Not that I have personal experience, but from my time in a college dorm the smell of it going off in the hallway is less contained than in Ruth’s toilet.
This is a thing that I don’t think has been addressed?
All double rooms in Read share a half-bath with one of their neighbors. But do single rooms have a half-bath attached? I don’t think so, but I can’t easily find evidence one way or the other. I’m pretty sure there’s never been any reference to a half-bath attached to Ruth’s room.
Not so much “a necessity” as “normal.” Your body is assuming there will be alcohol and proactively does things to cope with it.
When you stop drinking suddenly, the alcohol isn’t there but your body is still proactively assuming it is, and the coping mechanisms still in action produce the withdrawal symptoms.
With a private room, does that also mean she gets a full bathroom? Private half-bath? I don’t know how all that works & Daniel the Human has a separate toilet and bathroom, which has the shower, sink, actual bath but no toilet…
I got to Billie’s line and I was like “cause you’re gonna hurl”
And then Ruth was talking about the defeatist attitude, and I was like “huh?”
And then the punchline was what I assumed she meant in the first place.
I actually think the skill with which Willis portrayed Billie’s nausea visually ruined his own joke.
I think it’s funnier, because Ruth cares so much about Billie’s mental wellbeing that she misses the painfully obvious reason Billie wants to get out of her (their?) room.
…okay. Ten minutes later, on the third scroll by, I got that. Thank you, Needfuldoer. Well played – I may actually be awake now. *slow clap* *approving nod*
Ruth is so sweet here, and I’m glad she’s pushing for Billie to go to therapy as well. But yeah, not barfing all over Ruth’s new decor might be a good move.
It’s nice to see their progress. Enemies –> angry f*#k buddies –> suicidal secret girlfriends –> somewhat decent girlfriends! Still a lot of progress needed, alcoholism-wise and mental state-wise but still!
Gatorade probably is good for withdrawal, and also for hangovers. Hydration with extra electolytes! If you want/need to make what is effectively Gatorade on the cheap, google “oral replacement therapy”. If it works for cholera victims, it will work for you, and without the food coloring.
Also, clean (boiled) water that has had one teaspoonful of salt and three teaspoonfuls of sugar (or glucose if you have it) dissolved in it, without flavouring, tastes bad.
I was just gonna recommend Pedialyte as well. Had to drink a bunch for a really bad flu last year, and it was… surprisingly delicious? I mean, it wasn’t QUITE as delicious once I felt better and was trying to finish it off so it wouldn’t go to waste, but still. Yum. It made keeping no food down and feeling super crappy, like, WAY less unpleasant than it was before we got some. Still terrible, obviously, but with some bright spots. 🙂
Perhaps laminate flooring should be a requirement for student housing hallways. Because the carpet at Boise Riveredge (as if my internet comment is going to be the one to tarnish their precious reputation) has dog shit once a week, among other things.
(side note: Desert Bus for Hope is going strong into day 2 right now! Watch sketch comedians slowly succumb to sleep deprivation and insanity for a good cause! https://desertbus.org/ )
I think I figured out part of why I love these two. When they’re both around, there’s usually a bunch of bright primary colors. It’s very nice to look at.
K is black ink. It’s not B because people might think “what, blue?” At least, that’s what I think the reason might be. I don’t know the real reason, but I at least know that K is black ink.
Damn it, you beat me to it. I was going to say: “”Everything here is pretty,” she says unironically in front of Maple Leafs poster. Are we sure she’s not still drunk?”
Let’s give Billie the benefit of the doubt here and assume that her general nausea and oncoming-horf is blurring her vision somewhat, so she’s actually just talking about the blurry white-and-blue-on blue (which is in fact a relatively pleasant color scheme, all things considered) that’s probably all she really perceives at the moment, and not the heretical symbols these colors have been shaped into.
