Almost bedtime, but here’s the Monday 3/29/2021 comic. Sorry for the lateness. Lot of stuff went wrong today.
I bought a new house a couple weeks ago and have been getting it prepped for move-in. LOTS OF ROOM FOR THINGS TO GO WRONG. :laughing:
↓ Transcript
TODD: Oh LORD, I know who told you.
ANDI: Look, Todd, I can explain...
TODD: I thought Nathaniel said he’d keep it to himself.
ANDI: The transitioning guy? I mean YEAH. Yep. Good ol’ Songbird Nate.
TODD: Look I’m uh.. gonna take Selkie home.
ANDI: Woah, wait up. Todd, I’m sorry if I did something..
TODD: No, you didn’t. It’s just... The Mina thing was not a decision I’m particularly proud of.
ANDI: Look, Todd, I can explain...
TODD: I thought Nathaniel said he’d keep it to himself.
ANDI: The transitioning guy? I mean YEAH. Yep. Good ol’ Songbird Nate.
TODD: Look I’m uh.. gonna take Selkie home.
ANDI: Woah, wait up. Todd, I’m sorry if I did something..
TODD: No, you didn’t. It’s just... The Mina thing was not a decision I’m particularly proud of.
Today's comic was hand-inked instead of digital because it was a DAY. ugh.
Congrats on the new house!
If you need to take some time off to deal with the move in, then you should do so.
My husband and I are actually closing on a house in three weeks. We’ve been living with his parents since September of last year in order to save for the down payment. Having a place of your own, be it an apartment or a house, is always really, really nice.
I can almost taste the sweet scent of freedom and feel the return of my sanity.
This isn’t something I think I’ve discussed outside of the Selkie Discord server, but I’ve been living with my parents since… well, since shortly before I started Selkie. For at least the entirety of the comic’s run so far. At first while I was returning to school, and then because I couldn’t afford Student Loan repayments plus rent/mortgage at the same time. Finally got the Loan debt paid off last year, and super excited to carve out my own space for sure. Dedicated art studio for one…
Yesssssss, dedicated art spaces are a must. There’s a small upstairs bonus room that will be getting turned into my sewing and computer room. Also, it’s a little funny. I’ve been following this comic since Selkie was only a few pages long and we happen to be getting houses around the same time.
I hope your “things that go wrong” are all easily and cheaply remedied. My brother just bought a house not too long ago and discovered a mouse problem. No big deal. It’s an old house, winter in New England, yadda yards. He gets the exterminators in and finds out it’s a bigger infestation than they thought. Bigger as in they ended up needing to remove ALL the insulation in the attic and replace it to find the nests. After gassing it and pulling the insulation they found more than 300 mouse corpses. This is after disposing of several dozen others in the weeks leading up to the big clean out.
On a positive note though the new insulation should pay for itself in a few years by virtue of how much he’ll save on heating and cooling costs.
That’s fine Dave. I moved back in with my Mom a few years ago because she’s starting to get older. We keep each other company and it works out fine.
Nothing wrong with living at home. Congrats on the house though.
Hooboy, yeah. Bought a house and moved in about two months ago. There are still boxes everywhere.
“The transitioning guy” feels like a really weird thing to call a person.
It does. I’m guessing Andi had no idea what the proper terminology for a trans person was and tried to be the least offensive as possible and it just came out super awkward.
Speaking as a transmasc guy that really really made me cringe. I mean, at least she got the guy part, but summing up an entire erson by their transition is…gross.
I actually agree, honestly. But (1) I feel like it’s in character for Andi to “get it wrong” in that sense, and (B) I had a lowkey secondary objective with that dialogue choice of confirming in-canon that Nathaniel is trans. The reason for this is that the comments on the pages Nathaniel briefly appeared before were… not great about the subject. Lot of misgendering, lot of bickering, lot of body criticism (“Why isn’t he using a binder?”). It made the most sense that Todd would think of Nathaniel as the source of the blab, and I wanted to take the opportunity to cement his status somewhere that wasn’t an external source like the blog or the comments.
I’m wondering in what sense you see Andi as “getting it wrong” here– just in not knowing the language? Because as for your second point, “the trans guy” or “the transgender guy” would be a more standard way to say that (and, imo, a clearer way of getting at what you were trying to do).
