A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
All Known Alternatives
Karolina 'Kajotko' Jankiewicz
Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
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There’s been a total of 16 players who’ve worn #34 on their sweater. Matthews is just the latest of the bunch. Personally, I think it’s meant to represent James Reimer, who was in net for the Leafs from 2011 to 2016, including their most recent shot at the Stanley Cup.
Also, one of his nicknames was “Optimus Reim”, a reference to the Transformers protagonist Optimus Prime … and knowing Willis’ love for all things Transformer, this seems to be just the sort of Easter egg that he would hide in the strip.
given the timeframe he played, the age of Ruth, and how masochistic their fanbase is…it’s the only one that fits. But yeah, this is Willis so it’s definitely due to his nickname.
Auston Matthews is very good, franchise altering talent, and James Reimer was never really a player anyone would have on their wall. It’s probably Matthews.
She painted her room, alphabetized her sock drawer, regrouted the bathroom, stole a brain from the pre-med building that Carla needed for “reasons” (they only had Abnormal, but Ruth is sure that will be fine), and learned Sanskrit.
Didn’t do any homework though, cause c’mon, there’s only so many hours in the day.
I barrowed a tonne of firewood, split and stacked it, and made pizza bases for dinner later. All the laundry is done. But there’s a flagstone path that needs re-laying. And re-grouting the upstairs bathroom sounds like a good idea.
The worst are the paints for metals. Those can be dangerous. I once got hold of a can of actual oil paint for a kitchen, because I didn’t know to ask for alkyd enamel. Just about drove us out of the house for a week. Don’t ask for oil paint. They’ll be glad to get rid of it. The acrylics, which replaced latex, aren’t bad for fumes, though.
Paints and coatings
A major source of man-made VOCs are coatings, especially paints and protective coatings. Solvents are required to spread a protective or decorative film. Approximately 12 billion litres of paints are produced annually. Typical solvents are aliphatic hydrocarbons, ethyl acetate, glycol ethers, and acetone. Motivated by cost, environmental concerns, and regulation, the paint and coating industries are increasingly shifting toward aqueous solvents.
Aqueous solvents are a pain in the ass. “Just cleans up with water.” Gallons and gallons of water, which frequently gets washed down the sink, which gives the sewer workers headaches cleaning paint out of the lift stations. I loved the alkyd enamels, which cleaned up quickly with just a little paint thinner, and which gave a superior finish.
Well, you’re certainly not supposed to. I somehow doubt that that stopped very many people. Out of sight, out of mind. Some of our descendents may live in closed ecologies on other worlds or space stations (or on Earth if the natural ecosystem collapses). They will be very aware of proper disposal protocols because their lives will depend on it.
The best way to dispose of latex paint is to let it dry out and then throw the solid mass in the garbage. Just rinsing tools off in the sink should be fine; the very little bit that comes off is incredibly diluted by the time it hits the sewer main, never mind the treatment plant.
This is not true. First of all, you don’t get a brush clean by light rinsing. It takes considerable work to get acrylic paint out of it (I haven’t seen latex in years), and lots of water. Lots and lots. Secondly, it doesn’t matter how dilute it looks, it settles out in patches. I’ve had to deal with this myself. Don’t wash your paint down the sink.
Ordinary wall paint shouldn’t be a problem. Though there seems to be a philosophical debate about wether you should let in day out with closed windows or open the windows. (How should it dry if you have no means of getting humidity out?)
Or that’s just in Germany, where volatile organic compounds have to be as low as 0.7g/l.
The curing of modern plastic paint is a polymerisation reaction, not simply drying-out as with watercolours. That’s why you can wash the painted surfaces after the paint has cured. So the bulk removal of moisture is not the limiting step.
Ordinary wall paint (acrylic) dries without much regard to humidity (this is a Florida painter who tells you so), then it goes through a curing process that takes about a week. Until it cures it’s easily rubbed off, so don’t push your bed or hang curtains against it.
I just want to give Ruth a hug, as someone undergoing treatment for stuff, I one hundred percent relate to this. Not the painting my entire room thing, although I have had the urge to do so. But the massive upswings and downswings as I’m going through different medications and getting used to them is something I can sympathise with.
I mean if you are trapped in a job you’re not equipped for and don’t want because your abusive grandfather’s using you as a game piece, and likewise trapped in an eternal single semester? Go for it.
Nails are superior to tape, but tacks or staples are better. You can fill a nail hole with a little putty, but sometimes you just can’t get that old tape off and you end up with a huge scrape spot to repair.
I note the presence of a paint roller among the other paraphernalia. Having done a little painting myself, I am confident that the only way to have accomplished the job with no mess, while using such small tarps, would be to move the tarps frequently so that they are always under the working area. That’s inefficient, and no professional painter would work that way. But I can readily understand an inexperienced person trying it. Even so, it would take great care and attention to not make a mess.
I also see what looks like a roll of plastic sitting against the desk. Perhaps she used the plastic to protect the floor, then threw most of it out when she was done with it. She only kept those small squares because she hadn’t put the can, brush, etc. away yet. Maybe the 4th wall isn’t done yet and she was taking a break and took up the plastic so she could move the bed and desk back in place after the wall dried enough.
Professional painters work that way all the time, especially commercial painters. They kick a little piece of cardboard along the wall. Drove me nuts. I properly dropped an entire room on a commercial project, and the super hit the roof. He had no good reason, other than I might step off the drop cloth and track paint on the carpet. As if I didn’t know to check my feet before I stepped off the drop.
