Agreed. I had several PE teachers, and all of them did the same sh*t: work with those who were good in sports and despise (or at least ignore) the rest.
Measuring my indifference would be easy: it is simply huge.
Measuring my concern or interest for team sports, especially pro, however–that would take more than the best scanning electron microscope. It’s probably shorter than the plank length, and passes faster than a quantum unit of time. It’s lost in the foaming sea of the virtual vacuum. It’s–well, you get the idea.
personally i enjoyed gym class, i was a slacker in school and the gym teacher was the only one who didn’t care that i didn’t give two sh**s for any of the other classes. i enjoyed the games and the stuff like that, and personally i came out of gym class smarter than i did going into it… course i went to a freaking awesome public school so there’s that…
So, when you have a class of 20 or so kids, what do you do to get them all active and doing something in a way that gets them to work together and which hopefully makes it fun for most of the class? Would it have been better if they just said “There’s some balls and other crap. Go run around and do whatever.”?
It always seemed to me that the kids who “hated gym” were the hyper self-conscious ones.
Well, you certainly don’t ignore the kids who aren’t good at the activity in favor of the ones who excell. You pay attention to the kids who need direction and guidance. You encourage the “star students” to work together on the task under light supervision and focus on helping out the people who need it most.
Just my opinion of course. I’ve only ever provided limited education within the realms of my job, but that method seemed to work best…and I was also one of those kids who was overlooked in gym class (even though I was at least decent in team sports).
I wasn’t timid at physical activity (I do martial arts still, 40 years later), but I hate team sports. As a geek, all of my activites have been solo or with a friend or two (hiking, weight training, MA, gardening, etc.). Competition bores me, and most of the class simply learned that they “weren’t meant to do sports”.
There are plenty of activities that everybody can do within their limits and improve on, noticeably. Weight training, swimming, walking and running, fencing, yoga, dancing. People should learn how to eat and stay in shape in public school, not learn that they hate football. They probably knew that already, anyway.
The sports teams are there for the kids who want to join them.
I was reasonably good at Sports. They were however not my interest thus boring as hell. Except bowling, I got a high school Varsity letter in Bowling. (Duck and 10 pin oooh yea Double threat coming through)
🙂 Some of my favorite gym class memories: my dad drove the bus to the bowling alley.
Our gym classes took a “Here’s life, have it the fun way” tactic. We did a couple weeks of different things people think are fun. Hence we got archery, ping-pong, basic CPR and rescue, skiing (mostly cross-country), golf, and gymnastics. And of course bowling. The only unit I didn’t pass was gymnastics. I have bad knees and worse balance, and I’ve never been able to stand on my head, let alone do any of the other stuff.
Having these classes in high school did a lot to reverse the elementary and middle school gym-class-is-hell issues that I’d developed. Now I’ve got asthma and can’t do most of the physical stuff even if I wanted to, but at least I know there are “sports” that could be fun. Like archery. 😉
Actually, my school was one of the cool ones where our [insert sport] team almost always went to states and sometimes nationals. So there was always a reason for the coaches to be happy, and so they were always having as much fun as we were. I would go as far as to say they actually cared about us. Of course, I’m bit of an athlete myself despite my weight, so I think the effort I put in kept them off my back.
TL:DR I am in the minority, and found P.E. to be fun and a good break from class.
Wasnt like that in the beginning though and i doubt any kinda teacher .. even the most understanding and fair one .. could change what happens.
Some exercise also "require" a lot from you in the style of .. "all in or not at all". It dosnt really matter if you only want a "normal" or "medium" participation yourself.
The hype can "kill it" as well. Like i actually like playing soccer myself in the beginning, but once sitting at a full 2 hours live match and have it end at a dull 0 – 0 made me think it all over. Maybe im simply to dim to be able to unquestionably love everything about soccer.
I had a gym teacher in third grade who didn’t pay attention to the class. My friend had an asthma attack and passed out in class, and was yelled at for lying down.
Gotta visit her spooky bra architect. More high-tensile cables needed and maybe rebar mesh undercup.
Also hated the regimental P.E. classes. But there was one P.E. teacher who taught extracurricular dancing on her own time (line, square, scottish, tinikling, etc.) Best workouts there.
Agreed, the problem being that gym classes in school were nowhere near fun.
I mean, i know that working out is not always fun & games, but if I want a real workout i’ll do it by myself out in nature or in a real gym.
School gym classes are not supposed to be grind, they are supposed to be a fun way to get some excersize.
Back in the mid-60’s, the “President’s Council for Physical Fitness” convinced Robert Preston to do a kids’ exercise song called “the Chicken Fat Song”. It was played in grade school gym classes all over the country as a calisthenics workout drill for a couple of years. It was the most degrading, insulting, and annoying piece of self-esteem guerilla-assault music ever perpetrated upon kids’ fitness. And that includes ANYTHING ever produced for Barney.
It was the limited sports available at my school that scrambled me. Winter – football or rugby, Summer – cricket or athletics. I ranged from poor to absolutely hopeless at all those.
