Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
Hemlock
Josceline Fenton
A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
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You say ‘black’, I say ‘white’
You say ‘bark’, I say ‘bite’
You say ‘shark’, I say ‘hey man!
“Jaws” was never my scene
And I don’t like “Star Wars”!’–Queen
When I was very little, my dad and I were attacked by a black swan. He fended it off while I ran inside and suffered noble wounds in the ensuring struggle (it bit him on the butt).
Swans are terrifying because they’re just as agressive as geese, but unlike geese, they have the mass to back up their threats. Its like the difference between a 1.5m 50 kilo soaking wet kid threatening to beat you up, and a 2m 150kg linebacker doing the same.
…. Sorry I accidentally flagged you while aiming for the reply link. >_< (Would it be possible to separate them a bit more, whoever is in charge of that? Or maybe adding a 'are you sure?/why do you want to flag?' dialogue?)
The reply I was trying to make when I did that: Now, imagine being a little kid and threatened by a swan. It's why I do not trust water fowl.
It’s not a big deal to accidentally flag things because it takes MANY flags to prompt moderation action and then it’s reviewed.
Also, Willis has said repeatedly that he can’t mess with the code like that. He’s using a pre-made thing and doesn’t want to put in that effort when it’s already not a big deal to accidentally flag. Which is honestly fair.
I think it’s still polite to apologize for it, especially since if it somehow does go through moderation for whatever reason it’s clear at least one of the flags was made in error.
I do think it would be funny if, as an april fool’s day prank or something, we just absolutely bomb one really innocuous comment with flags and comments apologizing for the accidental flag. I dunno if that would result in enough work to be an actual problem since I have absolutely no idea how moderation actually works, but if it is moderately annoying at worst I think it would be funny. Obviously if it would be like an actual problem we shouldn’t do it.
No, it’s not the same drawing. There’s a couple of slight differences, like Beckie’s left eyelid being present in the second one (and the single-line shading/accent below her left eye having gone missing).
Short answer: yes. I noticed you said that OTC analgesics don’t work for you. The active ingredient in Motrin is ibuprofen, so if other ibuprofen-based pills haven’t helped you, Motrin probably won’t either.
I could see her being rather taken aback. Becky was just convinced that Joyce is gay 4 strips ago. She still can’t fully buy that Joyce isn’t into girls.
Joe is, like, the most opposite of a girl you can get.
No one fully believes Joyce isn’t into girls, but Becky has recognized and accepted Joyce’s extreme thirst for Jacob in the past. I don’t think it would surprise her she’s into Joe. Joyce also has a type. I wonder how Joyce would react if we ever find a tall, shredded, girl, with a great ass?…..Anyway I don’t think Becky would freak. She might even already know. Joyce doesn’t hide her emotions well.
It’s possible, though I could actually see Becky being more supportive of it for a variety of reasons. She simply knows Joe less, for starters, along with being less likely to patronize Joyce. She also would be more inclined to approve given Joyce’s support for her and Dina.
Growing up, I used to think I had migraines (like, as a regular thing). Then I actually had one, and was like, “Oh, this is not what I was experiencing before.” They suck. I’m fortunate to have only had them very rarely throughout my life.
I occasionally get the visual aspects, with the spectra and whatnot. They’re rare, and they generally pass quickly. It’s only hit full-blown migraine once, and it was “mild.” That is to say it was quite possibly the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life and I felt sick in my gut, but I was able to function and drive an hour or so to a funeral that day. Not like I was expected to be in a good place anyway.
I get “silent migraines” (a bunch of symptoms excluding the pain, or in my case low levels of pain) on occasion and ocular migraines (the visual element, sometimes to the point of being almost blinded) somewhat regularly. I’ve very rarely had it with extreme pain and it’s… not a fun addition. Plus I have pretty severe ADHD, so sitting there quietly waiting for it to pass is not possible, with severe headaches/silent migraines I usually swing between doing something until I can’t stand it, then doing nothing until I can’t stand it.
I don’t know what my point is. I guess just sharing.
I used to get migraines when i was a kid. The only thing I could do was go lie down in a dark room for hours until they ended. Fortunately I stopped getting them as I grew up.
I also got them as a kid but didn’t know it. I got told the visual disturbance was just because the amount of light in the room was changing as the sunset when I brought it up.
I didn’t get diagnosed until college when I had one bad enough it scared me into seeing a doctor.
I get insomnia-induced migraines which, in turn, contribute to insomnia. Let me tell you, it really fckin sucks when your brain refuses to do the singular thing that would alleviate the throbbing pain it’s been experiencing all day
I’ve been getting them consistently since I was little. The only clear early memories i have are crying in the back of my dad’s truck with a migraine and being given liquid cataflam and put to lay down in a dark room with a rag over my head.
These days unless it’s really horrific i just pop the painkillers and keep doing what I’m doing bc i don’t have the patience for dark rooms anymore. Plus if i did that every time i had one i wouldn’t get anything done
The last time I had a migraine I remember hiding in my room for a full day. Even then it was too bright so I had to hang a towels in front of the windows to stop the sun coming in. I decided I liked having less sunshine in my room so I have kept them there.
As for sound, I have a pair of earplugs that I keep on hand for them. They block up like 90% of the sounds. I wish it blocked 100% but at least it is better than nothing.
Anyone else getting downright bizarre ads? I’ve been getting “adopt a teen” shit consistently for like two months. What even feeds these stupid algorithms?
A comic about teens in which Damnyou regularly makes a sizable portion of his readers want to adopt one or more of them to protect these perfect cinnamon buns from this cruel world.
Algorithms sure are stupid, sometimes. “You visited this webpage with “playground” in the title. Would you like to adopt teenagers and also purchase large amounts of sand?”