Make me wonder if Ruth is bipolar. My wife suffered from depression. Once medicated, she started exhibiting hypomania. We had a child diagnosed with a serious medical issue and she ended up with a full manic breakdown. Hope this isn’t where Ruth is going. It’d make for great drama, but it’s still tough to watch.
Generally no. Bipolar disorder tends to remain latent until a trigger event kicks off a cyclic boom and bust cycle of mania and depression between the ages of 18 and 40. At onset, for whatever genetic reason the brain fails to release dopamine/serotonin, and in response to this perceived lack of monoamines (happy chemicals) the brain slowly begins to triple the number of receptor sites for them on the hypothalamus. Then whatever release mechanism was glitching out resumes working as intended, the monoamines come flooding out, they crash into the now-hypersensitive hypothalamus, and boom: next thing you know you’re standing naked on the hood of some stranger’s car trying to smash in their windshield with a baseball bat while screaming that you’re the messiah. In really bad cases you begin hallucinating in multiple senses, in less bad cases you just exhibit hypomania: a hyperproductive and focused state similar to the best parts of adderall or cocaine (one of the difficulties with bipolar patients: most of them are low-key addicted to hypomania and they tend to stop taking their meds because “normal” always feels like shit in comparison to a mild hypomania).
Needless to say, SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and similar drugs for depression which basically block the brain from reabsorbing those happy chemicals only serve to make the situation far, far worse – the serotonin sticks around in the brain crashing into that oversensitive hypothalamus again and again. This can easily push an already active but misdiagnosed-as-depressive bipolar person into fullblown manic psychosis. Ever hallucinate the bile smell of your intestines being punctured when the demons flying out of the walls start disemboweling you? It is not great.
Given her past rage addiction it is entirely possible that Ruth was always mildly bipolar, or – moderate type 2 (depressive biased). SSRIs would temporarily help treat such a person during their down cycle, but they’d make the counterstroke so, so much worse. This comic is exactly what the initial onset of that looks like.
We don’t really have enough information to say yet as taking antidepressants when you have been depressed for a long time are supposed to increase your energy so you can DO things and for some people, their emotions at first come back at like 200% power and chill out later. Being bipolar also wouldn’t explain the intense crying that we have seen as far as I know as hypomania/mania episodes tend to either lead to joy (euphoric) or anger (dysphoric).
So for now at least, I would say it seems more likely to still be the emotions are still intense as she is getting used to them again and she’s figuring out what to do with all this energy she now actually has.
I forget exactly who, but someone awhile back mentioned that a quick switch to Manic Mode on new meds is not exactly a good sign? (How long ago has it been, comic-time?)
Could be bipolar, could be the sudden energy rush that sometimes accompanies medication kicking in (which can be dangerous if you get the energy back before your mood improves because it makes suicide attempts more likely).
It’s not uncommon for bipolar disorder to first present as depression. Once meds are prescribed and they kick in the mood distribution shifts rightward. That’s when you see the hypomanic side.
I *wish* any manic episodes (which are thankfully very few and far between) resulted in a finished project…usually it just a mess that’s half (or less) done.
As someone pointed out yesterday, from the inside it can indeed be hard to tell. It is useful to have a support system of people you trust who can let you know if you’re overdoing things. One of the symptoms of mania is paranoia, so the trust part is very important.
You don’t make clear whether you think manic people have high productivity, or low. As ARoseJess points out above, people in the throes of mania start a lot of things – and no doubt feel very productive – but finish very few of them. Moreover, much of what they do do is poorly thought out and may be useless. So their productivity is low. Maybe that’s what you meant, but I can’t tell.
I don’t talk to my pshrink about “people with mania” in general, but only about myself. I have bipolar II* disorder: my elevated phase is by no means healthy, but it is marked by high energy and obsessive focus rather than by disorganisation and distractibility. Rather than flit from task to task I ignore things I’m not interested in and forget to eat, drink, and sleep. As is (I am told) common with bipolar II I have a phase of normal affect that is quite distinct from my state during a hypomanic episode.
When I am in a phase of normal affect I am very pleased if I can draft, re-write, and polish ten thousand words in two weeks. As is the case with many unsuccessful writers and second-rate analysts my problem is with producing first draft. Revision and polishing I can do quite expeditiously, but the original commitment of statements to draft is an agony, and glacially slow.
Hypomania is an almost ideal state for producing first draft. In bouts of hypomania I have sometimes produced fifteen thousand words of pretty good draft per day — draft that required revision and polish but not re-writing. And I found that I could revise and polish later if I got my draft down.
Another circumstance that favours the rapid production of pretty-good text and punishes writerly perfectionism severely is doing exams at university, even vivas, as my academic transcript shows.
T.H. Chappell asked “how do you tell?”. I answered telling him how I tell. I thought it was clear that my answer was personal, but as my supervisor told me once “[i]f anyone misunderstands, then by definition your writing is not clear.” So I apologise for, in my clumsiness, having given the impression that I was answering for everyone and describing a universal experience.
* My most recent former psychiatrist seemed to think that I have had at least one bout of frank mania, because he wrote me down as Bipolar I, but the huge bulk of my experience is with prolonged severe depressive episodes, brief hypomanic episodes rather than frankly manic ones, and a distinct phase of normal affect.
I asked myself this recently when I was put on a new medication. Prior to that I’d only ever had one manic episode, and it lasted all of like 5min (unfortunately, that is enough to qualify as bipolar somehow).
