1/31/2001:

As some of you know (and the rest of you will now pick up), Sil and I aren't dating. We're the best of friends. Which is great, I think, because it gives me the ability to do stuff like pine after girls passing by.

If you are one of those people who really like to dig at the barrier between real Kip and the strip Kip, you should know that I asked Sil to model the hot girl after a girl I've had a minor crush on since freshman year. I don't really think she's a regular strip reader so I'll just say that the official code name for her was, "Tech Girl." Which is ironic since she's not in engineering at all, but in theater. Anyway, I met Tech Girl in my very first Intro to Comp. Sci course. I was really floored by her because she was so interested in learning the language (Scheme, for the geekily curious). And she was into theater (theater major at the time) and she was a Mac user. That's how we met, actually, trying to work out how to do the class even though the development environment was for Windows. Theater + comp sci + Macintoshes? Is there any way I could have resisted falling deep into crush?

I was pretty lost. But then... I found out she had a boyfriend. Oh, the pain. The pain. It was terrible. But I was a freshman, trying to be a better man than I was in high school. So I tried to befriend her, but it never really went anywhere beyond acquaintance level.

By the end of the year, we'd meet once a quarter to discuss stuff. The following year, hardly ever.

This year, I've run into her once or twice. When I do, I think two things. One, is she still with her old boyfriend? And two, why is she taller than me now? Is this a question of boots? I don't think so. I distinctly remember being her height.

So this strip is for Tech Girl.

-Kip