Strip 501 is blue.
Coincidence? Or sly reference to blue jeans? No, pajama jeans! It’s a conspiracy, I tell you, all encoded in the numbers for those not too blind to see it!
I’m actually happier knowing that Sarah really wasn’t all that different her freshmen year. I really couldn’t see her as someone like Joyce until she was hit with some real life drama.
alright at this point we are ENTIRELY at “hey, my former friends hate me because i got THE PERSON WHO INTRODUCED ME TO THEM kicked out of school” and there is frankly no way that sarah could not have known what was going to happen. she had REASONS for going “I should alienate everyone i know”, yes, but she still made that choice.
Given the flashback thus far, I get the feeling that Raidah would actually give the exact same “side of the story”. Now the next few strips may be different, but.. yeah.
So far she hasn’t seemed all that bad. I’m waiting for the big twist that will either justify Sarah jacking her in the face or maybe the reveal that Sarah is just a psychopath. Which is also cool and would explain why she’s comfortable whomping on people with a baseball bat.
Personally I think the Sarah whomp has less to do with justification or anything that was even happening in the room at the moment and more to do with the fact that Raidah’s been antagonizing Sarah for months at the point of the incident.
Everybody’s got a breaking point. Even the tamest and best-trained dog will eventually snap at you if you just keep going long enough.
Though there were probably also some irrational fears about Raidah coming to take away the only friend left on campus. Remember that she’s been actively warding people away from associating with Sarah. At first it sounded like that was an incidental part of the general antagonism but after the last encounter it looks like that’s actually an explicit goal of hers.
Your amazing ability to only look at a single strip and generalize it to all of the time period the other poster was talking about totally demolished his/her argument and proved the superiority of your reasoning skills.
Well she puts so much effort into being likable, I can’t see how people react to her the way they do. I mean, she’s judgmental and seems to ENJOY the fact she can suck the fun out of anything. BFF qualities right there.
I don’t hate Malaya. She might not be my favorite character but she makes sense in her own way. This doesn’t mean I’d want to be friends with her, though.
Man…and this is her side of the story? I’d find it so refreshing if the reveal involved Sarah actually being in the wrong here. Maybe then she could lighten up on the whole bongoy killjoy misanthrope thing. I consider this unlikely since Raidah’s crew were recently shown being absolutely horrendous people…but it would be a nice twist.
There’s nothing wrong with being a bongoy killjoy misanthrope – especially since that in this context seems to mean “I’d rather study than do drugs and hang out with people.”
The thing I find interesting about this storyline so far is that Sarah found out about the drugs on day one, and did not promptly report it. That suggests that she is not a narc by nature, but will instead have to be driven to that point. I see two real ways for that to occur:
1) She comes to believe that the presence of unreported drugs in her room is suddenly a pressing threat to her – more than it was the day previously, that is.
or 2) For reasons unrelated to her own well-being she decides that Dana is too annoying to live with and needs expulsion – moreso than she did the day previously, that is.
or 3) she reveals it by total accident, or something?
Dunno about you, but to me Sarah is not the bad guy in scenario 1. Scenario 2 or 3, she might be. It remains to be see what actually plays out.
But she’s generally written as being “bitter and jaded” in all areas of life, not just in this context. That’s the issue here. I would think most people recognize that that’s not a good way to go through life. It limits the relationships you can have with others and it prevents most people from wanting to deal with a thorny exterior to reach the quality-person beneath (and I think most of us can agree that Sarah is a generally good person). This is even more important in the professional world where personality plays a strong role in hiring practices when choosing among otherwise similar candidates (and in law, there are a lot of incredibly academically-inclined people, so it would help if she could differentiate in another way).
True, it’s good that she hasn’t reported it yet (on the other hand, she has no verification of the marijuana in that box so I don’t think we’ve come to the point where she can definitively report it without investigating on her own). I still think it wouldn’t have hurt to approach Dana in a more nuanced way. I don’t smoke, but I don’t hate people outright for those choices when they don’t affect me. Sarah started disliking Dana and her group of friends the second it was implied that Dana smoked. That kind of immediate judgment seems a bit…much.
Just my opinion. I know there are those who feel the possibility of smoking marijuana is reason enough to write someone off, so I won’t challenge those personal values. I just disagree with it.
