871 The Oddity.

by

To those of you who started reading Between Failures on http://betweenfailures.com I’d like to make sure you understand that the .net is the backup of the main site at http://betweenfailures.com. Typically there is more user activity there, as long as the server isn’t getting screwed with. It doesn’t matter which you use. If you want to read it here, go ahead. If the site gets weird though it’s because we’re testing code in an attempt to fix the main. You can switch to whatever site is working better at any given time. Just so you know.

I’m not near my Pc at the moment, but I’m typing out a post just to see if this Kindle can handle it or not. It’s certainly not an efficient way to type, since it’s even slower than a keyboard, and a keyboard is already slower than I can think.

The thing with Jo’s hair is actually based on one of my cousins. She and at least one of her daughters have a natural streak in their hair. I have no idea how common it is. I’ve seen it twice in my life though. XD

As far as getting teased goes I’ll say that everyone experiences life differently. I went to a very small school for most of grade school and always felt singled out. Later on we moved to a bigger town and I felt less so, but I was still singled out and picked on. Once I got too big to be picked on physically it changed to being targeted verbally. It certainly contributed to my very dark, adversarial, world view. I’ve changed a little over time, but those scars affect my personality to this day. There are some things that other people simply will never understand if they were on the other side of the gulf. You might understand it on an academic level, but it you never lived it, like many things in life, you’ll never really get it. At the end of the day though the scars we get in childhood are blown way out of proportion because the whole world seems enormous and scary. You don’t have the benefit of perspective.

Jo doesn’t state the timeline of her accident and hair issues specifically, but if you are curious it goes like this: The teasing over her hair would have started on her the first day of school, and her mom dyed the hair to match, not to blue. It seemed obvious to me when I wrote it, but you never can tell. The thing with her eye would have been when she was older. 7-10 years old probably. Approximately around the time she would have started showing signs of needing corrective lenses.

As long as I’m at it, in panel 3 Jo is, obviously, not suddenly naked. You’re seeing her in her mind’s eye, and she feels a little exposed. I could have just drawn her hair and eyes as they would look naturally, but when I sketched it out it just seemed like having her be, for all intents and purposes, naked was the thing to do. I withold the right to edit the page later if I think better of it. XD I’m not sure how you all feel, but I was surprised by how good Brooksie looks with the dark hair.

Here’s something I noticed. Skylanders figures follow toy rules when it comes to the after market, rather than game rules. The day after Xmas all the figures were gone from stores and online, except for used ones. Used ones going for up to 3 times retail. That’s balls. It’s annoying for me because, obviously, it’s more expensive, but it also sucks for little kids trying to get some figures after they got the game as a present. I don’t know what it’s like in other places, but the only Skylanders stuff out here are the games. I’m not sure what kind of plan Activision has going forward, but I hope that they intend to continue to support the game. My experience seems to show that the figures are selling. It was really picked over storewide after Xmas though. Which makes sense.

32 Comments

WHY YES! I have heard of, and seen both genetic conditions and, as a matter of fact one of my cousins ( although I could not tell you if by blood or marriage ) had the one white streak of hair. I am pretty sure the streak only ever shows up as white but, not %100.

although I am sure she got teased in youth, I THINK she would look incredibly exotic and sexy. She looks pretty exotic in panel 3 where you only show the hair stripe condition!

Agreed. Brooksie looks really good with those hair.

But we all know how school kids can be, right? Jumping at any opportunity to give someone a nickname, mostly humiliating.

I’ve had horrible experiences with bullying….

Concurrence. Brooksie is adorable. Also, I’ll be honest, if I went to the same school as her I’d have had one heck of a crush. It’s true most people would call it weird, but I always liked weird. Weird is interesting.

I was picked on terribly in elementary school, and it got worse in Jr. High, for the simple crime of a) wearing glasses and b) being slightly smarter than average. So my folks pulled me out and home schooled me for a few years, and then I went to college, and I didn’t get bullied anymore because at a community college nobody cares who you are enough to bully you. It was paradise.