But in the sixth form, I played a match against the staff at badminton, and took HUGE pleasure in thrashing all the PE teachers who had treated me as one of the pathetic geeks in the corner the previous five years. I had been playing since I was five, played for my university and several clubs in local leagues till I tore my elbow. One of the economics teachers beat me tho 🙂
And I blame the way English Lit was taught for how few kids read. I love books, own hundreds, have read thousands, and I despised English Lit class. What the poor sods who didn’t like books in the first place felt like, I dread to think…
My PE teacher made me hate exercise in a very different way. I hate dancing, and he routinely made us choreograph to Hansen. I distinctly remember having to shoot scrunchies into the air. It was only after this that I learned “Baptists don’t dance” and I could have claimed religious exemption.
Well she is definitely getting a positive affirmation from all of this. Ans she might actually listen to her doctor about her high cholesterol. Now all that she has to do is get Tina and hit Punk Yoga a few days a week.
Punk Yoga may actually have one of those in reserve.
And, we haven’t seen Jacqui in awhile. I wonder how long she’ll be able to keep oblivious of the magic cavalcade in her studio, what with all the mindfulness meditation she must practice.
Gaah. Now I’ve got the image stuck in my head of a vigorous exercise class at Punk Yoga, being led by a line-dancing trip of triffids, to the tune of the Alvin and the Chipmunks’ cover version of Devo’s “Whip It”.
I swear, that box of tea I brewed up for breakfast was labeled “Licorice Mint”. Perhaps giving up coffee is causing withdrawal symptoms?
Last night I filled in a survey that a comedy programme asked a reputable market research company to conduct. I can’t remember all the options but I said it selected “loud music”. They didn’t ask for a reason but, in my case, it means that there’s a danger of my podcasts being drowned out.
And, having attended my next to last live model art class just yesterday, may I congratulate you on a fine (if large) example of a normal braless breast! Superb attention to anatomy details throughout – arms/hands/shoulder position, etc, etc. The Monica model may be an exaggeration, but not by much! Salute!
True, Paul has shown the utmost care when it comes to showing realism to the large breasted community. The last thing he would want is for the readership to just think he was aiming for a mindless T&A comic. He obviously is aiming for a goal here. First with Tina and now with Monica. We just have to sit and wait for the ride to get to the next drop.
What’s the male analogue of anorexia nervosa, except, for 98 lb. weaklings? Body image problems can really mess you up and too many jock coaches may not treat it with the, ahh, delicate touch that a pschrink might…
And, anorexia is linked to OCD, as many psychological problems turn out to do. And that, in turn, comes from anxiety attacks that set off fight or flight instincts. Monica may be using food as her ritual, hence the term “comfort food”.
The “opposite” of anorexia is sometimes called “bigorexia”. It is when someone has the “not muscular enough” body issue. It really is the same kind of thing, but instead of not eating, the obsession is to put more muscle on.
They’re both specific forms of body dysmorphic disorder. BDD is often coupled with another mental disorder, such as agoraphobia or clinical depression, among others, and they interinfluence eachother.
Then there is the body image disorder that makes you uncomfortable with having the same look for an extended period of time. I knew someone who went from being a twig, to being ridiculously fat, to trim it to super muscular, then losing that muscle to be a twiggy “scene kid” again, within the span of 2-3 years, all on purpose, because he didn’t like the way he was shaped.
The added dimension from the shading really makes Monica pop out psuedo 3D style in panel 2. I am glad Paul decided to go back to the typed text though.
A new reader could begin to suspect that Mr. Taylor might, just possibly, be feeding in a plausible set of red-herring clues and hints, leading us to reasonable speculation in a direction other than the one in which he’s actually intending to go, and is planning to spring an entirely-unpredicted surprise on us within the next week or three (which would, naturally, prove to be entirely consistent in hindsight).
More experienced readers know, of course, that it’d never happen that way around here. Not even once. Ever. Even slightly. Just not possible.
Tepoz? or maybe Kukulcan? they’re the only two male semi-deities around that we’ve heard of so far, every other male is mortal and mundane (in the “extra-special or not” sense of the word) while Deitzl IS extra-special, he unfortunately isn’t a deity… oh well…
Also – we crave sugars and fats because they are so good at providing calories. When we were developing into hunter/gatherers, concentrated sources of sugars and fats were relatively rare in nature. Now they’re everywhere – and our instincts are killing us.
Nah. Remember when Kevin came in and nobody but Bud recognised him? Also we see her giving lessons to little old ladies, who i sort of doubt would be among the clientèle at Punk Yoga.
I think there may be a circuit missing from the human brain, at least in some people, including me.
I’ve found that actually hearing the words somehow makes the thought more real and understandable, and somehow more memorable.
Perhaps the thought becomes more important if it’s heard?
Authors (like me) talk to ourselves all the time. Something about talking does, indeed, help cement the thoughts, and when developing storylines it can be very useful.
In all fairness to Dietzel, that one time may have been more that the GG’s literally scared the piss out of him. We have seen him use the bathroom at Daren’s bar when he was watching him before.
I had a moment like this a few years ago…I was newly 21, 6’2″, 265 lbs and got winded walking up a flight of stairs. Within a year I dropped 70 lbs, and now I’m a fully certified personal trainer from the National Personal Training Institute, and I start my professional career as one this upcoming Saturday. I wish it hadn’t gotten to a point like today’s strip, but I kinda owe my life to this kind of harsh realization.
