So, yeah, I’ll be back as soon as I can! Stay tuned and all that.

The quotations refer to a website I went to to see who was selling these things and where the profits go. Turns out, the website I visited sells a lot of the popular ones you see all over the place, and the profit, from what I could tell, goes directly to them. Not churches, not the military, but to a bunch of people who want to profit off others’ car patriotism.

Some of their magnets were tagged with the suggestion to “remind others” of X idea that you could state proudly on your car via one of these obnoxious magnets. That was the last straw.

This rant was really hard to write. I found myself disgusted with the general sentiment of these things (the unspoken suggestion that to be a good person, you have to be the right kind of Christian; to support the troops, you have to support the war) because these magnets tend to be displayed by a certain kind of person with a certain ideology. I really really tried not to rant about those things, because they are subjective and personal and that’s not what I’m trying to do here. But even so, it is a terrible way to express an entire ideology. Ribbon magnets are tacky, no matter what they support, and that’s the bottom line.

Next up: rubber awareness bracelets that pull the hair off your arm.

I’ll do this all the time. I’ll wander into some specialty store and they will have all these Christmas items or Halloween stuff or whatever, and I will be confused, thinking it’s really X month and aren’t they a little early? Except that “X month” is always, in my head, five months off from the actual month it really is. So…more confusion.

Sometimes I think the Christmas stuff is showing up really late instead of early. Like, isn’t it April? Kinda missed the boat there didn’t we? Oh, wait, it’s August.

Before I get any emails:

1. Yes, I know that you, the waiter, are only following protocol and would probably get reprimanded if you didn’t do this automatically. I’m not ranting at you.
2. “Why not just ask that they not put one in?” WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO?!

I remember back when you had to ask for lemons. Now it’s just compulsory! Why accommodate only half of peoples’ preferences? (Ok, I’m just guessing. Is it some overwhelming majority that prefers it this way or something?)

Anyway: I had a much longer rant planned for today but due to life events chose to publish this one for today instead. That’s something I’m planning on having a lot more of around here for the next month or two: life events. Updates should stay regular but they might be a bit late like this one was. I’ll let you know if I need to take some time off, as I’m planning on moving house soon!

Argh!

If you missed the comic this is in response to, click back a page.

Anyway, this one’s a wee bit late, but better late than never! It, um…got lost in the mail.

I wouldn’t want to give the impression that I’m a regular reader of this strip. But when I do read the newspaper comics, I swear to God, this stupid comic always makes this stupid joke.

GET A DIVORCE ALREADY AND MOVE ON TO SOMETHING FUNNY.

The idea is that you, the reader, are able to support your favorite participating blogs or webcomics by kachingling them when you see the icon. You sign up with the site and pay 5 dollars a month which is then distributed amongst the pages you kachingled that month, meaning all your favorite blogs get a share of the 5 dollars you spend depending on how often you view them. It’s a neat little system and one I thought I’d try out.

You’re always free to donate of course, but this system helps to streamline the process, especially if you have a lot of blogs/comics you’d like to donate to. Now you don’t have to pick which one! So, it’d be awesome if you want to sign up (the icon in the sidebar will take you to the sign up page) and do this. Or, if you’re already signed up, please kachingle me and anyone else you like who is participating! I really appreciate it!

That’s supposed to be ice wind in the second panel….I wanted there to be snow to exaggerate my point but figured the wind was enough.

I’m not really ranting about the beaches here–I love them. In fact, by the time you see this I’ll be at the beach! (Yes, that’s right, if you are reading this months or even years after the original post date, I will be at the beach when you read it.) I’ll just remember to bring my parka!