The difference is he’s skipping this class because he has it figured out, vs skipping his math class because he can’t handle failing.
Doesn’t really make it better. It’s just not an issue with his grades in this case.
I think “don’t skip class” is a lot like “don’t do drugs”: good advice for some people generally; but ignoring said rules can be fun in moderation- skip classes because the bare minimum is a great way to achieve maximum happiness in areas you care about; smoke pot because it makes jeff sessions roll in whatever grave he sleeps in at night
I think it’s a little more complicated than that. Skipping and potentially failing classes is more serious than smoking pot. Depending on what Walky’s majoring in if anything, his math class could be a prerequisite for something else, or for instance classes cost money so he could also be blowing the funds his parents spent on tuition. (I’m assuming that. It’s even worse if he has any scholarships). Sarah doesn’t spend all her time studying because she wants to. A lot of factors that make skipping class in general a bad idea.
I think the analogy is that skipping the classes where you’ve already got things figured out is like smoking pot, skipping the classes where you’re already struggling is like smoking crack.
Smoking pot can potentially be far more serious than skipping classes. Almost entirely due to legal consequences.
Skipping classes can be a problem, but it’s not too directly linked to failing classes. I had one Chemistry class freshman year I never went to after the first week. The professor just read from the book to the huge lecture hall. I went to the lab, did the homework and the tests with no problem.
Other classes I didn’t do so well in, despite going regularly.
Skipping this one class isn’t likely to be a problem. If he makes a habit of it, then he might be in trouble.
Yeah, but a lot of schools these days have an attendance policy built in that all classes have to observe, and said attendance policies tend to be really tight. Like, I think mine allowed two unexcused absences and started dropping grades from there. (Which, remembering that fact: THAT could be why Walky’s grade in math wasn’t salvageable according to Jason! I don’t think he missed enough to definitely fail the class, but it could make an A out of reach. Great job communicating THAT one, Jason!)
So it can be directly tied to failing these days – teachers pretty much also have to do attendance now to track it – and if it were only this one boring class* I’d say it probably wasn’t too big a deal to skip once… But Walky’s avoidance tendencies look very familiar to me. I think he might be starting to cascade.
* Two factors that I’d advise against Walky doing it, though: he’s a telecom MAJOR, meaning he’s gotta know this material (and since his cast page says he picked it because ‘tele’ means television so it was the closest thing to majoring in cartoons, I DON’T think this is like Amber and Danny in Comp 101 where they already do know everything and can safely tune out,) and Walky has a very definite Thing where he acts as if he does know everything but clearly doesn’t. It’s part of the reason he’s so screwed up in math. We have no idea what the class is like, but I do not trust Walky as a source for ‘yeah it’s easy and I have this’ and I do not trust Walky to only skip class this one time for this one subject when he’s having an anxiety avoidance reaction in another.
Fun hypothetical to think about. This comic is supposed to represent IU fairly accurately, but with a sliding timeframe, if I’m not mistaken. But if real-life IU didn’t have an absence=grade reduction policy at the time DOA’s year started, but they do now, then would Walky’s grades be irrecoverable or not? And would Jason be off the hook for not informing Walky about a policy that didn’t exist at the time he could have warned him?
If the policy was implemented before the 2017 Spring semester, or 2016 Fall (to give an extra month or two in the buffer,) then it would have been in effect by the time Jason was talking to Walky saying it was too late to course correct for an A. (Strip aired March 25, 2017.) If it wasn’t in effect then, then Jason’s line can continue to be taken at face value as ‘Jason doesn’t think Walky can improve enough despite it being pre-midterms.’ (Once again, Walky wasn’t trying to learn but Jason’s condescending manner makes him a bad tutor even with people who are trying.)
Retroactively because of the time frame, we can assume that any such policy is in the syllabus (it’s usually required to be there,) and was probably gone over in the first day while we weren’t paying attention. Neither was Walky, which is his own damn fault, but if he does bother to check the syllabus it will be there. (Don’t throw out your syllabus, kids.) I think Jason should have said ‘you can’t course correct because of the attendance policy’ if it was a thing when that conversation occurred, but Jason and Walky tend to bring out the absolute worst in each other.
Really? Most professors where I go to school don’t bother to take attendance, especially in large intro classes. They just have too many students for it to affect their mark, especially when attendance taking is clunky (taking it via notes requires taking their notes until next day and passing around sheets leave it open to miss students, especially if a student is late but arrived).
Plus, these days, most class syllabi are online, at least if you’re enrolled in the class.
Yeah, no, sign in sheets have gotten to be a much bigger deal – not sure what’s done for bigger lecture hall classes, but there is definitely a ‘you come in late, you come to the desk at the end’ thing as well.
And Walky could certainly check that! But realistically, will he?
It’s possible his other 101 classes are so bullshit easy it helped to lure him into a false state of security. I remember going into college having A Plan and deciding to Take School Seriously For Once… then I took English 101.
Then I started taking upper-level classes, and suddenly everything was completely different.
(Well, my situation was somewhat more complicated than Walky’s, but the point is that people acting like every class you take in college is super-serious high-level stuff is really bad preparation for the type of difficulty curves you’re actually going to hit.)
This. I LITERALLY SLEPT through a maths for non-majors course my first semester. I had four classes some days, scattered across the day. first started at 07:00 and the last ended at 22:00. Math was 15:00-16:30, and the professor had a very soothing drone. He DID show some concern of the “are you staying up to late?” variety, but he didn’t give a fig otherwise, since i was still setting the curve.
