Sorry Alt-Text, but hard disagree. Drivers are INSANE, and need all the help they can get to not hit someone while they’re willfully distracted.
You go Dorothy, and rock that jacket. As for the doubling down on discipline, ehhhh. Maybe try talking to your therapist instead and recognize that even presidents (especially presidents) make mistakes, a **LOT**.
Funnily enough I quit my once chance at a degree so far, after slipping on the ice while thinking about my extra projects and fracturing my tailbone, causing me to need time off, which led to me being able to re-evaluate things (it was the wrong subject, and I was in the wrong town).
Dorothy probably won’t slip seriously, cause that would solve her problems far too soon and this looks like a trainwreck in sloooow motion.
(Truth be told though – when I’ve had a bad day, I FEEL like I should be doing something over the top to catch up, which seems so overwhelming that I don’t get out of bed at all. So I should probably not be judging. It’s just… Both me and Dorothy need to learn to sometimes just freaking relax without feeling guilty about it.)
You recognize that you have a problem. Perhaps you don’t always recognize it in the middle, but you recognize it at least some of the time. You’re already doing better than Dorothy.
She’s risking a hell of a lot more than slipping on ice. Among other problems her current line of thinking and behavior could take her “Exercise makes me feel good, I lost weight and people are telling me I look good . . .” can get into a vicious spiral even if you don’t think of yourself as fat. Sometimes it’s just about seizing your eating and exercise habits as one of the few things in your life you can control and exercising to an unhealthy level while also dangerously cutting calories. And that’s just one of the terrible places this could go.
You are seriously underselling the danger of her actions and thought patterns.
As an addiction-prone person I’ve gone down both the acoholism path and the exercise/health/work addiction path and they both led to burning up and dropping out for mental health recoup. With the latter I just looked better (and was perceived by others in a more positive light).
Sigh. I know a [not active drug & alcohol] addict who is deep in running to survive (and also definitely has disordered eating). He experiences a pretty intense high both while running and post-running, and runs probably-too much.
I hope it’s a manageable level of addiction and doesn’t kill him. He’s maintained it for a long time.
It’s definitely an under-rated form of addiction (in that it isn’t given the same level of concern and support as other addictions) and in some ways harder to address because of how socially accepted it is with our cultures’ obsession with health and appearance. The health risks aren’t as widely known, so it can be hard to see them until they’re impossible to ignore (for me it was when I began fainting in class which was not acceptable for my perfectionist brain).
I hope he finds a good support network socially and professionally. It can make all the difference.
Yeah. I actually think that straight-up alcoholism might be better, because at least people would see that something’s wrong, and have a chance of convincing Dorothy to see it too.
How is alcoholism better alternative? Alcoholism can lead to so many deadly long term health problems yes excersie addiction can be dangerous and I unfortunately downplayed it and I feel bad but I have seen family members die due to alcoholism related diseases. It also profoundly affects those around the alcholic as it can lead to the physical and mental abuse of others. I don’t i am not an alchoolic but i have seen the effects that alchoolism has on a person and their sorrunding family.
the risks of alcoholism can cause deadly longterm health risks hundreds of thousands of people die from alcoholism related dieseases. In the US its the 4th leading cause of death..
Just beacuse it’s more recognizable doesn’t mean the person will get help or even accept help before its to late if someone is an alcoholic chances are they have suffered some sort of long term health.
I just spelled it out. If she has something more widely recognized as a problem, she’s more likely to get help – even if she’s a functional alcoholic and is not suffering most of the health problems or inflicting trouble on her loved ones.
So as some people have pointed out including yourself a bout of drinking may not lead to alcholism a bout of intense excersie may not lead to excersie addiction. But this a story with dramatic elements that yes may lead folks (myself included) to presume the worst will happen.
Dorothy has been shown to engage in self reflection she may not succumb to either Dorothy likely has underlying psychological problems that are more likely to manifest in front of others that would compell others to convince her to seek more intensive treatments then she is receiving.
However when it comes to addicitons neither habbit is healthy and its not right to trivialise someones excersise adicition in hypothetical scenario were Dorothy becomes an adict ,there is a reason why alcholism is far more noticable beacuse its far more deadly.
If you are an alcoholic you’ve likely done damage to your long term health Excersie addiction can result in some serious health problems like weaking your bones eating disorders and infertility and it can cause cell degeneration but death is far less common.
In a scenario in whcih Dotty becomes an adict you’re that Dotty should inflict her self with something that can kill her! Once again I mention it doesn’t just affect one person it affects everyone it’s also not a habit that one can easily break. I have watched family members die from this despite all the outreach tried they didn’t break the habit.
Also there is no guarantee that Dorothy would get help if she became an alcoholic. Alcholism will result in long term damage to your health it doesn’t matter if it’s more noticeable, it’s more destructive. Alcoholism is more damaging then excersise addiciton and a choice between the two which the latter is “better”
On the other hand, recalling that Dorothy has been a runner all along, she could be an exercise enthusiast, obsessively measuring everything and comparing it with experts’ recommendations for her age, build and stature. She’s never seemed to me to be excessively concerned with her looks, just careful to always be presentable and mature-looking to match her I’ve-got-this attitude.
Yeah, there’s definitely an unhealthy aspect to the “I screwed up yesterday, so I have to double down today” thing, but let’s not catastrophize here. There’s no reason to even suspect she’s heading in an exercise/eating disorder direction. It’s a control thing certainly, but she’s never even hinted about any concern with looks or weight loss.
I mean, sure, the main walkways, to the degree reasonable, but they aren’t magic and you can see in panel one that there are many footprints in the snow along the path
smoosh em both together and come out with moderate coping mechanisms.
Ethan has more realistic? expectations of himself, but Dorothy is going to retain her physical health.
Dorothy’s pushing too hard, denying the reality of her state and needs, and Ethan is like. denying himself the option of improvement or recovery.
Dorothy is more likely to graduate and get a job with health care. And one that she can actually afford food and rent. Unfortunately in America this means she’s more likely to survive long term even if she isn’t very happy.
A: When you push yourself into burn out like she’s heading towards your likelihood of graduating or getting a job plummets pretty sharply.
B: Some people seem to be overlooking the very realphysical issues one can cause themselves by trying to “Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen”.
I think Dorothy is probably still in a better place than Ethan, all things considered, but she’s on a downward trajectory while he’s moving upwards. That matters a lot.
