I’m assuming either she was waiting for Billie, or she’s drinking again. Or maybe she just likes hanging around the bar part of Galasso’s for some reason.
That actually brings to mind something – Ruth very briefly attempted to hit on Tony near the start of the strip, only for him to say, ‘I’m not buying you beer, freshman.’
Is Tony legal? And why would Billie assume anybody in the dorms could buy her beer anyway?
Yeah, I knew what I meant, my brain just crossed wires while typing.
Maybe it’s just my old tired brain but I feel like 21-year olds would just have moved out of the dorm at that point and away from dorm drama. Or Tony just looks older.
IU-Bloomington is insanely big, student-population-wise, and I assume nearby apartments are priced accordingly.
I haven’t done a serious investigation, but in the IRL world it looks like campus housing is currently a bargain compared to nearby rentals, so you’d expect to see more upperclassmen in the dorms than you would in normal times.
And I would be crushed that you missed my Logan’s Run reference were it not for the fact that Logan’s run came out when I was…a lot younger than I am now.
Also, from that strip, it’s not clear that Billie was expecting him to be able to buy her beer, but that what he thought she wanted. I think she was just looking for the prestige of hooking up with an upperclassman.
In my (now long ago) college experience, while few were legal to buy alcohol, older students were more likely to have figured out how to access it – fake ids, older friends, places that wouldn’t card, something. Certainly more so than freshmen in their first days on campus. So he’d probably been asked. (Honestly, at this point, I don’t even remember how I got booze. I didn’t have a fake id, but I never had trouble having alcohol around.)
Billie, of course, had a good fake id to start with and needed no one to buy for her.
My state raised the drinking age 10 days before my birthday. Maybe I misunderstood the law, but I remember losing my right to drink for 10 days. Fortunately, drinking wasn’t very important to me. Two of my housemates and I once took about a week to get through a six pack. I suppose that MIGHT have had something to do with the quality of the beer.
At some point I remember her saying she was 2 years older than the freshman. Based on the timing, she might have an October or earlier birthday making her legally 21.
On the other hand, she did buy alcohol earlier in the series. So either she is already 21 or looks old enough with a decent fake.
Wear your glasses, folks! You might notice that the free beer isn’t until tomorrow!
… And you can see that your maybe-girlfriend maybe-ex-girlfriend is sitting right there just kinda watching you and probably about to try to discuss some heavy shit and probably try to dissuade you from coming back tomorrow for that free beer and you aren’t sure if you want that or not so wouldn’t it be great if you could at least see her before you sit down?
In my area of western Wisconsin there used to be a band that called itself “Three Beers ’til Dubuque” (a city in Iowa about three hours south of where I call home)… and during the karaoke craze one of the traveling karaoke outfits was called “Free Beer and Naked Karaoke”. (note: they never delivered on either one)
This may be the start of your day, but it’s the end of the casts’.
I just noticed that the next storyline is in the Archives grab-bar. Whose birthday is it, I wonder? Has this already been revealed and I just forgot it?
Billie, you asked for this, you ignorant bongo. Hi Ruth! Thank the universe she didnt became insane because of her drugs and killed Walky and Joyce. Integrivact is dangerous.
No one believed I was the person in my IDs; since I had facial hair in them, people (particularly annoying US Border agents) kept saying they were my father’s.
My over-40-years-older-than-me father.
Now that I’m old, facial hair makes me look YOUNGER. Go figure.
Leave it to Billie to frame herself as the victim who is being harassed unfairly here. How dare anyone correctly discern that she is under legal drinking age and follow the mandated procedure of carding her- something police occasionally ask underage volunteers to test in sting operations. It’s not like he has a lot of wiggle room to be fired over failing to card- that job is his lifeline right now since the whole Accidentally Guessed Student Fraternization thing. Not that Billie cares.
I’m ready to rubberneck the train wreck of ugly denials coming up. Or maybe she’ll accuse Ruth of stalking her and invading her valuable privacy? Or maybe the third, and least likely, she’ll wake up and realize she is indeed an alcoholic.
