While it’s not great to leave folks hanging, it’s certainly fair to take time to evaluate ones own feelings before replying. Don’t push Joe, and don’t take _too_ long Joyce.
I’d rank that pretty high among “stereotypical responses an autistic person would have here” right alongside blurting out the need for a new menustral pad without context
Cured meats like bacon and probably some hams are. Not due to anything particular to pig meat but because of the high salt concentrations and the process by which cured meats are preserved can create cariogenic by products when cooked. I would do your own research if you are interested though, random internet stranger ‘True Survivor’ is not exactly a source you could put in a bibliography.
Oxygen is actually pretty nasty stuff, because it’s so reactive. When blue green algae evolved and started producing oxygen, the changes they made to the earth made anything we shaved apes have done look downright puny.
And you’re right, almost anything is toxic, carcinogenic or both in high enough doses. The important thing to ask is just how much exposure, measured by both dose and time, poses a significant risk. The quest for perfect safety is a fool’s errand, since there is no such thing.
StClair
Cancer is what (currently) gets you if nothing else does first.
Live long enough and eventually you will get a lethal replication error.
If pigs wanted me to feel guilty about eating them, they shouldn’t have evolved to be so fucking tasty.
Gash
‘s prolly our culinary prowess that accidentally turned pork into a fine meal rather than pigs evolving into tasty bacon and ham, and if you’re not convinced, try some raw pork, or shoddily seasoned pork, though i must warn you raw pork is almost guaranteed to give you a bad day.
Enkrod
Only if your food is not fresh, tightly controlled and healthy, thousands of Germans eat raw pork on breadrolls every day and are fine.
Enkrod
This should say: Every day thousands of germans eat raw pork on breadrolls and are fine. Small but important distinction. Eating raw pork every day will likely kill you via obesity.
P.S.: Google “Mettbrötchen”
Wizard
In fairness, modern domestic hogs are largely the result of unnatural selection.
When this happened to me, I gave my girl like a year before I finally moved on. I feel badly for Joe right now.
SailorCakes
Why do you feel bad for Joe? She didn’t outright reject him and he knows all the stuff she has been dealing with lately. I think he understands Joyce needs some time. So nothing for Joe to be sad about there is still hope!
Maveric1984
Yes, and the girl I pined after didn’t outright reject me either. Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt just as bad. And for longer.
Best to rip off that band-aid
Miri
If she doesn’t like him, it is. If she wants time to reflect on her emotional and physical responses to him, in the new light of him (a) having feels for her, and (b) having had the courage to express them to her, because she does like him but hasn’t always known if she could trust or respect him, or if he would treat her with trust or respect – then taking a bit of time to sit with that information before deciding whether or not she’s open to seeing how things go, is perfectly reasonable and sensible. ESPECIALLY given the background of her move away from using fundie Christianity to define courting expectations, relationship roles, etc.
And she may want to talk to him about it too. Like, could he see things ending up in marriage? (Is marriage still something she wants?) If they ger serious would he have an expectation of pre-marital hanky panky – how MUCH? Like, snogging sessions or sex? Is he happy working on her schedule for moving towards that stuff? (Does she theoretically want to sleep with Joe?)
Felian
These are all SUCH important things to talk about!!!
Damn, i wish school systems would pause the regular curriculum between the age of 14 and 16, and instead of math and stuff, have ONLY social classes during that time: communication, conflict resolution, relationships, sexuality (including consent and boundaries), practical topics of growing up (everything from “how to clean stains“ via “how to fix a bike“ to “how to do your taxes“). Everything they’ll need in life way more than they need advanced math, during a time period when it would be great if they got to focus on puberty and social interactions.
Because we really need to raise people to be more competent in these topics!
StClair
Raises the question, though: who’s going to teach those classes? As in, where do we find enough “qualified adults” (people who actually have their shit together)? Hell, do they even exist?
Adnamanil
This would only be a start compared to what you’re talking about, but a lot of Unitarian Universalist as well as United Church of Christ churches offer a great, very thorough, thoughtful, and progressive sexuality curriculum called Our Whole Lives. Often, they make the classes available to non-church members as well. There’s also different versions for different ages, from First Grade to Older Adult.
