tho i feel like carla and booster have diff definitions of ‘patience’ lol XD
tho does make me wonder what charlies group of friends are like. maybe they’re all fast paced while charlie is chill and vibing or they’re all quietly passing time together slowly at like a libraryor cafe lol
I actually think she was listening, because you can see her visibly straining to slow herself down in the second panel! I think this is her trying to make small talk which isn’t all about herself.
Oh yeah, I also failed to recognize an important detail — considering Carla’s upbringing and not, this is probably her very first experience of like, LIKE liking someone else.
???…Honestly not sure what you mean by that, actually? By “upbringing” do you mean, like, that she was rich? Or A.M.A.B.? Daughter of engineers? I legit have no idea how any of that suggests she’s never had a crush on someone before. Granted, there’s plenty of OTHER things that might imply such a thing, but nothing about her “upbringing” that I can think of.
good thing campus is relatively safe, bc i’d be worried about her wandering into traffic (inever understood those middle schoolers that jaywalked instead of using crosswalks properly i’d def feel more at ease holding a friends hand crossing the street togeher lol)
It’s not like it’s fenced or anything. But the campus is so large, complex and crowded that randomly wandering out of it in under a day seems unlikely.
i’m just surprised an elbow area would be comfortable enoug hfor it (Tho i guess it might be a little above it) who knows maybe it’s to match with booster
Tho lots of diff types of ppl would get a tattoo…i’m too broke but i wouldn’t mind a small floral one even if someone “like me” wouldn’t get like a full armsleeve or so
Honestly, I’ve heard of a lot of people who would be thought of as wimpier, deliberately getting a tattoo in one of the places that hurts a lot, just because they know that people will see it, and be like “damn, they sat through that.” I don’t know if it’s a terribly common choice, but I have heard of it more than once.
i mean other than extreme pain i’d think they’d get some kinda local antiseptic b/c most tattoos as far as i hear don’t accept clients who are drunk beforehand either for safety reasons and/or them being too drunk to realize it and possibly regretitng it the next day
tho i would def think stuff like sexually placed tattoos would def get uncomfortable or even nipple piercings
I’m not a tattoo guy, but I have a scar down one wrist from where I needed surgery to repair a shattered wrist. I was thinking of getting it tattooed with a dotted line, and the legend “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL XMAS”, but my wife tells me the inside of the wrist is too painful a spot. (She is, however, in favor of getting a biohazard trefoil tattooed on my ass.)
No, no, I’m sure it would be far more polite for Carla to just awkwardly hover just behind Charlie’s shoulder for the entire walk back to her dorm, that awkward toothy grin still frozen on her face. This is Romantic Courtship 101, people!
It was said earlier in the strip that Charlie has ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] and she seems to have a pretty bad case of it. She may not notice any social cues Carla is throwing her way, even really obvious ones. [I have ADHD too and sometimes I don’t notice obvious things either.]
it’d be great to have control over it or go in and out of disassociation b/c it’d be very hard to ignore someone like carla irl (tho usually some ppl who rly dislike being ignored would probably physically grab you)
For those who don’t read/watch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, one of the enemies has the power to make someone unable to remember more than three new things at a time. You still have your old memories, but you can only remember three pieces of information at a time, and if you gain a new one, you lose the oldest of your three. That might not sound so bad, but it includes things like “I have a pen in my hand” or “I used my pen to write important instructions on my arm”. So by the time you’ve picked up the pen, written your note, and put the pen down, you won’t remember ever picking up the pen. It leads to characters wandering around almost at random, writing notes all over their body, without any need for the enemy to ever attack them.
Booster going into psych to better understand their very ND sister.
They also probably had to be the one with the brain cell while growing up which leads to a lot of anticipatory and corrective behavior analysis actions even when horribly out of pocket to apply, because they are 18-19 and have spent their life being the one fielding everything all the time and missing a chunk or two of nuance
i wonder the legality on diagnosing your own family members, even if learning about the issues help versus say, giving them a prescription or so, but depending on how early on these symptoms appeared i can imagine their family had a bit of time to get used to it if they think she’d be ok in college without like a personal assistant
How does Charlie get passing grades for any of their classes? (or even pay attention enough to learn anything?) There’s ditzy & airhead, and then there’s… whatever this is.
Ooh, that’s a good example. Like, they are are so wrapped up in thoughts that their other senses are kind of “put on pause” right now? Hmm, I guess I’ve just never met/noticed anyone like that before. (I’m sure being an introvert and never leaving the house unless I have to has nothing to do with it)
Hi, I’m the guy who HAS to have music on the radio while driving, so that I can automatically harmonize instead of Thinking about Something hard enough my vision circuits get involved and I lose time (though not, curiously, my way)
I have met several, and dated one. In the latter case, she’s the one of the two of us who not only finished university but did graduate studies as well. But she’s also the sort whom I’ve had to grab to keep from wandering into traffic. When wrapped up in her own thoughts, the rest of the world doesn’t exist.