” I would think most people recognize that that’s not a good way to go through life. It limits the relationships you can have with others and it prevents most people from wanting to deal with a thorny exterior to reach the quality-person beneath”
Surely you must understand that this is precisely the goal. Misanthropy. Hatred of people. Neatly coincides with the desire to limit your relationships with others. The desire to ward off people who might otherwise be inclined to get to know you better.
You don’t normally have to give people a sales pitch for how they could benefit from hanging out with you. This is something you do with people that would not otherwise be inclined to socialize in this manner.
Well, I’d have to refer to the end of my comment for that. I simply disagree with the lifestyle of misanthropes and disagree with the notion that there’s nothing at all wrong with living that way. I have to say, I’ve never met or known a successful attorney that was so closed off to people (especially in an occupation where reputation goes a very long way). I feel it’s at least worth feigning civility since she’s otherwise extremely driven toward being successful. She can become a misanthrope later in life, but it strikes me as a serious hindrance as she establishes herself.
But again, those are just my views. I get that she might be doing this all purposefully, but I still disagree with it.
That much at least is certainly true. It’s not conducive to the completion of certain goals of hers. I just don’t see how showing her to be the wrong party in this altercation would lead to her deciding to ditch the generalized ill-will towards her fellow being. Being wrong doesn’t mean she suddenly thinks people are awesome.
Oh, I thought Joyce might question Sarah’s response and recommend easing up if it turns out she were in the wrong. Sarah does cherish Joyce’s friendship, so she might consider a new approach at her recommendation. Not to mention Joyce is one example that there are good people (by Sarah’s definition) out there.
But it could go any way. Honestly, looking at the next strip, I’m afraid they’ll do something horrible and validate Sarah’s misanthropic lifestyle. It’d be realistic, but I’d find it a truly unfortunate circumstance.
Ah, well that at least makes sense. Sorry for jumping the gun there.
That is a bit of a question. Certainly she seems to feel that Joyce is “one of the good ones” or at the very least she enjoys Joyce’s company and finds her more tolerable than most people. Even a misanthrope is generally still human and thus a social creature by nature, so she does still have needs as far as that goes. With the shopping trip she did display at least a little bit of a willingness to work outside her normal behavior and mix with the world a little bit for her. It’s really a question of exactly how far she’d be willing to go in order to maintain this relationship. Or for that matter how much she’s willing to trust after how things ended with the last person to coax her out of her little box of comfort.
Stoners are very rarely depicted as jerks. Dana is most probably just trying to be nice, and will get kicked out because, despite her niceness, the use of marijuana for recreation is illegal in this country.
Hmmm…Was there ever a pre-DoA Raidah? I’m curious.
Y’know since DoA Sarah seems to share the trait of using her Career-First Misanthrope persona as a defense mechanism for being a two-bit sour grape with an inability to deal with her own continuously poor life choices with her previous counterpart, I want to see if there was a previous Raidah and what similarities, if any, to this one she may have had.
I think Dana is really sincere here about wanting to be friends with Sarah, although it could also be because she wants to get Sarah on her side so she’d be less likely to narc on her.
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PHWEE 501 WOO
It’s the 500th Anniversary of strip #1!
Stripperversary.
Sarah avatar is hilarious.
501 YAAAYYYYY
You know, if you wanted to make #500 and #501 a special one, you could make it double the regular size. Just an idea I had.
Maybe he’s saving it for #1000 or something. It’ll be a five tier style strip featuring Amazi-Girl’s epic battle with Ruth.
Strip 501 is blue.
Coincidence? Or sly reference to blue jeans? No, pajama jeans! It’s a conspiracy, I tell you, all encoded in the numbers for those not too blind to see it!
I… am always liking Sarah more.
Sounds like someones’s lonely and withdrawn.
Hey, finally found one.
Yes someone else. I’ll get as far away as I can!
501! Break it down tonite!
Doesn’t a party require food?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oF1PflFwWk
Ah, Sarah. Honest even about yourself.
And I’m waiting fro Strip #509.
509.
509.
I’m waiting for Strip #80085
I’m waiting for strip #9001 so I can yell out “IT’S OVER 9000!”
People still do that?
Yes.
It’s become soooooooo lame that it’s gone full circle and become funny again.
If lame is funny now, does that mean ’80s sitcoms are watchable again??!!!
1969 Spiderman is considered the rarest of comedy jewels.
And they think it’s funny?
Less funny more “what you’re supposed to do”
So, it’s like commenting “First”? Gotcha.
