She’s absolutely “kidding herself” into believing that she is the worthless incapable person that she’s been building herself up as over the past couple of days.
She can do something about it, but she has to believe she can before she’ll ever try.
Poor Billie, Poor Ruth. They could both really use a good break.
I feel like college doesn’t really know what it’s trying to do beyond “if we bring enough smart people together and make them live with each other for four years, hopefully they’ll all become smarter.”
There’s this great debate over what college is about. Some people say it’s to gain knowledge, to learn things, to grow as a person. Others, particularly employers, say it’s all about gaining the skills and knowledge one needs to do well at a job. Still others say the most important part of college is socialization, what goes on outside the classroom.
All of these things are important. That said, this is a comic about making bad decisions, and it’s always fun to see where Willis takes us.
Except employers frequently *don’t* say that. Or they might say it, but not mean it. Even in a lot of skilled labor, labor that actually requires the degree they demand, you don’t necessarily learn useful skills from that degree. And in ones that just accept a bachelor’s or associates, which is a huge number of office jobs, all that piece of paper says is that you did the amount of hard work necessary to obtain it (to the employer). They still have to train you, and your schooling often won’t help with that. The sum and total of your debt was proving you wouldn’t necessarily waste the training classes (Either by not understanding them, or not having the ‘resolve’ to stay with your employer for an extended period).
In my experience, it is to give people a certificate that they belong.
It doesn’t help with learning: You can learn all that it professes to teach more effectively by yourself, and usually have to.
It doesn’t help with research: There are too many distracting students.
It doesn’t help with skills: After graduation, you more than likely keep doing what you were doing.
It doesn’t help with networking: Where you go and what you do afterwards rarely depends only on who you got to know there.
It gives you a shiny degree that proves that you have done your time and put in your share of the work and are now part of the community.
Surprisingly, science progresses. Thanks to the people who stay and teach how to stay and teach, and often despite of them.
To serve as a farm league for various professional sports teams, and act as a conduit for transferring money between the alumni-and-other-fans and the athletic department.
Billie has quite a bit of liver training to accomplish before she can aspire to follow in the footsteps of Coleridge’s opium-induced vision of Kubla Khan.
Either of them can. One of them just has to step up and say “no more” and take that forceful step past that “this is a bad idea” block. After that, it’s all shaky legged follow through.
nooo billie what are you doing please dont give up she still needs u even if you’ve messed up!!!
(im really sorry guys im drunk but i had to see the comic and then i felt like I had to say something sorry)
What if this ended up as the opposite of Roomies!, where instead of Ruth dying and Billie losing the one she loved, and Billie died, and Ruth realized she lost her?
Few months ago, I would have said this was too sad for DoA, but now I’m not sure anymore. Damnit Willis.
Willis has already said there’s gonna be no dying in Dumbing of Age, mainly ’cause if anyone died the cast would be in mourning for over a year our time. Which is no fun.
Which makes this part, PRETTY damn anti-climactic. I mean, maybe the worst is Ruth will be ALMOST dying or something but we’re guerenteed no cadavers this time around.
I feel like the moments we see right now are the reflections of the characters. We aren’t seeing Ruth right now, we’re seeing Billie, and how she views herself and her place in the world.
I think if someone died, and Amazi-Zombie appeared just to eat them (and then disappeared forever) that would close the loop quick, clean out a character or two, and there would be shock – but no mourning!
Suddenly it’s Halloween and everyone just moves forward cracking jokes about whoever gets eaten rising on Easter for Joyce!
IT’S A WINNER, Willis! I hereby grant you free and unhindered use of the idea for a PDF of any/all SlipShine strips!
(Girl zombies eating a dong is not Slipshine material… but it is slapstick!!)
She’s spent the past day stewing on the fact that her self-image is a hollow lie. Her one supposed success had nothing to do with her. That part of her brain will just keep reminding her of her failures.
You know, we really don’t know very much about Billie as told from the horses mouth. I never really thought about it but she’s a very private person. Part of that is her home life, which sounds atrocious, but as a result I don’t think Ruth really comprehends Billie as a fully realized person.
