Another week, another Welcome to the Fuckzone, and this week it’s Dorothy! Slipshine members can mosey on over. Walky’s member is also welcome.
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Another week, another Welcome to the Fuckzone, and this week it’s Dorothy! Slipshine members can mosey on over. Walky’s member is also welcome.
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Well, if Bloomingpedia is correct, they’re in Lindley Hall, so there are actually only TWO stops in a believable range (though I’m guessing at the scale1 and the active radius might actually be even smaller than that, plus idk which portals actually made it over to become Pokéstops)
*waits to be “well, actually”ed by actual IU attendees somewhere further down there↓↓↓*
I SHOULD NOTE THOUGH that GPS doesn’t guarantee accuracy of location, so it’s not only possible but HIGHLY LIKELY that Amber can track as being well the fuck over in Wylie Hall, like how in Gtown, MD I can sit in Red Robin and reach the Mini Statue of Liberty, sit in Señor Tequila and reach the racist-looking statues, or sit in Longhorn and reach BOTH OF THOSE (yet NOT the bullhead actually INSIDE the Longhorn???)…
or if they installed a Boost Mobile somewhere, it could have THREE Boost Mobile stops ON TOP OF EACH OTHER like in Lakeforest Mall… =p
[also, I totes want Alex to crank things up to 1200… 9600… no, 14400!!]
It’s still p accurate. I do the same thing as Amber. Nothing quite so nice as filling your bag up with necessities while you listen to a lecture.
wait holy butts you’re in MD? i’m in a different part of the same state and way more excited about that than i should be! 😀
So you mentioned Gtown, MD and I was like, “Oh, I went to the Red Robin there once” and then you mentioned that and now I’m amused.
56K!!!
… What percentage of our readers will have no idea what those numbers mean?
Used a modem before, thx
Ran a BBS blackboard on a Apple ][GS hardware hacked with a Lava controller and DEC cabling system at one time …. that was a lot of 20MB HDDs ….
Just saw a 5 TB HDD for less than 200 …. man I feel old now.
Ha. Youngster. I’ve still got a half box of punch cards somewhere in storage along with an old teletype machine that was great as as an after toggleswitch boot device because it had a paper tape reader. Doesn’t work and can’t be fixed because you can’t get the tubes for it anymore.
I ran 001-SF bbs in Houston. What was yours?
Kaypro!
*just returned from the MAGFest Museum*
Pft.
She doesn’t use GPS.
She upgraded her system to a hybrid GPS/Galileo system years ago and gets cm-level accuracy in most areas.
(seriously; the Galileo satellite network should really improve AR apps once phones start supporting it)
that’s actually WORSE for PokeGo if you actually register as not having moved for a solid hour+
I try not to do that nitpicky “well, actually” stuff anymore, but you basically asked for it, so…
I’m not sure that any details have been established to narrow down the location of Amber and Danny’s class. If anyone knows of any strips with exterior shots, point me to them. But on a real-life level, this class could be taking place in practically any building. It’s a low-level, high-enrollment course, and those pretty much get shoved wherever they’ll fit.
Case in point–the class they’re probably taking, CSCI-A 110 Intro to Computers and Computing, is exactly that way in real life. In the fall of 2016, it occurred in a variety of locations at different hours, including Ballantine, Wylie, Morrison, Swain, Geology, Wells, and SPEA.
As for where you might be able to access 3 Pokestops, I can’t tell you that, but I do know that campus has a good number of ’em. I haven’t played much since I got back to school.
Source: http://registrar.indiana.edu/browser/soc4168/CSCI/CSCI-A110.shtml
mang, it’s been a while since college, I can’t read that =p
as for the three Pokéstops, if all the portals made it across, Wylie Hall works, hence my comment about it
Ah, my eyes must’ve skipped over that part of your comment. I’m gonna headcanon their class as being in Wylie now, then.
And also, to be fair, I only know what buildings the classes are in because I know their postal code-esque abbreviations.
Saw that someone on university over here had discovered a toilet where the GPS was just enough messed up enough for moving in a slow trajectory covering a handful of pokestops….
I LIVE IN THE SAME TOWN YOU LIVE WHAT THIS IS CRAZY.
How about 28.8K? on a USRobotics “Sportster”… that was a great speed, with Procomm as the interface?
So Amber just doesn’t care about Danny at all?
Or just really likes pokemon
Which is not all that uncommon
She probably hasn’t noticed he’s there yet.
It looked like she saw him sit down a couple strips back. It’s possible she’s using the pokemans to distract herself.
I was thinking something along those lines.
I’m inclined to believe that Amber has sorted how she’s going to handle the Danny situation and is now free to concentrate on more important things.
Like Pokemons?
I feel like we’re seeing the alter situation getting way worse. Like, the Amber alter is so cut out that she doesn’t even feel she has a right to feel anything about the breakup cause that’s happening to like a distant roommate.
I still don’t understand this relationship.
Which part?
Like all of it. So Danny was dating Amazi-girl who is technically Amber but isn’t Amber, but Amber was the one that broke up with him even though she wasn’t Amber at the time? I mean, I just sort of role with it you know? But I’m not passing any quiz on this subject.
Ah, so short synopsis as best I figure is that Amber/Amazi-girl has DID or disassociative identity disorder and as such has developed two alters owing to lots of trauma and abuse. One of these alters, Amber, is quiet and unassuming and has blushing cheeks, whereas the other alter, Amazi-girl is much more active and hyperfocused.
Now, for most people with DID, integration is the goal. Having the separate alters consistently sharing memories and operating more like a committee that’s more focused on a common goal than one that is all higgly-piggly and not talking to each other. Amber/AG however is on a road of deeping disassociation, with the two trying to draw clear defined lines between them and trying to sort themselves into the toxic mess and the golden alter, which is a bad combination all around.