I was more bullied in Middle school cuz I was an outcast and didn’t hang around with anybody. But you are right, in college nobody cares about you and it’s bliss

heh, Elementary school, I generally didn’t have the hard-knuckles, but I had the tolerance to force people to see my way, usually through forcing them to accept my presence. Middle school, 1 school-year survived, learned what I did wasn’t gonna work, shifted gears to wearing my glasses (first time I actually wore them outside of class), Dyed my hair black (was a terrible job, blonde roots showed through and it was spotty at best), and wore a lot of black. If someone gave me shit, I’d “invite” them into a bathroom, and if they decided to bring friends, the more the merrier to the little party. All who accompanied me into the men’s restroom were drinking prison-brand piss-beer. Those that had the audacity to wait until we were off school grounds…well…let’s say that I’m surprised I didn’t get a lawsuit. I mean, I am not trained in any sort of martial arts, but most people would never guess. I naturally aim for the throat if I am in a rush, and with knuckles hard enough to punch through solid oak, well..let’s say the last guy who tried to play bloody-knuckles with me wound up breaking his fist during that fight. My fists were hard, hell, they still are, and my bark was all that was needed to entice the ones verbally berating me, or spreading rumours about me into fighting me. Highschool came along, the fighting method no longer proved effective, it took one fight I observed while passing on my way to class on the 1st day, someone was hauled to a squad car in handcuffs. This would not fly, I employed a tactful tongue, and while my bite was blunted, and I was de-fanged by school rules becoming stricter, my bark got oh-so-much worse. I was a bully’s worst nightmare. It took me 5 seconds to size up someone picking on me or my friends, and less than 3 to bring them down with words alone. I am a male of less than peak physical fitness, but my mind is sharp, and my tongue is eternally sharpened. Wit has become my blade, and I choose to only raise my fist in one situation, when the lummox I’m dealing with is deaf, can’t understand what I’m saying, or is too drunk/stupid to comprehend anything not slurred at him. heh, highschool education, but I have a hobby in psychology, philosophy, and an interest in the quantum theories and sciences. I also should add that my time as a drama student has only served my ability to manipulate. heh.

It is officially official now… Jo is my favorite character of any webcomic, ever, of all time… OF ALL TIME!!! Not that she was’t close before, but these latest strips have made her all the more defined as a character. I must admit that being embarrassed about different color eyes and multicolor hair is so adorable.

I also must reiterate the ideas form yesterday. Kids are jerks. They can be down right evil at times. As a kid, I remember not being too in touch with the “in” crowd and getting some grief for it. I didn’t care, I knew who my friends were. If I met Jo when I was a kid, I don’t think I would have hesitated to ask her to be my friend.

TR;DR version– Jo is awesome, kids are jerks, I want Jo as a friend.

Also, my best friend has brown hair with a patch about the size a soda can bottom-circle thingy… It’s late and I can’t think, forgive me… Anyway, A patch about as big as a soda can is round on his right temple. There is no sign of one on his left, it’s only on his right temple. If I remember correctly, his hair turned from brown to white when he was 14-15, just starting out High School.

So now we not only have eyes like Suiseiseki, but hair like Matsuri from Strawberry Marshmallow? Make that cuter by a factor of twelve… hundred! O_O

I knew a kid with brown/green heterochromia, but my eyes were considered the weirdest because at least people could see what color his were. That is because my eyes are gray and due to lighting can be seen as yellow, blue, green, or dark brown/black, or just mixtures of the two of the four at the same time. Now I’m not really the type to compete, but my beard (but oddly not my mustache) grows in red/copper, my hair on my head is dark brown, my hair is brown on my legs, my chest; back; and upper arms are pure black, and my forearms are light brown to the point of being almost white. (hair not skin tone, that’s just white)

After seeing what Jo looks like without the hair dye, I have just one thing to say:

I’ll be in my bunk.

:D

I actually know 3 women IRL (here at same place I work, actually) who actually go with the “anime hair color” scheme, and even change color on a regular basis. So no stranger there and I like it, makes life seem more fun, heh. But that white streak Jo has is inexplicably one of the more adorable things I’ve seen, and I have met one woman IRL before who had something similar.

