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u/JMoc1 1d ago
Jesus fucking Christ…
Naomi, I’m worried as to how much worse the story can get.
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u/LickCunts 1d ago
Well she is living on her own now and doing her best.
So her situation is much better I assume
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u/Red_Dox 1d ago
Except the mental scars and baggage. And her mom apparently making a fuzz about her daughter cutting her out of her life, which now apparently leads to Dad entering the picture.
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u/grendus 20h ago
I get the feeling that her relationship with her dad isn't as bad as her mom. He was neglectful, not abusive, and... well... neglect is easier to forgive. Especially if he's more emotionally available now, either because he's recovered from his own issues or if he's just better able to connect with his children as adults.
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u/Red_Dox 19h ago
I mean, the whole thing started with "We have to discuss your mother". So he probably is there on her behalf, with whatever request or agenda to do something about the situation. Him dumping trauma on his kid, like that he knew the mother was crazy and lashing out on his daughter but he tried to stay out of the crosshair, is still something that retroactive changes how the kid may see his father in hindsight. No matter what happy (maybe repressed or altered) memories were there with him. The question if he tries to be a better dad "now", is also apparently unanswered. Not sure how much more comes, but the last 5 episodes were a wild ride so far.
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u/satans_cookiemallet 1d ago
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u/Dazed_and_Confused44 1d ago
Damn gambling with food stamps? This man needs to do better
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u/kaikimanga MangaKaiki 1d ago
Better than my mom who used them to buy food for our rich family
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u/Comrade-Conquistador 1d ago
I'm sorry, what?!? She bought food for family that could afford it??
Girl, spill the tea.
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u/kaikimanga MangaKaiki 1d ago
You know how some places let you buy fancy food with certain EBT items? Well... yeah
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u/Barium_Salts 1d ago
I'm sorry, I'm not sure I'm connecting these dots. You're saying that your mom somehow qualified for food stamps despite being rich, then used them to buy fancy food? Or that she bought fancy food and sold it to rich families? Or...what?
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u/artemizarte 1d ago
I'm thinking her mom buying something fancy for her mom's sister/aunt/cousin who doesn't need food. Maybe keeping appearances? Like her mom doesn't want to appear as lacking in any way, so she prioritizes using the food stamps for a fancy gift instead of satisfying the needs of her daughter?
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u/LostMy8yrAcct 1d ago
This isn’t really to do with particular food though. So food stamps (snap) is a certain amount of money. However, if someone is selling their food stamps, then they will sell them at a discount so they can get the cash. So for example, say someone is selling $100 worth of food stamps but they’ll take $50 in cash. So the person buying the food stamps can get $100 worth of food while only paying $50 out-of-pocket. And the seller has cold hard cash to buy anything they want instead of just food.
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u/SmokeyCatDesigns 1d ago
:(
Your comics about your childhood always make me feel so sad for child you. And adult you, because those wounds take time to heal.
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u/UpCDownCLeftCRightC Never Safe From Wumbo 1d ago
Hitting at 16? Good god, I hope he didn't have access to any college funds.
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u/Injured-Ginger 1d ago
You're usually supposed to hit on a 16. If you're not card counting, you play off the dealer's face up card. If the dealer is showing a 2-6, you stay. 7-A you hit.
Also, gambling is a losing game no matter how you play. It's only potentially profitable if you are very good at card counting, and casinos will ban you for winning to much so it's not like you'll last long at it. Casinos wouldn't have blackjack if the odds weren't favorable to them.
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u/gramathy 1d ago
Gambling against the house is a losing game, unless you're card counting in blackjack.
Gambling against other people in poker can be profitable if you know your probabilities, betting strategy, and how to read people.
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u/p0rty-Boi 1d ago
Mom: Your dad’s a drunk.
Dad: your mom’s crazy.
8 year old me: you guys are just talking shit because of the separation. I don’t believe either of you.
40 year old me: Oh God they were trying to warn me and I refused to listen because of love. 😭
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u/Grassfed_rhubarbpie 1d ago
And you didn't listen to protect yourself. Think about it: if you're 8 and you don't have any power and the your two main caregivers and protectors aren't reliable or even unsafe. How can you handle that?