That’s fair for this scene and it’s quite possible she’s really smart and manages to hyperfocus enough on schoolwork to get it done well.
OTOH, we’ve also seen her nearly miss class because she was thinking about sea horses and then remembered she’d left cheetos outside. That doesn’t really bode well.
Where there is a lack of perception, there is a counterbalance in hyperfocus!
I have written splendid capstone papers and narratives in the last day before a month-long deadline for my entire college career and graduated just fine with a 3.4 or so.
Also, if some random person I don’t know came up to me to tell me their name,establish that they know mine, and ask what I’m doing in a building, I’d probably leave right away too.
tbf given all the ‘dumb’ americans there are out there it’s hard to believe a handful of ppl got a good education when some end up easily becoming flat earthers or super into conspiracy theorists despite taking ‘proper’ science classes and all then
or like ‘they’re a genius but they have no common sense’. i did ok in school tho i had bad memory, i could never be in charge of babysitting or tasked to take someone with me in public b/c i think we’d end up getting separted or so
It’s possible that Charlie can hyperfocus to complete her work, as that was how my ADHD ass was able to skirt through the public education system and never be clocked as having ADHD. Well, that and being a girl in the early 00s but either way. It’s possible that Charlie did have a very good reason to be in Read, maybe she prefers one of the eateries there and just never realized it was in Read, and being interrupted by Carla has made her forget why she was there in the first place. Hence, a little later Charlie starts getting hungry and is like “wait. That’s right, I meant to eat.”
Just to expand on this a little bit more, I usually completed my classwork very fast, way faster than my other classmates and the usual instructions I was given were “now wait for everyone else to be done”. And I was extremely bored. So, I’d either read ahead on the textbook, doodle on my papers, daydream, or read one of the books I had in the library to help pass the time. I actually never even realized what I could do was hyperfocusing cause it was just… you know, normal for me.
The day I realized I was hyperfocusing was while reading a book in class because I finished my work early, and my teacher had to call my name probably three times before I heard him, and he commented “you were really into that book, huh?”. It made me realize that it isn’t just that I was enjoying my book (which, I was of course), but it is that when I am really engaged and interested in something like that all of my attention is just… slammed forward into it, it becomes like a tunnel vision. And it can be really hard to disengage out of, once that hyperfocus is on.
All this to say, I definitely peg Charlie as the type of person who is passively absorbing all sorts of information and can get her school work and homework done within an hour because of it.
I noticed in highschool if I’m. Thinking I do not process conversations and language.
Sometimes it’s just a memory gap. Sometimes the sound goes right to my memory without full processing, and then there is a timegap to turn it back into an experience.
( And I’m listening to memory I’m not to my environment. )
I admit Charlie is probably having some brutally serious challenges in her school life, and her post school life is looking grim.
Not even bothering to acknowledge someone (Carla) that introduce themselves in a noticeable way denotes things, two possibility of them being:
1/ Inability to bother. Bad news, human society isn’t kind to those who are so inadapted.
2/ Unwillingness to care. Good news: you’re probably on the road to success. Bad news: you’re a prick. F’you kindly.
Regarding the story thus far, I like that Booster has never mentioned adhd to Carla. If Carla had some patience and more emotional maturity she could probably understand and get through to Charlie on her own. As it is, Carla either has too many facades up or has her head too far up her own butt to make the connection. I’d say she repeatedly crashes and burns because she charges ahead willfully blind and oblivious to others.
idk if jen knows, or if carla overheard her, but i think at one point when they were in class together she implied that charlie needed to be ‘looked after’ or ‘wrangled up’ or so tho not sure if carla rly absorbed that info rather than being annoyed when jen was like “who are you, again?”
This seems like a very surface level kind of strip, and I’m thankful for that. Everything else going on is exhausting to try and unravel, so it’s nice to save a little energy for once.
Yeah, and then sometimes a seemingly innocuous strip will have the most unhinged comments section of the entire month and it’s just like, well there go all my spell slots for the day.
She looks like Walky did when he was anxious and smitten, but drawn by an artist who has developed their skills a lot more.
And as anxious as she is, she’s a lot smoother than Walky was.
Anime people call it “gap moe”, the contrast between Carla loud egomania and her being left all nervous when talking to Charlie make it very endearing.
Yeah, I get that we haven’t seen much of Charlie and that Booster, who should know, thinks it’s fine, but taken at face value this level of disassociation seems pretty concerning.
Yeah. Everyone keeps saying ADHD, but I’ve never met or witnessed anyone with such a severe case. It doesn’t really seem like ADHD to me so much as a different sort of disorder (schizoid maybe? Can someone with a stronger psych background tell me if I’m off the mark or not?) due to how little Charlie seems able to interact with the stimuli of the outside world.
At the very least, this seems like the sort of thing a support dog would greatly help with. I’ve never heard of something like what Charlie does irl so I don’t know if one can get a dog for this, but they learn schedules and routes really well and that would be super useful to keep Charlie from wandering off and like into traffic or construction like a loony toons baby.