Not quite, Willis doesn’t delete OVER 9000 post the way he deletes FIRST posts.
@Plasma: He deletes those differently?
Of course! Just like yelling “YES! YES!” everytime you beat some using M.Bison.
I have Street Fighters 1, 2, 2 gold, 3 and the Gem Fighter mix.
🙂
And saying “Show me your moves” whenever someone mentions Captain Falcon.
WHOA
I feel like I’m 13 again.
One of my high school students never stopped. He will go out of his way on a math problem to make sure something is OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAND.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiMHTK15Pik/
Just felt like posting it.
And on that day, in late January, 2047, I will shave my avatar’s head so I can yell out “WHAT? 9000?!? THERE’S NO WAY THAT CAN BE RIGHT!”
This is the moment where I fall in love with Sarah.
Sarah is awesome
MONDO STUPENDO
Sarah is like a less likable Hermione her freshman year.
I dunno. Hermione was pretty damn insufferable in the first book. She got better, though.
“We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled.”
I thought that was adorable and hilarious. Of course, I know someone like that in real life and he’s pretty insufferable.
“Oh~ I got a 99.9%! I failed!”
Actual quote. I am not kidding.
I care about my grades, but that’s an OCD.
B-But it’s .01% less than the best.
.01%!!!!
I care! 501 is my favorite number!
WE ALL CARE! DON’T YOU WORRY YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD!
You called me?
And we missed this supposed Carl Ass!? Have you no understanding for what the fans want!?
I don’t want to see Carl’s ass or any guy’s bare ass for that matter, not after last time.
Speak for yourself. Man-ass is rarely really sexy.
But it’d generate a lot of funny ass-jokes.
Funny ass ass jokes
Might’ve just generated some silly ass ass jokes, so I say we cracked even.
Apparently, Willis has NOT contracted butt-itis. Otherwise, he couldn’t resist showing it.
In other topics, I wonder where Carl is now.
Butt-itis is made up…
Butts disease, however, is increadibly real.
SOVERYREAL. -serious face-
I read that to rhyme with slobbery real.
I thought you were talking about ‘slobbery zeal’.
He understands, all right. Understands enough to withhold for a future flashback!
oooh, you should put a countdown for 1000!
I’m actually happier knowing that Sarah really wasn’t all that different her freshmen year. I really couldn’t see her as someone like Joyce until she was hit with some real life drama.
*Misanthrope.
And I don’t just know that through self-diagnosis! 🙂
I’m glad I’m not the only one to notice that.
Also bongoy Killjoy Misanthrope sounds like a great death metal band.
And Lonely Withdrawn sounds like the most depressing band ever…
Perfect for the emo crowd!
The name too much implies potential whining. Very unfitting for a death metal band in my opinion.
Ach verdammt, I wasn’t fast enough. My comment was an answer to NCP19.
that’s the whole point, they are being ironic.
But seriously Sara…you’re not even givin’ em a chance.
Also I have a feeling Billie isn’t being given any reasons to not start following this crew.
I’m pretty sure Sarah would give no fucks if Billie joined them…her only fear is that she’d pull Joyce in with her.
The flashback will end and Billie will have already taken off.
Taken off what?
That was my first thought as well.
WHOA NOW
hahahah
alright at this point we are ENTIRELY at “hey, my former friends hate me because i got THE PERSON WHO INTRODUCED ME TO THEM kicked out of school” and there is frankly no way that sarah could not have known what was going to happen. she had REASONS for going “I should alienate everyone i know”, yes, but she still made that choice.
Said reasons most likely being “I don’t want to get expelled and go to jail now.”
That’s my theory – we’ll see how it actually plays out.
I vote that a pretty good reason.
Sarah is the worst at networking. Seriously, learn how to do a little bit of bullshitting and shit-grinning.
Those are some useful skills when it comes to job interviews.
I can’t bullshit. Not out of any moral objection, but because I lack the skill.
I can, but not the practical job interview bullshitting, the smart ass kind.
I am currently employed at a job that pays money. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
They have jobs that pay you in MONEY?? What will they think of next?
Maybe bread that comes pre-sliced!
Yup, that was the greatest thing since whatever was the greatest thing was before sliced bread.
money… I’ve heard of that…
Hey, PM, do you have a belly-button?
Why do you ask? 😛
Is that what you press every time you get tired of your gravatar? Boop! Boop! Boop!
