1323 Straight Man.

by

A few people were confused by Reggie’s last line from Wednesday. I guess I didn’t sell his “mean face” enough. He gets a bit ratlike when he’s being snotty. I thought I’d gone far enough for that to indicate his tone. Maybe not? Possibly some of you just really like to give him the benefit of the doubt and see the good in him that he displays more and more often now. Either way, John’s reaction settles it all. He said it in a mean way that John, who is quite familiar with it, recognized.

I have certain guidelines for self conduct that I try to keep to when it comes to this comic, and my online presence. I don’t ask to be interviewed, included in things, suggest myself for awards, ect. Someone other than me has to be the agent. I try not to beg for help, money, ect. One of the reasons I did the Patreon thing is that I am providing desired services. By helping me patrons are assisting me in providing better content that they already want. Anyway, there is a list of internal rules I follow which I, quite unreasonably, get annoyed with other creators over when they don’t adhere to my arbitrary rules. I’ve been strongly chastised, on many occasions, by random readers, for not giving them the option to donate money, gifts, ect. Which is fine. I know they just want me to do well and have things that will help me stay happy, and keep providing the services they enjoy. This year I am embracing the “Amazon Christmas list” suggestion. Much like with Patreon I’m not going to drag my feet this year. I made a special list of the most insane things I want. Things I wouldn’t even bother asking my family members for in many cases. If you want to send me presents go ahead on. I’m also encouraging the Teen to make a list of insane desires because she has become the subject of much concern for many readers. It’s not like we don’t provide for her. I mean she really wants for nothing by any reasonable standard, but when has greed ever been contained by that boundary? As far as me goes, if you do decide to bestow benefaction upon me please be sure to include a mailing address and information about your favorite character. I will endeavor to present you with some sort of art gift when time allows.

Here is my list link http://amzn.com/w/16QV6R4USZ76I

Corner Of A Teenage Werepire

hello web comic reading peeps! todays been a long pretty boring day. I still have the breakup blues but its getting better and I get to be a server at prom in April yay! at least I can wear a princess dress. I’m already looking at dresses online lol. I feel like crap and I’m exhausted from lack of sleep lately so I’m not very exciting and cheerful today. girls at school have been all over my ex since word got around that we’re on a break and its annoying. yes we broke up but is it necessary to rub it in my face? no I think not but he still talks to me and hugs me so I feel I still win this round high school girls. he says after Christmas we’ll get back together which I want but I don’t know if it will ever happen and I don’t wanna get hurt again but he’s who I wanna be with any advice? my plans for tonight are to play some borderlands maybe, watch some movies, eat chocolate, wallow in sadness and sleep lol sounds like fun. I’ll probably make Jackie watch a movie with me. I went to a basketball game at my school and took pictures for yearbook and awkwardly sat with my ex and his family which was oh so much fun… eventually he talked to me though and joked around with me so that made it better but still and now I’m just writing this and talking to Jackie. I know I know I’ve said nothing interesting but not much to say…to much sad and tiredness for me to be full of energy sorry guys I’ll try harder next post, teen out!

45 Comments

I vote, that for Christmas, Reggie gets a spinal tap for being an ass. Size shaming is as bad as slut shaming.

Dear teen: I’ve been there, hon. My advice to you is a cup of tea and a well loved book.

Having experienced both, I would recommend a root canal for Reggie’s rudeness instead of the spinal tap. Well, that or a Tax Audit.

Which is worse? I’d think the spinal tap..I was in a bad temper last night, so I may have been a bit cruel.

I’ve had three spinal taps (the last about 3 years ago when they thought I might have West Nile Virus) and one root canal. That ratio feels about right, in terms of pain and discomfort!

trololololololololololololoooooo. Man Reggie is full troll mode. So many possibilities. Can’t wait for the next installment.

Teen, I just posted this in a comment on yesterday’s post, but I’ll double post it here to be sure you see it:

Sometimes people just need “me time”, and holidays can be stressful enough without the added pressure/identity layer of being someone’s significant other. And then there’s the part where people have different emotional needs when it comes to spending time together. Umptymillion years ago when we were still dating, my ex and I spent almost every available moment together…except I’m a bit of a loner, so it started to get to me. We eventually worked out a schedule so that I could have time to myself. I loved him (until I didn’t, but that’s another story for another day), but that didn’t mean I wanted to be attached at the hip.