As such, when Danny was dating Amber/AG, Amber/AG decided to set a clear line and decided that only one alter would date Danny and when the mask was used in a sex scene, AG decided that she was the alter who was dating him and that Amber wasn’t.
Danny went along with this because he thought it was a secret identity thing rather than a worsening disassociation thing. However, this lead to later tension as the deepening disassociation led AG to become more erratic, unforgiving, and paranoid under the attempt to be the golden alter unconnected to Amber’s panic attacks from Sal.
As such, AG freaked on Danny and broke up, feeling guilty later about it but deciding Danny was better off without her. And now we’re seeing potential evidence that the Amber alter is becoming more disassociated from the relationship and AG’s life and the condition may be worsening to the point that memories are no longer being shared.
Likely because AG thinks Amber can’t handle things like her team-up with Sal owing to her PTSD triggers surrounding her.
Hopefully that helps and doesn’t just make the whole thing more confusing.
Beejesus…as in the literal bee Jesus who walks on honey and died for our pollenated sins! That’s kinda confusing but interesting than I gave it credit for. I just assumed Amazi-girl was an outlet for Amber’s rage issues and violent inclinations..What you’ve stated is far more compelling though.
The only bit I’d quibble with is the AG/Amber relationship with Danny. He started dating her as AG before knowing she was Amber, who he was also friends with. By the time the mask sex scene comes around, he knew she was Amber, but he was still officially only dating AG. The mask didn’t change things. In fact she switches personas to Amber during that sequence.
That’s clearly not how Amber saw it by the end.
By the end of what? The relationship? Certainly – though she never really made it clear to Danny that it was a psychological thing, not a secret identity pretense thing and Danny kept pushing to openly date Amber.
The mask sex scene? She was Amber by the end of it, using the mask at the start to give herself confidence.
That’s all part of her disassociation gradually getting worse. I’m not actually sure how much it existed at the start of the comic. She seemed to be using it much more as a pretense at first.
Except… she did feel. A lot. And worked it out with really really really messed up fanfic.
And is now escaping into the world of pokemon, and shall never learn how to right-click.
The right-click is the true victim.
Soon, the right-click shall have been purged from this world, thanks to the Gestapple pogroms. In one button shall mice find unity, and in unity, strength.
That escalated quickly.
Not really. Apple’s been persecuting right-clicks for 34 years. That’s, like, 1700 years in tech-years.
And yet the right click is still here, and still a better way of handling context menus, etc… and I still use it every day.
The right-click is a construct of our Windows overlords, denying us knowledge of the One True Button to keep us asleep and complacent. Wake up! Arise, and throw off the yokes of tyranny!!
“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” you mean.
(Using a four-button trackball on a Slackware Linux machine here.)
I’ve been watching GITS:SAC and i’m kind of sad trackballs never took off. They were rad!
But… My mouse has 15 keys! And I like it!!
This so-called “Unity” is in fact highly controversial!
It’s also possible that Amber is just in a good mood and isn’t double-thinking everything the way codependent Danny is?
not as much as my boy pikachu
Due to the nature of their sex lives, Danny would be more familiar with the back of Amber’s head and be distracted by it than Amber would be seeing the back of Danny’s head.
More likely Amber’s world doesn’t entirely revolve around Danny-wanny 24/7.
That’s my read. People never spend as much time thinking about you as you think they do.
Or you don’t realize they’re thinking about you at all, while they’re pining away. 🙂
I’ve seen both. I’ve been both.
Exactly! She could still be hurting right now, but also right now, she has Pokemon. Like, you don’t need to be constantly miserable and constantly thinking about the other person after a bad breakup. You’re allowed to be happy and think about other things.
When you do the rerun of this strip in 15 years or so, you’re gonna have to explain to everyone what a “Pokestop” was.
No, by then, the actual VR version of Pokemon Go will be out.
Watch it turns out Pokemon Go has a massive resurgence in 15 years, to the point where life revolves around it
Pokemon better be REAL in 15 damn years.
Yeah, good luck. Still waiting for hoverboards.
At least you got the Cubs win.
Don’t push others to do it.
Do it yourself if you want it.
(I believe in you! Go out and create abominations!!)
*to the point where life once again revolves around it
More like 20 years — 20 seems to be the magic Retro Number.
Consider plaid pants. The plaid pants I wore in the mid-70s made a brief resurgence in the mid-90s, and apparently they are coming back again in the mid-2010s.
20 years. Mark my word.
More like 30 to me. Many people I’m seeing look like they time-warped from my high school in the late 80s, except without so much Aqua-Net.
Looks like Danny has a major case of the Blues.
Wow, people who don’t live in the mountains don’t have to worry about teleporting around pokestops. How nice.
As someone who is still playing Pokémon Go, I thoroughly approve of this plan.
My husband still has to hit a Pokestop every day. You’re not alone.
(I showed him this strip, and he was very envious.)
only one? O.o with at least one you get the daily bonus but I would find it hard to play so little XD
There was a daily bonus?
It’s a relatively new addition – over the holidays I think?
Sometimes (ddepending on my gps) I can hit the pokestop of the pub across the road from my sofa. My life is pretty great.
Got one at work. Most government buildings, libraries and churches are pokestops. I can reach mine during lunch break and get 5-6 visits during the half hour.
Useful when it is -15 (last week) or freezing rain (today). Safer than playing in a car.
Still playing it too!
Same 😀
If I were still in college this is exactly how I would choose my seat in class.
“What YEAR is this?”
*chime*murmur* never ask that question
It is the everchanging now.
I wonder if he intended the irony of that question coupled with the potentially outdated Pokemon Go reference…
Duh, of COURSE he did!