Of course, we haven’t seen much of Charlie, maybe she’s a lot more self-sufficient than it appears, but like… all other character’s dialogue seems like this is an issue that needs to be addressed in some form or fashion while she’s young and has a support group. Most jobs won’t let you wander about like this, most houses in the US aren’t built where you could do that safely, and something needs to be figured out so that Charlie can be safer someday with whatever condition has her wandering for hours like a wayward philosopher.
Cause I *do* know people who do that on second reflection, and almost all of them are presently homeless and are too sick to accept help (one of them has a house even, but she does her wandering onto the main highway of town at night without looking both directions and has almost died twice this year because of it.).
Like, basically I just need to see that Charlie is doing this on purpose to some degree (“guess I’m on another adventure!”) or I’m gonna worry about her the rest of the comic lol.
This is 1:1 for the way my brain is when I’m unmedicated. It’s not the stereotypical ADHD experience, but we’re out here. Deep space cadets, severely disconnected. Some of my symptoms do match some of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, but that’s not super surprising because they can be related disorders. It’s still ADHD.
The only surprising thing to me is that Charlie has reached adulthood without developing coping skills to mitigate the brain fog, but it may be that we just haven’t seen those yet, or that her family shielded her from ever needing to develop them.
Anyway, point is… hi, I’m here, people like me and Charlie do exist. Barely, lol.
I can understand that Carla is really excited, but anyone who sees the face she’s making in front of Charlie right now would think to have discovered the campus pervert! Good thing Charlie doesn’t pay attention to her or she would find her creepy. Now let’s see if Booster will drag her away for pity or if they will stay and watch the scene, with a lot of facepalms and eye rolls in the process.
If Booster sees Carla’s expression (and I’m sure they do), I’m not sure if that would be bad for Carla or really good for Carla, considering Booster pretty much unequivocally knows how Carla feels about their sister now, which is a thing they’ve been trying to get her to admit all along.
Just so long as Carla doesn’t try to deny it yet again if they bring it up later.
Ahhh, but you forget — Carla usually gets ignored after being *acknowledged*. Charlie didn’t even do that, which is why her brain is utterly shorting out in confusion and lust.
“I am the most important person to exist.”
(someone looks right through you)
“….WHO IS THIS *CREATURE.*”
If this was the intent of the strip (just being ignored), it would be boring. I think that this comic is intended to be entertaining. We’re supposed to use context and background knowledge to further a narrative. So yes, we can chill…or we can appreciate the story and have a good time the way we want.
I’m looking forward to Charlie joining the cast as a more three-dimensional character. If she’s intended to be an ADHD rep, we’re just seeing negative stereotypes people have about ADHD, and that’s tough.
Some examples of three-dimensional ADHD IRL: I’m comically bad at navigating in the city, but my forest navigation is stellar. I miss when people talk to me, like Charlie, but I absorb and remember ridiculous amounts of info about people (Charlie COULD in fact know all about Carla and also everyone in her class because she pays attention at other times). My ADHD spouse can’t remember someone’s name but they’re incredible at solving problems on the fly. Many of us are handy to have around in a crisis because we instantly flex to the situation and don’t get as shocked from change, we get dopamine instead. We’re also all-around highly compassionate bunch.
Can’t wait to see Charlie’s real depths and dimension revealed!
Right now, I’m actually seeing a LOT of similarities between Charlie’s current characterization and Dina when she was first introduced. Her disability is sort of being used as a punchline and/or a setup for wacky situations, but in such a way that she actually comes off as much more sensible and grounded than most of the other cast members around her. And she gets condescended to a little by a few, but for the most part, people are clearly very respectful and accepting of her disability.
I, too, look forward to seeing her be fleshed out!
Does Dina have a Disability?
( I don’t think Neurodivergence itself is a disability. I don’t think the strip mentioned any sensory impairments; other than overstimulation with too many ppl)
The only incident i can think of is her getting getting swept up in the lake trip.
Fwiw, Charlie is a LOT like I was as a kid before I was medicated. I mean lost in the delta quadrant deep space cadet. Barely tethered to the earth. It’s been kinda nice to see someone who struggles with the same kind of deep disconnect I have when I’m off meds for too long.
I think Carla is only interested in Charlie due to Charlie’s (seemingly) complete indifference to her and lack of notice. Carla’s mindset is that the universe revolves around her. Charlie doesn’t fit that view. The moment Charlie actually acknowledges her presence, I feel like Carla would quickly lose interest since her world would be back in alignment.
I wonder what Carla’s gonna do when she finally realizes that charlie isn’t playing hard to get.
You think she’ll just lose interest? I mean, it’s gonna be hard to stay enamored with someone that is pretty much mentally incapable of outwardly acknowledging your existence.
It could be worse. Carla could lose interest the moment Charlie ever does successfully acknowledge her existence in any meaningful way. Given this strip, I’m not so sure Carla’s interest in Charlie is quite that superficial, though. Or at least I hope it isn’t, for Charlie’s sake. (And also for Carla’s sake, if she ended up hurting Booster’s sister and Booster found out about it, which they assuredly would.)
