178

Arms
Posted on February 20, 2019 by David M Willis

178 thoughts on “Arms”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    reminiscing about Blade Dog and Destroyer

    1. Architex

      That is such a fantastic callback, I owe you a Pokemon gift for it.

  2. King Daniel

    It’s Sayid Namedbytumblr again!

  3. Lily

    Marcie always has the coolest socks

    1. BBCC

      She really does.

      The words on her shirt are gone now though. Huh.

  4. Derek

    she doesn’t like his tattoos? I don’t get the last panel

    1. William Leonard Reese Jr.

      No no. She’s saying that he is so sexy that she may be willing to push her into traffic for those tattooed arms. Not actually meaning it mind but it is amusing.

      1. Doctor_Who

        Or maybe willing to push HIM into traffic so she can claim the arms for herself.

        1. Icalasari

          First they came for the femurs

          Now they come for the arms

          *When will the madness stop?*

        2. djaevlenselv

          Just femurs and arms? What about the FAAACE?

        3. Felix

          Yes indeed, the FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

        4. H3xx

          Only if he turns out to be Gay and Manly. She has her right to bear arms, wherever she finds them.

        5. Ana Chronistic

          You didn’t read that Slipshine then

      2. Diner Kinetic

        Oh I thought she was gonna push him into traffic for stealing Marcie; cuz she basically can’t handle her having other friends as well as she claims

    2. JetstreamGW

      She thinks his ink is hot and she would like to shove Marcie into traffic, club Saiyd over the head, and claim him as her own.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Ah, the ancient rite of courtship, dating back to the nomad times of old.

    3. Nono

      That’s a look of lust. ‘Oh for that dude? I’d shove you into traffic so I can have him.’

    4. Agemegos

      My take is that Sal is saying that Sayid’s arms are sexually appealing to her.

    5. bleepbloop

      She does, she’s saying she wouldn’t be “willing to share” a guy with arms like his

    6. BBCC

      Take a closer look at her face in the last panel. That’s the opposite of what she’s saying. 😉

  5. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    Sayid. . . Sayid. . . wasn’t he in a slipshine where he had sex in a music room or am I thinking of a dream I had about this comic and it’s characters way back?

    1. ShinyNeen

      Dunno about any dreams you might’ve had, but yes that slipshine scene did happen.

      1. Hoodiecrow

        Yeah, dreams ought to be private stuff. My ex-wife used to take a romantic interest in mine.

        You’re crushing my dreams, I told her.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          Listen, you.

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        Without asking for anyone to reveal anything that should stay in the Slipshine subscriber and/or Patreon worlds, is Sayid canon a music major?

        ‘Cause I’m still waiting for just one single confirmed music major in the DoA cast.

        1. BBCC

          He never says it outright but he does reserve music rooms to practice drums.

        2. Marsh Maryrose

          Cool. I don’t suppose we’ll ever get to see if the 3 Fangirls deem him an “antisocial head case.”

          Old joke with several canonical answers:

          Q: What do you call people who hang around with musicians?

          A: Drummers
          A: Singers
          A: Violists
          A: Accordionists
          [etc., etc.]

        3. Geneseepaws

          Q, for woodwind majors: What’s the difference between a violin and a banjo?

          A: Violin burns hotter, banjo burns longer.

        4. brionl

          Q: How can you tell when a drummer is at the door?

          A: The knock keeps speeding up.

  6. Nono

    …Sal doesn’t know Sayid’s gay, huh.

    1. poofdepoof

      Not the first instance of Sal finding a gay dude attractive (that maybe she doesn’t know are gay)? http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/tall/

      1. DailyBrad

        Heh, Ethan gets that reaction a lot, doesn’t he?

        Glad he’s finally getting to live a little and enjoy his popularity.

      2. BBCC

        Thank you for reminding me that Sal once hit on the kid she held hostage without knowing it.

        My computer’s cranky because I just spewed chip pieces all over it but it’ll live.

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          I’m tempted to ask why you were chewing integrated circuits, but never mind.

        2. BBCC

          Not computer chips, nacho chips. 😛

    2. BBCC

      Sayid’s not necessarily gay. Bi/pan/poly/etc. guys exist too.