Ruth on the other hand made herself incredibly vulnerable and was betrayed and that hurt a lot. Billie has her own hangups though that we really don’t know about. We know she likes to get drunk, but we don’t really know why.
This is a long rambling round about way to saying Billie tried to further the relationship by reciprocating physically, but I think to save the relationship she needs to reciprocate emotionally as well. Ruth needs to see her as she is. She needs to talk to her.
can we please just stop comparing people who are particular about sentence structure and word use to nazis? like, can the “grammar nazi” thing just die forever? cuz that’d be great.
Yeah…only Cordelia didn’t so much solve problems as create them. Even when she stopped being a bongo…she created nothing but problems for Angel. We don’t want Billie channeling Cordy here 😛
Okay, now I officially understand nothing. What’s going on? What did she realize in yesterday’s strip? Please help me, those who understand American psychology 🙂
She thought in yesterday’s strip that Ruth’s words meant the latter was planning to kill herself (or, at best, that she was going to drink heavily, which Billie has a pressing fear will cause Ruth’s death; see Guardian). Today, she’s reflecting back to their previous interaction, where she ended up hurting Ruth. This comes at the end of a rather harrowing period of being told that she has accomplished nothing (and being able to help others is a source of pride to Billie). In short, she realizes/becomes convinced that just like all the other times she’s tried to help someone, it’ll come to nothing. So why bother?
Ah, Billie, Ruth. You two are goin to make me wait for my payoff for a really god damn long time, aren’t you? You might even beat Violent Murasame and Ushio. Damn you, Willis – not for the drama, but for its sheer RL length. And double damn you for leaving me with the knowledge you can’t reasonably go faster.
Also, poor the both of them. I’ve been at that ‘I’m useless and therefore can’t help the only person i actually love’ stage. it is… nothing I would wish on another human. And nothing external we’ve seen in Billie’s life looks like it’s a solid anchor to recover from (if such is possible) *and* the one she loves is justifiably pissed off at her for getting pissed. That’s… just a bad place, and I hope it gets better.
You know, Billie, while your focusing in on little bits and pieces of things Ruth has said in a conditional manner, maybe you should remember this one:
“You lie to me again, and I will hate you forever.”
Now, just like you can extrapolate from what she said about not drinking YET to imply that she will be drinking at some point you can extrapolate from FOREVER that, having not lied to her again, she intends to stop hating you at some point.
Now don’t get me wrong. You really, really, really fucked up on this one. But…well, if you let the fuck ups of the past interfere with you being a better person in the now…that’s basically the opposite of learning from your mistakes, ya know?
Also also, if you stop drinking right now it will be completely obvious to anyone who knows what to look for, and might just go a little ways to redeeming your dumbass in someone’s eyes. Even trying to quite might count for something. It certainly can’t make her opinion of you any WORSE, know what I’m saying?
Ok, so I only just found this web comic after seeing an advertisement on the ggar page and… I love this. The characters, the issues. I find myself able to empathize with most of the cast.
Dammit, let them bang! to be honest, if they didnt end up together I’d probably like that more, just because the author decided to skip the love story and be original.
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And she still can’t. . .
Yourself?
maybe
She’s absolutely “kidding herself” into believing that she is the worthless incapable person that she’s been building herself up as over the past couple of days.
She can do something about it, but she has to believe she can before she’ll ever try.
Poor Billie, Poor Ruth. They could both really use a good break.
I thought college was designed to form you into hard-wired, coffee loving, fast paced machines of society who strive for efficiency and shuns breaks?
. . .
Where the hell am I going with this?
I hear Kokomo is nice this time of year.
That’s where I want to go… Way down to Kokomo…
But Kokomo is north of Bloomington.
I feel like college doesn’t really know what it’s trying to do beyond “if we bring enough smart people together and make them live with each other for four years, hopefully they’ll all become smarter.”
“Oh, and charge them money, so we make money from their pa- I mean, to improve their education.”
Uh, class? Research? Lab? The library?
There’s this great debate over what college is about. Some people say it’s to gain knowledge, to learn things, to grow as a person. Others, particularly employers, say it’s all about gaining the skills and knowledge one needs to do well at a job. Still others say the most important part of college is socialization, what goes on outside the classroom.