I avoid touching my bellybutton, I feel slightly queezy whenever it is touched.
I can put my bellybutton inside out!
Okay now I feel queasy with no touching involved at all.
*Hehheh*
BOOP! 😀
It takes a lotta shit to be respected.
Sounds like Mr. Willis is singing the 501 blues…
Wow. Imagine how much we’d hate Sarah if we were getting Raidah’s side of the story.
Given the flashback thus far, I get the feeling that Raidah would actually give the exact same “side of the story”. Now the next few strips may be different, but.. yeah.
Let’s check the thermostat, I could swear the temperature in the room dropped 10 degrees.
Is that why I had the sudden urge to put on a jacket just now?
Stay true to yourself Sarah, you’re all you’ve got. Looks like they are trying in their own ‘networking’ way to reach out to her.
Sounds like Sarah’s been watching How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.
…I care…
Is it just me or does Raidah seem like a semi decent person once in a while?
So far she hasn’t seemed all that bad. I’m waiting for the big twist that will either justify Sarah jacking her in the face or maybe the reveal that Sarah is just a psychopath. Which is also cool and would explain why she’s comfortable whomping on people with a baseball bat.
Personally I think the Sarah whomp has less to do with justification or anything that was even happening in the room at the moment and more to do with the fact that Raidah’s been antagonizing Sarah for months at the point of the incident.
Everybody’s got a breaking point. Even the tamest and best-trained dog will eventually snap at you if you just keep going long enough.
Though there were probably also some irrational fears about Raidah coming to take away the only friend left on campus. Remember that she’s been actively warding people away from associating with Sarah. At first it sounded like that was an incidental part of the general antagonism but after the last encounter it looks like that’s actually an explicit goal of hers.
Yes, this comic clearly shows rampant antagonization.
The antagonization started *after* Sarah got Dana expelled. My running theory is that this strip takes place prior to that time.
Your amazing ability to only look at a single strip and generalize it to all of the time period the other poster was talking about totally demolished his/her argument and proved the superiority of your reasoning skills.
Totally.
Have you considered a career in talk radio?
Sarah jacking her in the…
oh, nevermind
As a member of the 501st Legion, I’m excited about it!
Amusingly, the Questionable Content link to DoA reads Dave Willis is a Jerkface.
I propose all Sal, all the time, to celebrate the next 500 strips.
Well she puts so much effort into being likable, I can’t see how people react to her the way they do. I mean, she’s judgmental and seems to ENJOY the fact she can suck the fun out of anything. BFF qualities right there.
And yet, people tend to love Sarah and hate Malaya.
I don’t hate Malaya. She might not be my favorite character but she makes sense in her own way. This doesn’t mean I’d want to be friends with her, though.
Man…and this is her side of the story? I’d find it so refreshing if the reveal involved Sarah actually being in the wrong here. Maybe then she could lighten up on the whole bongoy killjoy misanthrope thing. I consider this unlikely since Raidah’s crew were recently shown being absolutely horrendous people…but it would be a nice twist.
There’s nothing wrong with being a bongoy killjoy misanthrope – especially since that in this context seems to mean “I’d rather study than do drugs and hang out with people.”
The thing I find interesting about this storyline so far is that Sarah found out about the drugs on day one, and did not promptly report it. That suggests that she is not a narc by nature, but will instead have to be driven to that point. I see two real ways for that to occur:
1) She comes to believe that the presence of unreported drugs in her room is suddenly a pressing threat to her – more than it was the day previously, that is.
or 2) For reasons unrelated to her own well-being she decides that Dana is too annoying to live with and needs expulsion – moreso than she did the day previously, that is.
or 3) she reveals it by total accident, or something?
Dunno about you, but to me Sarah is not the bad guy in scenario 1. Scenario 2 or 3, she might be. It remains to be see what actually plays out.
But she’s generally written as being “bitter and jaded” in all areas of life, not just in this context. That’s the issue here. I would think most people recognize that that’s not a good way to go through life. It limits the relationships you can have with others and it prevents most people from wanting to deal with a thorny exterior to reach the quality-person beneath (and I think most of us can agree that Sarah is a generally good person). This is even more important in the professional world where personality plays a strong role in hiring practices when choosing among otherwise similar candidates (and in law, there are a lot of incredibly academically-inclined people, so it would help if she could differentiate in another way).