So at first, the new meds were great. I wasn’t sleeping 12 hours a day; I was sleeping about 8 like a normal person. I had energy and was getting things done. My dad, despite being one of those “there’s nothing actually wrong with you” people, spotted the warning signs before I did. Maybe because I was in denial and just overjoyed about being able to get things done for once.
Only a few days later I was only sleeping 2-4 hours per night (big warning sign of mania), getting A LOT of studying done (but my grades in class showed that it was all incredibly unproductive studying), and annoying the hell out of my boss (she considers coming in to work between 10 and 11am “coming in early,” so when I started showing up at work before 8am it was less than ideal). After about a week of this nonsense (maybe less) I stopped taking the meds and got put on something else.
TL;DR: the difference is in the quality of the things you are doing (ex: productive studying that gets you good grades vs studying all day and still managing to fail your exam), and how much sleep you’re getting (normal person’s 8 hours vs “did I even sleep last night??”)
For me the difference is being pleasantly productive and energetic vs being feeling an intense pressure to not stop being productive, taking on projects I don’t have skills or experience for while believing I’m completely capable, and an extreme irritability to people who are walking or talking more slowly than myself. That specific irritability is the most obvious sign that my productivity is more manic than healthy.
Actually, if she is manic/depressive, or bipolar, this is what would happen. Depression meds don’t work on bipolar and vice versa. If she is bipolar, the doctor should be able to figure it out based on her reaction to the depression meds and switch her to ones appropriate for bipolar disorder. Once she has the right meds, she’ll even out better. If that’s what this is.
Well, ‘yesterday’ she went from bawling her eyes out in the shower to gleefully taking trays of breakfast food pretty quickly. It seems like her current meds are helping her feel and process her emotions, but they’re not doing anything to reign in the highs and lows.
I’m gonna be more constructive than cussing Billie out again and just walk away.
On a completely unrelated note, anyone playing Supergiant’s new game, Hades? They just released a major Early Access update today and goddaaamn Hunting Blades was ridiculous enough, they did NOT need to buff it again with Ares’ Legendary Boon.
Ok, just wanted to make sure you had the proper platform to discuss your interests, and aren’t just shouting out “who likes hades the game?” Into an empty void and rarely getting a response.
May I be so bold as to suggest it doesn’t actually matter what precise misperceptions they are currently maintaining. They are, as you point out, not communicating, and are both unhappy. Whatever they think now can only be resolved by talking to one another, honestly (which Billie has difficulty with, due to her upbringing (or lack thereof)). When (if) they do, their misapprehensions will be cleared up, and the precise nature of those misapprehensions will no longer matter. So in a sense they don’t matter now, unless one or both of them acts in accordance with their respective beliefs. Which would likely make things worse. As all we omniscient observers have been saying, they need to talk.
It is a good question. Based on Ruth’s conversation with Lucy last night, she seems entirely uncertain — but may be more certain after what just happened. Based on what Billie told Becky, I think she either thinks she dumped Ruth or is seriously considering it (for her sake) … but it’s not certain. As she told Ruth last night, “We HAD a fight. We have fights, okay?” There’s a lot of ambiguity here.
In my University we were allowed to paint our dorm rooms but the design had to be approved by the Hall Director. You didn’t have to paint it out at the end of the year, either.
What Ruth did here would have been totally OK, as long as she got approval first. One of our rooms was in Green Bay Packers colors (no logo, though.)
A little advice, Ruth: If you’re going to roll out a wall, get a roller pole. You can probably unscrew the handle from a push broom, but a real roller pole is better. Also more expensive. Also, throw out that please-step-in-me roller pan. Get a five-gallon bucket and a roller grid. And don’t dip your roller in the paint. You’ll fill up the inside of the roller with paint and get drips everywhere. Just roll the roller along the top of the paint and even it up against the grid.
We may reasonably assume that she has finished, since the wall hangings are up, and the furniture moved back near the walls (but not touching, of course). Also, Ruth is sitting down. The door is wide open, and we may infer the window is also, to clear the fumes. This does mean that if Chloe comes onto the floor, she will smell the paint. But this is not likely, and as Mr. Willis points out, there is nothing much she could do about it even if she did find out.
I had some pretty bad mania a few years ago before my meds got worked out. I feel for Ruth here. Hopefully she only gets the “productivity” side of it, but I doubt it will stop there.
You know, I thought that the idea of hockey themed dorm rooms would be awesome. Then I thought of the poor fool who gets stuck in the 1980 Vancouver Canucks room.
Blue is not a great choice, but not as back as the black and dark grey my bipolar niece goes for. I always decorate in yellows: my study is “honey toast” and my bedroom is “classic linen” (actually a sort of parchment yellow). I choose yellow because blue is my favourite colour.
Look, Willis, I know it’s petty and stupid, and you don’t deal with real-world stuff much because the comic plays out much slower than reality…
…but please tell me that you have a plan for something if one of the other professional sports teams in Toronto manages to win a championship title.
You know.
The Toronto Raptors.
Can you imagine Dina running up to Ruth all excited because a team named after a dinosaur from Toronto won it big, and Ruth giving less than a single shit about Basketball?
Big Boss/the Dean: “What is going on here?”
Ruth: “I painted this room.”
BB/D: “Oh, just that? I thought the DeSanto girl was filming porn here again.”
I’m sorry Ruth but you don’t fool in the slightest. You’ve wanted a Leafs-themed bedroom since you were a child but your grandfather wouldn’t allow it. Well, here’s your chance!
Just make peace with your crazy Girlfriend…I know girls don’t usually get this advice but just apologize to her even if you don’t know what you did wrong (she will tell you).