In the sense that I, personally at least, feel like identifying someone by a status such as orientation or race instead of by individual uniquenesses is a bit rude. Andi could have just as easily said “the guy with the bad haircut?” and it would have had the same effect.
Okay, then yeah, Andi is “getting it wrong” in multiple ways, here.
Also, AU where Andi’s dialogue here refers to Nathaniel shifting from opaque to transparent depending on how bright it is, like transitional lenses.
I don’t really see the problem. People identify others by what they can see. “That little girl over there.” “WHICH ONE, THE BLUE GIRL, THE BLONDE GIRL, THE BLACK GIRL, OR THE REDHEAD?”
So if someone were to mention Amanda, I can see the one they’re talking to easily say, “That feisty little red headed girl?”
If Wilt Chamberlain was standing in the middle of a group of five and a half foot tall white guys, he would easily be pointed out as, “that tall black guy over there”.
It’s what people do.
I foresee an awkward conversation with Nathaniel in the future
We are NOT fooled Andi, you are grabbing at straws, and breaking your trust with Todd, ….AGAIN! Shheeesh, just tell him the truth , always.
she didn’t “sum up an entire person by his transition.” It’s a descriptor, just like saying “the guy in the yellow hat” or “the guy with braces.”
It’s not saying that’s all he is, but rather that’s the thing they know about him.
I can see where they’re coming from, honestly. It describes Nathaniel by isolating differences other than highlighting personal attributes. Andi could have easily said, for example, “the guy with the really bad haircut?”
“Transitioning” is just not the word you use there, and I do think it comes off a little gross in that it shows Andi’s ignorance. It’s also just seems weird. Like describing him as “the guy gaining weight” or something.
Grats on the house Dave. Just an offer to keep in the back of your mind if you need it (hopefully you wont) but I am pretty handy and do all my own renovations and repair on my place. If you have questions or issues, I may be able to give you some pointers or point you in the right direction to get it took care of.
On a side note, you will really be a homeowner the first time you find yourself patrolling… hee hee.
Can someone link me to a comic that introduces Nathaniel? I don’t remember which character that is.
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie569/
Very brief appearance.
As a homeowner I have some advice. Something is ALWAYS broken or in need of repair. Have money put aside to handle this.
Get a set of basic hand tools if you don’t have them already. (A socket set, wrench set, hammer, screwdriver set, a couple different kinds of pliers and a drill + bits) Most hand tools have a lifetime warranty these days, so buy the cheapest ones you can and if they break, go get new ones for free. The only exception is if you decide to buy a torque wrench. In that case, get the best one you can afford because the cheap ones are usually really inaccurate and break often.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to the “Dad, How Do I” Youtube channel. It’s a guy who grew up without a dad, showing other people how to do basic home stuff.
I’ll have to check out that channel, thanks! I’ve already learned that I’m bad at cabinet painting. XD
!!
Congrats! *clap clap clap clap clap*
Take a time off from selkie and use it to relax instead! This is a big event in your life, take the time to process it!
As a 4th grade teacher, I feel it’s appropriate to note that it would never be seen as that weird for a parent and teacher to hook up. It happens all the time.
It *would* however be very weird for an unrelated PTA parent to get involved in any sense. That’s been bothering me for years. Just wanted to say that Nate has no business whatsoever involving themselves with who Todd chooses to make the moves on.
If admin has a problem with it, it’ll be handled, but PTA is *not* admin.
Looks as good as ever.
(And since I see a lot of comments on it, I didn’t even know who Nathaniel was and assumed he was someone helping the Sarnothi kids transition into their new school etc. :\ )
Todd needs to ease up on himself. Selkies teacher was flirting with him, she was outside of school with him. Maybe they both made a mistake but he’s too hard on himself.
Congratulations on your new house Mr. Dave!!
Did we ever meet Nate?
Gonna go out on a limb and guess that it was Jessie who told her. The “Nate did it” is clearly phrased like an excuse (especially since she had to briefly remember who Nate _was_, implying they haven’t interacted much). It makes sense that she would know about that, and it would also be in character for her to inadvertently let information like that slip out (she’s done it in the past). Honestly, both she and Andi have an unfortunate tendency to not always think before they speak.