    3. drs

      How do you know Sayid’s had sex with a man? I went through the tagged strips and didn’t see anything.

      1. BBCC

        Slipshine.

        1. Portland

          Just out of curiosity, which man?

        2. Nono

          Bryan.

        3. JBento

          This is the best possible gravatar for this comment.

    4. Dr T

      Yeah, I don’t have Slipshine but my first thought was that Sal was barking up the wrong tree. It’s also kinda sweet to see Sal telling Marcie about Danny like that. I do ship them, primarily because I’d like to see a healthy version of that relationship, though I figure that a healthy friendsip is all I’ll get.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Sal needs to tell Dan that his hat makes him look like a pick-up-artist. I’m surpised Joe didn’t do it first.

        1. Khno

          I’m curious about that. Isn’t this like a hipster or a 20th century worker hat? It is where I live, that’s why I’m asking.

        2. Fart Captor

          That’s a different kind of hat entirely

  7. ValdVin

    Is this Sal’s first time opining on Danny’s hat?

    1. ShinyNeen

      Maybe Sal just recognizes that if Danny’s hat is not removed soon it will permanently bond to him (except in times when it would be rude to keep it on, such as in class, of course)

      1. Unusually Angry Hippie

        Wait, it’s rude to wear hats in class? I’ve never known anyone to care.

        1. Agemegos

          If the classes are conducted indoors, yes.

        2. BBCC

          I’ve never known anyone to care in indoor classes either.

        3. Zero

          Some people have very specific rules for not being rude.

          In my experience, “men wearing hats inside” is considered rude by persons who don’t consider “loudly complaining about strangers’ attire in public because it’s ‘rude'” to be rude.

        4. Inahc

          There’s a place here where even women are expected to take their hats off. Something to do with respecting veterans, apparently. it seems like a weird and arbitrary tradition, but, I’ve given up on hats anyways; I can never keep them on my head.

    2. Keulen

      If it is, she’s dead wrong. Danny’s hat needs to stay.

  8. Stephen Bierce

    Lay down your arms
    And come peacefully
    Lay down your arms
    And surrender to me…
    I’m a Soldier of Love!    –The Beatles, who had this in their live sets but never released on a record

  9. MatthewTheLucky

    Well, ship sunk. New DannyxSal isn’t happening.

    1. Doctor_Who

      I dunno, presumably when he takes the rest of his clothes off the hat goes as well.

      Maybe even the ukulele, unless he’s found some new uses for it.

    2. bleepbloop

      I think there’s still a chance honestly

      1. Agemegos

        Yeah, Sal’s considering it. If there were absolutely no chance I don’t think the suggestion would have made enough impression that she’d be discussing it like this.

      2. George

        I’d give it a moderate chance of happening, but a low chance of working.

    3. Marsh Maryrose

      Unless he does a dynamite ukulele cover of “You Can Leave Your Hat On.”

      1. Marsh Maryrose

        Don’t wanna jinx things, but DYW could do worse than taking future storyline titles from the lyrics of Randy Newman songs.

    4. Roger

      And good riddance. Better off as friends I says.

  10. Tacos

    Hey the hat stays dammit.

    I guess Sal doesn’t know Sayid is gay.

    1. BBCC

      Sayid’s had sex with a guy. That doesn’t necessarily equal gay. Bi, pan, etc. guys exist too.

      1. Tacos

        Well yeah but wasn’t it already mentioned before that Sayid is gay? Or am I remembering it wrong?

        1. BBCC

          I don’t believe so, in either the strip or the patreon canon.

          You may be thinking of Brian, the guy who ran the meet and greet for questioning folks. He and Sayid hooked up at least once.

        2. Unusually Angry Hippie

          Sayid works at chic-fil-a, and told Becky he was gay and that nobody there minded.

        3. BBCC

          No he doesn’t. He works at Galasso’s.

        4. Marsh Maryrose

          To be fair, there was a Chick-fil-A guy. But he was an untagged guy who looked more like a brown-haired, beard-wearing Jocelyn.

        5. BBCC

          Yeah, I remember chick-fil-a guy, he just wasn’t Sayid.

