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Tai-Dora HOOKUP!

1 (2.6%)

Dora leaves Tai hanging.... AGAIN.

2 (5.3%)

Tai remains catatonic from Dora's attention.

2 (5.3%)

Faye steps in on this one.

0 (0%)

PINTSIZE becomes the voice of reason!

1 (2.6%)

Jeph will leave it as a cliffhanger - because he be trollin'.

9 (23.7%)

C'mon, like he actually READS anything on here?

0 (0%)

Maybe sometimes we are a tad too eager to pair people up.

2 (5.3%)

And a tad too eager to dump on Marten.

2 (5.3%)

I prefer Yellow Mellow ???

0 (0%)

NOTHING IS BETTER THAN SPACE HAM!

1 (2.6%)

...except WAFFLES! Mmm, Waffles.

2 (5.3%)

Where's the basketball hoop?

0 (0%)

SCENE CHANGE FRIDAY!!!

0 (0%)

Guest Strip. (@%#$#@ ROSEWOOD!)

16 (42.1%)

Total Members Voted: 37

[helloandgoodbye]

Wow, Tai just used "slashfic" in a very archaic sense.

[WAYF]

Quite so. It's a minor quibble, but "slash" fiction actually applies exclusively to homosexual pairings. So unless Tai is shipping one of the new interns with herself... which I guess is possible...

And by the way:

Go to a fancy meal, or any evening occasion where alcohol is served, and don't drink.  I guarantee that people will assume you're an alcoholic trying not to air your dirty laundry.

As somebody who has never once drunk something more alcoholic than lemon, lime and bitters, I take exception to this statement. I actually prefer not to drink alcohol. Don't like the smell, can't stand the idea of winding up drunk.

[snubnose]

Todays thread leads to the obvious question :

If thats the whole point of interacting with ladies, why would (heterosexual) men in general bother interacting with other men at all ?

Or women with each other.

Also, why does TAI of all people care ?

[TinPenguin]

Today's comic is SO MUCH YES. Reading the WCDT feels like Marten in panels 3 and 4, sometimes.

Also, totally didn't notice Faye flinging Pintsize on my first read through. Clearly, both the characters and I are inured to it by now.

Quite so. It's a minor quibble, but "slash" fiction actually applies exclusively to homosexual pairings.

By convention, not definition. Slash fiction can apply to any two people whose names it is possible to put a slash between. Carrot/bagel could be slashfic. Probably exists, in fact.

[Toe]

Jeph totally needs to write a storyline involving a dwarf AntroPC tossing competition, complete with AnthroPC civil rights protesters.

[Near Lurker]

Wow, Tai just used "slashfic" in a very archaic sense.

No, she's hip and modern and with it.  The archaic sense is explicitly referring to (sometimes even canon) same-sex pairings... or before that, m/m... or before that, a single pairing, that of a certain starship captain and Vulcan.

[Tova]

Jeph said in the commentary at the bottom that he was making fun of shippers.

That's made this comic one of my new favourites.

Go to a fancy meal, or any evening occasion where alcohol is served, and don't drink.  I guarantee that people will assume you're an alcoholic trying not to air your dirty laundry.

Some of them will probably assume you're driving, actually. Not sure about the alcoholic thing. Speak for yourself, maybe?

In any case, that's all rather different from reacting by demanding to know whether the person is twelve years old.

[WAYF]

Slash fiction can apply to any two people whose names it is possible to put a slash between. Carrot/bagel could be slashfic. Probably exists, in fact.

As far as I am aware, "slash" is the term that applies to homosexual pairings, "het" is the term that applies to heterosexual pairings, but I shall go and look it up just to clarify.

... Nope, I think Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary back me up on this one.

[cesariojpn]

Revenge is a dish best served phallic.

Wonder how cooked penis tastes like. Glad I wasn't invited to taste one that was cooked.

[Sidhekin]

THAT IS CLEARLY THE ENTIRE POINT OF INTERACTING WITH LADIES.

[HiFranc]

I can't blame Faye for thinking like that.  After all there is some evidence that Maren may have thought that way.  Let's not forget how he was with Padma.

{edit} I remember there was a strip where he confessed to Dora and Faye that he fantasized about Raven.