Clif
We don’t have enough people that actually understand mathematics now and you want to kill it just at the point some people can move on beyond arithmetic and basic geometry.
Schpoonman
That’s a hell of an intentional misread*, Clif, considering Felian explicitly said the regular curriculum should “pause” and not end entirely as well as explicitly pointing out that the upper level mathematics courses a lot of high schools (including the very conservative one I attended) will push students to take that do jack shit for day-to-day living.
I’ve used my calculus classes exactly zero times outside school, sure would have been way more helpful to have a better understanding of civics.
*: I’ve seen this sort of stuff from you before, though, which is why I normally ignore your drivel. Thought this one stood out, though.
Cerusee
This is such a good comment! I disagree with some of the assertions below that this is an out-of-nowhere surprise to Joyce—she has absolutely suspected he might have some lingering interest in her in the past, he just wouldn’t talk about it when she tried to broach the subject—but an actual confirmation, Joe coming out and admitting he likes her romantically, is still a big deal. And even if she reciprocates (she clearly does, she ain’t subtle at least not to the audience) there are lots of legit things to factor in while she’s thinking about actually pursuing a real relationship here. I think that is refreshingly sane and mature of her.
Miri
Obviously I don’t know your real life situation or what was going on with the girl you liked, and whether or not she was avoiding having an awkward conversation at the cost of your continued pain or not (or whether she had experienced guys turning violent towards her when she rejected them outright in the past, making that situation highly stressful for her going forwards), or whether she was also in the process of redefining her entire perspective on morality in the same way Joyce is – it sucks you got hurt either way. But it doesn’t mean that taking time to think things over is inherently unreasonable.
LiterallyJustSomeGuy
I’m sorry that happened to you. In my opinion, a year is far too long to leave something like that hanging, and it sounds like she didn’t even give you a response then either.
If this lasts longer than a week (their time), I will probably start feeling bad for Joe. Right now, I’m happy Joe put his feelings out there. I’m not actually sure what Joe would do if Joyce reciprocated right away.
Felian
a potential partner once told me that they’d have pulled back their interest in pursuing a serious relationship if i had immediately said yes. They appreciated that i said it’ll take more time to figure out what i want and need, rather than following a default system.
No u-hauling in my life anymore!
StClair
wait, so their offer of such a relationship was actually a trick question, where a “yes” answer would be disqualifying? that’s kind of bullshit, IMO.
He didn’t get a “yes”, but she also didn’t give him a “no”.
After that class, he’s probably reasonably sure what her answer is. Giving her the space and agency to reply on her own terms is the right thing to do.
Also, Joe seems like the kind of guy who is comfortable talking about womens’ body functions.
Carla's #2 Fan
*the body functions of period havers
Taffy
I get the sentiment, it’s a good sentiment with lots of truth and such, but as far as we know Joyce is a woman, more specifically a woman who Joe is currently talking to in this particular moment. We don’t know for sure whether he’d be comfortable talking about periods with non-woman period havers, although I certainly would like to assume he’s not Weird Like That.
woobie
Lady friends have less trouble telling me about it than I do hearing about it.
I mean, I’m not the one who brings it up.
It took me a couple of re-reads to figure out what she meant. (Somehow the Joe/Joyce storyline had made me for get the “Joyce’s medical problem” storyline)
Either she’s had a really long week or she’s got a really long period (which, yeah, doesn’t seem unlikely given the other problems).
Felian
also, idk how exactly the pill works (has she started taking it now?), but some types of bc will also mess up your period until your body gets used to it!
thejeff
It’s been a really long week in our time.
I think she first showed signs of the cramps in Trial and Sarah, which was Sunday. I might have missed something the day before. It’s now Tuesday and 10 months of real time later. (There was the flashback to Halloween in there to stretch it out.)
Nicoleandmaggie
I kept thinking maybe some time had passed and it was like next Tuesday or something. Apparently not! Thanks for keeping track and sharing. 🙂
Still a very long week for her and even longer for us!
