Regarding the Monday Fiasco:
Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts, support, and even the handful of criticisms. I appreciate it all. I’m trying to work out a plan to fix this tiredness problem so I can try to nip it in the bud. Rescheduling and reprioritizing mostly. Hopefully, you’ll see the results for yourselves.
Have a good night. zzz
Giselle, no.
This really makes me wish the teacher jumped on that right away. Preferably with a lecture on differences in languages, maybe even noting that there are languages that use clicks such as the Khoisan languages.
Ooh, have them watch The Gods Must Be Crazy!
…no, wait, that movie’s less innocent than I remember it (I recently introduced my nephews to it… had forgotten about stuff like the gal getting her dress caught in the tree).
Maybe at least some clips, though. People actually talk like that!
Alternatively, show them “Splash,” the movie where the mermaid’s voice could shatter windows and television screens. (Though that’s likely not any better for young kids than the other one. But it IS the reason that my brother Madison keeps getting mistaken for a girl… he got named right before that movie prompted the shift of “Madison” to a girls’ name, over a silly joke about how the mermaid didn’t realize it was a boys’ name. Sigh.)
Other than that, I think “Clicks” might be a decent nickname, if done less aggressively. Establishing nicknames can obviously be a way to mock and bully, but, if done differently, can be a way of bringing outsiders into the group, establishing a group identity. My brothers and I call each other things like “bonehead” and “smeghead,” mostly affectionately, and my nephew used to love being called something like “poopy diaper butt head” by an adult friend of the family, so it’s not even that they have to be NICE nicknames.
But nicknames are useful — again, if done in a more positive spirit, and/or claimed by those who the names were originally coined to mock.
The Boys’ names Girls’ names thing has been going on for a while. Somewhere in the 1950s Dana and Kimberly became girls names, same with Jordan. It is rough in the Boys who end up with names because all their mail shows up with the wrong honorific. Or worse, they show up to a super secure site to do contract work, and the professional security guards (not known for their discernment or intellect, as a group) refuse to let them in.
Im hoping that the shift toward gender tollerance will mitigate some of the name stuff. A Boy Named Sue (by uncle Shelby, sung by Johnny Cash), is a funny but somewhat mean spirited use of names.
I have an Italian friend. His name is Simone. Shannon is a male name in Ireland. Name genders are highly culture specific.
Giselle, Ffs, you gotta troll the obviously scared new girl? What kind of messed up psyche does that girl have? If the teacher doesn’t stop it, will be amusing to see if Selkie or Tek (tak? Tehk?) gets to Giselle first.
Oh, I’m guessing that Selkie’s about to step in, motivated by that annoyance over “fish-face” that she grew up with.
I wonder if anyone’s gonna point out that dolphins are one of the positive animal associations in the human world? I mean, apparently they’re kinda jerks in the real world, but everybody loves dolphin imagery, the thought of those elegant and intelligent creatures, etc.
I’m visualizing Selkie coming up behind Giselle and doing that screech she does, and Giselle pissing herself.
Giselle has shown no growth as a person. You’d think the “Truck” affair would have taught her something.
The Truck Affair taught her to dial back the hyper-aggression (if you recall, her role in that arc was basically orchestrating a week-long guerilla campaign of covert harassment, not just being snide and rude), but it didn’t make her a saint.
Ah yes, antagonize the clawed and fanged kid.. smart move.
That’s the one positive thing here, the class already treats her like they would any other kid who’s done a similiar goof.
Hah! By belittling this comparative stranger, I make myself look so cool! And not like a sullen insecure twp, at all.
“Clicks”- if it’s your nickname now, Te Fahn, own it. Nicknames won’t be uncommon amongst you Sarnothi, given the unfamiliar nature of your given names.
Don’t be a d*ck, Giselle.
I’m angry that I called this correctly.
@Dave – You make a free web comic, please try not to let yourself get stressed out over it, especially if it impacts your health. I love reading Selkie and the story you are telling here is great. I enjoy the frequent updates, you are better than the vast majority of web comic artists out there in that regard. But at the end of the day this is your passion project, not your job. Yes, its best to post on a regular schedule to maintain or even grow your audience, but the occasional missed comic is about as far from a fiasco as I can imagine 🙂 And anyone who gives you real grief over your occasional late comics deserve a visit from PANTS!!!! so there!
You’re making me imagine the “there won’t be a comic this week” notices as a giant poster of PANTS with some wording about how Pants ate this week’s comics….
David, you nailed it exactly. Very well said.
