1395 Frustrated Incorporated.

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The teen has decided that she wants me to ebay some of her stuff now. She started with shoes of all things. I don’t know shit about how you’re supposed to sell used shoes. Of course, these things have been worn maybe once by the look of them. Still, maybe some cash is still in them someplace. I think I’ll just try and look them up and see what the baseline is for lightly used shoes, then see what an $X or best offer sale gets us. I wonder what it costs to ship shoes…

My protector thing for my phone broke the other day so now it’s naked. Like all iphones it’s frictionless, so it’s always trying to slide everyplace. I went to get another cheap replacement, but they didn’t have a single one at the store. It’s all about sixes now. Maybe I should just slap some grip tape on it tony hawk style.

The AC broke and it’s going to be a while till it’s fixed. Before it was still pretty cold, but today it decided to turn of the heat Guy Fieri style. My room is alreadyt the hottest in the house and once you turn on the computer, forget about it. So I’ve been waiting till night falls to do everything. It doesn’t help a lot, but my PC stopped bursting into an open flame.

The AC unit is super old so the repair guys for our house group thingy want to tear it out and get a new one, which is too much monies. So dad has been looking for skilled laborers to do surgery on it. It’s rusted out in a few places where water is supposed to gather. Last year dad took a caulking gun to it, which worked, although it was an inelegant repair. If I had the time to read up on the thing I feel like I could repair it. It looks relatively simple in the way all archaic technology does.

I guess I should provide links to the various auctions I have going. I think I might start sticking them at the bottom so that people who don’t care about that stuff can get to it and just skip it. I’m not convinced that any portion of my audience is interested in random shoes and/or toys that I’m peddling.

I’ll just make these words a link.

60 Comments

Oh, no, don’t listen to Ed, by all means keep flirting! And maybe get Brooksie involved, too…

Woah that girl. *Dating* might be to strong of a word? They have gone on dates together. They plan on going to more dates together. Jess has some seriously over the top commitment issues. As it too scared to even clearly think about committing to a *non-exclusive* relationships. Poor Jo. This isn’t going to go well when she notices that attitude.

Yeah…I know this is old fashioned but it really bugs me that “dating” has become synonymous with “steady” . Used to be you could date several people and it was never really thought much of, not cheating anyway (heck, look at the old archie comics). Now its like you “ask out” and they suddenly are “your guy/girl”. Sadly, this is trend that probably won’t fix itself as its something that evolved over time.

Perhaps its some sort of subconscious reaction to the much stronger awareness of STD’s these days? Since more people were having sex sooner in the budding relationship for a while there at the same time as that awareness was growing. (not sure what the trend is today)

I have to agree, but i may be biased as i see this as the cause of failure to one of my first relationships, luckily I got over it(as much as one really can) fairly easily, but it still bugs me that’s nowadays is seems difficult to say you’re dating someone your very clearly in a relationship with. I guess If thats what you want then the best advice is to just get out of that relationship quickly like I did. but perhaps brooksie is fine with it, since she wants to love everyone or something along those lines.

I think I disagree about it being a commitmentphobe thing. If I’m dating someone, I’m only with them. If I’m going on dates with someone but we aren’t anything more than that, we are “seeing” each other, and if the other person and myself haven’t established that exclusivity, then I won’t say I’m dating them to others. So Jess very well might have commitment issues, but I think in this case she is wary of stating that her and Brooksie are more than they are.

As far as the shoes goes there a website called Etsy where you, or her, can make their own store and sell just about anything. Its used worldwide.

Nina just takes it all in stride.

With those legs it comes naturally to her.

Jess was right, he really does have “relationship” issues…

I think she might too, but more commitment based. Ed wants to be totally sure a relationship is worth whatever risks are involved, she doesn’t even seem willing to say she and Brooksie are dating (based on what I’ve seen, that’s what a lot of people would call it). Neither of these are necessarily healthy, but for Ed it’s a punishment to himself. And Brooksie is a bit more fragile than most people, in some ways. It’s been said she doesn’t open up to people; if she gets more committed to the relationship than Jess… I can see a guy like Ed worrying about her dating someone like his sister. Not that anything will necessarily go wrong. Ed is a bit of a worrywart.

