Hate meter is at 11

There's a very large part of me that doesn't even want to grace today's strip with a response. Blood? It is boiling. M. Edelmeyer should be glad he lives in the Bronx instead of somewhere near me. And Al is going The List too, unless Edelmeyer's email actually read "Ever notice how fat people say they want to lose weight but keep shoving six different desserts into their mouths in one sitting? And then if they think they're going to a class reunion they want people to think they're thin?" Which...okay, he might have actually submitted that. But still.

I'd just like to point out to Edelmeyer that dieting is hard, particularly if you don't have much motivation (and no, a new dress isn't motivation--trust me, tons of women have clothes that they bought that would fit great if they lost 5/10/15/whatever pounds; these clothes are usually never worn). My only complaint with Rotunda (*sigh*) is that she would've realized her class reunion was coming up, so it shouldn't be a "I have 3 weeks!" thing.

Anyway, shut up. I'm not being coherent and thinking about it is pissing me off. Maybe I'm just cranky from my current diet.

(And yes, all of us fat people are fat because we just continually shove desserts into our mouths. That's it exactly. We just can't lay off 20 desserts at once!)

A lesson in weight loss

Today's strip marks the reappearance of Rotunda, last seen almost a month ago. She sure has lost some weight since then (and remember, kids, that it's not healthy to lose weight that quickly!). I wouldn't say that she's "gorging" herself on those free samples; it looks like she took one from each. Of course the samples are things that aren't good for her (clotted cheese?), but you know what, Al? That's OK. The thing with trying to lose weight is that you don't necessarily have to cut unhealthy food out of your life altogether. It's all about portion control. There's nothing wrong with having a cookie or two; you just want to avoid having, you know, 10 or 12. It's one thing if Rotunda is actually on a "special strict diet," but I get the feeling that N. Fioretta isn't talking about people on particularly strict diets. Weight Watchers does allow for pizza, folks.

I do love the return of the totally insane food, though. Sausage pizza? Good. Normal. Tasty. But "sauteed squid and clotted cheese wrapped in pork rind with mayo and bacon sauce"? Awesome. I've heard of clotted cream, so I supposed clotted cheese is possible, but what is it with Al and squid? It's like his go-to nasty food (because he apparently hasn't tried calamari). But at least that's something that they really would have to give out samples of in order to convince people to buy it. Or is that a recipe you'd make at home? I'm trying to imagine what the product would be called.

Nice slang, "dude"

I'll give Al some credit for today's strip, as this is a situation that pretty much most people have had to deal with, maybe even going so far as to say every time they attend a family gathering. Why Al seems to think this is only something boys have to deal with is beyond me, as it's not at all related to gender--merely age.

I'm also not sure why Aunt Rotunda (...) has to be big. The usual scenario is just some older relative who insists on giving big hugs and kisses to the numerous kids of the family. And usually winds up with the kid having lipstick smeared across his or her cheek. Again, I usually see this not as an issue of weight, but as one of age.

And most kids manage to not look quite so horrified. At least by the time they've reached the age the boys in the strip have. Did their parents never teach them manners?

So while Scaduto kind of gets it right this time (which is shocking and commendable), he also gets it wrong. But it's progress!