        6. BarerMender

          That wasn’t Sayid. That was nameless beardy guy.

        7. HeySo

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/trickledown/

          I’m putting in a vote for Ernest.

  11. BBCC

    Marcie may always be the most important to Sal, but some of those choices may be harder than others. 😉

    Seriously though, this is very accurate to a lot of friendships I’ve had or seen. Good job, Willis!

    I gotta say they have good taste – I’m 22 so Sayid’s probably a bit too young for me (assuming he’s 18) but I get this way about Randy Orton’s ink so I get where they’re coming from.

    This does raise a question for me though – for all the (justifiable) grief she was giving Sal about not having any other friends, does MARCIE have any other friends she doesn’t want to bang? I guess Carla?

    Ah well. This seems like as good a time as any to remind everyone Marcie is into polyamory in the Walkyverse. Sharing is caring in more ways than one, Sal. 😉

    1. DailyBrad

      Sal’s not into gals, sadly. Though I guess nothing precludes her from still dating the same guy, just not dating Marcie in the process.

      1. BBCC

        Not all polyamory involves dating both other parties. ‘V’ relationships exist.

        Which is basically the term for what you’re suggesting.

        And besides, that’s what fan fiction’s for. 😉

      2. Roger

        maybe not here she isnt, but not so much in the fanfiction I’m gonna consider for 3 minutes and decide not to write for a lack of interest.

        1. BBCC

          That’s okay. If it’s anything to do with Sal (especially Sal/Marcie) my AO3 account will handle it eventually.

        2. ShinyNeen

          Oh, is that a promise now? : P

        3. BBCC

          Why, you got any requests you want me to add to the list? 😉

        4. ShinyNeen

          Nah, nothing you wouldn’t already have on a list, it’s just that Bagge gave us a great reminder yesterday that sometimes egging on fanfic writers can work out really well : D

        5. BBCC

          …I just checked and apparently I have 354 ideas for these two monogamous and about 20 more with various thirds.

        6. BBCC

          I may have entirely too many ideas is what I’m saying.

        7. Marsh Maryrose

          Or you may have precisely the right number of ideas.

        8. BBCC

          Apparently the universe has decided no because I’ve added more.

          I’m apparently a plot bunny machine.

        9. Bagge

          A bit of flattery goes a long way 😉

    2. Agemegos

      No, you’re good from 18 to thirty. “Half your age plus seven years.”

      1. BBCC

        18 year olds don’t really appeal to me, but that system only works for 14 year olds and up. 😛

        1. Agemegos

          Anything of the sort only works for sixteen-year-olds and up.

        2. BBCC

          I mean, the system says it’s only okay for 14 year olds to date 14 year olds and 15 year olds to date 14 year olds and up.

          …The one you’re thinking of was about sex wasn’t it

        3. Agemegos

          It was actually about marriage when I heard it. Premarital sex was never okay back then.

        4. BBCC

          Okay, I first heard it about dating, so there’s the disconnect.

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        I’ve noticed that the half-plus-seven “rule” tends to be invoked a lot more from the people doing the halving than from the people doing the subtracting.

        I.e., a lot more “I’m 46, she’s 30, so half-plus-seven and it’s okay,” and a lot less “I’m 30, she’s 46, so minus-seven-and-double and it’s okay.”

        1. Agemegos

          Indeed.

        2. Mara

          Eh I did a lot of the second kind. And then rounded up a bit because I don’t really care :V

        3. thejeff

          Because society doesn’t generally raise moral questions about younger people dating older ones, but puts the moral burden on the older party.

          Also because guys stereotypically tend to target younger women rather than older ones.

          Honestly, I’ve rarely heard it seriously invoked outside of hitting on high school or maybe college girls – which means at my age, I haven’t heard it in practice in a long time.

        4. Yumi

          I’ve definitely had thoughts along the lines of, “Okay, so if we do the half-your-age-plus-seven thing, I am technically a couple years too young for you, but hear me out: fuck math.”

        5. MatthewTheLucky

          Only math?

    3. C.T Phipps

      I think Sal also has a somewhat immature idea of friendship or at least is taking hers with Marcie a bit more seriously than the latter. They are besties but I think Marcie would probably say that she’d put her life-partner (whoever that may be) first.