What’s Booster gonna do, spew some 6th-grade psychobabble at her and look annoyed? Make a comment about her tits? Throw a pie at her and charge her tuppence?
Loading ...
Huh, is that a tattoo peeking out from under Charlie’s sleeve? Does Charlie have a tattoo?
Better question: Does Charlie know she has a tattoo?
It’s one of those Memento style tattoos – it’s where she keeps the information about the man who killed her wife.
This is the only explanation I will accept.
Canon
Plot twist: her wife was actually Carla
So, we’re going from, “Memento”, to, “50 First Dates”?
Memento was the less creepy of those two movies….
Lichtenberg marks
–Dave, lightning-noodles incident
i may be wrong but it does remind me a bit of nami’s tatoo in one piece
My first thought was the Fairy Tail thing but it’s not that. I don’t think it’s Nami’s either though. But it does really feel in that vein!
🎉🎊GOAL🎊🎉
Carla be like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42iv34puEfU
More like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAChq41MUHU given Charlie’s reaction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsS_VMzY10I
Her squiggly smile is precious.
wow it’s working
ah, how the universe contorts itself
So close, and yet so Carla
well, charlie prolly wouldn’t be noticed/affected if carla walked side by side but i imagine she might stop that for borderline stalking
Not quite rejection, but still
Carla, were you not listening when Booster said you needed to be patient? XD
her getting a response is progress!
tho i feel like carla and booster have diff definitions of ‘patience’ lol XD
tho does make me wonder what charlies group of friends are like. maybe they’re all fast paced while charlie is chill and vibing or they’re all quietly passing time together slowly at like a libraryor cafe lol
Patience?
Sounds like loser talk.
Sounds like “someone who wants to achieve a long-term goal and not be pointlessly frustrated” talk.
I actually think she was listening, because you can see her visibly straining to slow herself down in the second panel! I think this is her trying to make small talk which isn’t all about herself.
Oh yeah, I also failed to recognize an important detail — considering Carla’s upbringing and not, this is probably her very first experience of like, LIKE liking someone else.
???…Honestly not sure what you mean by that, actually? By “upbringing” do you mean, like, that she was rich? Or A.M.A.B.? Daughter of engineers? I legit have no idea how any of that suggests she’s never had a crush on someone before. Granted, there’s plenty of OTHER things that might imply such a thing, but nothing about her “upbringing” that I can think of.
I meant her living a rich, likely sheltered upbringing.
This *is* Carla being patient.
There’s probably been an entire semester of hijinks involving Charlie wandering into places and situations by accident.
She’s actually been in the background of every scene so far.
Just not in this comic.
In this scene, Charlie is cleverly disguised as a tree branch.
“completely divorced from all context, how ridiculous is this page”
Absolutely insane.
The branch is actually, no kidding, Booster.
Yup!
Wooooah! O.O
Wait. If we’re playing Where’s Charlie, why is Carla wearing the stripes?
Twist: She wasn’t in Read by accident. She was here looking for Booster… and forgot.
good thing campus is relatively safe, bc i’d be worried about her wandering into traffic (inever understood those middle schoolers that jaywalked instead of using crosswalks properly i’d def feel more at ease holding a friends hand crossing the street togeher lol)
It’s not like it’s fenced or anything. But the campus is so large, complex and crowded that randomly wandering out of it in under a day seems unlikely.
i think after a while some stuff might be muscle memory
The way cars turn without paying any attention at all I’ve always felt safer crossing in the middle.
Like Dina. I think Dina and Charlie would vibe.
but huh. It feels odd that someone like Charlie would get a tatoo
How so?
i’m just surprised an elbow area would be comfortable enoug hfor it (Tho i guess it might be a little above it) who knows maybe it’s to match with booster
Tho lots of diff types of ppl would get a tattoo…i’m too broke but i wouldn’t mind a small floral one even if someone “like me” wouldn’t get like a full armsleeve or so
Honestly, I’ve heard of a lot of people who would be thought of as wimpier, deliberately getting a tattoo in one of the places that hurts a lot, just because they know that people will see it, and be like “damn, they sat through that.” I don’t know if it’s a terribly common choice, but I have heard of it more than once.
i mean other than extreme pain i’d think they’d get some kinda local antiseptic b/c most tattoos as far as i hear don’t accept clients who are drunk beforehand either for safety reasons and/or them being too drunk to realize it and possibly regretitng it the next day
tho i would def think stuff like sexually placed tattoos would def get uncomfortable or even nipple piercings
There’s numbing spray for tattoos in large or painful areas.
I’m not a tattoo guy, but I have a scar down one wrist from where I needed surgery to repair a shattered wrist. I was thinking of getting it tattooed with a dotted line, and the legend “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL XMAS”, but my wife tells me the inside of the wrist is too painful a spot. (She is, however, in favor of getting a biohazard trefoil tattooed on my ass.)
Took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.
Charmed I’m sure.
