Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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walking + shoulder-chinning + dinosaur enjoying = disaster
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July 11, 2026

Sticks

by David M Willis on October 7, 2015 at 12:01 am
  • 01 - To Those Who'd Ground Me
└ Tags: becky, dina

Discussion (132) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    October 7, 2015 at 12:01 am | #

    or, ya know, a “stupid” phone only costs like $40 with $15/month time refill cards, since you have all that fancy dinner money

    • Cody
      Cody
      October 7, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

      Come on Dina, give Becky the gift of her own phone.

      Hell of a way to keep her.

      • Inkblot
        Inkblot
        October 7, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

        Come to think of it, my girlfriend doesn’t have a phone either (fortunately not for the same reason.) Perhaps I should get her a dumbphone.

      • gkheyf
        gkheyf
        October 7, 2015 at 12:11 am | #

        i’ve heard that expensive gifts are a no-no early in a relationship. something about weight or obligation. but, heck, i confidently predict that these two will be a sweet, granulated pile of cuddles until the end of the comic! what could possibly go truck?

        • Doctor_Who
          Doctor_Who
          October 7, 2015 at 12:14 am | #

          “Go truck” should totally be this fandom’s term for disaster.

          • gkheyf
            gkheyf
            October 7, 2015 at 12:26 am | #

            a freudian slip is when you say one thing and mean your mother for a nickel.

            that joke works best when said aloud. please read it aloud

            • Nakama
              Nakama
              October 7, 2015 at 8:52 am | #

              Preferably in public.

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          October 7, 2015 at 12:35 am | #

          Yeah, and Becky is on some level aware of that because it was Dina’s offer of buying expensive dinner that led her to spending today obsessively job searching.

          • Spencer
            Spencer
            October 7, 2015 at 8:02 am | #

            Which is probably making Becky feel even worse. She already has it in her head that she’s a burden on Joyce, so she’s trying to make up for that. Now Dina is trying to be helpful in perfectly normal, girlfriendy ways, and Becky’s pushing those attempts away too.

        • Losloslos
          Losloslos
          October 7, 2015 at 11:16 pm | #

          I swear if Becky breaks our little Dina’s heart, even accidentally, she shall face a wrath with the intensity of a thousand, thousand suns.

      • bearpelt
        bearpelt
        October 7, 2015 at 2:57 am | #

        Well I think the idea here if more that this is what they have available NOW, so Dina’s giving her what she has NOW.

    • fogel
      fogel
      October 7, 2015 at 12:19 am | #

      There are even phones for half that and less for minutes (if you don’t use many).

      • Jen Aside
        Jen Aside
        October 7, 2015 at 1:11 am | #

        I had cheaper, but the service was irritating (non-muteable expiration alerts at 3a EST). I like to give averages vs. rock bottom, anyway, to better reflect a repeatable experience (no idea whose services are getting jacked)

    • Bob
      Bob
      October 7, 2015 at 3:51 am | #

      Well actually:

      http://m.virginmobileusa.com/mt/www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/kyocera-rise-phone/features/

      And t mobile, straight talk and Wal-Mart family mobile have comparable pricing

      • fogel
        fogel
        October 7, 2015 at 11:45 am | #

        Virgins not been bad. My original pLan was minimum $15 per 3 months. It gave enough minutes for calls and texts as I needed most months. I still have that phone and plan as a fallback, tho I think that you can’t get that plan anymore as a new option. The phone is probably 10 generations old.

  2. liahansen
    liahansen
    October 7, 2015 at 12:02 am | #

    i was gonna cry about how becky’s can-do attitude is kicking my ass, but dina cuteness made me forget

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      October 7, 2015 at 1:01 am | #

      I know right. “You go gir… OH MY GOSH THIS IS ADORABLE”

  3. Haven
    Haven
    October 7, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

    This is so cute it hurts

  4. Mada
    Mada
    October 7, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

    Oh my god those last three panels are adorable.

  5. tim gueguen
    tim gueguen
    October 7, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

    Cuddlewalking is a task one should not undertake without practice.

    • gkheyf
      gkheyf
      October 7, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

      too much of a good thing, too much of a good thing!

      seriously, though…tried it, very hard. doubly so if there’s a height discrepancy. like an ultimate 3-legged race

      • Disloyal Subject
        Disloyal Subject
        October 7, 2015 at 12:53 am | #

        Indeed. Easier to just take turns carrying each other, and that’s not the easiest either.

