108

Clear goals
Posted on March 5, 2024 by David M Willis

108 thoughts on “Clear goals”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    FULL COMMITMENT OR NOTHING

    BECAUSE TRYING THINGS IS FOR INDECISIVE WISHY-WASHY CHUMPS WHO WANT TO DICTATE THEIR LIFE-ALTERING DECISIONS BASED ON REAL EXPERIENCE INSTEAD OF CONVICTION BASED ON DOGMA

    1. RassilonTDavros

      “Exactly what you just said, except without being sarcastic.”

      1. clif

        Exactly what you said, but with even more sarcasm.

    2. Marianne

      Exactly what you said, but replace “life altering decisions” with “dumb video game purchases”.

    3. Needfuldoer

      “Do or do not, there is no try.”

      – Kermit or something, IDK.

      1. stePH

        Grover said it, not Kermit.

        1. Needfuldoer

          No, I’m pretty sure the character was green.

          Maybe it was Oscar, or Sherlock Hemlock?

        2. Taellosse

          It was The Hulk, right?

        3. Ana Chronistic

          THE GREEN HORNET

    4. anon

      LOL i wonder how many ppl do ‘get it right’ on the first try, even tho there is more effort to put into the relationship during of course, but i wonder if it’s more likely to win the lottery in comparison

      1. Roborat

        I got it the second try, so pretty close.

  2. shadowcell

    mmmmm so slippery

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      It’s like a slip-n-slide.

      1. Jamie

        Slip-n-shine?

        1. BarerMender

          It’s a toy. A long strip of plastic that you run water over. The kids run and belly-flop on it and slide for 8 or 10 feet.

        2. BarerMender

          Oh, I just caught on to the floating text: Becky is visualizing Misha slipping and sloping.

  3. StClair

    I don’t even know where to start, here

  4. NGPZ

    The irony is Becky, you’re right!

    SURRENDER TO TEMPTATION EARTHLING! ENGAGE IN PREMARITAL HANKY-PANKY >:D

    1. Dara

      Is this where Joyce got that? For real, I mean… she like… plays with the words and decides she likes them. And we hear them from her later, after all.

    2. True Survivor

      About Misha or secular music?

      Also, I know what they mean by ‘pre-marital hanky-panky,’ but some small part of me always equates that with hacky sack, the very nonsexual game where players continually slap a soft ball-filled bag against their flesh, either alone, in pairs, or in a circle.

      1. Bash

        PRE-MARITAL HACKY-SACK!

      2. clif

        If it’s very nonsexual, you’re doing it wrong.

    3. eh, whatever

      Becky is not the irony; commas are important people; I am, however, Temptation Earthling. Surrender to me!

    4. ValdVin

      Who are you to say that? The Space Pope?

      1. NGPZ

        An alien parasite who’s seen the future in which she engages in the most beautiful premarital hanky-panky with an ungodly partner :p

    5. anon

      well, she did say she was picturing misha on the slippery slope 8D

  5. Dave Van Domelen

    Yes, keep picturing Misha, that’ll drive out any thoughts of hooking up with guys.

    1. David DeLaney

      Becky picturing Misha’s … slippery slopes

  6. jeffepp

    I’m just thinking of Becky as one of the Beckys from IRovedOut.com.

    1. Steamweed

      _Love_ that comic!

  7. DarkoNeko

    Jealousy is ugly

  8. True Survivor

    I doubt Mr. Willis would ever answer this, but as Joyce is semi-autobiographical, I wonder if he had his own girl version of a Tristan when he was small.

    1. David M Willis

      NEVER

      1. Nono

        What was her name

        1. David M Willis

          i’ll take it to my grave

        2. Mr D

          Grave seems like a weird name!

        3. Jamie

          Less weird a name than “Never”, though.

        4. Pylgrim

          She’s from Canada, you see. They have weird names there.

        5. Steamweed

          Goth subculture.

        6. Marianne

          It was Trisha, wasn’t it?

        7. katosen27

          Wild guess, but it could also easily be Tristin.

        8. CallynD

          Isolde? Probably Isolde.

        9. morleuca

          Beautiful, simply beautiful

      2. C.T. Phipps

        Willis, thank you for sharing your childhood adventures!

        They have brought….holy crap has it really been decades?

        I can’t be 42.