Sounds like someone will be joining a certain punk yoga/dance studio soon…
Cardio- running and jumping jacks for example- for the large chested is a pain, uncountable and expensive when you factor in all the damn bras you go through (and that’s just the cheap shitty ones).
Yoga/palliates may be awkward/weird and frustrating but at least you are not bouncing- just bending.
I think Zumba/dance would be the work out for her- bouncy yes but it’s *not* running. There is also swimming…
Pound for pound, swimming and resistance walking (in water) are probably the best workouts ever. Do it hard or easy, your choice.
Hmm, maybe something I should look into…
Not so crazy about the new 3-D look the past few days, with the shading and highlights. I know artists like to keep moving ahead, but the old style was much cleaner and more appealing. My $0.02.
Some of the problem with execise programs is that they can be boring. Monica happens to know a lot of people that make their living making exercise fun. Punk Yoga should fill the bill. A Yoga class would be a very good way to jump start her execise program. For aerobics she should probably swim or bike ride or even ballroom dance. Dare I mention weight training? With the right instructor all these can be interesting and fun.
Speaking of fun and exercise, there was an advertisement on TV where a mother had her adolescent daughter running all over the house looking for the mother’s wallet so she could borrow some money from her. This is the kind of thing I imagine Nudge would do, so I colored her.
Supposedly a mom headed out on a weekend trip left a note for her teenager: “I’ve left you $100 for food and emergencies. I hid it somewhere in your room; if you clean your room you’ll find it.”
I would have to say that Monica has, all of a sudden, come to an extreme sense of her own mortality. She may or may not be pregnant and the idea that her boobs might have “dropped” or sagged is not what’s really bothering her.
Some days, people can wake up and realize their time left on Earth is precious and not to be wasted.
Of course, I may be projecting my thoughts onto Monica here…
It sounds like another step along the road of maturity. Starting to be concerned about the future is one definition of “the point of becoming an adult”. So is realizing that you aren’t immortal… that you will eventually die, someday.
Really feeling that That Day is going to come a lot sooner than “eventually”… and that your own actions and choices have some responsibility for that but cannot prevent it… well, that’s a pretty good definition of “midlife crisis”.
Shemomedjamo (Georgian)
“”Shemomedjamo” is the act of eating to the point where your body says, “OK, we did it! We’re all done now,” and then muscling through another three steaks.”
Well, Monica, are you not the lucky one who has a friend who runs/teaches Yoga, who just happens to employ another friend of yours who just happens to be a physical trainer? All you need to do is pick up the phone.
The biggest problem I’ve found with shit is that it doesn’t want to stay sorted. It requires constant maintenance to stay sorted whereas most people can at least get by just letting it do whatever.
Adding to my already noticable thought that Tina and Monica are setting up an arc for themselves and their diets, Tina and Monica seem to both have a thing for baked goodies (http://wapsisquare.com/comic/do-the-eyes/) and a noticing that they need to take better care of their bodies (http://wapsisquare.com/comic/in-layers/).
Isn’t there a more direct and less-potentially-harmful way available?
Tina could use her demonic powers of influence to compel Becky to give up making pastries, and instead hire on as an obsessively-compulsive personal trainer and diet adviser at Punk Yoga.
Imagine the potential for nagging which would result! “OK. Drop and give me twenty! Twenty more! Twenty more! Twenty more! Twenty more! …”
Yeah, I am actually witness to that. Driving north through Wisconsin for a GenCon, there were signs boasting of the state being Cheese Capital of the World right in front of some overpass that was, itself, exclusively a dining area. So there I was speeding underneath dozens of heavyset Midwesterners devouring cheese in the air above me.
People in the 22nd Century are going to read that on the descendant of the Internet Archive and go, “The hell was up with these people?”
Oh, well, if we’re killing off Trekverse characters, Neelix is first on the list!
Though I admit it was insightful how ST:V proved that sadism has a corner in every human heart, when that episode where Neelix had lost his lungs was on, and I simply nodded, my mind as calm as a summer lake, thinking, “Yes. Pull the plug.”
I appreciate the poetry of the phrase “skinny and out of shape”, but it can be equally obscuring as it is enlightening: It looks like a problem worth having!
Monica is skinny and unfit. She’s been able to deny it because of youth and metabolism, but the tensile strength of her skin is beginning to surrender to all the clotty fat that is, after all, gathering there.
Having that much grease hanging right off of her heart is mighty sobering once she dares to think about it.
Little Mamasita, pull off that top, push those two massive mammeries aside and examine your belly through the cleavage. You are looking for a racing stripe that starts at the top of your thatch, splits at your belly button and rejoins to travel to the base of your middle ribcage (Xyphoid process of the sternum). Given your ethnicity, it should be fairly noticable. Also note the same darkening of tone around your eyes and possibly even a line down the middle of your forehead. Do you see it? Hmmmm… thought so. Now, hold one of your boobs close to an ear and wobble it a bit- do you hear sloshing noises? I see… and your body suddenly craves complex sugars and mega carbs? Uh huh… OK cupcake…. when was your last menstral cycle? Has it been more than a month? And you are sudenly very AWARE of your body, more so than normal…?
(the Old Sgt. Shakes his head and grins, walks over to the easy chair and sits down without another word)
I don’t see what the problem is here.
All M has to do is consult the Punk Yoga staff on what an appropriate level of exercise for her would be and then tell Tina to tell her to do it.
