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Yup, even more 4chan bandwagoning. I’ve passed by the Courage Wolf meme, yet another Advice Dog spin-off, many times and paid it no mind, but I recently came upon a cache of these images and they not only cracked me up until caffeinated energy drink shot from my nose, they actually made me feel better. Of course, some are just silly; that’s the point of any decent meme, really. But there were a couple that actually stood out to me as being cheesily brilliant and effective, rivaling the teaching’s of some of history’s greatest Stoics. And like any Internet douchebag needlessly inspired by Anonymous’s unintentionally constructive humour, I had to whip up just a few of my own, using recycled metal lyrics, and unoriginal tidbits of personal wisdom. And my balls. Oh yeah. Thanks, Courage Wolf!

So here’s a small sampling of both the inspiring and the cheesey — the first 9 were brought to you by Anonymous, the last 9 are my own attempts at capturing Courage Wolf’s amazing and perfect blend of rage and encouragement.

A great friend of mine, Matt Orphan (“The Orphanator”), is returning home to the West Coast after a hiatus in his hometown of Chicago for a few years to get back on his feet. Things were rough for him in California then, as bad as they are for me and many other people now, and I hope it turns out better for him this time around.

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It occurs to me that I may going about this all the wrong way and that I don’t rightly care. I am the archetypical frustrated artist who has both actively suppressed and morosely neglected my inherent needs for a variety of creative outlets. Actually, I pretty much abandoned all forms of creative expression at a very young age over what now seem like some monumentally petty circumstances, a situation only exacerbated by years of “substance” abuse. That can be interpreted in two ways, really: the unchecked use of certain recreational pharmaceuticals, and the near-total deprivation of literature and art. I use to be a real nerd about those types of things and then one day it seems I just gave it all up. Also, one too many drunken and narcose revelings burdened me with the epiphany that there will always be someone more talented at drawing and more adroit at writing than I will ever be, and there was no point in even trying create anything for the mere possibility that it would be considered second rate.

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