About $900 to go (as of this writing) until the Dumbing of Age Book 8 Kickstarter unlocks WALKY magnets! 14 days to go!
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About $900 to go (as of this writing) until the Dumbing of Age Book 8 Kickstarter unlocks WALKY magnets! 14 days to go!
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what you did there, Joyce, that’s… not hygenic
why did my browser delete all my settings, dangit
That’s been happening a lot, lately. I’ve lost my normal creds on a couple of comics. And, I seen a bunch of people posting as anon, when they probably thought they were posting with their regular ID.
I’m curious as to what about typing that comment in particular lead you to discover that your browser deleted all your settings
What’s not hygienic about it?
None of the chairs is even remotely close to sterile.
Good thing they aren’t performing surgery on her when she sits on them.
She put socks straight from the package in her mouth.
They’re at least partially made from who knows what recycled polyester, probably at a factory in Bangladesh, then packaged and shipped in a container with a bunch of other textiles, then sent to a wholesale distributor’s warehouse, then the fulfillment center, then hand packed and shipped to her. Each step involves some handling.
Good thing she’s wearing gloves.
Someone else’s gloves, that have been sweated in countless times. I’m sure s single perfunctory washing got all the germs out.
Also fingerless, so they’re not really gonna stop anything.
They’re clean socks.
How does she know? They could have been worn by someone else, returned, and then shipped to her.
Man, when is Asma getting a storyline? I swear every time she appears is hilarious.
Imagine if Parks and Red hadn’t seen the benefit of giving April her own focus, or if Daria had forever remained a minor Beavis and Butthead character. Deadpan sarcastic chick who has to deal with the other characters’ nonsense = comedy gold.
She’ll do that “look at the camera with an unsurprised and disappointed expression” fourth-wall break thing in the animated series.
Spring of 2247, when the story finally reaches the end of their freshman year, she’ll get a small story arc. And then the comic will end.
That is only because the descendant of his cat got distracted and forgot about it.
ASMA! SHE RETURNS!
Also, nice to see some level of essential Joyce-ness is still there even if Joyce is morphing into a new, seemingly better Joyce.
The switch in Asma faces and Joyce faces from panel two to the last panel are gold.
“Which is the most sterile chair?” she asks, putting the socks directly into her mouth gosh darn it Joyce I GET it but c’mon
What? They”re new socks. Mail order.
50 different Amazon warehouse workers decided to try them on before they got to her. Including Pete with the funny rash.
Amazon fulfilment workers don’t have time to try on socks, they wear tracking devices that tell management whenever they stop moving.
Nonsense. That would be a huge waste of money. They just administer electric shocks when motion ceases.
Motion sensors are a huge waste of money; they just administer shocks continuously.
Amazon packer here. I can confirm that we get administered electric shocks on a regular basis.
Mostly from dog food static buildup.
No, randomly; it’s a better motivator.
You don’t only wash new clothes because of the possibility of infections, new clothes usually contain extra dye and chemical finishes added to enhance colour and texture but usually cause them to be unpleasant to wear, particularly if you have a sensitive nose or skin.
Ohhh yeah. Some of the sickest I’ve ever felt was when I tried to sleep on new sheets right out of the package.
As noted, chemicals and dyes need to be washed out, to avoid skin irritation and dye spreading. Clothing isn’t normally washed after manufacturing, so as to keep them looking more vibrant on the shelves. Certain shirts and pants also come prestarched, to make them look nicer on the shelves, which can also cause irritation to sensitive skin [especially if they’re overstarched].
There’s also the fact that may people just don’t like wearing starched clothes to begin with, though I suppose they’d come to a quick decision to wash as soon as they put the clothing on, in that case. 😛
Underclothes generally aren’t treated with such things, however, so they’re generally pretty okay to wear right away without too much issue. On the other hand, they’re coming into contact with your most sensitive skin regions, so any negative effect they do have is only going to be amplified.
In short, it’s basically always a good idea to wash clothing before you use it.
I mean, that’s just generally good advice, honestly. Do your laundry regularly, people.
I’m surprised she doesn’t feel the need to wash the socks before wearing them. I’m not a germophobe like Joyce is, but I still wash all my clothes before I wear them. Who knows where they’ve been?
I’m not notably germophobic, so I could be wildly off-base, but my assumption was that Joyce just hasn’t thought about the potential for the socks to get dirty before reaching her. I’ve definitely had some moments where I would start irrevocably worrying about the sanitation (sanitariness?) of things I hadn’t ever worried about before.