And like it.
Funny the topic is exercise because as I was catching up on last couple days’ strips (was busy on my off days this time, sowwy) my first thought was how exercise basically makes our bodies respond to minor muscle damage (aka “the burn” that tells you that you did it right) by building/upgrading muscle tissue.
So Monica’s breasts are responding to “the burn” of being used TWICE as landing gear following emergency poit incidents recently by increasing the padding level. And being dragged across carpeting with her weight behind them, that’s GOTTA make the skin sag a bit even more than it usually would due to age.
The sheer mass alone is punishment on the skin trying to hold those things up. The recent abuse is probably accelerating the process.
Oh, and for the record – I am what they used to call a “tiny titty man” – I am actually into the smaller sizes, for various reasons which I won’t go into here. So anyone who might think I read this strip beacause of “fan service” or M’s breast size – wrong! You could actually say I became a fan in *spite* of her breast size. 😉
I’m not so sure going to punk rock yoga is a good idea. Feeling bad about the shape of her body, dreading/resenting the need to exercise, placing yourself in the hands of friends instead of an impartial instructor elsewhere? It’ll either work, or blow up spectacularly.
And I hated gym, too. Teacher picked two pets, they chose teams-for everything-and always being along the last chosen, knowing no one wants you there? Jeez, they could have divided the class into two groups alphabetically! We aren’t all graceful and athletic, especially at that age.
Anyway. I like the art, just need to get used to the change!
Even if Monica is pregnant, that doesn’t invalidate her realization that she’s not in great shape. You can be skinny and have no muscle tone! But what will really be amusing if she’s pregnant? Her realizing she needs to cut back on coffee. ^_^
Gym class is probably responsible for more people despising exercise than any other single thing.
Agreed. I had several PE teachers, and all of them did the same sh*t: work with those who were good in sports and despise (or at least ignore) the rest.
What’s worse is when they don’t ignore you and push you into all sorts of things you’re not good at/hate.
Like team sports.
The device has not yet been conceived that can measure my indifference to team sports, largely because of this phenomenon.
Measuring my indifference would be easy: it is simply huge.
Measuring my concern or interest for team sports, especially pro, however–that would take more than the best scanning electron microscope. It’s probably shorter than the plank length, and passes faster than a quantum unit of time. It’s lost in the foaming sea of the virtual vacuum. It’s–well, you get the idea.
personally i enjoyed gym class, i was a slacker in school and the gym teacher was the only one who didn’t care that i didn’t give two sh**s for any of the other classes. i enjoyed the games and the stuff like that, and personally i came out of gym class smarter than i did going into it… course i went to a freaking awesome public school so there’s that…
So, when you have a class of 20 or so kids, what do you do to get them all active and doing something in a way that gets them to work together and which hopefully makes it fun for most of the class? Would it have been better if they just said “There’s some balls and other crap. Go run around and do whatever.”?
It always seemed to me that the kids who “hated gym” were the hyper self-conscious ones.
Well, you certainly don’t ignore the kids who aren’t good at the activity in favor of the ones who excell. You pay attention to the kids who need direction and guidance. You encourage the “star students” to work together on the task under light supervision and focus on helping out the people who need it most.
Just my opinion of course. I’ve only ever provided limited education within the realms of my job, but that method seemed to work best…and I was also one of those kids who was overlooked in gym class (even though I was at least decent in team sports).
I wasn’t timid at physical activity (I do martial arts still, 40 years later), but I hate team sports. As a geek, all of my activites have been solo or with a friend or two (hiking, weight training, MA, gardening, etc.). Competition bores me, and most of the class simply learned that they “weren’t meant to do sports”.
There are plenty of activities that everybody can do within their limits and improve on, noticeably. Weight training, swimming, walking and running, fencing, yoga, dancing. People should learn how to eat and stay in shape in public school, not learn that they hate football. They probably knew that already, anyway.
The sports teams are there for the kids who want to join them.
It seems to be a prerequisite that all gym teachers be jock/bully/assholes who enjoy ridiculing those who aren’t athletically inclined.
I hated every one of my gym teachers growing up.
My PE (Physical Education) teachers weren’t bad.
I wasn’t good at PE but I wasn’t picked on/treated poorly by my PE teachers.
You were one of the lucky ones then.
I was reasonably good at Sports. They were however not my interest thus boring as hell. Except bowling, I got a high school Varsity letter in Bowling. (Duck and 10 pin oooh yea Double threat coming through)
I wish my school had bowling as an option! 🙂 I’d have lettered in it given how much bowling I did my junior and senior years.
🙂 Some of my favorite gym class memories: my dad drove the bus to the bowling alley.
Our gym classes took a “Here’s life, have it the fun way” tactic. We did a couple weeks of different things people think are fun. Hence we got archery, ping-pong, basic CPR and rescue, skiing (mostly cross-country), golf, and gymnastics. And of course bowling. The only unit I didn’t pass was gymnastics. I have bad knees and worse balance, and I’ve never been able to stand on my head, let alone do any of the other stuff.
