Wouldn’t that depend on how stealthy and precise he is? I mean, if he’s drunk, loud, and always missing, then he wouldn’t be much of an assassin. Well, aside from like, every assassin (or general bad guy) in nearly every action, action-adventure, or action-comedy movie ever. ..huh.
Okay, so wait. Am I correct in my interpretation that we’re trying to say that the Maple Leafs are Hockey’s Stormtroopers?
Sigh, I think Billie is going to take this to mean “I can be a little punk and sneak back to Ruth and all is forgiven even though I haven’t acknowledged the damage I’m causing or apologizing for it.”
Ruth is EVENTUALLY gonna quit this for her own health. We gotta circle the drain first more though, possibly orbit it.
Not until it’s inevitably revealed. Plus all the lies and deception involved.
To be honest, it would be better for Billie to keep openly drinking, but not around Ruth and without talking about it to Ruth or inviting Ruth to places based on their alcohol selection. Which is all Ruth asked for when this whole fight started a couple days back.
She might mean it this time. This is only the second time she’s promised this seriously, and it’s possible she’s learned from last time that she sucks at keeping secrets from Ruth.
I have horrible self control and impulse control problems. My therapist told me that so long as I can try to keep it somewhat directed at harmful things that don’t cause me trouble in the long run then it’s fine. In my case it’s usually buying new games that don’t technically fit into my budget but don’t throw me into debt either
If you think geese are bad…English seagulls. They WILL attack anybody for the seaside treats they are holding.
Seriously, nowadays there is a standing warning not to eat food outdoors near the beach in case you get suddenly attacked by a flock of seagulls. (And just to really kick you when you’re down, attempting to defend yourself from these vicious birds will also get your ass sued by the RSPB)
The ones you really need to watch out for put their ice skates on their hands and come at you swinging.
The worst don’t even bother with the first step. You ever see a horde of Crazed Canucks running towards you on their hands, bladed feet whirling through the air? They can skeletonize a moose in ten seconds.
Ruth is making real personal sacrifices towards improving. Billie SAYS she’ll go to therapy or whatever. Does she know when and where it is, things someone who is serious would do?
Maybe Ruth could lead her there in person. “STOP STIFLING ME”
They told Billie to go to therapy. The problem is that they were so concerned with Ruth — understandably so, since she was the suicidal one — that they underestimated how serious Billie’s problems are, and didn’t push hard enough.
It seems like a safe bet, but you never know what will happen to the timeline. Like, someone makes a small change to the past, and boom! suddenly the Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t so bad.
Well when Marty went back and changed the past 3 times, He only postponed Biff’s takeover of the world by 30 years. And only pushed the Cubs winning the world series back by a year.
I still don’t see how this will help them. Only Willis will show if their relationship works or not. I don’t want another Integrity or Integrivact incident happening this year.
Honestly that’s my stance on it too. I’m just along for the ride at this point, I can’t keep track of everything going on here long enough to form a proper opinion. I just want them to get their lives pulled together! Is that too much to ask?!
Everybody needs to have some vices. Even Mark Twain recognized this over a century ago, when he told this anecdote about a woman who was near the end of her life:
“She had run down and down and down, and had at last reached a point where medicines no longer had any helpful effect upon her. I said I knew I could put her upon her feet in a week. It brightened her up, it filled her with hope, and she said she would do everything I told her to do. So I said she must stop swearing and drinking, and smoking and eating for four days, and then she would be all right again.
And it would have happened just so, I know it; but she said she could not stop swearing, and smoking and drinking, because she had never done those things. So there it was. She had neglected her habits, and hadn’t any. Now that they would have come good, there were none in stock. She had nothing to fall back on. She was a sinking vessel, with no freight in her to throw overboard and lighten ship.
Why, even one or two little bad habits could have saved her, but she was just a moral pauper. When she could have acquired them she was dissuaded by her parents, who were ignorant people though reared in the best society, and it was too late to begin now. It seemed such a pity; but there was no help for it. These things ought to be attended to while a person is young; otherwise, when age and disease come, there is nothing effectual to fight them with.”