I mean, I don’t “expect” anything from algorithms, let alone “actual intelligence”. I was making fun of them for giving me such weird results. That’s literally “laugh and move on” in action.
*I’m* not getting “adopt a teen” ads, even though I regularly look into the process of adopting a teen. (I’m not in a place for it currently, but maybe someday…)
No one’s been trying to palm any teenagers off on me, but I am getting an ad from Saks. They offer me such wonderful and practical items as $500 sneakers and a $7,000 T. Rex figurine.
As much Square Enix-related stuff as I look at, one would imagine I’d get more ads for merch or custom Etsy trinkets. Instead, I get car insurance (can’t legally drive) and cruise ships (lmfao).
i can imagine being worn down/losing wind but going from squee happy straight into a migrain kinda backlash would make the migraine worse. as long as she doesn’t suddenly throw up, it’d be good for her to even out lol. and maybe take a nap. at least i assume they’re on their ‘off’ time and not needing to go to another class within the hour so she can rst
A: Gimme TORADOL. If there’s any way I can talk someone at the urgent care center into giving me a shot of Toradol when a migraine hits, I’m golden.
Other than that, chewing ginger and unsweetened cacao pods after taking Aleve with Rx-strength extended-release Ibuprofen (along with something to coat the stomach so you don’t get your stomach lining all et up) is the next best thing.
My mother’s favorite migraine remedy was to chug a pot of black coffee, a block of dark chocolate, and a bottle of hot sauce, in that order. One, two, three: CHUG!
(I don’t recommend that… it’s a remedy for heartburn!)
Do they give you the Toradol straight in the glute? My partner mostly controls their migraines with Rizatriptan + periodic Botox now, but they’ve gone to urgent care for them a handful of times in the past and the script seems to be “pls turn those fucking lights out –> Toradol in the asscheek –> the first bearable moment they’ve had in hours”.
Well, only sort of. But like, for most of these things, I don’t experience them on a regular basis. Which is very fortunate for me. But also, I haven’t developed a standing form of care, and sometimes just straight up forget about basic pain medicines. I also get nervous about drug interactions (even though I think most I’d get with occasional OTC pain meds would be petty mild), and between the infrequency and med changes, I always need to put things through a drug interaction checker first*.
(*This has been compounded by the multiple times over the years I’ve been prescribed things that could have interactions– sometimes potentially serious ones– and I only found out because I did this.)
i’d rather take a nap/sleep through a stomachache, idk if it rly helps but i’ll drink water and take a tylenol or aleve (tho even with period cramps idk if it’s helped much, we never buy midol tho some ppl said it might be better lol)
otherwise i just try to distract myself wit hinternet vids
Really? What strain? I can barely tolerate anything cannabis-related at all, due to my TBI, but I’m interested in seeking out alternatives to stimulant ADHD medication. Kinda need something ‘cuz my brain’s just completely on the fritz, but I think amphetamines or similar stimulant medications and me would just be BAD NEWS.
The strains Jack Herer and Super Lemon Haze appear to be the best ones for focus. Thank my friend Noun, they also can’t take Ritalin, and without them I would have never known about cannabis as an option! 🥲
Water, because I’ve found out the vast majority of my headaches are dehydration-based. Also because OTC painkillers rarely do anything for me unless I’m so low on the pain scale I’m forgetting I’m allowed to do something about it. My options pretty much go Extra Strength Tylenol, a bunch of shit I’m not allowed to take due to my GI issues, Percocet.
Usually, a few ibuprofen tablets will do it, nothing fancy. For the real headaches though, I’ll sometimes have to take a lot of strong meds, put a cold rice bag over my eyes and/or behind my head, and sit in a dark room with as little noise as I can stand. Sometimes going no-noise just isn’t an option (ADHD/paranoia/ringing ears), so I have to settle on low-energy videos I’m already familiar with.
Yeah, it just sucks that the routine is so disruptive to my usual flow. I hate having to stop everything to go sit in sensory deprivation for who-knows-how-long.
Sitting in a warm shower.
Water, caffeine, NSAID, but if I’m feeling shitty enough, I can’t manage those, I just try to sleep/lay it off with a cold pack on my head. Once I recollected taking an opioid and I tricked my brain into doping itself.
Besides the standard analgesics, which usually work well for me, I’ve found icepacks work very well. Half-fill a ziplock sandwich bag with ice, use washcloth hold it, and hold it against the pain centered area until just before ice cream head would set in. Then move it to the next area. Usual areas are forehead above eye, hairline above that, or temple beside that.
Chamomile tea has helped me to reduce migraine severity in the past, and ginger tea is my go-to for nausea. Otherwise I get by with OTC painkillers but I try to avoid those if I can because they give me ADHD brainfog
A: My headache remedy in 3 steps.
1. drink a ton of water (hydration is rarely bad)
2. add caffeine (chemically constricts the blood vessels in your head)
3. stick something ice cold on your head until you prefer the headache. (physically constricts the blood vessels in your head)
Depending on the severity of the headache, I have moderate success with this method. If you don’t have anything stopping you, I also suggest trying to sleep it off.
Ponstans pretty great for when the OTC stuff isn’t working. Excedrin migraine and Panadol ultra or cetamol migraine work pretty well for me on the non persistent ones. Also ice packs, and a massager if it’s at the back of my head
Lying down with a laptop. My ability to ignore whatever the fuck is going on with my body while I’m properly distracted is legendary, and this way I get to harness it to productive ends!
As long as no-one is watching TV nearby. And if they are, Loud Music Time! Your distractions from my distraction can’t get me if I can’t hear them behind my own din!