Having these classes in high school did a lot to reverse the elementary and middle school gym-class-is-hell issues that I’d developed. Now I’ve got asthma and can’t do most of the physical stuff even if I wanted to, but at least I know there are “sports” that could be fun. Like archery. 😉
Actually, my school was one of the cool ones where our [insert sport] team almost always went to states and sometimes nationals. So there was always a reason for the coaches to be happy, and so they were always having as much fun as we were. I would go as far as to say they actually cared about us. Of course, I’m bit of an athlete myself despite my weight, so I think the effort I put in kept them off my back.
TL:DR I am in the minority, and found P.E. to be fun and a good break from class.
<– Last one picked for everything.
Wasnt like that in the beginning though and i doubt any kinda teacher .. even the most understanding and fair one .. could change what happens.
Some exercise also "require" a lot from you in the style of .. "all in or not at all". It dosnt really matter if you only want a "normal" or "medium" participation yourself.
The hype can "kill it" as well. Like i actually like playing soccer myself in the beginning, but once sitting at a full 2 hours live match and have it end at a dull 0 – 0 made me think it all over. Maybe im simply to dim to be able to unquestionably love everything about soccer.
My favorite part about gym was how nobody realized i was having panic attacks and just yelled for me to run faster, not! >:(
I had a gym teacher in third grade who didn’t pay attention to the class. My friend had an asthma attack and passed out in class, and was yelled at for lying down.
Nowadays he would have been put up on charges of child neglect and endangerment. Sometimes I don’t miss the “good ol days” all that much.
Gotta visit her spooky bra architect. More high-tensile cables needed and maybe rebar mesh undercup.
Also hated the regimental P.E. classes. But there was one P.E. teacher who taught extracurricular dancing on her own time (line, square, scottish, tinikling, etc.) Best workouts there.
Agreed, the problem being that gym classes in school were nowhere near fun.
I mean, i know that working out is not always fun & games, but if I want a real workout i’ll do it by myself out in nature or in a real gym.
School gym classes are not supposed to be grind, they are supposed to be a fun way to get some excersize.
Back in the mid-60’s, the “President’s Council for Physical Fitness” convinced Robert Preston to do a kids’ exercise song called “the Chicken Fat Song”. It was played in grade school gym classes all over the country as a calisthenics workout drill for a couple of years. It was the most degrading, insulting, and annoying piece of self-esteem guerilla-assault music ever perpetrated upon kids’ fitness. And that includes ANYTHING ever produced for Barney.
If you want to hear how incredibly painful this was: http://youtu.be/EFofqe26t-4
It was the limited sports available at my school that scrambled me. Winter – football or rugby, Summer – cricket or athletics. I ranged from poor to absolutely hopeless at all those.
But in the sixth form, I played a match against the staff at badminton, and took HUGE pleasure in thrashing all the PE teachers who had treated me as one of the pathetic geeks in the corner the previous five years. I had been playing since I was five, played for my university and several clubs in local leagues till I tore my elbow. One of the economics teachers beat me tho 🙂
And I blame the way English Lit was taught for how few kids read. I love books, own hundreds, have read thousands, and I despised English Lit class. What the poor sods who didn’t like books in the first place felt like, I dread to think…
My PE teacher made me hate exercise in a very different way. I hate dancing, and he routinely made us choreograph to Hansen. I distinctly remember having to shoot scrunchies into the air. It was only after this that I learned “Baptists don’t dance” and I could have claimed religious exemption.
I see that I am with my people. My father was a phys. ed. teacher…….
At least she realises her problem. Actually, I wrote a blog post about exercise and motivation the other day. Maybe she should read that?
I exercise my right to NOT exercise!
Unfortunately, like Monica, it’s given me the body of a god: Buddha. [Yes, I know that he really isn’t a god. Deal with it.]
ganesh!
i’ve the body of a goddess…the venus of willendorf. 😉
I have the body of a goddess and I’m not giving it back!
Well she is definitely getting a positive affirmation from all of this. Ans she might actually listen to her doctor about her high cholesterol. Now all that she has to do is get Tina and hit Punk Yoga a few days a week.
The issue I’m having with the whole Punk Yoga idea is the concept of Tina and Jacqui in the same room.
That much daisy and sunshine makes me think of triffids.
You’re thinking it would take the threat of a lethal poison-tipped lash to actually get Monica to exercise?
Now I want to see a storyline where Nudge changes herself into a Triffid to chase Monica…
Punk Yoga may actually have one of those in reserve.
And, we haven’t seen Jacqui in awhile. I wonder how long she’ll be able to keep oblivious of the magic cavalcade in her studio, what with all the mindfulness meditation she must practice.
Gaah. Now I’ve got the image stuck in my head of a vigorous exercise class at Punk Yoga, being led by a line-dancing trip of triffids, to the tune of the Alvin and the Chipmunks’ cover version of Devo’s “Whip It”.
I swear, that box of tea I brewed up for breakfast was labeled “Licorice Mint”. Perhaps giving up coffee is causing withdrawal symptoms?
Dave- Can I have some of that tea for the weekend? I don’t have to be too normal then and maybe I can see something weird to.
What ? seem too far-fetched ? The reluctance with which she bought a bike and the readiness to gorge herself on sweet stuff state the obvious 😉
Last night I filled in a survey that a comedy programme asked a reputable market research company to conduct. I can’t remember all the options but I said it selected “loud music”. They didn’t ask for a reason but, in my case, it means that there’s a danger of my podcasts being drowned out.