You get those when you’re a brother whose sister starts developing a need to poach your dating pool. (a line of threat you were not generally raised to expect!) I seem to remember an insinuation that she had a taste for those who he had shown interest for or who showed interest in him. Or he just assumed that since she is gathering a huge harem and his dating pool of females have to occasionally come way too close to her since he has a strong relationship with her she has a tendency to date girls he knows. (of sorts) One of those.

I wonder if Ed realizes how much of his stress is self-inflicted from trying to cram the world into the neat little box his brain wants it to be in.

Its not paranoia if they really are out to get you.

No it’s still paranoia. It’s just justified paranoia.

Paranoia:

1) a mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically elaborated into an organized system. It may be an aspect of chronic personality disorder, of drug abuse, or of a serious condition such as schizophrenia in which the person loses touch with reality.

2) suspicion and mistrust of people or their actions without evidence or justification.

____________________

If he doesn’t have a mental illness causing his paranoia then the first one is out. And the second one is out if his suspicion and mistrust was founded on some kind of evidence. I believe he has had disruptions in his life that happened in a way around his sister he has found to have a discernible pattern. Though that doesn’t mean he’s right it starts to erode the definition of paranoia. If he then goes on to discover enough evidence of a pattern to be called “justified” then the definition of paranoia is completely negated.

But you are right in the general idea that not all kinds of paranoia are negated just because they turn out to be “true”. If you pointed the finger not because of evidence but because of a preexisting prejudice or because you have a mental condition then you would still have been paranoid that whole time.

I heard a more fittin version: “Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.”

Glad to see someone finally slapped her loose lifestyle’s consequences in her face. I think that’s why I, and a lot of others don’t like Jess. It’s not because she’s a slut or anything, but because her loose, lascivious lifestyle hurts people and she doesn’t seem to honestly give two shits about it.

You may be right overall, if her judgement of other people isn’t up to the task, but I’m not sure Jo was looking for anything more than “now”.

Maybe it’s just my own bias, but I still feel like Brooksie’d probably be happiest with polyamory. I also think Nina would possibly be up for that.

I think Brooksie thinks she’d be up for that. But stuff in your head doesn’t always survive contact with actual live human relationships… We shall see.

I get no such general vibe from Nina. At most she might be willing to share one very specific person with one other very specific person. And even then not getting a strong feel for that from her. I don’t get think she would normally date that way.

Whatever happens, if Brooksie gets hurt, all bets are off. I don’t mind Jess, I certainly like her more than Wes, but damn it, she does things I can’t stand. At the same time, I’m actually wondering if she could long term damage Jo. The blue haired ninja has some hidden strength. Time will tell…

Jo’s “seize the moment” mentality may allow for sex with people she isn’t super committed to. It would be going to far to suggest that she was totally down with the harem of good buds with benefits that Jess is working on based on what we have so far. BUT it is a POSSIBLE extension of philosophies she’s touched on.

She’s kind of needy in a few areas but so far I haven’t seen that translated to clingy. Maybe she will cling to Jess though.

The semi-surprising twist, writing wise, would be if Jo moves on from Jess and Jess lets it happen cause she has told herself five ways to Sunday, and probably reasured Jo, that she’s cool with a free love with good buds mentality but then later it turns out while Jo is perfectly happy having moved on that Jess has come to the realization that living with Jo having moved on is not easy… at all.

I can see this from both their points of view.

She doesn’t feel like her relationships should be on display and monitored by her brother. It’s not his place to tell her who she can date, or how she is allowed to date those that she does.

He brought up a good point though. She was immediately interested in Nina, but she’s currently with Jo. Ontop of that, she hasn’t even decided if they are dating or not, she’s still playing the field. We know that Jo likes Ed, they are good friends now, or at least as close as she is to anyone other than Thomas and Nina. We can assume Ed’s seen his sister knowingly hurt a lot of other people by “dating” them, but moving on without warning. Even more so since it seems that she often ends up being with one of Ed’s friends or co-workers. This has happened before, and ended poorly before.

Ed shouldnt be telling his sister what to do, but Jess sure could have been a hell of a lot more considerate.

Remembering why I hated Jess for breaking the Ed-Brooksie ship. Temporarily forgot because hot damn Nina, but cmon Jess. But hey, Brooksie is tough, I mean she was the one talking about passing people in each other’s lives. I know she’ll be fine, but I don’t know if she’ll break bro code to make my ship come true.