This is a more positive response than I expected; I still feel like she hasn’t done anything to actually change or improve the situation, but baby steps are nice too.
The Slipshine isn’t about self discipline, it’s about Booster disciplining Ethan. And Ethan trying to decide what the gender neutral of Master/Mistress is so he doesn’t misgender his dom.
BDSM can actually be quite therapeutic when done right, although I’m not sure Booster, at their age and presumed experience, would be the ideal D-type.
Actually, I think Dottie is someone who would benefit from subbing if it was something she was into. Learning to relinquish control, allow others to care for her, while also satisfying her need to perform (and fail) in a fun way.
My kinky brain is ticking so imma brainstorm what roles these dumbies would be:
Joyce- soft Domme, switch (learning touch and play with high focus on communication and consent)
Joe- Joyce’s bottom, kinda flustered by not having to be the big in control guy in the bedroom
Ethan- total bottom, lots of aftercare
Booster- really into the psychological aspect, switch
Dorothy- service bottom, possibly slave
Amber- Bondage top of course
Carla- brat, S&M switch
Malaya- brat, little
Ruth- Brat tamer, Domme, “tops from the bottom”, Mistress, primal play
Billy- primal play (with Ruth), pillow princess
Sal- vanilla but likes latex and leather for the aesthetic, or maybe top with a collection of impact toys
Danny- rope bunny and impact bottom
Walky- will try anything once so long as he doesn’t have to do anything, so bottom
Sarah is DEFINITELY a degradation/humiliation heavy top. I don’t have a good read on Marcie yet, but I think she’d be a top-leaning switch with brat-taming potential (possibly just because I ship her and Malaya).
Taffy, I can’t reply directly to you for some reason, but a little is someone who engages in age-regression or age-play. They typically revert to early childhood and might wear nappies, onesies, pacifiers and enjoy things like colouring in or make believe and playing with toys. A middle reverts to an older child age or teen, and a big or carer is a person who supports them in their headspace.
It’s therapeutic for a lot of people (especially those who had unsafe childhoods or are trans and didn’t get to experience childhood in their true gender) and focuses on creating a nurturing, uninhibited, joyful headspace. It’s not usually sexual (which I feel like staying since a lot of people associate it with the unsavoury). I’ve run munch/play groups for littles and we mostly play games, skate and do colouring in or play with stuffed toys.
My favourite memory was at an all women’s kink event where there were a lot of unaccompanied littles and they locked on in a cage to poke her with sticks and play keep-up with balloons. They all appreciated my light up wheelies, too (which my Domme has forbidden me to wear in her presence lol)
Okay, first off, thanks for the explanation. I feel like I’ve learned something this morning.
Second, I’m stuck on “locked one in a cage to poke her with sticks”. I’m just imagining several grown adults doing exactly that to another grown adult who’s shrieking at them, and I can’t decide if it’s the funniest thing I’ve read all month or an actually kinda sweet show of solidarity and dedication to the collective bit. Probably all of them at once?
Third, I absolutely can’t imagine Malaya doing something like that personally, but they might tag along with a friend who does, if only to see what the fuss is about.
HONESTLY… i just realized its morning. How are they walking together in the am?? Is booster in the same hall as ethan?? Did ethan / booster spend the night together????
Probably not Booster may just be an early riser and I beleive they are in the same building. Also Amber was pretty clear that she wanted Booster to be Ethan’s friend not lover.
I think they are friends now. Who get together on the regular, probably because Booster comes to visit Ethan. Bonking would be way too much fun/efffort for Ethan’s current mental state.
Still here for this friendship betwixt Booster and Ethan. Sometimes you need a friend where you can feel as garbage as you like without puttin on airs otherwise. I hope to see some growth in our emo lad soon. It feels like the rest of the cast has done what they can to make steps to move on and I hope ethan will be in a place where he can soon.
I like that, after a moment of reflection, Booster appears to blatantly ignore Dorothy’s desperate need for help so as to use the situation to shameless flirt.
Also, don’t run in the snow Dorothy – that’s how you slip on compacted snow or hidden ice.
Yeah, Booster was like. “Oh, I’m not touching this _right now.”_ They’ll probably do that later but for starters, they aren’t going to run after Dots, in the snow.
Hell yes to the flirting. And to Ethan’s reply, actually. Small steps are still steps! And it’s what I get from the strip :3
The exercise might help with the mood, but her problem is really really not lack of self-discipline. It’s going to take time for her to grow up. something something speedrun wordplay.
Anyways, every day is a day closer to Dorothy+Arnold.
Panel 3 Dorothy: Me and dealing with ADHD.
Panel 2 Dorothy: Me 24 hours after that.
Panel 3 Dorothy: Me 5 minutes later.
Panel 2 Dorothy: Me the next day.
Etc.
Just keep running, Dorothy. If your problems are rooted in your brain, you’re not going to outrun them.
….
(Actually maybe endorphins from exercise could help with mood and outlook and okay that could work after all.)
That’s kind of how Dorothy has always acted in the past so yeah its normal for her and it’s better then alcohol abuse she needs to talk to her therapist but it’s only been a day or two. Also the running and excersise might actually relieve the street and get her to think more clearly whereas alcohol could amplify depression.
It is true that alcohol is a depressant, however, the word “depressant” does not mean “causes depression”.
Running and exercise can be stress relieving for a mentally healthy person who is engaging in a healthy activity. But they’re not going to help Dorothy. They’re a symptom of her mental health issues. They’re not the cure.
And the kind of physical effort she’s vying for as a coping mechanism is self-harm. It’s not for the joy of running, or the challenge: It’s to punish herself. It still fucks with the Dopamine Reward System, and it can result on lasting injuries.
If that behavior continues, yes. If it’s a case of “I slipped yesterday, so today is devoted to getting back on the horse,” and she uses the resulting good feeling to tackle the bad stuff with a clearer head, then no.
Do we really think Dorothy didn’t first take five minutes to think it through and update her daily planner?
It’s one of the expected times for an existential crisis. As a teenager, she planned out her whole life, and as she’s becoming an adult, she’s seeing she didn’t really think it through. Right now, she’s back in denial, where she’s mostly been for a couple of weeks.
No running and excersie can release endorphins and help her think quickly well alcohol lower inhibitions and act as a depressant which is what she doesn’t need.
