OTTO: Sometimes I wonder about my money. Do I still have the first dollar I ever made? Is it still at the bottom of my checking account? I’ve never emptied it completely.

OTTO: Or do the oldest dollars get spent first? Keep them from moldering? In which case that first dollar must be super-long-gone. Not much I can do about it now.
EUGENE: What are you talking about.

EUGENE: Bank accounts are just numbers in a computer. They’re a representational fiction, not discrete objects. It’s all imaginary.
OTTO: So I do still have my first dollar? If it’s all imaginary, then I imagine that I have it. Who’s to tell me any different?

OTTO: In fact I decide that I still have ALL the significant dollars from my lifetime! My first paycheck AND my first fiction sale AND that refund I got from the IRS for being handsome!
EUGENE: When did you get a refund for being handsome?
OTTO: WHEN I JUST IMAGINED IT

#700; Each Dollar gets a Nickname transcribed by in

OTTO: Sometimes I wonder about my money. Do I still have the first dollar I ever made? Is it still at the bottom of my checking account? I've never emptied it completely.

OTTO: Or do the oldest dollars get spent first? Keep them from moldering? In which case that first dollar must be super-long-gone. Not much I can do about it now.
EUGENE: What are you talking about.

EUGENE: Bank accounts are just numbers in a computer. They're a representational fiction, not discrete objects. It's all imaginary.
OTTO: So I do still have my first dollar? If it's all imaginary, then I imagine that I have it. Who's to tell me any different?

a fiat currency deserves a fiat history

#700; Each Dollar gets a Nickname

— February 8th, 2011

[ Tags: nostalgia, the economy, thought processes ] Permalink: https://wondermark.com/c/700/

TO BE CONTINUED

Buy a Print

Applications open for Genius Northwest – an IRL gaming competition

May 8, 2026 by David Malki !

Last year, I participated in Genius Northwest, a gaming competition inspired by the Korean gameshow The Genius and its ilk.

It’s a reality show without the cameras — a 3-day, all-inclusive weekend retreat structured around a series of challenges and puzzles, in which personalities and dealmaking matter as much as playing games.

It’s truly a remarkable thing. I came in dead last in the competition, but I still had a great time participating.

The event is held annually in the Pacific Northwest (hence the name) and applications are now open to participate in the 2026 competition!

Learn more — and apply — at GeniusNW.com.

Comic Transcripts

#700; Each Dollar gets a Nickname

— February 8th, 2011

Recent blog posts