Well, of course. But I think it’s also a reference to the fact that in the year of our Lord 2017 even intro comp-sci classes might have moved beyond where they were… *checks*… six years ago.
You mean six years ago, comp-sci classes finally got advanced enough to include using right-clicking?
This is now my headcannon.
Listen to the music, not the song.
It’s great as a rhetorical question because it gets more appropriate as time goes on. Right now it seems like teaching stuff everyone knows.
By the time DoA is finished, it’ll be absurd because the only people who even remember mice are digital archaeology fans – like Amber, shown using a recreated app to track down the ancient Pokestops.
Holy shit, that is a primo seat. Gonna get so many balls yesssssss
Amber’s a trooper! Still playing PokemonGo when the rest of the world has forgotten it…
or has it?
As far as I know, people still play it. Not to the ridiculous amount as in the beginning but still enough.
I started in August 2016 when the initial rush had died off, and still play most days. So do enough other people in my town that the gyms change allegiance several times in a day.
I think the people who stopped playing were never going to take to it long-term, whereas those who kept playing were probably always going to.
It’s just that it’s a phone-mediated game, so a lot of people tried it out, including people who weren’t usually gamers or weren’t usually gamers of that variety.
I am actually actively excited about the next semester starting up next week because there are very few pokestops by where I live and I’ve been running on like two or three pokeballs a day for a month.
sooo
I mean, I’m excited to learn also (I’m a grad student so… eh I kind of have to be, -ish) but also the pokestops.
*plays Def Leppard’s “Animal” on the hacked Muzak *
Shout out to “Buckets of Blood Guy” in the back
He looks like he’s having some kind of existential crisis or something
I think he’s looking at Amber’s phone. Must be so jealous
I assume Alex hasn’t yet had any surgery (yet) but is just choosing to live as she was always meant to. I don’t know if that’s offensive as I don’t know the proper way to speak about that.
Pretty sure this is actually a different person. If she were the same Alex, why would she be confused by her own lesson plan?
That’s what I recall reading on the official tumblr page. They’re both based on the same person Willis knows in real life, but the first one was based on the closeted Alex and this one is based on the openly trans woman Alex, but they are different characters.
That is sort of fantastic, that the male version of Alex could be said to be based off IW!Alex who was based off the closeted pre-transition person DW knew, and this Alex is based off the real person after she could throw away the pretense.
Personally I find the idea of seeing them as the same person feels like it’s doing a bit of a disservice to the difficulties of transitioning. Sadly, you can’t go to work one day pre-transition and come in the next 100% passing as a whole new person of the gender you identify as. It doesn’t work like that. It’s a long and difficult process.
I don’t want to dismiss that some people might view it that way though, or want to see it that way. I think it’s fantastic that this Alex is definitely trans, that’s pretty cool- although three transladies and no transdudes yet, clearly DW needs to stop writing about awesome ladies and start a comic all about awesome transdudes.
That is one thing I’ve noticed — that a lot of the time, trans ladies (and bi ladies, and lesbians) are more common than trans guys (and bi guys, and gay guys). There are probably a lot of reasons for that, some of them overlapping, some of them reasonable, and some of them disgusting.
But this is Willis. I’m sure he’ll be getting around to them eventually.
If you check the DoA Tumblr, Willis has stated that whether or not this Alex is the same as the previous one is up to each person’s headcanon.
Personally I think they’re different people, but eh.
Because closet-Alex was completely dialing it in.
I think you mean ‘phoning it in’. ‘Dialing it in’ is pretty much the opposite of phoning it in, which is what Alex was doing.
She’s pretending so as to not blow the disguise?
That too. Like, oh, what’re these terrible lesson plans I drafted when I… I mean “he” was sleep-walking through this course, well, that must be the work of a bad Alex we’ll never see again, ha ha. (okay, now to quickly fix this shit).
I think Original Alex really had a lot more on their mind than lesson plans.
Like trying to figure out how Amber pulled off that printer hack. And worrying that a Republocan would figure out their gender identity and leverage that information to destroy their livelihood.
But mostly the printer thing. And I guess cybercrimes.
Fuck, did I say Republocan? I mean Nazi.
What’s that, you say? You thought I meant Republican?
I did. That’s what I said.
*mic drop*
*mic pick back up*
Except for Evan McMullin. He’s alright in my book. And anyone else who makes a point of standing up to Trump.
Yes! I love it! Go Alex!!!
My headcanon is that they’re two different people, but they both also happen to be trans women.
I hadn’t seen this hypothesis yet. I like it.
I chose it because I couldn’t think of a more convoluted headcanon.
In some alternate universe, Willis wrote in jokes about Miitomo instead. Boy, was his face red when that didn’t catch on.
wait didnt this comic not used to have thought bubbles
They’re very rare, but these aren’t the first.
We got some of Ruth’s internal monologue one time, too, and there were several strips during Walking With Dina where we got Dina thoughts (and one with Becky). There have been others here and there.
This isn’t an Alan Moore comic. People have thought bubbles. I think I even saw a sound effect somewhere!
Imagine Alan Moore doing Dumbing of Age….
On second thought, don’t. No one needs that level of trauma.
Way to think ahead, Danny.
Amber found paradise!!! O.o (I just came in from my hometown and while they have excelent pokemon there it sadly has few pokestops)
She might just sit there all day long. Just watch! She won’t show up again for the rest of the chapter, and the next chapter she’s still sitting there!
1. Danny, that’s a type of distorted thinking called “mind reading”. You can’t really know what Amber’s thinking. I now you’re worried about her, but you can’t live your life this way.
2. Amber, you may want to actually pay attention in class now, as Alex appears to actually be able to focus on and want to do her job now that she’s not dealing as much with her gender dysphoria. It looks like the class could very well switch from “laid back easy A” to “seriously intensive”.
