Mommy Rules 2015-04-07

[shadowinthelight]

I was wondering about Kath Rocking the fangs too... did they just manifest?

She has always been portrayed as having less than ideal looking teeth. They are drawn rather pointy right now but not elongated like the other characters who actually have fangs.

[Opus the Poet]

And we can see from those links that Atsali was a "big" B back then before going to the 34L in this link http://wapsisquare.com/comic/grounded-and-smart/ (And I don't even want to think about cups that go to "L")

[KnightDelight]

So is this Ninhursag invocation thing just an expression or is there a real force behind it? In the Wapsiverse one never knows for sure but I tend to believe it is real with real consequences. Does it give otherwise weak humans amped up power over their paranormal children, or is it up to some other enforcer to provide the muscle should Kath call upon it? Like the laws for demons. They don't do anything as such. They have to be enforced by the sphinxes to mean anything. Maybe aunt Bud would suddenly poit or vorp in with a towel around her and a hair dryer in her hand, summoned by some paranormal clearing house; she being to be the MAD (Mother's Authority Defender) on call at that moment. Of course Kath isn't quite a normal average human either. She's a true chimera so who knows how that all might work.

[Sgt. Howard]

Compare this to the first time we saw this woman...
2003-09-19... how do you create the link?

You follow her story... and grant Paul the authorial right to add some back-story as he goes along.

I think it was mostly laid out in flashback form, during the Big Adventure... that Kath was rather "normal" (to use a loaded word) in her younger years... an as-social-as-expected grad student who (if I recall correctly) had served in the military for a while. She went into a reclusive phase (which is where we first saw her back in ought-three) after she barely escaped being slaughtered along with the rest of the anthropology team on a dig somewhere in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea.

Looking back on it now, it's almost as if she was in a fugue state during those years... hiding from herself and from the world, as a way of hiding from what happened to her friends. In effect, a really bad cast of PTSD.

I think Paul showed us the precise moments at which she decided she was no longer willing to exist as a "nothing", and that she really wanted to live again, and the point at which she took back her own power and took charge of the situation (and her own life) again.

My impression is that she's making up for a bunch of lost/wasted/aimless years.

... uh... actually... this old phart of a Luddite was asking "How does a computer inept individual as myself create a blue lettered link that allows others to left click on said link and obtain instant passage to something that the aforementioned individual thought interesting/pertinent/whatever?"

[shadowinthelight]

... uh... actually... this old phart of a Luddite was asking "How does a computer inept individual as myself create a blue lettered link that allows others to left click on said link and obtain instant passage to something that the aforementioned individual thought interesting/pertinent/whatever?"

For example when Dave wrote

no longer willing to exist as a "nothing"

he did so with the following code

Code: Select all

[url=http://wapsisquare.com/comic/another-day/]no longer willing to exist as a "nothing"[/url]

[Gyrrakavian]

My mother used to invoke that power as well. Its how a 5'1 110 lb woman could make a 6'2 220 lb GI quake in his shoes

Grandma Nickel from Transformers: MTMTE has that power over the frikkin' D.J.D. and they're basically the Decepticon equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition*!

*Key differences being that 1) their stated cause is their actual cause (the Inquisition was more about politics, power, and wealth), 2) the DJD are anti-religious, 3) they're robots.

[oldmanmickey]

... uh... actually... this old phart of a Luddite was asking "How does a computer inept individual as myself create a blue lettered link that allows others to left click on said link and obtain instant passage to something that the aforementioned individual thought interesting/pertinent/whatever?"

For example when Dave wrote

no longer willing to exist as a "nothing"

he did so with the following code

Code: Select all

[url=http://wapsisquare.com/comic/another-day/]no longer willing to exist as a "nothing"[/url]

psst, hey Sarge maybe this will help. do a quote,then just copy and past the part around what it says. then delete, copy and paste your link in it.

[illiad]

what I usually do is 'select' the text you want to change into a link, then click the 'URL' button above.. This will put the 'url' code around it.. it does not add the '=' for me though.. and then you can insert your web address..