        1. David DeLaney

          this week, the bass and I were thining and it looks like I’ve been in my current barbershop quartet for almost a _quarter century_ now. aaaaaggggh

        2. M!a

          Shut it, jailbait. I just hit sixty a couple weeks ago… 😛

  9. pickonecard

    “There were no signs!”

    1. David DeLaney

      “The sign said Slippery When Wet, but it didn’t say WHO”

  10. Devin

    We sure don’t see you throwin’ in with any random dudes Becky.

    We sure don’t.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      I love how flashbacks can explore situations where the audience knows exactly when and where the other shoe eventually dropped, but the characters get to be completely oblivious to it for far longer than they ever would if it weren’t a flashback.

      1. pope suburban

        Yeah this is just great. Joyce is really embodying Booster’s “change is easier than admitting this is who you’ve been all along,” with regards to lust and atheism, while Becky is just…well, Becky.

    2. anon

      it makes me wonder if there was an added layer to their relationship with a lot of guys being rly into becky and hitting on her and joyce being not so subtly ‘jealous’

  11. thakoru

    I love that they appear to be having this conversation while hiding in a bush. I understand, intellectually, that they’re sitting on a bench behind the bush, but in my heart they’re in the bush.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      Framing is fun like that.

    2. McNitz

      Huh, I did not realize until this comment that sitting on a bench was even a possibility. Are you sure they aren’t intended to be hiding in a bush? That just makes a lot of sense to my brain still for some reason.

      1. Rotunda

        They are inside the glass windows, as can be seen in the last panel, where a bit of Becky’s hair is behind the vertical mullion separating the panes. They are in the same place as in https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/03-trystin-in-the-wind/atrium/, and their position inside is seen in https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/03-trystin-in-the-wind/program/

    3. Jeff K!

      *must resist jokes about young women sharing a bush*

      1. Steamweed

        Future Becky does not resist such things. Why should you?

      2. Reltzik

        Yeah, quit beating around the bush.

        (Also, I don’t think that’s a bush. Just foliage.)

    4. Needfuldoer

      This setup always makes me think of Burger King.

    5. David DeLaney

      so what I’m hearing is Tristran in one’s hand is worth two in the bush

  12. HueSatLight

    typing “slippery slope” into scrootoob search bar.

  13. Steelbright

    Despite the fact that they’re both spouting strange fundie brainwashing, something about this really just hits the nail on the head for middle school or early high school vibes. The wacky energy is just spot-on.

    1. Mturtle7

      Awkwardly, but with a completely unreasonable amount of confidence given your minimal life experience, trying to navigate the brand-new expectations of sex and romance that society has suddenly placed on you is a VERY universal tween experience!

  14. Dday

    Hey, uhh i just was holding my phone wrong for a second and accidentally reported a comment, pls disregard l

    1. Needfuldoer

      Don’t worry, it takes 5 reports on the same comment before anything happens.

      But when it happens, the consequences are dire. I hear everyone whose comment gets reported is cursed so all their descendants are born naked.

  15. Bobcat

    The fun part for me is that “Misha” is short for “Mikhail” in russian, that is, a male name.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Like the Heavy Weapons Guy!

    2. staszu13

      I do believe this may be a sly Willis reference to a certain fellow webcartoonist

  16. BBCC

    This is a conversation Joyce will look back on one day and cringe at and Becky will look back on and go ‘ohhhhh that makes sense’.

  17. Suet

    Yeah, just picturing Misha out on the slippery slope of Mount Baldy

    No room for love at first sight?

  18. Lingo

    That slippery slope is full of funny sound effects, like in the cartoons when you step on a banana peel.

  19. Laura

    OT, but just wanted to reach out and thank you all for being a mostly safe and supportive community. The Internet can be a cold, unforgiving, and dangerous place out there. It can really hurt people. I just wanted to thank you folks for proving the pessimists wrong… that not all online commenters are out to hurt people, and that caring, wise, funny, and even sparky people are here online too. Thank you for helping me feel better about people online in general.

    1. Bash

      I was going to make a dumb joke but now it feels tasteless. We love you too.

      1. Laura

        Aww! Thanks, Bash! <3

        *Plays "Shiny Happy People" on the hacked Ferris Wheel…*

    2. findus

      <3

      1. Laura

        Thank you, findus. <3

        Got to go to bed now. Good night, everyone!

    3. NGPZ

      Aaaaawwwweeee ??

      1. Laura

        Thank you for always being so YOU, NG. <3

        1. NGPZ

          awe heeeheee ☺

    4. staszu13

      No problem.