Ruth has a lot of power. All she has to do is say she’s an RA and knows that Billie is a freshman, and the tissue thin grudging tolerance to serve her due to her fake ID is gone at Galasso’s. Some restraints do that thing with Do Not Serve This Person. Of course Billie would be mad at being held accountable and for Ruth doing the right thing. Actually Ruth can’t not do the right thing- an RA can’t knowingly see a student breaking the law and just do nothing, that’s becoming complicit. Ruth is also on thinner ice when it comes to keeping her job and such.
Ruth’s not on thin ice with her job here. Ruth’s been breaking far more serious rules all along. Her problem is that she can’t get herself fired, thanks to Sir.
Panel 3 hits close to home. People regularly tell me they think I’m in my early to mid 20s, even though I’m actually in my early 30s. I just want to buy spray paint without getting carded, dammit!
interestingly, I just got a new passport photo taken and I look horribly old in it, vs. pretty okay with my glasses on
(I may try again but idk, it’s not like I ever look at my passport photo, and $15 for another round is a lot)
Passport photos are deliberately taken with high contrast. This brings out wrinkles, making people look old.
Or in my case, older.
Older? What are you, 16-20ish? That’s when you start getting old, according to every blonde white girl I ever went to school with.
Haha. No.
You can take your own passport photo. I took them for my family.
I don’t have the patience to get photo paper and fuss with our dubious refurbished printer
Fair enough. Just pointing out that you don’t have to put up with whatever sort of photo your passport office takes.
(as a passport acceptance agent, you aren’t allowed to wear glasses in your passport photo. they’ll just reject the application)
Why on Earth would they have that rule?
Likely to keep people from hiding their face in the photo, so it’s more easily identifiable.
As I understand it, to make both human and software facial recognition easier if you’re not wearing glasses (or are wearing different glasses)
(what if I’m not a passport acceptance agent)
[haha grammar pedantry about dangling modifiers]
drink with integrity
All the regrets.
What is she doing there?
She’s on a date!
Oh god no. We don’t need a bar fight getting them kicked out of school.
Those Lessons with Dina are paying off.
Nice slasher movie entrance there, Ruth.
OH. SHIT.
*plays Garth Brooks “Friends In Low Places” on the hacked Muzak*
is this my curse
or my destiny
It’s your cursed destiny!
Are you human? Or are you dancer?
I’m calling it now to say that Ruth hasnt actually been drinking, but is instead telling her woes to Jason, kinda just cuz he’s there.
On the contrary, she’s gone through about a pimt of root beer.
There’s now a part of my brain that’s shouting about wanting a Wreck-It Ruth crossover, and I think I agree with it.
Ruth would be Shank who owns the car Ralph and Vanellope try to steal?
What IS Ruth doing there?
Perhaps waiting to see if Billie would show up.
Anyway, maybe THIS is what finally gets Billie to stop.
Ruth’s finally going to get those femurs
Galasso’s has a special this week, quattro fromaggi et femur pizza.
I’m assuming either she was waiting for Billie, or she’s drinking again. Or maybe she just likes hanging around the bar part of Galasso’s for some reason.
“hanging around the bar“ isn’t particularly conducive for a recovering alcoholic, though… Ruth what are you doing
Relapses are either going around these days, or Ruth went here to see her.
Is Ruth legal either?
I was under the impression she was only a year older than the freshmen.
That actually brings to mind something – Ruth very briefly attempted to hit on Tony near the start of the strip, only for him to say, ‘I’m not buying you beer, freshman.’
Is Tony legal? And why would Billie assume anybody in the dorms could buy her beer anyway?
It was Billie who accosted Tony: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/card/
You mean Billie, of course. And there must be 21-year-olds in the dorm.
And it’s not like everyone has a jewel in their palm that changes colors on significant birthdays.
Yeah, I knew what I meant, my brain just crossed wires while typing.
Maybe it’s just my old tired brain but I feel like 21-year olds would just have moved out of the dorm at that point and away from dorm drama. Or Tony just looks older.
IU-Bloomington is insanely big, student-population-wise, and I assume nearby apartments are priced accordingly.
I haven’t done a serious investigation, but in the IRL world it looks like campus housing is currently a bargain compared to nearby rentals, so you’d expect to see more upperclassmen in the dorms than you would in normal times.