Really disappointed by everyone saying it’s okay because it’s Joe or it’s okay because they’re friends, instead of it being okay because it is a normal fucking bodily function and she should be able to say she needs a new pad as easily as she should be able to say she needs to pee.
And seriously,”that”? What are you 12? It’s a period. She’s menstruating. These aren’t naughty words or shameful secrets, JFC.
248 thoughts on “Sign up”
Ana Chronistic
“How do I feel? I feel with my hands!”
“um”
Formedras
How was that line not part of the first episode of Animaniacs?
Decidedly Orthogonal
While it’s not great to leave folks hanging, it’s certainly fair to take time to evaluate ones own feelings before replying. Don’t push Joe, and don’t take _too_ long Joyce.
Kazuma Taichi
I’d rank that pretty high among “stereotypical responses an autistic person would have here” right alongside blurting out the need for a new menustral pad without context
Librain
Well, it *wasn’t* part of my set of standard responses…
The Wellerman
Haaaaaaam!!!!! ??
True Survivor
If the term “guilty pleasure” where to take on mortal form, it would be a pig. Wonderfully intelligent, deeply emotional, fantastically delicious.
Also, mildly carcinogenic, but I guess they deserve their painful piggy revenge.
Jess
pigs are mildly carcinogenic??
True Survivor
Cured meats like bacon and probably some hams are. Not due to anything particular to pig meat but because of the high salt concentrations and the process by which cured meats are preserved can create cariogenic by products when cooked. I would do your own research if you are interested though, random internet stranger ‘True Survivor’ is not exactly a source you could put in a bibliography.
The Wellerman
Eh, the nitrates in cured meats are actually less dangerous than the fats and sugars. ?
Bicycle Bill
So what? Ain’t none of us gonna get off this planet alive, so enjoy it while you can.
no
Speak for yourself! *gets in a rocket, which promptly plumments into the everglades*
…
Decidedly Orthogonal
Hey, at least you got _off_ the planet alive. You just came back to die. Promptly.
Needfuldoer
Just draw the line at long pork.
Decidedly Orthogonal
I’d ask why, but yeah, the shit those things eat is *nasty*.
Joy
Sugar isn’t dangerous unless you have diabetes…?
Taffy
Tell that to my thighs.
Paradox
Yeah, but is really anything that isn’t carcinogenic
Im pretty sure oxygen has carcinogenic properties depending on how you want to look at it
Paradox
Here, this explains it well
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/bacon-is-literally-cancer
Wizard
Oxygen is actually pretty nasty stuff, because it’s so reactive. When blue green algae evolved and started producing oxygen, the changes they made to the earth made anything we shaved apes have done look downright puny.
And you’re right, almost anything is toxic, carcinogenic or both in high enough doses. The important thing to ask is just how much exposure, measured by both dose and time, poses a significant risk. The quest for perfect safety is a fool’s errand, since there is no such thing.
StClair
Cancer is what (currently) gets you if nothing else does first.
Live long enough and eventually you will get a lethal replication error.
Taffy
If pigs wanted me to feel guilty about eating them, they shouldn’t have evolved to be so fucking tasty.
Gash
‘s prolly our culinary prowess that accidentally turned pork into a fine meal rather than pigs evolving into tasty bacon and ham, and if you’re not convinced, try some raw pork, or shoddily seasoned pork, though i must warn you raw pork is almost guaranteed to give you a bad day.
Enkrod
Only if your food is not fresh, tightly controlled and healthy, thousands of Germans eat raw pork on breadrolls every day and are fine.
Enkrod
This should say: Every day thousands of germans eat raw pork on breadrolls and are fine. Small but important distinction. Eating raw pork every day will likely kill you via obesity.
P.S.: Google “Mettbrötchen”
Wizard
In fairness, modern domestic hogs are largely the result of unnatural selection.
Needfuldoer
Everything has microplastics in it now, anyway.
zee
Pork is gross, goat is the one true red meat
(White meat and seafood all the way tho)
Taffy
Goat’s pretty good, if you can get it Most “goat” I’ve had was just beef seasoned funny, which should honestly be a crime. Deer ain’t bad, either.