Him skipping classes might matter if he actually truly saw any negative consequences for it. Amber did scooch his grades up in the one class he was failing….Which he still hasn’t been studying for! Walky has it too easy.
I think he still doesn’t know that she didn’t put it back down all the way, either. I wonder how he’ll react now that he seems more calm about everything even if it is just a false calm .
That’s not why he still hasn’t been studying for. It’s not that he has it too easy, it’s that he’s a) given up and b) has no idea how to study. He’s damn well aware of the negative consequences. He even told Amber not to change his grades.
WARNING! This is a hot take and entirely my personal opinion, but….Walky does have it too easy. Most if not all of his problems are easily solved without him doing much of anything.
1. He apparently just breezes through his classes. When we actually witness other characters such as Dorothy, Sarah, and even Sal struggling with their work schedule and studying to actually improve their grade.
2. When he started failing he chose to ignore the problem instead of seeking help. When he finally did he ended up getting drunk with his former T.A. and guess what? His problem got solved for him whether he knows it or not. I’ll give him credit for not condoning cheating, but that doesn’t prevent the fact Amber did alter his grade for him. Remains to be seen if there’s any blow back on that. Probably not much since they could both get expelled for that and having two main characters leave the school would dramatically change the flow of the story.
3. He got a girlfriend almost immediately after starting school and when she broke up with him (but still gave him some after breakup sex or maybe they were on pause or whatever when that happened) he immediatley got another one a day later after feeling bad for like twelve hours.
4. He can apparently eat whatever he wants without working out and not gain any weight.
These are just some examples. Walky’s not a bad guy or anything even though I personally dislike him, but he does kind of just breeze through. Especially compared to other characters who struggle with issues like their sexuality, disassociative identities, being nearly date raped, grades, social stigmization from race and a criminal past, alchoholism, being assaulted by crazy parents. (Wasn’t Dina actually shot at once!?) the list goes on…Seriously these kids are all really messed up and need help!
So in my opinion he does have it too easy and the fact is there are a lot of people in the world like that. It’s not a fault of his character, but it’s something I at least think should be noted. If people have any counter arguments I’m more than willing to read them.
Okay. I guess I can see that, though it’s not really where I was going with it. Much of it’s just not even vaguely his fault or responsibility and doesn’t really tie into negative consequences.
Several of those things seem very clearly parts of character arcs to me, not “no consequences” finish points.
1) He apparently breezes through his classes, except for the one he’s failing, because he doesn’t put in any effort. So he’s smart, but not as smart as he thinks he is.
2)I’d be absolutely shocked if Walky’s grade problems were solved by Amber’s hacking and never come back to haunt him. Nor does he even know about it, so as far as he knows he’s still failing. He’s still going to have to deal with it somehow, he’s just a little distracted right now with relationship drama.
3)It’s also pretty unlikely, given all the drama hanging over all their heads that this is going to be as simple as “Lost Dorothy. Oh well, got a new girl. All’s well.” Even if he’s riding an emotional high about it right now.
4) Can’t really argue that. That was me in college too. Didn’t last. 🙁
He’s also got that issue of coming to terms with his parent’s racism/favoritism.
Thing everyone seems to forget: the semester is still going. Amber fixed his MIDTERM grade. if he doesn’t start going to math, he’s gonna bomb the final, and it won’t matter he “aced” the midterm.
Mike is probably in class so it’d make telling him more difficult…plus if you think about it, Mike finding out about the couple via Amber is much more fun- for us, that is1!
I started working through the list of people he should tell before Mike, but I’d gotten to “the bros Sal and Amber were beating up” and decided I should just stop.
Actually I think he plans on teaching Danny a lesson for that one time he loaned Walky his shoes! That’ll show that ukulele playing bastard a thing or two!
Seeing as we never actually saw him return those shoes, I choose to believe that Walky still has them purely because of his notions regarding exes. Hell, even finding out his mom used to date the Dean he was offering to help his dad fight the man.
So now Walky us skipping math AND his telecom class?
Dorothy was right: missing one class was a gateway into much worse things! next Walky will be doing cocaine using wikipedia as a source material
TBH I think the moral here is “don’t skip _hard_ classes”. I for one am super diligent and always check the syllabus to make sure I’m not missing anything important. because I take irresponsibility seriously.
Yeah, besides the attendance policies (safe bet a Big Ten school has them), Walky’s also not really familiar with the material and not studying well, so he’s not compensating by reading the textbook and that means he’s gonna miss something that’ll be important for his major later.
Plus, as I’ve said upthread, having an anxiety avoidance thing in one class and then skipping another can definitely pile up. And the pile-up is not pretty. (I ended up needing an extension on three of four classes, wrote like five papers in under two weeks and read Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Adam Bede in the span of sixteen hours. Still took an F on the last class. Don’t recommend the experience AT ALL.)
There’s a difference between skipping a class you can handle and skipping one you can’t.
Besides, it’s every “school is easy” smart kid’s duty to go through a phase where they mess up academically. How else will they learn? By going to class?
Pish tosh, I say! Pish! Tosh!
I mean, as someone who skips class for both those reasons and has been stuck in that phase for the past four years, I’m just saying this because I recognise that same behaviour in Walky and don’t really want him to end up where I currently am.
Be better than me, Walky!, is what I’m trying to say.
Yeah, my Anxiety Agoraphobia Cascade was not pleasant. Ended with my professors contacting DSS, as did the counselor I had been seeing who I also vanished on, and them calling my mom because it reached the ‘We kind of fear for her safety’ point. For the record, not a good idea. (She then drove up because I wasn’t answering my phone at all and was actively concerned I had died. Again, do not recommend.)