For what it’s worth, committing to marry a girl you’ve known for a few months is still moving a little fast regardless of the timeline for actual marriage, and I think it’s very in-character for Becky and Dina to make that mistake together.
A few weeks after my brother started dating his now-wife (of about 12 years) she once got his drunk ass to stop wandering the parking lot after a night out with the following exchange:
“Do you love me?”
“…yeah…”
“Want to marry me?”
“…yeah…”
“Then SIT DOWN.”
I really, really liked this exchange between Joyce and Becky. Some honest communication, some validating of feelings, exchange of news some light teasing. It was nice it showed how much the two of them care about each other.
I don’t know about migraines specifically but being so overwhelmed by even positive emotions that it causes a crash of some sort? Yeah, that’s. Definitely an autistic experience I’ve experienced.
I don’t understand Joyce’s excitement about a kinda-maybe-marriage that’s vaguely somewhere in the future. I mean, I get Becky’s excitement over it as a declaration of love, but why would Joyce experience intense feelings over an as-yet-imaginary thing that doesn’t concern her?
Sometimes people get excited for things they know will make their friends happy. Sometimes people get excited for big events they like the vibe of.
Also, it’s her best friend maybe getting married. Not sure why you think that “doesn’t concern her” but I was pretty heckin’ involved in the weddings of my friends.
Either Joyce doesn’t grok that Becky & Dina will not get married anytime soon or Joyce still thinks that everyone’s first romance will last a lifetime. That is, she treats this connection as a definite marriage, because she’s conditioned to think of relationships in those terms. This is a thing with Joyce because of her upbringing, is what I’m trying to say.
I find this to be an odd take. If Joyce is taking this as “a marriage is definitely going to happen”– which I don’t actually think is the case– it doesn’t mean that she thinks it will be soon or that “everyone’s” first romance will last a lifetime. It would just mean that she thinks Becky and Dina’s relationship is going to last.
Now, Joyce’s upbringing may play a role in her excitement here. While I think it is very normal to be excited about the relationship developments of your close friends (especially when you’re fairly new to the world of romance and things have that extra layer of newness), it’s possible some of her reaction is impacted by being brought up to think of marriage as “the goal.” (Which is also something that happens outside of religious communities like Joyce’s, but can be even bigger within them.)
It’s not unusual to be excited about the possibility of a thing without knowing for sure that it will happen or that it will be a permanent and lasting thing.
I think you’re just looking way too far into a bestie being excited about her friend’s happiness.
Joyce is a huge romantic. Keep in mind she’s the same person who, despite her sometimes disdain for Walky, actively liked the idea of Walky and Billie/Jennifer becoming an item because she’d think it was romantic that two childhood friends would become a couple. Bit of irony there given Becky, perhaps.
So yeah, her dear friend/sorta-sister getting hitched would make her very happy.
I fully buy into all of my friend’s romances provided they aren’t dangerous. If they are both happy and in love, of course I want it to last a life time. Whether it does or not is completely different, and doesn’t negate the real trials and tribulations they may face.
I don’t think QC has straight-up had cyborgs yet, but I could see that eventually happening. I mean integrated more than just Clinton’s hand or the like.
Love their exchange, but this marriage talk is scaring the crap out of me. Becky seems to be putting way too much weight into that post business time pillow talk exchange.
Normally, I’d agree, but Dina doesn’t really make a habit out of saying stuff lightly. I firmly believe Dina would feel similarly about it even outside of that context.
I can see Dina taking a very pragmatic “either we stay together or we don’t” approach to her relationship and recognizing that marriage is Becky’s personal relationship endgame. However, given how much she’s had to learn of Joyce and Becky’s upbringing and her general feelings wrt religion, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the social institution of marriage doesn’t hold much weight for her
Marriage is more than just a social institution. It’s a promise of going through the life together, enjoying its pleasures and facing its hardships together. Modern world became so convenient that people often forget that second part but for most of human history people formed couples and worked together to survive and thrive.
That basically ignores the patriarchal role of marriage that has, especially historically, forced women to choose between marriage or perpetual financial insecurity and social ostracization. For Becky and Joyce, the expectation of marriage was assuredly enforced upon. I never said marriage was strictly a social institution, just that the social institution of marriage, particularly in how it has been enforced upon women/femmes/afabs, probably won’t mean much to Dina since she was demonstrably raised outside of Christianity
I’m curious why you listed “femmes” in there? Not as an objection, but because people use this term in different ways, and I’m trying to get a better understanding of what you mean.
> forced women to choose between marriage or perpetual financial insecurity
You do realize that outside of the 1% that were the rich merchants and nobles who used marriages as contracts most people were just busy working? Even with a full family they still had to work their asses off to be able to survive winter and starvation was not uncommon. A lonely woman was in as much danger of just dying as a lonely man. This was my point, these people had to band together and work together just to survive.
I do think that woman in the past did more and were less…idk, helpless?…in their lives than people often think now. However, “A lonely woman was in as much danger of just dying as a lonely man” makes some assumptions that I don’t think hold up. For one, it assumes the absence of a wage gap. This gap– at least in some areas (England is what I’m most familiar with)– did actually increase over time (like, from 1500-1850), but it was still there.
People did have to work together to survive– many still do– but the idea that the answer to that is marriage is a social construct. Which doesn’t make it bad, lot’s of fine to good things are social constructs.
But also, the historical context is kind of…pointless? Because we’re talking about Becky and Dina, and speculating about how Dina might feel about something in the present (fictional) day.
Well marriage had two main functions, cooperation and having children. Unlike many species human children are helpless for a long time and women are vulnerable for the last couple of months of pregnancy. Individuals were quite vulnerable during those times, imagine how vulnerable a single mother would be. Marriage or just being a couple had a lot to do with providing children with a stable and safe environment in which they could grow until they were self-sufficient.