      1. BBCC

        I dunno about more seriously, but definitely differently. Marcie (maybe, hopefully) has a good relationship with her parents and seems to be more inclined to try new things and meet (and grow close to) new people. Sal’s not the only one she had for 13 years, like Marcie was for Sal. That’s always going to colour things for Sal.

      2. thejeff

        That may someday be true for Sal too, but since neither of them actually have a life-partner now, it doesn’t feel that way.

        Few people, other than Joyce, would qualify a statement to their closest friend with “Other than my hypothetical husband who I haven’t met yet.”

    4. David M Willis

      Sayid is not a freshman. He’s 19 or 20.

      1. BBCC

        Good to know.

        He still doesn’t appeal to me, personally, but it’s nice to have more info on him.

      2. DailyBrad

        Hooray more Sayid lore!

  12. DarkoNeko

    So Marcie is bi uh.

    1. BBCC

      Yep. Some of us technically knew that from Walkyverse, but Willis confirmed it on tumblr a while ago during the flashback to Sal and Marcie meeting. His words – “It’s Bi Visibility Day but it may not be a good idea to out Marcie when she’s five”.

    2. ReFlex76

      She dated Jason in the Walkyverse, and wanted to bang Malaya in this verse.

      1. Kat

        I think you mean Joe…

      2. thejeff

        “dated”?
        I don’t recall that. For Joe either.

        1. King Daniel

          Yeah, it wasn’t so much “dating” as it was a whole big polyamorous relationship within the squad.

        2. BBCC

          She did date Jason though, over in Joyce and Walky.

        3. thejeff

          I didn’t remember that, but I think I’ve only read through J&W once.

        4. BBCC

          Yeah, they were going out. It only came up a couple times though so it’s easy to forget about them.

  13. ShinyNeen

    ‘Friends’ ; D

    And if I were better at puns I would probably find a joke about an arms race somewhere in there. Oh well!

  14. DailyBrad

    Sayid’s looking pretty dang good, so, respect to Marcie’s tastes on this one.
    And I wonder if Sal’s going to find any more dudes with ink, if that’s her fancy.

  15. Roger

    So Marcie’s moved on from thirsting over Malaya, huh. Good for her, she sucks and i don’t think had the self-awareness to even recognize Marcie’s crush, let alone her own interest in girls.

    Is Malaya interested in girls at all even? I remember she and Ultra Car were an official couple back in Shortpacked, but Malaya always seemed kinda weird and refusing to address that in herself. I can’t tell if she was genuinely attracted to her as a girl or if it was cuz she was a robot, and I don’t know if she ever could either.

    1. BBCC

      Liking someone else doesn’t necessarily mean she’s given up on Malaya. They’re not dating in a monogamous relationship so there’s nothing wrong with that.

      As for Malaya, she always read as reaaaalllllly demi to me.

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      In SP!, Malaya went out on a date with Leslie, and at the climax of the storyline, they kissed…and then Malaya said something along the lines of, “Well, I guess I’m not a lesbian after all,” much to Leslie’s chagrin. Was she not into girls at all, or was she just not into Leslie? Who knows?

      1. BBCC

        Her exact words were ‘I guess I’m straight after all’ but later with Ultra Car, she said she tried it with guys and that sucked and she tried it with girls and that also sucked. Sounds like she wasn’t into anybody really until she and UC got closer which seemed like she was demi to me, but there’s room for interpretation.

        1. DailyBrad

          Wasn’t she also into Ken? I forget the particulars with that. I moreso remember Ken and Jacob both going after Lucy.

        2. BBCC

          No, Ken liked her. There were times she thought he was okay, but she also thought he needed to grow a spine.

        3. dralou

          Also, if memory serves, she hated that everybody seemed to believe that they would end up together, because they’d known each other since kindergarten and they wre roommates.

        4. BBCC

          I don’t recall mentions they knew each other as kids but she definitely didn’t appreciate the suggestion she go out, no.

    3. C.T Phipps

      It could be she’s romantically attracted to girls but not sexually attracted to them.

      Or she’s bisexual and Shortpacked Malaya had no chemistry with Leslie.