Actually, I Know someone who was intelligent enough to literally go though university like that. Entering work life was so hard..
The sooner you learn that living requires effort, the better.
I don’t think being intelligent is the point. It’s more about having a talent for certain kind of subjects.
I say this because I was one of this kids who could skip classes in college and still get good grades, and I’m no genius.
Obviously, the early years of work life were hell for me. What do you mean things aren’t easy?
Is it just me, or has Walky been dolling out more sassy quips post-breakup?
Granted, he’s never been half as dumb as he can present himself, but maybe it’s the darker notes of pain and bitterness that’s bringing his wit out to play a little more.
If you call “Billie is mean and dismissive to Lucy and Lucy accepts it because she’s too nice to stand up for herself and cause conflict” a working relationship.
No, no. Dorothy will not be hurt. She will be happy for David that he is moving on and finding happiness with another girl (who isn’t Dorothy). She is sure they will be good for each other. Anyway, there is so much studying to do so she is glad it all turned out this way. She hardly misses him at all. Truly…
Yeah, I expect that. But I also expect her to be hurt.
Kind of because that was my reaction a few years back. I was happy for him, but still, it hurt. Those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. “I’m glad you are har, but a part of me really, really wishes that we could have been that happy”.
Could be projection on my part though.
Actually, no Billie. I honestly have to say that I can’t see ‘revenge’ being in Walky’s lexicon. I can’t see him having revenge on anyone, especially someone he cares about, in any way that would not turn into a ludicrous self-parody!
So after my first term at university, I got sinusitis, and then I got ill and then I got ill and then I got ill. I was tested for glandular fever 6 times before I was referred to a systemic lupus expert. Hooray for life-long autoimmune conditions! So I spent five 10-week terms following the pattern of dragging myself through the first 2 weeks; getting to a smattering of classes in the afternoon for the next 2 weeks; spending 2 weeks largely in bed; 1 week looking through my course notes, finding professors’ office hours, and arranging for coursework exemptions/extensions; 1 week largely in bed; buying the classes’ primary text books and spending 1 week reading through the online lecture notes and recommended class readings; and 1 week doing exams. Then spending the holiday time being ill at my parents’, going back to university, and repeating this process.
I failed two classes and had to do some make-up coursework over the summer for one. (The other was in my second year. My third year was an industry placement, but I arranged to travel from London to Oxford* to see my professor to discuss. He had lost my exam paper 🙄 But was pretty certain I had basically picked the “hard” essay question to answer, which was slightly misleadingly worded, and had therefore answered a slightly different question instead. I had gotten close enough to a pass that I didn’t need to redo anything.)
I got a 2:2. And if one piece of coursework in my final year had been marked individually instead if as a group, it would have been a 2:1.
Oh, I was also issued a time turner authorised to have a timetable clash in my final year: one hard class (doing two of those meant I didn’t need to do a dissertation) and one regular one. Both had 2-hour lectures in the same time slot. The regular one consisted of the professor spending 2 hours reading the lecture slides out loud. It took me 5 minutes to read them on my own. On ascertaining this, instead of going to half of each lecture, I just went to the difficult one.
*I didn’t go to THE Oxford. If I had done, I would probably have had to suspend my studies for health reasons.
But yeah: the way I did university was seriously miserable. I wouldn’t recommend it. I made some great friends including my now-husband on an online forum, and a fab friend who was my landlady on my placement year, and I got a piece of paper which enabled me to get a job, so it kinda worked out OK? But it was lonely and isolating and I’d spend days on end eating combinations like couscous and dried apricots coz those were all I had left and I didn’t have the energy to get showered, dressed, to the shops, and buy more food. I would recommend people actually attend class, meet people in person, explore interests and hobbies, learn about themselves and the world…
Ouch, autoimmune disorders. Glad you got through it, though.
And yeah, agreed. If I could go back and redo college with all my health conditions known and managed (including the anxiety and depression,) I so would. I wasn’t totally healthy my final semester and still having things largely managed and being in a dorm where I had a single but also a communal space people used made things so much more pleasant. A degree’s a degree and I’m glad I have it, but I do wish I could have gotten more of the college socializing Experience and less of the ‘sleeping and hiding away in the dark’ thing.
They should have moved Lucy in with Joyce that would have been a sight to behold. Plus Billie and Malaya deserve each other and Malaya definitely wouldn’t have let Billie’s ego get as inflated as it is.
Sal would have marched Lucy over to Joyce and would have said something like: “Here; this is your separated-at-birth twin sister. Spend time with each other instead of with me.”
Lucy is like if Joyce wasn’t a high density bundle of prejudice and neurosis with no respect for people’s boundaries. Which is why she’s one of my faves.
I like the idea that Joyce and Lucy are twins separated at birth. Not exactly likely, considering their different skin tones, but not impossible. And it would mean that Joyce has two sisters she’s unaware of.
I honestly think Billie and Malaya would be happier together than with people like Lucy and Joyce.
“I don’t care about you.”
“Yeah, I don’t care about you.”
“You are a nerd.”
“So are you.”
“Whatever, I don’t care.”
“I don’t care either.”
“Fine.”
“FINE.”
*Both go about their daily routine without bothering each other.*
“By the way, you are a nerd.”
“You are a nerd.”
“Good night.”
“Good nights are for nerds.”
“Fine.”
“FINE.”