        • gkheyf
          gkheyf
          October 7, 2015 at 6:30 am | #

          Whoa…I did actually consider that when I first saw the comic. My conclusion was that they would collapse into an adorable pile, as neither of them looks too strong

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      October 7, 2015 at 1:00 am | #

      1. Practice is fun

      2. Cuddlewalking is my new favorite word

  6. Mr. Random
    Mr. Random
    October 7, 2015 at 12:03 am | #

    I know a phone plan costs a lot for a person at this stage, but she really needs one.

    • Anonymous
      Anonymous
      October 7, 2015 at 3:08 am | #

      The best value prepaid phone I can find is a $15 refurbished Android phone, which costs $20 for every 180 minutes of talk time.

      Or maybe Dina can add a cheap refurb phone to her plan. Most carriers don’t charge much to add a voice line.

  7. Mr. Mendo
    Mr. Mendo
    October 7, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

    In her own way, Dina’s one of the most romantic women who ever lived!

  8. Arkantos
    Arkantos
    October 7, 2015 at 12:04 am | #

    I’m confused, was she looking at her boobs?

    • Mada
      Mada
      October 7, 2015 at 12:10 am | #

      Headcanon accepted.

    • Someone
      Someone
      October 7, 2015 at 12:12 am | #

      Well she may have been looking at her tush in that last panel

    • doubleW
      doubleW
      October 7, 2015 at 12:13 am | #

      Boobs are as distracting as phones. Put them next to each other and anyone is bound to trip up.

      • inqntrol
        inqntrol
        October 7, 2015 at 7:21 am | #

        There are some exceptions as well.

        • doubleW
          doubleW
          October 8, 2015 at 12:18 am | #

          Ah! Edit ‘boobs’ to ‘chests’ and I think we’re good. Folks can appreciate some good pecs, right?

  9. brionl
    brionl
    October 7, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

    Good thing she wasn’t chewing gum too. Could have been a trip to the emergency room.

  10. Twilightomens
    Twilightomens
    October 7, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

    THESE TWO

  11. JessWitt
    JessWitt
    October 7, 2015 at 12:07 am | #

    At first glance, I thought Dina was freaking over the hidden dinosaur porn revealed in her phone.

  12. Alice Macher
    Alice Macher
    October 7, 2015 at 12:09 am | #

    Adorkableness: restored.

  13. inqntrol
    inqntrol
    October 7, 2015 at 12:10 am | #

    Didn’t she have a phone?Or did her bigot dad confiscate it?

    • Someone
      Someone
      October 7, 2015 at 12:13 am | #

      She never had one…i think

      • gkheyf
        gkheyf
        October 7, 2015 at 12:15 am | #

        i think she did. they chatted with joyce on occasion. she may have just left it when she fled her campus

        • Someone
          Someone
          October 7, 2015 at 12:16 am | #

          I think she used a home phone for that

          • David M Willis
            David M Willis
            October 7, 2015 at 12:18 am | #

            It was a landline. They used to exist!

            • gkheyf
              gkheyf
              October 7, 2015 at 12:20 am | #

              oof. if only i had seen your comment before responding. now i feel a fool, a fool am i!

            • Someone
              Someone
              October 7, 2015 at 12:20 am | #

              Thats what I meant by home phone. And to gkheyf wireless land lines do exist. I own one

              • gkheyf
                gkheyf
                October 7, 2015 at 12:24 am | #

                fair, so do i. i just didn’t know that dorm rooms had them. i figured it would at most be a single phone in the hall that you wouldn’t take to your bed to lie around with. when i was in college, landlines were already largely outdated. and yet many forms still ask me for a home and cell number as mandatory.

                • Disloyal Subject
                  Disloyal Subject
                  October 7, 2015 at 12:56 am | #

                  I’ve never had problems come from giving the same number for both, or just writing N/A for Home Phone #.

                • Erin
                  Erin
                  October 7, 2015 at 9:26 am | #

                  Even before cell phones, teenagers were well known for spending hours on the phone. Installing only one phone for a hallway full of them would have been like installing only one toilet. That infrastructure remains in any dorm more than a decade old, which is most of them on most campuses. I’m a little younger than Willis, but my college had phone jacks in every room right next to the ethernet jack.