What I’m getting at is that I was Joyce in this situation, until I started working a job selling clothing.
It’s never occurred to me to wash new clothes before.
But… dressing rooms… other people have worn these things–maybe a lot of them.
Well, now I’m going to be worrying about that.
Don’t even think about the floors where everyone took off their shoes that has stepped into who knows what and then shuffled around in either bare feet or more likely socks soaked in sweat and accumulated excretions and flakes of skin and whatever fungus colonized their toenails. [shudder]
I always wash things before wearing them the first time because I’ve heard that the dye might come off on you otherwise, or that there might be nasty clothing factory chemicals still on them.
No idea if either is true, but why risk it?
Dye leaching is definitely an issue, and some articles of clothing that have had special dye techniques done on them will have tags explicitly warning the consumer to wash separately (or with other similarly colored things) the first time.
But colorful patterned socks are almost always yarn-dyed and are pretty unlikely to leach. Especially the 100% synthetic fiber character socks.
I once wore a blue dress the day after buying it and without washing it. I and my pink handbag became blue.
I recall buying pink sheets and, in lieu of a washing machine, I hand washed them in the bath and put them on the side of the bath, up against the wall, to drain. White wall now has a crumpled sheet shaped pink stain on it that has never come off.
“I always wash things before wearing them the first time because I’ve heard that the dye might come off on you otherwise, or that there might be nasty clothing factory chemicals still on them.”
I’ve had plenty of staining from new clothing, especially new jeans, even *after* washing them once [twice is better]. I also have sensitive enough skin that the chemicals and starch in new clothing is a real issue for me.
I assure you, rumors of the sort you’re noting are quite true.
Also, do keep in mind that warmth leeches dyes much faster, which is why you should always cold wash dark clothing even after washing them on their own a few times, to avoid cross-dying. Even similar shades can get some irregular patterning due to cross-dying, as dye doesn’t necessarily move through clothing in a washing machine evenly [namely, if you’re overfilling your machine (as many individuals seem to do), so that water can’t flow easily].
Similarly, “black” is just a really dark shade of another color, so be careful about mixing dark violets and blues with dark greens and browns, for example. You can get cross-dying pretty easily, even among seemingly similar dark colors.
As noted above, you’re unlikely to have any real issues with underclothes, however. The main concerns should be jeans and dress shirts, really.
Di- did she just put those socks in her mouth?
She ripped them from the bowels of that box, with her teeth!
Dina approves.
There are some things that you are eager to unbox. Then there are those things for which the box is an enemy to be annihilated because it stands in your way!
Oh jeez, people have had sex on every chair.
And probably on the socks, too.
I used to have Asma’s job, and buzzing in drunk kids at night was among my main duties. If, after letting a couple in, I heard furniture being dragged somewhere in the lobby I’d just loudly announce “There are cameras in there!” and they would flee.
Don’t know why, when you’ve already made it back to the dorm, the lobby is such an alluring prospect for getting down as opposed to just walking upstairs. Maybe a cross between kinkiness and not wanting to deal with roommates.
Alternatively, drunken impatience.
Stairs are complicated when you are drunk and horny
Stairs are complicated, period. Also uncomfortable.
Stairs dig into your back., and banging your shins on the edges can ruin the mood.
ASMAAAAAAAAAAAA! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Oh, Joyce, you’re just the cutest <3
Seriously though, wash new stuff first.
So, a question, since it seems increasingly obvious that Joyce may have some level of OCD:
At what age does it usually get diagnosed around? I mean on some level all kids go through the picky/choosy stage of food, but I’m not sure at what point parents or teachers might note, ‘wow, they’re REALLY bad at not letting things touch.’
Joyce isn’t ‘hyperventilate if she doesn’t wash her hands’ level bad, but I’m curious if people have always just handwaved it off as a quirk rather than something to be looked into.
Mara Wilson was diagnosed at 12.
Having followed her twitter for a while, I’ve learned that actual people OCD are generally not really happy with the portrayal of OCD in pop culture.
Anyway, I’m just going to leave this here.
*people with OCD
One of the problems is that the level below full blown OCD is Anal Retentive. Yeah, that’s going to be a term that people will love to be used to describe them.
FYI, OCD is the stage where you do destructive behaviors, to your self or others.
It’s…really not. Sure, it can be, but that’s a bit of a, well, destructive reference to toss around. Some people manage better than others, and some people’s symptoms are worse thab others. Not all compulsions are harmful, and one of the CBT methods builds off of this, wherein you “pick” which battles you fight.
