A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

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Perchance to Dream

By Jimmy Johnson

December 4, 2002



Remember when things like “wallpaper” and “screensavers” were a big deal? I’m still a sucker for a good screensaver. I even have a screensaver on my TV, and I amuse myself during slow moments by swapping out the wallpaper on my phone. That’s about it for deep thoughts this morning. I did think you might be in the mood for this 2002 A&J strip about warm seas and beautiful boats. It caught my eye.



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64 responses to “Perchance to Dream”

  1. Dawn Avatar
    Dawn

    Warm seas works for me after all the snow and subzero temps the last two weeks! Though laying in the sun on the beach works even better. 🙂 (I learned to sail in San Francisco Bay, off the Berkeley Marina. I equate sailing with freezing to death! LOL)

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Mark Twain: The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.
      2021 Oklahoma winter: Hold my beer…

  2. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Re 2-19-21 real-time cartoon: Twenty-something years ago, before I gave up taking vacations, the expression on Janis’s face in Panel #3 matched mine when I returned from a week off and was greeted by one of my all-female staff who chirped, “We straightened up your desk while you were gone.” I couldn’t find anything on it I needed for weeks.
    Panel #4 would be what I wished I could make them do for that.

  3. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    I just changed the wallpaper on my phone. The picture that I am using now is much sharper than the one that I had before.

    For my computer, I have a picture of Mt. Rushmore that I took in 2018. When my IT guys work on my computer (remotely) they always ask if I took the picture. There is a hibernation mode picture of Mt. Fuji that I took as well and they are very surprised to learn that I took that one as well. I was in Japan 3 years ago today. I did a Facebook Live from my hotel room every day and you could see Mt. Fuji peaking up over another mountain as long it was relatively clear. On the video from today I showed my friends the bidet in my hotel room that I absolutely loved. No demonstration though 😛

  4. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    At one time, the wallpaper on my computer was a landscape shot from Mars. I didn’t make it myself, though. 🙂

  5. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    Hmmm, I thought I was the victim of post lag, but my reply to Dawn has not appeared. If this works, I’ll try again later. Hi everyone!

  6. Sideburns Avatar

    I have a rotating slide show for my computer’s background, and the screensaver goes from one to another at random. My phone’s lock screen is a picture of Fishers Peak that I took from our back yard our first year here at the end of summer, and the main screen’s that picture of the charming statue down at the Andrew Carnegie Library that I took for that Wikipedia contest last October. I also have a winter picture of Fishers Peak if anybody’s interested.

  7. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    Looks like I’m limited to two sentences. Good night folks!

  8. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    The news from Texas is so sad and awful. Humans freezing and dying. I know animals have died every where as well. This depressed me so, it is political and puesdeaux invincibility.

  9. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Re 2-20-21 real-time cartoon: Our four-legged family members may not be able to speak*, but they can certainly communicate. Ask me how I know.
    *Except for Skipper the cat. He speaks, and it’s not his fault we can’t understand him. Although we can usually get the gist of it.

  10. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    Jimmy:

    I noticed that the ship’s figurehead is sans clothing.

    Are you trying to draw the ire of the crowd that canceled Starbuck’s bare-breasted logo?

  11. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Jimmy, on that subject, in panel #1 of the 2-5-21 cartoon, the walking “cavegirl” clearly seems to be displaying her right breastular accoutrement. Did you hear if there any blowback and/or retouching by newspapers, or did they publish the cartoon as drawn?

    1. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
      Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

      Until you mentioned it, I had assumed that the drawing was of a male. Nope. It ain’t. You’re right.

      1. Ghost Avatar
        Ghost

        Heck, even Arlo’s “dots” are missing here. Guess that has been a huge taboo in the comics biz.

  12. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    On the so-called news page through which I have to navigate to get to my emails I just saw this so-called news headline:
    “Khloé Kardashian Goes Off on Insta After a Fan Asks If Kylie Jenner Can Be Friends With Jordyn Woods”
    I think this says more about some segments of our society than I care to contemplate. Do these people live in middle-school in their heads? And yeah, I know, my old-foginess is showing. But I actually got a laugh out of the insipidness of headline.

  13. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Just read several news stories about everyday people helping others in Texas. The 4 wheel pickup crew. It made me cry.

    In the South they appear and pull you out of ditches, out of snow banks, they cut the trees on the rosd.

    Once visiting my mother, a large tree fell across the two lane road in front of me minutes before I missed hitting it. Another car arrived from other side. He was from out of state visiting HIS mama. Neither of our cell phones worked in the swamps.The tree covered road, shoulders and ditches, no way around.

    Suddenly a local farmer ran up carrying a chain saw, a couple of big pickups arrived with Hubbard’s and chain saws. In minutes the tree was cut up and rolled into ditch.

    The Bubba Brigade in action. Just stand back. Say thanks.

    1. Jackie Avatar
      Jackie

      “Hubbatd” is Spellchecker. Not me.

      Me typed in “Bubba”.

  14. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Hubbard is spellchecker not me.