But that’s just a theoretical discussion, I wasn’t the one who tried to drag history into this, I was more about a theoretical/romantic aspect of marriage in my first reply.
You… absolutely were the one who brought up history? “Modern world became so convenient that people often forget that second part but for most of human history people formed couples and worked together to survive and thrive.” That was in your first reply on this thread.
Just got married myself, six months ago. It really does make a difference — I super don’t know what my life will bring, but I know who I’ll be living it with, I know my adventure co-pilot.
In such an uncertain world, I think Dina would enjoy knowing one thing for reasonably certain.
Love that for you! I certainly agree that Dina would see value in marriage from a practical and perhaps even an emotional standpoint, I just don’t think it holds the same significance for her that it does for Becky given how they were both raised.
I don’t personally see myself getting married for any reason other than like, taxes or medical insurance or something. All the “promises” are things I can literally just do with my partner already, and we’ve been doing them for… closing in on a decade now. If other people take our relationship less seriously because we don’t have matching decoder rings, that’s their own hang-up.
A number of people who decided they didn’t need a piece of paper have been finding out in the hospital or probate court that, yes, they do need a piece of paper now and then. To the principals, marriage is about commitment but, to the state, marriage is about rights.
Not sure if serious, but sometimes there are laws or rules in place in hospitals that favor the rights of married partners over unmarried partners. There are things that one can do for themself that can help with this, but it does take a bit of pre-planning that not everyone does. https://www.unmarried.org/health-care/hospital-rights/
ooh that site seems cool! glad i learned about that!
We really need equal rights. I don’t care who i’m married to, i don’t care who i’m dating romantically, when i’m in hospital there’s several loved ones i’d prefer to be by my side rather than origin family.
You live with someone, in their house or apartment. Their family does not approve of you. Your partner is taken to the hospital, and is too sick to make decisions.
Their family show up, forbid you from seeing your partner, and refuse to give you information about them.
Also, when you go home, the locks are changed, because it isn’t legally your house.
Chewables are seriously the best for people like me and Joyce. If I make it to old age and need a fistful of twice-daily meds like my gram did, I don’t think I’ll make it.
wait, are they?? when i’m not doing well, my fear of having to taste something weird (or worse: have it stuck between my teeth) is quite bad. i’d swallow a pill that doesn’t touch my mouth any time!
OOf. i hope there won’t be drama when Becky realizes that Dina probably does not see this as an engagement…. all she said was that it’s definitely an option for the future. That doesn’t really mean “we are engaged“….
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My shark week: Put my head in a freezer for twelve days kthanxbai
You say ‘black’, I say ‘white’
You say ‘bark’, I say ‘bite’
You say ‘shark’, I say ‘hey man!
“Jaws” was never my scene
And I don’t like “Star Wars”!’–Queen
You say ‘rolls’, I say ‘royce’
You say ‘god’, give me a choice
You say ‘lord’, I say Christ! I
Don’t believe in Peter Pan, Frankenstein or Superman!
All I wanna do is
Bi-cycle, bi-cycle, bi-cycle…
Ching-ching. Ching-ching.
Chingchingchingchingchingching!
It’s also rabbit season, but Joyce isn’t ready to hear that either.
Duck season!
Fuckin beat me to it.
bzzt! the correct answer was “Rabbit Season!”
If it helps, I said it in Daffy Duck voice.
Rabbit season!
Rabbit season!
Duck season!
FIRE!
You’re despicable.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
You guys are the mint!
They’re fresh? They belong to the organization that coins money? They are Men In New Trenchcoats?
Someone moved the language when I wasn’t looking?
Elmer Season!
Look, it’s the EXACT SAME DRAWING, stop arguing about it already!
Have you ever been in a fight with a duck? Ducks are jerks.
When I was very little, my dad and I were attacked by a black swan. He fended it off while I ran inside and suffered noble wounds in the ensuring struggle (it bit him on the butt).
Swans are terrifying because they’re just as agressive as geese, but unlike geese, they have the mass to back up their threats. Its like the difference between a 1.5m 50 kilo soaking wet kid threatening to beat you up, and a 2m 150kg linebacker doing the same.
…. Sorry I accidentally flagged you while aiming for the reply link. >_< (Would it be possible to separate them a bit more, whoever is in charge of that? Or maybe adding a 'are you sure?/why do you want to flag?' dialogue?)
The reply I was trying to make when I did that: Now, imagine being a little kid and threatened by a swan. It's why I do not trust water fowl.
It’s not a big deal to accidentally flag things because it takes MANY flags to prompt moderation action and then it’s reviewed.
Also, Willis has said repeatedly that he can’t mess with the code like that. He’s using a pre-made thing and doesn’t want to put in that effort when it’s already not a big deal to accidentally flag. Which is honestly fair.
I think it’s still polite to apologize for it, especially since if it somehow does go through moderation for whatever reason it’s clear at least one of the flags was made in error.
I do think it would be funny if, as an april fool’s day prank or something, we just absolutely bomb one really innocuous comment with flags and comments apologizing for the accidental flag. I dunno if that would result in enough work to be an actual problem since I have absolutely no idea how moderation actually works, but if it is moderately annoying at worst I think it would be funny. Obviously if it would be like an actual problem we shouldn’t do it.
It might be funny, but it would also be impolite.
Psychie, you and I have different definitions of both “polite” and “funny”.
Come to Canada, we have cobra chickens.
I was in a fight with a goose once
No, it’s not the same drawing. There’s a couple of slight differences, like Beckie’s left eyelid being present in the second one (and the single-line shading/accent below her left eye having gone missing).
AARG! That’s her RIGHT eye!