A lot of people seem to be focusing on her current action (jogging) and losing sight of her current words (Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen). The fact that excessive levels of exercise are physically harmful aside there are a lot of other ways “Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen” can have negative physical effects on a person’s body.
Again it may lend her some clarity and get her to slow down, her previous path was drinking which was not likely to help. Therapy is probably the best path but this is better then before.
This IS her previous path! This is the self-destructive path she’s been on since day one!
The drinking was a one-night aberration. It wasn’t a path. And I agree it wasn’t likely to help, but the running is just reinforcing her harmful thought and behavior patterns. This is not better! This is absolutely terrible.
+1, seriously. I don’t think the drinking was going to be a pattern, despite Ruth feeling a certain kinship with her. Teenagers drink sometimes. It’s not ideal but it’s fun, and one time certainly doesn’t mean they’re doomed. This isn’t the Tiny Toons’ “One Beer”.
She’s going to crash again and it’ll be twice as fast. It’s going to be tough to watch.
I don’t know about a good thing, but I definitely agree about the catastrophic expectations. Yeah, this is a symptom of her overall problems, not a solution, but it’s not a drastic spiral into disaster any more than drinking yesterday was a dive into alcoholism
It could be the thing that turns Joyce’s hero worship of Dorothy into something more realistic. Which would not be great for Dorothy at the moment, but Joyce could use it.
Net-Zero Joeyce Shipper (no engine, slowly following the current)
At this point, after all the bonding Joe & Joyce have been through, Joyce has enough information to know that Dorothy doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Maybe Joyce not bending to her will would be the extra push Dorothy needs to do some real introspection this time and question what she actually wants. (Dorothy’s not doing great in the moment anyway! A change in their dynamic could be helpful. Because when Joyce believes that Dorothy is perfect, it means she thinks it’s impossible for Dorothy to have problems. Maybe Joyce can help her through this crisis–if Dorothy is able to admit that she actually is struggling. Continued hero worship wouldn’t be good for Dorothy or the long-term health of their friendship.)
I gotta say, I really like Booster and Ethan’s friendship. With some flirting peppered in from Booster, but it’s real indeed. Look at E. and tell me that boy gets out of bed for just anyone. And out! In the open, when there’s snow happening!
He might’ve forgotten what enjoying things feels like, but I like to think he has fun when they meet up, too :33
“Haven’t you noticed that by running away you end up in more trouble?”
“Yes, but, you see, you can run away from that, too,” said Rincewind. “That’s the beauty of the system.”
Given the length of Dorothy’s speech, and the speed she seems to be running, I’m envisioning her feet treadmilling on the ice and her making like maybe two feet of forward progress during the whole thing.
I kind of wonder where Dorothy’s path of self-destructive behavior is going to take her. Her story has already intersected with Walky/Lucy/Raidah/Jennifer, Joe/Joyce, Ruth, and now (at least in passing) with Booster/Ethan. I suppose it already also kind of involved Becky, too.
Will her flaming wreckage grace Amber or Danny next? Both have their own connections with her, after all.
More and more I’m convinced that Dorothy is only smart in the context of academic achievement. Her common sense and self-awareness are completely in the toilet
Her strategy has probably worked for her until now, back before college and before she had been kidnapped. By which I mean, there was evidence that this coping mechanism worked. It’s only been a few months that it hasn’t.
How far away from Ethan and Booster is Dorothy by that third panel? And how loudly is she talking? Those speed lines sure make it look like she’s going quite fast.
Dorothy: self-discipline! it’s like denial except your whole body is sore all the time!
Booster: what say you Ethan, sounds pretty neat right?
Ethan: …pass
Alt text: Disagree. Thirty or forty years ago maybe, one didn’t need hi-viz in the middle of the day if you were running, cycling, on a motorcycle, or doing outdoor tradeswork.
America, we’ve spent the last quarter century making our roads a more dangerous place to be simply by how we drive. The pandemic exacerbated things, but didn’t cause them.
Don’t forget the “everyone but me is a non-player character; I’m the protagonist and therefore the most important” mindset that’s been sown over the last couple decades.
There’s so much to unpack with whatever Dorothy’s got going on but if somebody had the gall to tell me “we could give self-discipline a trial run” while I was depressed I would probably commit acts of violence against them.
I wish high viz meant cars would notice you. Can’t count how many times I’ve had to sprint out of the way of a car on a collision course with pedestrian or cyclist me – Traffic light in my favor and bright yellow coat.
Dorothy can’t even go for an early-afternoon sprint to escape her gay thoughts perceived failures, without people making unnecessary comments about her psychological state. Gods forbid women do anything. 🙄
How people here are seening something sexual between Ethan and Booster here???
(Not complaing about, it will be great if they get together. I’m talking about strip of today).
Huh. So Walky/Ruth were right. I was wondering if Dorothy was gonna double-back down on her ultra-disciplined approach or begin falling into a spiral since that’s a fairly common thing to happen to perfectionists once the cracks start showing. A “I’m not perfect anymore, so why should I even try now?” defeatist attitude.
FFS Dorothy… Why do people just REFUSE to see a therapist when they so, so, so, so, so obviously would benefit from being able to bounce their ideas and problems off an expert? They probably even have some available at the school for free. Just… Ugh.
One of the big concerns she raised previously – in a conversation with Ruth, if I recall correctly – is that “they don’t let you be president” if you have certain mental health issues. Depression may have been one of these? Dorothy is concerned that she may have these, and from what she said, it sounded like she has been keeping some stuff from her therapist for fear of this.
Yeah… And therapy only works if you see the person regularly and actually tell them everything. She has admitted she hides stuff because, as bemisawa pointed out “they don’t let you be President” if you have depression is her bad belief.
In my case, it’s because I’ve been abused by three different therapists in wildly different and incredibly harmful ways. Makes it hard to keep trying therapy.
You have all of my sympathies – as even besides abuse, finding a good therapist that matches what you need is no easy task for everybody. I hope you can find the help you need and, for what little it might be worth from a stranger, I can promise that they’re not all bad and can be very helpful. I wish you the best of luck.
You’ll notice Booster and Ethan catch everything Dorothy is saying even tho she’s running and they’re not. That’s because Booster and Ethan are walking at the speed of gay leaving them just a few strides behind Dotty
Wait wait, are we supposed to be shipping Booster and Ethan now?