Also, she seems to be looking at Ruth, not the room, honestly. <3
Willis' internal monologue while writing this scene: Okay, so now let's set it up for one of those tropey “So beautiful”-“I know, this view is spectacular, isn’t it?”-“Oh, I wasn’t talking about the scenery” moments… –AHAHA wait, it’s Ruth and Billie, these scene needs 1000% more barf, lol.
Readers: …Yep, perfect. This strip could only be more on-brand if the panels alternated between violence and dysfunctional sap. What a great ship. <3
I cant believe the relationship that started with a drunk suicide pact has actually turned into one of if not the healthiest relationship in the comic. And yes. Moreso them Dina and Becky, I think D&B is still in a honeymoom phase they get along TOO well lmao
Me too!! I’m so proud of them for growing and helping each other and I’m actually rooting for them they need help from others but I think they can do this right now
I… find it kind of weird that you say they get along ‘too well’ as if somehow that is a flaw and they should have arguments/fights/conflicts when their absence isn’t a bad thing. Like, it can just mean your ways of coping and communicating align really well so its easy to handle things well. Their only real conflict was over Dina’s hat because Becky wanted to see her without it and didn’t know how to ask and they reasonably resolved it. Not every relationship needs to include endlessly spawning fires to put out.
I’ve started a new kind of diet,
It comes from a book I was loaned,
It’s really terrific and quite scientific
It’s how the Air Force gets stoned.
For breakfast there’s vodka and cornflakes.
But cornflakes have carbohydrates
So in the morning for breakfast….. I
Have my vodka straight.
Now we know how old YOU are, Geneseepaws. Did you spend summers at Camp Granada too?
The Air Force invented this diet,
A fact which they hotly deny.
Of course they deny it, cause this is the diet
That got the Air Force high.
For lunch you can have three martinis,
What better lunch is there than that?
But caution: do not eat the olives,
Cause olives make you fat.
Wow, thank you both for sharing this. Did not know this information; have now met my baseline quota for “learned something new today.” I expect there will be more, but it’s always good to get that first one out of the way. Thanks! (…Not sure if this reads as sarcastic, but it’s not. Seriously, thanks! 🙂 )
Learning? Here’s a crab fact: Ocypode convexa, the golden ghost crab, is one of the main predators of the eggs and hatchlings of the endangered loggerhead sea turtle.
Good on you Ruth! Nice to see that instead of treating relapse as a failure she is helping Billie recover in a healthy way. Relapse is a part of recovery and seeing it as failure leads to giving up believing you can’t do it instead of picking yourself back up and continuing on that road.
I’m not a grand-anything, but I get it, thanks to Nick At Nite. My son would get it, because I’ve sung the theme song plenty of times, and I think we watched the War Bonds special together.
“anywhere other than where *I* would have to clean it up, pls”
Not that I have personal experience, but from my time in a college dorm the smell of it going off in the hallway is less contained than in Ruth’s toilet.
(Ruth has a half-bath, doesn’t she?)
And what is the likelihood that Mary will be in the (*gnurf*) line of fire?
Do we know if Mary and Roz share a half-bath with Ruth?
I’m not sure that’s been shown/not shown yet.
(I realize I’ve just summoned Bagge with that question.)
Ruth has her own room, I’m pretty sure that includes bathroom.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/misery/
Hmmmmm. but if so, why did Billie ask her to throw up in a trashcan instead of in the toilet.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/trash-ca/
less distance to move Ruth
Moooooommm, Stephan used the “M” word again!
I would at least be thinking trash can.
And ruin the new Mapple Leaf’s commemorative trashcan?
And that is why we line the trashcan with a plastic bag.
The only thing that would commemorate the Leafs better than a trashcan would be a trashcan full of vomit.
This is a thing that I don’t think has been addressed?
All double rooms in Read share a half-bath with one of their neighbors. But do single rooms have a half-bath attached? I don’t think so, but I can’t easily find evidence one way or the other. I’m pretty sure there’s never been any reference to a half-bath attached to Ruth’s room.