  16. abysswatcher1993

    How many people Marcie wants to bang? Her thirst is extreme!

    1. C.T Phipps

      Safe, sane, and consensual!

      Just not very lucky.

    2. Needfuldoer

      But that’s Daisy’s thing…

    3. Fart Captor

      Two people is extreme? Really?

  17. C.T Phipps

    Hopefully Sayid is bisexual and Marcie isn’t just very bad at picking these things.

    Mind you, I was hoping Malaya would give Marcie a shot. She had no chemistry with Leslie in Shortpacked but was clearly interested until the kiss.

    1. timemonkey

      She still might, Marcie never made a move so Malaya never gave her a shot.

  18. tropicalfreeze

    For the second time in a row, Sal has misinterpreted Marcie’s attraction for somebody as something else (Malaya = hitting, Sayid = platonic friendship).

    If Sal made more eye contact she would notice Marcie’s expressions and the nuance of what she means when she gestures, but presumably this time Sal was just too preoccupied checking Sayid out herself.

    It’s always funny when friends get thirsty together.

    1. BBCC

      I think Sal knows exactly what Marcie means, based on that last line, but if it IS the last one, it’s too funny.

  19. Bagge

    Next up, Sayid and Malaya hook up.

    Marcie: *rude gesture*

  20. Lord Elsington Hallstingdingdingworth

    Sal’s into guys with tattoos of fish bones on their arms? I don’t get it.

    But then, I don’t like tattoos in general.

    Or arms. Like, they’re nothing but extension rods for your hands. Why don’t they quit mooching and get a real function?

    1. Needfuldoer

      I think they’re supposed to be an outline of the arm muscles? There isn’t a good shot here, but that’s what they look like to me in the bonus strips he’s in from the back of book 7.

      1. Lord Elsington Hallstingdingdingworth

        Sorry, Needfuldoer, you slipped in whilst I was making self-referential asides.

        You think so? Hm…I haven’t purchased the book you’re referring to, so per–

        *user has been terminated on admission of cheapskatery.*

        1. Needfuldoer

          Here’s a character model with a good angle on his arm. Honestly now I’m not sure, it might just be an abstract design.

        2. BBCC

          The link’s busted, but here’s the model in question:https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/image/132703613197

        3. Needfuldoer

          Gotdangit! Sorry, I have no idea why the extra quotation mark shows up sometimes.

        4. BBCC

          Because WordPress hates us all.

        5. Needfuldoer

          Damn you Willis Kinja WordPress!

        6. thejeff

          It comes from the quotation marks that disappear when I try to make links.

    2. Lord Elsington Hallstingdingdingworth

      Incidentally, apparently I am only called forth to post when the strip takes place at this building’s staircase, at night.

      Beyond that, I have no power, like a vampire, except, boring, and lame.

    3. Bicycle Bill

      I too am not all that into tattoos … I think scars are better. They’re just as permanent, and usually come with a much better story.

  21. mrnoidea

    Sayid looks like a badass Walky–oh wait no that sounds wrong

    1. JessWitt

      I thought Sal was the badass Walky.

  22. JessWitt

    No way Sal, Danny keeps the hat.

    And isn’t Sayid taken already? If so, Marcie has some bad luck in her pick-up game.

    1. BBCC

      Sayid had sex with a guy earlier this semester, but I don’t know if any relationship was established. I’ve only seen the promos on Willis’ tumblr.

  23. BenRG

    Something tells me that Marcie has been teasing Sal about whether Danny is the one for her. “You’ve always liked the clean-cut hipster types!” or something similar.

    Meanwhile, I think that Sal is slowly coming to terms with the fact that sharing a best friend with anyone else is difficult, especially when there are signs of intimacy in that other relationship. I strongly suspect that Sal is going to stay on her wall, moping about that fact, until either Danny, Amber of Amazi-Girl come out to talk to her.

    1. BenRG

      Oh, I get it; she thinks Sayid is hot? Okay, makes a bit more sense.

  24. Keulen

    Sal’s definitely wrong about Danny’s hat. He looks much better with it than he ever did without it.