                • John
                  John
                  October 7, 2015 at 10:53 pm | #

                  When I was in college (I’m a few years older than Willis), the dorms had one payphone per floor. That was it. When I was checking the place out the summer before my senior year of college, they were saying they were going to put network and phone drops into the rooms the next summer. They put the conduit in – my roommate, who was working and living on campus that summer, woke up one morning to a masonry bit coming through the wall six inches in front of his face – but they didn’t actually run the cables until the semester after I left. So for my entire college career, I was sharing one payphone with about 65 other guys.

                  On the bright side, that meant I never had to answer the phone. I hate answering phones.

                • John
                  John
                  October 7, 2015 at 10:58 pm | #

                  s/senior year of college/senior year of high school/

            • inqntrol
              inqntrol
              October 7, 2015 at 12:21 am | #

              So did the Nokia ,,bricks”. Back then it was a big deal if you dropped the phone…or throw it.

            • Plasma Mongoose
              Plasma Mongoose
              October 7, 2015 at 12:32 am | #

              Landlines still exist, especially in the commercial sector, home landlines are mostly found in old peoples homes these days.

              • Eolirin
                Eolirin
                October 7, 2015 at 1:45 am | #

                VOIP as part of ISP bundle packages surely isn’t that uncommon, and totally counts :p

                • Idon'tcarenomore
                  Idon'tcarenomore
                  October 7, 2015 at 2:50 am | #

                  Voip is not a landline, it is part of a computer digital setup.
                  Landline is a phone that is totally connected to the now nearly extinct separate phone system: which was not electrical or digital. You know, Thomas Edison’s invention 🙂

                • N0083rP00F
                  N0083rP00F
                  October 7, 2015 at 10:26 am | #

                  Oh god, did you actually ascribe the telephone to that shyster?
                  Alexander Graham Bell was the gentleman inventor to invented the telephone.
                  Also, in other news, the telephone was and still is an electrical device.
                  Also the copper based phone system is not dead except in the USofA where the local companies are pushing wireless to save the costs of new builds. Cell towers are still not mandated in all jurisdictions to have backup power and 100% up time like the old wired systems. This is an issue with and health and emergency monitoring systems.

                • WolfLann
                  WolfLann
                  October 7, 2015 at 11:56 am | #

                  In Canada the copper lines are still in uses in lots of places. Slowly replaced with Fiber Optic or wireless.

                  Also VoIP in most case still use copper cables internally, as in between the Phone system, IP Phones, VoIP box and the internet modem. Cat 5 and Cat 6 cables are made of copper.
                  An all Fiber Optic internal infrastructure is not yet cost effective for SMB and in most case it is implemented only for long distances between network hubs and between each switches in same rack to avoid bottleneck.

                • Plasma Mongoose
                  Plasma Mongoose
                  October 7, 2015 at 6:22 pm | #

                  I have a VOIP phone and I can tell you now, it is no where near as reliable as a traditional landline and as for the term landline, I only started referring to traditional phones as landlines in the last few years, before that, they were just phones.

              • DarkoNeko
                DarkoNeko
                October 7, 2015 at 6:35 am | #

                all DSL lines are land lines ; for example “cable internet” isn’t common in France.

            • Orbit Junkie
              Orbit Junkie
              October 7, 2015 at 12:44 am | #

              By the laws of the sliding timeline, the events of this comic will one day occur in an era where kids don’t know what landlines are. I’m not sure what this contributes to the conversation, but it disturbs me.

              • DarkVeghetta
                DarkVeghetta
                October 7, 2015 at 5:18 am | #

                There’s already plenty of those, actually. Welcome to the grimdark future where only mobile phones count!

                • de Combys
                  de Combys
                  October 7, 2015 at 1:12 pm | #

                  You are right, at the university I go to, when people ask for my phone number I specify that it’s a landline, and I’ve had “what do you mean”s.

            • BenRG
              BenRG
              October 7, 2015 at 4:25 am | #

              Ah! Someone else who remembers the stone age! I actually get shocked looks when I give my home land-line as a contact number!

            • Ryek Hvek
              Ryek Hvek
              October 7, 2015 at 11:04 am | #

              Some of us are reading this comic through a landline (w/DSL)

            • leadsynth
              leadsynth
              October 7, 2015 at 11:05 pm | #

              I had a landline in college! But, uh, that was 2000-2004.