(from “Following the Equator”, 1897)
Random fact I learned recently: Robert Palmer would occassionally perform Husker Du songs at his live shows. I am still wrapping my head and trying to make peace with that.
Sometimes I wonder if The Willis likes to conduct social experiments on the readership. Making an arc or character appeal to us because it/they inspires warm fuzzies and we can relate to it somehow….while our rational, ethical brains are smacked with a gajillion red flags. There’s so many of those instances in this comic, and it’s good storytelling for sure, but I wonder if it’s indicative of a larger Willisian philosophy.
So in panel 4, who kissed first? Panel 2, clearly it was Ruth, since she had to lean in. Panel 4, logic suggests that Billie initiated the kissing to try and shut Ruth up, but on the other hand, Ruth interrupting herself to kiss Billie because she doesn’t want to say what she’s about to say is that much more of a gut-punch.
I think the drawing implies Billie started the second kiss, but I’m not completely convinced.
Probably. Maybe one of their therapists will suggest it.
I think the individual therapy is more important at this point though. Their personal issues are more of a problem than their relationship ones.
I have done couples therapy as a way to firm up the support structure before having myself or a partner go through individual therapy. If anything it’s a good way to brush up on alternative communication techniques, emotional management and coping techniques if there is going to be backfire, from say, new medications and the like.
True and in their case I’d certainly suggest both, but they’re both in a state where the basics are so shaky I’d hesitate to delay.
To jump back a little bit, while couples therapy might have avoided this particular clash, I wouldn’t have wanted Ruth to delay her own therapy or starting her own medication while starting couples therapy. She was in crisis. Billie isn’t quite so obviously bad, but not as far behind as it might seem.
Priority for individual but if couples was the only way to get therapy for either, I’d say some is better then none. Is Ruth still in therapy? We’ve only seen her with medication management and offer for group one right?
I know she went went she was in hospital. I believe we’ve been told she’s still going, but I wouldn’t know where to look for a reference. Of course, it’s only been about a week and a half since she got out, so that would likely only be a couple times anyway.
Loading ...
Clearly Billie should become a Maple Leaf’s cheerleader / assassin. Then she’ll be perfect!
You’d better construct a sentence with “Maple Leafs” and “assassin” very precisely.
“Maple Leafs” + “assassin” = Kerry Fraser?
Hockey + murder = Jason Vorhees
I know his name, but not the “assassin” part.
An assassin on the Maple Leafs payroll.
Auston Matthews is a sniper, so does that mean the Leafs already have an assassin?
Wouldn’t that depend on how stealthy and precise he is? I mean, if he’s drunk, loud, and always missing, then he wouldn’t be much of an assassin. Well, aside from like, every assassin (or general bad guy) in nearly every action, action-adventure, or action-comedy movie ever. ..huh.
Okay, so wait. Am I correct in my interpretation that we’re trying to say that the Maple Leafs are Hockey’s Stormtroopers?
Topical:
https://static.cycloneshockey.com/images/events/5400acf4c072d.jpg
“If murder were a woman, I’d cheat on you with it.”
“And I’d jeopardize our relationship to nail your hot side piece.”
also femurs
ARGH fucking Firefox pushed another update that clears basically everything
Venture Brothers?
Damn it.
^this
^mostly this, she’s right about the Leafs at least.
Allowed one vice? What?
Sigh, I think Billie is going to take this to mean “I can be a little punk and sneak back to Ruth and all is forgiven even though I haven’t acknowledged the damage I’m causing or apologizing for it.”
Ruth is EVENTUALLY gonna quit this for her own health. We gotta circle the drain first more though, possibly orbit it.
But if Billie keeps her drinking secret from Ruth, she won’t actually be damaging Ruth then, will she?
Yes.
Not until it’s inevitably revealed. Plus all the lies and deception involved.