[captnq]

Well, not to be sexist, but this is clearly a Dad problem, not a Mom problem.

Moms are great for sympathy and understanding.
Dad is who you go to when you want a solution.

Drives my wife nuts when she's freaking out. "The health insurance is requesting insane things again!" or "At the shelter a cat with cancer died" then she gets pissed when I don't start wailing and pulling out my hair, lamenting the horrors of life.

It's not that it doesn't bother me. It's that I cannot change or influence the outcome in any fashion that will improve the situation. If I cannot fix it, then I accept it and move onto what I can change.

If Atsali wants something fixed, she needs to talk to a problem solver.

[Akeche]

Well, not to be sexist, but this is clearly a Dad problem, not a Mom problem.

Moms are great for sympathy and understanding.
Dad is who you go to when you want a solution.

Drives my wife nuts when she's freaking out. "The health insurance is requesting insane things again!" or "At the shelter a cat with cancer died" then she gets pissed when I don't start wailing and pulling out my hair, lamenting the horrors of life.

It's not that it doesn't bother me. It's that I cannot change or influence the outcome in any fashion that will improve the situation. If I cannot fix it, then I accept it and move onto what I can change.

If Atsali wants something fixed, she needs to talk to a problem solver.

So....

Aunt Shelly?

[Vitrbjorn]

Well, not to be sexist, but this is clearly a Dad problem, not a Mom problem.

Moms are great for sympathy and understanding.
Dad is who you go to when you want a solution.

Drives my wife nuts when she's freaking out. "The health insurance is requesting insane things again!" or "At the shelter a cat with cancer died" then she gets pissed when I don't start wailing and pulling out my hair, lamenting the horrors of life.

It's not that it doesn't bother me. It's that I cannot change or influence the outcome in any fashion that will improve the situation. If I cannot fix it, then I accept it and move onto what I can change.

If Atsali wants something fixed, she needs to talk to a problem solver.

So....

Aunt Shelly?

No, Phix.

[zachariah]

I cannot blame Atsali for losing her cool, though it's also good that Katherine acted as she did to help silence her.

But The next words out of Kathy's mouth needs to be an apology. An apology for literally regurgitating the exact same bullshit everyone keeps telling the poor girl whenever she asks for advice or help on the matter. She knows that having a great set of knockers doesn't make her sexual outright, she knows it isn't right for people to treat her differently because of this. She knows because she is a combination of paranormal creatures which literally have their lore focused around sexing people up(and eating them/sucking out their soul).

Katherine needs to apologize, and then just admit she has no fucking clue what to tell her. A parent can't have all the answers, and sometimes it's better to just outright say that. Especially when your child is well into their teenaged years and dealing with hormonal issues. They do not want to be essentially baby talked.

You have it backwards. Sali needs to apologize to Kathy! Sali did a really bad job of explaining and then lost her tempter with Kathy for not understanding. Basically Sali pitched a fit because she heard a standard line from Kathy because that is what she lead Kathy to think was going on. WHat does a parent do when their child pitches a fit, they calm them down. Sometimes you have to grab them and pin them to do that. You don't hurt them but you do have to show them you are the boss. Now Sali in angry siren form and trying to to recreate the blackboard scene from Jaws needs more than being grabbed by the shoulders and held still. SO Kathy tackled her and spoke in Mom mode.
Where Sali went wrong was not saying, "Mom the pool is making me wear full body covering to swim because on of the parents screamed at them I was exposing too much skin when I wasn't. How do I deal with this?" Instead she said http://wapsisquare.com/comic/just-a-kid/. Now where in this does she explain about the pool incident she is asking for help with? Nowhere! Everything she says leads back to her prior worry about how the change in her appearance makes kids in school look at her and judge her.

[Sidhekin]

Actually, when you want a solution, you state the specific, solvable problem. Just ask anyone who ever did tech support …

"People are writing me off as something sexual"? That's not a solvable problem, sweetie. You can't, in general, make choices for other people: People will continue to write you off as something sexual.

