Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for October 22, 2015

You’re safe. LOL

Nothing. Just nothing.

Poll: Anyone here like Harry Potter??

We can hold out hope for 3 or 4 AM. Even if they just sit together and sort it out.

`What would be really good is tp make Piro an Asexual. We are under represented, and even when we are, it is usually mis representation. There was a whole House episode whose message was that we do not exist! This is Asexual Awareness Week. What an opportunity!

I still say, the best ending of this arc is for Bernice to emerge from her room the next morning, all dressed and ready to ‘counsel’ Piro. And there would be no Piro. Just an empty couch with a pillow and blanket.

I was wondering if he was wondering if I was wondering if …..

What is interesting to me is the parallel episode in Luann Againn. Derek ran a redlight and almost got the two of them killed because, he said, he saw the redlight but was too doped up to understand what it meant.

Piro has been shown to drink himself into a stupor (although we don’t know why; I suspect he’s ‘self-medicating’, as a lot of those with mental health issues do).

Meanwhile, as he sleeps (this time, without benefit of drugs), Bernice agonizes over a non-relationship…

@Peanuts511. Yes.

New poll up: Is Bernice a fuddy-duddy?

Do you know anyone like Piro?1) 32 votes – Yes.2) 24 votes – No.3) 13 votes – Other.4) 11 votes – No, and I never want to.5) 5 votes – I AM PiroOther: Too depressing; I used to be Piro, then I started making more $; He wasn’t like Piro but he mooched off everybody and now he’s a billionaire; so far; still figuring him out – keep him at arms reach; We don’t know him; Yes, and he ended in prison, where he had a home at last; No, but I once did; I’m not sure … It’s possible I tried to forget him… and succeeded; I wish!; No but I would like to…; I’ve dated men like him, not for long though. They have no ambition or goals; Used to. Now either avoid them or help them find their purpose; I did; Maybe the question should be “Does anyone like Piro?”My brother-in-law was just like that. Finally he found an elderly couple who treated him like a loving son who still needed loving parents.

Piro’s star is only on one side.

can’t really sleep, can you, Bernice, with Piro on your mind, huh?

Now ladies, take a lesson from this. Far too often you OVER-THINK things! While you’re busy in your head trying to imagine what we’re thinking of you, we’re actually thinking about something else entirely. Like cars or something.

@WoodEye: Yes, and it’s the left side.

I don’t think we know much about Piro yet. I’ve seen nothing to convince me that he isn’t a student. He does seem to need a place to sleep rather a lot, but the simplest explanation for that is that he was unlucky in his assigned roommate.

Anything after that seems to me to be pure speculation.

I don’t think Bernice necessarily has “feelings” for Piro, she’s just struggling with the situation she just let herself be put in — and wait till she figures out that everybody is going to know that Piro spent the night “with” her.

Wimmin! Whaddyawantfromem???? Two ways to try to understand them, and neither one works. Meh!!!

Bernice is in unfamiliar territory where she does not feel in control.

A man was walking on a deserted beach when he found a bottle with a cork in it. When he took out the cork a Gin came out. the Gin said " Today I will grant you any wish you desire." The man thought and said " I’ve always wanted to drive my car to Hawaii. Build me a bridge whith every thing I need. To do so." Immeditately the Gin began to complain about the material and effort it would take. The man thought and said “never mind the bridge, I want to understand women.” The Gin responded " How many lanes do you want on your bridge."

Team Luann nailed it with this one – totally got into a Bernice’s head.

Bernice may lie awake all night worrying over her half-fantasies of Piro. Meanwhile, he is getting a good night’s sleep.Is there some irony here?

Yes, we do get a fair bit of biological waste from people about our orientation.

He’s dreaming about Clara Bow. Which is perfectly understandable.

Again what dorm room has a separate bed room and a living room? None I’ve ever been in.

Plus my dorm room had much thinner walls than that – if you catch my drift.

The only smart thing that ran through Her mind was the first one, and yes, Bernice, you should lock the door.

What will people say when they walk out of the room together in the morning?