She could hijack the printer on her first assignment. I think she’s still ahead of the curve.
honestly I’m offended on Danny’s behalf on how little Amber cares about him or their break-up, especially considering it was all her idea
Amber was never dating Danny.
Yup, that’s how the alters see it.
Maybe. Amber was at least good friends with Danny. No way she doesn’t miss him.
Though pushing all that onto AG might be how she deals with it and furthers the disassociation – “I’m not bothered by losing Danny. He was only dating AG, not me. I don’t have to care. See how concerned I am with Pokemon.”
Being occupied with something else ≠ not caring. Looking after your own needs isn’t a crime, and when a relationship you cared deeply about ends, sometimes distracting yourself from it helps to cope.
Alternately, Amber is distracting herself.
Alternately, Pokemon Go is more important than friends, food, and proper bowel evacuation.
I’ve never actually played Pokemon, but I’ve lived through both the crazes. Seems reasonable to me.
Also- when something bad happens, it doesn’t have to be at the forefront of your thoughts 24/7. She could honestly be broken up about the breakup as well, but rn she’s focusing on PokeGo. Even though it’s a bad breakup and she’s going through rough times, she’s allowed small reprieves.
Alex, asking the same question as so many readers.
That class actually needs a whole lecture on using the right-click button? Unless you’ve never used a computer before, or have only used Macs all your life, you should know how right-click works.
Actually, with tablets becoming more and more common, I wonder if eventually things like right-click will seem more and more obsolete as the years go by.
Not completely. Maybe only programmers will end up using them, because a mouse and keyboard will always be more a more efficient setup for mashing out code. Having to use a touchscreen keyboard or needing to reach up to use a touch screen for things would be too obnoxious.
And since there’s already a tap-and-hold convention for touchscreen context menus that’s pretty ubiquitous, I doubt those will go away either. They’re even more useful on smaller screens when your fingers are the only input device.
I hate touchscreens with a burning fire, as if it were one million stars.
The day that I can no longer use a mouse and keyboard, is the day I stop using computers.
It’s just how totally basic some college computer classes are. I took a required class on word, Excel, and access in college where the first lesson in the workbook for each was opening and saving a file. It was totally basic stuff but that was the class. Compared to that, using the right click button is practically Shakespeare in comparison
I remember that class! A friend and I from the proper computer science program signed up for it just to see what was going on over in computer information systems land. After hearing the syllabus we looked at each other, then barely managed to wait for the class session to be over before both dropping it.
I only took one other CIS class – a 400 level Visual C++ class that I signed up for to get a few easy credits. Little did I I know. I mean, yes, I had been programming professionally in that language for half a decade by then, but I thought I might at least learn a few tricks I didn’t know. But when I got there, all the other students had neglected to bother to take the prerequisite CIS basic programming class, so the teacher threw up his hands and announced that I was in a basic C class now. Suffice to say, I didn’t learn any tricks, but did get my easy credits.
I guess what I’m saying is, the Boise State University CIS program didn’t impress me much. Their Computer Science program *did* though, aside from the AI and game programming classes. Hey, there’s a few lemons in every bunch.
Ironically, that was the only class to teach me something about computers that I didn’t already know from owning a TI-85 in the mid 90s, due to Access. Mind you, I’m an accountant and not a programmer, which limits my exposure. (I do kick ass at Excel, mind you)
Sure Amber, until your guy just starts to randomly run to one place and then back to where you actually are.
As a disabled person, honestly, that glitch is the best. I can’t go walk around to hatch eggs, so when my phone thinks I’m running suicides in the cornfield across the street, it’s GREAT.
My mom’s phone has a weird glitch going on, where her character won’t actually follow her much anywhere. It’ll either just stand in one place for a long time while my mom is far ahead, or just start running in the opposite direction. (We think it’s because the battery might be dying, but it’s a Samsung Galaxy 6, so we can’t replace it ourselves).
have amber and danny talked since she broke up with him?
No, and given what she’s said to Dorothy and Ethan she’s probably planning on removing herself from his life entirely.
That was also pre conversations with Sal.
Comic Reactions:
Panels 1 and 2: Yeah, I could abandon my headcanon, but fuck it, I’m all in on this, especially as Word of Willis leaves the question of whether or not Alex is the same person deliberately unsettled and open to both interpretations. So, this is less, yes, this is what I suspect is 100% happening and more me going all in on my personal headcanon for Alex.
And so, my interpretation of this moment is that Alex has been checked out and bad this semester with worrying about coming out and dysphoria and so has just sort of been following a basic lesson plan based on the books or the college-recommended standards and is only now starting to actually fully process how things are going and becoming dismayed.
Like, she’s going “holy fuck, it’s almost midterms and this is the guide I’m working with, what the fuck” internally.
It might also be that she was worried about being outed or coming out before and so was hewing closer to the standards or the book and not thinking about it and now she’s out and feels more confident, she feels more empowered to critique or mock the standards set out for her to cover and make edits.
Or it could even be that Unit 6 is just bad in the recommended standards, whereas earlier units at least had something arguably of value even if it was highly basic. Like, I don’t teach at college level, but I’ve had run-ins with state standards where I’ve boggled at the stupidity of what I’m expected to cover for a class sometimes and have had to creatively interpret it to make it work.
Regardless of anything, I’m glad she’s comfortable and happy now and able to focus more on the act of teaching* now!
*And that’s something that feels very real. It’s hard to focus with extreme dysphoria and be your best self, especially when you’re knowingly in the closet. So, being able to be out and have the worst of worrying behind her is likely to free her mind to really focus on the class. Certainly I was able to retain more energy from teaching when I was out as myself than when I was teaching closeted every day and crying in despair every night.
I’m not saying that this isn’t what’s happening. Not at all. First, it meshes entirely with what little I understand about transitioning, and second, you’re far far far far more knowledgeable on the subject than I am.