[Akima]

You have to be 12 years old to drink orange juice? Do we really live in a society now where you have to justify not drinking alcohol with a meal? 

It's not the lack of alcohol that bothers me; water or tea is what I often drink with a meal. But OJ? Seriously? I can't imagine any food the flavour of OJ would enhance. Like Coca-Cola, it just doesn't strike me as an adult taste, and if a guy took me out on a dinner date and drank OJ, I would start to suspect he had Optimus Prime sheets on his bed... 

Wow! Jeph was really leaning on the fourth wall tonight. The way Faye was tossing Pintsize, I was almost expecting to see a basketball hoop on the wall.

[cesariojpn]

Wow, Tai just used "slashfic" in a very archaic sense.

No, she's hip and modern and with it.  The archaic sense is explicitly referring to (sometimes even canon) same-sex pairings... or before that, m/m... or before that, a single pairing, that of a certain starship captain and Vulcan.

Or using the word Yaoi.

[Manix]

You have to be 12 years old to drink orange juice? Do we really live in a society now where you have to justify not drinking alcohol with a meal? 

It's not the lack of alcohol that bothers me; water or tea is what I often drink with a meal. But OJ? Seriously? I can't imagine any food the flavour of OJ would enhance. Like Coca-Cola, it just doesn't strike me as an adult taste, and if a guy took me out on a dinner date and drank OJ, I would start to suspect he had Optimus Prime sheets on his bed... 

Wow! Jeph was really leaning on the fourth wall tonight. The way Faye was tossing Pintsize, I was almost expecting to see a basketball hoop on the wall.

OJ and soda laste good. Alcohol and all drinks that use it taste terrible (wine for instance tastes like someone tried to make kool-aid with spic-n-span instead of water).

[Emperor Norton]

It's not the lack of alcohol that bothers me; water or tea is what I often drink with a meal. But OJ? Seriously? I can't imagine any food the flavour of OJ would enhance. Like Coca-Cola, it just doesn't strike me as an adult taste, and if a guy took me out on a dinner date and drank OJ, I would start to suspect he had Optimus Prime sheets on his bed... 

I just want to take this opportunity to say that I would love to have Optimus Prime sheets on my bed.

(I actually don't like the taste of OJ with food, but regularly drink soft drinks with meals, especially if I'm driving, the idea that any drink is "not to adult tastes enough" is kind of insulting really, but in a very mild way that is not worth taking offense to)

[Sidhekin]

I personally don't like the taste of orange juice – it's too acidic for me; I'd prefer just about any other fruit juice, or moo juice, or even water  – but orange juice is a fixture of my workplace's lunch room, and yes, my coworkers are all adults.  (Just don't tell them I admitted that.)

Coca-Cola?  Depends on the food.  With pizza, for instance, I'll insist on a caffeinated carbonated beverage.  I prefer Pepsi Max¹ or Coca-Cola Zero¹, but plain Coca-Cola is not bad either.  And yes, I think I qualify as an adult.

Different cultures, different strokes, I assume.

¹ Mind that the recipes, at least for Pepsi Max, which I tried in Spain, may vary from market to market, catering to its audience, so the versions you know, might not be identical to the ones I know.

[HiFranc]

You have to be 12 years old to drink orange juice? Do we really live in a society now where you have to justify not drinking alcohol with a meal? 

It's not the lack of alcohol that bothers me; water or tea is what I often drink with a meal. But OJ? Seriously? I can't imagine any food the flavour of OJ would enhance. Like Coca-Cola, it just doesn't strike me as an adult taste, and if a guy took me out on a dinner date and drank OJ, I would start to suspect he had Optimus Prime sheets on his bed... 

I could understand that attitude for an OJ flavoured sugar enhanced drink (e.g. orange squash) but, in Britain at least, OJ is an adult drink.  Also, if you're drinking because you feel hot, OJ cools you down more than water does and it helps you wake up without the crash that you get with caffeine.

OJ was mentioned as part of the Government's Five a Day Campaign but "smooth" orange juice (i.e. without bits of the fruit in) may not be as healthy as first thought.

[techkid]

You have to be 12 years old to drink orange juice? Do we really live in a society now where you have to justify not drinking alcohol with a meal? 