Do you think Charlie remembers she has a tattoo?
I’m sure she at least has an inkling.
oh, well played.
sir/madam/both/neither.
HOW DARE-
Dont just stand there, Carla! Offer to walk her home.
depends on if booster interrupts them and doesn’t want carla to know her exact dorm room so she’s not knocking at like 5 am
tho makes me wonder who/what charlies roommate is like
Charlie’s roommate is a tree sloth.
No, no, I’m sure it would be far more polite for Carla to just awkwardly hover just behind Charlie’s shoulder for the entire walk back to her dorm, that awkward toothy grin still frozen on her face. This is Romantic Courtship 101, people!
I mean, sure, I guess that’s an option, but if that’s your strategy why not just cut to the chase and throw a toy at the back of her head?
what’s wrong with charlie, why doesn’t she ever know what’s going on
It was said earlier in the strip that Charlie has ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] and she seems to have a pretty bad case of it. She may not notice any social cues Carla is throwing her way, even really obvious ones. [I have ADHD too and sometimes I don’t notice obvious things either.]
it’d be great to have control over it or go in and out of disassociation b/c it’d be very hard to ignore someone like carla irl (tho usually some ppl who rly dislike being ignored would probably physically grab you)
She was affected by Jail House Lock.
ya shoulda heard those locked-out jail-birds sing!
For those who don’t read/watch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, one of the enemies has the power to make someone unable to remember more than three new things at a time. You still have your old memories, but you can only remember three pieces of information at a time, and if you gain a new one, you lose the oldest of your three. That might not sound so bad, but it includes things like “I have a pen in my hand” or “I used my pen to write important instructions on my arm”. So by the time you’ve picked up the pen, written your note, and put the pen down, you won’t remember ever picking up the pen. It leads to characters wandering around almost at random, writing notes all over their body, without any need for the enemy to ever attack them.
Gotta love how Araki evolves into more and more complexity. First Stands? Punch really hard and stop time, later Stands? Do stuff like this.
Of course, that also comes with nonsense like Weather Report. Snails, of all things?
Usually the goddess is the one who does the smiting.
Hmm, I wonder if that’s an elbow dimple on Charlie’s arm, or if it’s a tattoo. Could also be a birthmark or scar, I suppose.
https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/726138155916460032/charlie
Tattoo, or a birthmark showing she’s the heir to the Nautilus kingdom.
Looks like that math swirl.
A Golden Spiral or a Fibonacci Spiral?
What is Charlie’s major?
If it’s computer science, that would be a tattoo of the Debian Linux logo.
I know that a full strength Carla encounter can be disorienting, but this is taking it to a whole new level.
well it’s pretty toned down compared to her outfit with her name on it and those signs lol.
So… half-strength Carla encounter?
Regardless, Charlie’s clearly disoriented.
Stay with me on this one
Booster going into psych to better understand their very ND sister.
They also probably had to be the one with the brain cell while growing up which leads to a lot of anticipatory and corrective behavior analysis actions even when horribly out of pocket to apply, because they are 18-19 and have spent their life being the one fielding everything all the time and missing a chunk or two of nuance
Yeah, I’ll agree with that. It sounds plausible enough
Yeah, that all adds up, I think.
i wonder the legality on diagnosing your own family members, even if learning about the issues help versus say, giving them a prescription or so, but depending on how early on these symptoms appeared i can imagine their family had a bit of time to get used to it if they think she’d be ok in college without like a personal assistant
The American legal system isn’t necessary for this.
Solid headcanon, I approve.
C’mon Carla, I’m rooting for you! Walk her home and get her to know you! Also maybe get to know her too, secondary objectives are good!
Main Character meets NPC. NPCharlie.
Careful, Carla, any more gritting and you’ll end up at the dentist.
Non Participating Charlie
Does NPCharlie = PCharlie, though?
Carla crashing and burning. You absolutely love to see it
As I recall, Carla seems to get something out of verbal abuse.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/friendly/
Maybe she gets even more out of being ignored?
I think it’s what got her interested in Charlie in the first place.
makes all the Carla-hating comments today ironically funny
It’s her kink, I think.
given her life so far? you may have hit a nail on a head
Oh goddamn it. That’s it, isn’t it. That’s the entire basis for attraction here. I can’t believe I didn’t realize this sooner…
I’d feel bad for Carla if she didn’t 100% have this coming. 😀
How does Charlie get passing grades for any of their classes? (or even pay attention enough to learn anything?) There’s ditzy & airhead, and then there’s… whatever this is.
I should add that I’m not being a jerk here; I’m genuinely confused.
She’s probably thinking about advanced math right now, and forgot why she’s in Read. She probably won’t be graded on why she’s in Read.
Ooh, that’s a good example. Like, they are are so wrapped up in thoughts that their other senses are kind of “put on pause” right now? Hmm, I guess I’ve just never met/noticed anyone like that before. (I’m sure being an introvert and never leaving the house unless I have to has nothing to do with it)
Hi, I’m the guy who HAS to have music on the radio while driving, so that I can automatically harmonize instead of Thinking about Something hard enough my vision circuits get involved and I lose time (though not, curiously, my way)
I too, require music on the radio while driving to concentrate.