But could another element at work here be that Alex is trying to head off a (anticipated) negative reaction to her transition by becoming the cool teacher? Suddenly be awesome as a bribe to get students to accept the new face? I don’t know if that would work… and I don’t even know if it’s needed with this crowd… but if Alex thinks it’s worth a shot, could that be what she’s doing here?
I think we will see a marked improved in the quality of Alex’ classes.
Which will be totally wasted on the class Alex has.
The previous units sounded basic but not “a child can figure this out without more than basic prompting” basic, yeah. I’m betting it was in fact entirely possible Alex read the syllabus once or twice before checking out on this, and Unit 6 just whooshed past up til this point.
By the time the class gets a professor who’s actually paying attention, the students aren’t, and won’t be able to readjust the timeblock from ‘naptime’ to ‘class’ before the semester is over.
Tragic and entirely familiar.
That’s all too real a risk.
Panel 3: Yay, Danny, good, you’re making healthy life choices, sparing yourself a lot of your self-martyrdom and self-abuse and letting yourself maintain healthy distance needed to heal from the breakup.
You’ve really grown so much and… what’s that? That’s not the last panel of the comic?
Fuck-
Panel 4: And there’s Danny’s martyrdom right on cue. And it’s much worse for him because he’s the type of person that will always find it easier to suffer through pain than to imagine he’s causing someone else distress.
Panel 5: I just want to hug him and tell him things will get better one day. Like, AG near the end did… not great things to Danny. Things that toed right up to the line of abusive at points and certainly at the least were definitely paranoid and unresponsive to Danny’s actual statements.
It’s understandable he’d have mixed feelings about everything, even that he still loves and thinks well of AG. But it sucks he’s interpreting this innocuous attempt at genuine self-care as being “the real abusive move” freaking out about this being interpreted as a passive-aggressive attack.
And it’s just sad to see because that’s so human and a feeling I’ve struggled with, especially when I was dealing with an erratic ex who did… not great things to me in the past.
And I hope this healing can continue and he stops putting himself through this much distress every time he tries to do the most healthy thing for himself.
We really should have quit in time, reading the panels.
Just like Danny always does…
Yeah, it’s just so sad. The whole mess around the relationship with Amber/Amazi-girl was sadly the perfect trap for him. Play to his loyalty and his romantics, swear him in to secrecy, make him responsible for his partners well-beeing… Sadly, Amber/Amazi-girl got caught in it just as much as he did. I’m just happy it ended as soon as it did, and with relatively low amount of damage – because if she had let him he would have stayed WAY too long.
It’s nice that we’re up to describing the abuse victim’s relationship as a trap preying on an unsuspecting victim.
I am very clear on Blaine ultimately being the one to blame (and I’m not overly fond of Danny’s parents either, even if they don’t play in the same division).
Amber/Amazi-girl is as much caught in the trap as Danny. All of them do their best for each other with the very limited tools they are given. Even the breakup was to a large part Amazi-girl trying to protect Danny.
Yeah yeah I fucking know already. Blaine caused it and now Amber’s in The Cycle of Abuse *scare chord* and is just so inherently shitty and broken she can’t be allowed to have a partner, and trying to care for her is an exercise in futility.
Um….
….no, that’s not what I’m saying at all.
Danny and Amber’s relationship had really good parts. It also had really bad parts. It was never not complicated. Because of Amber’s issues AND Danny’s issues.
There are lots of people caring for Amber. Dina, Dorothy, Sal (in her own way) and of course Danny and Ethan. That’s a good thing.
Why would caring for her be futile? When has Danny… when has anyone for that matter, ever STOPPED caring for her?
That’s not what you were saying except for the part where you literally describe it as a trap and that Danny was damaging himself trying to help her.
Ah, OK I see where this came off track.
“Trap” implies intent, and in this context Ambers’ intent. That’s not what I meant at all. That was a bad choice of word. Sorry about that.
What I meant was that there was a systemic problem in Amber’s and Danny’s relationship stemming from their respective history, the way they got together and their mutual personality flaws.
yeah. it’s a
trapdysfunctional pattern they both fell into and were/are being victimized by.“just so inherently shitty and broken she can’t be allowed to have a partner, and trying to care for her is an exercise in futility.”
Wait, when did we start talking about Ruth and Billie?
Danny taking care of himself is a good start at least. He can keep working on not being himself up for it.
geez danny reminds me of a younger me, especially since i’m so terrified of turning out to be like my abusive dad
You’re not going to. You’re never going to. It’s a purely unfounded fear hoisted onto you by complete and utter dickweeds who have no idea what the fuck they’re talking about.
Danny, just stop stressing and forget about Amber. She’s not worth your time. No one is. Accept that. Love it. Become Ace.
Or better yet, develope an unrequited crush on both Sal and Ethan (who will be discovering Mike).
Yeah, I totes think its better this is the same Alex with better skin.
Same Alex would not be suddenly surprised by the class they’re teaching.
They would be if they were faking being a new person. Ridiculous pretense or not.
It’s OK Willis (and Amber), I still play Pokemon Go too.
I actually find it kind of weird that it dropped off so much. I guess the active hunting lost its appeal after their GPS tracking program goofed and they had to remove it completely. But the game really didn’t lose much for me, who just kind of hangs out around pokestops around campus between classes and catches pokemon to give my hands something to do while watching youtube videos. (Hooray for Multi-tasking!) I don’t even really battle at Gyms, I just kind of like collecting pokemon to “catch ’em all). I actually made it a bit of a side mission during my Christmas vacation in France to get a Mr. Mime. (Finally found one at the Airport waiting for my flight back, after I’d nearly given up hope. I named him Pierrot.)
