Bittersweet Candy Bowl Forums

Seriously.

First, a small introduction. My name really is David, my last name is Russian, and I'll leave it at that. I've been reading BCB for a bit over a year now, and it's struck so many chords with me, it's a little scary to be honest. Down to the names, this comic is my life.

Ever since the first grade, there has been my own personal Lucy. Though Angela was her name, the two seem as twins. She was always like a friend, just a very abusive and bullying friend, which was easy for her as she was larger until about the 6th grade. She had a few other friends, but it was me who she affected the most. We were rivals in just about everything, from academics to sports. She called me names, (jerk was a big one for her), picked fights with me, and just generally made herself a nuisance however she could. She never had any boyfriends, and it was always obvious she really really liked me to everyone, except herself. When I broke my back in the 10th, it was unsure weather or not I was going to be a vegetable for about a month until I woke up, (broke 6 vertibrae in a bad dirtbike accident, month-long coma). It was then when she went to another friend and clung to him like her life depended on it. It took her a week to lose her virginity to him. His name, Paul. I did wake up, (and I am now completely healed) and when I did, she was a completely different person. We still were around each other, but she hardly ever talked and never picked another fight ever again. Late the same year her father got transferred to Ohio for his job, and so she left. Since then, tho only thing I've heard from her was a friend request over Facebook, that is all.

A word on friends, I have had the same ring of friends since mid elementary. We all grew up through the same schools, at around the same age. There are some extremely smart friends, then I have one or two completely dimwitted ones, but I love em anyways. And it seems to grow with each passing year, always gaining a new member or two, one way or another. My best friend though, my bro, the one I've known since literally kindergarten, and shared more than a few classes with, the one who, 5 months out of the year, he wears a scarf, (always has), his name is Mitch, though we all call him Mick.

Finally, the one element that really hit home with me, is my current girlfriend. I met her my 10th grade year, right after returning to school in a wheelchair. We met in marching band. (Yeah, I did marching band in a wheelchair, I was a friggin bamf!) She was bubbly and full of energy, extremely smart, (Algebra 2 as an 8th grader!) and loved to hang out with me, even as I was limited to my upper body cast and wheelchair. She didn't mind hanging out with me after school in the band room, as the rest of her friends went to the mall or movies, and she would always brighten my day, regardless of how much pain I was in at the time. By the 11th grade, I was completely mobile, no casts, no cane, nothing. We were able to do more together, and so we became that much closer all through the year. My senior year, I asked her to prom, (sounding familiar?) and it was there she told me her full feelings for me.

I couldn't say the same...

Quite frankly, I was afraid. Afraid of what would happen if it didn't work out. Afraid, because I had seen so many other great friendships turn sour after becoming relationships. Afraid, because I was about to graduate, and I was a full 2 years older than her.

I told her this, and she cried. we spent the last half hour of prom sitting together, her crying into my chest, as the other couples slowly danced and kissed. We were the last to leave. I took her home, and kissed her on the forehead, telling her" I'll wait for you."

Then left.

Needless to say, the rest of the semester was hella-awkward, but we still remained pretty close.

It's been 2 years since then, I'm a sophomore at ASU in digital culture, and she's about to graduate high school. All throughout that time, we've remained extremely close, she's still better at math than me, and as cute and bubbly as ever. We went out on our second date last weekend and are looking forward to the loving long-lasting relationship before us.

Oh, and did I mention her name?

Jasmine.

Every detail of this is completely factual, and as I read the comic, it keeps coming up with brand new ways to make me feel uncomfortably close to the characters.

And I'm lovin it.

Keep up the great wok Taeshi!

Crazy stuff bro. Good luck with your Jaz, hope everything works out!

Is your last name Mazentsov? Cause that's be awesome. Yep, David Mazentsov, awesome name.

Lol, ehhhhh no, that's not it, points for trying though. And thanks, I'm sure it'll all work out. ^^

Interesting. There are some parallels between Mike's relationship with Sandy and my own life, but nothing quite so similar to BCB as yours, David.

Though in real life, I did know a couple named Lucy and Mike (seriously). Lucy got pregnant by Mike, so they decided to marry. At the start, they were wonderful together, and loving parents to three kids. Then they got into drugs (cocaine) and started only caring about themselves, living the hedonistic life while leaving their kids to be raised and cared for by relatives. Eventually the two divorced, and Mike got with a different girl. Lucy was diagnosed as being bipolar, and went into rehab where she met her new boyfriend. She has now apparently replaced her cocaine addiction with a shopping addiction.

This post has been edited by wacko: 16 January 2011 - 07:56 AM

0.o' Geez, that blows. You gotta feel bad for the kids though. My own parents split when I was 4, and my mother was/is addicted to pain meds/pot. I don't speak to her very much, and I don't let her know about Jaz at all.