I have met several, and dated one. In the latter case, she’s the one of the two of us who not only finished university but did graduate studies as well. But she’s also the sort whom I’ve had to grab to keep from wandering into traffic. When wrapped up in her own thoughts, the rest of the world doesn’t exist.
That’s fair for this scene and it’s quite possible she’s really smart and manages to hyperfocus enough on schoolwork to get it done well.
OTOH, we’ve also seen her nearly miss class because she was thinking about sea horses and then remembered she’d left cheetos outside. That doesn’t really bode well.
That’s a super ableist thing to say given we don’t know Charlie’s issues, like, at all.
Don’t punish people for trying to understand.
As a fellow ADHD gremlin: nature abhors a vacuum!
Where there is a lack of perception, there is a counterbalance in hyperfocus!
I have written splendid capstone papers and narratives in the last day before a month-long deadline for my entire college career and graduated just fine with a 3.4 or so.
Also, if some random person I don’t know came up to me to tell me their name,establish that they know mine, and ask what I’m doing in a building, I’d probably leave right away too.
“Where there is a lack of perception, there is a counterbalance in hyperfocus!”
That’s an excellent line; thank you!
tbf given all the ‘dumb’ americans there are out there it’s hard to believe a handful of ppl got a good education when some end up easily becoming flat earthers or super into conspiracy theorists despite taking ‘proper’ science classes and all then
or like ‘they’re a genius but they have no common sense’. i did ok in school tho i had bad memory, i could never be in charge of babysitting or tasked to take someone with me in public b/c i think we’d end up getting separted or so
It’s possible that Charlie can hyperfocus to complete her work, as that was how my ADHD ass was able to skirt through the public education system and never be clocked as having ADHD. Well, that and being a girl in the early 00s but either way. It’s possible that Charlie did have a very good reason to be in Read, maybe she prefers one of the eateries there and just never realized it was in Read, and being interrupted by Carla has made her forget why she was there in the first place. Hence, a little later Charlie starts getting hungry and is like “wait. That’s right, I meant to eat.”
Just to expand on this a little bit more, I usually completed my classwork very fast, way faster than my other classmates and the usual instructions I was given were “now wait for everyone else to be done”. And I was extremely bored. So, I’d either read ahead on the textbook, doodle on my papers, daydream, or read one of the books I had in the library to help pass the time. I actually never even realized what I could do was hyperfocusing cause it was just… you know, normal for me.
The day I realized I was hyperfocusing was while reading a book in class because I finished my work early, and my teacher had to call my name probably three times before I heard him, and he commented “you were really into that book, huh?”. It made me realize that it isn’t just that I was enjoying my book (which, I was of course), but it is that when I am really engaged and interested in something like that all of my attention is just… slammed forward into it, it becomes like a tunnel vision. And it can be really hard to disengage out of, once that hyperfocus is on.
All this to say, I definitely peg Charlie as the type of person who is passively absorbing all sorts of information and can get her school work and homework done within an hour because of it.
I noticed in highschool if I’m. Thinking I do not process conversations and language.
Sometimes it’s just a memory gap. Sometimes the sound goes right to my memory without full processing, and then there is a timegap to turn it back into an experience.
( And I’m listening to memory I’m not to my environment. )
I admit Charlie is probably having some brutally serious challenges in her school life, and her post school life is looking grim.
Not even bothering to acknowledge someone (Carla) that introduce themselves in a noticeable way denotes things, two possibility of them being:
1/ Inability to bother. Bad news, human society isn’t kind to those who are so inadapted.
2/ Unwillingness to care. Good news: you’re probably on the road to success. Bad news: you’re a prick. F’you kindly.
Doesn’t help that Carla is a 2/ herself
We’ve literally been told Charlie is a 1, but thanks for that “well, sucks to be you, I guess, whatever.”
She doesn’t pay strong attention to strangers or conversations she didn’t plan or expect.
Women aren’t obligated to pay attention to every stranger and salesman on the street.
There is a lot of entitlement and judgement here.
Its a pretty busy room. Carla interrupted her and she forgot why she came.
That sound you’re hearing is Carla’s world cracking along its edges
The chest pains the grinch endured with heart growing three sizes or whatever like damn
worst she can say is no, bro.
actually, the ‘worst’ she could say is “Mary’s my type” lol XD
worst would be “I’m a big fan.”
Regarding the story thus far, I like that Booster has never mentioned adhd to Carla. If Carla had some patience and more emotional maturity she could probably understand and get through to Charlie on her own. As it is, Carla either has too many facades up or has her head too far up her own butt to make the connection. I’d say she repeatedly crashes and burns because she charges ahead willfully blind and oblivious to others.
idk if jen knows, or if carla overheard her, but i think at one point when they were in class together she implied that charlie needed to be ‘looked after’ or ‘wrangled up’ or so tho not sure if carla rly absorbed that info rather than being annoyed when jen was like “who are you, again?”