And I would be crushed that you missed my Logan’s Run reference were it not for the fact that Logan’s run came out when I was…a lot younger than I am now.
And really, how is Carousel any different from ascension to the Heaviside layer?
Hey, i got it
Are you rocking it for the Sci-Fi geeks, or the old fogies?
Yes!
Renew! Renew!
Maybe the school houses upperclassmen of legal drinking age in a different building, so they don’t become alcohol suppliers to younger students?
Also, from that strip, it’s not clear that Billie was expecting him to be able to buy her beer, but that what he thought she wanted. I think she was just looking for the prestige of hooking up with an upperclassman.
In my (now long ago) college experience, while few were legal to buy alcohol, older students were more likely to have figured out how to access it – fake ids, older friends, places that wouldn’t card, something. Certainly more so than freshmen in their first days on campus. So he’d probably been asked. (Honestly, at this point, I don’t even remember how I got booze. I didn’t have a fake id, but I never had trouble having alcohol around.)
Billie, of course, had a good fake id to start with and needed no one to buy for her.
My state raised the drinking age 10 days before my birthday. Maybe I misunderstood the law, but I remember losing my right to drink for 10 days. Fortunately, drinking wasn’t very important to me. Two of my housemates and I once took about a week to get through a six pack. I suppose that MIGHT have had something to do with the quality of the beer.
Two years older. Ruth is 20.
I agree. Ruth is hoping Billy will show up at the bar.
Ruth’s 20, so not in the states.
I’m HOPING she’s either here to see Billie or here to get something to eat without alcohol (I do it in bar sections all the time).
At some point I remember her saying she was 2 years older than the freshman. Based on the timing, she might have an October or earlier birthday making her legally 21.
On the other hand, she did buy alcohol earlier in the series. So either she is already 21 or looks old enough with a decent fake.
wow, I thought this would happen two storylines ago
Oh, shit, Ruth! 🙁
Why … is Ruth at a bar.
Why do fools fall in love?
Why are there so many songs about rainbows? And what’s on the other side?
Why must I be a teenager in love?
Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?
https://xkcd.com/348/
It was a zombie jamboree!
And Who wrote the book of Love.
That’s what I just asked you, who?
That’s right, Who.
You can’t blame everything on the Doctor.
No, it was The Monotones, Who is on first.
Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world?
‘Cause you don’t love me anymore
So what are the odds they have a mature and adult conversation here, like they need to? And what are the odds Billie makes an ass of herself?(again)
I give it 25:1
Optimist
Wear your glasses, folks! You might notice that the free beer isn’t until tomorrow!
… And you can see that your maybe-girlfriend maybe-ex-girlfriend is sitting right there just kinda watching you and probably about to try to discuss some heavy shit and probably try to dissuade you from coming back tomorrow for that free beer and you aren’t sure if you want that or not so wouldn’t it be great if you could at least see her before you sit down?
“Free beer tomorrow”? Does this mean that Galasso, while having no mercy, does have a sense of humor?
When I was in college, “Free Beer” was the name of a band that worked the local bar circuit.
That’s genius. I’m definitely having that name.
In my area of western Wisconsin there used to be a band that called itself “Three Beers ’til Dubuque” (a city in Iowa about three hours south of where I call home)… and during the karaoke craze one of the traveling karaoke outfits was called “Free Beer and Naked Karaoke”.
(note: they never delivered on either one)
Oh dear. This’ll be something.
This whole day is starting off wonderfully.
This may be the start of your day, but it’s the end of the casts’.
I just noticed that the next storyline is in the Archives grab-bar. Whose birthday is it, I wonder? Has this already been revealed and I just forgot it?
Dina?
I don’t know how I forgot in just two months, but are absolutely right.
In my defense, I’ve been known to forget the birthdays of close family members.
^ “you are”.
I used to spot grammar mistakes like a hawk. Now I’m more like Billie without glasses.
I would be surprised if hawks can spot grammar mistakes.
Isolated rabbits, on the other hand . . .