Yes, Ruth has a half-bath attached. Billie hid with her in the half-bath during the fire alarm incident. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/hiding/
Excellent recall! Also, going back a couple of strips, “My lap wasn’t one of the options!”
Do we know if it’s a private half-bath? If not, who does she share it with?
I think Ruth has her own bathroom, being the RA and all
Could be a long way. My dorm’s RAs had to clean messes in the hallways and stairways of their floor.
Some severe reaction to the Maple Leafs! :O
BODY SENSES POISON, THINKS IT MIGHT BE DIGESTIVE. HORFING TO RULE OUT THIS HYPOTHESIS.
Unfortunately, it never actually rules out the hypothesis. I guess hypotheticals are too abstract for the dumb old body.
Body: You can never be absolutely certain! Let’s repeat this solution ad infinitum.
You sure you don’t mean ad nauseum? 😉
Lynzi that was a fucking beautiful pun, you win.
The body understands the precautionary principle. My body has been refusing seafood since I was four, as a precaution, just in case.
Isn’t withdrawal from alcohol caused by your body thinking alcohol is a necessity, not poison?
Not so much “a necessity” as “normal.” Your body is assuming there will be alcohol and proactively does things to cope with it.
When you stop drinking suddenly, the alcohol isn’t there but your body is still proactively assuming it is, and the coping mechanisms still in action produce the withdrawal symptoms.
Woooah, cool.
…I mean, not cool to experience, I assume. Just, like, scientifically. *Spock voice: Fascinating.*
get her to a can!
Between these two and Kill Six Billion Demons, I am definitely getting my fix for “problematic violent lesbians”.
innit great?
I still love that there is now a Pen and Paper mech game (LANCER) that is, literally “What if the author of Kill Six Billion Demons did Gundam.”
Horf. That’s a new one on me.
It’s about to be a new one on Ruth, too.
Whoopsie-spew. Swallow up. Exgest.
Yeah, wouldn’t want to mess up the half-bath…
With a private room, does that also mean she gets a full bathroom? Private half-bath? I don’t know how all that works & Daniel the Human has a separate toilet and bathroom, which has the shower, sink, actual bath but no toilet…
I think she and Carla share a bath, but I am not positive.
Ruth’s used the public showers before, so I assume it’s just a half-bath.
I got to Billie’s line and I was like “cause you’re gonna hurl”
And then Ruth was talking about the defeatist attitude, and I was like “huh?”
And then the punchline was what I assumed she meant in the first place.
I actually think the skill with which Willis portrayed Billie’s nausea visually ruined his own joke.
I think it’s funnier, because Ruth cares so much about Billie’s mental wellbeing that she misses the painfully obvious reason Billie wants to get out of her (their?) room.
For someone so experienced with alcohol, alcoholism, and withdrawal, both on a first-hand and a second-hand basis, Billie seems pretty green.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
It is to laugh!
Apparently it’s not easy.
…okay. Ten minutes later, on the third scroll by, I got that. Thank you, Needfuldoer. Well played – I may actually be awake now. *slow clap* *approving nod*
because hallway horfing is more socially acceptable
I think some schools have a team for that…
because Ruth cares more about “socially acceptable” than “misery for me alone when I could share the pain with everyone”? 😉
Oh WOW yeah she is green yikes
Yup, you can tell that someone is really sick when even their text box is green.
Ruth is so sweet here, and I’m glad she’s pushing for Billie to go to therapy as well. But yeah, not barfing all over Ruth’s new decor might be a good move.
It’s nice to see their progress. Enemies –> angry f*#k buddies –> suicidal secret girlfriends –> somewhat decent girlfriends! Still a lot of progress needed, alcoholism-wise and mental state-wise but still!