          • gkheyf
            gkheyf
            October 7, 2015 at 12:19 am | #

            dunno, it was definitely wireless and she was lazing about with it. not sure campus rooms were ever that well-equipped

            • Disloyal Subject
              Disloyal Subject
              October 7, 2015 at 12:57 am | #

              Perhaps it was borrowed.

            • JaneDoe
              JaneDoe
              October 7, 2015 at 5:03 am | #

              My sister’s dorm room and mine both had just outlets for any standard landline. While neither of us used them since we both had cell phones by that point, all either of us would have needed is to plug in a regular cordless phone and we would have had that kind of setup.

    • Bicycle Bill
      Bicycle Bill
      October 8, 2015 at 1:12 am | #

      Becky never had a cellphone.  According to Joyce, her parents wouldn’t allow it.
      The phone she had in her room at Anderson is probably a cheap cordless model ($10 or $15 at Wal-Mart) that connects to a base unit/charger that plugs into the wall jack elsewhere within the room.

  14. gkheyf
    gkheyf
    October 7, 2015 at 12:14 am | #

    daaa’w! jealous dina is possessive, yet still overtly logical!

    • gkheyf
      gkheyf
      October 7, 2015 at 12:17 am | #

      she does however fail adorkably when the opportunity arises

      …that time, i cut myself off by accident

  15. JDemms
    JDemms
    October 7, 2015 at 12:17 am | #

    Mmmmm, I dunno.
    I get why people find this adorable, but this is kinda starting to smack of the same kind of jealous obsession that Dina showed in I.W. Not to the same extent as that, but in a similar vein, what with actively inconveniencing herself in order to try and keep a hold on the person she likes.
    Though that could just be my terminal case of pessimism flaring up again.

    • Someone
      Someone
      October 7, 2015 at 12:19 am | #

      Now Dina do not take your hat off and hold it solemnly.

      • gkheyf
        gkheyf
        October 7, 2015 at 12:22 am | #

        in this comic, that would carry far, far more weight.

        i do say this not having read all of the old comics

        • Someone
          Someone
          October 7, 2015 at 12:53 am | #

          in a couple years prepare to bawl prepare to bawl like you have never bawled before

          • Someone
            Someone
            October 7, 2015 at 12:54 am | #

            Or just read the rest of the old comics heres a link

            http://www.joyceandwalky.com/d/20010225.html

            picking up where the reruns left of

            • gkheyf
              gkheyf
              October 7, 2015 at 12:39 pm | #

              thank you so much! i was having so much trouble getting there through the site. just got as far as dina getting mixed up with walky/joyce. it’s getting dark

    • Cerberus
      Cerberus
      October 7, 2015 at 12:33 am | #

      She’s new to dating and hasn’t yet realized that codependent is not how one relationships.

      • Bagge
        Bagge
        October 7, 2015 at 12:58 am | #

        Given how good they are at communication I don’t think they will have more trouble there than any other young couple figuring out dating for the first time. Probably less.

        • Cerberus
          Cerberus
          October 7, 2015 at 1:12 am | #

          I strongly agree. Dina and Becky have had great romantic instincts so far. I feel this is basically just navigating narratives about how a relationship is “supposed” to look.

          • Bagge
            Bagge
            October 7, 2015 at 1:22 am | #

            Yup, and since neither of them actually HAVE a good clue of the narrative they will just feel their way forward. Dina has some sort of vague middle-school-esque grip on the base metaphor. Becky has tons of the same ultra-romantic, heteronormative story as Joyce, but she also knows that most of it doesn’t apply to her situation. So they got a fresh start.

      • Mindlink
        Mindlink
        October 7, 2015 at 7:32 am | #

        There’s nothing inherently bad about codepency, it’s not for everyone but it works for a lot of people.

        • Bagge
          Bagge
          October 7, 2015 at 9:54 am | #

          The problem with it is that breaking potentially destructive parts of the relationship – or breaking up alltogether – becomes much harder.

          If your relationship goes sour and you need some time apart or to break up, nothing gets easier if you first have to figure out how to to divide your shared phone. (or your shared room, in case you – I don’t know – suddenly have to put some distances between yourself and your sexy lesbian suicide pact).