Sarah’s birthday is also coming up, though nobody’s mentioned it and I doubt Sarah wants to celebrate it either.
Unless… Sarah’s birthday IS Halloween.
And it has begun
It begins
You might say it all returns.
I predict this will end well. No. Really. I predict it will end well.
i really hope ruth is there because she knows billie will be and is there to fight for her to come to her senses, not because she’s also drinking.
i always liked ruth, but ever since her meds kicked in i’ve been really optimistic for her. i hope to be proven right.
I’m hoping Ruth is there because she wanted a soda.
Oh Billie, such a trainwreck.
Ruth… protect yourself.
Everyone relax. It’s the only place in town that airs any Leafs games.
Billie, you asked for this, you ignorant bongo. Hi Ruth! Thank the universe she didnt became insane because of her drugs and killed Walky and Joyce. Integrivact is dangerous.
And carries a downright frightening list of side-effects.
Plot twist: Ruth was just waiting to catch Billie in the act.
I hope.
No one believed I was the person in my IDs; since I had facial hair in them, people (particularly annoying US Border agents) kept saying they were my father’s.
My over-40-years-older-than-me father.
Now that I’m old, facial hair makes me look YOUNGER. Go figure.
I once got carded four times in one visit to a casino. I feel your pain.
No this won’t be awkward at all I’m sure.
Billie needs to power walk away to “These Boots are made for Walking.”
Then Ruth can say, “I just got seated here at the bar because all the booths are full.”
Billie REALLY needs to find herself another bar.
Galasso’s is the only bar in town that accepts her cereal box-back ‘ID Card’!
The weird part is that stick-in-the-mud JASON accept it.
Billie’s fake id is apparently pretty good. Only reason she has trouble is that she looks young and the crow’s feet help with that.
Ruth is there because she’s hooked on Jason’s mixed exotic fruit juices!
I wish Billie would wear her glasses more often. I think she looks better with them on.
Plus she can see better with them on.
Leave it to Billie to frame herself as the victim who is being harassed unfairly here. How dare anyone correctly discern that she is under legal drinking age and follow the mandated procedure of carding her- something police occasionally ask underage volunteers to test in sting operations. It’s not like he has a lot of wiggle room to be fired over failing to card- that job is his lifeline right now since the whole Accidentally Guessed Student Fraternization thing. Not that Billie cares.
I’m ready to rubberneck the train wreck of ugly denials coming up. Or maybe she’ll accuse Ruth of stalking her and invading her valuable privacy? Or maybe the third, and least likely, she’ll wake up and realize she is indeed an alcoholic.
Ruth has a lot of power. All she has to do is say she’s an RA and knows that Billie is a freshman, and the tissue thin grudging tolerance to serve her due to her fake ID is gone at Galasso’s. Some restraints do that thing with Do Not Serve This Person. Of course Billie would be mad at being held accountable and for Ruth doing the right thing. Actually Ruth can’t not do the right thing- an RA can’t knowingly see a student breaking the law and just do nothing, that’s becoming complicit. Ruth is also on thinner ice when it comes to keeping her job and such.
Acting indignant about being carded is part of the act, trying to convince him she’s older than she is so he doesn’t question it
Ruth’s not on thin ice with her job here. Ruth’s been breaking far more serious rules all along. Her problem is that she can’t get herself fired, thanks to Sir.
Jason already knows she’s a freshman anyway.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/backpacked/
kiss kiss breaking up
(maybe not but vaguely feels like it. Ruth might not be drinking but boy are they in for a talk)
no, Ruth only shows up with special lenses
Rosecolored lenses?
…no, that doesn’t seem quite right.
What color is murder?
Ironically? Rose.
Well, there we go then.
.Yeees! Finally! Now either Bill will run like never before in her life or they will have a very embarrassing and necessary conversation.
Sure hope Ruth is just hanging out or drinking virgin stuff.
Oh god, I hope Ruth isn’t drinking… She was doing so well.
Two alcoholics walk into a bar…..
FINALLY UP TO DATE
Panel 3 hits close to home. People regularly tell me they think I’m in my early to mid 20s, even though I’m actually in my early 30s. I just want to buy spray paint without getting carded, dammit!