And you bet your sweet ass I’d take advantage of that kind of seat during some big boring lecture on a subject I already knew. (I suppose I’m lucky in that regard that I haven’t taken a class that felt that pointless since the game came out, but you better believe I would have done it during some of my freshman lectures.)
Amber’s a lucky girl.
There are two Pokestops in range of my office, so I’ve also not stopped playing. Sometimes, I need to do something physical to wake myself up, and a five-minute stroll usually does the trick, so I’ll play then, as well. It’s still fun for me.
And I like to pretend I’m Clayton Kershaw, dropping in knee-buckling curveballs when I’m catching.
Amber’s got her priorities sorted…
Panel 6: Okay, I’m getting really worried about Amber/AG’s DID, because I think the alters might be getting really close to full disassociation and cessation of communication or sharing of memories, which would suck for her.
Especially so, because well, integration is hard. I’ve been lucky that I’ve always been fairly integrated more or less, but I’ve known people who haven’t been as lucky and it’s hard to get folks who are not talking or even fully know of the other’s existence to really work together and communicate. And I know from the bad road of trying to force 3-dimensional alters into boxes of “golden alter allowed all the good things” and “toxic mess allowed all the abuse” and having to recover from that mistake.
Like, Amber has been acting weird a lot since the breakup and I’m getting a strong feeling that AG has decided that the full details of certain memories are being classified because “Amber wouldn’t be able to handle it” and that Amber is only getting bits and pieces and a strong feeling that it’s not her place to really have much in the way of strong feelings about the breakup or any say.
I dunno, I might be over-reading into her actions, but I’m definitely full of the concern.
The best case scenario is Amber diving into video games and fanfics to give herself space to deal with things. But I fear you might be right that the rift is deepening.
I don’t think we have ever heard Amber second-guess or criticize anything Amazi-girl does. I had thought that would have been the case after the breakup, but Amber just seems to take it in a stride.
“Oh, it wasn’t my boyfriend anyway, and she is much better at handling that stuff than I am…”
Yeah, that’s also super worrying. The way that Amber just follows AG’s lead and assumes she knows best about everything when AG’s recent actions were super erratic and not all positive and even AG realized that elements of it deserved scrutiny and apology.
Am I crazy for still resenting Alex being happy for doing something I am too damn neurotic to do myself? Probably, especially since I am talking about the fictional Alex, rather than the real-life person she’s based on, which is… ugh, I hate myself.
tbf, i havent done it either, for reasons
I believe in you.
You’re going to rock whatever you chose to do and I believe you can handle it.
‘Deciding’ is a perfectly valid place to be, for however long you are there. Youll do whatever is best for your own self, and we’ll dig you in any format. <3
To be honest, I felt that way for about 15 years myself. It took me a long time (and a particularly eye-opening encounter) to finally decide to go ahead with socially and medically transitioning. But no matter where we all are in our path, it doesn’t invalidate who we are. 💙
fun fact: at Bloomington’s only lgbt bar, there are three pokestops in range. it’s fantastic.
How are we supposed to read that Alex has Ambers haircut?
oh thank god a new fuck zone
that’s an enticing sidebar
It sure is!
“Oh, no and by doing it without thinking of it, and then thinking of it and not moving, I’m a DOUBLE ASSHOLE. But if I move now when I have already sat down here I suppose I’m some kind of TRIPPLE ASSHOLE. But if I don’t move…”
And so go Danny’s thoughts on and on, creatively thinking up new ways to drag himself in the dirt.
No one has said “Bless you, Danny” yet? Okay, I’ll do it. Bless you, Danny.
Bless him, indeed.
NOT BLESSED ENOUGH
The mind (and/or brain) is a wonder, especially all the countless ways it can break and turn against itself.
I did once have a professor who wasn’t trans, but who did occasionally don an alternate identity in class. On days when we had presentations he would claim a friend of his who worked in the industry was in town and he was going to critique us. He’d go out to get his “friend,” and come back wearing sunglasses ad a Hawaiian shirt and he would completely refuse to break character for any reason. He did this multiple times.
Or he might have been trans, I don’t know. But it wasn’t relevant to his split identity.
Hahaha, amazing.
As a first year Computer Science major, I had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR classes where the day one lecture consisted entirely of the definition of a computer. Alex’s curriculum is sadly accurate.
I had a “mandatory” Introduction to Computers class as part of my computer programming Associate’s degree.
The instructor bragged about having had 10 years of experience in Windows 97 and Office 98.
This was 2004.
I was furious when my advisor told me, AFTER I finished that class, that I could’ve tested out.
Amber, I know that you’re a computer genius and that you probably already know all this but don’t you think it would be polite to at least pretend to listen to Alex’s lecture?
You kidding? Getting the Pokestops is much more important!
1: She has been listening in the past. At the very least, she’s certainly picked up what the homework assignments have been, and then finished hers before anyone else.
2: For all Alex knows, she is taking notes. It’s not exactly unheard of in a computer class to take notes on something digital.
3: Or, if we’re going with the assumption that this is the same Alex as always, then Alex is, right now, probably thinking that -everyone- is playing Pokemon Go on their phones. And she’s not blaming them.
Of course, only Amber is.
The rest is playing Super Mario Run.
4: Heck, even if this isn’t the same Alex, she’s probably still assuming that nobody’s paying attention because of how shockingly basic this is. And not blaming them.
And lets not forget what happened when she DID pay attention in this class
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/html/
Most tutors would be proud to have a natural talent in their class; this one just got threatened and defensive! A human reaction but not one to encourage further growth.
I like to pretend that that is what bisexual thought bubbles look like
On the one hand, all the sympathy in the world for Danny’s emotions here.
…. but on the other hand, when he thinks that level of passive-aggressive non-confrontation counts as a POWER play? You know the guy’s about as powerful as a wet noodle.