… Am I a terrible person for kind of shipping Booster and Ethan?
… I mean, I don’t think either of them is very attracted to the other (just guessing), but I could see them going “eh, what the hell” and trying it out, for very different and incompatible reasons. I’d give them two-three months before they built their shells even bigger and shut each other out in a friendly-ish way.
And for some weird reason, I kinda’ want to see them together. I think they’d be a bad fit for each other, but in a non-horrible and entertaining way. They could be low-stakes dumb without being doomed.
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Speedrun Burnout Any%
She’s not side-hopping with the camera pointed at the ground. Rookie move.
Sorry Alt-Text, but hard disagree. Drivers are INSANE, and need all the help they can get to not hit someone while they’re willfully distracted.
You go Dorothy, and rock that jacket. As for the doubling down on discipline, ehhhh. Maybe try talking to your therapist instead and recognize that even presidents (especially presidents) make mistakes, a **LOT**.
As Joyce would say; “Ding Ding Ding!” Stop lying to your therapist, Dorothy.
Ayup. Sounds like.
I wish I had something funny to say, but… it is what it is.
Oh, there’s no way Dorothy will burn out at anything less than 100%
whatever it is, it will definitely be WR
I am retroactively very concerned she is running in slush(?) that could possibly have ice patches
lol maybe dorothy should have a session with booster
Dorothy thinks she can backwards long jump away from her problems.
In order to understand what’s happening here, we need to talk about parallel universes.
Oh boy
It’s cute that she doesn’t realize it’s cracks all the way down.
“My mistakes can’t catch up to me! They don’t do cardio! That’s why they’re mistakes!”
Whenever I try to go for a run, I feel like cardio WAS the mistake.
I haven’t gone for a run since bootcamp. In 1967.
As someone of a similar age, please tell me you at least mosey quite a bit.
Panel 4 is everything, the two of them sharing the same thought of Dorothy.
Let the Dorothy Keener downward spiral continue!
Oh God, no!
It is going harder and harder to watch, as the character is a die hard.
That looks like a great recipe for slipping on the sidewalk Dorothy.
Funnily enough I quit my once chance at a degree so far, after slipping on the ice while thinking about my extra projects and fracturing my tailbone, causing me to need time off, which led to me being able to re-evaluate things (it was the wrong subject, and I was in the wrong town).
Dorothy probably won’t slip seriously, cause that would solve her problems far too soon and this looks like a trainwreck in sloooow motion.
Hmmm… Having finished two degrees, and working on a third- I can tell you, the reevaluating of life choices never goes away.
Oh, I know, and not just in terms of degrees!
The unexamined life is not worth living, said Socrates, according to Plato.
That, and barring another time skip, she’d be in a cast for the next 2 years of reader time.
…. you probably already know this, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what’s meant by college students busting their asses working on projects. 🙂
I’d not thought of that 😀 😀 😀
I’m am sure this is not problematic at all.
(Truth be told though – when I’ve had a bad day, I FEEL like I should be doing something over the top to catch up, which seems so overwhelming that I don’t get out of bed at all. So I should probably not be judging. It’s just… Both me and Dorothy need to learn to sometimes just freaking relax without feeling guilty about it.)
You recognize that you have a problem. Perhaps you don’t always recognize it in the middle, but you recognize it at least some of the time. You’re already doing better than Dorothy.
I mean way less problematic then alcohol abuse though she is risking slipping on ice also she really needs to talk to her therapist.
Having a single binge is not alcohol abuse. It’s just not. I mean, it’s not *great* – but neither is this.
She didn’t have a binge, either.
Given how cheerful and awake she is now, I agree.
But she clearly was planning on a binge and probably thinks it’s even worse than that.
She’s risking a hell of a lot more than slipping on ice. Among other problems her current line of thinking and behavior could take her “Exercise makes me feel good, I lost weight and people are telling me I look good . . .” can get into a vicious spiral even if you don’t think of yourself as fat. Sometimes it’s just about seizing your eating and exercise habits as one of the few things in your life you can control and exercising to an unhealthy level while also dangerously cutting calories. And that’s just one of the terrible places this could go.
You are seriously underselling the danger of her actions and thought patterns.
On reflection you are all are right this is not healthy at all.
As an addiction-prone person I’ve gone down both the acoholism path and the exercise/health/work addiction path and they both led to burning up and dropping out for mental health recoup. With the latter I just looked better (and was perceived by others in a more positive light).
Sigh. I know a [not active drug & alcohol] addict who is deep in running to survive (and also definitely has disordered eating). He experiences a pretty intense high both while running and post-running, and runs probably-too much.
I hope it’s a manageable level of addiction and doesn’t kill him. He’s maintained it for a long time.
It’s definitely an under-rated form of addiction (in that it isn’t given the same level of concern and support as other addictions) and in some ways harder to address because of how socially accepted it is with our cultures’ obsession with health and appearance. The health risks aren’t as widely known, so it can be hard to see them until they’re impossible to ignore (for me it was when I began fainting in class which was not acceptable for my perfectionist brain).
I hope he finds a good support network socially and professionally. It can make all the difference.
Yeah. I actually think that straight-up alcoholism might be better, because at least people would see that something’s wrong, and have a chance of convincing Dorothy to see it too.
How is alcoholism better alternative? Alcoholism can lead to so many deadly long term health problems yes excersie addiction can be dangerous and I unfortunately downplayed it and I feel bad but I have seen family members die due to alcoholism related diseases. It also profoundly affects those around the alcholic as it can lead to the physical and mental abuse of others. I don’t i am not an alchoolic but i have seen the effects that alchoolism has on a person and their sorrunding family.
the risks of alcoholism can cause deadly longterm health risks hundreds of thousands of people die from alcoholism related dieseases. In the US its the 4th leading cause of death..
Just beacuse it’s more recognizable doesn’t mean the person will get help or even accept help before its to late if someone is an alcoholic chances are they have suffered some sort of long term health.
I just spelled it out. If she has something more widely recognized as a problem, she’s more likely to get help – even if she’s a functional alcoholic and is not suffering most of the health problems or inflicting trouble on her loved ones.
So as some people have pointed out including yourself a bout of drinking may not lead to alcholism a bout of intense excersie may not lead to excersie addiction. But this a story with dramatic elements that yes may lead folks (myself included) to presume the worst will happen.