Tell me about it. The Monk TV series was wildly popular – and it really didn’t show how OCD works.
Good media portrayal of OCD? Di Caprio’s Aviator. Seriously, some scenes were exactly like the things I struggle with in my life.
I loved Monk as a kid because it gave me a “role model” who supposedly suffered the same as I did and was still successful. I think a lot of what makes Monk enjoyable to someone with OCD is what they don’t show rather than what they do show. If you take away that reading between the lines, it’s a terrible portrayal, but if you watch it under that frame of reference, it’s a much better media portrayal. Especially given that we usually get stuck with being portrayed by characters who have OCPD and not OCD.
Wow, I botched closing that HTML tag. Good one, me.
I really didn’t like Monk, because this character just seemed like an OCD stereotype written by people who don’t actually know what OCD is like… When it comes to me, I like the character from Scrubs played by Michael J. Fox – I looked at this guy and was like “Hey, that stuff is my life!”.
I think the big part that helps is that while he is exasperating for those around him, he is not only competent, but successful. I can’t remember the character’s name, but I know who you’re talking about. He is definitely a better example than Monk, for sure! Have you heard of a game called Neverending Nightmares? I’ve heard it’s fantastic since the dev has OCD, but horror games and I tend to mix poorly. :\
I love horror games, I might look it up 🙂
The character from Scrubs was Dr. Kevin Casey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BkUtYKrG9Y
Some of his symptoms shown in this clip are played for comedy, but that last bit, with him admitting he has washed his hands for 2 hours? Or the bit with him trying to turn off the light? Oh, I’ve been there… I’ve never had a problem with washing hands, but I had these times when I spent over 1 hour cleaning my glasses. And yes, I did have problems with turning off the lights just the right way…
OCD seems to be our generation’s “schizophrenic”, in that 98% of the poeple throwing the term around have absolutely no clue what it really means.
I’m no expert, but I don’t think she has OCD. That’s an anxiety disorder, and a person with it often knows their repeated thought patterns and compulsive rituals are irrational and may even despise them, but are unable to help themselves. A person washing their hands fifty times likely knows full well it’s not accomplishing anything, but failing to do would cause greater distress than giving in to the urge.
I suppose she might have a mild form of OCPD, which is a personality disorder and the person is more likely to rationalize their behavior as sensible. But even then, I don’t think Joyce has it; she’s too flexible and easygoing, and actively questions her beliefs.
Again, not an expert, but I really don’t think she has any sort of disorder.
I don’t know. I *have* OCD and I think Joyce might have it.
The thing with OCD is, you don’t always realize that your rituals are irrational. That demands a certain level of insight. There’s a stage when you might think there’s nothing wrong with them…
Well, you’d certainly know better than me. i just googled the differences between the two disorders to make sure I was remembering them right.
I got diagnosed around 6ish? I’m not an expert personally either- especially since my diagnosis got changed to GAD/PTSD as an adult- but Joyce doesn’t seem to me like she has OCD exactly; she doesn’t have the obsessions part, for one. She doesn’t seem to obsess over how something terrible will happen if she does X or what if Y happened, less than your average person in fact. Her only real “irrational” phobia is directly linked to the Ryan thing, and as Doctor Who said, most of what she does seems to be based on other issues.
You still pretty much nailed it. I’ve heard that sometimes sufferers of CPTSD exhibit OCD symptoms due to a lack of control over their environment, but I don’t think we’re seeing that with Joyce, personally.
My understanding is that current thought is that OCD and OCPD are different things, with a lot of overlap and/or comorbidity; the distinction being that OCD is associated with anxiety – “if I don’t wash my hands again, I’m going to get sick” – while OCPD is associated with a need for order – “I have to wash my hands five times, that’s just the rule.”
To some extent! It can also be something that appears entirely unrelated. For example, if you don’t, say, check the locks six times, your mother will be in a car accident. If you step on one of the black tiles at the supermarket, dinosaurs will come back and eat everyone. One of my “stupidest” ones that has managed to persist since I was a little kid is that if I can’t unzip my jacket, I will overheat and get sick (as a kid, it was that I would spontaneously combust–I’ve, uh, somewhat reshaped that one? I guess? If you squint?). So you develop little hacks to work around those: okay, I just don’t won’t zip up my jacket. Okay, if I do A, B and C in sequence then that will prevent unrelated thing X from happening because I didn’t do Y and Z. Or, alternatively, if I want to enjoy A (currently, working a Logic Puzzle), I must also do B (Filomino puzzle), C (Reverse Word Puzzle), D (at least one cryptogram puzzle) and E (Sudoku puzzle) before I stop or else BadThings(TM) will happen. It’s stupid and illogical, and I’ve managed to successfully break through that on rare occasions, but while those things are time consuming, they’re not–as someone above said–destructive in that they don’t actually harm me (I just don’t work Logic Puzzles unless I know I have enough time to do the other things in sequence). Sure do burn time, though, which is where the “interfere with activities of daily living” bit comes into play. That’s not to say destructive ones don’t exist–definitely have a couple of those–but quite a few rituals and compulsions can be harmless enough (well, aside from the mental duress if you don’t complete the ritual).