*lights out*
I mean, she’s definitely also in the ‘Good morning person-who’s-asleep-who-I-am-looming-over!’ Club. Just because she rooms with Billie doesn’t mean it’s welcome (I don’t like Joyce doing it to Sarah without clearance either,) and Lucy is definitely trying to push the New Best Friend Thing even if Billie doesn’t. Not a great idea. Friendly with your roommate is fine and normal, pressing them for a Deep Social Connection if they’re not on board is not.
There’s a pretty marked difference between climbing up into someone’s bed being 3 inches from their face and standing next to their bed and Lucy toned down her efforts to be super best friends with Billie pretty much immediately when it became clear Billie is kind of an asshole.
What is up with Forest Quad? Are they just a bunch of sheltered goobers? Are they playing an elaborate prank on Billie? Are they just being, like, exceptionally nice to Billie out of some kind of weird sympathy/pity? Are they just the McAwesome’s-esque benevolent mirror-verse, and no deeper than that?
They are pod people clone drones of the original Forest Quad population, which is now compost. They are sizing up Billy to be one of them and always smile and be happy forever and ever and ever
I for one believe in the -purity- of revenge, and I am strongly against sexualising it just for the masses, thank you very much!
The saying is “Revenge is a dish best served cold”, -NOT- “Revenge is a dish best served naked, with whips and vibrators and handcuffs and maybe a strap-on, possibly some molten candle wax or ice cubes; and let’s not forget the very simple tactic of stroking someone’s body with your fingertips very near but without actually touching their private parts, because that drives them just crazy with anticipation”.
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Ahhh, siblings.
And I see Walky’s skipping more classes now, because that only bodes well.
The difference is he’s skipping this class because he has it figured out, vs skipping his math class because he can’t handle failing.
Doesn’t really make it better. It’s just not an issue with his grades in this case.
He had math figured out too until he didn’t.
I think “don’t skip class” is a lot like “don’t do drugs”: good advice for some people generally; but ignoring said rules can be fun in moderation- skip classes because the bare minimum is a great way to achieve maximum happiness in areas you care about; smoke pot because it makes jeff sessions roll in whatever grave he sleeps in at night
I think it’s a little more complicated than that. Skipping and potentially failing classes is more serious than smoking pot. Depending on what Walky’s majoring in if anything, his math class could be a prerequisite for something else, or for instance classes cost money so he could also be blowing the funds his parents spent on tuition. (I’m assuming that. It’s even worse if he has any scholarships). Sarah doesn’t spend all her time studying because she wants to. A lot of factors that make skipping class in general a bad idea.
It’s okay; his girlfriend can fix it.
I think the analogy is that skipping the classes where you’ve already got things figured out is like smoking pot, skipping the classes where you’re already struggling is like smoking crack.
yep
Smoking pot can potentially be far more serious than skipping classes. Almost entirely due to legal consequences.
Skipping classes can be a problem, but it’s not too directly linked to failing classes. I had one Chemistry class freshman year I never went to after the first week. The professor just read from the book to the huge lecture hall. I went to the lab, did the homework and the tests with no problem.
Other classes I didn’t do so well in, despite going regularly.
Skipping this one class isn’t likely to be a problem. If he makes a habit of it, then he might be in trouble.
Yeah, but a lot of schools these days have an attendance policy built in that all classes have to observe, and said attendance policies tend to be really tight. Like, I think mine allowed two unexcused absences and started dropping grades from there. (Which, remembering that fact: THAT could be why Walky’s grade in math wasn’t salvageable according to Jason! I don’t think he missed enough to definitely fail the class, but it could make an A out of reach. Great job communicating THAT one, Jason!)
So it can be directly tied to failing these days – teachers pretty much also have to do attendance now to track it – and if it were only this one boring class* I’d say it probably wasn’t too big a deal to skip once… But Walky’s avoidance tendencies look very familiar to me. I think he might be starting to cascade.
* Two factors that I’d advise against Walky doing it, though: he’s a telecom MAJOR, meaning he’s gotta know this material (and since his cast page says he picked it because ‘tele’ means television so it was the closest thing to majoring in cartoons, I DON’T think this is like Amber and Danny in Comp 101 where they already do know everything and can safely tune out,) and Walky has a very definite Thing where he acts as if he does know everything but clearly doesn’t. It’s part of the reason he’s so screwed up in math. We have no idea what the class is like, but I do not trust Walky as a source for ‘yeah it’s easy and I have this’ and I do not trust Walky to only skip class this one time for this one subject when he’s having an anxiety avoidance reaction in another.
Fun hypothetical to think about. This comic is supposed to represent IU fairly accurately, but with a sliding timeframe, if I’m not mistaken. But if real-life IU didn’t have an absence=grade reduction policy at the time DOA’s year started, but they do now, then would Walky’s grades be irrecoverable or not? And would Jason be off the hook for not informing Walky about a policy that didn’t exist at the time he could have warned him?
If the policy was implemented before the 2017 Spring semester, or 2016 Fall (to give an extra month or two in the buffer,) then it would have been in effect by the time Jason was talking to Walky saying it was too late to course correct for an A. (Strip aired March 25, 2017.) If it wasn’t in effect then, then Jason’s line can continue to be taken at face value as ‘Jason doesn’t think Walky can improve enough despite it being pre-midterms.’ (Once again, Walky wasn’t trying to learn but Jason’s condescending manner makes him a bad tutor even with people who are trying.)
Retroactively because of the time frame, we can assume that any such policy is in the syllabus (it’s usually required to be there,) and was probably gone over in the first day while we weren’t paying attention. Neither was Walky, which is his own damn fault, but if he does bother to check the syllabus it will be there. (Don’t throw out your syllabus, kids.) I think Jason should have said ‘you can’t course correct because of the attendance policy’ if it was a thing when that conversation occurred, but Jason and Walky tend to bring out the absolute worst in each other.