I understood that reference.
…I think.
…Time for someone to draw Joe in a bunny girl outfit ;P
Did that ever require a special time?
Well I say “Shoot me now!”
Don’t Forget The Motrin City!
Are Motrin Chewables even a thing?
I ask as a person who is male and for whom nonprescription pain relievers, other than asprin, have never worked the slightest bit.
Short answer: yes. I noticed you said that OTC analgesics don’t work for you. The active ingredient in Motrin is ibuprofen, so if other ibuprofen-based pills haven’t helped you, Motrin probably won’t either.
Ah; Migraine Town. . . A place I have a permanent home in. . .
please help me get out.
My sister says put an ice pack on the back of your neck as soon as you feel it coming on. Says it works like a charm.
I thought that was for nosebleeds.
Constricts the blood vessels, which depending on the kind of migraine means it works for either
Okay, prediction is that Joyce is gonna tell Becky that she fancies Joe, and THAT’s when she’ll flip her lid. For some reason.
I could see her being rather taken aback. Becky was just convinced that Joyce is gay 4 strips ago. She still can’t fully buy that Joyce isn’t into girls.
Joe is, like, the most opposite of a girl you can get.
Pretty sure she was joking.
No one fully believes Joyce isn’t into girls, but Becky has recognized and accepted Joyce’s extreme thirst for Jacob in the past. I don’t think it would surprise her she’s into Joe. Joyce also has a type. I wonder how Joyce would react if we ever find a tall, shredded, girl, with a great ass?…..Anyway I don’t think Becky would freak. She might even already know. Joyce doesn’t hide her emotions well.
Carla is tall and she shreds… the carpet with her skates.
I don’t ship it but Joyce and Carla do have a pretty cute dynamic.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/framework/
She’s one of the few people that throws off Carla’s narcissism.
Carla’s tall but not big.
Oh hey look, my new ship. *throws a champagne bottle at it*
¿Por que los dos?
It’s possible, though I could actually see Becky being more supportive of it for a variety of reasons. She simply knows Joe less, for starters, along with being less likely to patronize Joyce. She also would be more inclined to approve given Joyce’s support for her and Dina.
Joe army crawled into Becky’s class to have her console Joyce because he noticed her looking at her phone all sad.
I don’t think Becky would be surprised that he likes Joyce as well
Oh, I *hate* that though. When you can feel the prodrome wave go across your brain?
Not as bad as your vision going ape shit, but it’s still UGH.
AARGH, JOY! MY ONLY WEAKNESS!!!
-throw bucket of water-
Growing up, I used to think I had migraines (like, as a regular thing). Then I actually had one, and was like, “Oh, this is not what I was experiencing before.” They suck. I’m fortunate to have only had them very rarely throughout my life.
I occasionally get the visual aspects, with the spectra and whatnot. They’re rare, and they generally pass quickly. It’s only hit full-blown migraine once, and it was “mild.” That is to say it was quite possibly the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life and I felt sick in my gut, but I was able to function and drive an hour or so to a funeral that day. Not like I was expected to be in a good place anyway.
In an odd experience, my first one came on when I was sleeping. I woke up suddenly and thought that I had been stabbed in the head.
I get “silent migraines” (a bunch of symptoms excluding the pain, or in my case low levels of pain) on occasion and ocular migraines (the visual element, sometimes to the point of being almost blinded) somewhat regularly. I’ve very rarely had it with extreme pain and it’s… not a fun addition. Plus I have pretty severe ADHD, so sitting there quietly waiting for it to pass is not possible, with severe headaches/silent migraines I usually swing between doing something until I can’t stand it, then doing nothing until I can’t stand it.
I don’t know what my point is. I guess just sharing.
I used to get migraines when i was a kid. The only thing I could do was go lie down in a dark room for hours until they ended. Fortunately I stopped getting them as I grew up.
I also got them as a kid but didn’t know it. I got told the visual disturbance was just because the amount of light in the room was changing as the sunset when I brought it up.
I didn’t get diagnosed until college when I had one bad enough it scared me into seeing a doctor.
I get insomnia-induced migraines which, in turn, contribute to insomnia. Let me tell you, it really fckin sucks when your brain refuses to do the singular thing that would alleviate the throbbing pain it’s been experiencing all day
I’ve been getting them consistently since I was little. The only clear early memories i have are crying in the back of my dad’s truck with a migraine and being given liquid cataflam and put to lay down in a dark room with a rag over my head.
These days unless it’s really horrific i just pop the painkillers and keep doing what I’m doing bc i don’t have the patience for dark rooms anymore. Plus if i did that every time i had one i wouldn’t get anything done
I, too, would ride Euphoria straight into Migraine Town, aka I ain’t watching it. So is Shark Tank.
Don’t give her eight tablets like she had the last time, okurr?
Becky knows Joyce’s body.
Just not as much as she wishes she did…or at least used to.
Oh god, I’ve had a sinus infection the last couple weeks and I’ve been right there with ya Joyce. Remember, quiet rooms and darkness are your friends.
The last time I had a migraine I remember hiding in my room for a full day. Even then it was too bright so I had to hang a towels in front of the windows to stop the sun coming in. I decided I liked having less sunshine in my room so I have kept them there.
As for sound, I have a pair of earplugs that I keep on hand for them. They block up like 90% of the sounds. I wish it blocked 100% but at least it is better than nothing.
Blackout curtains make a huge difference.
Anyone else getting downright bizarre ads? I’ve been getting “adopt a teen” shit consistently for like two months. What even feeds these stupid algorithms?
A comic about teens in which Damnyou regularly makes a sizable portion of his readers want to adopt one or more of them to protect these perfect cinnamon buns from this cruel world.