OCPD, on the other hand, is like you said, typically not something that causes anxiety in the way you’d expect. It does somewhat cause anxiety if standards aren’t met, but yeah, definitely the need to have a large degree of control over their environment. The biggest difference is the “rigidity” that people with OCPD have. Because that’s how things should be done. With OCD, it needs to be done to prevent something else from happening. So, OCD is more of a 2-prong cause-and-effect situation, whereas OCPD is one wherein there’s really just the cause, if that makes sense? And there can be overlap, too. My relative with OCPD and I both had the same issues with cleanliness, orders and rules. My issues in those departments have mostly resolved because I focused on working on those compulsions and reshaped them into healthier rituals that let me be more protective. Said relative? Still sees no issue with his lifestyle and likely never will. He’s a fantastically hard worker, but he’s really hard to deal with because of those traits. Because the perception behind them is different.
Bah, I feel like I’m going in circles explaining without saying what I want to say. I’m going to play the fever for that one, but hopefully enough of it made sense. ^^
The thing is, you don’t have to have obssessions to be diagnosed with OCD. OCD is a pair of closely-related problems. There are people who have just obsessions, as well as people who have mostly compulsions…
I assume you’re referring to Pure OCD. A mental compulsion/ritual is still a compulsion/ritual. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I can’t say I’ve read any scientific literature that indicates OCD can occur without obsessions. I’d appreciate resources, because honestly, the only thing that sounds close is OCPD, which is decidedy not OCD.
I might wrong, but I really do think that obsessions (meaning, intrusive thoughts) can exist without any specific rituals. It’s the proverbial “monk who cannot stop thinking about sex” thing. I have problems with this kind of thing…
I’d also say that compulsions (meaning, rituals, even mental ones) can exist without obsessions. But maybe I’m wrong…
I was five.
Gonna concur with the other commenters who said they don’t think Joyce has it. Sure, there are a lot of different ways it can manifest, but I don’t really get that “vibe” from her, if that makes any sense.
The vibe I get from Joyce is that she has a neurotic side. She doesn’t have full-blown OCD… but she might yet get it. I didn’t get mine until I was 25 or so (unless you count weird stuff I did in my early teens, then stopped).
That’s fair! That is certainly a thing that happens. And could happen here. I really think one of her big underlying issues is less neuroticism, but more a lack of control over her environment. She went from a sheltered, but stable, living situation where she had limited input on her activities to a far less restricted environment, but yet having far too many stressors thrown at her all within the span of two months.
True, but we’ve been told that her need to segregate bits of food is an old thing. Becky is familiar with it… If so, it shows that she has had anxiety problems for some time now.
But maybe it *is* just a personality quirk…
I choose to believe Joyce bit those out of the box in a single pass.
I like that idea too!
Though I would also settle for Joyce struggling to tear open the box for an agonizing amount of time while Asma watched with growing frustration.
Not to be outdone with Jeph delaying big pay-offs with Steve eating cereal (I’m surprised he did that with Marten and Padma but not Faye and Bubbles), Willis gives us TWO days of Joyce struggling with packaging right after Dina and Becky kick Amber out of the room.
I’m just gonna say it
Joyce is wearing the wrong shirt for that jacket
Yeah, I agree that the colors clash. I still really like it though, because A: it’s a damn good look for her regardless and B: Willis is clever enough that I can believe he intentionally chose to let the colors clash as a narrative-reinforcing kinda thing. Depends how Joyce’s jacket-venture goes!
How can colors clash with black? Isn’t that the biggest virtue of black?
It’s not black though. It’s a really dark teal. And I don’t personally think those colors clash, and have seen them used together to good effect. There’s nothing wrong with having two colors in an outfit. But maybe I’m weird.
That said, I do think that a darker t-shirt would be better with the look Joyce is going for.
Yeah, teal and salmon (which looks like her colours on my monitor) are a pretty common combo, IME.
