End of an era

It seems somewhat appropriate that the last regular TDIET strip would be a repeat--from last October. OK, maybe less a "repeat" and more a "sequel," as this does seem to be what the previous strip implies. That being said, this is totally valid; I remember being sighed at more than once by my mother because of how I had my stuff spread out over the table when she was trying to put food on it.

That being said, if you kick the kids out of the kitchen, it seems natural they would've disappeared for a bit. For all we know, they're simply dumping their stuff in their rooms...although perhaps that's supposed to be the door to outside that's open in the bottom panel?

If you go to the Times-Intelligencer TDIET page, you'll notice that it says that last strip is actually today's...though I can't seem to access it. Evil! With the strip over, I may go through the archives and add in the strips themselves so we don't lose them, and add tags to the older entries, but I imagine it'll just be housekeeping-type activities from here on out.

So thanks for following along. If you're particularly bored, you can check out my sort of normal blog...though I should warn you, with the baseball season starting, there will likely be a fair bit of posting about the Orioles. (And I am aware that the comments there don't work. It just looks like they should work, and thus they taunt me.)

No squid? I'm disappointed

Today's strip is actually quite appropriate for this time of year--a party! Whee! I'm just having a hard problem figuring out the point. Loopina brought all of her favorite foods, and people are complaining about individual dishes. I...what? I guess maybe it should've been potluck, but people would probably still object to some of the dishes. And the thing is, the complaints (too spicy, too salty, two vegetarians, no fish, no sugar) each apply to only a few of the dishes. Too spicy? Well, have the ham. No salt? Try the turkey. No fish? Ham or turkey. No sugar? Skip dessert. I imagine that the side dishes are mostly vegetarian. It's not like none of these people can eat, and Loopina will have to lug this food home. I guess she doesn't want people whining? Hey, I thought that was what family reunions were about.

Just give those kids some Lemon Drink

Today's strip kind of makes me want to go to a grocery store and check this out. I will say that while I love things called "Lemonade Drink" and "Cheese Food," I don't fool myself into thinking that they're in any way healthy. I don't think this means we're "losing it" or "wot"-ever. Hey, points for originality, I guess. As long as this doesn't evolve into "How come we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?" strip.

Yesterday's strip again examines the family dynamic. Honestly, it just isn't fair to hold how people acted toward their parents as teenagers against them when they're adults. Also, there is a huge difference between parenting a teenager and parenting a small child. Al and Jill, I don't know if you've heard, but traditionally, teenagers go through periods of rebellion as they learn to become adults. This isn't really an issue for a 6-year-old. (Or four.) And why is Mom/Grandma upset that the kids are being told to do as she says? Wouldn't that be helpful?

But does she have the urge to scream?

I admit that today's strip made me all warm and fuzzy--it was submitted by a teenager! There's hope that TDIET will live on. I don't care if she's reading it ironically, it still makes me happy. Not that Loopina looks like a teenager in the strip; maybe a tweener. The bow in her hair reminds me of the year (fifth grade, maybe?) that I wore a headband every day. Good times.

I guess the moral is that Loopina's mom is crazy. Look at all Loopie has to do in the top panel--she's lugging a huge box, there's a broom behind her and other boxes and piles all around. This seems like a major project. Is she cleaning out the garage or something? Why is her dad just sitting around? (Oh, right. Because he doesn't have to worry about cleaning, or intervening on behalf of his daughter.) Are the two jobs comparable at all? Is this something that happens often?

Yeah, Loopina's mom sucks. OK.

Is the riot squad related to the brute squad?

Al is seriously trying to kill me with today's strip. Well, not just today's strip. It just seems that a few recently have been like, "When a child is very small, he or she acts one way. And then it grows up and is suddently acting differently! Can you imagine?" It would upset any parent if their child wasn't speaking by age 2; by that point, most children are talking. I'm kind of hoping we're supposed to be shaking our heads at the parents: Mom and Dad were so worried when Hekkie didn't speak as a baby; but now that he's a teenager and chatting on the phone, all they do is complain! But I don't think that's supposed to be our reaction. More like, Hekkie didn't talk when he was an infant, but now he won't shut up! What a brat!

Man. And who actually says "Yakking" like that? Quite frankly, if I use the word "yak," it's most likely in a totally different context.

Can't we just have peaceful grandparent-grandchild relations?

Today's strip made me a little happy, because this one illustrates a grandparents who doesn't mind spending time with a grandchild. Look how happy everyone is!