Maybe the correct question she should ask herself is:
“What is it about exercising/gyms that I don’t like?”
If she could find somewhere/somehow to address that/those negative point(s) then maybe she would find that she likes exercising?
Well, Kevin may have an idea why…
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/05122005/
I see the hidden hand of Tepoz in that particular disaster. “Pulque smash!”
The beginning — admitting you have a problem…
And, having attended my next to last live model art class just yesterday, may I congratulate you on a fine (if large) example of a normal braless breast! Superb attention to anatomy details throughout – arms/hands/shoulder position, etc, etc. The Monica model may be an exaggeration, but not by much! Salute!
True, Paul has shown the utmost care when it comes to showing realism to the large breasted community. The last thing he would want is for the readership to just think he was aiming for a mindless T&A comic. He obviously is aiming for a goal here. First with Tina and now with Monica. We just have to sit and wait for the ride to get to the next drop.
What’s the male analogue of anorexia nervosa, except, for 98 lb. weaklings? Body image problems can really mess you up and too many jock coaches may not treat it with the, ahh, delicate touch that a pschrink might…
Both men and women can have anorexia. The rate is just a bit higher among women.
And, anorexia is linked to OCD, as many psychological problems turn out to do. And that, in turn, comes from anxiety attacks that set off fight or flight instincts. Monica may be using food as her ritual, hence the term “comfort food”.
The “opposite” of anorexia is sometimes called “bigorexia”. It is when someone has the “not muscular enough” body issue. It really is the same kind of thing, but instead of not eating, the obsession is to put more muscle on.
They’re both specific forms of body dysmorphic disorder. BDD is often coupled with another mental disorder, such as agoraphobia or clinical depression, among others, and they interinfluence eachother.
Then there is the body image disorder that makes you uncomfortable with having the same look for an extended period of time. I knew someone who went from being a twig, to being ridiculously fat, to trim it to super muscular, then losing that muscle to be a twiggy “scene kid” again, within the span of 2-3 years, all on purpose, because he didn’t like the way he was shaped.
The added dimension from the shading really makes Monica pop out psuedo 3D style in panel 2. I am glad Paul decided to go back to the typed text though.
Breasts bigger, cravings for food? Is anyone thinking what I’m thinking?
We’re about to embark on a 9 month story arc?
OMG my smile can’t get any bigger than it is right now!
Those kinds of story arcs tend to last quite a bit longer than 9 months.
There’s been no reports of her holding onto the private library seat in the morning…
From experience, that would come about four months into the story arc. However, the wierd cravings would indicate we may already be in month two. 😉
It would be a very appropriate development for the new style to usher in, I’ll say that.
A new reader could begin to suspect that Mr. Taylor might, just possibly, be feeding in a plausible set of red-herring clues and hints, leading us to reasonable speculation in a direction other than the one in which he’s actually intending to go, and is planning to spring an entirely-unpredicted surprise on us within the next week or three (which would, naturally, prove to be entirely consistent in hindsight).
More experienced readers know, of course, that it’d never happen that way around here. Not even once. Ever. Even slightly. Just not possible.
I’m not even taking bets on this one 🙂
Hm, month two…
May + 7 months = December.
2012.
Yamara (later)- And on Dec ** 2012 Monicas world undergoes a ‘Polar’ shift and is never the same. Hmm . . . Could be.
Yamara, are you saying that, now that the calendar machine is shut down, Monica will explode to end the world?
Yep. Preggers. Oh boy?
Is anyone thinking what I’m thinking?
I think so! But, if Nudge is going to be the demigodmother, who’s going to be the demigodfather?
Tepoz? or maybe Kukulcan? they’re the only two male semi-deities around that we’ve heard of so far, every other male is mortal and mundane (in the “extra-special or not” sense of the word) while Deitzl IS extra-special, he unfortunately isn’t a deity… oh well…
Ok, I really am this type A.
First word balloon. “shity” should have 2 “T”s……
I suspect that Monica would try sexercise first because she doesn’t like regular exercise. However, whilst it’s better than no exercise it shouldn’t be taken as a complete solution.
I can’t remember – isn’t Bud a dance instructor? That’s also good exercise – anything that gets you moving aerobicly.
Bud doesn’t work at Punk Yoga also. does she?
Also – we crave sugars and fats because they are so good at providing calories. When we were developing into hunter/gatherers, concentrated sources of sugars and fats were relatively rare in nature. Now they’re everywhere – and our instincts are killing us.
She does her dance instructing at Punk Yoga.
Afraid not, she works at another dance studio. Joanne’s Elite or somesuch name.
If you’re right then I haven’t made as many trips through the archives as I thought I had.
Nah. Remember when Kevin came in and nobody but Bud recognised him? Also we see her giving lessons to little old ladies, who i sort of doubt would be among the clientèle at Punk Yoga.
Does anybody actually talk to themselves this much?
I do, all the time! 🙂
I’d reply–but I already told myself, so I don’t need to tell anyone else. 😀
I think there may be a circuit missing from the human brain, at least in some people, including me.
I’ve found that actually hearing the words somehow makes the thought more real and understandable, and somehow more memorable.
Perhaps the thought becomes more important if it’s heard?
I think it helps make thoughts more specific and defined, and also–especially for writers–helps make them more natural sounding and intelligible.