I’m just saying it’s totally plausible to me that this could just be a temporary thing. His need for space doesn’t have to mean “goodbye forever”. He could just need to “recharge”, or use his mental/emotional reserves for whatever he’s dealing with at home.

I feel like “we need to break up for now but I want to be dating you again soon” is a wholly unreasonable and irresponsible approach to handling that sort of issue though… but not knowing the proper way to deal with something like that doesn’t necessarily make one a bad person.

Still, were I the Teen, I would be wary and hesitant to allow this person back into my life. Use the time apart to “cool off” your feelings for him, so you can really evaluate why you believe he felt the need to do this to you. Only consider the possibility of getting back together when you feel like you’ve understood it, and forgiven him/let go of any hurt feelings for it.

Well yeah, there are hells of better ways to express “I need a breather for a bit but dw we’re totes ok in the long-term” than “let’s break up temporarily”, but given his youth it’s probable he hasn’t mastered expressing himself yet, which let’s be fair, a lot of adults haven’t figured out either or else whacky misunderstandings would stop being a thing after our brains stop developing around age 25. I really like run on sentences.

Anyway I don’t personally know either of the people involved here, I’m just going by the info we’ve been provided and adding a spin based on my personal experience.

Ohhhhh, see, I was interpreting Reggie’s look as SEXUAL. I was WAY off on that one, I guess.

“Mmmm, girrrrl, heavy artillery, knowmsayin?”

Yep, back to the old rectal Reggie. In which we find that he’s as big an @$$ in his off-time as he is at work. What’s his size issue, anyway, in his trousers? First he whips up on Ed about his height, now he’s dumping on Maddison about her weight. I’d like to see him try that with Carol!

I think he did once. Something about the sound of her thighs rubbing together. She was pretty angry, but he got to walk away unharmed.

Reggie did insult her a little while after she threatened to report his weight-based crack at Mike, but unfortunately, he got manhandled by Carol during the Nerf-gun battle. Not to mention how stealthy she claimed to be with those fat thighs rubbing together…flipping the insult around to add to aforementioned injury.

Honestly, I don’t see how Reggie wasn’t able to detect her presence nearby before she held them hostage at point blank. Perhaps not everyone develops a “Spidey-Sense”, or they don’t see the point in what they perceive as a nerdy novelty, but I know better. It’s saved me from being surprised quite often, though it still leaves me unsettled when I detect every footstep from my short, overweight mother up to the point when she stands directly behind me in an attempt to scare me. I guess no one’s completely immune to the “Fight or Flight” response…

For the teen:
It’s plausible that he just needs a bit of time for himself. Having been a young man myself once (oh how time flies), I can tell you we get confused over the dumbest things, and can be pretty emotionally retarded. I’m not saying having a break is the most mature option; far from it. But maybe you can take advantage of the situation and take the chance to think over what this relationship means to you, what you want from it, and whether it’s worth the hassle.

Final piece of advice. Like I said, we young men can be pretty clueless sometime. We’ll often miss subtext in a situation if it isn’t spelled out for us. If, when the time comes, you ARE still interested, make sure to let him know.

i’d like to gift you something from amazon, but i don’t have your addy, am i just being clueless about how all this works or am i missing something?

Betweenfailures(at)hotmail.com mail me for the address. Amazon used to just let you send stuff to a specific place, but now they make you go through facebook and a series of other bullshit hoops.

Hey Jackie,

I have something that you have listed on your amazon wishlist that I’d like to send you. Since i already have it on hand, I can’t really use amazon to send it out. I’d like to know where to send it, so reach out to me however you can and I’ll make sure i can send it out.

You know, teen, I ain’t gonna say you SHOULDN’T get back together with a dude who wants “a break” from just before christmas till just after… but I know *I* wouldn’t. Seems like a whole lot of unneeded drama, and teens have enough of that.

For the teen,

I know one of my friends was broken up with ri right before christmas because the guys family was fairly poor and he couldn’t afford to actually get her a gift and felt bad about that. Could that be the situation here?

Dear Teen:

Ah, I was a teenage girl once, not too long ago really. I must say that you seem to be getting more romance than I did then, but that’s neither here nor there. I was the advice girl, not the one dating people, so here goes:

Teenage boys… well, they can be cute and all, and some of them can even be really nice and sweet and caring and loving and all that mushy stuff. But they’re also teenage boys. (They grow up eventually. I think.) Teenagers in general don’t always know exactly what they want, and it’s sounding like that’s his issue. Also there may be other things going on at home. Also… teenagers are generally pretty self-centered psychologically. Not intentionally, but y’all often just can’t multitask and pay attention to your own needs along with someone else’s very well. So don’t be too surprised (although it’s fine to be heartbroken) if he doesn’t keep that promise. He may have just made a promise that he won’t be able to keep morally if he ends up no longer interested in you (which would be stupid. You’re awesome.).