It's not the lack of alcohol that bothers me; water or tea is what I often drink with a meal. But OJ? Seriously? I can't imagine any food the flavour of OJ would enhance. Like Coca-Cola, it just doesn't strike me as an adult taste, and if a guy took me out on a dinner date and drank OJ, I would start to suspect he had Optimus Prime sheets on his bed... 

I don't mind OJ with a meal really, but then it all depends on the restaurant you're eating at. I mean, if you're at the classier sort of place then you'd be better off with tea (although I do usually stick with juice anyway) and probably have one or two alcoholic drinks if you're with a significant other.

And no, I don't have Optimus Prime sheets, but I do have a respectable anime collection (which is just as bad, if not worse...)

Wow! Jeph was really leaning on the fourth wall tonight. The way Faye was tossing Pintsize, I was almost expecting to see a basketball hoop on the wall.

That would have been brilliant if there was a hoop. More so if Pintsize was stuck halfway through...

[LTK]

OJ was mentioned as part of the Government's Five a Day Campaign but "smooth" orange juice (i.e. without bits of the fruit in) may not be as healthy as first thought.

The smooth stuff is more likely to come from concentrated juice, which they dilute to roughly its previous osmolarity. You can taste the difference - the diluted stuff is indeed more sour - and I wouldn't be surprised if the health benefits were less as well. Frankly, there's nothing better to start breakfast than a hard-boiled egg and some fresh orange juice. When you're buying the stuff, look at the ingredients. If it says 'juice from concentrated orange juice', then it's diluted. Here, the fresh stuff comes in plastic or glass bottles instead of cartons.

I usually do have soft drinks with meals, cause juice is pretty expensive! I'm not sure what the preferred alternative for a dinner-date is. Does asking for tap water make a man look stingy? Does drinking tea make a man look like a sissy? Does not drinking alcohol make a man look like an alcoholic? (That's the most backwards-ass thing I ever heard, to be honest.)

[Mr_Rose]

Wow, hella weird drink prejudices all up in here. Not having alcohol makes you alcoholic? OJ makes you infantile? The everloving fuck?

And, it's lunchtime. Plenty of places, especially cafeterias inside workplaces, simply won't serve alcohol with lunch. Or at all. Liquor licensing is hard and expensive.

As for today's comic, Jeph wrote:

Totally poking fun at everybody who assumes Marten is gonna hook up with one of the interns
{emphasis mine}

(clearly this means he's going to hook up with all three; all that remains is to speculate on order )

[HiFranc]

OJ was mentioned as part of the Government's Five a Day Campaign but "smooth" orange juice (i.e. without bits of the fruit in) may not be as healthy as first thought.

The smooth stuff is more likely to come from concentrated juice, which they dilute to roughly its previous osmolarity. You can taste the difference - the diluted stuff is indeed more sour - and I wouldn't be surprised if the health benefits were less as well. Frankly, there's nothing better to start breakfast than a hard-boiled egg and some fresh orange juice. When you're buying the stuff, look at the ingredients. If it says 'juice from concentrated orange juice', then it's diluted. Here, the fresh stuff comes in plastic or glass bottles instead of cartons.

It's not whether it's from concentrate or not that's the problem it's the fact that fruits contain natural sugars and it's the solid bits that contain the fibre (aka roughage) that counters the negative effect of too much sugar.  There are also other problems:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17731052
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/just-one-glass-of-orange-juice-a-day-could-make-you-obese-and-increase-your-risk-of-diabetes-says-research-6876854.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7572500.stm

As I'm not sure how reliable the LSE is, I searched a little more and found:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2008/Jul/orange-juice-linked-with-diabetes-risk.html

From what I know from my own knowledge of nutrition, the healthiest OJ is that that is made yourself (provided you don't throw anything away -- just liquidise the fruit) because most then you have more of the healthy (for humans) parts of the fruit.

[Welu]

I would usually have Diet Coke (my go-to drink) or water with a meal. I don't like the idea of tea if you're talking about normal warm tea. I find part of the need for a drink is to cool myself down depending on what I'm eating. Although a cup of tea after a meal is nice.
I'm so accustomed to Diet Coke that pretty much everything I eat tastes better with it. Even water does the same with some meals.
The only alcohol I drink, which is rare, is vodka and Diet Coke or even rarer red wine.