Of course, why Mom and Dad let Loopina spend the night at Grandma's is beyond me. Crying and whining like that should not lead to the child getting her way. Of course, the parents are probably just happy to get her out of the house for the night. This leads to the second panel, and the question Why in the world would they indulge her and pick her up at 2:25 a.m.? Loopie will just cry for a while if she doesn't get her way, then fall asleep. And why the heck is she up at 2:25 to begin with?

At least Mom and Dad have one bed. I was almost expecting side-by-side twin beds, with the nightstand in the middle.

I also wanted to let you know that I'll be out of town until Monday night; I'm heading to Florida, where it's presumably a bit warmer than 30 degrees. With less snow than we have here. And more Orioles! Woo! Right, so no updates until Tuesday.

"Silly dribble" you say?

I'm wondering whether Al went meta with today's strip; we've certainly seen Loopina pop up a number of times in TDIET, and though Hap Hapless isn't a name I remember Al using, I wouldn't put it past him. Anyway, clearly what Junior is "missin'" is that his comic books are "Comix," as opposed to the "Comics" that appear in the Sunday newspaper. There's the difference.

I can kind of see Dimwiddy getting annoyed if Junior only reads comic books, but really, any reading is better than none at all. And are Junior's books funny, or are they graphic novels? I mean, is Junior reading Superman or is he reading Archie? Because there is a difference.

Of course, I'd probably kill Dimwiddy for being so obnoxiously loud while reading the comics.

Cartoons trump football--but not baseball

The wording in today's strip took me a while to understand. The "in come your daughter and granddaughter Loopina" completely confused me. I didn't really register that the daughter and granddaughter had just walked in the door; I only noticed Loopina walking into the living room. Combine that with naming only the granddaughter and not the daughter (not that we need either name), and I was like, "Why is he saying both the granddaughter and daughter are walking in? Only one person is!"

I will give credit. I saw "Granpa" and got annoyed at the lack of a "d" in there, but then I noticed that Al put in an apostrophe. So that's OK.

But I'm having a hard time accepting this strip, particularly after yesterday's strip that ripped on a daughter for not talking to her mom (the theory being that she only talked to her mom when she wanted money, but I'm not buying into that). It's not that I'm not sympathetic to Grandpa. I'd be a bit annoyed, too. But I refuse to get worked into a huff because a granddaughter, cuddling up to her grandfather, has certain shows she wants to watch. She has just as much right to get upset about having to watch football (which, pst, Al, football season is over) as Grandpa has to get upset about having to watch cartoons. Loopina would probably prefer to be at home as well.

Honestly, it's lose-lose here, except for the mother and grandmother, who look like they're having a jolly time in the background. Good for them.

Another twofer

Apologies for another double-up...my life just gets away from me sometimes.

It makes me sad that Al never seems to do any holiday strip. I have to believe that people have foibles related to holidays. Unless we assume that in yesterday's strip, the couple is going out to a nice Valentine's Day dinner. But really, M. Hariton, this is why we have Tivo or a DVR or even a VCR. Love how the husband actually swears about all these shows being on at the same time. My big question, though, is the "Only an old movie on at 2 a.m." almost makes it seems like there's literally nothing on tv, not just anything good. I will give credit for the feast vs. famine thing. Somewhat clever. Good job.

In today's strip, after reading just Loopina's dialogue, I got annoyed with her. I think it's the hand wave. And then I read the mother's dialogue. Good God. Talk about your overreactions. Of course, judging from her her freakout in the bottom panel, this seems to be common. And at least in the bottom panel, Mom appears to be whispering; it's obvious in the top panel that whoever's calling can hear every word being said. And now I'm curious about why Loopina doesn't want any calls. Hmm. Anyway. People are hypocritical! Shocking. I do like "The phone was on the other ear," though.

The child in the background frightens me

Today's strip just absolutely blew me away. Al does know what a computer is! He's heard of blogs and the Internet! (Although now I'm thinking that the contributor probably wrote "Kids who spend all their time on the Internet updating their blogs," so Al didn't have to fret about proper usage there.) Although I do need to point out that "that Internet" and "blogs" are hardly "the latest technology trends." I mean, I've had a blog since 2000, and I'm hardly a trend-setter.

I am, however, a "total computer-armchair potato."

I'll just ignore, also, that this strip totally applies to me. I love listening to records on a turntable (this does not mean, however, that I don't enjoy listening to new CDs). There's something comforting about the sounds of a record. I can't explain it. My sister has an awesome cassette/CD/record player. I covet it.

And maybe Loopina does like "the old-time sound," and since it's available on records that her folks already own, she doesn't feel the need to blow money on CDs when she can listen to it for free.