Reunionate? Really?

Today's strip provides a nice continuation from last Friday's strip. Sure, Loopina appears to have changed outfits, but that's OK, as apparently this reunion lasted well over a weekend. Such stamina!

I do feel bad for Loopie here, but then, that's the risk you take when hosting people. It's common courtesy to offer to help clean up when you're a guest, but it's something I wouldn't necessarily count on, if that makes sense. You'd think, though, that if people brought food, they'd at least want their dishes back, right? Maybe they used disposable containers, which would make Loopie's job a bit easier, at least.

In the end, I can sympathize with the hostess, but can't back her anger in the end. One of those "Plan for the worst, hope for the best" situations--hope that people will help you clean up, but don't expect them to.

Mind you, I can say this because I rarely have people over, much less host any sort of large dinner.

Dogs, dieting, fashion, cars...and some meta

Sorry for my delinquence of late; I know, I've been terrible. I do recommend checking out the comments on the entry at CC about Al's death; some of his family and friends have checked in, and some people have also written some pretty moving comments. I also suggest reading this blog entry by a reader. Both he and Josh have managed to articulate their feelings about Al much better than I. (This is why I'm an editor, not a writer, people!) I will say that it makes me sad that there's been virtually no coverage of Al's death. TDIET is one of the few comics that's carried nationally, and has been around for a long time. You'd think the passing of its artist would merit some attention.

Anyway. On with the show. Four days in brief recap...

Monday. Mrs. Goosegg should rely solely on the dog for vacuuming purposes; I mean, why have a vacuum at all if you have a dog? Also, where did that table come from in the bottom panel? I'm sure you all also saw that this is a CC reader-submitted strip. So exciting!

Tuesday. I can't really fault Ragmop here. Part of the key to losing weight isn't to necessarily cut out all fatty foods; it's just to eat them in moderation. If he can be happy with samples only, more power to him. And isn't Fatburger a real restaurant?

Wednesday. This is awesome for many reasons, except the similarity to last Monday's strip. I love that Migraina actually calls him out for not going with her suggestion, and I love that Al included "send him to the moon" with the "striped shirt" piece. It could've been "The urge to stripe his shirt" or something, but the "to the moon" made it all worthwhile. Awesome.

Today. Oh, kids these days, with their loud music. Maybe Hekkie heard the plinking between songs on his radio. Notice that he never says that the noise bothers him; maybe he's just upset by his car making a weird noise? I know I am. And I applaud him for taking good car of my car.

The urge to buy some merch

Today's strip is another that revolves around working at home. This honestly blows me away. I guess more of the TDIET audience than I thought works from home. And miraculously, it even looks like that's a computer monitor in the bottom left of the panel! I'm just going to give Al the benefit of the doubt on that one. But honestly, are we sugpposed to feel bad for Dragbutt? I mean, who's fault is it that his office is cramped? Just organize a bit, throw some stuff out, invest in some filing cabinets, and you're golden. Quit whining. It's true that crap grows to fill the space, but it doesn't need to be so messy.

I hope you all saw the need t-shirt being offered by the Comics Curmudgeon. Need to let others know that you want to do something horrible--or just completely nonsensical--to them? Then that is the t-shirt for you.

Ah, good ol' college days

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. The arrival of my family meant I missed last Wednesday's strip, which was submitted by a reader, if I recall. MWGallagher, can you remember what exactly you sent to Al, and how it compares to the final strip? I only hope you like beans...

In today's strip, we deal with what appears to be a college student. Have we encountered one of those before, in his natural habitat (i.e., a dorm room)? This may be new ground! How exciting! I don't think I ever heard of anyone who had a "no shoes" rule in college. That seems wrong. I'd accept this more easily if Hekkie was post-college. (His room seems less dorm-like and more like a first apartment, but what do I know?) I'm too distracted by his mom's feet in the bottom panel to give anything else much thought. What are those lines? Is she supposed to be wearing socks? You'd think she'd be wearing stockings, as she's wearing a skirt. Or she'd be bare-legged, but she wouldn't be wearing socks. Seriously, what are those lines???

And ew, cigar ashes. How is he talking in the top panel? And are they leaving their shoes in the hallway? From the top panel, I guess so. I guess shoe thievery isn't really an issue wherever they are.

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.

What's up with the sock in the filing cabinet?

We've seen today's strip before, right? I actually thought that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had messed up and repeated a strip. But no. Once again, it's just a case of someone insisting or being neat one place, but not another. We've seen it time and time again. The only thing that makes this even a little different is that this time, a husband is yelling at his wife! Excellent! I'm not really sure what kind of work Barfwell is referring to--cooking? I know I let my kitchen get a bit cluttered, but if I'm going to cook, then I clean up first. It's a wacky system I have.

The thing that gets me is that Mrs. Barfwell had to know that the home office was in that state--she probably watched it devolve to that point. And the second he got into it about the kitchen, she could've actually said something to shut him up instead of later just having the urge to vacuum his hide, which actually doesn't correspond to anything else in the strip--the state of the two rooms isn't one that calls for vacuuming so much as just straightening up in general.

Apron dresses

Apparently Al is just hoping that just because I didn't comment on the first few strips this week, that means that I didn't read them. Not so. I know that today's strip is just a variation on Tuesday's strip. And it goes back to the common perception that a even though a person is messy, he or she still manages to know right where everything is. At least it's better than the last idea that Fifi Meisner submitted.

I can't really concentrate on the subject matter, though; I keep getting distracted by Fussina's dress in the bottom panel. Every time I see it, I'm convinced that it's an apron. Then I get kind of squicked out when I realize it's a dress. I think it's the fact that it's sleeveless that throws me off; it's not like it's indecent. Between the sleevelessness and the fact that the front half of the dress is lighter than the back half, it just says "Apron!" to me.

I don't know. Maybe I'd complain more, but I'm fairly neat. Doesn't stop me from losing things, though. Just because a place looks neat doesn't mean it's well-arranged.

Isn't a "detritus-chewing drain" a garbage disposal?

I'm happy that in today's strip, Al has returned to using the proper spelling of Migraina. That "y" in there totally threw me off.

As for the content...yeah. I admit it. I totally do this. (Did this. I don't have a dishwasher in my current apartment.) Because my mom does it, probably. Now, I don't have to get everything off the dishes, but I definitely scrape off a lot of it. It helps keep the dishwasher clean, I imagine, and it's really not that much effort. I can't really explain it. But rinsing doesn't mean cleaning, you know; it just means getting off the extra food remnants. But would she really call it "the machine"? That just rings false.

My question is, Did Migraina do the rinsing business with her old dishwasher as well? If she didn't, then yeah, this makes no sense. If she did do it before, well, it's habit.

Love the pageboy-haircutted son next to her.