Seriously though, what's with assuming if you don't have a drink with dinner you're secretly an alcoholic? What if you just don't like alcohol? What if it's against your beliefs? What if you drink but just felt like having something else? If they are secretly an alcoholic, maybe sympathise that everyone around them is having a drink and they're not rather than bring it up and make them uncomfortable.

In other news, well done Marten in the third panel for pointing out what's been bothering me about the discussion of this past week. Kinda bugging that every new female character is a considered potential love interest before other traits they've shown. Though that's true of most media, not just this comic.

[V1]

There is a kind of inherent contradiction, I would almost say hypocrisy with what Marten said today in panel 3. Since comic one, one of his primary concerns with almost all his female interactions has been about the possibility of romantic connection. From Faye to Dora to Padma to even smaller short term characters like LT Potter. So it's kind of odd for him to protest now that people are assuming he's always looking for the next girl, given that...he always has been.

[Milesb]

As for today's comic, Jeph wrote:

Totally poking fun at everybody who assumes Marten is gonna hook up with one of the interns
{emphasis mine}

(clearly this means he's going to hook up with all three; all that remains is to speculate on order )

Just thinking about the associated drama that would bring about makes me cringe!


On the topic of drinks: Orange juice is great and I see nothing infantile with it, though I wouldn't order it in a restaurant - I'd probably have it with lunch. I find tea very boring in taste and image and prefer a coffee if I'm going to have a hot caffeinated drink.

Whenever I go to a restaurant I always get a jug of water as well as usually getting an appropriate alcoholic drink - red wine for rich, meat based food, white wine for fish and lighter foods, or sometimes a beer if we're off for a curry. A glass of wine or beer with food is part of the flavour and enjoyment of the meal to us, but I don't find it strange when people don't drink alcohol with their food.




Edit: V1, aren't most of the core characters concerned with their relationships and isn't that normal? But even having said that Marten is quite monogamous, takes things seriously and most of his relationships have rather landed on him without him taking a great lead - I think it's fairly within Marten's character to objet to "So which one are you gonna bang?" - It seems more Tai's style considering she's often in polyamorous relationships with more casual sex.

If they'd asked him which one he thought was nicest, cutest or whatever they might have got a different response, but I can understand why Marten as a character wouldn't respond well to the implications and assumptions inherent in Faye's wording - he's not a very domineering, assertive person when it comes to ladies.

[Border Reiver]

Clearly the ladies are having some fun at Marten's expense.

But I want to know what happened to precipitate the Pintsize throw.

[V1]

MileSB: Had you made that post just after Marten's relationship with Dora, I think you would have had more of a point, but lately things have been a little more "grab what comes" to put it bluntly. Marten didn't really think through things with Padma, she was just available and he made his move (a highly opportunistic one, given her position of leaving and her vague emotional vunrablity etc) and he tried to randomly score with LT Potter without even knowing her first name! He may not be a Sven style manwhore at this point, but given his recent behaviour, his protests do ring a little hollow. Perhaps I was overstating my case, and you're quite right that Fayes's phrasing is probably what put Marten on the defensive, but I kind of think that given the high priority Marten has recently given to just enjoying the moment rather than the longevity of the relationship, I think Faye's point kind of cuts through a good deal of Marten's crap.

Also, while a good portion of the main characters dialogue and lives are about relationships, they do explore other issues a good deal, and I prefer the comic to be multi-faceted. As John Green famously said "If you spend your life singularly obsessed with romantic love, you're gonna miss out on a lot of what's fun about being a person, ...also you're gonna have to spend a lot of money on diamonds."

[LTK]

There is a kind of inherent contradiction, I would almost say hypocrisy with what Marten said today in panel 3. Since comic one, one of his primary concerns with almost all his female interactions has been about the possibility of romantic connection. From Faye to Dora to Padma to even smaller short term characters like LT Potter. So it's kind of odd for him to protest now that people are assuming he's always looking for the next girl, given that...he always has been.

Small difference. None of those women were part of his job. None of those women were people he had responsibility over. I think he considers his function as a library employee to be more important than looking to get laid, which is not a bad thing at all.

But I want to know what happened to precipitate the Pintsize throw.

My guess: Boredom.