Bernice! What do you think Piro might “want?”

you can be a student and not have housing. some schools require freshmen to stay on campus. i’m not sure if the converse is true. I don’t know which class Piro is but say he’s a Junior and not staying in the dorm. He could have an apartment but have gotten kicked out or evicted. Maybe all the money he has he uses it to pay tuition. Just saying there are possibilities.

Silly comments about sexual stereotypes. When I was a freshman, had I put up a semi-vagrant female in the next room, I would have similar thoughts to those of Bernice, except for the locking the door part.

Oh good grief Bernice, let it go! Everyone enjoy the day in your Luanniverse!

You miss my point. Men are lucky not to have to “lock the door”, and Bernice would be prudent to keep her door locked. I was talking about the inner dialog of sexual nervousness.

-Saturday, Piro has gone before Bern peeks out from hers. Thus endeth the tale.

I really hope you’re right, and I hope that ends this whole ‘Piro and Bernice’ bit. There is no there there…

-we are hard wired to be problem solvers.when you bring us your problems, we expect to have to come up with a solution.If you don’t want that, and just want to voice stuff, find another female’s shoulder to cry on. Don’t expect us to go against thousands of years of evolution

I didn’t think you were so narrow minded. Women are trained from the time they are little kids that they are not successful unless they are ‘pleasing their guy’. So if the guy seems moody or silent, the woman is taught that this is her fault and she has to do something to ‘fix’ it.

When you teach a kid this kind of world view, they look at the whole universe as a bunch of relationships, and constantly recalibrate what they have to do to ‘make him happy’.

The post by Ralph Davis, above, is one of the best examples of what results from this way of bringing up little girls and little boys.

This isn’t the result of EVOLUTION. It’s the result of upbringing…

We do not know he was drunk in prior episodes. He could have been real sleepy..We do not know what was in the bags. Or do we?

Piro is on a couch in the next room. Nice to see some of her private thoughts.

“Deathly Hallows Part 2, instead of that travesty of a re-write that Yates made.”Yeah, the final duel between Harry and Voldemort was brilliant in the book, and dreadful in the film. I am surprised that Rowling did not object.

live2read is right. Listen for once.

“Bernice apparently has two beds (…)”

One’s a couch.

Bernice and Gunther are so right for each other. Just pair them off already and have them stop bothering other people.

She’d sleep better if she turned off the light.

When you wonder what the world thinks of you, it usually doesn’t.

I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.

I think Bernice is not so much worried about rape—or she WOULD have thrown him out or locked her door—as fantasizing about seduction. And I don’t think she was guilt tripped, particularly; she is a kind person.

She doesn’t “know” him in the personal sense, but she knows of him as he hangs out with her roomate and others on the floor.

[gasp]Maybe Sheriff accidentally painted over Piro’s star when he colorized the strip?!?!?!

Great arc.. so many emotions and issues at play. Piro’s needs are just so basic and fundamental.. a roof over his head, food to eat, a real friend and then once all that is in place some focus in life… the romance…?… …if there is any, it will come later if at all. Hopefully Bernice will recognize the order of prlorities. She’s very smart and logical but obviously ‘human’ too.. and these things may be out the window for now..

I erased by accident because it looked like the comment posted twice.. so I put it back…..

Ralph Davis, couldn’t get reply to work, but I wanted to let you know your pictorial was Excellent!

I think Piro is a student. Bernice doesn’t say, “I know you don’t go to this school,” just “You’re not a dorm resident.” Not all students are. He’s probably an upper-classman and shares an apartment with his “buddy” who kicked him out to have sex with his girlfriend.

9I really appreciate the differences here. Bernice is reflective. Piro feels the value of resting. Compare and contrast their needs, wants, desires. Very, very well done, today!!!<br|>I agree with you Dave… this is a way to show Bernice reflecting more about herself and her behavior. I do like Piro, however, and hope he remains a character for the long term.

So it’s supposed to be a joke about how women worry while men are oblivious? That’s too cliche.

