Sunday, March 17, 2024

Driving with Duo

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Happy St. Patrick's Day! The Duolingo owl is green so this counts as a holiday post, right? 
At a previous job, we had the text on the website available in several languages and to check that it was all translating like it should, we would change the language on the browser and move around the site to ensure it was all in whatever language. It was tricky the first few times, to remember where exactly the option was to change it back to English because I was not fluent in any of the languages we were testing. 
Explanation: Duolingo is a language learning app. If you change the settings on your phone to a new language, e v e r y t h i n g will be in the new language not just your driving directions. Tis a bit extreme.

Text:
L: They should make a driving mode for Duolingo - understand the language enough to follow directions!
M: Phone settings → change language.
L: *Gasp!*

Thursday, March 14, 2024

TDM: Nailed It

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In case you missed it, here's a link to my other comics in this series. Many are from 2017-2018, so you might not remember them. I certainly don't, and I drew them! 

Explanation: The show "Nailed It!" is a baking show where people try to make masterpieces and usually fail horribly/hilariously. When you hit a pothole full speed, your copilot is obligated to say "nailed it!"

Text:
Title: Totally different Movies TV Shows Presents... NAILED IT!
A: Listen to these tales of automobile woes and potholes:
B: You didn't even try to swerve!?!
C: *hangs head in shame*

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Fruitful Emotions

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Why do these fruits equal these emotions? I don't know and I feel like that's a deep rabbit hole to follow so if you take the plunge, let me know. 

Explanation: If things are going well, you can say things are peachy. If things are not working out like they should, then it's pear-shaped. And if things are crazy, it's bananas. I don't think there's an emotion for apples. Let me know if you find one.

Text:
T: How are things?
A: Peachy! 
B: Pear-shaped.
C: Apples? No, BANANAS!

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Accountability Partner

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The other week, I got a push notification from the green owl with something like "you're in 6th place in your league but I know you can do better!" and I was kinda insulted but I get what they're doing there. Not to make light of accountability partners - they are great for keeping you honest with your goals and helping you make good choices. 

Explanation: DuoLingo is a language learning app with a green owl as their mascot. Said owl is used in their push notifications to cajole you into doing your lessons for the day. 

Text:
Duo: Need an accountability partner?

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Days Since Last Meltdown

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So this one time when Robin was two, she had a big meltdown because I gave her a snack when she wanted her dad to give her the (exact same) snack. I turned to my parents and said she gets this from my husband's side of the family and my dad just laughed really hard and enlightened me that it was indeed from my side of the family as he has vivid memories of raising three highly emotional daughters. But I still like to blame my husband's family. 

Explanation: the sign is not a whiteboard or flip-number - it's just a solid printed sign. Also, it's not at a height that allows for changing the number. 

Text:
Sign: 0 DAYS SINCE LAST MELTDOWN
A: How do you change the number?
L: I'd like to know.
R and O: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Little Sluggard

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Good news - Ori is now feeding himself! He's almost a year old so we were a little worried (more like annoyed because he wants to eat and eat and eat but he wouldn't bring it to his mouth - he would pick it up and drop it off his tray but wait with his mouth open if I picked up a piece - so meal times were taking a long time). After weeks (months?) of him refusing to bring food in his hand to his mouth, I found the right motivation (frozen whipped cream) and once he ate that he just kept feeding himself all the snacks I was giving him so it's all good now. Or at least better, if not yet all good.

The Bible verse referenced (haha) is "The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl; It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth."

Text:
L: Ok, my little sluggard.
O: Don't you mean "slugger"?
L: No, he's still refusing to feed himself.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Welch's Wine

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Happy Birthday Eve to my Dad! 

I was having a conversation with sibling-in-laws and the topic of alcohol came up and somehow this comic was spawned. 

Explanation: Welch's makes, among other things, grape juice but not the fermented kind (i.e. wine). When Baptists (and probably other denominations but I'm not familiar enough with them to say) do Communion (bread and wine), they use grape juice in the place of the wine ("fruit of the vine"). 

Text:
Title: Baptists
A: What's the wine pairing for this meal?
B: Welch's.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Fishy Advice

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Happy Leap Day! Enjoy the extra February-ness. Maybe don't take this comic's advice - it seems fishy.