To be honest, it would be better for Billie to keep openly drinking, but not around Ruth and without talking about it to Ruth or inviting Ruth to places based on their alcohol selection. Which is all Ruth asked for when this whole fight started a couple days back.
Better for Billie to stop of course.
She might mean it this time. This is only the second time she’s promised this seriously, and it’s possible she’s learned from last time that she sucks at keeping secrets from Ruth.
…
What? It’s possible!
I don’t think you are allowed one vice, no
I think your therapist might disagree
Depends very much on the vice.
Take murder. You’re allowed one victim.
That is how it works, isn’t it?
Person 1: “4 isn’t a lot, right?”
Person 2: “Depends. 4 pencils, nah. 4 murders, yeah.”
I disagree. We all need one thing we can be indulgent towards ourselves. Life is harsh as it is. Just make it one thing that is not destructive.
My therapist tells me I’m over critical and harsh on myself so I’m not sure they wouldn’t say you’re not allowed to have vices.
*im pretty sure
I need to go to bed
But that is your vice and they’re trying to take it away. 🙂
I have horrible self control and impulse control problems. My therapist told me that so long as I can try to keep it somewhat directed at harmful things that don’t cause me trouble in the long run then it’s fine. In my case it’s usually buying new games that don’t technically fit into my budget but don’t throw me into debt either
Billie, please, I’m begging you, value your life.
Don’t mock a Canadian’s hockey team to their face. 😛
The reason they are so polite is that they save up their rage for just such an occasion.
Look, we let our rage out in the Canadian approved times. 😛
Like someone insulting our teams to our faces.
I thought you guys channeled all your rage into your geese? (Seriously, those things are mean! I do not like the cobra chicken!)
That’s all geese, Canada’s are not exceptional.
Can confirm American geese also assholes.
You got a problem with Canada gooses, you got a problem with me, and I suggest you let that one marinate!
The Canada Goose is the only avian that has ever tried to pick my pocket.
If you think geese are bad…English seagulls. They WILL attack anybody for the seaside treats they are holding.
Seriously, nowadays there is a standing warning not to eat food outdoors near the beach in case you get suddenly attacked by a flock of seagulls. (And just to really kick you when you’re down, attempting to defend yourself from these vicious birds will also get your ass sued by the RSPB)
If Letterkenny taught me anything, it’s that Canadians let out there rage through dissing each other in the most Canadian ways possible.
All Canadians have a serrated blade on their person at all times. Just like all Australians have a venomous barb.
The ones you really need to watch out for put their ice skates on their hands and come at you swinging.
The worst don’t even bother with the first step. You ever see a horde of Crazed Canucks running towards you on their hands, bladed feet whirling through the air? They can skeletonize a moose in ten seconds.
Those moose had it coming, I tell ya!
Li-lu. Lol-le-lo.
Winslow doesn’t like ungulates.
The La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo!?
Ah, I see you have been reading Questionable Content as well.
I suspect a considerable proportion of the readership also follow QC.
I was making a Metal Gear reference. I don’t read Questionable Content except a few pages if somebody links them here and I get curious.
When I read that last night, I thought it said “put their ice skates on their heads.” I just couldn’t figure it out.
I can honestly say that whenever I wear ice skates, I wear them on my head.
I live in Texas.
It’s okay, most Canadians don’t consider Toronto a Canadian team, barely consider it a Canadian city.
. . . .I am conflicted. The shipper in me says yes. . .but it is also screaming no this will self destruct in a non-beautiful way.
Yep, it’s a heck of a return to form for these two >.>
I love when they dunk on each other.
Ruth is making real personal sacrifices towards improving. Billie SAYS she’ll go to therapy or whatever. Does she know when and where it is, things someone who is serious would do?
Maybe Ruth could lead her there in person. “STOP STIFLING ME”
Isn’t it at the health center? I think she was given a card or something. Of course she’s going to have to call and make an appointment.
She might not even have to do that, just show up and attend if it’s group therapy that has regular sessions.