Authors (like me) talk to ourselves all the time. Something about talking does, indeed, help cement the thoughts, and when developing storylines it can be very useful.
Really lovin the new look:)
Dammit, take your dog for a walk twice a day, your back yard will appreciate it…
So will Dietzel, considering he’s prone to accidents if not taken walkies enough, or that there aren’t any toilets nearby so he can go by himself.
In all fairness to Dietzel, that one time may have been more that the GG’s literally scared the piss out of him. We have seen him use the bathroom at Daren’s bar when he was watching him before.
I think that’s a good idea; Dietzel can take Monica for a walk. It’s up to him whether to put a leash on her.
Is M into collars and leashes?
She seems more the harness type than collar.
Maark30- Hook it to the back of her bra, then Diezel can use the blades or a board for a change.
Because Diezel is semi-sapient, all Monica has to do is issue a non-revocable command that he see that she exercises twice a day.
WALKIES!
I had a moment like this a few years ago…I was newly 21, 6’2″, 265 lbs and got winded walking up a flight of stairs. Within a year I dropped 70 lbs, and now I’m a fully certified personal trainer from the National Personal Training Institute, and I start my professional career as one this upcoming Saturday. I wish it hadn’t gotten to a point like today’s strip, but I kinda owe my life to this kind of harsh realization.
Sounds like someone will be joining a certain punk yoga/dance studio soon…
Cardio- running and jumping jacks for example- for the large chested is a pain, uncountable and expensive when you factor in all the damn bras you go through (and that’s just the cheap shitty ones).
Yoga/palliates may be awkward/weird and frustrating but at least you are not bouncing- just bending.
I think Zumba/dance would be the work out for her- bouncy yes but it’s *not* running. There is also swimming…
Pound for pound, swimming and resistance walking (in water) are probably the best workouts ever. Do it hard or easy, your choice.
Hmm, maybe something I should look into…
Not so crazy about the new 3-D look the past few days, with the shading and highlights. I know artists like to keep moving ahead, but the old style was much cleaner and more appealing. My $0.02.
Agree.
Disagree. :p I think this is gorgeous, adds subtlety, subtracts nothing.
Some of the problem with execise programs is that they can be boring. Monica happens to know a lot of people that make their living making exercise fun. Punk Yoga should fill the bill. A Yoga class would be a very good way to jump start her execise program. For aerobics she should probably swim or bike ride or even ballroom dance. Dare I mention weight training? With the right instructor all these can be interesting and fun.
Speaking of fun and exercise, there was an advertisement on TV where a mother had her adolescent daughter running all over the house looking for the mother’s wallet so she could borrow some money from her. This is the kind of thing I imagine Nudge would do, so I colored her.
Supposedly a mom headed out on a weekend trip left a note for her teenager: “I’ve left you $100 for food and emergencies. I hid it somewhere in your room; if you clean your room you’ll find it.”
Sounds really sneaky. This is the one I was thinking of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyqSHzIy0Q8
Nice! Spiffy highlights.
I would have to say that Monica has, all of a sudden, come to an extreme sense of her own mortality. She may or may not be pregnant and the idea that her boobs might have “dropped” or sagged is not what’s really bothering her.
Some days, people can wake up and realize their time left on Earth is precious and not to be wasted.
Of course, I may be projecting my thoughts onto Monica here…
Well, damn. now I want donuts!!
It sounds like another step along the road of maturity. Starting to be concerned about the future is one definition of “the point of becoming an adult”. So is realizing that you aren’t immortal… that you will eventually die, someday.
Really feeling that That Day is going to come a lot sooner than “eventually”… and that your own actions and choices have some responsibility for that but cannot prevent it… well, that’s a pretty good definition of “midlife crisis”.
Just start simple. More walks in the park. Bench press the dog. Learn some kind of boob-centric martial art.
Besides, the more fit she makes herself, the faster and farther she can outrun whatever her friends stir up.
Shemomedjamo (Georgian)
“”Shemomedjamo” is the act of eating to the point where your body says, “OK, we did it! We’re all done now,” and then muscling through another three steaks.”
Well, Monica, are you not the lucky one who has a friend who runs/teaches Yoga, who just happens to employ another friend of yours who just happens to be a physical trainer? All you need to do is pick up the phone.
The biggest problem I’ve found with shit is that it doesn’t want to stay sorted. It requires constant maintenance to stay sorted whereas most people can at least get by just letting it do whatever.
i was going to comment on this yesterday, but i hope we don’t find out that m. is pregnant.
She should be happy, at least shes thin! I have all these same problems but with the fat to prove it!
Adding to my already noticable thought that Tina and Monica are setting up an arc for themselves and their diets, Tina and Monica seem to both have a thing for baked goodies (http://wapsisquare.com/comic/do-the-eyes/) and a noticing that they need to take better care of their bodies (http://wapsisquare.com/comic/in-layers/).
Perhaps this will lead to spending more time with Kevin so some of his healthy habits can influence her choices.
To save themselves, Tina and Monica will soon come the same conclusion:
Becky must die.
Snerk!
NowTHERE’s a plot twist!
They use their demonic and teleportation powers to gaslight her into taking the wrong meds.
But only after they frame her for poisoning the Minnesota supply of fattening pastries.
M: It’s not enough that you go down. You have to take all HFCS in the Midwest down with you.