On my monitor her shirt’s orange. Teal and salmon look nice. Teal and orange…not as nice imo.
Are you sure she doesn’t just instinctively understand “the pink of goth,” as Sarah Vowell did in her goth makeover?
Bonus: Vowell chose as her goth name Becky, “the most perverse name I can think of.”
None of them, Joyce, they have all been touched by the butts of the many.
Unfortunately true! Still, Joyce has to face this fact some time!
Super cute. Also, yay Asma.
Yowza. Panel 3 Joyce is lookin’ fine. I know she’s trying too hard, but honestly the look suits her.
They’re all sterile chairs. When was the last time you saw a chair give birth?
<3
A few years ago, on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Well, there was that one Junji Ito story…
I keep wanting to branch out when reading manga but I get to the first ultra grusome bit in any Ito story and nope out before I get nightmares for the rest of my life.
Yeah, I can’t read or watch things where a character is pretty much ruined for life. Some stuff will flat out ruin my entire day.
A Word From Our Sponsors.
I get the feeling Asma isn’t paid enough (something with which I sympathize).
I suspect her position is sort of like Ruth’s, she gets a break on tuition or dorm fees in return for doing this.
not a big enough break, I’m sure we all can agree.
Those are REBEL socks
What’s so great about Asma? I don’t get it… :\
She’s one of the few recurring characters who has no drama and no stigmas attached.
Plus a lot of the times it’s just “she has to deal with this shit” and is a nice audience surrogate at times.
She’s relatable as she’s not a fan of her job but does it because it’s convenient.
Joyce may be experimenting with the lack of god, the divine, detsiny and deeper meaning, but she is too optimistic that she will become an antinihilist without so much thought. Asma on the other hand shows sings of being like Roomies! Sarah.
There is something different, Asma: Joyce isn’t responding “Yay, you noticed!” about her efforts to be cool.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/rebelstyle/
She is starting to take being cool for granted.
Asma looks real hopeful in the last panel.
he who lives upon hope will die fasting – Ben Franklin.
Ah Joyce! Some things change but some do not. What hasn’t changed is your innocence, enthusiasm and your holding on to childish things in many harmless ways. She seems very eager to wear those socks; I find myself wondering for whose benefit they may be?
I also wonder what Monkey Master in the Walkyverse would have thought of being reduced to novelty footwear?
Probably her own benefit. She’s been excited about Dexter clothes before without there being any sense of wearing them for somebody in particular.
So can we stop talking about hygiene and start talking about how cute Joyce is in the last panel?
Joyce is almost always cute; that’s the point, I think!
The change across the four Joycefaces today are exceptional.
I imagine Joyce is trying to do the Klavier Gavin finger snaps but she can’t actually snap her fingers.
Joyce nooo you always wash them new stuff before putting them on !
Or at least before eating them. 🙂
I wonder if Dexter and Monkey Master is the Dumbingverse’s version of Invader Zim?
Same as always, Joyce wasn’t lying.
And Goth Joyce begins to emerge.
Just needs a band tee-shirt – Ramones or Sisters of Mercy – to complete the ensemble.
I’m not germphobic but I don’t see anything wrong with wanting stuff clean. It doesn’t mean she has OCD or anything, just a different comfort level around germs.
You’re always surrounded by germs. Some of them live inside you.
And if you don’t get into contact with enough of them, it’s actually bad for your immune system. We need germs to be healthy and strong.
Also, it’s safe to assume that all these chairs are filthy.
Aren’t there some theories that autoimmune diseases come from people living in too clean, borderline sterile, environments?
There’s a difference between “clean” and “sterile”. And she’s not really going to do anything more than sit in one while changing socks. It’s not that big a deal.
I’m pretty sure Joyce would wash her hands after visiting my car. But out beyond my position on the curve are people who seem to think food safety is just a bunch of annoying rules. Out beyond Joyce are people who harm their immune systems by compulsive cleanliness habits.
Somehow I don’t think Joyce in panel two or three… or five for that matter… would do anything to reduce Becky’s confusion.
Anyone else thinking those socks would be a great addition to the store? C’mon I can’t be the only one who wants a pair. And a Dina hat.
She is going to put on a pair of socks, that she has been sucking on, and she is concerned about how the clean the chair is? Nobody tell her, damn it!
As a Fundie girl she has hypocrisy rank EX.
She wouldn’t wear a pair of socks someone else had in their mouth, that would be gross. But her mouth and her feet are both her so it’s fine. (Although the other way round definitely isn’t.)
It’s like that AA Milne bit about “well-thumbed bread and butter”.