Nin-Nin semms to be taking things in stride. . . she’s always pretty smooth, except when reggie gets in the mix. But then again, everybody’s switches flip whenever Reg gets into it near anybody else. Mostly, I’ve seen the peeps get defensive. . .how would Reggie react to JessxJo?
I’S GOTS TO KNOWS!!! HRRNG!!

Ahem, Ed… my eyes are up here!

I get why a lot of comments are critical of Ed’s tone here, but remember: they’re siblings. Knowing each other as well as they do, beyond the natural rivalry, also means knowing how blunt one must be to make a point stick.Jess strikes me as the type who can’t be trade with kid gloves.

And still, Nina seems cool with all of this. She’s cool with almost anything. I guess after what she’s been through in school, well, yeah.

But, say, Nina obviously has a few inches on Ed, but doesn’t she also have a few years on him? He’s supposed to be, what, 19, and she went to high school with Thomas, who is 27. Unless Jackie did a RetCon when I wasn’t looking. Hmm.

Ed and Jess are at least 21 years. Jackie established that at the end of the arc where Ed, Jess, and Brooksie all got lunch one day.

I may have an old Magpul case for the iPhone 4-series, if that’s what you’re still toting around. Plain, but grippy and highly protective, and black. It’s yours if you want it, as it’s not like envelopes to BFE really cost anything to ship.

Has anyone entertained the idea that Jo is gonna hurt Jess? :P

Isn’t that like calling Bambi a serial killer?

Well lets look at this way. Jess likes to play around, but Jo pursues her. We also know Jo has a very wide strike zone. Shes not just after Jess, shes the one thats legit after a harem for her film. Jess probably has very little to no experience being pursued and then being set on the back burner. Jo has made the moves and most importantly we have to remember: Shes the quiet type. You have to beware the quiet ones.

Look how Jess reacted when Thomas “won” her then turned her down. When/if Jo goes for the others, Jess is gonna take it harder since shes considerably closer to Jo than she was Thomas

If that’s how she gathers actors for the movie filming is gonna be intense… (behind the scenes footage might require more popcorn than the feature presentation)

I think the norm for finding a base line in shoe selling is to make sure that you look up brand. If the Teen has any brand name shoes that are in good condition, then she could possibly make some decent money.

It’s all a matter of symmetrical expectations being acted upon, Jess can’t ruin anybody’s emotional life unless she avoids being clear about who she is, how she treats those she is romantically/sexually attracted to, and what she believes is appropriate for her to do.

Ed’s words imply that she is not one for being clear, but even if he is correct about that, Jess might be struggling against the pressure of language & social conventions making it challenging for her to express herself clearly. Not that the struggle would excuse any untoward behavior, merely that it would make Jess hesitant to find the most constructive path for her and others.

But perhaps Jo knows how to assert initiative and will ask Jess what Jess thinks. Both parties are affected by confusion, so both parties have reason to seek clarity. Both of them owe it to themselves to be bold enough to figure it out. Plenty of room for this mess to be cleaned in a dramatic yet optimistic manner.

Ouch, our AC AND heating unit died on us a few weeks ago and got it fixed soon after. It was so old that it was discontinued. It was like 22 years old.

I’m still on the Ed and Nina ship.

Ed makes a valid point. It’d be one thing if Jess was doing what she’s doing with someone outside of his work, but this is someone he works with.

Jess breaks Jo’s heart and it can come back onto Ed. Now, it likely wouldn’t happen but it’s a possibility.

Jackie, If you are interested in a laser engraved book-style leather case, I still got some for the iPhone 5. I could engrave one of your characters on it if you send line art.

Re: fan reactions to today’s comic.

Going back to the comic marking the start of Jo and Jess’ romantic relationship, I seem to remember your author’s rant for that day being nebulously apologetic…

I love this comic, I really do, but I can’t get behind how tall Ed is compared to Nina.. Using the ‘heads’ method of proportioning a body, using 1.60 meter for Ed, Nina is over 2.10m. (or 5’2 vs. 6’8 respectively).
Is this really the intended height difference between the two?

For the rest, keep up the good work, love to see how this develops further :)

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