All of these things are important. That said, this is a comic about making bad decisions, and it’s always fun to see where Willis takes us.
Whatever it is, I’m against it.
Except employers frequently *don’t* say that. Or they might say it, but not mean it. Even in a lot of skilled labor, labor that actually requires the degree they demand, you don’t necessarily learn useful skills from that degree. And in ones that just accept a bachelor’s or associates, which is a huge number of office jobs, all that piece of paper says is that you did the amount of hard work necessary to obtain it (to the employer). They still have to train you, and your schooling often won’t help with that. The sum and total of your debt was proving you wouldn’t necessarily waste the training classes (Either by not understanding them, or not having the ‘resolve’ to stay with your employer for an extended period).
In my experience, it is to give people a certificate that they belong.
It doesn’t help with learning: You can learn all that it professes to teach more effectively by yourself, and usually have to.
It doesn’t help with research: There are too many distracting students.
It doesn’t help with skills: After graduation, you more than likely keep doing what you were doing.
It doesn’t help with networking: Where you go and what you do afterwards rarely depends only on who you got to know there.
It gives you a shiny degree that proves that you have done your time and put in your share of the work and are now part of the community.
Surprisingly, science progresses. Thanks to the people who stay and teach how to stay and teach, and often despite of them.
To serve as a farm league for various professional sports teams, and act as a conduit for transferring money between the alumni-and-other-fans and the athletic department.
Education? Pfft.
Kathmandu?
Xanadu.
The stately pleasure domes await!
Xanadu: Pretty good Rush song.
I always break my fast with honeydew and milk of paradise.
Billie has quite a bit of liver training to accomplish before she can aspire to follow in the footsteps of Coleridge’s opium-induced vision of Kubla Khan.
Xanadu: Great music and visuals(for its time), subpar movie.
Whoops, I wanted my comment to appear after yours, not before, but clicked on the wrong “reply.”
Oops.
Clicks happen.
I’ve never seen a college student not take a break.
Depression sucks. 🙁
Either of them can. One of them just has to step up and say “no more” and take that forceful step past that “this is a bad idea” block. After that, it’s all shaky legged follow through.
The way this arc is going, a runaway truck might be the nicer option.
Optimus saves the day again!
Oh god, Roomies! just got a whole lot worse for TF fans.
Billie needs to transform herself and roll on in.
(Peter Cullen voice) One shall stand…
and one shall fall…
…but two may ‘ship.
’till all are one.
You win this thread sir.
door nobs, they confound me too.
It also works on cats!
Don’t give up!
the ship?
Always Salvageable. . .
Man the lifeboats.
Sir, The hulls have been breached and we’re taking on water.
They are both pregnant?
That’s not how this metaphor works.
It was the whiteboard dingdongs that did it.
I don’t know why people keep acting like it’s worse now than when she found out Billie was drinking still. Like, seriously X3
Stay the course, just veer the sails.
Hope will rebuild it.
nooo billie what are you doing please dont give up she still needs u even if you’ve messed up!!!
(im really sorry guys im drunk but i had to see the comic and then i felt like I had to say something sorry)
People doing things impulsively because they’re drunk is very appropriate to this storyline.
haha oh shit omg your so right im like an example?
OH FOR THE LOVE GOD!
Just fuck already?
I don’t think there will be Licky Style for the Love God.
GO IN THAT ROOM YOU ASS!
Oh for the Love of Booze.
LOVE FOR THE LOVE GOD
SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE
(the ‘love’ god is Slaanesh, lest we forget…)
Come on Billie
You’re at the door.
You may as well walk in.
Her lock was changed tho I thought. The key doesn’t work anymore
Her Legs are just as powerful as they were a week ago.
I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.
Panel 3: Wobbuffet
Now I can’t unsee that. At least I got a good laugh from it though
Fight! Fight! Fight! Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.
Preferably at the same time.
And on camera
Cmon Billie! You have to at least try!
This is trying. . . in it’s own special way?