  25. Catman

    Weird thing I noticed: When I open this page on my phone, it appears normally, but if I open it on my Playstation it has a “beginning of week” button (that doesn’t seem to do anything)

    I know it isn’t exactly related to today’s strip but I just noticed it and wanted to bring it up.

    1. Catman

      Nevermind, it seems like it only appears on the home page

  26. Delicious Taffy

    Here’s a potential question for someone who might have had a similar experience. So, I was in the middle of my shift tonight, and I’d accidentally let myself get sidetracked to the point that I had several small tasks piled up.

    Now, I have a perfectionist streak, and if I make even a small mistake, it stresses me out more than almost anything else, and usually starts a sort of spiral and I keep messing up and getting more and more stressed out. In some of the worse cases, it can set off an anxiety attack, which is the opposite of what I need at work.

    Sometimes, I can sort of city off the anxiety attack and refocus my brain with a small amount of blunt force. Which is basically a fancier way of saying that I sometimes hit my head on a wall to reset. Never hard enough to cause myself or the wall any actual damage, not since I was in high school, but enough to sort of vent all of my anxiety at the same time and force myself to focus. It’s not necessarily an aggressive thing, I’m not mad at anyone except maybe myself, and it’s more of a sudden, super powerful impulse than a premeditated decision. I’m not explaining it very well, but it’s the best I can do.

    And it pretty much freaks people out, because hey, this guy just got really upset, whacked his head against a wall, and now he’s acting completely normal like nothing was wrong in the first place. My manager thought I was mad at her and having a violent angry outburst, until I explained all of this in slightly different terms.

    So, basically my question is: If anyone here has a similar problem and is comfortable sharing, could they possibly point me toward either a better coping mechanism that won’t upset others, or maybe some kind of anxiety medication to help keep me from having the attacks in the first place? It’s affecting my job at this point, even if tonight is the first time I’ve done it at work. Usually, I can step away, breathe, and settle down, but there are times when I can’t, and I just don’t always have the juice to power through the attack. Anyway, sorry for the rambling. I know this isn’t my journal or a dedicated advice forum.

    1. BenRG

      When I’m in the ‘so overloaded that I want to start hitting my head on my desk’ place, I excuse myself from said desk, go to the break room and stand in a corner with my eyes closed until my stress levels go down. I also try to sort out in my head what I will do first before going back.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        That’s close to what I usually do as well. If I have a free moment, I’ll excuse myself and go stand in the freezer until I’ve cooled down mentally and physically. The trouble is that my job is so fast-paced and the building is so small, I rarely get a chance to be away from people’s line of sight, and when I do, it’s only for a couple of minutes.

    2. ditrysia

      Can you try doing this in the bathroom or other private place? Can you maybe leave for a few minutes and walk around the corner and do it out of sight? That should work for the “not freaking out others” part.

      But aside from that there are a lot of medications that can help with that. What I believe is best is to work with a therapist, aided with medication if necessary, but I do recommend to find a good therapist to help you go through the source of that anxiety. And I mean the deeper thought, not the there’s a lot of work” but the “why does it feel this level of terrible that there is”. You might be able to develop some good defense mechanisms to prevent it from happening in the first place.

      Good luck.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        I guess I could try taking a bathroom break, if I have the time and need to take it. Around the 7:30 dinner rush, though, I’m so busy trying to get things filtered and scrubbed, while also cooking dozens of items with half the cooking space, I almost never have the freedom to step aside. That’s basically what caused this particular incident.

        As far as “why does it feel this level of terrible,” I have a pretty solid grasp on the reasons. It couldn’t hurt to talk to a good therapist about those, and I’ll try to find one in my town (and coverage range). Eventually, y’know.

    3. ditrysia

      PS: shout-out to the time I asked Wil Wheaton about anxiety attacks and he gave a long, thoughtful and helpful response:

      http://wilwheaton.net/2015/06/how-i-deal-with-anxiety/

      1. Delicious Taffy

        That’s actually really helpful, thank you for linking it. I’ll try adding the rational/irrational exercise to my usual cooldown thing. This Wheaton guy seems pretty cool.

      2. Inahc

        Nice 🙂

    4. vlademir1

      My two go to outlets at work may not be extremely helpful, but I’ll bring them up anyway.