Is better just to say sorry and make peace.
Don’t fight against the ocean.
(Unless its some sort ABUSIVE THING IS HAPPENING THEN IGNORE MY ADVICE)
This is bad advice. Don’t apologise if you don’t know what you did wrong. Ask first, and if they refuse to tell you, there are two options. Either you didn’t actually do anything wrong and they’re just being pissy for attention, in which case break up. Or you’ve fucked up so incredibly hard that they can’t even begin to articulate the offense, in which case break up.
Never apologise just to “make peace” with someone. It sets a bad standard and opens you up to abuse.
Nah sometimes they already told you, or think is so obvious they shouldn’t have to tell you, or they know it sounds petty when they say it out loud.
Its still not a good idea to apoligise without knowing for what though.
Do not apologise to someone just to make peace. It is not better to appease someone and avoid an honest conversation about an important topic as that is literally how Ruth and Billie started this fight in the first place.
“hey ladies, this advice is gonna shock you, because it is super rare, you’ve never even heard it before: have u considered…
-putting everyone else’s needs first?
-prioritizing ‘saving’ a relationship instead of actually having a necessary argument?
-apologizing to ur partner for telling them what you want from this relationship, bc you’ve changed and are no longer happy in the relationship as it currently exists?
sorry if that’s too out there, i just really felt like women don’t hear that often enough :)”
FWIW, given how keen Clint seems to be to keep Ruth at IU, I suspect that she could have painted the room all the colours of the rainbow in random patterns and replaced all the furniture and college administration would still look in the other direction.
Ruth may have a nice shade of blue, but can she top my wall? Eggshell white, with so much rainbow glitter you can see it shimmering from outside. Used to be my roommate’s room, but I’ve seen no reason to change it. Glitter. In the walls.
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“Billie, don’t Leaf me alone”
So I looked up the number 34 online, and Ruth is either a fan of a guy named Auston Matthews, or of naked cartoon characters.
She’s a cartoon character herself, so I ain’t judging.
Porque no los dos?
I mean there’s some sort of rule that there’s porn of everything. I’m just saying.
That rule has a number but I don’t know what it is, lemme g3t b4ck to you
There’s been a total of 16 players who’ve worn #34 on their sweater. Matthews is just the latest of the bunch. Personally, I think it’s meant to represent James Reimer, who was in net for the Leafs from 2011 to 2016, including their most recent shot at the Stanley Cup.
Also, one of his nicknames was “Optimus Reim”, a reference to the Transformers protagonist Optimus Prime … and knowing Willis’ love for all things Transformer, this seems to be just the sort of Easter egg that he would hide in the strip.
Yeah, but Willis likes naked cartoon characters too. Look, there’s an ad for some he drew over to the left.
given the timeframe he played, the age of Ruth, and how masochistic their fanbase is…it’s the only one that fits. But yeah, this is Willis so it’s definitely due to his nickname.
It says Matthews under the number, or it is supposed to look like it does.
Rule 34 is also my personal favorite from the Evil Overlord List: “No matter what happens, I will not turn into a giant snake. This never helps. “
I have not thought about that list in a very long time. Last I did there was a second list.
Incidentally, I’m sure there’s PLENTY of Rule 34 involving people turning into snakes…
Auston Matthews is very good, franchise altering talent, and James Reimer was never really a player anyone would have on their wall. It’s probably Matthews.
Just a little
Damn, these rooms look stylin in blue.
She painted her room, alphabetized her sock drawer, regrouted the bathroom, stole a brain from the pre-med building that Carla needed for “reasons” (they only had Abnormal, but Ruth is sure that will be fine), and learned Sanskrit.
Didn’t do any homework though, cause c’mon, there’s only so many hours in the day.
I barrowed a tonne of firewood, split and stacked it, and made pizza bases for dinner later. All the laundry is done. But there’s a flagstone path that needs re-laying. And re-grouting the upstairs bathroom sounds like a good idea.
@Doctor_Who – Walk, this way!
No no Like this!
That song was playing on the radio as I read this.
Izzat a Fallout 2 reference?
“Young Frankenstein” (1974) Mel Brooks
I hope she opened a window or something, dunno if house paint gives off fumes.
It does, how much depends on the paint though, some are way worse than others.
The worst are the paints for metals. Those can be dangerous. I once got hold of a can of actual oil paint for a kitchen, because I didn’t know to ask for alkyd enamel. Just about drove us out of the house for a week. Don’t ask for oil paint. They’ll be glad to get rid of it. The acrylics, which replaced latex, aren’t bad for fumes, though.
I heard lead based paint was the way to go.
White lead was the best paint ever, but you can’t get it anymore. Or red lead, either.
Tasted great too.
Wikipedia:Volatile_organic_compound#Paints_and_coatings
Water-soluble paints are also easier to clean up. And less likely to poison the bacteria in the sewage plant.
Aqueous solvents are a pain in the ass. “Just cleans up with water.” Gallons and gallons of water, which frequently gets washed down the sink, which gives the sewer workers headaches cleaning paint out of the lift stations. I loved the alkyd enamels, which cleaned up quickly with just a little paint thinner, and which gave a superior finish.
And which you damned sure didn’t pour down the sink.
Well, you’re certainly not supposed to. I somehow doubt that that stopped very many people. Out of sight, out of mind. Some of our descendents may live in closed ecologies on other worlds or space stations (or on Earth if the natural ecosystem collapses). They will be very aware of proper disposal protocols because their lives will depend on it.