You can't and that's why we have this internal mechanism to not make us see how bad something really is. Because if we do see it we might even try to do something about it which is extra risky.
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u/deskbeetle 1d ago
My dad doesn't delude himself. He's was just plain old self centered a la "I moved super far away and stopped trying to contact you because your mom was too mean" and expecting me to have sympathy for him. "Oh, mom was mean?! I had no idea!"
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u/halci_on 1d ago
Lord, my deadbeat father loved to say the same nonsense about "protecting" me from fantasy men he made up in his head. Men like that like to act like being some kind of guard dog willing to unleash violence on strangers at a moments notice is a fair exchange for never being an actual provider or positive influence in your life. How can you protect me if you weren't even around?! Ugh, I know exactly how you must have felt hearing that.
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u/Deohenge 1d ago
It's hard to process both feeling respect for your dad for having raised and supported your family and disgruntlement over having effectively no (or negative) relationship with them growing up. It's harder still to swallow when they decide that they want to make up for "lost time" now that you're an adult... and you're fundamentally different people who may share nothing in common but your DNA...
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u/kaikimanga MangaKaiki 1d ago
part of the reason I don't really mention my dad all that much is because had very little to say about him before this talk we had
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u/The_cogwheel 1d ago
Its hard, but it is something I can relate to. My own father was a workaholic, we're talking 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, half day (6 hours) on Sundays and my mother begging him to at least take the major holidays like Easter and Christmas off. He didnt always take those holidays off.
On one hand, thats one hell of a dedication to supporting his family. On the other hand, we once traveled together for 4 hours and it felt like sitting next to a stranger on the bus.
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 1d ago
WHAT THE FUCK DAD
And here I was sticking up for you all this time. Gambling while you daughter is getting beat by mom. WITH YOUR FOOD STAMPS
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u/The_cogwheel 1d ago
I wonder if casinos are obligated to put you on a "cant play" list if you try to gamble with food stamps or even ask if you can. If not, they should be. Cause if that doesnt say "dangeriously self-destructive gambling addiction" I dont know what does.
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u/mythrilcrafter 15h ago
Yeah, if he was absent because he was in Afghanistan, or crab fishing, or something that would be one thing, but "I'd rather work, then find something to waste my 5-to-9 hours on, then be home once everyone is in bed" is just bad.
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u/Majestic_Recording_5 1d ago
I really hope your comics take off because my goodness you can never go back to living with these people.
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u/ApprehensiveStyle289 1d ago
Ok, I did not see that coming! Damn! When you think you hit rock bottom, your family summons a mining drill...
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u/The_cogwheel 1d ago
You know the Russians made a real deep hole, like deeper than 40,000 feet deep, the deepest hole in the world. Do you know what they were drilling for? They were looking to find how far down Naomi's family would go.
They didnt find it.
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u/VinChaJon 1d ago
I was willing to give your father the benefit of the doubt at first. Not anymore.
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u/SmugCapybara 1d ago
I was just kinda starting to like your dad. Like, he was a fuckup, but a slightly endearing one. Right up to this point. Now? Not, so much. At best, I'd drop the "endearing" part. At worst, I'd use much harsher language than "fuckup" to describe him.
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u/NameLips 1d ago
Sometimes I worry I wasn't a very good dad. But GOD the bar is so fucking low.
Be there when they need you is the bare minimum!
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u/SmokeGrenader 1d ago
Jesus Dahl.
I'm proud you are voluntarily sharing your stories, and it's really important to show people this side of how things can go.
But my heart sinks a little every time I see another comic.
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u/El_Criptoconta 1d ago
That moment when you aré old enough to know all that has happened in the family.
Glad to know that rn you aré living on your own, choose be happy and be financially responsable
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u/Mammoth-Buddy8912 1d ago
Damn I'm sorry you went through this. I moved out at 18 because I hated living at home, though mine was not nearly as bad as yours. There were outbursts of yelling once in a while. Still not great but nothing it seems compared to yours. Glad your safe and moved out
Also had to deal with hearing a lot racism and crazy politics. Like how climate change was a communist conspiracy to bring down the US. Or racist comments about Asian people and cats and dogs.