Really? Most professors where I go to school don’t bother to take attendance, especially in large intro classes. They just have too many students for it to affect their mark, especially when attendance taking is clunky (taking it via notes requires taking their notes until next day and passing around sheets leave it open to miss students, especially if a student is late but arrived).
Plus, these days, most class syllabi are online, at least if you’re enrolled in the class.
Yeah, no, sign in sheets have gotten to be a much bigger deal – not sure what’s done for bigger lecture hall classes, but there is definitely a ‘you come in late, you come to the desk at the end’ thing as well.
And Walky could certainly check that! But realistically, will he?
But neither of those are as bad an idea as smoking pot in class!
Day. You mean day.
It’s possible his other 101 classes are so bullshit easy it helped to lure him into a false state of security. I remember going into college having A Plan and deciding to Take School Seriously For Once… then I took English 101.
Then I started taking upper-level classes, and suddenly everything was completely different.
(Well, my situation was somewhat more complicated than Walky’s, but the point is that people acting like every class you take in college is super-serious high-level stuff is really bad preparation for the type of difficulty curves you’re actually going to hit.)
This. I LITERALLY SLEPT through a maths for non-majors course my first semester. I had four classes some days, scattered across the day. first started at 07:00 and the last ended at 22:00. Math was 15:00-16:30, and the professor had a very soothing drone. He DID show some concern of the “are you staying up to late?” variety, but he didn’t give a fig otherwise, since i was still setting the curve.
Wasn’t that the class where Amber was reprimanded for knowing too much?
That was intro to computing.
Him skipping classes might matter if he actually truly saw any negative consequences for it. Amber did scooch his grades up in the one class he was failing….Which he still hasn’t been studying for! Walky has it too easy.
I think he still doesn’t know that she didn’t put it back down all the way, either. I wonder how he’ll react now that he seems more calm about everything
even if it is just a false calm.That’s not why he still hasn’t been studying for. It’s not that he has it too easy, it’s that he’s a) given up and b) has no idea how to study. He’s damn well aware of the negative consequences. He even told Amber not to change his grades.
Well, he hadn’t exactly given up. The two people he thought to get help from can no longer help.
One broke up with him and one became a bartender.
WARNING! This is a hot take and entirely my personal opinion, but….Walky does have it too easy. Most if not all of his problems are easily solved without him doing much of anything.
1. He apparently just breezes through his classes. When we actually witness other characters such as Dorothy, Sarah, and even Sal struggling with their work schedule and studying to actually improve their grade.
2. When he started failing he chose to ignore the problem instead of seeking help. When he finally did he ended up getting drunk with his former T.A. and guess what? His problem got solved for him whether he knows it or not. I’ll give him credit for not condoning cheating, but that doesn’t prevent the fact Amber did alter his grade for him. Remains to be seen if there’s any blow back on that. Probably not much since they could both get expelled for that and having two main characters leave the school would dramatically change the flow of the story.
3. He got a girlfriend almost immediately after starting school and when she broke up with him (but still gave him some after breakup sex or maybe they were on pause or whatever when that happened) he immediatley got another one a day later after feeling bad for like twelve hours.
4. He can apparently eat whatever he wants without working out and not gain any weight.
These are just some examples. Walky’s not a bad guy or anything even though I personally dislike him, but he does kind of just breeze through. Especially compared to other characters who struggle with issues like their sexuality, disassociative identities, being nearly date raped, grades, social stigmization from race and a criminal past, alchoholism, being assaulted by crazy parents. (Wasn’t Dina actually shot at once!?) the list goes on…Seriously these kids are all really messed up and need help!
So in my opinion he does have it too easy and the fact is there are a lot of people in the world like that. It’s not a fault of his character, but it’s something I at least think should be noted. If people have any counter arguments I’m more than willing to read them.
In the Walkyverse the weight thing will apparently change when he turns 23.
Okay. I guess I can see that, though it’s not really where I was going with it. Much of it’s just not even vaguely his fault or responsibility and doesn’t really tie into negative consequences.
Several of those things seem very clearly parts of character arcs to me, not “no consequences” finish points.
1) He apparently breezes through his classes, except for the one he’s failing, because he doesn’t put in any effort. So he’s smart, but not as smart as he thinks he is.
2)I’d be absolutely shocked if Walky’s grade problems were solved by Amber’s hacking and never come back to haunt him. Nor does he even know about it, so as far as he knows he’s still failing. He’s still going to have to deal with it somehow, he’s just a little distracted right now with relationship drama.
3)It’s also pretty unlikely, given all the drama hanging over all their heads that this is going to be as simple as “Lost Dorothy. Oh well, got a new girl. All’s well.” Even if he’s riding an emotional high about it right now.
4) Can’t really argue that. That was me in college too. Didn’t last. 🙁
He’s also got that issue of coming to terms with his parent’s racism/favoritism.
Thing everyone seems to forget: the semester is still going. Amber fixed his MIDTERM grade. if he doesn’t start going to math, he’s gonna bomb the final, and it won’t matter he “aced” the midterm.
I don’t think it was even the midterm grade – just the quizzes and homework they’ve had so far.
Yep, no midterm yet.
“So…you’ve decided to have revenge sex” sounds very much like a good title for the next book. 😀
Agreed.
It has my vote.
*whisper whisper whisper*
What do you mean “this isn’t a democracy?”
Perfectly put.
It was either telling Mike or Billie, I guess he made the right choice ?