[jwhouk]

OK. Now I'm pretty sure Jeph's just fucking with us now. Characters in the comic are engaging in the same kind of childish matchmaking that is so notorious in the forums? That can't be a coincidence!

QFT.

[DSL]

Faye's mellowing. She threw Pintsize at the sofa instead of the wall.

So. QC fandom, which includes QC Forum fandom, has an opportunity here.
Who will write the rules, set up the leagues, arrange the team photos for AnPC Tossing?
I see it as an amalgamation of cornhole and caber-tossing, just to make it transatlantic. Points for distance, velocity, accuracy for starters; refinements limited only by the imagination of the fandom.
This could be the next quidditch or 43-man Squamish. Possibly even Calvinball. Or, depending on how creative we want to get, Fizzbin.

[jwhouk]

And how will our Redheaded Intern Claire figure into the further story?

Love interest. Marten. Has it written all over it.    2 (3.4%)
Love interest. TAI. So there (NYAHHHH)    5 (8.5%)
Goofy gamer gal who bests Marigold.    1 (1.7%)
Somehow, she shares a hobby with Hannelore.    3 (5.1%)
She wants confidence lessons from Faye!    4 (6.8%)
She wants physics lessons from Raven!    1 (1.7%)
She ends up taking over for Tai in the library!    2 (3.4%)
It'll develop naturally. It works out better that way.    15 (25.4%)
Emily's cooler.     21 (35.6%)
Insert mandatory meme option here (waffles, spathe ham, etc.)    5 (8.5%)

Total Members Voted: 59

[V1]

LTK, I would say Marten has seniority over the new members of the library team, but seniority isn't the same thing as responsibility. And while you're right in so far as that would be good for Marten to be prioritising working with them and looking after them, given his history with placing a very high priority on relationships and sex, its not exactly an unreasonable leap for Faye/Tai to make. Furthermore, from what we've seen of Tai/Marten's friendship/colleage relationship, I would have described working at the library as a pretty informal gig, so I think that you might be overplaying the role of responsability/seniority in this context.

[snubnose]

[...] I can't imagine any food the flavour of OJ would enhance. [...]

I drink because I'm thirsty and I eat because I'm hungry.

Also, pizza, potatos, yoghurt, fruits and good old simple bread+butter+honey work great with orange juice for me.

[DSL]

I can think of maybe three times in 30 years my no-alcohol preference was remarked on in a social setting: A high school classmate who'd smuggled his nickel-a-can horse piss along on the senior class trip; a snarky waitress in what Cleveland, Ohio thought of as a comedy club, and a genuinely nice guy at a house party who just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that I, another guy, didn't want a beer (he ended up giving the proffered beer to his wife, who drank it and, being a tiny person, fell asleep on one end of the couch and missed the party. My friends and I are not hearty partiers.)

I don't order OJ in restaurants; they want an arm and a leg for it. But I do love the blood of murdered oranges. As earlier indicated, it is a much better pick-me-up than the crushed and boiled bean.

[jwhouk]

Or the highly carbonated high-fructose corn syrup.

[LTK]

LTK, I would say Marten has seniority over the new members of the library team, but seniority isn't the same thing as responsibility. And while you're right in so far as that would be good for Marten to be prioritising working with them and looking after them, given his history with placing a very high priority on relationships and sex, its not exactly an unreasonable leap for Faye/Tai to make. Furthermore, from what we've seen of Tai/Marten's friendship/colleage relationship, I would have described working at the library as a pretty informal gig, so I think that you might be overplaying the role of responsability/seniority in this context.

I see what you mean, but it seems logical to me because Marten recently gained a newfound respect for his admittedly rather informal job, which might also lead to him feeling more of a sense of responsibility towards the interns, who clearly have a greater motivation to pursue a career in library science, something he can facilitate. (Looong sentence) But when I look back at the strips he shows none of those feelings whatsoever, so maybe he's just huffy for no reason.