    • bearpelt
      bearpelt
      October 7, 2015 at 3:01 am | #

      I dunno the other story you’re referencing, but it’s possible that she’s being a little possessive. But I think that’s a normal emotion that she can also learn to control. This is fairly new for both of them, so they’re kind of figuring it out as they go and gifts with the good intention that Dina has are not super likely to be used as manipulation tools. I also get the feeling Dina wouldn’t think of it that way due to being neurodivergent, possibly autistic. (I’m autistic, though, so me headcanoning her as autistic could be some projecting but DAMMIT IT FITS SO WELL and it’s probably the only autistic character i’ve ever seen done well by a presumably non-autistic creator.)

  16. Professor Fate
    Professor Fate
    October 7, 2015 at 12:31 am | #

    Dinosaurs aren’t great multitaskers, Dina. Perhaps you two could hand the ‘phone back and forth, making sure you stay close together. Like that’s a problem.

    • Dean
      Dean
      October 7, 2015 at 1:32 am | #

      Tyrannosaurs couldn’t even use phones, because of their tiny arms. And no external ear to attach a bluetooth device.

    • Charlie Spencer
      Charlie Spencer
      October 7, 2015 at 7:08 am | #

      “Multitasking is difficult.”

      More so than most people are willing to admit, Dina.

  17. Cerberus
    Cerberus
    October 7, 2015 at 12:32 am | #

    Huh, that puts yesterday’s comic in a whole new context. Becky sees Dina’s stuff as hers and that it’d be rude to borrow or use it. Whereas Joyce is her long time friend and as such they’ve built a lifetime out of loaning each other things and Joyce has been making a big deal about loaning her things like her phone or her computer.

    So, the slight definitely wasn’t intentional, but may have not just been about being overfocused on the job search and missing signals. It may have also been that Becky is used to sharing (non-food) stuff with Joyce, but is relatively new to sharing with others and still worries about overly taking advantage of people.

    Which is not to say that she’s taking advantage of Joyce, but rather that they have a long shared history where that has been cleared and established by their long friendship (see how casually Joyce lent her her laptop).

    • Nightsbridge
      Nightsbridge
      October 7, 2015 at 12:47 am | #

      Becky’s boundaries with Joyce have been established, learned, bulldozed, rebuilt again, and built in the minds of the two girls with huge neon signs with accompanying astericks as long as an arm that both girls can recite by heart.

      Becky and Dina, sweet as they are, still haven’t felt each other that way. they’re sweet and lovely but new to each other. For a while I can totally see Dina being jealous of that closeness and intimate knowledge of each other’s barriers, but sometimes a bit of jealousy is just something you need to deal with like a responsible adult.

      • Disloyal Subject
        Disloyal Subject
        October 7, 2015 at 12:59 am | #

        Well put.
        I have faith Dina will manage.

        • leadsynth
          leadsynth
          October 7, 2015 at 11:07 pm | #

          I totally thought this said “Dina will marriage,” and I was like whoa whoa whoa slow down now

      • Bagge
        Bagge
        October 7, 2015 at 1:06 am | #

        Like any young couple they have A LOT to figure out. I’m sure they will manage. They talk a lot and got a good start.

        • Nightsbridge
          Nightsbridge
          October 7, 2015 at 2:43 am | #

          Yes, they assume very little, and that will work in their favor.

          • Spencer
            Spencer
            October 7, 2015 at 10:01 am | #

            It’s probably for the best. Dina is extremely direct and Becky’s bad at reading signals, like how the last two strips have had her unintentionally slighting Dina.

      • John
        John
        October 7, 2015 at 10:42 pm | #

        I’m sure they’ll get to feeling each other before too long.

  18. lime sheep
    lime sheep
    October 7, 2015 at 12:38 am | #

    flew too close to the sun

  19. Stephen R. Bierce
    Stephen R. Bierce
    October 7, 2015 at 12:39 am | #

    *plays Lionel Richie’s “Stuck On You” on the hacked Muzak*

  20. Saru
    Saru
    October 7, 2015 at 12:43 am | #

    Yay for more awkward virgin lesbian shenanigans.

    • Disloyal Subject
      Disloyal Subject
      October 7, 2015 at 12:59 am | #

      Now there’s a book title.

  21. Bagge
    Bagge
    October 7, 2015 at 1:02 am | #

    I really hope there will be an awkward discussion between Amber and Dina down the line when they compare notes about relationships.

    “Multitasking, it turns out, is difficult”
    “TELL ME about it.”