(btw.. I agree with Kilyle re the poster. That’s a great bit of mental imagery)
😀
I appreciate the concern, thank you. Frankly, nobody’s giving me grief about it but myself. Everyone’s been very kind about it.
Wouldnt that be something, if Dave could feed snarky comment posters to Pants!
But the “No Post Today” poster of Pants might be the OTP, the One True Poster. He’d be a whole lot less scary than Chthulu!
And if you need another break to build up a buffer of pages, we’ll understand. We’ll miss our morning dose of adorable fish-peoples, but we’ll survive… somehow… 😉
Seriously though, if you’re passing out at your tablet your body might be trying to tell you something. I’d much rather see you take a week or two off now than totally crash later on. Take care of yourself, man 🙂
I’m working on that, thank you. Reshuffling some priorities and trying to get a healthier evening schedule enacted.
My regard for this school and the teacher’s drops every comic. The bullying is just gross and appears to be badly unchecked. Still.
My regard for Dave’s accurate representation of too many schools however, is high!
Bullying happens in the blink of an eye when you have over 10 kids in a room, and it can be hard for some teachers to catch—though here it seems kind of obvious (you’d think if other students could hear Giselle call Te Fahn names, one of the teachers would pick up on that easily).
My daughter was bullied twice—once at a very good preschool. Kiddo got punched in the stomach by a boy. Under the watch of substitute I saw the boy take a swing at her right as the sub had her back turned to open the door for the kids. The preschool wanted to “meeting” it into the ground, but we pulled her out after I found her alone next to the school’s long driveway.
The other time was years later with a Co-Op of other parents teaching. She was a lot older—about the kids’ age in this comic. Her bully was a girl who was a year older and had been her best friend since she was 4. This was very confusing for both of us. I had never been bullied by close friends and didn’t know how common it was.
I had the option of watching the classes and saw the girl do things very carefully under the radar—often tattling in the middle of the class on my kid to embarrass her (but the teacher thought the bully was trying to be helpful). I also saw the girl shove my kid on the top of some stairs as they were coming in from the outside. I tried to speak with the teachers. Eventually I told my daughter to sit with other friends (she was good at making friends) versus her (soon to be ex) BFF since the BFF did not stop even after she asked her to several times. This resulted in the BFF having a breakdown and my daughter being blamed for being a mean girl.
I have both been bullied and also taught. I know how fast and sneaky kids can be. My concern is that as the school plus presented in this comic, the kids very obviously and freely bully. Case in point, Giselle is loud enough for the whole class to hear as judging by the laughter and selkie’s reaction. Neither teacher nor aide took any step to prevent it after her vocalization, such as saying something to reassure her or ask about sarnothi methods to make it an interesting teachable moment rather than a bullying opportunity. In the world Dave presents, just from what we can see, this is a poorly run school and classroom. You can be a nice yet ineffective teacher, sadly.
I think they’re probably gonna step in next page.
I agree with BP here. They probably will jump on it in the next strip. I think this situation is realistic (so far).
I agree with the statement about someone being a nice and ineffective teacher as well (have seen it in person). This is actually true for leadership in general. You can’t be scared of confrontation (or oblivious to it) to lead people well—especially kids who are in the process of learning to “be excellent to one another” (Bill and Ted could have wise moments 😉 ).
Yumpin’ Yimminies! people… this is one-page of an ongoing comic… give the author some time to draw the next strip will ya?
while i agree that Giselle is being a butt-head here and i hope that next strip the teachers will have heard and take matters from there, but even if that stops Giselle from doing anything like that in the future, either way, i’ll bet that Selkie will have ‘words’ with Giselle either at lunch or recess, if not after school about this…
No character growth for Giselle, but that’s real life for you. Some people mature faster than others. Some just never do (though we have no idea what Giselle’s case is). Wrangling 15-25 young people is hard as your direction can be pulled in 25 directions. Giselle is probably using a friendly tone here, too, to make it less obvious to the adults that she’s being nasty. Hopefully, Mina or Jessie jump on this quickly.
In Giselle’s defence, she is eight years old, and because of the way comic time works, if there is no time-skip, she won’t be an adult until long after your grandchildren are dead.
Emotional maturation just happens slower for fictional characters.
Oh, I totally agree with that. Mostly responding to a comment about her from above. I also approve that not every single character becomes a better (or even sympathetic) person in the comic (especially in such a short time). I do like antagonists and protagonists to be complex, but sometimes that is overdone and the story needs to move on.