*plays Paul Simon’s “Loves Me Like A Rock” on the Muzak*
What if this ended up as the opposite of Roomies!, where instead of Ruth dying and Billie losing the one she loved, and Billie died, and Ruth realized she lost her?
Few months ago, I would have said this was too sad for DoA, but now I’m not sure anymore. Damnit Willis.
Willis has already said there’s gonna be no dying in Dumbing of Age, mainly ’cause if anyone died the cast would be in mourning for over a year our time. Which is no fun.
Which makes this part, PRETTY damn anti-climactic. I mean, maybe the worst is Ruth will be ALMOST dying or something but we’re guerenteed no cadavers this time around.
I feel like the moments we see right now are the reflections of the characters. We aren’t seeing Ruth right now, we’re seeing Billie, and how she views herself and her place in the world.
Agreed, the element of surprise is somewhat spoiled, but there are worse things than death in this world.
Well normally I’d ask how you’d know, but you’re Jesus, so you probably know more about death than I do.
Like, repeatedly being eaten alive by your followers.
Hey, he TOLD us to do that.
I think if someone died, and Amazi-Zombie appeared just to eat them (and then disappeared forever) that would close the loop quick, clean out a character or two, and there would be shock – but no mourning!
Suddenly it’s Halloween and everyone just moves forward cracking jokes about whoever gets eaten rising on Easter for Joyce!
IT’S A WINNER, Willis! I hereby grant you free and unhindered use of the idea for a PDF of any/all SlipShine strips!
(Girl zombies eating a dong is not Slipshine material… but it is slapstick!!)
We could have Blaine or Faz die! Then all would be gravy.
NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!!!!!
Come on Billie grow a pair and show us the badass take no shit cheerleader hero we all know you are.
If you’d look just a bit bellow the neck you’ll see that Billie has worked HARD at growing a pair.
Heh.
She’s spent the past day stewing on the fact that her self-image is a hollow lie. Her one supposed success had nothing to do with her. That part of her brain will just keep reminding her of her failures.
Ruth becoming sober has nothing to do with her?
Maybe he was talking about the Dorothy/Walky hookup?
Ruth. Billie. PLEASE. SEEK HELP. IMMEDIATELY. PROFESSIONAL HELP.
Gutpunch right into the ~feels region.
You know, we really don’t know very much about Billie as told from the horses mouth. I never really thought about it but she’s a very private person. Part of that is her home life, which sounds atrocious, but as a result I don’t think Ruth really comprehends Billie as a fully realized person.
Ruth on the other hand made herself incredibly vulnerable and was betrayed and that hurt a lot. Billie has her own hangups though that we really don’t know about. We know she likes to get drunk, but we don’t really know why.
This is a long rambling round about way to saying Billie tried to further the relationship by reciprocating physically, but I think to save the relationship she needs to reciprocate emotionally as well. Ruth needs to see her as she is. She needs to talk to her.
“…and why are there penises on all the doors today?”
Damnit Billie, you still need to APOLOGIZE.
It’s too late to apologize.
It’s too laaaaaate.
The tension, I can’t take it. (!!)
I’m pretty sure these two are going to make me go gray prematurely.
Who am I kidding, I don’t need TWO hands to open a door! (Unless you’re suggesting she’s got a BAD case of Capral Tunnel)
She’s been doing a lot of work on her lower body, but has neglected her upper body so much that she’s not sure if one hand will be enough.
You can do it Billie! Show her you still care.
NO. SHUT UP.
GET IN THAT ROOM. TELL RUTH YOU WERE GONNA SAY SHIT BEFORE YOU MADE OUT. TELL HER YOU’RE SORRY.
THIS ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE, BILLIE. IF ETHAN CAN COME OUT TO JOYCE NO PROBLEM, THIS STORYLINE CAN END NEXT WEEK. BOOM.
GET IN THAT ROOM NOW.
YES
And if you find yourself out of confidence, Ruth will have you conveniently metaphorically cornered to force you to do what you have to.
Say it with me, Billie!
Head cheerleader! Problem solver!
Now go dawn your cheerleader uniform and fucking prove it!
Bring out that inner-Cordelia, god damn it!
don*
Grammar God Yankovic, please don’t forsake this fallen warrior of Grammar Justice.