Mike is probably in class so it’d make telling him more difficult…plus if you think about it, Mike finding out about the couple via Amber is much more fun- for us, that is1!
I started working through the list of people he should tell before Mike, but I’d gotten to “the bros Sal and Amber were beating up” and decided I should just stop.
ironically, Sal would be pretty high on the list
The best kind of sex
Think we’ll see the Andrew Garfield poster slowly morph into Tom Holland over time?
Or Chester A. Arthur.
Or Dorian Grey
So long as it doesn’t morph into Robert Pattinson
Joyce has that covered.
Or Nermal.
And then blow away in a cloud of dust?
I think it’s kinda cute that Billie knows Walky’s class schedule.
NOT THAT I CARE ABOUT YOUR LIFE BAKA
FFS Billie stop corrupting Walky, he already has enough problems.
Only some tho ;P
The sliding timescale hasn’t been kind to Andrew Garfield’s relevance, has it?
Is it really revenge sex if you haven’t had the sex yet….or anyone to seek vengeance against?
From Billie’s perspective, Walky “should be” seeking vengeance against Dorothy. “Treat her like your enemy”, I believe she said earlier.
Actually I think he plans on teaching Danny a lesson for that one time he loaned Walky his shoes! That’ll show that ukulele playing bastard a thing or two!
Seeing as we never actually saw him return those shoes, I choose to believe that Walky still has them purely because of his notions regarding exes. Hell, even finding out his mom used to date the Dean he was offering to help his dad fight the man.
He just reads too much Scott Pilgrim.
This is a week for great turns of phrase, the pettiness is strong with Willis this week.
Argh “pithiness”, I am gonna smash my new phone and it’s last minute edit checks.
To be fair, the conversation in the strip does have some pettiness.
Maybe your phone just appreciated that aspect more.
So now Walky us skipping math AND his telecom class?
Dorothy was right: missing one class was a gateway into much worse things! next Walky will be doing cocaine using wikipedia as a source material
How do you use Wikipedia as a source of cocaine?
. . . Asking for a friend . . .
Print out the article using a 3d-printer. Grind result into powder.
See Cocaine – Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine
SCHOOL MISSER!
TBH I think the moral here is “don’t skip _hard_ classes”. I for one am super diligent and always check the syllabus to make sure I’m not missing anything important. because I take irresponsibility seriously.
Even that can be dangerous if you’re skipping most sessions for a given class.
Yeah, besides the attendance policies (safe bet a Big Ten school has them), Walky’s also not really familiar with the material and not studying well, so he’s not compensating by reading the textbook and that means he’s gonna miss something that’ll be important for his major later.
Plus, as I’ve said upthread, having an anxiety avoidance thing in one class and then skipping another can definitely pile up. And the pile-up is not pretty. (I ended up needing an extension on three of four classes, wrote like five papers in under two weeks and read Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Adam Bede in the span of sixteen hours. Still took an F on the last class. Don’t recommend the experience AT ALL.)
Lucy and Ramona…and Sunset Sam!–Mike Nesmith
Cruisin’ through the jungles of L.A.
I’m pretty sure the entire physical side of Billie and Ruth’s relationship counts as revenge sex.
Ah, but revenge against whom?
Themselves!
Which means the passion will never die! Truly a relationship built to last!
and later, Clint.
Well, there’s a difference between revenge sex and hate sex.
I mean, there’s a LOT of spite in both of them, but the target’s usually a bit different.
Hate sex is just revenge sex perpetuated against yourself.
YES now it begins! The fallout!
“Jesus Christ, Walky, stop skipping class!”, I say, after skipping class all day today.
There’s a difference between skipping a class you can handle and skipping one you can’t.
Besides, it’s every “school is easy” smart kid’s duty to go through a phase where they mess up academically. How else will they learn? By going to class?
Pish tosh, I say! Pish! Tosh!
I mean, as someone who skips class for both those reasons and has been stuck in that phase for the past four years, I’m just saying this because I recognise that same behaviour in Walky and don’t really want him to end up where I currently am.
Be better than me, Walky!, is what I’m trying to say.
Yeah I flunked out of college TWICE because of skipping class so I’m sitting here like
WALKY PLEASE YOU’RE GOING TO REGRET IT
Yeah, my Anxiety Agoraphobia Cascade was not pleasant. Ended with my professors contacting DSS, as did the counselor I had been seeing who I also vanished on, and them calling my mom because it reached the ‘We kind of fear for her safety’ point. For the record, not a good idea. (She then drove up because I wasn’t answering my phone at all and was actively concerned I had died. Again, do not recommend.)
Actually, I Know someone who was intelligent enough to literally go though university like that. Entering work life was so hard..
The sooner you learn that living requires effort, the better.
I don’t think being intelligent is the point. It’s more about having a talent for certain kind of subjects.
I say this because I was one of this kids who could skip classes in college and still get good grades, and I’m no genius.
Obviously, the early years of work life were hell for me. What do you mean things aren’t easy?
Also, yay, it’s Lucy! Love that ray of sunshine.
Dumbing of Age Book 9: So You’ve Decided to Have Revenge Sex…
“I’ve Had Some Non-Revenge Sex!” would make a good title as well.
That would be a fun title
Billie’s bestselling advice book: Revenge Sex for
DummiesNerdsI really like that Andrew Garfield poster.
Is it just me, or has Walky been dolling out more sassy quips post-breakup?
Granted, he’s never been half as dumb as he can present himself, but maybe it’s the darker notes of pain and bitterness that’s bringing his wit out to play a little more.