[V1]

LTK, I think it's just that he's been caught out and caught off guard. Namely, Faye's caught him out for what he is underneath what he thinks he is. Marten likes to think of his attitude towards relationships as being quite evolved (which is understandable, given its contrast to Steve's attitude towards relationships) but in reality, it's not all that much better (as the incident with LT Potter proved recently). We might possibly see in the next few comics something like what we saw briefly after the end of Marten's relationship with Dora, IE a renewed interest in things outside looking for his next partner (no matter how brief/insubstantial the relationship is). He may realise that the reason Faye and Tai are thinking the way they're thinking is because he has been less than thought through with his approach to relationships, and that pursuing other things (the band, getting more into working at the library etc) is a good thing to be doing. Esepcially given the old axiom that the way to find "the one" is to stop looking.

[jwhouk]

It's also entirely possible that he was so flustered and downright scared over the whole thing that the thought hadn't even crossed his mind until Tai said something. And he probably wasn't even thinking about which gal he'd want because Tai was lusting after them all herself, which may have turned him off from thinking anything like that.

[El_Flesh]

But really - that IS the point of interacting with ladies.

[Soulsynger]

[ ... ]
Emily's cooler.     19 (37.3%)
[ ... ]

This is baffling to me beyond reason. We haven't even yet SEEN where Emily puts stuff when she wants it to be colder... And what would Claire do with that anyway? Seriously guys.

[Omega Entity]

Go to a fancy meal, or any evening occasion where alcohol is served, and don't drink.  I guarantee that people will assume you're an alcoholic trying not to air your dirty laundry.

As somebody who has never once drunk something more alcoholic than lemon, lime and bitters, I take exception to this statement. I actually prefer not to drink alcohol. Don't like the smell, can't stand the idea of winding up drunk.

Pretty much this, with the exception that I do have a glass of wine once in a while. I also have no desire to ever be drunk, and have never had a buzz - and considering I'll be 29 this year, I see it as an achievement, not as a failing.

[HiFranc]

On the OJ/alcohol front I do still, occasionally, drink[1] but if I'm in a restaurant I would have OJ.  The main reason is that OJ usually costs about £1.50 and an alcoholic drink generally costs £3+.  Add to that the alcoholic drink I like probably won't go with any food except dessert.

{edit}I've always viewed alcohol as an expensive luxury and far down the priority list in purchases.

On the story:

I agree that, given his position in the library, romance is definitely not a good idea.

[1] i.e. approx 1 unit a year

[JRDelirio]

It's also entirely possible that he was so flustered and downright scared over the whole thing that the thought hadn't even crossed his mind until Tai said something. And he probably wasn't even thinking about which gal he'd want because Tai was lusting after them all herself, which may have turned him off from thinking anything like that.

  I would side with this scenario, maybe adding to it a little bit of his just having conditioned himself over the years that the workplace is not the meet market.  Maybe if later on in the evening they all coincided in a casual social environment, say at the bar over drinks and fancy outfits, then that would be different and he would be in a state of mind to think in those terms.

Faye and Tai of course are just engaging in the widely accepted form of entertainment of "let's cause another person mild awkwardness and annoyance".

[bhtooefr]

You know, there are ways to combine orange juice and alcohol, too.

Mimosas and screwdrivers being two examples.

[VonKleist]

lol, OJ goes with a big old breakfast, everybody knows that!

I dig the hell out of these:
http://angelslayer.my1.cc/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/wassereis.jpeg

[sitnspin]

I must admit that it is the primary reason I interact with other ladies.


And I only drink my OJ with vodka. Or sometimes rum. But mostly vodka.

[Earin]

"Fixed" this for Marten. Or for Tai's fics.

(click to show/hide)

[DSL]

I smiled and shook my head a bit at Akima's OJ declaration ... but dang, there needs to be a decaf OJ so some of y'all can switch to it.

[Mr_Rose]

Now there's an idea! Caffeinated OJ!
I mean, if they can sell caffeinated soap….

[DSL]

Now there's an idea! Caffeinated OJ!
I mean, if they can sell caffeinated soap….

Perhaps it's an idea whose time has come again.

[Emperor Norton]

I smiled and shook my head a bit at Akima's OJ declaration ... but dang, there needs to be a decaf OJ so some of y'all can switch to it.

I must admit that I found it funny that it went on for the majority of a page. I think it might come from people not liking being told something ultimately inconsequential to being a responsible participant in society made them childish.

Then again, I only commented originally just to say I would love to have Optimus Prime bedsheets so yeah.