The best way to dispose of latex paint is to let it dry out and then throw the solid mass in the garbage. Just rinsing tools off in the sink should be fine; the very little bit that comes off is incredibly diluted by the time it hits the sewer main, never mind the treatment plant.
This is not true. First of all, you don’t get a brush clean by light rinsing. It takes considerable work to get acrylic paint out of it (I haven’t seen latex in years), and lots of water. Lots and lots. Secondly, it doesn’t matter how dilute it looks, it settles out in patches. I’ve had to deal with this myself. Don’t wash your paint down the sink.
oh, it definitely does…and I doubt cares at this point
Ordinary wall paint shouldn’t be a problem. Though there seems to be a philosophical debate about wether you should let in day out with closed windows or open the windows. (How should it dry if you have no means of getting humidity out?)
Or that’s just in Germany, where volatile organic compounds have to be as low as 0.7g/l.
The curing of modern plastic paint is a polymerisation reaction, not simply drying-out as with watercolours. That’s why you can wash the painted surfaces after the paint has cured. So the bulk removal of moisture is not the limiting step.
Ordinary wall paint (acrylic) dries without much regard to humidity (this is a Florida painter who tells you so), then it goes through a curing process that takes about a week. Until it cures it’s easily rubbed off, so don’t push your bed or hang curtains against it.
I just want to give Ruth a hug, as someone undergoing treatment for stuff, I one hundred percent relate to this. Not the painting my entire room thing, although I have had the urge to do so. But the massive upswings and downswings as I’m going through different medications and getting used to them is something I can sympathise with.
Once you reach some sort of stability I don’t see too much harm in repainting your room, new walls to symbolize a new chapter in life!
beats cutting your hair
Now Ruth has done both!
Ruth’s new hairstyle is baller tho
good for ruth for doing a project
I mean if you are trapped in a job you’re not equipped for and don’t want because your abusive grandfather’s using you as a game piece, and likewise trapped in an eternal single semester? Go for it.
Also I love how woefully inadequate that tarp is.
And yet I see no paint anywhere else but the walls and the tarp. Ruth scared the paint into only landing on the tarp.
She threatened their paint femurs.
She also drove nails into the walls to hang those items – see the hammer and nails on the desk.
Nails are superior to tape, but tacks or staples are better. You can fill a nail hole with a little putty, but sometimes you just can’t get that old tape off and you end up with a huge scrape spot to repair.
I like to drill and plug in masonry. But perhaps the dorm is shoddily built of plasterboard.
Plasterboard, or as we painters call it, drywall, is standard for interior walls these days. It’s only shoddy if not installed competently.
I note the presence of a paint roller among the other paraphernalia. Having done a little painting myself, I am confident that the only way to have accomplished the job with no mess, while using such small tarps, would be to move the tarps frequently so that they are always under the working area. That’s inefficient, and no professional painter would work that way. But I can readily understand an inexperienced person trying it. Even so, it would take great care and attention to not make a mess.
I also see what looks like a roll of plastic sitting against the desk. Perhaps she used the plastic to protect the floor, then threw most of it out when she was done with it. She only kept those small squares because she hadn’t put the can, brush, etc. away yet. Maybe the 4th wall isn’t done yet and she was taking a break and took up the plastic so she could move the bed and desk back in place after the wall dried enough.
Alternately, she could have left the smaller bits there so she could draw the fantastic horse and dog pictures.
If she painted the 4th wall we couldn’t see her.
Professional painters work that way all the time, especially commercial painters. They kick a little piece of cardboard along the wall. Drove me nuts. I properly dropped an entire room on a commercial project, and the super hit the roof. He had no good reason, other than I might step off the drop cloth and track paint on the carpet. As if I didn’t know to check my feet before I stepped off the drop.
Kicking a piece of cardboard? They may have been getting paid, but I call that very unprofessional.
I concur. Yet commercial painters do it all the time. If you tried that on residential repaints, the boss would have harsh words for you.
So, Ruth = Chuck Norris?
I heard a punk rock song today, it went “you don’t have to be asleep to have nightmares…are YOU asleep?”
Is she allowed to paint in there? Is this the straw that causes Puddinghead to spontaneously develop a spine?
Puddinghead?
Chloe, the Resident Manager.
Make me wonder if Ruth is bipolar. My wife suffered from depression. Once medicated, she started exhibiting hypomania. We had a child diagnosed with a serious medical issue and she ended up with a full manic breakdown. Hope this isn’t where Ruth is going. It’d make for great drama, but it’s still tough to watch.
Naturally, who knows?
With the meds she’s on right now? Probably.
Can meds for depression give you bipolar disorder?
Disorder, no, but they can cause similar problems regulating your mood
#notadoctor
#justanerd
#pleasetakeyourmeds
Generally no. Bipolar disorder tends to remain latent until a trigger event kicks off a cyclic boom and bust cycle of mania and depression between the ages of 18 and 40. At onset, for whatever genetic reason the brain fails to release dopamine/serotonin, and in response to this perceived lack of monoamines (happy chemicals) the brain slowly begins to triple the number of receptor sites for them on the hypothalamus. Then whatever release mechanism was glitching out resumes working as intended, the monoamines come flooding out, they crash into the now-hypersensitive hypothalamus, and boom: next thing you know you’re standing naked on the hood of some stranger’s car trying to smash in their windshield with a baseball bat while screaming that you’re the messiah. In really bad cases you begin hallucinating in multiple senses, in less bad cases you just exhibit hypomania: a hyperproductive and focused state similar to the best parts of adderall or cocaine (one of the difficulties with bipolar patients: most of them are low-key addicted to hypomania and they tend to stop taking their meds because “normal” always feels like shit in comparison to a mild hypomania).