Gatorade probably is good for withdrawal, and also for hangovers. Hydration with extra electolytes! If you want/need to make what is effectively Gatorade on the cheap, google “oral replacement therapy”. If it works for cholera victims, it will work for you, and without the food coloring.
Also, clean (boiled) water that has had one teaspoonful of salt and three teaspoonfuls of sugar (or glucose if you have it) dissolved in it, without flavouring, tastes bad.
Per litre…
Nah, squeeze a lemon in it and it tastes JUST like gatorade.
Pedialyte isn’t a bad option, either. If I recall, they even treat that as a secondary market now.
I was just gonna recommend Pedialyte as well. Had to drink a bunch for a really bad flu last year, and it was… surprisingly delicious? I mean, it wasn’t QUITE as delicious once I felt better and was trying to finish it off so it wouldn’t go to waste, but still. Yum. It made keeping no food down and feeling super crappy, like, WAY less unpleasant than it was before we got some. Still terrible, obviously, but with some bright spots. 🙂
Plus, drinking Gatorade will habituate Billie to the taste of vomit.
Somewhere a Gatorade employee feels eminently attacked and they have no idea why.
Gatorade tastes better than seltzer water.
It is also good for sleepless nights and mornings with 2 hours of sleep…I have severe insomnia.
I was gonna say ‘aww’ but I’m gonna say ‘eww’.
It went from cute to gross in the span of a few panels.
Perhaps laminate flooring should be a requirement for student housing hallways. Because the carpet at Boise Riveredge (as if my internet comment is going to be the one to tarnish their precious reputation) has dog shit once a week, among other things.
Also, glad to see Ruth is continuing therapy. I wonder what her sessions are like so we can see how she’s progressed.
They are both right.
Billie’s pallor resembles a certain hue of Gatorade Frost.
Not much into Gatorade, but I don’t recall a Gatorade Frost with the hue of an overcooked hard-boiled egg yolk.
You obviously haven’t had Cucumber Lime then.
Blech, that stuff was bad. And I normally enjoy the taste of green food and drink.
Cucumber lime is the best Gatorade flavor for people who also like pickle flavored milkshakes from Sonic.
Behold, the Horfening.
yes please
I’m actually kinda surprised Billie lasted this long without having to horf.
Kinda disappointed that “horf” isn’t the title for this strip.
I don’t think that Ruth ever imagined that she would become Billie’s caretaker!
She didn’t imagine she would be alive this long, so no.
What I immediately thought of from that last panel: https://youtu.be/incxTxWJB3Y?t=460
(side note: Desert Bus for Hope is going strong into day 2 right now! Watch sketch comedians slowly succumb to sleep deprivation and insanity for a good cause! https://desertbus.org/ )
…We’ve been here before.
My favorite pairachter is back! I never get tired of these two disasters.
I think I figured out part of why I love these two. When they’re both around, there’s usually a bunch of bright primary colors. It’s very nice to look at.
Ruth has RGB covered for this chapter.
Once Book 10 gets printed, they’ll have to work together to fill out CMYK.
CMYK — OK, I can figure out cyan, magenta, and yellow, but which color starts with a ‘K’?
K is black ink. It’s not B because people might think “what, blue?” At least, that’s what I think the reason might be. I don’t know the real reason, but I at least know that K is black ink.
oooh, ‘pairacter’… me likey. 😉 thanks, Delicious Taffy!
‘Draw a big Toronto maple leafs logo in the background of Ruth’s room, that won’t come back to bite me for future scenes’ – David Willis
Billie must really feel bad to not include an “except the leafs poster” in the “everything is pretty” statement
Damn it, you beat me to it. I was going to say: “”Everything here is pretty,” she says unironically in front of Maple Leafs poster. Are we sure she’s not still drunk?”
The best part with running gags are that we are many that want to run with them.
Let’s give Billie the benefit of the doubt here and assume that her general nausea and oncoming-horf is blurring her vision somewhat, so she’s actually just talking about the blurry white-and-blue-on blue (which is in fact a relatively pleasant color scheme, all things considered) that’s probably all she really perceives at the moment, and not the heretical symbols these colors have been shaped into.