Pretty well summed up by Sal here
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/chargedup/
Actually, he’s on a generally right track, even the tiniest passive aggressive non confrontational snubs can add up to a horribly abusive pattern over time.
IF they are a pattern.
…Danny, you are okay. Honest. Pinkie swear. *hugs him*
Granted. Very much granted.
But that’s different from being a power play.
Just read the tumblr post about Alex and I dig the idea. We can always use more positive instructor figures in DoA. Heck she could even be a teacher/adviser/peer to Carla? Engineering and IT, ahh?
WTF is a Pokestop?
And why would a college student give a damn?
It’s a Pokemon GO thing.
It isn’t a ‘college student’ thing, it’s a ‘gamer geek’ thing.
I can’t recall where it was, but there was a comic I saw somewhere (before Pokemon GO was a thing, I think) which had a progression something like:
Middle school: Your peers play Pokemon with you.
High school: Your peers think you should grow up and stop playing Pokemon.
College: Your peers play Pokemon with you.
(I never had a handheld system as a kid, but if you sub “talking about Doctor Who and comic books” for “playing Pokemon”, that was largely my experience.)
It’s from Awkward Zombie
She’s all hopped up on the Poke’s!
and here I am thinking she was texting Sal
gotta catch them all.
“Danny?”
“Yes, Amber?”
“Could you move your head? You’re right in the line of my throw to get that Mew hovering above Alex.”
I feel so bad for Danny.
Trufax: The Intro to Computer Science course I took thinking it’d be a nice CS elective when I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to do ChemistryPhysics dual major or Physics CS was one that I dropped after getting the syllabus, which had such thrilling topics as:
How to set up and power on a computer (this was supposed to take a week, and had a lab for it)
How to use the command line in DOS (FYI: DOS had been phased out of development seven years prior) – three weeks
What is a Graphical User Interface? – one week
How to use a Graphical User Interface – two weeks
How to set up a mouse and keyboard – one week
How to use the keyboard – one week
How to use the mouse – one week
Thus you’d be at midterms, and literally only learned how to turn it on and putz around in Windows a bit. I am one of those weirdos whose odds of flunking a course actually go up below a certain minimum difficulty level (I need a challenge to stay interested, I need to stay interested to do the thing), so I dropped it and decided to focus on physics instead.
(spoiler: I didn’t end up doing physics at all in undergrad because field theory broke my brain in first year because the way my brain understands fields I needed the differential calculus to be able to math it and I couldn’t wrap my head around the simplified version taught in first & second year. So I wound up in medicinal chemistry instead… except now I’m doing thermochemistry which is essentially the intersection of classical physics and chemistry so I wound up taking a long and windy route to where I wanted to go in the first place. :P)
And I am informed by a younger person I know that as of two years ago, the course was still there, still with the exact same syllabus.
Also other ways in which I am weird: Very often, for me, the “more difficult” way to do something will be easier to my brain. Thus I derived calculus when first learning about limits because finding the limit of a continuous function is just utter bullshit and calculus makes more sense. Or, in this case: I couldn’t understand fields until I had multivariable and differential calculus under my belt, and therefore knew how to handle gradients in math. Because the simplified one dimensional version they taught made no goddamn sense to me. Once I learned advanced calculus, it was easy, though. In real time conversation, I also tend to reduce pretty much everything to a math analogy, which annoys the hell out of a lot of non-mathy people I know. “Listen, the set of cops who are racists is not equivalent to the null set, alright?!” Is a thing I’ve actually said before. To someone who knows fuck all about set theory. Because my brain goes to math before it goes anywhere else.
I, quite understandably, got a “What the fuck are you talking about?” in response.
(this is why I love Dina and hope she never changes. Because people who make those bizarre hyper-academic analogies and word choices exist, and when I am in day-to-day conversation and not purposefully self-editing to come off more chatty and conversational so I don’t come off like I’m trying to be cognitively inaccessible to a large portion of the population to be a condescending fucker, I’m one of them. I edit myself a lot in textposts because if I write how I normally speak, only fellow mathy folks understand me and everyone else thinks I’m trying to make myself feel smart by talking over their heads.
If I ever use one of those out-in-left-field mathy or sciency analogies, one got through my editing net. I’m not trying to be a condescending jerk. Just FYI.)
Also: I don’t edit myself in real-time conversation because I don’t have time to. Pulling together a text post here? I spent 15 minutes on the post made at 7:05 editing and re-editing it.
This is why I – and many other autistic people I know – prefer text-based communication. I don’t have to worry about real-time responses or body language, and I can take the time I need to make sure I’m understood by as many people as possible. 🙂
i relate deeply to everything you said re: communication patterns
SET THEORY IS A GIFT AND A BLESSING FOR PUTTING INTO WORDS WHAT YOU ARE THINKING AND PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW STATISTICS THERMINOLOGY ARE AWKWARD AND PAINFUL TO TALK TO
(jk im trying to self edit out of that too)
SET THEORY IS GLORIOUS.
Also: If you want some fun light reading on mathy stuff – try “A Friendly Introduction to Number Theory.”
I am trying to find a good book for self-teaching advanced calculus because reasons… lemme know if you have any?
I think that the warning was in the title: “Introduction to Computer Science”. ‘Introduction’ is always a synonym for ‘So, you primitives have crawled out from under your rock and want to know what these ‘computer’ things are?
Full Disclosure: FWIW, I was one of those primitives who had never used a modern personal computer before I took an ‘Introduction to Business Computing’ course, so I really did need to know how to use Windows and a Mouse.
I’m also one of those weirdos who can and will fail anything labeled “an easy A”, while doing fine as long as the class average is a C. I just hate busywork, or anything that I think is busywork, so I avoid it and fail.