Needless to say, SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and similar drugs for depression which basically block the brain from reabsorbing those happy chemicals only serve to make the situation far, far worse – the serotonin sticks around in the brain crashing into that oversensitive hypothalamus again and again. This can easily push an already active but misdiagnosed-as-depressive bipolar person into fullblown manic psychosis. Ever hallucinate the bile smell of your intestines being punctured when the demons flying out of the walls start disemboweling you? It is not great.
Given her past rage addiction it is entirely possible that Ruth was always mildly bipolar, or – moderate type 2 (depressive biased). SSRIs would temporarily help treat such a person during their down cycle, but they’d make the counterstroke so, so much worse. This comic is exactly what the initial onset of that looks like.
We don’t really have enough information to say yet as taking antidepressants when you have been depressed for a long time are supposed to increase your energy so you can DO things and for some people, their emotions at first come back at like 200% power and chill out later. Being bipolar also wouldn’t explain the intense crying that we have seen as far as I know as hypomania/mania episodes tend to either lead to joy (euphoric) or anger (dysphoric).
So for now at least, I would say it seems more likely to still be the emotions are still intense as she is getting used to them again and she’s figuring out what to do with all this energy she now actually has.
Being on the wrong medication or at the wrong dosage for depression can cause severe agitation and hypomania as well.
At least, that’s how my doctor explained it to me when I was having that problem with some meds.
I think the Hockey Theme should run on the Hacked Muzak:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf6hrdMbO8c
Cold–and REFRESHING!
Poor Ruth. Been there, done that… it gets better.
…and then it gets worse again, on and on, up and down like a fucking yoyo.
Is she allowed to paint the dorm rooms?
Not according to the alt-text.
. . . did she get permission to paint that room?
Rule #18: It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.
Clearly you can paint your dorm room.
Maybe you shouldn’t.
(One of my roommates actually had a summer job painting the dorm rooms.)
I’ve painted dorm rooms. It’s surprising what all you can find in the dumpster once the students leave for the season.
I wouldn’t be. I can pay rent for half a year pawning the stuff I pull out of dorm dumpsters.
I like it.
…uh oh.
I forget exactly who, but someone awhile back mentioned that a quick switch to Manic Mode on new meds is not exactly a good sign? (How long ago has it been, comic-time?)
Could be bipolar, could be the sudden energy rush that sometimes accompanies medication kicking in (which can be dangerous if you get the energy back before your mood improves because it makes suicide attempts more likely).
It’s not uncommon for bipolar disorder to first present as depression. Once meds are prescribed and they kick in the mood distribution shifts rightward. That’s when you see the hypomanic side.
It’s so sad watching Ruth sink down into a black-hole spiral of despair and angst.
…. something something Leafs joke something something.
I *wish* any manic episodes (which are thankfully very few and far between) resulted in a finished project…usually it just a mess that’s half (or less) done.
we haven’t seen the rest of her room
When you’ve never felt anything but depressed, how do you tell feeling normal from feeling manic?
As someone pointed out yesterday, from the inside it can indeed be hard to tell. It is useful to have a support system of people you trust who can let you know if you’re overdoing things. One of the symptoms of mania is paranoia, so the trust part is very important.
That’s what my new pshrink asked me last month.
The answer is approximately a factor of twelve to fifteen in productivity.
You don’t make clear whether you think manic people have high productivity, or low. As ARoseJess points out above, people in the throes of mania start a lot of things – and no doubt feel very productive – but finish very few of them. Moreover, much of what they do do is poorly thought out and may be useless. So their productivity is low. Maybe that’s what you meant, but I can’t tell.
I don’t talk to my pshrink about “people with mania” in general, but only about myself. I have bipolar II* disorder: my elevated phase is by no means healthy, but it is marked by high energy and obsessive focus rather than by disorganisation and distractibility. Rather than flit from task to task I ignore things I’m not interested in and forget to eat, drink, and sleep. As is (I am told) common with bipolar II I have a phase of normal affect that is quite distinct from my state during a hypomanic episode.
When I am in a phase of normal affect I am very pleased if I can draft, re-write, and polish ten thousand words in two weeks. As is the case with many unsuccessful writers and second-rate analysts my problem is with producing first draft. Revision and polishing I can do quite expeditiously, but the original commitment of statements to draft is an agony, and glacially slow.
Hypomania is an almost ideal state for producing first draft. In bouts of hypomania I have sometimes produced fifteen thousand words of pretty good draft per day — draft that required revision and polish but not re-writing. And I found that I could revise and polish later if I got my draft down.
Another circumstance that favours the rapid production of pretty-good text and punishes writerly perfectionism severely is doing exams at university, even vivas, as my academic transcript shows.
T.H. Chappell asked “how do you tell?”. I answered telling him how I tell. I thought it was clear that my answer was personal, but as my supervisor told me once “[i]f anyone misunderstands, then by definition your writing is not clear.” So I apologise for, in my clumsiness, having given the impression that I was answering for everyone and describing a universal experience.
* My most recent former psychiatrist seemed to think that I have had at least one bout of frank mania, because he wrote me down as Bipolar I, but the huge bulk of my experience is with prolonged severe depressive episodes, brief hypomanic episodes rather than frankly manic ones, and a distinct phase of normal affect.