    Bubba is correct word. Bubba Brigade!

    1. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
      Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

      Every time I see photos of Mars, I am reminded of Matthew 24:2: “And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

      Mars has always made me think that it was obliterated by an asteroid or a planet-wide nuclear war.

      The odds are better, of course, that it had simply reached the end of its life cycle. All things die.

      Perhaps Earth is beginning its own long and natural demise.

    2. Bob in Orland Park Avatar
      Bob in Orland Park

      Fantastic video!

    3. Dawn Avatar
      Dawn

      This is an amazing video. The land there is so beautiful! I come from desert country, so it looks like home to me.

  15. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    When there is a tornado, which all too often there is in my neck o’ the Deep South woods, the county volunteer firefighters, the pulpwood cutters, and random citizens with chainsaws actually seem to race to see who gets to slice-and-dice 75-foot loblolly pine trees that have fallen across roads. As Jackie said, don’t try to help them. They live for that. 🙂

    1. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
      Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

      I love the Deep South.

      Do you mind saying the general area where you live, such as Central Georgia or Southern Mississippi?

      1. Jackie Avatar
        Jackie

        I am !ouisisna, deep Delta.about 15 miles from Mississippi River between Natchr and Vicksbutg. Ghost is Southern .Mississippi.

        Have.located a small town and a historic house totally renovated that I think.is perfect.for.us. It sits in Mississippi on Louisiana border. Now to.sell Ghost.

        1. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
          Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

          Well, I’m sold. If he doesn’t want the house, let me know, and I will see if I can sell Mrs. Rick in Shermantown.

    2. TruckerRon Avatar

      You can take them water, coffee, soft drinks, donuts, pies, etc., to refuel themselves! That’s the only help they need.

  16. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    After that F4 tornado went through Tuscaloosa in 2011, we had lots of help from all over. Organizations like the Salvation Army and church-sponsored relief groups poured in to distribute everything from clothes to non-perishable food. Many of the area restaurants who had food trucks or mobile catering equipment set up and provided hot meals in my end of town. We were without electricity for two weeks because the substation had been totally destroyed. A local steel mill provided gasoline powered generators so we could at least have some lights and fans going. And the tree clearing needed to clear the streets happened very quickly. I was amazed and gratified by the rapid response at the time, and I felt very fortunate to live in a place where everybody who could pitched in to help to clean up and restore things.

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Ditto for us in 2005, post-Katrina. The outpouring of help and caring from all over was nearly unbelievable. I was already a donor to one of the major disaster relief organizations, but that cemented my support for them.

  17. Mark Jackson Avatar

    OK, this is interesting: the comment form on my browser (Firefox) is pre-filled with Jackie’s name and email address. This Should Not Happen.

    Our first computer was an Amstrad, chosen because it had a mouse – which was useless in DOS (no Windows yet) but exactly what I wanted when using Word or Excel. My all-time favorite screensaver had an assortment of characters from Sherman’s Lagoon swimming/crawling by. From time to time one of the fish would encounter Megan and emit a bloodcurdling scream just before being eaten.

    1. Sideburns Avatar

      Actually, I’m surprised that your computer didn’t come with a mouse driver for DOS. Most of them did in those days. They weren’t much use on the Command Line, but very nice inside word processors, spread sheets and some text games, such as Larn.

      1. Mark Jackson Avatar

        I thought that’s what I wrote.

        Having experienced text editing on the Alto I had no desire to go back to cursor arrows.

  18. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    When I was going to post the comment above about tornado relief, Rick from Shermantown’s info was in the boxes for name and email address. I had to delete them and insert my own. But that’s better than not being able to get her at all, in my opinion. Over time these bugs will get resolved.

    1. Mark Jackson Avatar

      Bugs only get resolved if they’re reported; I’ve done so. While it seems a minor annoyance there are folks who don’t like to have their email addresses exposed. (Not me – email, phone number, and address have been visible on my website since I put it up in 1994.)

    2. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
      Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

      Mark:

      That’s extremely odd, not to mention a bug and a half.

      I have never had anyone else’s information appear when I wanted to post.

  19. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Just checking to see if I rate someone else’s name when I comment.
    Nope.
    Just boring me….

  20. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Do not remember whose name I got awhile back, maybe emb?? I got several and deleted. When I saw emb I joked I might post something wicked and risque about opera or the antelope and giselle.

    Unfortunately I behaved.

  21. Nancy K in AZ Avatar
    Nancy K in AZ

    Hmm. The topic made me check my name etc boxes–which were blank here on my laptop. I moved the laptop a week or so ago for a different chore I was working on, but I remember having made a comment since then and finding the boxes blank, which I thought might be because of the moving (although it shouldn’t have been), I filled them again–at least once or maybe twice. (How’s that for a dreadful sentence??!! WAY too long and involved!)
    Oh well. Thanks for the heads up, guys. I’ll keep an eye on it.

  22. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo from Ohio

    My personal info is OK in the boxes. Must be one of those intermittent problems.