I can see the algorithm getting a bit thrown off.
Algorithms sure are stupid, sometimes. “You visited this webpage with “playground” in the title. Would you like to adopt teenagers and also purchase large amounts of sand?”
Just laugh and move on; don’t expect a deep-learning machine to display actual intelligence. It is, at best, one small component of a real intellect.
At the current state of the art, the thing that AI does best is comedy, and that unintentionally.
The art is getting unexpectedly good though.
I mean, I don’t “expect” anything from algorithms, let alone “actual intelligence”. I was making fun of them for giving me such weird results. That’s literally “laugh and move on” in action.
*I’m* not getting “adopt a teen” ads, even though logically I should given my avatar.
Did Bear become a dad? I haven’t finished .hack//SIGN yet.
Umm, kinda sorta. Won’t say more because spoilers.
*I’m* not getting “adopt a teen” ads, even though I regularly look into the process of adopting a teen. (I’m not in a place for it currently, but maybe someday…)
Lol what the fuck, that’s super funny to me. I’m like the opposite of okay with doing that, you’re visiting it, but NOPE.
No one’s been trying to palm any teenagers off on me, but I am getting an ad from Saks. They offer me such wonderful and practical items as $500 sneakers and a $7,000 T. Rex figurine.
As much Square Enix-related stuff as I look at, one would imagine I’d get more ads for merch or custom Etsy trinkets. Instead, I get car insurance (can’t legally drive) and cruise ships (lmfao).
i can imagine being worn down/losing wind but going from squee happy straight into a migrain kinda backlash would make the migraine worse. as long as she doesn’t suddenly throw up, it’d be good for her to even out lol. and maybe take a nap. at least i assume they’re on their ‘off’ time and not needing to go to another class within the hour so she can rst
In their time I give it 3 years more than enough time to clear through most of college.
Somehow misread that as the motorbotin’ Cuticles.
Wishful thinking!
The Motorboating Cuticles is the name of my next B-52s tribute band.
The problem is playing with those long artificial nails.
OK, anyone up for a game?
Q: What’s your favorite remedy for headache/nausea/cramps/migraine? Basically, when your body feels yuck, what do you do about it?
OK, I can go first.
A: Gimme TORADOL. If there’s any way I can talk someone at the urgent care center into giving me a shot of Toradol when a migraine hits, I’m golden.
Other than that, chewing ginger and unsweetened cacao pods after taking Aleve with Rx-strength extended-release Ibuprofen (along with something to coat the stomach so you don’t get your stomach lining all et up) is the next best thing.
My mother’s favorite migraine remedy was to chug a pot of black coffee, a block of dark chocolate, and a bottle of hot sauce, in that order. One, two, three: CHUG!
(I don’t recommend that… it’s a remedy for heartburn!)
(Dramamine also helps.)
Do they give you the Toradol straight in the glute? My partner mostly controls their migraines with Rizatriptan + periodic Botox now, but they’ve gone to urgent care for them a handful of times in the past and the script seems to be “pls turn those fucking lights out –> Toradol in the asscheek –> the first bearable moment they’ve had in hours”.
Yup. Right in the hip/butt.
A: I just suffer.
Well, only sort of. But like, for most of these things, I don’t experience them on a regular basis. Which is very fortunate for me. But also, I haven’t developed a standing form of care, and sometimes just straight up forget about basic pain medicines. I also get nervous about drug interactions (even though I think most I’d get with occasional OTC pain meds would be petty mild), and between the infrequency and med changes, I always need to put things through a drug interaction checker first*.
(*This has been compounded by the multiple times over the years I’ve been prescribed things that could have interactions– sometimes potentially serious ones– and I only found out because I did this.)
Good job, looking up your interactions! That takes foresight.
I like the interactions checker at drugs.com
i’d rather take a nap/sleep through a stomachache, idk if it rly helps but i’ll drink water and take a tylenol or aleve (tho even with period cramps idk if it’s helped much, we never buy midol tho some ppl said it might be better lol)
otherwise i just try to distract myself wit hinternet vids
Wow, that’s cool that the vids help! Me, computer just makes everything worse…
In addition to water, caffeine or cannabis tea, depending on what I have time for. Those are the only two that won’t cause me too much body burden
Oh, yeah, the classics! The tried and true tested remedies.
Rubbing CBD cream directly on the skin over the crampy body part also helps.
Topicals are ineffective when i use em, unfortunately :/
I actually just ordered my first cannabis vape pen, have to use it to take a special strain for my ADHD amidst the nationwide Ritalin shortage :0
Really? What strain? I can barely tolerate anything cannabis-related at all, due to my TBI, but I’m interested in seeking out alternatives to stimulant ADHD medication. Kinda need something ‘cuz my brain’s just completely on the fritz, but I think amphetamines or similar stimulant medications and me would just be BAD NEWS.
Oh. Real sorry to hear that!
The strains Jack Herer and Super Lemon Haze appear to be the best ones for focus. Thank my friend Noun, they also can’t take Ritalin, and without them I would have never known about cannabis as an option! 🥲
Much appreciated!
Water, because I’ve found out the vast majority of my headaches are dehydration-based. Also because OTC painkillers rarely do anything for me unless I’m so low on the pain scale I’m forgetting I’m allowed to do something about it. My options pretty much go Extra Strength Tylenol, a bunch of shit I’m not allowed to take due to my GI issues, Percocet.
Oh, yeah, water’s the KEY!
Usually, a few ibuprofen tablets will do it, nothing fancy. For the real headaches though, I’ll sometimes have to take a lot of strong meds, put a cold rice bag over my eyes and/or behind my head, and sit in a dark room with as little noise as I can stand. Sometimes going no-noise just isn’t an option (ADHD/paranoia/ringing ears), so I have to settle on low-energy videos I’m already familiar with.