I asked myself this recently when I was put on a new medication. Prior to that I’d only ever had one manic episode, and it lasted all of like 5min (unfortunately, that is enough to qualify as bipolar somehow).
So at first, the new meds were great. I wasn’t sleeping 12 hours a day; I was sleeping about 8 like a normal person. I had energy and was getting things done. My dad, despite being one of those “there’s nothing actually wrong with you” people, spotted the warning signs before I did. Maybe because I was in denial and just overjoyed about being able to get things done for once.
Only a few days later I was only sleeping 2-4 hours per night (big warning sign of mania), getting A LOT of studying done (but my grades in class showed that it was all incredibly unproductive studying), and annoying the hell out of my boss (she considers coming in to work between 10 and 11am “coming in early,” so when I started showing up at work before 8am it was less than ideal). After about a week of this nonsense (maybe less) I stopped taking the meds and got put on something else.
TL;DR: the difference is in the quality of the things you are doing (ex: productive studying that gets you good grades vs studying all day and still managing to fail your exam), and how much sleep you’re getting (normal person’s 8 hours vs “did I even sleep last night??”)
For me the difference is being pleasantly productive and energetic vs being feeling an intense pressure to not stop being productive, taking on projects I don’t have skills or experience for while believing I’m completely capable, and an extreme irritability to people who are walking or talking more slowly than myself. That specific irritability is the most obvious sign that my productivity is more manic than healthy.
I do take an antidepressant, but I also have to take a mood stabilizer with it.
Let’s go Bruins!
It’s been four whole months, end the title drought!
Oh well. *Switches from Bruins hat to Red Sox hat*
a-are you allowed to do that to a dorm room ?
(well played, alt-text. Well played.)
Go leafs
Wow, look at that. Ruth’s previously untapped interior decorating skills are UNLEASHED!
It would be very bad if it turns out Ruth is manic/depressive and the pills haven’t kicked in yet — this is just a manic episode.
Actually, if she is manic/depressive, or bipolar, this is what would happen. Depression meds don’t work on bipolar and vice versa. If she is bipolar, the doctor should be able to figure it out based on her reaction to the depression meds and switch her to ones appropriate for bipolar disorder. Once she has the right meds, she’ll even out better. If that’s what this is.
Well, ‘yesterday’ she went from bawling her eyes out in the shower to gleefully taking trays of breakfast food pretty quickly. It seems like her current meds are helping her feel and process her emotions, but they’re not doing anything to reign in the highs and lows.
…
I’m gonna be more constructive than cussing Billie out again and just walk away.
On a completely unrelated note, anyone playing Supergiant’s new game, Hades? They just released a major Early Access update today and goddaaamn Hunting Blades was ridiculous enough, they did NOT need to buff it again with Ares’ Legendary Boon.
See, if you had a reddit account you could probably join a sub full of people raring to discuss this game
I’m actually pretty active on r/HadesTheGame.
Ok, just wanted to make sure you had the proper platform to discuss your interests, and aren’t just shouting out “who likes hades the game?” Into an empty void and rarely getting a response.
I wonder if Billie thinks they’ve broken up and Ruth doesn’t. Which is possible with their lack of communication.
(Yes, I’m letting it go! This is still a serious question)
May I be so bold as to suggest it doesn’t actually matter what precise misperceptions they are currently maintaining. They are, as you point out, not communicating, and are both unhappy. Whatever they think now can only be resolved by talking to one another, honestly (which Billie has difficulty with, due to her upbringing (or lack thereof)). When (if) they do, their misapprehensions will be cleared up, and the precise nature of those misapprehensions will no longer matter. So in a sense they don’t matter now, unless one or both of them acts in accordance with their respective beliefs. Which would likely make things worse. As all we omniscient observers have been saying, they need to talk.
I wonder how many of us can do that IRL, though.
Schrodinger’s Misperception
Ha! Good one.
It is a good question. Based on Ruth’s conversation with Lucy last night, she seems entirely uncertain — but may be more certain after what just happened. Based on what Billie told Becky, I think she either thinks she dumped Ruth or is seriously considering it (for her sake) … but it’s not certain. As she told Ruth last night, “We HAD a fight. We have fights, okay?” There’s a lot of ambiguity here.
The second desk in the room is now very sad
Oh holy hell, the Leafs.
I knew she was a fan, I didn’t realize that she was *this* misguided.
Hey, the Blues are 1 game away from ending decades of heartbreak. If we can do it, the Leafs can too. Eventually.
In my University we were allowed to paint our dorm rooms but the design had to be approved by the Hall Director. You didn’t have to paint it out at the end of the year, either.
What Ruth did here would have been totally OK, as long as she got approval first. One of our rooms was in Green Bay Packers colors (no logo, though.)
This is Ruth’s big advantage: She’s the floor RA so she can sign her own permission form.
HIT EM WITH THE 4 LIKE AUSTON MATTHEWS
MLDS – Maple Leafs Derangement Syndrome.
It’ll be over after game 7 tonight. But, it’ll pop up again in October.
A little advice, Ruth: If you’re going to roll out a wall, get a roller pole. You can probably unscrew the handle from a push broom, but a real roller pole is better. Also more expensive. Also, throw out that please-step-in-me roller pan. Get a five-gallon bucket and a roller grid. And don’t dip your roller in the paint. You’ll fill up the inside of the roller with paint and get drips everywhere. Just roll the roller along the top of the paint and even it up against the grid.
Good tips for all would-be painters.