Also, I relate to thinking of the mathy/sciencey analogies before thinking of the normal English way of saying something. Luckily, I’m at an engineering school and I usually get reactions like “what?” followed by “hey, that’s an accurate way of putting it”. My friends have started calling me a cyborg from the amount of times I use computer terminology to refer to my brain. (Even though memory retrieval is both a psychology and a computer term, and my brain could theoretically have segfault errors.)
I call B.S. on three overlapping spots indoors. That or my phone is really crappy and can’t get GPS signal indoors. For a Pokestop to exist, there needs to be an location of note near by. To have 3 accessible they’d each have to be like within 50 feet of where she’s sitting. I just don’t see that happening.
Is it just me, or is this the first confirmation we’ve gotten that Unknown Evil* will very soon be ruling over the lives of every last person in Clark Wing?
* midterms
I swear, Danny is such a woman. Forget being in the middle of an Amber-Ethan sandwich. He should just be hot for Ethan’s meat and just go with it.
Yes, that is definitely how it works. Mhmm, totally. That is very much accurate and these are not lies.
You know, I was thinking that if you’ve read ‘Men are from Mars, Women from Venus’ that Danny is more Venusian than Martian, and Amber more Martian than Venusian. It never occurred to me that a nervous disposition could be linked to liking cock, what with myself being a nervous lesbian. I learn more about other people’s stereotypes every day.
til my anxiety disorder is caused by bisexuality
Appropriate avatar is appropriate…
There is nothing about this post which doesn’t invoke a slow blink.
This rates a very large number of “what????”
this is the most relatable doa strip ever
Panel One: Ah yes. Because ‘this Alex’ has never ever seen the curriculum. Yes. Definitely. Of course. This doesn’t read like a ‘where was I’ at all to me. Nope. And awwwww, Alex is SO CUTE. She is so happy to be transitioning and I love it.
Panel Two: Oh god, Alex. Yeah, that sounds about right. A lot of intro to computer classes work under the assumption that someone has never used a computer before – and to be fair, it is possible, even today. Immigrants,international students, or even people from, say, an Amish community or something may not have used a computer before. It’s unlikely today, but not impossible. That said, I would think that that would be either a remedial class or that there would be an alternative for kids who know this already.
And yeah, it doesn’t shock me that Alex is surprised. She was not paying attention during her work beforehand. Probably distracted by dysphoria or finding resources to transition. Or she really was playing Words With Friends. Either way, she’s now being more attentive – and having her ‘Dear God, what have I been teaching?’ moment. Poor girl. Though it’s a realization more teachers could stand to have – Jason, Penny, Alan, looking at you three. Leslie’s realized her mistake a couple times, now Alex. Math department next please!
Panel Three: Good job, Danny! I like seeing him prioritize his needs. He desperately needs to figure out what is best for Danny, without worrying over everyone else 24/7. It’s one thing to care for others, especially when they’re in a bad spot, and it’s another to drop your own needs entirely.
Panel Four: GOD DAMMIT, DANNY. NO. BAD DANNY. Don’t go down that road. Beating yourself up is dangerous. Second guessing every single thought and action as being horrible and awful and people seeing something in the worst possible light is something I struggle with a lot. It’s not a fun thing. But at the same time, classes fill up. The other side of the room isn’t really an option. It really sucks when you know someone is mad and don’t know if something or other will be taken the wrong way.
Panel Five: Yup, everything is terrible and awful and of course everyone must SEE how terrible and awful you are and oh great, you’re a piece of shit and it’s an effort not to have your whole day shot and withdraw from everything. It is painful and I really hope Danny can stop panicking.
Panel Six: And yeah, usually it isn’t true. Much like with Dorothy, the ‘flaws’ and ‘bad things’ are things nobody else actually sees or would consider a big deal. Things you’re raking yourself over the coals for are not actual big problems.
I’m glad to see Amber isn’t worrying too much over Danny. We know she saw him, and we know she’s hurting over their break up, and we know she cares about him. But she’s not fixating on him. She’s thinking about other things. That’s good. And seeing her just gaming before class like normal makes me happy. She’s not responsible for Danny worrying – at least, not on purpose. She’s happily doing her thing. That’s good. I hope Danny can get to that point soon himself, where he can see her and not worry about how his every move will affect her.
…to tell the truth I was really surprised by the “Words With Friends” line in a previous Alex strip. I was like HOW DID DAVID KNOW??
It’s a true mystery of our time.
That’s because Willis is an evil mastermind sitting in his secret volcano lair, in front of a set of a hundred TV sets that keeps showing him the lives of people he keeps track of for one reason or another.
I’m surprised you didn’t know this.
Also – access to a time machine, so he can create things like the Prosperity Gospel and sully the good name of Christianity and make it look bad!
I’ve never had more empathy for Danny that after reading this strip.
*than… not that
‘Sweet Spot’ should be the title of this strip. Danny or no Danny, Amber isn’t changing seats anytime soon.
So uh hey, how about the new info on your President-elect?
I’m greatly looking forward to the period hilarious, panicked denials before he takes office and plunges the world into nuclear war just to make the laughing stop
It’s rare that a president gets their watergate before they get into the office.
Please, PLEASE tell me that wasn’t a pun.
Amber perfectly describes current college life in this strip. I totally didn’t spend a semester in the front row of physics just to hit a pokestop throughout it.
Poor Danny though
On the flip side you have the computer into course for non computer science majors that assumes to much prior knowledge. I tried a middle aged woman for a few weeks and 99% of her problems were due to the fact that the book skipped steps in their instructions. This was a smart woman. She understood the material she had, she just needed the missing info.
I was appalled because this sort of thing makes non-tech savvy people feel dumb and like technology is this thing that’s out of reach for them. I had to keep telling her that the textbook was bad.
I’ve never been in Danny’s situation but that is definitely how is react to it.