Why would he want you?- You’ve been nice to him.- He can use you & your naivite- He might be a sociopath who just likes to hurt.*When in doubt, lock your door. That’s a message both for Bern and for our young friends.

I hope that Piro is NOT a war veteran with PTSD. It would be (IMO) too melodramatic and PSA-like, and “Very Special Episode” like to remain an enjoyable arc. I hope that Piro turns out to be pretty much an average college student who may have misspent some of his loan money and is trying to scrape by as best as he can until he gets some more loans.

For those who thought Piro was drunk or overmedicated by drugs last year at the first party i.e when Bernice spotted him behind the couch on the floor, I am beginning to think that he was just in need of a place to sleep. This arc will hopefully reveal the answers to all our questions, in time.

Implausible…. I am sorry… I did not mean to suggest you were insulting Greg about the missing Piro star. I was just trying to be silly. I thought I might be able to coax Sheriff into chiming in about the missing star with my suggestion that he painted over it. I really was just trying to be silly.

Oh what a dear! Bernie thinks Piro is all adrenaline rushed like she is, hahaha.

A modern era where we live with men who are STILL stuck in the 19th century mentally.

Ummm. . . When we talk to you, we don’t want you to fix things. If you want to fix things, become a mechanic.

Hi Ralph Davis, re_"Her Diary v His Diary"_ That is brilliantly funny, hilarious, and so true :D It’s such a pain when the reply button doesn’t work, they need to fix that glitch :P

“we are hard wired to be problem solvers.”

That comes in really handy sometimes ;P

-we must fix things. It’s how we fundamentally interact with the world.

The following comment is NOT meant to be a political commentary.

Buckaroo Dave3’s comment just clicked a switch in my head. I am suddenly beginning to understand the minds of armchair quarterbacks in Congress, who want to solve all international problems by sending our next generation overseas to be ‘boots on the ground’ ….

-Bernice falls for some strange types

But I don’t think we’re supposed to draw that conclusion. She says herself that she doesn’t want him to want her. If she was attracted to him, then wouldn’t she hope for that?

I think this is all about her trying to figure out her future as a counselor…

Wow…

“..If she was attracted to him, then wouldn’t she hope for that?..”-—————————————————————————————“…She’s trying to convince herself she’s not interested. The last panel proves she failed…”-———————————————————————————

I agree w/ the 2nd, also given that she was checking out her appearance in the mirror.. Bern’s mind is meandering and racing a bit. So much of the unexpected in her life has happened in just a few hours. She is attracted but trying to tell herself not to be…sort of like when she was reading off all these rules (to Piro) and then bending them… telling him she didn’t like movies then finding herself engrossed in one with him. It’s all about inner conflict. I am worried (…good grief… why should anyone be worried about the plot of a comic strip?….) that tomorrow might bring a scene where she wakes up and finds Piro gone. There are only two days left. Arcs generally don’t last for three weeks before temporary suspension.

.

yeah… and that’s what women are hard wired to do…… a knee jerk thing

Well, well… something is there after all – the Freudian slip was exactly that.

Someone suggested yesterday that he may be a homeless war vet. I know not all vets have PTSD, but my experience with war vets who wind up homeless, he is sleeping very well for that to be the case. Either way, I think he’s going to have to explain this some time soon. And I still think this is a good avenue to deal with some of the more serious issues. And for those who are offended by the notion of a gay character. Being gay doesn’t make you a walking, talking, living, breathing, sex act. It just means that while some are crushing on one gender you are on another. We’re still gay, even when we’re not having sex.

Or at least tell us that you’re not looking for a solution.

I’d venture to say that silent soliloquies like this validate Karen Evans’ participation in the process of creating this comic strip. The thoughts of a teenage girl evolving into womanhood on display.

@ArgyThree. Berneice & Piro both seem trapped in their own world. Piro especially doesn’t come off like a happy camper. The gravity in this situation is they could both help each other a lot … If only …

In the drawing, Greg forgot the star that’s shaved into the left side of his head.And in answer to Bernice’s question, Piro is thinking “Zzzzzzzzz…”