I will probably be yelled at again for this but whatever…
I see a lot of comments about Giselle is terrible, or the teacher sucks.
Well we are expecting a lot from a kid, and a lot from a teacher. Of course this isn’t correct behavior but you are insane if you think that we can stomp it out so easily.
Children often respond improperly when they don’t understand something, they haven’t developed proper social response yet, and if the teacher immediately jumps on her for it, all that Giselle will learn is to do it when the teacher can’t see. Not saying nothing should happen, but sometimes you have to pick your battles.
And as for the teacher, often schools are over crowded and teachers are over worked. They are expected to be omniscient monitors of all behavior while having the patience of a saint, the wisdom of a sage, and the expertise of a licensed counselor. Cut her some slack if she isn’t perfect or she needs a little time.
Again, this isn’t an excuse, I am just pointing out that change takes time and it is so easy to just criticize. I could just as easily criticize saying if parent’s aren’t happy with the way things are then they should actually do something such as volunteering, or helping raise additional funding…. oh but I am busy… and money is tight… oh so you get an excuse but the teachers and the kids don’t? Got it.
I think she is very realistic and so are the teachers (who in IMO seem to actually be good, caring and thoughtful teachers—and I’m a picky person about such things). We can’t always bubble-wrap kids.
Oh boy. Selkie is going to rain serious retribution down on Giselle. This is not going to be pretty. It might mend some bridges with Tek, though.
Not mend bridges—create an Unholy Alliance of Sarcasm, Mischief, and Super-Villainy. This is Selkie and Tek afterall. 😉
Did you get a good night’s sleep?
Mostly, thank you for asking. Got a rude awakening at 5:30 am due to my elderly terrier’s progressive loss of bowel control, but otherwise slept fine.
Poor pupper. Poor you, too.
Dave, this may be none of my business but have you had a sleep study done? I know that before I got my CPAP machine, I would wake up feeling like death warmed over. Since I got my machine however, my day has turned completely around. I no longer am tired when I get home from work, I would usually nap for about an hour after I got home. Now, I don’t even start getting tired until around 10, which is a vast improvement. I also have more energy during the day. Just concerned for ya.
Oh, yes! So many things can hurt sleep and when it is damaged it can become a vicious cycle…plus scary things (like heart issues and cancer) can be behind it…or it can lead to them (our wonderful bodies use that time to repair muscles and our glorious nervous system). My family ended up putting the breaks on a lot of “life” to make some changes this past year for the sake of our sleep and health so what Dave says about re-prioritizing (as well as you sharing your experience). It can be a good thing. Definitely good to see a doctor to get things checked on when lack of sleep becomes a disruption. We have close friends who’s lives really turned around after sleep studies, too.
I appreciate the concern, thank you. Currently, I don’t think I am having a medical problem. My issue is more one of time management.
I’ve gotten into a shit habit of vegging out/relaxing first thing when I get home from work instead of getting to work on the drawings right away. My goal is to actively try and reduce that.
As backwards as it may sound, I feel the key to getting more rest is to work more and rest less.
Oh man, the “doing unproductive things (abnegation entertainment) just makes me more tired” effect..
…coupled with the “doing unproductive things makes it really hard to get up and moving on the productive things I need to do” effect…
…that creates the “now I have much less time than I thought I had to accomplish the same amount” effect…
…ergo stressed…
…ergo more mental desire to sit down and use abnegation…
…which just keeps the cycle going.
(I don’t know this cycle at all, what are you talking about?)
Have you tried the Pomodoro technique yet? 25 minutes’ work rewarded with 5 minutes’ rest; after four rounds of this (2 hours’ work with 20 minutes’ rest) tack on a larger break, like another 15-30 minutes. They even have YouTube videos that have some level of white noise, music, and/or binaural beats that are specced for this workflow, so you just turn it on and work until the sound change tells you to get up and take a quick break.
That Pomodoro technique sounds like a more controlled version of the ADD-addled “shiny thing” approach I already use.
I’d like to hear more about your method; maybe it’ll help me.
Pomodoro is nice because you can zone out and do your thing until the bell chimes, while part of your brain knows that the bell is only a short time away.
Where I find it less effective is that once I get started on a break piece, I most commonly end up using way more than 5 minutes. E.g. 7-minute YouTube video leads to multiple videos leads to two hours later oh yeah I was supposed to be working.
Also, social media is a horrible thing to inject into this mix, unless you have great self-control about social media, which I don’t. (The social media fasts I went on for the first week of a couple months were great — so much less stress!)