This is pretty cool. Half the appeal of this webcomic is that various events within could conceivably occur IRL (although perhaps more dramatised, wouldn't be so interesting otherwise), crazy that it seems to fit so well to you.

There's probably at least one event everyone can empathise with in here, closest for me is probably Sandy. Though at that time I wasn't even thinking about girls yet, too young, so when she moved away we ended up becoming crazily close friends instead. Shame really.

Oh, and pretty much all of my friends manage to fit themselves into a cross between David and Paulo personality wise, despite their intelligence. Must be something to do with the area I'm in, too much money and not enough comradeship, they see screwing each other over as perfectly normal if you're friends. They are indeed friends, but irritating ones, can't wait to get out of this place, off to Uni where I won't know anyone and can enjoy getting to know some decent people again.

That said there is one guy who pretty much seems to act in the same way Paulo currently does (albeit a rather older version), and even had some similar things happen in his past. Turned out a real nice guy in the end, another of my closest there.

tl;dr:
BCB has stuff in it that happens IRL, and it's crazy/awesome that it seems to match your life

Russian roots eh? Interesting.

Anyways BCB is a comic about life, I realized it a long time ago. This is the reason it's so damn good.

@Cloud It's just always been so odd reading an update and saying, "ohh yeah, I remember when that happened... wait a sec-"

@Nikel Mostly Russian and German ancestry with a bit of an English flair.

It being about life allows the readers to more closely connect with the characters, it's just that I can connect more-so than normal.

I was watching futurama as I read this, and when it got to the part where you mentioned Paul, I immediately paused the tape to listen closely. I am really shocked and.. I dunno, impressed? I don't know why, but wowwwww O____O It's kind of insane all the little connections you have.. I was admittedly wondering if you were dating a Sandy because that would be HILARIOUS. (Even though you explained that your Jasmine is smart and Sandy.. isn't)

But hahahahahah, that was a fascinating read and I enjoyed it! I hope it's definitely infinitely less drama-rific for you in the years to come ;___;

also HAHAHAHAHA WACKO WHAT MIKEXLUCY HAS BEEN PROVED TO BE NOT CANON JUDGING BY REAL LIFE

It's actually a little bit scary how close the two Jasmines are. I'm about 6' and she comes to about nose height on me, green eyes, has shorter hair, enjoys Japanese cultures, she even went through a time where she kept her hair up with chopsticks, (god their real name escapes me) 2 years ago, when she took her cousins out trick or treating, she even went as a geisha, (though not zombie). The one difference that I love about her though, she detests Twilight.

Oh, and she did do a bit of modeling for a friend of mind a year ago who wants to become a professional photographer, and he needed someone to start his profile.

Taeshi, have you been stalking this poor man?

David x Jasmine OTP

HAHAHAHAH CHOPSTICK JASMINE.

that's beautiful.

god this tickles me so much.

It's so funny I really base basically zero of the relationship drama on my own experiences.. and yet there's people who have more connections than the freaken creator!

This is... kinda freaky. Careful with that pen, Tae, lest you condemn this poor chap to a life of further angst.

Wow.

Yappy, on 16 January 2011 - 02:31 PM, said:

You just reminded me of that piece-of-crap Will Ferrel movie "Stranger Than Fiction"

Guh, month long coma?

I'm glad you recovered, seriously.
I know it's easy for an outsider to say but... worry not about your friend that moved away.
Some things are just not meant to be, I guess.

This post has been edited by Lycan: 16 January 2011 - 03:32 PM

Stranger Than Fiction was a decent film At least he nearly died at the end, right?

This post has been edited by Sammy: 16 January 2011 - 04:23 PM

I too once fell off a cliff in Mexico and used my last moment in the air to launch my childhood friend to safety before I fell.

I also have a blue scarf, am covered in gray fur, frequently walk around in the nude and am mean to bipolar former love interests.

Mick has many a scarf, he's always worn one through fall-spring, ever since I've known him at least, which is about 16 or so years. He can pull it off pretty well actually, I'm not sure how....

I don't think Taeshi is stalking me, I think that would be just a little bit impossible. I dunno, maybe she does charter a plane to the other side of the world every few days to observe my actions and has done so since I was a small child, but probably not....

Probably...

>_>'

Harsh...

When I broke my back, I was put into a month long coma, and they honestly weren't sure weather or not I would wake up, and if I did, weather or not I would be able to function. So I decided to ignore the doctor and get better. I'm still in pain, and it unfortunately keeps me from entering the military, but at least I'm still here.