They told Billie to go to therapy. The problem is that they were so concerned with Ruth — understandably so, since she was the suicidal one — that they underestimated how serious Billie’s problems are, and didn’t push hard enough.
Okay Billie, but you know the price for this is going to therapy and giving up the booze. You’re stuck with that now. You’ve got to get better too.
WOO HOO!!
…
….
…..
I mean… um… mental health is… um…
…
WOO HOO!!!
Yeah, why does my OTP have to be so toxic?
Somebody is a Blur fan.
Daww… Now tell Gramps to go get stuffed and your journey to the Light side will be… hmmm. Begun, I guess?
I will once again repeat my prediction that this comic will end before the Leafs win another Cup.
It seems like a safe bet, but you never know what will happen to the timeline. Like, someone makes a small change to the past, and boom! suddenly the Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t so bad.
Somewhere Jason Mendoza is yelling “Bortles!” and throwing a Molotov cocktail.
Well when Marty went back and changed the past 3 times, He only postponed Biff’s takeover of the world by 30 years. And only pushed the Cubs winning the world series back by a year.
Biff was never so bad as the reality of Trump. at least Biff only wrecked Hill Valley.
… That we saw on screen, anyway.
Yup. Billie resorting to this, just to avoid not drinking.
Suicide Is the cowards way out
(I’m referring to insulting the team, not the… Other things)
I still don’t see how this will help them. Only Willis will show if their relationship works or not. I don’t want another Integrity or Integrivact incident happening this year.
They do know it’s entirely possible to be together and improve each other like a healthy relationship right?
It’s possible, yes. Whether Ruth and Billie are able to do so remains to be seen.
Probably not for these two
this is absolutely tiring
Honestly that’s my stance on it too. I’m just along for the ride at this point, I can’t keep track of everything going on here long enough to form a proper opinion. I just want them to get their lives pulled together! Is that too much to ask?!
Oh, Ruth…
Billie and murder are all you NEED!
Everybody needs to have some vices. Even Mark Twain recognized this over a century ago, when he told this anecdote about a woman who was near the end of her life:
“She had run down and down and down, and had at last reached a point where medicines no longer had any helpful effect upon her. I said I knew I could put her upon her feet in a week. It brightened her up, it filled her with hope, and she said she would do everything I told her to do. So I said she must stop swearing and drinking, and smoking and eating for four days, and then she would be all right again.
And it would have happened just so, I know it; but she said she could not stop swearing, and smoking and drinking, because she had never done those things. So there it was. She had neglected her habits, and hadn’t any. Now that they would have come good, there were none in stock. She had nothing to fall back on. She was a sinking vessel, with no freight in her to throw overboard and lighten ship.
Why, even one or two little bad habits could have saved her, but she was just a moral pauper. When she could have acquired them she was dissuaded by her parents, who were ignorant people though reared in the best society, and it was too late to begin now. It seemed such a pity; but there was no help for it. These things ought to be attended to while a person is young; otherwise, when age and disease come, there is nothing effectual to fight them with.”
(from “Following the Equator”, 1897)
MT was brilliant.
“I haven’t a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming petty vices.” – from Mark Twain, a Biography
But what about femur removal?
THIS IS HEALTHY AND DESIRABLE FOR ALL INVOLVED
This is fine…
Everything is fine, nothing is the matter!
Ah yes the good old “We can temporarily ignore how toxic our relationship is if we make out” manoeuvre, I know it well.
Making out is almost always the funnest way to avoid a problem.
Ruth and Billie are like ten vices each.
Or how did Joyce put it again…
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/booklet/
A few strips later I found http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/terrible-2/
“Please don’t [leave me alone], ever. Not even if I get stupid and make you.”
So Billie has some reason for being insistently clingy.
“Yesterday is dead and gone, and tomorrow is out of sight…” I want these two together so bad.
“You and murder” sounds like the name of an edgy alternative romance novel
It’d probably still be a better love story than Twilight.
