Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for May 09, 2022

There are 11.5 m job openings; one of them might be the job you want.

With labor demand so high, you should be able to get a decent salary package.

As for the house you want, you’re probably out of luck. Inflation for housing is worse than overall inflation. Plus with mortgage rates going higher, your monthly payments will cost more than last year.

“Don’t make me turn this car around!”

Are we there yet?

Well I’m getting pretty close.

What is a healthy price for a house? A year’s pay? Two years? Five? If it’s over ten, then housing is out of control.

Around here it is close to fifty years.

I make a practice of reminding myself of how much worse things could be rather than how much better they could be. I’m MUCH happier that way…

If you don’t have what you want, get off your ass go to work and find what you want!

Rat: ARE WE THERE YET?me: No!Rat: ARE WE THERE YET?Me: NO!Rat: ARE WE THERE YET?ME: DON’T MAKE ME TURN THIS !@#$%^& THING AROUND, OR SO HELP ME!!!!!!

it’s not so much about the having as the getting and how we get there…

https://youtu.be/18AzodTPG5U

Rat’s response is a perfect deflation of a stupid metaphor.

Life is more like being on a boat. And you, Rat, are a natural about abandoning life just when your goals get a little tough.

Don’t make me turn this car around!

Must Goat sound like an embroidered pillow so often?

Stop the world, I want to get off.

“It’s about the Journey we’re on”?

Well then, don’t stop believin’. Hold on to that feelin’. Streetlights. People.

Rat, I told you to go to the bathroom before we left.

Hey, I’m with Rat on this one.

The destination of life is death. Life is the journey, because there’s nothing at the end.

Sometimes the hardest part of the journey is the ones you travel with.

(Sometimes it’s about some of those you encounter along the way.)

I’m quite sure I wouldn’t want to have Rat as my co-passsenger!

It’s not what you go through in life as much as it is what you become. Rat….you are and forever will be a Rat!

Is Rat employable? I wonder!

Good name for a country music song: “Carsick on the Journey of Life”

And you may tell yourself, “This is not my beautiful house”

Whoever said it’s not the destination, it’s the journey – never drove from Philly to Hilton Head Island by themself!

As Cheryl Crow sang, it’s not getting what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got

Don’t make me turn this comic strip around!

I’m completely struggling to make it into professional animation. After all, it’s a lost art and we need more of it.

RAT’s perspective on life is futile…..he’ll never get it…..

Stop the world, I want to get off….

Being grateful for what you have is a large part of being happy. There are many who don’t have a job, money or a house. Counting your blessings make you much more content. But, then Rat wouldn’t be Rat if he counted his blessings. Some people are happier when they complain. It makes them feel validated.

A little over two years ago I retired. In reflecting back on my career, most of the stuff I used to sweat over was useless garbage. That is in fact the reason I retired, I was tired of have my day filled with stupid stuff. I was also really tired for working for jerks. Now I spend most of my time working with the homeless. I’m making a difference for those who have nothing and that is a lot more rewarding than preparing a spreadsheet for the quarterly report.

Or you could go on-line and belittle and denigrate those who have been more successful than yourself…

Amen, Rat.

Goat is trying, Rat is very trying.

The only way one can be “there”, wherever that may be, is to take oneself there.

Sorry, but there is no way to stop this ride; and getting off is not a healthy option. If you feel like you need to get off of the ride called life, please seek out some counseling first; it helped me.

In one ear and out the other, huh, Goat?

If you always want more than what you have, you’ll forever be disappointed.

Oh shut up, Rat. You whining, entitled little rodent.

Regardless. It’s still our collective duty to make the best effort that we can….

Same as it ever was! Same as it ever was!

Rat knows you’re a soft target, Goat. You serve his purpose, for better or for worse….

Yes, now quit asking me that!

Rat is like that little voice we all have inside of us, that we all vehemently deny exists. Uh…. right? Errr, um, HA HA, had you going!

Keep the faith, Goat. Don’t let a certain little gray nutty guy get in your way …