Dorothy has been shown to engage in self reflection she may not succumb to either Dorothy likely has underlying psychological problems that are more likely to manifest in front of others that would compell others to convince her to seek more intensive treatments then she is receiving.
However when it comes to addicitons neither habbit is healthy and its not right to trivialise someones excersise adicition in hypothetical scenario were Dorothy becomes an adict ,there is a reason why alcholism is far more noticable beacuse its far more deadly.
If you are an alcoholic you’ve likely done damage to your long term health Excersie addiction can result in some serious health problems like weaking your bones eating disorders and infertility and it can cause cell degeneration but death is far less common.
In a scenario in whcih Dotty becomes an adict you’re that Dotty should inflict her self with something that can kill her! Once again I mention it doesn’t just affect one person it affects everyone it’s also not a habit that one can easily break. I have watched family members die from this despite all the outreach tried they didn’t break the habit.
Also there is no guarantee that Dorothy would get help if she became an alcoholic. Alcholism will result in long term damage to your health it doesn’t matter if it’s more noticeable, it’s more destructive. Alcoholism is more damaging then excersise addiciton and a choice between the two which the latter is “better”
On the other hand, recalling that Dorothy has been a runner all along, she could be an exercise enthusiast, obsessively measuring everything and comparing it with experts’ recommendations for her age, build and stature. She’s never seemed to me to be excessively concerned with her looks, just careful to always be presentable and mature-looking to match her I’ve-got-this attitude.
Yeah, there’s definitely an unhealthy aspect to the “I screwed up yesterday, so I have to double down today” thing, but let’s not catastrophize here. There’s no reason to even suspect she’s heading in an exercise/eating disorder direction. It’s a control thing certainly, but she’s never even hinted about any concern with looks or weight loss.
Yes but something that isn’t the most dramatic possible scenario wouldn’t be the most dramatic possible scenario, so it doesn’t occur to some of us.
I’m pretty sure colleges have people who de-ice the walks. You know. Liability exposure.
I mean, sure, the main walkways, to the degree reasonable, but they aren’t magic and you can see in panel one that there are many footprints in the snow along the path
The Facilities person driving the big motorized rotary brush will be coming around the corner any moment.
Neither of them’s doing great right now, but it kind of feels like Ethan’s response is healthier than Dorothy’s.
smoosh em both together and come out with moderate coping mechanisms.
Ethan has more realistic? expectations of himself, but Dorothy is going to retain her physical health.
Dorothy’s pushing too hard, denying the reality of her state and needs, and Ethan is like. denying himself the option of improvement or recovery.
Dorothy is more likely to graduate and get a job with health care. And one that she can actually afford food and rent. Unfortunately in America this means she’s more likely to survive long term even if she isn’t very happy.
A: When you push yourself into burn out like she’s heading towards your likelihood of graduating or getting a job plummets pretty sharply.
B: Some people seem to be overlooking the very real physical issues one can cause themselves by trying to “Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen”.
That’s fair. There certainly are issues with her approach.
But Ethan’s being healthier? He’s cut himself off from everyone. He’s apparently not going to classes.
He is on the climb out of rock bottom. She’s still bouncing down.
I don’t know that it is, he’s been spiralling a lot longer
I think Dorothy is probably still in a better place than Ethan, all things considered, but she’s on a downward trajectory while he’s moving upwards. That matters a lot.
I don’t know if this level of physical healthiness is mentally unhealthy.
It’s not the running that’s unhealthy, it’s the reason for her running.
The behavior, taken alone, is neutral. But read what she’s saying about the running. Nothing about that is healthy or normal.
Right, yeah.
Yeah.
If it was anyone but Dorothy, I’d say it was a positive attitude.
This is a more positive response than I expected; I still feel like she hasn’t done anything to actually change or improve the situation, but baby steps are nice too.
Seconded. My first thought when I saw today’s strip was, “oh, good, Dorothy has pulled herself together a bit, things could have been much worse.”
hahahahha Booster caught like ‘no it’s perfect i was undi sc i pl i n e d ! !
As Dorothy dopplers past
Girl is gonna break so bad
If that happens, all she has to do is put herself back together and try harder!
/s
“My car breaking down is just proof I haven’t been pushing the engine hard enough!”
– Dorothy, probably
You’re gonna slip, Dot.
She already is, this is just the comedic wobble bobble before she lands right on her metaphysical ass.
I think you mean, “on her metaphorical ass.” Dorothy hasn’t reached a metaphysical state of any kind.
So, if she’s running away from them the whole time, how much of that speech did Booster and Ethan actually hear?
It’s OK, she’ll text it to them later.
Also, I hate that ‘Reply’ and ‘Flag’ are two equally tiny links right next to each other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueBFIshHZCM
Dorothy RN
so you have chosen to destroy yourself
IDK why but “we could give self-discipline a trial run” sounds like innuendo to me.
Yeah, sounds like an upcoming Slipshine…
The Slipshine isn’t about self discipline, it’s about Booster disciplining Ethan. And Ethan trying to decide what the gender neutral of Master/Mistress is so he doesn’t misgender his dom.
… Manifesting this, hardcore. Yelling at the universe so it happens and all.
Slipshine title is “Analyze Me” Y/N“oh, mattress! Wait, er”
BDSM can actually be quite therapeutic when done right, although I’m not sure Booster, at their age and presumed experience, would be the ideal D-type.
Actually, I think Dottie is someone who would benefit from subbing if it was something she was into. Learning to relinquish control, allow others to care for her, while also satisfying her need to perform (and fail) in a fun way.
My kinky brain is ticking so imma brainstorm what roles these dumbies would be:
Dina- pleasure top, medical play, sensory play, Mistress
Bekcy- Dina’s bottom
Joyce- soft Domme, switch (learning touch and play with high focus on communication and consent)
Joe- Joyce’s bottom, kinda flustered by not having to be the big in control guy in the bedroom
Ethan- total bottom, lots of aftercare
Booster- really into the psychological aspect, switch
Dorothy- service bottom, possibly slave
Amber- Bondage top of course
Carla- brat, S&M switch
Malaya- brat, little
Ruth- Brat tamer, Domme, “tops from the bottom”, Mistress, primal play
Billy- primal play (with Ruth), pillow princess
Sal- vanilla but likes latex and leather for the aesthetic, or maybe top with a collection of impact toys
Danny- rope bunny and impact bottom
Walky- will try anything once so long as he doesn’t have to do anything, so bottom
Malaya is probably the biggest brat who ever lived. Not sure where you’re getting little vibes. Anything on Sarah or Marcie?