      1. Laura

        I love that raised eyebrow, staszu13. I keep expecting to hear Mr. Spock say,
        “Fascinating…”
        ?

    5. BBCC

      Love you too Laura. <3 Thanks for being part of that community.

      1. Laura

        Your words help me so much, BBCC. <3. Thank you.

    6. Mturtle7

      Well, shucks, @Laura. You’re gonna make me blush!

      I’m glad our short, silly, comments made you feel better! It sounds like you’re in a pretty dark place right now, so my heart goes out to you, and let me just say: it does get better. This little candle, bright as it is against the dark, is nothing compared to the blazing hearth of close-knit community I’m sure you’ll find someday, or the light of the sun that will make you wonder how you could ever have felt so alone. Keep going, you got this!

      1. Laura

        Wow, Mturtle7! That brought tears to my eyes! What a kind, sweet thing to say. Thank you so much. That really did make me feel better.

  20. Sharaku

    So i’ve kind of lost track. Did Becky know she was gay at this point and was generally hiding it, or did she only truly realise when she got to Anderson?

    1. Da Boy

      Anderson I think? Like before she was let out into the wider world she probably didn’t even know gay people existed. And if she did she thought they were evil.

    2. Amelie Wikström

      I’ve got the impression she has always known she liked girls (especially Joyce), though she had to go to college to learn to verbalize any part of those desires and attractions. At this point she doesn’t have any language OR any allowance in her philosophies to express the concept of being lesbian, though it’s clearly the only thing on her mind.

    3. TerribleTransit

      She pretty heavily implies she figured it out at college.

    4. staszu13

      I’m inclined to think Becky knew for sure at Anderson. She probably already had it going on subconsciously, her sexual dislike of men is already apparent. But it’s clear from the context she only sees it from her evangelical background now.

    5. anon

      i’m sure ppl can think/ say stuff without realizing later and then looking back on it like “oh yeah that makes sense”

      when i was younger and didn’t know gay/pan was a thing i was thinking like “if i met a ‘soulmate’ then it wouldn’t matter if they were a guy or a girl”

  21. Steamweed

    “It’s that Tara, isn’t it? Is that who we’re stalking?”
    “NOBODY IN PARTICULAR.”

  22. Hof1991

    Many fundies look forward to sitting in heaven (on clouds because that’s ancient iconography) and watching sinners burn. That’s a very weird idea of eternal joy. This seems very much like that.

  23. torrent29

    I get the feeling that Becky imagined Misha on that slippery slope later as well.

  24. Superducked

    Oh no. Not the premarital hanky-panky. Anything but the premarital hanky-panky.

  25. raultsi

    i grew up as a catlick in the ’60s and ’70s, and I had a lot of resentment against it as a teenager. I had no idea what fundamentalism was like but I thought it was what I was experiencing. I truly and genuinely pity the young who grow up under that level of indoctrination.

  26. Some Ed

    So, um, why is this slope so slippery? Did someone lube it? Who has enough lube to lube an entire slope?

    1. Mturtle7

      Misha, obviously. The Misha in Becky’s imagination has TONS of lube, and she applies it to so many things – bikes, hinges, slopes, etc. – that she can’t help getting quite a lot of it on herself. Luckily, in this hypothetical scenario, she has Becky right by her side to help her clean it off in a slow and sensual fashion. Also, this is actually all a metaphor for cleansing Misha of sin or something, so fantasizing about it is just a sign of Becky’s pure-hearted devotion, and not something God would be upset about at all.

      1. Jeremiah

        If only we could upvote comments here.

      2. M!a

        I too envision Misha as the Obligatory Designated Bad Girl in that circle.

        Sooooo tasty, that slope…

  27. Amós Batista

    Joyce has covered Tristan well, instead told Becky he was the slippery-slope.

  28. Yeet

    oh hey
    this is the “who do you think thought her that phrase” from when becky woke up in bed with dina callback, right?

    1. Schpoonman

      Yup.

  29. Moonie

    PREMARITAL HANKY-PANKY!!!!!

    1. David DeLaney

      HE-MARITAL PANKY-PRANKY!!1!

  30. anon

    lol has joyce never heard of breaking up? then again given her upbringing maybe she’s used to seeing ppl marry their first bf/gf

  31. Ray

    Oh no!! SECULAR MUSIC!!! And after that, DANCING!! The horror!!!

Leave a Reply to clif Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.