  22. Tacos
    Tacos
    October 7, 2015 at 1:11 am | #

    The adorableness… it hurts the black pit that I’m told houses my heart.

  23. No Name
    No Name
    October 7, 2015 at 1:21 am | #

    Wait, wait, wait….
    Did Becky just say the “c” word?
    She’s growing up fast!

    • Tenn
      Tenn
      October 7, 2015 at 5:40 pm | #

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/angry-2/

      • No Name
        No Name
        October 7, 2015 at 10:07 pm | #

        That was on purpose. This is not.

  24. CJ
    CJ
    October 7, 2015 at 2:00 am | #

    Are you really letting the landlines die out in the US? A real landline (no voice-over-IP-bullshit) is much more reliable, still works when your apartment is out of electricity (hell, it works without additional power on a daily basis) and is much more work to tap. Why let something like this go?

    • John
      John
      October 7, 2015 at 2:35 pm | #

      Cell phones also work fine when your apartment is out of electricity (in fact, they’re more likely to work then than a landline, because most of those these days use cordless handsets – which are, incidentally, dead easy to tap – with a base station that requires AC power, while a cell is good on battery for a good long while), plus they work fine when you’re not in your apartment at all (and many situations where you really, desperately need a telephone, you’re not in your apartment).

      I still have a landline. It’s DSL-only. I haven’t had voice service on it in at least five years. I haven’t missed it.

      There have, on the other hand, been quite a few times when I didn’t have a cell phone, and really, really wanted one. Particularly when I was driving a thirty-year-old car.

      • John
        John
        October 7, 2015 at 2:38 pm | #

        Also, I’ve found over the years that in a lot of situations where the power is down, so is the phone service, because the wires are on the same poles.

  25. Kenjia
    Kenjia
    October 7, 2015 at 2:01 am | #

    MAKE OUTS!!!

    (too soon? …. yeah probably…)

  26. BenRG
    BenRG
    October 7, 2015 at 2:13 am | #

    As Dina has just found out, there is a minimum distance below which walking together inevitably leads to getting your legs tangled up with the other person’s.

  27. Darwin
    Darwin
    October 7, 2015 at 2:17 am | #

    These two are so wonderfully goofy that I can feel my teeth rotting and breaking in my mouth from the sheer amount of sweetness. Oh, how I dread the inevitable destruction of their happiness.

  28. Idon'tcarenomore
    Idon'tcarenomore
    October 7, 2015 at 2:56 am | #

    I could about about stand the last couple of panels.

    They are totally adorable,,,,,
    Just breaks my heart…..what with the current poll…. that we are gonna be so blind-sided.

  29. Kenjia
    Kenjia
    October 7, 2015 at 3:13 am | #

    Joking aside, the fact that these two are the most…. ‘partner-y’ of relationships gives me intense feels.

  30. Willoughby Chase
    Willoughby Chase
    October 7, 2015 at 6:36 am | #

    This is the softening up? AMIRITE?

  31. Rheinman
    Rheinman
    October 7, 2015 at 6:38 am | #

    I am predicting that Becky runs into her dad while distracted by Dina’s phone.

  32. Gamaran Sepudomyn
    Gamaran Sepudomyn
    October 7, 2015 at 7:25 am | #

    I get the strange feeling that Dina will be the one to get married while still in university, while Joyce will ironically enough only get married in her thirties.

  33. Charles Phipps
    Charles Phipps
    October 7, 2015 at 8:34 am | #

    They are, perhaps, going a BIT fast.

    • Heavensrun
      Heavensrun
      October 7, 2015 at 10:27 am | #

      I don’t think so. They’re in the huggy, cuddly, first stages of a relationship. The only thing that seems a bit out of the ordinary is the phone thing, but the phone giving is a response to Becky’s abnormally difficult situation, and a good friend might do the same thing.

  34. Jimmy
    Jimmy
    October 7, 2015 at 8:47 am | #

    I can’t tell what happened. Were they walking and she tripped? Or something else?

    • Tacos
      Tacos
      October 7, 2015 at 7:51 pm | #

      Oh that makes more sense than what I was thinking. I thought that cuz Dina is shorter than Becky, she was clinging onto Becky’s back piggy-back style and just lost her grip.

  35. Julien Brightside
    Julien Brightside
    October 7, 2015 at 9:42 am | #

    I`ve read through all of these in the matter of a week.
    I regret nothing.