I think they’d be a bratty little. Im not really sure, where I’m getting it, except possibly that I know a few littles who they remind me of
For potential FBI lost reasons, I’m not putting this in my search history. What’s a “little”?
Sarah is DEFINITELY a degradation/humiliation heavy top. I don’t have a good read on Marcie yet, but I think she’d be a top-leaning switch with brat-taming potential (possibly just because I ship her and Malaya).
Taffy, I can’t reply directly to you for some reason, but a little is someone who engages in age-regression or age-play. They typically revert to early childhood and might wear nappies, onesies, pacifiers and enjoy things like colouring in or make believe and playing with toys. A middle reverts to an older child age or teen, and a big or carer is a person who supports them in their headspace.
It’s therapeutic for a lot of people (especially those who had unsafe childhoods or are trans and didn’t get to experience childhood in their true gender) and focuses on creating a nurturing, uninhibited, joyful headspace. It’s not usually sexual (which I feel like staying since a lot of people associate it with the unsavoury). I’ve run munch/play groups for littles and we mostly play games, skate and do colouring in or play with stuffed toys.
My favourite memory was at an all women’s kink event where there were a lot of unaccompanied littles and they locked on in a cage to poke her with sticks and play keep-up with balloons. They all appreciated my light up wheelies, too (which my Domme has forbidden me to wear in her presence lol)
Okay, first off, thanks for the explanation. I feel like I’ve learned something this morning.
Second, I’m stuck on “locked one in a cage to poke her with sticks”. I’m just imagining several grown adults doing exactly that to another grown adult who’s shrieking at them, and I can’t decide if it’s the funniest thing I’ve read all month or an actually kinda sweet show of solidarity and dedication to the collective bit. Probably all of them at once?
Third, I absolutely can’t imagine Malaya doing something like that personally, but they might tag along with a friend who does, if only to see what the fuss is about.
*applause*
*open Urban Dictionary, right after, because inexperience*
Ethan recreating dead’s poets society by calling booster oh captain my captain.
Instead of sitting on the dryer, she’s going to devise a machine to spank her own ass.
Carla would know how to make one :’DD But Dorothy is super not her type, Ace-BDSMly speaking.
Did…Did Ethan and Booster fuck? Is that the mistake Booster is hinting at?
HONESTLY… i just realized its morning. How are they walking together in the am?? Is booster in the same hall as ethan?? Did ethan / booster spend the night together????
Probably not Booster may just be an early riser and I beleive they are in the same building. Also Amber was pretty clear that she wanted Booster to be Ethan’s friend not lover.
I think they are friends now. Who get together on the regular, probably because Booster comes to visit Ethan. Bonking would be way too much fun/efffort for Ethan’s current mental state.
Ethan is probably anti sexual right now because Mike was his last partner and he’s still in full out grieving spiral mode.
yes, they’re both on Beck 3. Booster is Walky’s roommate. Ethan and Jacob are also there, maybe across from Danny and Joe, but definitely somewhere.
Booster’s probably talking about Ethan’s general mood and not going to any classes.
Still here for this friendship betwixt Booster and Ethan. Sometimes you need a friend where you can feel as garbage as you like without puttin on airs otherwise. I hope to see some growth in our emo lad soon. It feels like the rest of the cast has done what they can to make steps to move on and I hope ethan will be in a place where he can soon.
Garbage Roof.
Dorothy talks real fast for someone running hard. 😛
And her voice carries really well.
I like that, after a moment of reflection, Booster appears to blatantly ignore Dorothy’s desperate need for help so as to use the situation to shameless flirt.
Also, don’t run in the snow Dorothy – that’s how you slip on compacted snow or hidden ice.
Yeah, Booster was like. “Oh, I’m not touching this _right now.”_ They’ll probably do that later but for starters, they aren’t going to run after Dots, in the snow.
Hell yes to the flirting. And to Ethan’s reply, actually. Small steps are still steps! And it’s what I get from the strip :3
“I’m not touching this, I’m going to see if I can touch Ethan instead.”
I yearn to see that happen, ngl. That said, I feel like Booster is already being (generally speaking) Very Good for Ethan :33
… As for them helping Dorothy later on, I feel bad for saying it, but it’s not like she’s going anywhere.
Is a downward spiral somewhere?
… Vertically, yes. But still right where they left her, it’s just the stairs are going to suck TwT
Dorothy pictured attempting to literally run from her mistakes.
Dorothy continues to be as Fine as ever
Oh Dotty, don’t.
The exercise might help with the mood, but her problem is really really not lack of self-discipline. It’s going to take time for her to grow up. something something speedrun wordplay.
Anyways, every day is a day closer to Dorothy+Arnold.
Panel 3 Dorothy: Me and dealing with ADHD.
Panel 2 Dorothy: Me 24 hours after that.
Panel 3 Dorothy: Me 5 minutes later.
Panel 2 Dorothy: Me the next day.
Etc.
Just keep running, Dorothy. If your problems are rooted in your brain, you’re not going to outrun them.
….
(Actually maybe endorphins from exercise could help with mood and outlook and okay that could work after all.)
A nice runner’s high might be good for her.
I’m not arguing that, but “Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen” is incredibly unhealthy. Not just mentally, physically too.
“No matter where you go… there you are.”
BDNF from exercise as well!
But yeah shes on the cusp of autistic burnout and i cant bare to watch T_T
Dotty is back to normal? Well at least she is not abusing alcohol at the moment so improvement, she too young to have an existential crisis.
Also glad Booster is trying to use their powers for good.
“Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen” sounds back to normal to you? That’s just a different kind of self destruction.
That’s kind of how Dorothy has always acted in the past so yeah its normal for her and it’s better then alcohol abuse she needs to talk to her therapist but it’s only been a day or two. Also the running and excersise might actually relieve the street and get her to think more clearly whereas alcohol could amplify depression.
It is true that alcohol is a depressant, however, the word “depressant” does not mean “causes depression”.
Running and exercise can be stress relieving for a mentally healthy person who is engaging in a healthy activity. But they’re not going to help Dorothy. They’re a symptom of her mental health issues. They’re not the cure.