Moral of the story… You do you, and focus on you for a while. After Christmas, if you both are still interested in each other, great! If not, that’s okay too. And it’s okay to be heartbroken and upset and hate his stinking guts for a while. And it’s okay to find another boy that makes you smile and laugh and fall in teen love all over again. It’s also okay to be single. Single is, in many ways, less complicated. It’s how I spent all but 6 months of high school, and I turned out… pretty much okay. Dating more in high school would most likely not have made me any more of a well-adjusted 21-year old.

Teen: Don’t date him again. Basically I’ve come to the understanding that “let’s take a break” means “I want to fool around and not feel guilty about it.” Hopefully this is not the case but it had been for a lot friends of mine. I never got that, they would just dump me. Lol
I hope you all have a lovely Christmas.

@Crave–

I looked at your Wish list on Amazon (I use mine mostly as a staging area for junk I’m not sure I want to buy) and I think an Amazon Gift Card is probably the best solution. Any idea how to do that?

You can send a code to my email address. Betweenfailures(at)hotmail.com I’m not sure how it works exactly but mom sends them to me that way sometimes.

@Teen

Having once been a teenage boy, I can say that that age is very confusing, and he may very well be trying to work something out, or it may be a stress of the holidays thing, as others have said. All I can say is ride it out for now, and see what develops. If he decides to rekindle things later, trust your own feelings and act accordingly. It will be what it will be, just enjoy the ride.

Gotta love it when someone says “I’ve changed!” when it’s been two weeks :p

“I’ve changed! Because I haven’t done it recently and someone I didn’t like did the same thing, so I’ve now decided it’s a deliberate thing about being a better person rather than anything else!”

Which is probably part of why Reggie doesn’t buy it. That said, it only takes seconds in some cases for a person to have an epiphany that changes them forever.

@Teen !!WARNING!! Male tricks will be revealed

Some guys break up with their significant other during the holidays so they don’t have to spend money on them. I’ve seen it happen before. I don’t know the whole situation but just letting you know. BTW they’ll do this during valentine’s day too

to the Teen:
The biggest mistake I ever made was breaking up with a great girl because I was a dumb confused teenage boy. I deserved to lose her. She deserved better treatment. You deserve better treatment. But he might actually be a quality guy who will come to regret breaking up with you. It’s completely okay if you don’t trust him anymore, but forgive him when he finally realizes he’s an idiot.

@Crave:
I know how You mean…
Why can’t people just follow MY guidelines,
A lot more people would be, in the least, contented.

@Teen/Jess:
As a one-time teenager-in-Love;
All I can say is: It can be a challenge.
Being able to look back on those days, both the happy and the sad,
There really is not that much I can tell You,
My situation was a bit different;
I do know that there are things I wish I had done else-wise…
(Sorry, but a gentleman does not kiss-and-tell)

I must admit that I am VERY curious at to the boy’s reasoning behind the “break”.
I, personally, can not think of a logical reason to do so;
But then, I do read Your cousin’s web-comics, so that means I am not normal anyway, right?
How long was he with little Miss amiss?
And the other Girls sound like a troupe of trollops and trulls around a man with a fistful of twenties.

Ah. To Teen: I just got out of a 3 year relationship last month. Its not my first break up, but it never seems to be easy, each one brings some sort of new damage, but it gets better with time. Thats…really about all that helps really. I think they broke it into math. You take the emotional investment divided by the amount of time of the actual relationship and x2= the amount of time taken to get over it. It’s math, so where can that possibly go wrong? Anyway, it sucks, but honestly its all part of making you a better and stronger person. Good luck.

@Jackie GDI, I was starting to actually like reggie T.T he needs to chillax for a little longer than 2 strips before regressing…

I’m not sure the formula works. It seems dimensionally wrong. I’d measure emotional investment as a percentage, and then I’d have to multiply by the length of the relationship to end up with a time.

Finally going thru archive and getting caught up on the comic. Sad to see the Amazon x-mas wish list link is no longer active, lol. I just wanted to see what was on it.

OK, onward to more of the comic!

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