Joe Moose
[Invader Zim] There’s that ham, again! [/Zim]
Wizard
I think we have plenty of ham around here already.
butts
oh she’s enjoying being on top, huh
StClair
beat me to it.
Qube
dammit me too >:T
Switchchris
I could totally see her becoming a power top lol.
Yotomoe
Writes that down.
Schpoonman
I tried to make this joke on Patreon and someone ruined it with “BuT dOrOtHy.”
Caro
that last panel is a nice ambiguous joe face
Amós Batista
Yeah, all went well when you confess and the girl ask for a time.
She can do anything she want, but the pain still cross your heart for a millisecond
Maveric1984
When this happened to me, I gave my girl like a year before I finally moved on. I feel badly for Joe right now.
SailorCakes
Why do you feel bad for Joe? She didn’t outright reject him and he knows all the stuff she has been dealing with lately. I think he understands Joyce needs some time. So nothing for Joe to be sad about there is still hope!
Maveric1984
Yes, and the girl I pined after didn’t outright reject me either. Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt just as bad. And for longer.
Best to rip off that band-aid
Miri
If she doesn’t like him, it is. If she wants time to reflect on her emotional and physical responses to him, in the new light of him (a) having feels for her, and (b) having had the courage to express them to her, because she does like him but hasn’t always known if she could trust or respect him, or if he would treat her with trust or respect – then taking a bit of time to sit with that information before deciding whether or not she’s open to seeing how things go, is perfectly reasonable and sensible. ESPECIALLY given the background of her move away from using fundie Christianity to define courting expectations, relationship roles, etc.
And she may want to talk to him about it too. Like, could he see things ending up in marriage? (Is marriage still something she wants?) If they ger serious would he have an expectation of pre-marital hanky panky – how MUCH? Like, snogging sessions or sex? Is he happy working on her schedule for moving towards that stuff? (Does she theoretically want to sleep with Joe?)
Felian
These are all SUCH important things to talk about!!!
Damn, i wish school systems would pause the regular curriculum between the age of 14 and 16, and instead of math and stuff, have ONLY social classes during that time: communication, conflict resolution, relationships, sexuality (including consent and boundaries), practical topics of growing up (everything from “how to clean stains“ via “how to fix a bike“ to “how to do your taxes“). Everything they’ll need in life way more than they need advanced math, during a time period when it would be great if they got to focus on puberty and social interactions.
Because we really need to raise people to be more competent in these topics!
StClair
Raises the question, though: who’s going to teach those classes? As in, where do we find enough “qualified adults” (people who actually have their shit together)? Hell, do they even exist?
Adnamanil
This would only be a start compared to what you’re talking about, but a lot of Unitarian Universalist as well as United Church of Christ churches offer a great, very thorough, thoughtful, and progressive sexuality curriculum called Our Whole Lives. Often, they make the classes available to non-church members as well. There’s also different versions for different ages, from First Grade to Older Adult.
Clif
We don’t have enough people that actually understand mathematics now and you want to kill it just at the point some people can move on beyond arithmetic and basic geometry.
Schpoonman
That’s a hell of an intentional misread*, Clif, considering Felian explicitly said the regular curriculum should “pause” and not end entirely as well as explicitly pointing out that the upper level mathematics courses a lot of high schools (including the very conservative one I attended) will push students to take that do jack shit for day-to-day living.
I’ve used my calculus classes exactly zero times outside school, sure would have been way more helpful to have a better understanding of civics.
*: I’ve seen this sort of stuff from you before, though, which is why I normally ignore your drivel. Thought this one stood out, though.
Cerusee
This is such a good comment! I disagree with some of the assertions below that this is an out-of-nowhere surprise to Joyce—she has absolutely suspected he might have some lingering interest in her in the past, he just wouldn’t talk about it when she tried to broach the subject—but an actual confirmation, Joe coming out and admitting he likes her romantically, is still a big deal. And even if she reciprocates (she clearly does, she ain’t subtle at least not to the audience) there are lots of legit things to factor in while she’s thinking about actually pursuing a real relationship here. I think that is refreshingly sane and mature of her.