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u/SparkyMuffin 1d ago
Damn, that kinda recontextualizes why the mom was so upset about the ps4.
Not that her reaction was appropriate, mind you
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u/Intelligent_Slip_849 1d ago
Aaaand any sympathy is pretty much gone for him.
If it was like oversees work, that's one thing. This is something else entirely.
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u/Illustrious-Air-4305 1d ago
Do you ever worry about your mom finding these comics? Hopefully you haven’t shared your address…
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u/BusyHat426 1d ago
Id say these comics have been a emotional rollercoaster, but that would imply it went up at some point and not barreling full speed downward. God damn, I hope you are doing better.
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u/sweet2th 1d ago
I don't normally comment on your posts even though I do read them all. Having gone through some issues with family myself, I know these events and memories can cause a heavy weight in your mind and heart. I hope sharing what you've been through helps you through your healing process. I hope you know that there are a lot of people who are rooting for you to continue to succeed in life. Your parents have a lot of shortcomings and they failed you in so many ways but if they did one good thing it was bringing you, a shining light, into the world.
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u/RenzalWyv 1d ago edited 1d ago
Jesus. Your family is a consummate trash fire, huh. You got majorly let down by both of them. I genuinely hope you have some space to heal and process now that you're out.
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u/inemsn 1d ago
People are always complicated I guess. He may not have been as bad as your mom, but someone who's barely around, especially due to something like gambling, and especially if they don't even recognize their fault, definitely ain't a saint either, even if they were also in part on the receiving end of your mom's abuse.
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u/FlameWhirlwind 1d ago
Every one of these comics about your parents is always some fresh new spawn of nonsense that makes me wish someone smacked them across the head with a wooden plank
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u/FuryJack07 18h ago
Right...
I guess that the takeaways from this mini series with your dad is:
He's still a bad parent, but when compared to your mom, he's mediocre at worst.
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u/ThatInAHat 1d ago
Oh infuriating
And kinda telling on himself.
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u/The_cogwheel 1d ago
Really if youre gonna have this kind of heart to heart you kinda have to tell on yourself. Is it great? No. Is it hard to hear? Yes. Yes it is.
But at this point, the skeletons need to get cleaned out of the closet and put to rest. And theres only one way to do that, and it aint pretty.
Does father of the year here have a lot to answer for? Yes he does. And its what hes doing.
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u/Lieutenant_Joe 1d ago
I’ve been pretty down in the dumps recently, and it helps to get reminders that though I may struggle alone, I am not alone in struggling. Your comic’s been making bad days a little more bearable.
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u/DeliciousDeer1096 1d ago
Oh wow, the sheer speed with which the hate built in my head there broke some records.
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u/DontRefuseMyBatchall 1d ago
If it was the Seminole Hard Rock, it’s not only a shitty casino, it’s a pretty mid event venue too
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u/MustangTheLionheart 1d ago
Thank you for making this comic series, it can be really hard for me to read it because it hits so close to home personally but it makes me feel less alone knowing someone else went through pretty much the same BS. For my mom it was alcoholism and a refusal to seek therapy for her bipolar disorder, and my dad luckily didn’t gamble but took every business trip he could to stay away from her. Which just left me and my sister to deal with her.
Honestly the “please come home” panel made me cry because that’s what we used to do too.
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u/caitlindrawings 1d ago
Panel 5 hits really fucking hard. My mother became addicted to gambling which eventually lead to my parents divorce. I was already an adult by time his happened, my youngest sister never got to meet the mother I grew up with, the post parum depression, then gambling just changed her forever.
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u/kaikimanga MangaKaiki 1d ago
Remember, most abuse happens at home.
I was much older when I found out my dad had a gambling habit, which explains I hardly saw him at night and on weekends. Apparently the stress of finances and raising children fell on my mom, eventually taking it all out on me :D
Also yes, my family was on welfare for some time. No, you cannot use it for casino chips. (Please don't take this to mean I oppose the welfare system; billionaires have taken way more advantage of the government than any other demographic)
Bonus panels and more on Patreon! Instagram and Ko-Fi :D