Explanation: Clams, oysters, and mussels are all shellfish. "Clamming up" is a phrase but I'm pretty sure "oystering up" is not. And "mussel" sounds like "muscle", and "muscle through it" means to press on despite obstacles. 

Text:
RF: Don't clam up!
BF: Should I oyster up?
PF: Mussel through it!

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Thank and Excuse

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I had my second ever successful jury summons recently and I wrote about it on my other blog, Not So Comical - http://notsocomical.comicaltruestory.com/2024/02/jury-duty.html 

I support the trial by a jury of your peers system, but I don't want to go through the process any more than I have to. I just find it interesting that I was called once right when I turned 18 but I was away at college so I got excused, then nothing for over a decade, then basically back-to-back summons in the sense that I was summoned three years after getting my first successful summons, so right after I got put back in the pool. I know it's not really back-to-back - my sister had that when somehow she was summoned three times in one calendar year - but it feels like it. Also I wonder if now I'm gonna get summoned every three years - somehow they just didn't notice me when I moved to my current state about 15 years ago? But my husband has lived here all his life and has never been successfully summoned (he has been called up twice but was excused or not needed). So it's odd how some people are summoned more frequently than others. 

Explanation: When selecting a jury, either side of the court case can excuse a potential juror with the phrase (at least this is the phrase they used in my recent summons) "please thank and excuse juror #" and I just think that's a great way to dismiss someone's opinion. 

Text:
A: I love jury duty - I think we should get back on the list every year, not every three years!
B: Please thank and excuse your opinion.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Engaged Parenting

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Our pastor was talking about engaged parenting as the opposite of absentee parenting, but when I hear engaged I think proposal and that means a ring is required. But our pastor was speaking on 1 Corinthians 4:14-21, with the title "Parental Guidance Required" and you can find his sermon on SermonAudio under faithbiblemd.

Text:
A: Why did your wife give you a solitaire ring?
B: She wants me to be more engaged in parenting.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Reckless Abandon

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I don't remember where I heard someone use the phrase "reckless abandon" but it sparked this comic. Also, if you're not reckless are you reckful? Like the opposite of careless is careful? You should be reckful rather than reckless? Also it's a real question - is there another type of abandon?  

Text:
A: With reckless abandon?
B: Is there any other type?

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Have the Halves

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The ability to finish someone's sentence is really not that hard - it's finishing it correctly that's difficult.

Explanation: The proper phrase is "haves and have nots" but "haves" sounds like "halves" and clearly halves are paired with wholes. 

Text:
A: In every scenario, there are the haves and -
B: The wholes, yes.

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Gaming Mouse

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I'm not sure I like how I drew the mice here - this is a stick figure blog for a reason. But the joke needed mice! So the mice are here. Also this was inspired by my husband getting a gaming mouse with cool colors in it. 

Explanation: A gaming mouse is a fancy computer mouse that has features beneficial for online gaming. Dota and Halo are popular games. A mouse (mammal) that plays games all day could also be called a gaming mouse. 

Text:
A: All he does is play Dota and Halo all day long.
B: What did you expect? He's a gaming mouse.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Love and Star Wars

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I often struggle to come up with comics for holidays, but this one came to me out of the blue, like a bolt of lightning (from the sky not the sith kind). How would the Jedi handle static electricity? Would the younglings shuffle their feet across the carpet then cackle evilly while zapping their friends? I feel like I should write to Mr. Lucas (not my brother but actually he might have a solid opinion on this) and see what his take is. 

Text:
LS: Leia, she touched my hand and sparks flew 💗
LO: Luke, that means she's a sith! That's Force Lightning! 

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Light Headed

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I think if you glowed when light-headed, it would make everything worse. But then people would know when you're not feeling well in that exact way so that could be helpful. I hope you can see in the comic that she is glowing - there are faint yellow lines around her head like sunrays. 

Explanation: "Radiant" is a compliment but also means "sending out light," and "light-headed" means you feel like passing out. Yay for "light" meaning "not weighing much" and also "bright." 

Text:
M: You look positively radiant!
L: I am feeling rather light-headed. *sunrays around head*