The fact that she also had a very thick British accent left nothing to the imagination why she always had a swarm of young bucks huddled around her, taking their best shot. Me? Nah, was always too timid for that and was happily married already anyway.

It’s probably way too late to comment on this and still have the comment be read, but I felt like saying something about my personal experience with bullying, and how in some ways I can understand Jo’s position.

In elementary school I was picked on, a lot, for several reasons. I was pale, had red hair, was smarter than average, and wasn’t athletically gifted…I wasn’t terrible, but I wasn’t great. So, people said things that hurt my self esteem, they called me stupid names, and laughed at me for nothing, always picked me last, if they picked me at all for games. Outside of taunting me and insulting me, people didn’t really talk to me much, unless they wanted something, like for me to be with their group for a group project because they knew I’d get them an A. I didn’t have my first real friend till I was in 4th grade.

Then in high school people picked on me because I was a ginger, and it was “the cool thing to do” with the popularization of the word and stereotype through the help of South Park. They’d also make fun of me for having Crohn’s disease and missing days of school because I was out sick. If they could find something to make fun of, they’d use it.

It hurts to be hated for no real reason…it really does.

Damn man… Now I am torn apart. Brooksie is my fav character and now you messed with her…. I am torn if I like her more natural or coloured….

Ok… that is…. almost the last straw. Almost.

There are tropes out there I can’t stand… and one of them is people complaining about getting picked on for having something awesome, and promptly trying to hide it in order to normalise themselves.
Miss Cig-Stink there averts it by making her hair blue (and colouring her eyes)… but still… bullying or no, why would anyone want to change that hair? It pisses me off that some people can just naturally be born with things others have to apply real effort for… then just throw those gifts away.

And just folding like a wet rag from being picked on.
Pathetic.

Heck, if she left her hair natural and wore glasses instead of contacts…. even the smoking would be forgiveable… but as she is, she just bugs me.

Fun fact : I was bullied in school too. I didn’t fold though. Got thrown against walls, stamped against the floor, thrown in the hedge with the rusty fence and nearly got tetanus… Didn’t cry once. I just got up, told the bullies to go fuck themselves, and went about my business. They picked on me for being different, but the way I figure they were just jealous.
I’ve got the scars, but they couldn’t break me… so I have no sympathy for those who fold and cry about it.

Sometimes what’s awesome to you isn’t so awesome when you have it.
Everyone has different ways of dealing and it’s almost never a good idea to criticize someone without all the details. Everyone scars differently.

Agreed. Also, the challenges different people face are different. Maybe the other person who found they needed to blend in could’ve handled the bullies that you had just as well as you could, but their bullies were different.

And, for what it’s worth, in my limited experience, every bully I’ve encountered was envious of the people who he or she bullied. Sometimes they were envious of their appearance, sometimes of their intelligence. Sometimes, they were just envious of the fact the other kid just happened to have decent, caring parents. One of the most surreal experiences I had was when my father talked to one of the bullies at my school, found out his issues, and suddenly, for a few years, I had an honorary brother I was even less fond of than my preexisting brothers. That basically ended when his mother remarried, this time to a decent person. (Just to note: he didn’t instantly become flawless or even perfectly amicable because of my father offering to help him out. But it did reduce the amount he bullied immensely.)

Knowing that a bully is envious does not necessarily help one deal with said bully.

All of this said, it is sad that usually the children who hide how they are special when they are kids take so long to revel in how they’re special once they’re out of the situation they were in. I understand it’s a challenge. I’m not saying that they’re at fault for it. I’m saying, I wish that I could do something to help them bloom sooner. But generally, I can’t.

I think everyone who’s interesting has been bullied.
Being taller than most meant it didn’t turn physical but I did have to deal with my books being stolen. No one messes with the books. No one.

I wanted to meet someone with 2-color hair ever since I read The Hundred And One Dalmatians. ;)

MinusSanity reminds me my beard was blonde in front, especially the moustache. It got darker.

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