I was thinking of Laidlaw’s Rule:
“I’m Ruth, and I’m going to be your Resident Assistant.” And then the murders began.
Coming this fall to the CW.
*plays Robert Palmer’s Bad Case of Loving You on the hacked muzak*
Addicted to Love and Simply Irresistible seem like fitting songs as well.
Random fact I learned recently: Robert Palmer would occassionally perform Husker Du songs at his live shows. I am still wrapping my head and trying to make peace with that.
Sometimes I wonder if The Willis likes to conduct social experiments on the readership. Making an arc or character appeal to us because it/they inspires warm fuzzies and we can relate to it somehow….while our rational, ethical brains are smacked with a gajillion red flags. There’s so many of those instances in this comic, and it’s good storytelling for sure, but I wonder if it’s indicative of a larger Willisian philosophy.
I assumed it was: torture the characters -> torture the readers -> ? -> profit
Billie has been trying to get Ruth to give up that hopeless Leafs fan activity for a while. I suspect that it’s one of Ruth’s red lines, though!
Just knowing that Billie likes to tease her for it makes it worth keeping around.
The theme song for these two. (I already associated it with Leslie, but…yeah, it really fits these two better.)
No, Billie, getting rid of that is her hard limit!
I met a Leafs fan in actual real life a couple of weeks ago, in Edinburgh. He also had no faith in them succeeding in anything.
… Ruth’s suicidal tendencies as explained via fandom and Spoons’ “underdog” would put a very dark light on that.
Was that why he was hiding in Edinburgh?
So in panel 4, who kissed first? Panel 2, clearly it was Ruth, since she had to lean in. Panel 4, logic suggests that Billie initiated the kissing to try and shut Ruth up, but on the other hand, Ruth interrupting herself to kiss Billie because she doesn’t want to say what she’s about to say is that much more of a gut-punch.
I think the drawing implies Billie started the second kiss, but I’m not completely convinced.
Bille’s got a hand on Ruth’s cheek, so it’s possible she pulled her in.
It’s pretty clear to me that Billie initiated the kiss as a “Shut up, stupid” gesture.
Second panel hit me riiiight in the feels. Possibly the best drawn of all time, Master Willis!
I might just be biased, but the art does tend to seem better than usual when these two are together.
I dunno maybe couples therapy would be good for them? They both seem to want to make it work.
Probably. Maybe one of their therapists will suggest it.
I think the individual therapy is more important at this point though. Their personal issues are more of a problem than their relationship ones.
That’s the vibe I’m getting.
I have done couples therapy as a way to firm up the support structure before having myself or a partner go through individual therapy. If anything it’s a good way to brush up on alternative communication techniques, emotional management and coping techniques if there is going to be backfire, from say, new medications and the like.
True and in their case I’d certainly suggest both, but they’re both in a state where the basics are so shaky I’d hesitate to delay.
To jump back a little bit, while couples therapy might have avoided this particular clash, I wouldn’t have wanted Ruth to delay her own therapy or starting her own medication while starting couples therapy. She was in crisis. Billie isn’t quite so obviously bad, but not as far behind as it might seem.
Both. Both is good.
Priority for individual but if couples was the only way to get therapy for either, I’d say some is better then none. Is Ruth still in therapy? We’ve only seen her with medication management and offer for group one right?
I know she went went she was in hospital. I believe we’ve been told she’s still going, but I wouldn’t know where to look for a reference. Of course, it’s only been about a week and a half since she got out, so that would likely only be a couple times anyway.
And yeah, couples would be better than none.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/sessions/
I got you.
*sigh* The puppy eyes worked, didn’t they?
It nags me that Rose isn’t even on the poll. She’s my absolute favourite so far.
I get you. Asma is my jam.
WTF Ruth
Are you familiar with Billie and Ruth’s communication style?
still…
Trix are for kids
My day has consisted is opening Google in my phone, going “ok”, closing it, opening it later, going “ok”, rince and repeat
aww
basking in the glow of my wretched disaster ship