Baby Elephant . Check out a Dancing Elephant’s song-video: The Internet is so cool. Thanks, Linda and Tim Sartain! See the Dancing Elephant Productions’ channel on YouTube.

Garth Chigger spotted her across the headless room. Her name was Celery. Celery Mandolin. And she was proud. Proud in her denim tube-haltertop capri-jean unitard. Garth studied her with longing but also with a calm steely reserve reflecting his other passion, Civil War cannons. Celery Mandolin feigned indifference, staring out the shiny window. Her bosoms heaved like nonchalant ice cubes. But the glass reflected only the longing of her heart. There was something about this Garth Chigger, she admitted to herself, something she could not get away from. Celery waved passionately at Garth, with her good hand.

They’re a quiet group. I was surprised to learn from Listen.org that: People listen at 125–200 words per minute, but think at 1,000–3,000 per minute. Most of us are distracted, preoccupied, or forgetful 75% of the time we should be listening. Immediately after we listen to someone, we only recall about 50% of what they said. Long-term, we only remember 20% of what we hear. The solution? Deep listening. Deep listening is focusing intently on what the other person is saying — no interrupting, criticizing, judgment, or verbal responses like, gulp, offering advice. It’s pure listening, letting go of any beliefs you might have about the talker or their situation. No “What should I say?” It's pure being-there. And the other person will notice the difference, just as you will. It sounds almost impossible to do (most of us have trained ourselves to do otherwise) but practicing deep listening is actually quite enlightening, even fun. I felt like I ...

I found my note below, from April of 2009, which I didn’t share on Small & Big until now. As both my regular readers know, I recently graduated, and the proof is the Certificate of Completion from a cartooning course received one fortnight ago. Ahem. It was taught by Mat Brown ( website ) and it was most enjoyable. In it I learned to use a brush and ink and then lay in color, like this: Two completely new things for me. Along with meeting very nice, quite funny people (ha-ha funny, not strange funny), it was the most enjoyable class I’ve ever had. I learned more about drawing than at a traditional fine arts school program. You can quote me on that. The moral of this story: If you ever get a chance to take a cartooning class, jump on it! Convinced you can’t draw a straight line, let alone a circle? Read this.

On my commute home on Route 128, traffic had come to a standstill. Frustrated, I looked across the barrier to the northbound side, also not moving. Expecting to see the faces of equally grumpy drivers, I did a double take. Behind the wheel of a pickup truck was a man playing a trumpet. He obviously knew how to make the most of the downtime. I smiled the rest of the way home. —Jennifer Pope Boston Globe Magazine ’s Tales from the City

A shout out to the folks at DatingSite.org, who included important Small & Big dating tips in their 45 Articles of Dating No No’s — What Not To Do, Say, or Wear . We come in #20 with “Short, funny list of comments to avoid saying on a first date, including shushing your date because you are texting.” Here’s the important tip list they featured: What Not To Say On The First Date . Looking for more dating tips? Click here for tips about dating men. Click here for tips about dating women. Click here for Small & Big’s Dating and Romance section. Click here to click here.

The MINI Cooper website . Here’s the legalese you agree to when you sign up: I also agree to avoid ruts. And I agree to change my locker combination to include the numbers 1964 (the year we won our first Monte Carlo rally). I agree to chase squirrels around the park every now and then and giggle like a madman while doing it. I agree to be more adventurous and try to avoid homogenized restaurant chains. I agree to name my first-born Cooper. I agree to bare the soles of my feet to the earth and feel grass, sand, stones, and streams. I agree to watch the movie “The Italian Job” as soon as I can. I agree to at least think strongly about learning to play a musical instrument. I agree to consider painting the roof of my house in contrasting colors. There is no actual award for this.

For over 10 years there were only three items on Earth that my dog Godzilla (above) would not define as food. ( Details here. ) Hark! I have discovered a fourth! The item is... drum roll... marshmallows . I know what you’re screaming, “Marshmallows?! How is that possible?” I know. But she won’t even touch the natural kind, the one that lists fish as an ingredient (fish?). She will, however, eat styrofoam peanuts. And week-old fish carcasses off hot sand beaches. Dogs are weird.

P.L. Frederick Human bean I think I captured the Buddha ear, but this other one by cartoonist Bill White captured my eyes and fivehead better. Speaking of which, like to buy some ad space?

Here’s me cartoon for the August issue of the Pet Gazette . It looks a bit different than the previous because — exciting news coming up! — it’s in my New Style. My style which is new.