Look, as long as your revenge sex hasn’t involved Ruth, Billie.
It seems like Lucy and Billie have found a working relationship.
That is… good?
I don’t quite see how talking this way with Walky while Lucy is in the room will help keep up the image that Walky is not a friend of Billie’s?
If you call “Billie is mean and dismissive to Lucy and Lucy accepts it because she’s too nice to stand up for herself and cause conflict” a working relationship.
Yeah, that’s what I do.
That’s why I hesitate to call it a good thing.
But a relationship that only works for one member doesn’t actually work is my point.
The best part of revenge sex is that you get revenge AND sex. It’s win-win.
That’s just science
For SCIENCE!!!
Revenge sex? Wait’ll you get to vengeance sex and revengeance sex.
RULES OF NURTURE
No, Billie. He’s already got Amber. He’s not adding YOU to his harem.
I really hope ‘So You’ve Decided to Have Revenge Sex’ is the name of the next book now.
Good lord Billie, not everything has to do with revenge.
There is also spite
Spite is good. Tastes citrus-y.
And like revenge, best served cold.
Dorothy will be really glad to hear that hurting her was a side effect, not the goal..
No, no. Dorothy will not be hurt. She will be happy for David that he is moving on and finding happiness with another girl (who isn’t Dorothy). She is sure they will be good for each other. Anyway, there is so much studying to do so she is glad it all turned out this way. She hardly misses him at all. Truly…
That.
Even if it hurts her, she would think it shouldn’t.
Do you have any bridges I could buy?
Sure, I have this great bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.
(Did the poster say Garfield or Garfunkel, by the way?)
Yeah, I expect that. But I also expect her to be hurt.
Kind of because that was my reaction a few years back. I was happy for him, but still, it hurt. Those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. “I’m glad you are har, but a part of me really, really wishes that we could have been that happy”.
Could be projection on my part though.
I think that’s exactly how Dorothy will feel.
She will also feel guilty for some vague reason.
And she will double down on her studies.
I’m sure that will be very productive.
Double down again? Dorothy’s at least octupled her studying by now.
And it’ll all pay off any day now. Yep. Any day now.
It’s all about scheduling. Make the scheduling work, and the rest of life falls in place.
If anyone’s going to have revenge sex, it’s Amber. The revengee is Amazi-Girl.
Lucy! I’ve missed you!
A perfect opportunity for a B99 reference and the universe cries at its loss.
Actually, no Billie. I honestly have to say that I can’t see ‘revenge’ being in Walky’s lexicon. I can’t see him having revenge on anyone, especially someone he cares about, in any way that would not turn into a ludicrous self-parody!
That said… Walky TRYING to take Billies advice and adopt her coping mechanisms would be pretty hilarious in a confused puppy sort of way.
And found something better.
Potentially.
Like an evil Corgi!
He TOTALLY would. He’d revenge MATH.
And he’s seen so much Dexter and MM. Revenge HAS to be in his lexicon.
Just. Not in this context
Walky Performs a Revenge Sex?
Hello, Lucy!
Someone has become addicted to popularity, and I am not talking about Trump. Also, could Galasso use popularity as a weapon?
She had that addiction long before. She’s just got a new fix.
Now, my minions! FIRE THE POPULARITY CANNON!!”
Inspired by Brooklyn 99?
Or independent coincidence?
Pretty Sure he isn’t, considering his expression as he delivers that response.
I read panels 4-5 as Captain America.
Now I’m imagining Billie in Cap’s uniform. Along with Walky dressed as Falcon.
Using Amber for revenge on Dorothy or Danny would be a terrible thing to do to Amber.
New book title?
So after my first term at university, I got sinusitis, and then I got ill and then I got ill and then I got ill. I was tested for glandular fever 6 times before I was referred to a systemic lupus expert. Hooray for life-long autoimmune conditions! So I spent five 10-week terms following the pattern of dragging myself through the first 2 weeks; getting to a smattering of classes in the afternoon for the next 2 weeks; spending 2 weeks largely in bed; 1 week looking through my course notes, finding professors’ office hours, and arranging for coursework exemptions/extensions; 1 week largely in bed; buying the classes’ primary text books and spending 1 week reading through the online lecture notes and recommended class readings; and 1 week doing exams. Then spending the holiday time being ill at my parents’, going back to university, and repeating this process.
I failed two classes and had to do some make-up coursework over the summer for one. (The other was in my second year. My third year was an industry placement, but I arranged to travel from London to Oxford* to see my professor to discuss. He had lost my exam paper 🙄 But was pretty certain I had basically picked the “hard” essay question to answer, which was slightly misleadingly worded, and had therefore answered a slightly different question instead. I had gotten close enough to a pass that I didn’t need to redo anything.)
I got a 2:2. And if one piece of coursework in my final year had been marked individually instead if as a group, it would have been a 2:1.
Oh, I was also
issued a time turnerauthorised to have a timetable clash in my final year: one hard class (doing two of those meant I didn’t need to do a dissertation) and one regular one. Both had 2-hour lectures in the same time slot. The regular one consisted of the professor spending 2 hours reading the lecture slides out loud. It took me 5 minutes to read them on my own. On ascertaining this, instead of going to half of each lecture, I just went to the difficult one.*I didn’t go to THE Oxford. If I had done, I would probably have had to suspend my studies for health reasons.