Glad you have that routine! It’s good to have a system figured out like that
Yeah, it just sucks that the routine is so disruptive to my usual flow. I hate having to stop everything to go sit in sensory deprivation for who-knows-how-long.
Sitting in a warm shower.
Water, caffeine, NSAID, but if I’m feeling shitty enough, I can’t manage those, I just try to sleep/lay it off with a cold pack on my head. Once I recollected taking an opioid and I tricked my brain into doping itself.
Warm showers are my JAWN.
Gotta love that psychic contact high, too.
Besides the standard analgesics, which usually work well for me, I’ve found icepacks work very well. Half-fill a ziplock sandwich bag with ice, use washcloth hold it, and hold it against the pain centered area until just before ice cream head would set in. Then move it to the next area. Usual areas are forehead above eye, hairline above that, or temple beside that.
Yes, ice is great!
Chamomile tea has helped me to reduce migraine severity in the past, and ginger tea is my go-to for nausea. Otherwise I get by with OTC painkillers but I try to avoid those if I can because they give me ADHD brainfog
I didn’t know OTC analgesics could do that. Interesting!
A: My headache remedy in 3 steps.
1. drink a ton of water (hydration is rarely bad)
2. add caffeine (chemically constricts the blood vessels in your head)
3. stick something ice cold on your head until you prefer the headache. (physically constricts the blood vessels in your head)
Depending on the severity of the headache, I have moderate success with this method. If you don’t have anything stopping you, I also suggest trying to sleep it off.
Oh, yes, sleep for sure!
Tylenol for headaches and migraines, Advil as often as I can take it for period cramps.
The classics!
Ponstans pretty great for when the OTC stuff isn’t working. Excedrin migraine and Panadol ultra or cetamol migraine work pretty well for me on the non persistent ones. Also ice packs, and a massager if it’s at the back of my head
I had never heard of those! Learned something new.
Lying down with a laptop. My ability to ignore whatever the fuck is going on with my body while I’m properly distracted is legendary, and this way I get to harness it to productive ends!
As long as no-one is watching TV nearby. And if they are, Loud Music Time! Your distractions from my distraction can’t get me if I can’t hear them behind my own din!
For what it’s worth, committing to marry a girl you’ve known for a few months is still moving a little fast regardless of the timeline for actual marriage, and I think it’s very in-character for Becky and Dina to make that mistake together.
Yeah, but sometimes, when you know, you know. I (obliquely) asked my partner to marry me on about the 3rd date. Sometimes it just feels right.
A few weeks after my brother started dating his now-wife (of about 12 years) she once got his drunk ass to stop wandering the parking lot after a night out with the following exchange:
“Do you love me?”
“…yeah…”
“Want to marry me?”
“…yeah…”
“Then SIT DOWN.”
Smart lady!
She’s a lesbian it’s her culture
I really, really liked this exchange between Joyce and Becky. Some honest communication, some validating of feelings, exchange of news some light teasing. It was nice it showed how much the two of them care about each other.
I don’t know about migraines specifically but being so overwhelmed by even positive emotions that it causes a crash of some sort? Yeah, that’s. Definitely an autistic experience I’ve experienced.
I don’t understand Joyce’s excitement about a kinda-maybe-marriage that’s vaguely somewhere in the future. I mean, I get Becky’s excitement over it as a declaration of love, but why would Joyce experience intense feelings over an as-yet-imaginary thing that doesn’t concern her?
Sometimes people get excited for things they know will make their friends happy. Sometimes people get excited for big events they like the vibe of.
Also, it’s her best friend maybe getting married. Not sure why you think that “doesn’t concern her” but I was pretty heckin’ involved in the weddings of my friends.
Either Joyce doesn’t grok that Becky & Dina will not get married anytime soon or Joyce still thinks that everyone’s first romance will last a lifetime. That is, she treats this connection as a definite marriage, because she’s conditioned to think of relationships in those terms. This is a thing with Joyce because of her upbringing, is what I’m trying to say.
I find this to be an odd take. If Joyce is taking this as “a marriage is definitely going to happen”– which I don’t actually think is the case– it doesn’t mean that she thinks it will be soon or that “everyone’s” first romance will last a lifetime. It would just mean that she thinks Becky and Dina’s relationship is going to last.
Now, Joyce’s upbringing may play a role in her excitement here. While I think it is very normal to be excited about the relationship developments of your close friends (especially when you’re fairly new to the world of romance and things have that extra layer of newness), it’s possible some of her reaction is impacted by being brought up to think of marriage as “the goal.” (Which is also something that happens outside of religious communities like Joyce’s, but can be even bigger within them.)
It’s not unusual to be excited about the possibility of a thing without knowing for sure that it will happen or that it will be a permanent and lasting thing.
I think you’re just looking way too far into a bestie being excited about her friend’s happiness.
Joyce is a huge romantic. Keep in mind she’s the same person who, despite her sometimes disdain for Walky, actively liked the idea of Walky and Billie/Jennifer becoming an item because she’d think it was romantic that two childhood friends would become a couple. Bit of irony there given Becky, perhaps.
So yeah, her dear friend/sorta-sister getting hitched would make her very happy.
I fully buy into all of my friend’s romances provided they aren’t dangerous. If they are both happy and in love, of course I want it to last a life time. Whether it does or not is completely different, and doesn’t negate the real trials and tribulations they may face.
She happy for friend
It’s that simple
Joyce’s clearly running out of mana in last pannel.
“Curse this flesh prison” – Maybe hop over to Questionable Content to get uploaded into a robot body? (Just not May’s old one.)