Not to be a semantics Nazi, but technically that’s a spelling mistake, not a grammar mistake.
can we please just stop comparing people who are particular about sentence structure and word use to nazis? like, can the “grammar nazi” thing just die forever? cuz that’d be great.
That’s just what the Nazi’s want. >:(
+1
Apparently, the Finnish idiom for “grammar nazi” is “comma fucker”. So I’d say that’s a good replacement.
But what other term should we use for people who are picky and efficient and also the worst people ever?
Yeah…only Cordelia didn’t so much solve problems as create them. Even when she stopped being a bongo…she created nothing but problems for Angel. We don’t want Billie channeling Cordy here 😛
Yeah. Forget Cordy; be Kim Possible.
But at least she was confident while doing so. Or at least put on the bravado of confidence quite well. 😛
That’s what Billie really means in the last panel. She’s going to go put on a cheerleader uniform to give her the strength to bust down that door!
The friggin’ problems of typical alcoholics. What comes first the booze or..?
What does Billie want the most, choosing between booze and Ruth?
It doesn’t really matter, because she will chose booze everytime: unless she gets help.
Get help Billie, you and Ruth talked about AA once. Go do it. Now.
Why I say to myself, am I getting major feels for fictional characters?
Because Willis is a major artist with characters, and this is a close subject I guess.
wtg Mr. W.
Baby don’t hurt me no more.
Okay, now I officially understand nothing. What’s going on? What did she realize in yesterday’s strip? Please help me, those who understand American psychology 🙂
She thought in yesterday’s strip that Ruth’s words meant the latter was planning to kill herself (or, at best, that she was going to drink heavily, which Billie has a pressing fear will cause Ruth’s death; see Guardian). Today, she’s reflecting back to their previous interaction, where she ended up hurting Ruth. This comes at the end of a rather harrowing period of being told that she has accomplished nothing (and being able to help others is a source of pride to Billie). In short, she realizes/becomes convinced that just like all the other times she’s tried to help someone, it’ll come to nothing. So why bother?
(Or I could be completely wrong.)
Ah, Billie, Ruth. You two are goin to make me wait for my payoff for a really god damn long time, aren’t you? You might even beat Violent Murasame and Ushio. Damn you, Willis – not for the drama, but for its sheer RL length. And double damn you for leaving me with the knowledge you can’t reasonably go faster.
Also, poor the both of them. I’ve been at that ‘I’m useless and therefore can’t help the only person i actually love’ stage. it is… nothing I would wish on another human. And nothing external we’ve seen in Billie’s life looks like it’s a solid anchor to recover from (if such is possible) *and* the one she loves is justifiably pissed off at her for getting pissed. That’s… just a bad place, and I hope it gets better.
and that they bang.
Does the megapost mean that this particular mini-arc is over?
Dear author of this webcomic, please make sure that Ruth is fine and doesn’t do anything stupid. I really worry she might 🙁
[HanSoloVoice]”I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”[/HanSoloVoice]
You know, Billie, while your focusing in on little bits and pieces of things Ruth has said in a conditional manner, maybe you should remember this one:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/taste/
“You lie to me again, and I will hate you forever.”
Now, just like you can extrapolate from what she said about not drinking YET to imply that she will be drinking at some point you can extrapolate from FOREVER that, having not lied to her again, she intends to stop hating you at some point.
Now don’t get me wrong. You really, really, really fucked up on this one. But…well, if you let the fuck ups of the past interfere with you being a better person in the now…that’s basically the opposite of learning from your mistakes, ya know?
Also also, if you stop drinking right now it will be completely obvious to anyone who knows what to look for, and might just go a little ways to redeeming your dumbass in someone’s eyes. Even trying to quite might count for something. It certainly can’t make her opinion of you any WORSE, know what I’m saying?
Ok, so I only just found this web comic after seeing an advertisement on the ggar page and… I love this. The characters, the issues. I find myself able to empathize with most of the cast.
Dammit, let them bang! to be honest, if they didnt end up together I’d probably like that more, just because the author decided to skip the love story and be original.