No Questions

 

Well, my corporate comics are drawing to a close, as my last day is on Friday. I'm sure I'll still think of some, since I've been in the workforce for a decade and have plenty of friends still in the workforce, but there will probably be more mom-themed ones in the future. But related to this comic, I have been in many meetings where someone asks to ask a question and I do kind of dream about just shutting them down. But that would not be good for team communication or harmony. But it would be memorable.

Text:
Title: Bold Move
R: Can I ask a question?
L: No.
R: ...
L: The next agenda item is xyz...

Two Shakes of a Lambs Tail

 

Happy Passover to those who celebrate - I thought a lamb comic would be appropriate. I am eternally grateful to the Perfect Lamb, Who sacrificed Himself for my redemption! 
What does this phrase mean? I guess lambs shake their tails quickly. Maybe they're twitchy? I haven't observed lambs much, I really only see them at the 4-H section of the local County Fair (and I'm not interested enough to look up a video on YouTube). And I'm more interested in looking at the goats weird eyes (they have rectangular pupils!!! Why???) or the emus if they happen to have any (sometimes they do!). And now that I think about it, I am not sure they even have lambs at the Fair - they might just have full grown sheep. Maybe we'll have the Fair this year and I can report back if I see how fast a lamb tail shake lasts.

Text:
A: How quickly can we get there?
B: *raises hand*
Lamb: Stop shaking my tail!!!

Misusing Slang

 

This one is along the same lines as a previous comic, but language has evolved so there's more slang to misuse! You have to know how to use the terms properly to get the maximum cringe, stringing together as many terms as you can! A quote from Luke Skywalker comes to mind - "Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong." Maybe I'll make a future comic with him in it, responding to the person misusing slang. But this comic here came to mind when I was visiting my parents and I think it was my dad who asked what TikTok was. I don't have (and don't desire to have) the app, but I showed him a clip from Pinterest of someone crocheting a bubble bee as an example of what a TikTok is. 

Text:
M: Yes, go TikTok those hashtags.
C: *cringe*

Care-anoia

 

My mother-in-law inspired this comic, and also created this word. The closest I can quickly find is "caranoia" which has an entry in Urban Dictionary, but that's for a fear of your crappy car dying on you. "Care-anoia" was explained to me as very similar to helicopter parenting, but more tyrannical than coddling. Hence, the rule for everything - no need for asking permission for things since you know they'll just say no. 

Text:
N: My mom has a rule for everything - she calls it "care-anoia."
F: Yeah, most people would call that "helicopter parenting."

Home-made Boba

So this one time, someone other than me in my household hand-washed some mugs but didn't fully rinse them. And then said mugs were used when tea was made. And then this comic happened. The bubbles weren't floating out of the mug, as that would be excessive, but they were all around the top of the tea. 

I have tried bubble tea from the mall, properly made, and I didn't like it. The texture grossed me out. My biggest memory of boba was this one time at Kung Fu Tea in Columbia, we had ordered and everything was good so we were leaving and there was a family in front of us also leaving. The mom was holding the kid's drink, he was maybe 4 years old, and she was explaining he could have his drink once they got to the car, which seems like a reasonable parameter. However, the child was not cool with that and was melting down and screaming "I WANT MY BOBA!!!" And now that's what Mark and I think (and usually say) whenever bubble tea is discussed.

Text:
M: Why does my tea taste like soap?
L: Home-made bubble tea!

Ticking Off Your Uncle

 

We were visiting family and sitting around the table when a niece ran by who had been previously playing with my brother. When asked where said uncle was, this reply was given. We are fairly sure this is not what she said since she wouldn't phrase things in this way, but I don't know what she was trying to say. I mean, this fit. The nieces had been climbing all over him and chasing him around and having him chase them around so he was in need of a break. 

Text:
L: Where is Uncle Noah?
E: He wants to take a break but we are ticking him off.

Plague Doctor

 In the live-action Beauty and the Beast that came out a few years ago, there is a flash-back to Belle's childhood which was apparently during The Plague because there's a plague doctor shown. My niece had a misconception about this character but I didn't correct her. On a similar note, I've seen plenty of crochet patterns for making little plague doctors - I have not made one because that's just creepy. But it would be a good memento of 2020. Or rather, 2020 and beyond since we're well into 2021 currently. 

Text:
E: I know about the Plague - that's the name of the doctor in Beauty and the Beast, with the bird beak mask.
L: Sure, we'll go with that. 