When there is no solution, sympathy sure beats apathy.

[scantrontb]

Ninkhursag: the great mother goddess; worshipped also as Aruru and Mama and Nintu

Also Roger Ramius Chang McClintock's squeeze.

or the the Armageddon Inheritance series by David Weber... though he spelled it Ninhursag there.

[Atomic]

Ahem:

• "Don't let other peoples limitations become your constraints."

Several things are going on of course, none the least of which is Atsali had "Poof! Boobs!" for puberty, and she may still be dealing with the entire Dying Civilization In Her Mind thing by suppressing it. So, a few options here.

First, some self-acceptance. Yes, she's changed greatly, but with purpose. Keeping in mind the rather lax clothing rules at the Library (thinking of M meeting Euryale), it would be useful to visit and observe the variety of body forms. Normal covers a huge range, and studying both Siren and Succubus body types would provide a lot of perspective.

Second, with the above in mind, she has to understand she can never control the world -- you have to deal with it as it is. Hence, the motto. Yes, she can use her Siren powers to co-opt or redirect someone at that particular moment, but doing so misses the point. Somebody else's life rules need not necessarily become hers. The Mermaid girls snark-fest is an example. She overcame that simply by being her normal, kindly self. Just keep in mind there are a-holes out there and it's simply not her job to fix them or cower to them.

Right now she's having the typical (bog-standard, really...) "Nobody Understands Me!" reaction to her particular issue du jour. Of course nobody has exactly her issues (M perhaps on the boob front), but learning that other people have similar or parallel issues can let her learn and understand that she's 1. OK as she is, and 2. Not obliged to take crap from others.

Happy to see Atsali actually asking for guidance instead of sulking, and good for Kath for putting her Mommy Foot down!

Growing pains all around, but -- Growing!

[Aleister Crow]

Are we going to meet Ninhursag? And does she work as a councilor for parents of paranormal children?

[Nimrod]

That is about the worst thing old spider eyes could have done...
So much for parenting classes...

Looks like Kath needs to grow up more than her associated "daughter".

[AnotherFairportfan]

Also Roger Ramius Chang McClintock's squeeze.

or the the Armageddon Inheritance series by David Weber... though he spelled it Ninhursag there.

By a strange coincidence, my name is Mike Weber and i have a younger brother named David and a friend named Toni Weisskopf, publisher at Baen Books.

That said, i have never managed to get through those books; Roger McClintock is from the "March" books he collaborated with John Ringo on.

[AnotherFairportfan]

That is about the worst thing old spider eyes could have done...
So much for parenting classes...

Looks like Kath needs to grow up more than her associated "daughter".

This is about the least reasonable reaction to this comic you could have had.

[Reani]

That is about the worst thing old spider eyes could have done...
So much for parenting classes...

Looks like Kath needs to grow up more than her associated "daughter".

Okay, I've been lurking. And I have to say that I agree that Kath didn't react to this in the same way. She's new to parenting and even experienced parents who've had their kids since they were babies are not perfect, Kath has been thrown a teenage child at a very volatile point in the kid's life. It reminds me of Hiro's aunt in Big Hero 6. "Should I have read a parenting manual? Probably!"

But I am going to say something very important. Very Very important. DO NOT PUT QUOTATIONS AROUND "DAUGHTER". Sali is Katherine's daughter. End. of. Story. No quotations, no doubts, no questions. Just because Katherine didn't pop her out doesn't mean she's not her mother. Because Katherine is TRYING. She may not be perfect but she is trying as much as any parent does. And you do NOT invalidate an adopted family's relationship. EVER. They are family. Kath, Pickle and Sali are a family. Even when Pickle is a brat. Even when Sali is irrational and violent (like in this case). Even when Kath makes a bad move (again, in this case). They are a family. They are as valid as any other family who birthed their children. Putting quotations marks around "daughter" or "mother" or "sister" or "father" is incredibly damaging and wrong. Don't do it.