Also, she seems to be looking at Ruth, not the room, honestly. <3
Willis' internal monologue while writing this scene: Okay, so now let's set it up for one of those tropey “So beautiful”-“I know, this view is spectacular, isn’t it?”-“Oh, I wasn’t talking about the scenery” moments… –AHAHA wait, it’s Ruth and Billie, these scene needs 1000% more barf, lol.
Readers: …Yep, perfect. This strip could only be more on-brand if the panels alternated between violence and dysfunctional sap. What a great ship. <3
…*this scene. >_>…
I can imagine Billie thinking “Wow, the foliage is awfully…blue?…this year!”
I cant believe the relationship that started with a drunk suicide pact has actually turned into one of if not the healthiest relationship in the comic. And yes. Moreso them Dina and Becky, I think D&B is still in a honeymoom phase they get along TOO well lmao
Me too!! I’m so proud of them for growing and helping each other and I’m actually rooting for them they need help from others but I think they can do this right now
I… find it kind of weird that you say they get along ‘too well’ as if somehow that is a flaw and they should have arguments/fights/conflicts when their absence isn’t a bad thing. Like, it can just mean your ways of coping and communicating align really well so its easy to handle things well. Their only real conflict was over Dina’s hat because Becky wanted to see her without it and didn’t know how to ask and they reasonably resolved it. Not every relationship needs to include endlessly spawning fires to put out.
I’m not saying they should argue but heck they haven’t had any disagreements at all, as you’ve said their only bump was over a HAT.
Damn those withdrawal symptoms are hard…did she used to eat her cereal with booze or something?
She started young so I wouldn’t be surprised if her entire endocrine system is a bit dependent on external sources of ethanol.
I’ve started a new kind of diet,
It comes from a book I was loaned,
It’s really terrific and quite scientific
It’s how the Air Force gets stoned.
For breakfast there’s vodka and cornflakes.
But cornflakes have carbohydrates
So in the morning for breakfast….. I
Have my vodka straight.
Now we know how old YOU are, Geneseepaws. Did you spend summers at Camp Granada too?
The Air Force invented this diet,
A fact which they hotly deny.
Of course they deny it, cause this is the diet
That got the Air Force high.
For lunch you can have three martinis,
What better lunch is there than that?
But caution: do not eat the olives,
Cause olives make you fat.
IIRC, alcohol is one of very few addictions where quitting cold-turkey can actually end up being fatal, so…
You do recall correctly.
Delerium tremens killed one of my grandparents before I was born. He quit cold turkey and his heart gave out.
Wow, thank you both for sharing this. Did not know this information; have now met my baseline quota for “learned something new today.” I expect there will be more, but it’s always good to get that first one out of the way. Thanks! (…Not sure if this reads as sarcastic, but it’s not. Seriously, thanks! 🙂 )
Learning? Here’s a crab fact: Ocypode convexa, the golden ghost crab, is one of the main predators of the eggs and hatchlings of the endangered loggerhead sea turtle.
I’m happy to see Billie stil be strong in her decision. She have to love Ruth really much. Let’s hope she’ll start to love herself too.
Good on you Ruth! Nice to see that instead of treating relapse as a failure she is helping Billie recover in a healthy way. Relapse is a part of recovery and seeing it as failure leads to giving up believing you can’t do it instead of picking yourself back up and continuing on that road.
A Horf is a Horf
Of Course, of Course
(I don’t get it, grampa…)
Horsing around?
I’m a grandpa and I get it. But none of my grandkids would. Not sure my kids would either. https://youtu.be/tSsuohepbVk
I’m not a grand-anything, but I get it, thanks to Nick At Nite. My son would get it, because I’ve sung the theme song plenty of times, and I think we watched the War Bonds special together.