B: But–Tina! You’re my friend! Why? Why!? You said you loved my pastries!!
T: no i said your pastries may have started the trojan war. HELEN LOST, BECKY
*chuckle*
Isn’t there a more direct and less-potentially-harmful way available?
Tina could use her demonic powers of influence to compel Becky to give up making pastries, and instead hire on as an obsessively-compulsive personal trainer and diet adviser at Punk Yoga.
Imagine the potential for nagging which would result! “OK. Drop and give me twenty! Twenty more! Twenty more! Twenty more! Twenty more! …”
You can’t poison the supply of fattyness up here. It’s in the air. I swear.
Nom nom cheese brats nom…
Yeah, I am actually witness to that. Driving north through Wisconsin for a GenCon, there were signs boasting of the state being Cheese Capital of the World right in front of some overpass that was, itself, exclusively a dining area. So there I was speeding underneath dozens of heavyset Midwesterners devouring cheese in the air above me.
People in the 22nd Century are going to read that on the descendant of the Internet Archive and go, “The hell was up with these people?”
Then they can poit onto the Enterprise, and make sure that Wesley Must Die.
Oh, well, if we’re killing off Trekverse characters, Neelix is first on the list!
Though I admit it was insightful how ST:V proved that sadism has a corner in every human heart, when that episode where Neelix had lost his lungs was on, and I simply nodded, my mind as calm as a summer lake, thinking, “Yes. Pull the plug.”
If that’s what Mona calls fat and outta shape, I WANNA BE HER!!! (she doesn’t KNOW what fat and outta shape looks like…) 😉
M said “skinny and out of shape” and she said her tummy feels “spongy”, basically no muscle tone whatsoever. 😉
I appreciate the poetry of the phrase “skinny and out of shape”, but it can be equally obscuring as it is enlightening: It looks like a problem worth having!
Monica is skinny and unfit. She’s been able to deny it because of youth and metabolism, but the tensile strength of her skin is beginning to surrender to all the clotty fat that is, after all, gathering there.
Having that much grease hanging right off of her heart is mighty sobering once she dares to think about it.
That was an explication directed at Centaur, not a corrective at the artiste. 🙂
Kind of like the movie Run Fatboy Run where he responds: I’m not FAT, I’m not FIT!
Little Mamasita, pull off that top, push those two massive mammeries aside and examine your belly through the cleavage. You are looking for a racing stripe that starts at the top of your thatch, splits at your belly button and rejoins to travel to the base of your middle ribcage (Xyphoid process of the sternum). Given your ethnicity, it should be fairly noticable. Also note the same darkening of tone around your eyes and possibly even a line down the middle of your forehead. Do you see it? Hmmmm… thought so. Now, hold one of your boobs close to an ear and wobble it a bit- do you hear sloshing noises? I see… and your body suddenly craves complex sugars and mega carbs? Uh huh… OK cupcake…. when was your last menstral cycle? Has it been more than a month? And you are sudenly very AWARE of your body, more so than normal…?
(the Old Sgt. Shakes his head and grins, walks over to the easy chair and sits down without another word)
I don’t see what the problem is here.
All M has to do is consult the Punk Yoga staff on what an appropriate level of exercise for her would be and then tell Tina to tell her to do it.
And like it.
Every day. Consistently.
For the rest of her life.
Piece of cake!
…
D’oh!
Looking forward to see how this ties in with some of the previous days presentations . Should be interesting ..
Funny the topic is exercise because as I was catching up on last couple days’ strips (was busy on my off days this time, sowwy) my first thought was how exercise basically makes our bodies respond to minor muscle damage (aka “the burn” that tells you that you did it right) by building/upgrading muscle tissue.
So Monica’s breasts are responding to “the burn” of being used TWICE as landing gear following emergency poit incidents recently by increasing the padding level. And being dragged across carpeting with her weight behind them, that’s GOTTA make the skin sag a bit even more than it usually would due to age.
The sheer mass alone is punishment on the skin trying to hold those things up. The recent abuse is probably accelerating the process.
Oh, and for the record – I am what they used to call a “tiny titty man” – I am actually into the smaller sizes, for various reasons which I won’t go into here. So anyone who might think I read this strip beacause of “fan service” or M’s breast size – wrong! You could actually say I became a fan in *spite* of her breast size. 😉
Which is a compliment to Paul’s work. Kudos.
Tonight’s not-so-random Wapsi Square link:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/a-game-of-chess/
Quote for tonight: “You can never prove that something does not exist. You can only prove that it does.”
I’m not so sure going to punk rock yoga is a good idea. Feeling bad about the shape of her body, dreading/resenting the need to exercise, placing yourself in the hands of friends instead of an impartial instructor elsewhere? It’ll either work, or blow up spectacularly.
And I hated gym, too. Teacher picked two pets, they chose teams-for everything-and always being along the last chosen, knowing no one wants you there? Jeez, they could have divided the class into two groups alphabetically! We aren’t all graceful and athletic, especially at that age.
Anyway. I like the art, just need to get used to the change!
Even if Monica is pregnant, that doesn’t invalidate her realization that she’s not in great shape. You can be skinny and have no muscle tone! But what will really be amusing if she’s pregnant? Her realizing she needs to cut back on coffee. ^_^