That's pretty interesting. Honestly, the only thing I can think of that's very similar to BCB in my life was pulling Chris out of the river after he'd knocked himself silly diving in and hitting bottom. Luckily, he hit with his forehead and not the top of his head. I'm not really afraid of water like Lucy, but I've never really liked it.

And it really doesn't even seem heroic when there's a bunch of other guys helping to pull someone out of calm water. My one interesting childhood event was actually kind of boring. I mean, he didn't even break his neck. Imagine what a cool bosnian kid I could have been if I had single-handedly pulled my friend's dead body from a white water rapid. But no, I may as well be telling the story of how Chris left his car's gas cap open and someone got out at a red light to tell him. Somehow, it annoys him more to bring that up.

Kaxbe, on 16 January 2011 - 03:10 PM, said:

One of Will Ferrel's only good movies.

David, on 16 January 2011 - 06:12 PM, said:

I live with a brother who still has back pain from a car accident. It's no where as bad as what you've described, but at least I can grasp at the concept. As for your relationship closely aligned with the happenings of this comic... let's just hope things actually pick up for our protagonist here.

@Kav, I never had the opportunity to save Angela from a river, but nearing the end of our friendship, I'm not so sure I would have been eager to anyways. She was a very trying person to say in the least...

@Moosack, It can be tough sometimes, but there really is no alternative, so I just deal with it. It's all I can do.

Omg this is unbelievable and really fascinating, ``are many similarities``

I have one question... Angela have done things like this page?
My link

I think this act have weight in the balance (MikexLucy)

``Edit``

This post has been edited by andresm: 16 January 2011 - 09:01 PM

@andresm Ehhh, no.

I can't say she ever tried to protect me from a rape cat. To be quite honest, I never really got into any confrontations with anyone in my public school life excepting one fist fight with a little Mexican kid who was getting far to large for his britches. I mention his nationality because he hid behind it so often. "Eh amigo, you donna like me cause I'm a Mexican huh? You don't like us Beaners eh?" If ever he didn't get his way, that was his excuse, he even told it to his teachers. I finally got fed up with him after he blatantly stole $20 from me and tried to run. I caught him and gave him a few bruises he remembered for a while. Luckily, with the support of everyone who saw it and hated this kid, I only got suspended for 2 days.

David, had pretty much the -exact- same experience with a Spanish kid once, iiinteresting

The one thing I really hated about it was that it was at the Relay For Life rally that my school was participating in... He tried stealing my wallet from my tent while I was talking to my teacher, and almost got away with it. The little punk forgot I could sprint faster than most other kids, and definitely himself. I tackled him and proceeded to teach him a lesson, in front of a LOT of onlookers. He didn't mess with me ever again, and mellowed out quite a bit.

I'm not an angry nasty person, but I had had to deal with this kid in 2 classes every day for a bit over 2 years, and I just finally got tired of it.

David, on 16 January 2011 - 07:26 AM, said:

Dude, you win at romantics.

@Mikaro Lol, thanks, but I did, we both did.

I felt terrible about it for awhile, but i think we did the right thing, and now we're together and closer than ever.

Hey you are sure Taeshi has not followed you??? You never noticed hmm... flash of photos???

This post has been edited by andresm: 17 January 2011 - 12:40 AM

@andresm No, no unusual camera flashes...

Unless she had flash off...

Actually, there's a funny/odd story behind that. I was sitting on a bench at ASU reading Stranger In A Strange Land, and a lady came up to me with a professional looking camera asking if she could take a picture of me reading my book. It was for a project she was doing for one of her classes, and she was making a photo montage of ASU students on campus doing normal things. I said it was alright and so she did. She told me her name was Verona Lastly. What's Taeshi's real name?

It's Veronica Vera. Close but no cigar. Unless she made a slight change to her name, and flew to ASU just to take a picture of you reading a(n exceptionally good) book, I think you're safe from Taeshi and she's (probably) not stalking you.

KillahB, on 17 January 2011 - 09:24 AM, said:

Hahaha... that's right David, there is no chance that Taeshi will be there taking photographs of you.



Don't worry Taeshi, your secret is safe with me.

Unless she's paid people with similar names to stalk you for her, in an incredibly contrived scheme to get a story?

Nahhhhhhhh

Note the wording: She told him that her name was Verona Lastly. And that name, no matter what you do with it, sounds incredibly made-up. ^_^

While Verona and Veronica are just a wee bit close, Australia to Arizona is a horribly long flight, when would she be able to draw the comic?

Weird...

Lol, ya, but Verona really isn't Taeshi. She sent me the picture she took, it actually turned out very cool. It was taken with an extended exposure time of about 15 seconds. So it shows me in complete focus with my book, while there are the ghost images of people walking by. Then she made the outer edges greyscale, so the closer it gets to me, the more color the picture has.