But yeah: the way I did university was seriously miserable. I wouldn’t recommend it. I made some great friends including my now-husband on an online forum, and a fab friend who was my landlady on my placement year, and I got a piece of paper which enabled me to get a job, so it kinda worked out OK? But it was lonely and isolating and I’d spend days on end eating combinations like couscous and dried apricots coz those were all I had left and I didn’t have the energy to get showered, dressed, to the shops, and buy more food. I would recommend people actually attend class, meet people in person, explore interests and hobbies, learn about themselves and the world…
Ouch, autoimmune disorders. Glad you got through it, though.
And yeah, agreed. If I could go back and redo college with all my health conditions known and managed (including the anxiety and depression,) I so would. I wasn’t totally healthy my final semester and still having things largely managed and being in a dorm where I had a single but also a communal space people used made things so much more pleasant. A degree’s a degree and I’m glad I have it, but I do wish I could have gotten more of the college socializing Experience and less of the ‘sleeping and hiding away in the dark’ thing.
And Billie continues to suck. Whee. I feel sorry for Lucy she keeps getting stuck with asshole roommates who treat her like shit.
Worse, she’s one of those lonely and perpetually-cheerful types who take abuse like that as some kind of proof of affection.
They should have moved Lucy in with Joyce that would have been a sight to behold. Plus Billie and Malaya deserve each other and Malaya definitely wouldn’t have let Billie’s ego get as inflated as it is.
Or Sal I mean. I can never keep track of the rooming arrangements.
Sal would have marched Lucy over to Joyce and would have said something like: “Here; this is your separated-at-birth twin sister. Spend time with each other instead of with me.”
Lucy is like if Joyce wasn’t a high density bundle of prejudice and neurosis with no respect for people’s boundaries. Which is why she’s one of my faves.
I dunno about Lucy having respect for peoples boundaries. She’s just a tad less aggressive about it than Joyce.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/lucy-glenn/
There’s a reason Malaya has nicknamed Joyce ‘white Lucy’.
I didn’t say she was like bursting with it I said she had more than none.
I like the idea that Joyce and Lucy are twins separated at birth. Not exactly likely, considering their different skin tones, but not impossible. And it would mean that Joyce has two sisters she’s unaware of.
Sal is there for Joyce if there is a need for daring motorcycle stunts and car chases.
It’s not more than right that Joyce can save Sal from unreasonably happy and upbeat people.
I honestly think Billie and Malaya would be happier together than with people like Lucy and Joyce.
“I don’t care about you.”
“Yeah, I don’t care about you.”
“You are a nerd.”
“So are you.”
“Whatever, I don’t care.”
“I don’t care either.”
“Fine.”
“FINE.”
*Both go about their daily routine without bothering each other.*
“By the way, you are a nerd.”
“You are a nerd.”
“Good night.”
“Good nights are for nerds.”
“Fine.”
“FINE.”
*lights out*
*Still dark*
*Gentle snores*
*A muffled scream*
“MALAYA, GET YOUR GODDAM LIZARD OUT OF MY FAAAAACE BEFORE I MAIL IT TO ABU DABI.”
*sleepily* “sounds like something a nerd would say”
Thus it was that Fuckface slept on Joyce’s shelf every night.
It would absolutely kill Billie how much Malaya isn’t impressed by her in any way.
More drama potential this way.
And I still say there’s something in the water at Forest Quad.
Oh for sure everyone except Lucy is a weirdo straight out of some American teen comedy where cheerleaders apparently matter.
Cheerleading is actually fairly demanding and those that are really into it are nerds in their own way.
Billie: CHEERLEADERS ARE NOT NERDS
And Lucy’s different?
Well she ISN’T bizarrely enamored with cheerleaders and putting Billie up on a pedestal so yes.
I mean, she’s definitely also in the ‘Good morning person-who’s-asleep-who-I-am-looming-over!’ Club. Just because she rooms with Billie doesn’t mean it’s welcome (I don’t like Joyce doing it to Sarah without clearance either,) and Lucy is definitely trying to push the New Best Friend Thing even if Billie doesn’t. Not a great idea. Friendly with your roommate is fine and normal, pressing them for a Deep Social Connection if they’re not on board is not.
There’s a pretty marked difference between climbing up into someone’s bed being 3 inches from their face and standing next to their bed and Lucy toned down her efforts to be super best friends with Billie pretty much immediately when it became clear Billie is kind of an asshole.
And yes, I consider not wanting to be super best friends with Lucy and being kind of an asshole to be synonymous.
What is up with Forest Quad? Are they just a bunch of sheltered goobers? Are they playing an elaborate prank on Billie? Are they just being, like, exceptionally nice to Billie out of some kind of weird sympathy/pity? Are they just the McAwesome’s-esque benevolent mirror-verse, and no deeper than that?
So weird.
They are pod people clone drones of the original Forest Quad population, which is now compost. They are sizing up Billy to be one of them and always smile and be happy forever and ever and ever
“…(it wasn’t NEARLY as satisfying, tho.)”
None revenge sex is highly overrated.
As is non-sex revenge.
Like, what’s even the point.
Excuse me?!?
I for one believe in the -purity- of revenge, and I am strongly against sexualising it just for the masses, thank you very much!
The saying is “Revenge is a dish best served cold”, -NOT- “Revenge is a dish best served naked, with whips and vibrators and handcuffs and maybe a strap-on, possibly some molten candle wax or ice cubes; and let’s not forget the very simple tactic of stroking someone’s body with your fingertips very near but without actually touching their private parts, because that drives them just crazy with anticipation”.
Ok, but “revenge is a dish best served cold” is a Klingon proverb, and you can’t tell me they don’t treat revenge as a sexual pleasure.
…that’s fair.
…seriously, nobody? Title of your sex tape reference…