I don’t think QC has straight-up had cyborgs yet, but I could see that eventually happening. I mean integrated more than just Clinton’s hand or the like.
I heard the Librarian once saw a cyborg and decided it was too hard to classify, so it left the universe and never came back.
Love their exchange, but this marriage talk is scaring the crap out of me. Becky seems to be putting way too much weight into that post business time pillow talk exchange.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/03-trial-and-sarah/fivesecond-2/
Normally, I’d agree, but Dina doesn’t really make a habit out of saying stuff lightly. I firmly believe Dina would feel similarly about it even outside of that context.
I can see Dina taking a very pragmatic “either we stay together or we don’t” approach to her relationship and recognizing that marriage is Becky’s personal relationship endgame. However, given how much she’s had to learn of Joyce and Becky’s upbringing and her general feelings wrt religion, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the social institution of marriage doesn’t hold much weight for her
Marriage is more than just a social institution. It’s a promise of going through the life together, enjoying its pleasures and facing its hardships together. Modern world became so convenient that people often forget that second part but for most of human history people formed couples and worked together to survive and thrive.
That promise and expectation sounds like a social institution to me.
Well we Do live in a society
That basically ignores the patriarchal role of marriage that has, especially historically, forced women to choose between marriage or perpetual financial insecurity and social ostracization. For Becky and Joyce, the expectation of marriage was assuredly enforced upon. I never said marriage was strictly a social institution, just that the social institution of marriage, particularly in how it has been enforced upon women/femmes/afabs, probably won’t mean much to Dina since she was demonstrably raised outside of Christianity
I’m curious why you listed “femmes” in there? Not as an objection, but because people use this term in different ways, and I’m trying to get a better understanding of what you mean.
> forced women to choose between marriage or perpetual financial insecurity
You do realize that outside of the 1% that were the rich merchants and nobles who used marriages as contracts most people were just busy working? Even with a full family they still had to work their asses off to be able to survive winter and starvation was not uncommon. A lonely woman was in as much danger of just dying as a lonely man. This was my point, these people had to band together and work together just to survive.
I do think that woman in the past did more and were less…idk, helpless?…in their lives than people often think now. However, “A lonely woman was in as much danger of just dying as a lonely man” makes some assumptions that I don’t think hold up. For one, it assumes the absence of a wage gap. This gap– at least in some areas (England is what I’m most familiar with)– did actually increase over time (like, from 1500-1850), but it was still there.
People did have to work together to survive– many still do– but the idea that the answer to that is marriage is a social construct. Which doesn’t make it bad, lot’s of fine to good things are social constructs.
But also, the historical context is kind of…pointless? Because we’re talking about Becky and Dina, and speculating about how Dina might feel about something in the present (fictional) day.
Well marriage had two main functions, cooperation and having children. Unlike many species human children are helpless for a long time and women are vulnerable for the last couple of months of pregnancy. Individuals were quite vulnerable during those times, imagine how vulnerable a single mother would be. Marriage or just being a couple had a lot to do with providing children with a stable and safe environment in which they could grow until they were self-sufficient.
But that’s just a theoretical discussion, I wasn’t the one who tried to drag history into this, I was more about a theoretical/romantic aspect of marriage in my first reply.
You… absolutely were the one who brought up history? “Modern world became so convenient that people often forget that second part but for most of human history people formed couples and worked together to survive and thrive.” That was in your first reply on this thread.
Ah, you got me there, I admit my mistake XD
Just got married myself, six months ago. It really does make a difference — I super don’t know what my life will bring, but I know who I’ll be living it with, I know my adventure co-pilot.
In such an uncertain world, I think Dina would enjoy knowing one thing for reasonably certain.
Love that for you! I certainly agree that Dina would see value in marriage from a practical and perhaps even an emotional standpoint, I just don’t think it holds the same significance for her that it does for Becky given how they were both raised.
I don’t personally see myself getting married for any reason other than like, taxes or medical insurance or something. All the “promises” are things I can literally just do with my partner already, and we’ve been doing them for… closing in on a decade now. If other people take our relationship less seriously because we don’t have matching decoder rings, that’s their own hang-up.
A number of people who decided they didn’t need a piece of paper have been finding out in the hospital or probate court that, yes, they do need a piece of paper now and then. To the principals, marriage is about commitment but, to the state, marriage is about rights.
What the hell does a hospital have to do with marriage? 🤨
Not sure if serious, but sometimes there are laws or rules in place in hospitals that favor the rights of married partners over unmarried partners. There are things that one can do for themself that can help with this, but it does take a bit of pre-planning that not everyone does.
https://www.unmarried.org/health-care/hospital-rights/
ooh that site seems cool! glad i learned about that!
We really need equal rights. I don’t care who i’m married to, i don’t care who i’m dating romantically, when i’m in hospital there’s several loved ones i’d prefer to be by my side rather than origin family.
You live with someone, in their house or apartment. Their family does not approve of you. Your partner is taken to the hospital, and is too sick to make decisions.
Their family show up, forbid you from seeing your partner, and refuse to give you information about them.
Also, when you go home, the locks are changed, because it isn’t legally your house.
It’s kinda why people fought so hard for marriage rights…
Chewables are seriously the best for people like me and Joyce. If I make it to old age and need a fistful of twice-daily meds like my gram did, I don’t think I’ll make it.
wait, are they?? when i’m not doing well, my fear of having to taste something weird (or worse: have it stuck between my teeth) is quite bad. i’d swallow a pill that doesn’t touch my mouth any time!
OOf. i hope there won’t be drama when Becky realizes that Dina probably does not see this as an engagement…. all she said was that it’s definitely an option for the future. That doesn’t really mean “we are engaged“….
Awwwwwwww