True, it’s good that she hasn’t reported it yet (on the other hand, she has no verification of the marijuana in that box so I don’t think we’ve come to the point where she can definitively report it without investigating on her own). I still think it wouldn’t have hurt to approach Dana in a more nuanced way. I don’t smoke, but I don’t hate people outright for those choices when they don’t affect me. Sarah started disliking Dana and her group of friends the second it was implied that Dana smoked. That kind of immediate judgment seems a bit…much.
Just my opinion. I know there are those who feel the possibility of smoking marijuana is reason enough to write someone off, so I won’t challenge those personal values. I just disagree with it.
See, this is where some people lose me.
” I would think most people recognize that that’s not a good way to go through life. It limits the relationships you can have with others and it prevents most people from wanting to deal with a thorny exterior to reach the quality-person beneath”
Surely you must understand that this is precisely the goal. Misanthropy. Hatred of people. Neatly coincides with the desire to limit your relationships with others. The desire to ward off people who might otherwise be inclined to get to know you better.
You don’t normally have to give people a sales pitch for how they could benefit from hanging out with you. This is something you do with people that would not otherwise be inclined to socialize in this manner.
Well, I’d have to refer to the end of my comment for that. I simply disagree with the lifestyle of misanthropes and disagree with the notion that there’s nothing at all wrong with living that way. I have to say, I’ve never met or known a successful attorney that was so closed off to people (especially in an occupation where reputation goes a very long way). I feel it’s at least worth feigning civility since she’s otherwise extremely driven toward being successful. She can become a misanthrope later in life, but it strikes me as a serious hindrance as she establishes herself.
But again, those are just my views. I get that she might be doing this all purposefully, but I still disagree with it.
That much at least is certainly true. It’s not conducive to the completion of certain goals of hers. I just don’t see how showing her to be the wrong party in this altercation would lead to her deciding to ditch the generalized ill-will towards her fellow being. Being wrong doesn’t mean she suddenly thinks people are awesome.
Oh, I thought Joyce might question Sarah’s response and recommend easing up if it turns out she were in the wrong. Sarah does cherish Joyce’s friendship, so she might consider a new approach at her recommendation. Not to mention Joyce is one example that there are good people (by Sarah’s definition) out there.
But it could go any way. Honestly, looking at the next strip, I’m afraid they’ll do something horrible and validate Sarah’s misanthropic lifestyle. It’d be realistic, but I’d find it a truly unfortunate circumstance.
Ah, well that at least makes sense. Sorry for jumping the gun there.
That is a bit of a question. Certainly she seems to feel that Joyce is “one of the good ones” or at the very least she enjoys Joyce’s company and finds her more tolerable than most people. Even a misanthrope is generally still human and thus a social creature by nature, so she does still have needs as far as that goes. With the shopping trip she did display at least a little bit of a willingness to work outside her normal behavior and mix with the world a little bit for her. It’s really a question of exactly how far she’d be willing to go in order to maintain this relationship. Or for that matter how much she’s willing to trust after how things ended with the last person to coax her out of her little box of comfort.
It would be kind of funny if Sarah finished the story, and then went, “you know, now that I’m retelling it, I guess maybe I was in the wrong. Whoops!”
Stoners are very rarely depicted as jerks. Dana is most probably just trying to be nice, and will get kicked out because, despite her niceness, the use of marijuana for recreation is illegal in this country.
Unfriendly self-described “bongoy killjoy misanthrope” versus pothead rich daddy’s girls. Is there still time to vote for rocks fall, everyone dies?
Hmmm…Was there ever a pre-DoA Raidah? I’m curious.
Y’know since DoA Sarah seems to share the trait of using her Career-First Misanthrope persona as a defense mechanism for being a two-bit sour grape with an inability to deal with her own continuously poor life choices with her previous counterpart, I want to see if there was a previous Raidah and what similarities, if any, to this one she may have had.
Raidah is a new character.
It seems that Carl forgot to hang up the sock.
Well, he did use the sock . . .
Hey, my name is Shanice pronounce shawn-ees!
I want to know what Dana is hiding under the hair that’s covering half her face. I keep imagining Doctor Blight’s deformed face.
I think Dana is really sincere here about wanting to be friends with Sarah, although it could also be because she wants to get Sarah on her side so she’d be less likely to narc on her.
Raidah lacks glasses here, I see.