We may reasonably assume that she has finished, since the wall hangings are up, and the furniture moved back near the walls (but not touching, of course). Also, Ruth is sitting down. The door is wide open, and we may infer the window is also, to clear the fumes. This does mean that if Chloe comes onto the floor, she will smell the paint. But this is not likely, and as Mr. Willis points out, there is nothing much she could do about it even if she did find out.
Now she needs to get up and clean her tools before they’re ruined.
And now, thanks to you and YouTube, I know what a paint grid (or screen) is, and how to use one. Thank you.
yw
I had some pretty bad mania a few years ago before my meds got worked out. I feel for Ruth here. Hopefully she only gets the “productivity” side of it, but I doubt it will stop there.
And when you wake up, everything is gonna be fine. You’ll find you awake in a better place in a better time.
You know, I thought that the idea of hockey themed dorm rooms would be awesome. Then I thought of the poor fool who gets stuck in the 1980 Vancouver Canucks room.
Blue is not a great choice, but not as back as the black and dark grey my bipolar niece goes for. I always decorate in yellows: my study is “honey toast” and my bedroom is “classic linen” (actually a sort of parchment yellow). I choose yellow because blue is my favourite colour.
Look, Willis, I know it’s petty and stupid, and you don’t deal with real-world stuff much because the comic plays out much slower than reality…
…but please tell me that you have a plan for something if one of the other professional sports teams in Toronto manages to win a championship title.
You know.
The Toronto Raptors.
Can you imagine Dina running up to Ruth all excited because a team named after a dinosaur from Toronto won it big, and Ruth giving less than a single shit about Basketball?
All that decoration of her room and the Leafs probably still won’t win.
“Probably” *snerk*
Hey, they managed to get to the playoffs and force a Game 7 against the Bruins…in the first round.
At least they did better than Tampa Bay! The Lightning got swept by a team that had never won a playoff series before.
The #1 prerequisite for being a leafs fan is knowing that they will never, ever win.
Being that into the Leafs is still a cry for help.
Big Boss/the Dean: “What is going on here?”
Ruth: “I painted this room.”
BB/D: “Oh, just that? I thought the DeSanto girl was filming porn here again.”
BB/D: You sure that DeSanto girl wasn’t making Smurf porn here? You can be honest.
Joe appears dressed as a Smurf walking slowly outside the room.
I’m sorry Ruth but you don’t fool in the slightest. You’ve wanted a Leafs-themed bedroom since you were a child but your grandfather wouldn’t allow it. Well, here’s your chance!
Just make peace with your crazy Girlfriend…I know girls don’t usually get this advice but just apologize to her even if you don’t know what you did wrong (she will tell you).
Is better just to say sorry and make peace.
Don’t fight against the ocean.
(Unless its some sort ABUSIVE THING IS HAPPENING THEN IGNORE MY ADVICE)
This is bad advice. Don’t apologise if you don’t know what you did wrong. Ask first, and if they refuse to tell you, there are two options. Either you didn’t actually do anything wrong and they’re just being pissy for attention, in which case break up. Or you’ve fucked up so incredibly hard that they can’t even begin to articulate the offense, in which case break up.
Never apologise just to “make peace” with someone. It sets a bad standard and opens you up to abuse.
Nah sometimes they already told you, or think is so obvious they shouldn’t have to tell you, or they know it sounds petty when they say it out loud.
Its still not a good idea to apoligise without knowing for what though.
Do not apologise to someone just to make peace. It is not better to appease someone and avoid an honest conversation about an important topic as that is literally how Ruth and Billie started this fight in the first place.
Ruth has done nothing wrong. She shouldn’t apologise for anything.
“hey ladies, this advice is gonna shock you, because it is super rare, you’ve never even heard it before: have u considered…
-putting everyone else’s needs first?
-prioritizing ‘saving’ a relationship instead of actually having a necessary argument?
-apologizing to ur partner for telling them what you want from this relationship, bc you’ve changed and are no longer happy in the relationship as it currently exists?
sorry if that’s too out there, i just really felt like women don’t hear that often enough :)”
I support Ruth dating Carla or any number of other female cast members instead of Billie.
Then Billie will try to win her back and fail horribly, causing much humor.
You’re allowed to paint your dorm-room??
That’s just what I was thinking. Some places don’t even let you put up posters in case you damage the walls…
FWIW, given how keen Clint seems to be to keep Ruth at IU, I suspect that she could have painted the room all the colours of the rainbow in random patterns and replaced all the furniture and college administration would still look in the other direction.
RUTHLESS CAN DO WHATEVER SHE WANTS!!!
Oooh, that’s… that’s not good.
Not good at all.
Well, apart from the paint job.
Ruth, you’d actually be in a happier place if you were rooting for the Raptors. They’re actually winning.
Oh right, these comics are still taking place in October, when the Leafs haven’t had a chance to bring Ruth’s depression back…
Been there…
I think this would be a good* time for the dress Joyce ordered for Billie to arrive.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/favoritesportsteam/
*) i.e. ‘Horribly sad’
Bagge? You just lost a cookie.
That’s fair.
juuuuuuust a bit
Finishing a project successfully is a nice boost to morale. Go Ruth!
Ruth may have a nice shade of blue, but can she top my wall? Eggshell white, with so much rainbow glitter you can see it shimmering from outside. Used to be my roommate’s room, but I’ve seen no reason to change it. Glitter. In the walls.
Mania isn’t great, but I guess it’s somewhat preferable to depression.
All that work, and no Leafs bedspread? I don’t think she is a real fan.
Oh no …