I can imagine Carla saying something like, “I’ve never listened to someone ever. Not once in my life.”
huh, i swore it was written as ‘reed’ but whatevs. lol, well, at least she actually acknowledged her this time , kinda
And now I’m concerned that I’ve been reeding it wrong this whole time, and it’s meant to be red differently.
Reed Richards Is Useless
Carla once again; “Am I winning? It doesn’t feel like I’m winning.”
Booster is totally taking notes on Carla
Nailed it.
i love her
This seems like a very surface level kind of strip, and I’m thankful for that. Everything else going on is exhausting to try and unravel, so it’s nice to save a little energy for once.
You ok taph?
I get this with some webcomics as well, they get so intense that I’m like “I’ll read this tomorrow”
Yeah, and then sometimes a seemingly innocuous strip will have the most unhinged comments section of the entire month and it’s just like, well there go all my spell slots for the day.
This is where you offer to walk her home so she doesn’t get lost.
That’s right, Charlie. Don’t even look as you slam that car door on her heart.
Of course, you do know Carla will spin this as a flawless victory.
“she SLAMMED a CAR DOOR on my heart! she GETS me!!”
Carla at a loss for words? I guess she does have at least one flaw.
Even if she has ADHD, it’s entirely possible they also don’t have any interest in getting to know Carla.
Inconceivable!
These two are a trainwreck in a way i never knew existed before now
In panels two to five, Carla looked anxious.
In panel six, she looks smitten.
a-yep
Charlie has been abstracted and focused elsewhere _in conversation with_ her. she’s not gonna beable to pull out now
She looks like Charlie Brown when he thinks about the Little Red Haired Girl.
This, exactly.
She looks like Walky did when he was anxious and smitten, but drawn by an artist who has developed their skills a lot more.
And as anxious as she is, she’s a lot smoother than Walky was.
As usual, Carla being actually genuine – kinda cute.
I give credit when credit is due.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Okay, okay, you got me. This is kind of cute.
Anime people call it “gap moe”, the contrast between Carla loud egomania and her being left all nervous when talking to Charlie make it very endearing.
This is the most relatable I’ve ever found Carla to be.
Carla is Groot this day.
(aren’t we all.)
No, I’m pretty sure she is Rutten. Different Dutch surname. Confusing, I know!
*seductively being ignored*
You know, at the rate Charlie keeps disassociating and getting lost, I’m beginning to agree with Jennifer that Charlie really shouldn’t be left alone.
Yeah, I get that we haven’t seen much of Charlie and that Booster, who should know, thinks it’s fine, but taken at face value this level of disassociation seems pretty concerning.
Yeah. Everyone keeps saying ADHD, but I’ve never met or witnessed anyone with such a severe case. It doesn’t really seem like ADHD to me so much as a different sort of disorder (schizoid maybe? Can someone with a stronger psych background tell me if I’m off the mark or not?) due to how little Charlie seems able to interact with the stimuli of the outside world.
At the very least, this seems like the sort of thing a support dog would greatly help with. I’ve never heard of something like what Charlie does irl so I don’t know if one can get a dog for this, but they learn schedules and routes really well and that would be super useful to keep Charlie from wandering off and like into traffic or construction like a loony toons baby.
Of course, we haven’t seen much of Charlie, maybe she’s a lot more self-sufficient than it appears, but like… all other character’s dialogue seems like this is an issue that needs to be addressed in some form or fashion while she’s young and has a support group. Most jobs won’t let you wander about like this, most houses in the US aren’t built where you could do that safely, and something needs to be figured out so that Charlie can be safer someday with whatever condition has her wandering for hours like a wayward philosopher.
Cause I *do* know people who do that on second reflection, and almost all of them are presently homeless and are too sick to accept help (one of them has a house even, but she does her wandering onto the main highway of town at night without looking both directions and has almost died twice this year because of it.).
Like, basically I just need to see that Charlie is doing this on purpose to some degree (“guess I’m on another adventure!”) or I’m gonna worry about her the rest of the comic lol.
This is 1:1 for the way my brain is when I’m unmedicated. It’s not the stereotypical ADHD experience, but we’re out here. Deep space cadets, severely disconnected. Some of my symptoms do match some of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, but that’s not super surprising because they can be related disorders. It’s still ADHD.
The only surprising thing to me is that Charlie has reached adulthood without developing coping skills to mitigate the brain fog, but it may be that we just haven’t seen those yet, or that her family shielded her from ever needing to develop them.
Anyway, point is… hi, I’m here, people like me and Charlie do exist. Barely, lol.
I can understand that Carla is really excited, but anyone who sees the face she’s making in front of Charlie right now would think to have discovered the campus pervert! Good thing Charlie doesn’t pay attention to her or she would find her creepy. Now let’s see if Booster will drag her away for pity or if they will stay and watch the scene, with a lot of facepalms and eye rolls in the process.
oh no, a woman smiling. she should be expelled from town posthaste for daring to express an emotion
That looks more like a leer than it does a smile, Carla looks creepy af here
Seriously? All she has to do is have a visible increase in salivation and then she would become the classic image of the comics pervert.