There’s another technique I’ve heard about, where you put together the Top Three things that you definitely want to get done today, and you do those before you do anything else. So you might set up the top three things you want to accomplish upon getting home from work, and either get them all done first, or at least get one out of the way before a short break, and get all three out of the way before you get on a veg-out kinda break.
It sounds cool for someone who is into being super in control. I’m much more a “do what you love/love what you do” kind of person where you just focus on a couple small things at a time you need to change.
There are some really promising websites that are free and focus for scheduling. I feel like I need to explore more of them. So for, I really like Trello—it’s a flowchart website/app. I ended up getting Fantastical as a calendar app app and use a paper scheduler I designed for work. I love having digital at my fingers, but writing actually helps our brains remember things better.
Time management was most of what it was for us—as well as “fear of missing out syndrome.” We were doing too much outside our home so we were zipping all over the place like bats on Pixie sticks. Fine when you are in your late teens/early 20s. Not a reasonable way to live through the rest of adulthood (though most people do these days). It actually impacted sleep, and that impacted health later. It’s amazing how many conditions are connected to lack of proper sleep.
Nutrition was the other big factor. We were eating out all the time or out of instant dinner boxes. That did a lot of bad things—including making sleep more difficult…and when you don’t sleep well you don’t put as much thought to how you eat and you crave bad foods more….vicious cycle. It seems obvious, but after we worked on things it seems all the more amazing how much can be tied together.
But I digress. I killed most of my social media accounts, and I make time to be home and cook healthy meals most nights a week (or plan a good crock pot meal). Those two things made the biggest difference.
…I’m starting a Te Fahn Protection Squad, if anyone wants to join.
From the looks of it, Selkie’s already two steps ahead of you.
Can I start a Te Fahn Hug Squad, because she seems to need one, too (though truthfully she seems to actually be a strong girl under that timidness).
I would also like to sign up for the Te Fahn Protection Squad. That girl is a sweetheart and she does not deserve any craps from anybody!
ugh, here we go. the teacher’s going to stamp it all out and restrict everyone’s speech, meanwhile nobody’s going to go back in time and stop people calling ME mean names, or acknowledge that forbidding the action doesn’t solve the problem..
and here I am just thinking that’s a terrible nickname. Dolphin. Dolph. Flipper. come on, get creative.
Tay Fenh is literally gonna eat gizzard LOL
How about instead of doing that second, shitty comic, maybe you just focus on your one good one and spend the extra time building up a buffer so you aren’t always fucking up?
You’ve been doing this since you started the comic and you apparently have yet to learn your lesson. Frankly, I don’t get it.
I’m just bullheaded about trying to tell both stories, I guess.
Rude/demanding people aren’t the ones you should listen to, anyway.
In case it helps, El Goonish Shive’s creator is also taking a bit of a hiatus right now — practically the same time as yours went off. Only theirs was planned and they said precisely when the story comics will start up again. You might consider making a planned yearly hiatus or something.
I feel like the difference between me and Dan Shive is that he plans ahead enough to announce his missed comics in advance, mine just sort of.. happen that way. I am planning though to do what I did last year and take a Holiday Break around Christmas New Years-ish, but I’ll formally announce that closer to when it’s relevant.
Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary): The Determinator.
Never misses an update, even that one day that his site went down. Has a firmly-established two-week (IIRC) buffer, enough that he allows it as a Patreon reward (read the strip earlier than the hoi polloi). Enjoyable cartoony style.
Tracy Butler (Lackadaisy): The Consummate Artiste.
Gorgeous artwork, the platinum standard by which other webcomic art is judged. Thorough understanding of posture, gesture, facial expressions, 3d feel of the overall body, historical setting, etc. etc. etc. Updates once in a blue moon.
Everybody else falls between these two extremes ^_^
Tracy Butler and Rich Morris (the guy who does Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic) are the two I know of who got into webcomics AFTER being established professional artists — Morris is a storyboard artist, and I think Butler has a similar position with some major studio. They’re both well worth studying on their artistic merits alone.
Every other webcomic artist I know of started off much the way you did, and flubbed their way into a project that is worthwhile enough to attract followers. They’re playing it by ear, trying to figure out what works for them; some of them figure it out quickly and well, others slowly and haltingly.
And that’s not even counting life events — Erfworld lost two separate artists (again, IIRC) to serious life events (in one case, a lost loved one), so they had long hiatuses, switched artistic styles, and eventually added text updates to flesh out the world and feel like they were doing *something*.