Miri
Obviously I don’t know your real life situation or what was going on with the girl you liked, and whether or not she was avoiding having an awkward conversation at the cost of your continued pain or not (or whether she had experienced guys turning violent towards her when she rejected them outright in the past, making that situation highly stressful for her going forwards), or whether she was also in the process of redefining her entire perspective on morality in the same way Joyce is – it sucks you got hurt either way. But it doesn’t mean that taking time to think things over is inherently unreasonable.
LiterallyJustSomeGuy
I’m sorry that happened to you. In my opinion, a year is far too long to leave something like that hanging, and it sounds like she didn’t even give you a response then either.
If this lasts longer than a week (their time), I will probably start feeling bad for Joe. Right now, I’m happy Joe put his feelings out there. I’m not actually sure what Joe would do if Joyce reciprocated right away.
Felian
a potential partner once told me that they’d have pulled back their interest in pursuing a serious relationship if i had immediately said yes. They appreciated that i said it’ll take more time to figure out what i want and need, rather than following a default system.
No u-hauling in my life anymore!
StClair
wait, so their offer of such a relationship was actually a trick question, where a “yes” answer would be disqualifying? that’s kind of bullshit, IMO.
Clif
Concur.
Regalli
You know, actually, I can’t blame Joyce for that. Enjoy that agency while you can, honey!
Sorry, Joe.
Axel
I think he’s still kinda smiling
Needfuldoer
He didn’t get a “yes”, but she also didn’t give him a “no”.
After that class, he’s probably reasonably sure what her answer is. Giving her the space and agency to reply on her own terms is the right thing to do.
Alaric
At the very least, he can now be pretty sure that whatever her answer is, they’ll still be friends.
Rose by Any Other Name
Ah yeah… that feel.
Joe, love ya, but maybe give Joyce a chance to visit a restroom before pressing for answers?
Slartibeast Button, BIA
Wait? “I need a new pad.” She is talking about *that*, with a man? Joyce?
Vanessa
They are friends.
justin8448
Also, Joe seems like the kind of guy who is comfortable talking about womens’ body functions.
Carla's #2 Fan
*the body functions of period havers
Taffy
I get the sentiment, it’s a good sentiment with lots of truth and such, but as far as we know Joyce is a woman, more specifically a woman who Joe is currently talking to in this particular moment. We don’t know for sure whether he’d be comfortable talking about periods with non-woman period havers, although I certainly would like to assume he’s not Weird Like That.
woobie
Lady friends have less trouble telling me about it than I do hearing about it.
I mean, I’m not the one who brings it up.
Segnosaur
I am a little slow on the uptake sometimes…
It took me a couple of re-reads to figure out what she meant. (Somehow the Joe/Joyce storyline had made me for get the “Joyce’s medical problem” storyline)
nicoleandmaggie
Either she’s had a really long week or she’s got a really long period (which, yeah, doesn’t seem unlikely given the other problems).
Felian
also, idk how exactly the pill works (has she started taking it now?), but some types of bc will also mess up your period until your body gets used to it!
thejeff
It’s been a really long week in our time.
I think she first showed signs of the cramps in Trial and Sarah, which was Sunday. I might have missed something the day before. It’s now Tuesday and 10 months of real time later. (There was the flashback to Halloween in there to stretch it out.)
Nicoleandmaggie
I kept thinking maybe some time had passed and it was like next Tuesday or something. Apparently not! Thanks for keeping track and sharing. 🙂
Still a very long week for her and even longer for us!
hazel
“that” in scare quotes..
What do you want to happen, exactly?
Slartibeast Button, BIA
No, it is inside asterisks, not scare quotes.
Minibit
Really disappointed by everyone saying it’s okay because it’s Joe or it’s okay because they’re friends, instead of it being okay because it is a normal fucking bodily function and she should be able to say she needs a new pad as easily as she should be able to say she needs to pee.
And seriously,”that”? What are you 12? It’s a period. She’s menstruating. These aren’t naughty words or shameful secrets, JFC.