Dry Sound Bar

HAPPY PI DAY! I should make a pie. 
My brother-in-law suggested we install a sound bar in our basement, which is where our tv and such are, and something like this conversation happened.
In our previous house, the basement had a dry bar which was totally unused by us since (a) no alcohol and (b) it didn't make sense to bring cups/beverages/etc downstairs just to bring everything back upstairs. We thought about putting a mini-fridge in there but it would still have the issue of bringing stuff up and down and I didn't like throwing away food wrappers in the basement because that would attract mice. But it turned out we didn't have a mouse problem due to the snakes. We eventually tore out the dry bar, put a rug down to cover the uneven flooring (tiled behind the bar, bare concrete under the bar, then carpet in the rest of the room), and used that corner for my home office. It was a much better use of the space. 

Text:
N: You should install a sound bar in your entertainment center.
L: No, this is a dry household. 

Racial Relations

 

The inspirer of this comic has been censored out (hence the black rectangle) and their appearance changed because I think it sounded like something that could be overheard from a clueless manager-type person, maybe in a sitcom like "The Office" or similar. But it was in fact a casual, non-work conversation. Sometimes people just set themselves up, no prompting needed. I don't recall the context of this snippet, because I had zoned out of the conversation.
Using a cultural term in a flippant manner when talking about race relations is not a good idea. I don't want to get overly political with this one, I just heard the conversation and thought it could be captured by comic. I feel like The New Yorker or Readers Digest could have a comic similar to this one, but I haven't seen one from them. 

Text:
B: Guys, we need to have a big powwow over racial relations.
C: *facepalm*

Welcome Hybrid Students

 

In Maryland, public schools opened in March in hybrid mode. I saw a school sign that was welcoming hybrid students, and this is what came into my mind. Wings, tails, antlers, satyr, thought about adding a mermaid after the fact but with this already drawn up, decided to just leave it with the selection I had. Thought about mixing in some non-hybrid children, but they aren't getting the welcome here so that wasn't needed. Could have tried to make a minotaur, but that would have been difficult.

The meaning of 'hybrid students' is that the kids have some school days in the school building and other school days are learn from home. Distance learning? Whatever the term is. 

Text:
Teacher: Welcome, hybrid students!
Students: one has wings, next has a tail, next has antlers, and the last one is a satyr with little horns and goat legs.

Lovely Breakfast

 

For Valentine's, Cheerios made a bunch of their cereals in a mix of heart shaped and the regular circles. We got a double box from Costco of Honey Nut Cheerios so we will have lovely cereal for quite a while. It all tastes the same of course, it's just a happy little change to brighten the morning. My amazing husband, after this conversation, paid attention to his cereal and noted the loveliness. 

The cereal in question:

Text:
L: We are going to have a lovely breakfast!
M: I think we just have cereal.
L: It's a lovely cereal!
M: I think we just have Cheerios.
L: ...They are heart shaped.
M: *confused*

Libertarian vs Librarian

 

March 4th is known as "Do Something Day" since it sounds like "march forth" but in my childhood home it is known as HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD because, well, that's not hard to figure out. 
Another one about libertarians! I have nothing against the political party - their name just lends itself to puns of miscommunication. Maybe I should try to think up some about other political parties. I know the Dewey Decimal System isn't obsolete but it's been sooooo long since I've set foot in a library with the lockdowns and the move to audio books which can be downloaded through the app. And also streaming - don't need to borrow TV series anymore except not all are available in my streams of choice so maybe once things open up again I could check out what they have in stock. I'm pretty sure I learned the DDS back in elementary school, and I can find my way around in a library but that's mainly due to the signs with words rather than looking at the number codes. 

Text:
A: I'm a libertarian.
B: So you know the Dewey Decimal System?
A: ... No. 

Politics vs Astrology

 

I think 'libertarian' sounds like an astrological sign, but clearly I'm thinking of libra or something like that. I've never followed astrology but I do think astronomy is cool because SPAAAAAAAAAAACE is so vast and there's so much out there. Also star-gazing is amazing but you can't do it around where I am - too close to cities. But I remember going up to visit my uncle in Maine and us taking the boat out at night to the middle of the lake and just being amazed at the number of stars. Also, we visited Dark Sky Preserves out in California (Joshua Tree) and Utah (Canyonlands) and both places were really awe-inspiring at night (and in the day too, the national parks are really interesting to explore).

Text:
A: I'm a libertarian.
B: I'm an aquarius?