I am aware alchool doesnt cause depression but it can exacerbate depression and limit the effectiveness of anti depressants.
And the kind of physical effort she’s vying for as a coping mechanism is self-harm. It’s not for the joy of running, or the challenge: It’s to punish herself. It still fucks with the Dopamine Reward System, and it can result on lasting injuries.
If that behavior continues, yes. If it’s a case of “I slipped yesterday, so today is devoted to getting back on the horse,” and she uses the resulting good feeling to tackle the bad stuff with a clearer head, then no.
Do we really think Dorothy didn’t first take five minutes to think it through and update her daily planner?
Do we think the daily planner is doing more good than harm at this point? Girl needs to process, not pretend yesterday didn’t happen.
It’s one of the expected times for an existential crisis. As a teenager, she planned out her whole life, and as she’s becoming an adult, she’s seeing she didn’t really think it through. Right now, she’s back in denial, where she’s mostly been for a couple of weeks.
And she ran
She ran so far away
She just ran
She ran all night and day
She couldn’t get away
(Apologies to A Flock Of Seagulls.)
She’s going the distance. she’s going for speed.
she’s all alone (all alone) in her time of need.
This is somehow even worse than the alcohol
No running and excersie can release endorphins and help her think quickly well alcohol lower inhibitions and act as a depressant which is what she doesn’t need.
A lot of people seem to be focusing on her current action (jogging) and losing sight of her current words (Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen). The fact that excessive levels of exercise are physically harmful aside there are a lot of other ways “Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen” can have negative physical effects on a person’s body.
Again it may lend her some clarity and get her to slow down, her previous path was drinking which was not likely to help. Therapy is probably the best path but this is better then before.
This IS her previous path! This is the self-destructive path she’s been on since day one!
The drinking was a one-night aberration. It wasn’t a path. And I agree it wasn’t likely to help, but the running is just reinforcing her harmful thought and behavior patterns. This is not better! This is absolutely terrible.
+1, seriously. I don’t think the drinking was going to be a pattern, despite Ruth feeling a certain kinship with her. Teenagers drink sometimes. It’s not ideal but it’s fun, and one time certainly doesn’t mean they’re doomed. This isn’t the Tiny Toons’ “One Beer”.
She’s going to crash again and it’ll be twice as fast. It’s going to be tough to watch.
I’m so glad that my current gravatar-twin agrees with me.
Drinking, running…right now, it’s all just self-medicating, and it’s not going to work.
Absolutely agreed! Dorothy is acting rashly and she’s going to burn herself out. This supposed determination she has is incredibly unhealthy
On reflection you are all right this behavoir is more serious then previously thought. Sorry to cause such a stir.
I won’t speak for others, but my own natural reaction to a tsunami of catastrophic expectations is to ask, “how could this instead be a good thing?”
I don’t know about a good thing, but I definitely agree about the catastrophic expectations. Yeah, this is a symptom of her overall problems, not a solution, but it’s not a drastic spiral into disaster any more than drinking yesterday was a dive into alcoholism
How? It’s perfect.
Okay this is getting annoying. The site keeps eating all my comments with no links at all and i literally dont know why
The comment code is definitely buggy, but I’ve seen several of your comments on this difficulty so you are getting through at least some of the time.
It happened to me. I think because there was an update that changed some web libraries. Then there was another update and things were fine.
I just hope she doesn’t include easing off on Joyce and Joe to be something she thinks needs correcting.
It could be the thing that turns Joyce’s hero worship of Dorothy into something more realistic. Which would not be great for Dorothy at the moment, but Joyce could use it.
At this point, after all the bonding Joe & Joyce have been through, Joyce has enough information to know that Dorothy doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Maybe Joyce not bending to her will would be the extra push Dorothy needs to do some real introspection this time and question what she actually wants. (Dorothy’s not doing great in the moment anyway! A change in their dynamic could be helpful. Because when Joyce believes that Dorothy is perfect, it means she thinks it’s impossible for Dorothy to have problems. Maybe Joyce can help her through this crisis–if Dorothy is able to admit that she actually is struggling. Continued hero worship wouldn’t be good for Dorothy or the long-term health of their friendship.)
I gotta say, I really like Booster and Ethan’s friendship. With some flirting peppered in from Booster, but it’s real indeed. Look at E. and tell me that boy gets out of bed for just anyone. And out! In the open, when there’s snow happening!
He might’ve forgotten what enjoying things feels like, but I like to think he has fun when they meet up, too :33
Oh no dorothy T_T
(no links, no real emojis, gods of comment board please don’t eat this one)
They ate this one.
they ate this reply tho
okay now I feel this site has just gained sentience and is fucking with me at this point -_-
Yeah wind that spring tighter Dotty, that way it’ll never uncoil.
Snapping is totally different from uncoiling.
What are you running from?
Her mistakes, I thought we established this?
“[…]”Come on. Let’s run away.”
“Where to?”
Rincewind sighed. He’d tried to make his basic philosophy clear time and again, and people never got the message.
“Don’t you worry about to,” he said. “In my experience that always takes care of itself.
The important word is away.”
― Terry Pratchett, Eric
“Haven’t you noticed that by running away you end up in more trouble?”
“Yes, but, you see, you can run away from that, too,” said Rincewind. “That’s the beauty of the system.”
–Ibid, The Last Hero
Okay, I guess I’m not replying to comments for a while? The site just won’t let me.
Try messaging Hiveworks. They might be able to help.
I see three of your comments.
You could always do a new post where you quote the thing you’re commenting on and then comment. Not ideal, but we live in an imperfect world.
And here we see Dorothy running full speed towards burnout the likes of which have never been seen before.
Same, Ethan. Same.
Yeah this doesn’t bode well for Dorothy. The burnout’s gonna suck.
Given the length of Dorothy’s speech, and the speed she seems to be running, I’m envisioning her feet treadmilling on the ice and her making like maybe two feet of forward progress during the whole thing.
I’m going with Booster and Ethan heard: “No Booster, it’s per…”
her storyline does have a bit of Red Queen’s Race flavor lately.