If Booster sees Carla’s expression (and I’m sure they do), I’m not sure if that would be bad for Carla or really good for Carla, considering Booster pretty much unequivocally knows how Carla feels about their sister now, which is a thing they’ve been trying to get her to admit all along.
Just so long as Carla doesn’t try to deny it yet again if they bring it up later.
Chill, people. Carla just got ignored. It happens with everyone.
Ahhh, but you forget — Carla usually gets ignored after being *acknowledged*. Charlie didn’t even do that, which is why her brain is utterly shorting out in confusion and lust.
“I am the most important person to exist.”
(someone looks right through you)
“….WHO IS THIS *CREATURE.*”
If this was the intent of the strip (just being ignored), it would be boring. I think that this comic is intended to be entertaining. We’re supposed to use context and background knowledge to further a narrative. So yes, we can chill…or we can appreciate the story and have a good time the way we want.
You know, whichever.
All right, everyone, Amós Batista has spoken. Time to shut down the comments on this one, I guess.
So Charlie has a bad sense of direction, should I compare her to Zoro or will a Black Belt reference still fly after all this time?
I’m looking forward to Charlie joining the cast as a more three-dimensional character. If she’s intended to be an ADHD rep, we’re just seeing negative stereotypes people have about ADHD, and that’s tough.
Some examples of three-dimensional ADHD IRL: I’m comically bad at navigating in the city, but my forest navigation is stellar. I miss when people talk to me, like Charlie, but I absorb and remember ridiculous amounts of info about people (Charlie COULD in fact know all about Carla and also everyone in her class because she pays attention at other times). My ADHD spouse can’t remember someone’s name but they’re incredible at solving problems on the fly. Many of us are handy to have around in a crisis because we instantly flex to the situation and don’t get as shocked from change, we get dopamine instead. We’re also all-around highly compassionate bunch.
Can’t wait to see Charlie’s real depths and dimension revealed!
Right now, I’m actually seeing a LOT of similarities between Charlie’s current characterization and Dina when she was first introduced. Her disability is sort of being used as a punchline and/or a setup for wacky situations, but in such a way that she actually comes off as much more sensible and grounded than most of the other cast members around her. And she gets condescended to a little by a few, but for the most part, people are clearly very respectful and accepting of her disability.
I, too, look forward to seeing her be fleshed out!
I like when the punchline is “This person with some deficit or other is being the reasonable one and everyone else is being a high-strung weirdo.”
Does Dina have a Disability?
( I don’t think Neurodivergence itself is a disability. I don’t think the strip mentioned any sensory impairments; other than overstimulation with too many ppl)
The only incident i can think of is her getting getting swept up in the lake trip.
I mean, Walky’s been adhd “rep” for Since The Comic Debuted
Fwiw, Charlie is a LOT like I was as a kid before I was medicated. I mean lost in the delta quadrant deep space cadet. Barely tethered to the earth. It’s been kinda nice to see someone who struggles with the same kind of deep disconnect I have when I’m off meds for too long.
Oh, Carla’s down BAD for Charlie.
Dank. I love it.
I think Carla is only interested in Charlie due to Charlie’s (seemingly) complete indifference to her and lack of notice. Carla’s mindset is that the universe revolves around her. Charlie doesn’t fit that view. The moment Charlie actually acknowledges her presence, I feel like Carla would quickly lose interest since her world would be back in alignment.
She’s Carla!
Way to go Charlie. Totally wrecking Carla without even realizing it by just being yourself.
She’s in Read because their dining hall’s Carb Station has the best tater rounds in town.
Do they have hashbrowns? I like those better than tater rounds.
yes, but they are equally good as the hash browns in Forest.
I wonder what Carla’s gonna do when she finally realizes that charlie isn’t playing hard to get.
You think she’ll just lose interest? I mean, it’s gonna be hard to stay enamored with someone that is pretty much mentally incapable of outwardly acknowledging your existence.
It could be worse. Carla could lose interest the moment Charlie ever does successfully acknowledge her existence in any meaningful way. Given this strip, I’m not so sure Carla’s interest in Charlie is quite that superficial, though. Or at least I hope it isn’t, for Charlie’s sake. (And also for Carla’s sake, if she ended up hurting Booster’s sister and Booster found out about it, which they assuredly would.)
What’s Booster gonna do, spew some 6th-grade psychobabble at her and look annoyed? Make a comment about her tits? Throw a pie at her and charge her tuppence?
Booster seems to be highly manipulative, so probably pull a Mike exceot not even remotely charming
Well I for one think they’d be really cute together
Charlie’s hair is SO CUTE y’all!!!!!
I think Charlie is absent minded and forgot why she came. ( Probably Booster) .
People are overacting as if she’s in fugue state or has missing Time ( That would be Amber).