      When under sudden extreme stress I’ll take a minute and go in the freezer (I work in a restaurant mind), inhale deeply then just scream at full force until I have no breath left. Once I do that then inhale deeply again I’m right as rain and get right back to work. I use the freezer as the heavy insulation helps with sound reduction, so I’m not distracting anyone else.

      My more common major outlet comes from my having taken up meditation years ago for mostly unrelated reasons. It takes a reasonable bit of time developing the Pavlovian response before this works in my experience, but just assuming my normal meditative posture (standing in my case because I mainly do moving meditation) and taking a single deep breath lets me reset myself and get back to the work at hand.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        The freezer trick has helped me before, maybe I should start using it more. I’m not so sure about the screaming, since I’m not sure if it’ll be muffled sufficiently, but I might just try it when there aren’t any customers to startle. I also have a similar posture and breathing thing I’ve been trying recently, and it’s decent. Maybe I could work on refining it, so I can eventually replace the headbutting entirely.

        1. Inahc

          Yay breathing exercises, those seem to help a lot of people.

          For me, one thing that’s helped with the excessive reaction to mistakes has been apologizing to myself, the way I’d apologize when accidentally bumping into someone on the street. OTOH, sometimes it’s more helpful to push back and be like “yeah, that was dumb, so what? These are normal human mistakes, get used to it.”

          I guess it’s sort of a matter of finding a healthy balance, where the part of me that made a mistake can acknowledge it and consider whether there are changes to be made (eg. Setting an alarm instead of risking forgetting something) and the part of me that’s angry/scared can process the feelings without spewing emotional abuse at the rest of me.

        2. Inahc

          As for meds: benzos are the kind you take only occasionally, when you need the anxiety to go away Right Now. They interfere with long-term improvement, but they’re very useful for situations where short-term functioning is more important. Other meds are daily and most of them have shit side effects (I’m avoiding them myself right now); a lot of those help you make long-term improvement but a few prevent it, and I forget which those are. I think all the SNRIs are good or neutral?

    5. octern

      I’ve heard some people report that immersing their face in ice water for a just a second has a similar brain-reset effect (not the whole head, just the front of the face up to the ears and/or hairline).

  27. Alanari

    Oh. I was hoping to see the 5years-later-part of Joyce’s story..

  28. Whaatt

    Damn it! My sal+Danny ship has sunk.
    Oh well!
    Sal+ new guy it is!
    And yea, those arms are worth it

    1. BenRG

      Danny x Joyce because the first (guy Walkyverse!Joyce was attracted to) will become the last (and long-term guy Dumbingverse!Joyce will be attracted to).

    2. Amazi-Stool

      Well, as BBCC argues here, V-relationships are possible, so let’s go all the way on the Poly-ship:
      Marcie x Sayid x Danny x Sal!

      1. UniqueSnowflake2

        That’s an N.

  29. Hinoron

    … Did that guy tattoo his arms to look like Piccolo from Dragonball? LOL

    https://pm1.narvii.com/6113/c9b9eb80f298eae262352811025d75cf6d1dc747_hq.jpg

  30. Fuchs Sakemann

    I feel like Sayid is Walky from a different, much edgier, timeline.

    1. SpaceshipPilot

      If Walky became that edgy, what’s Sal like in that timeline?

      1. BBCC

        It took me entirely too long to find this post: http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/88122665597/yay-that-was-a-fun-trivia-challenge-thing-have-an

  31. Amazi-Stool

    No, Danny! Keep the hat!
    Otherwise you will become invisible to Joyce!

  32. Yakumo

    When I first saw the comic, I was trying to figure out what NNF meant, line BFF and NSFW, but I finally realized (at least I assume I’m right now) that it’s just the sound “nnf”.

  33. Micki

    I feel ya, Sal. I feel ya.

  34. BBCC

    I really like this because it shows understanding from both of them.

    Sal knows she’s been clingy and jealous regarding Marcie so this time she makes sure to tell Marcie it’s cool and to go have fun with her ‘friend’.

    Marcie, on the other hand, knows Sal’s been feeling neglected so she asks if Sal will mind if she takes off after her ‘friend’.

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