Making the Hanna-Barbera scampering noise the whole way.
thinking of the similarities https://www.dumbingofage.com/squeezing-2/
I kind of wonder where Dorothy’s path of self-destructive behavior is going to take her. Her story has already intersected with Walky/Lucy/Raidah/Jennifer, Joe/Joyce, Ruth, and now (at least in passing) with Booster/Ethan. I suppose it already also kind of involved Becky, too.
Will her flaming wreckage grace Amber or Danny next? Both have their own connections with her, after all.
It’s going to crash and burn in front of Danny. He’s where her troubles first ignited, he’s where it’s going to flame out.
Maybe somebody new.
<- ahem
How much of that conversation was devoured by the doppler effect?
Was genuinely expecting the final panel to be them commenting on the fact that they can’t hear what she’s saying because she ran away.
More and more I’m convinced that Dorothy is only smart in the context of academic achievement. Her common sense and self-awareness are completely in the toilet
It’s nice to see my community represented in media
High INT, low WIS.
Ultimate big fish small pond thrown into the ocean.
Dorothy, no!
You know, Dorothy is very religious for an atheist. Loads of belief without evidence.
Her strategy has probably worked for her until now, back before college and before she had been kidnapped. By which I mean, there was evidence that this coping mechanism worked. It’s only been a few months that it hasn’t.
She’s taking the out Walky gave her. Walky sees her the way she wants to see herself, and that’s why she likes him.
Poor thing.
An excellent observation, honestly. What he was saying would probably usually be perfectly correct, but here? I am less optimistic.
w/o reading all other comics, @ alt text: welp, in snowfall it might come in handy, as in she gets seen more easily …?
How far away from Ethan and Booster is Dorothy by that third panel? And how loudly is she talking? Those speed lines sure make it look like she’s going quite fast.
I imagine she was running in a circle around booster and Ethan so they could hear her.
Or they just heard the “undisciplined” part and she neither knows nor cares she’s talking to herself at this point.
Dorothy: self-discipline! it’s like denial except your whole body is sore all the time!
Booster: what say you Ethan, sounds pretty neat right?
Ethan: …pass
Dorothy will be into stoic playlists
Alt text: Disagree. Thirty or forty years ago maybe, one didn’t need hi-viz in the middle of the day if you were running, cycling, on a motorcycle, or doing outdoor tradeswork.
America, we’ve spent the last quarter century making our roads a more dangerous place to be simply by how we drive. The pandemic exacerbated things, but didn’t cause them.
And by the way the roads are designed. Read Confessions of a Recovering Engineer by Charles Marohn.
Mahrohn is bookmarked. He knows his stuff–good name to drop.
And also how we design cars. You can design cars with pedestrian safety in mind, but the USA actively selects for unsafe car design.
Don’t forget the “everyone but me is a non-player character; I’m the protagonist and therefore the most important” mindset that’s been sown over the last couple decades.
Decades, centuries, millennia, who’s counting?
There’s so much to unpack with whatever Dorothy’s got going on but if somebody had the gall to tell me “we could give self-discipline a trial run” while I was depressed I would probably commit acts of violence against them.
That wouldn’t be very self-disciplined of you.
Hoisted by my own petard😔😔😔
I wish high viz meant cars would notice you. Can’t count how many times I’ve had to sprint out of the way of a car on a collision course with pedestrian or cyclist me – Traffic light in my favor and bright yellow coat.
Dorothy can’t even go for an early-afternoon sprint to escape her gay thoughts perceived failures, without people making unnecessary comments about her psychological state. Gods forbid women do anything. 🙄
Was she gonna have Walky wear a wig then?
I’m not sure about that, but she probably would have done [strike] instead of [I] like I meant to with “gay thoughts”.
I kind of like this friendship.
welp I recognize this all too well, weird I don’t remember being blonde at that age
How people here are seening something sexual between Ethan and Booster here???
(Not complaing about, it will be great if they get together. I’m talking about strip of today).
Wishful thinking, mainly.
comment section is always too horny
Huh. So Walky/Ruth were right. I was wondering if Dorothy was gonna double-back down on her ultra-disciplined approach or begin falling into a spiral since that’s a fairly common thing to happen to perfectionists once the cracks start showing. A “I’m not perfect anymore, so why should I even try now?” defeatist attitude.
FFS Dorothy… Why do people just REFUSE to see a therapist when they so, so, so, so, so obviously would benefit from being able to bounce their ideas and problems off an expert? They probably even have some available at the school for free. Just… Ugh.
She’s seeing one!
One of the big concerns she raised previously – in a conversation with Ruth, if I recall correctly – is that “they don’t let you be president” if you have certain mental health issues. Depression may have been one of these? Dorothy is concerned that she may have these, and from what she said, it sounded like she has been keeping some stuff from her therapist for fear of this.
Yeah… And therapy only works if you see the person regularly and actually tell them everything. She has admitted she hides stuff because, as bemisawa pointed out “they don’t let you be President” if you have depression is her bad belief.
In my case, it’s because I’ve been abused by three different therapists in wildly different and incredibly harmful ways. Makes it hard to keep trying therapy.
Ooof, that really, really sucks.
You have all of my sympathies – as even besides abuse, finding a good therapist that matches what you need is no easy task for everybody. I hope you can find the help you need and, for what little it might be worth from a stranger, I can promise that they’re not all bad and can be very helpful. I wish you the best of luck.
Speaking of atheist…
Choke me in the shallow waters
Before I get too deep
very healthy decision, dorothy !! this absolutely can’t possibly go wrong !!
Ethan’s face in panels 4 & 5…I am DYING
Dorothy will make lemonade with life lemons.
Make life rue the day it thought it could give Dorothy Keener lemons! XD
You’ll notice Booster and Ethan catch everything Dorothy is saying even tho she’s running and they’re not. That’s because Booster and Ethan are walking at the speed of gay leaving them just a few strides behind Dotty
Are Booster & Ethan just always gonna show up in the comic together after this? might be amusing for a while…
Wait wait, are we supposed to be shipping Booster and Ethan now?
… Am I a terrible person for kind of shipping Booster and Ethan?
… I mean, I don’t think either of them is very attracted to the other (just guessing), but I could see them going “eh, what the hell” and trying it out, for very different and incompatible reasons. I’d give them two-three months before they built their shells even bigger and shut each other out in a friendly-ish way.
And for some weird reason, I kinda’ want to see them together. I think they’d be a bad fit for each other, but in a non-horrible and entertaining way. They could be low-stakes dumb without being doomed.