The creator of No Rest for the Wicked apparently was right in the middle of one of those huge tropical storms that you hear about on the news and don’t think much about from the safety of your home… and I don’t know if she’s even okay or still has functional equipment whereby to make a comic even if she had the time and energy to do so. (That was a couple years ago, but I try to think about that whenever I want to get pushy over a creator not making things as fast as I would like.)
So… lots of different artists doing things in lots of different ways, and fumbling forward like the rest of us. Being an inspiration to the rest of us, as I’ve expressed to you before.
But yeah, establishing a buffer can make a big difference in your ability to deal with little problems such as sleep deprivation without impacting the update schedule. (I say this as a YouTube creator who has tried many times to establish a buffer and failed, and finally just dropped to 1-2 vids/week instead of the 6 that I was running myself ragged just trying to keep up with.)
And I’m serious about that Pants poster. Put it together and have it ready for a time when you need to say “fuck it, I need a week wherein I don’t publish comics that whole week.” We will accept that Pants has eaten a week’s worth of comics, assuming you don’t pull that card too often ^_^
Time management / sleep deprivation seems to be an occupational hazard of webcomic producers. I think what happens is you incrementally turn yourselves into shift workers, which is never good for anybody’s metabolism. All it takes is one post where you decide after hours of work that the art is unsatisfactory or you’ve set up an unwanted plot complication down the road or whatever. Then, because webcomics are intrinsically such a sloooowww way to tell a story, and naturally you want to get the story told, you rob your sleep because you have nothing else to rob. Snowball. Hill. Rolling.
Since I’m old enough to be your grandma, I kind of want to come over to all your and your colleagues’ houses and make you drink some hot cocoa and put your jammies on and go to bed at a reasonable hour.
I had no idea Dave had a second comic. I’m going to go check it out. 🙂
You do what you need/want to do, Dave. We appreciate everything you’ve given us. You communicate with us better than most webcomic artists (not that anyone is obligated to when it’s free). Taking care of yourself should be priority.
Larry was definitely unnecessarily rude in his comment. I will say that I think it matters what you most want to get out of creating comics. Is the most important thing to you telling both stories? Great, I love making stories myself– just make sure it’s not at the expense of your health.
But also, while many have pointed out that you make a free webcomic, is it something you would like to make money from? I’m not sure how expenses balance out for you currently, but it seems like time investment currently isn’t particularly profitable. Your story telling is good, and with more time you could work on a buffer for consistency and maybe grow your art. These are things I consider when decided whether to support a webcomic artist on Patreon. Selkie is not one of the comics I currently support (limited resources), but it could be.
Obviously I’m just one person, and I don’t know how important consistency and such is when it comes to other people making pledges. I don’t know how big a factor money is for you, but I thought I’d throw that out there for your consideration.
Money isn’t… NOT a factor, if that makes sense? Financially I make enough off the comics to pay the hosting costs and pocket a little extra bill money, nothing impressive or career-making but it’s helpful.
I can understand if one opts not to contribute to the Patreon, honestly, especially with recent consistency issues. The Patreon is one of those “I’m just grateful for any help I receive” things to me.
I don’t care for that Sue and Kate comic either but Dave’s doing this for free, its’s a hobby, not a business or service, he should focus on whatever he wants and we take it or leave it.
For same reason I think it’s fine to miss a comic and not even have to apologize, we aren’t oved anything.
I had no idea Sue and Kathryn was updating again. Neat.
Yep, it’s still going on. Close to wrapping up a “two-parter episode”. (an arc that went longer than planned, in other words. I blame Soleil).
Thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten about S & K, read it until about two years ago, then stopped reading to let it build up a backlog again, and forgot about it.
B better not be starting shit with our sweet Tea Fahn. Get her Selkie!
Te Fahn sweetie, you are epic. I mean look how long your braid is. Giselle would have to cut off one of hers and tie it to the end of hers to compete. You also can speak two languages, which is more than most people in the country.
Realistically though that would never happen. Take it from someone who was bullied all through elementary-high school. Teachers are completely blind as to what is going on right under their noses… or they don’t give a crap.
I’m not bitter. I’ve learned from my bullying days. Compassion and kindness for others. How to stand up for myself. Not to take it all so damned seriously. I wouldn’t be who I am today without those days.
But yeah.. teachers don’t stick up for their students and they don’t teach lessons about diversity and inclusion. Maybe they are incorporating more of that these days though.. who knows. I hope so.