    It has been quite a journey, going through the various issues one can run into when at College.

    Alcoholism, overbearing parents, attempted drug-rape, trauma, figuring out ones own sexuality, getting to terms with the past, getting to terms with ones own social anxiety.

    I am surprised you, the artist/writer, manage to go through all of these and still make this comic making people smile. It is quite a feat I say.

    • Bagge
      Bagge
      October 7, 2015 at 2:34 pm | #

      Wow, you have had quite the week! I can’t decide if I envy or pity you.

    • Someone
      Someone
      October 7, 2015 at 3:57 pm | #

      Now you just have to get through roomies itswalky shortpacked and its pregnancy that’s about 15 years of strips

  36. Androiddreams
    Androiddreams
    October 7, 2015 at 11:20 am | #

    I don’t usually comment but for the sake of clarity everyone has a landline in the uk. we also all have smartphones, wireless and in most cases fibreoptics, but we still haven’t grown a generation of skypers yet. we also have strong stances on creationism, homophobia and racism though so it may be a paralell universe thing (as a public we outprotest right wing protesters, it’s great)

  37. Trousle Undrhil
    Trousle Undrhil
    October 7, 2015 at 11:28 am | #

    Huh. So, Dina is a controller, then. Interesting.

    By that, I mean that she is insisting on being the one relied upon instead of allowing her girlfriend to rely on her long-term friend. I never figured Dina would be like that, though.

    • timemonkey
      timemonkey
      October 7, 2015 at 11:37 am | #

      At least she’s not using rope traps on the competition this time.

    • Spencer
      Spencer
      October 7, 2015 at 12:11 pm | #

      Describing Dina as a controller is pretty harsh.

      Apart from this being her first romantic relationship, Becky is the first person Dina’s felt romantic feelings toward at all. This is all completely new to Dina and she’s not going to process it all in a perfectly rational way.

      Also she was there when Becky told Joyce she still wasn’t over her. She has reason to be concerned.

    • chris73
      chris73
      October 7, 2015 at 6:38 pm | #

      It sounds less like controlling and more like she sees a problem and thinks of the most logical solution

      Although I guess the most logical solution would be to buy Becky a cheap, pre-paid phone for herself

  38. Folly
    Folly
    October 7, 2015 at 1:19 pm | #

    Yeah, one of those burner phones is pretty cheap. Though I doubt either party has experience with that

  39. Cattus99
    Cattus99
    October 7, 2015 at 1:52 pm | #

    I have to smile whenever Dina is on. She has to be the most innocent, good hearted, cutest person there. Sad thing is that people like that often get burned by scummy ‘friends’ or others. Let’s hope that never happens here.

  40. Edupoet81
    Edupoet81
    October 7, 2015 at 5:31 pm | #

    Multitasking is a myth. There is no multitasking – there is only rapid switching between tasks. I personally suck at focusing on more than one thing at a time. If I tried that, I would have lost my balance just like Dina.

    • nothri
      nothri
      October 7, 2015 at 7:55 pm | #

      More than that, multitasking means doing two or more tasks all at the same time much more poorly than you would do with one task at a time with your full concentration.

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      October 7, 2015 at 9:08 pm | #

      That’s how computers do it. Switch very rapidly from one to the other. Though that’s not quite true these days, with multiple multi-core processors in many machines. They really do multitask, at least on certain jobs.

      I’m not sure it’s true of humans either. We’re not as simple as “one processor”. We do an awful lot of things basically on autopilot, not really using the thinking part of our brains at all. Like walk and chew gum, as the classic example goes. All sorts of common, repetitive stuff gets done without conscious thought.

      Now if it’s a high cognitive function task, you’re definitely right. In this case though, it really isn’t. Dina can certainly walk and carry on a conversation at the same time. She can probably walk and check her phone for new dinosaur information at the same time. The biggest problem there is just not looking around.
      She’s just not used to walking snuggled up to Becky yet. Give her a few months and that’ll become just as easy as walking normally and she’ll be able to check dinosaur facts to her heart’s content. I recommend lots of practice.

      • Trousle Undrhil
        Trousle Undrhil
        November 30, 2015 at 12:21 pm | #

        “new dinosaur: in my new favorite oxymoron. 😀

  41. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    October 7, 2015 at 11:29 pm | #

    Be glad she didn’t get ahold of your pants instead of your top.

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