About the only thing my meal plan didn’t cover was the kosher dinner menu. Which admittedly was a bummer because the kosher meals took more prep and thus were healthier and tasted better.
Had a similar deal with where I went to college. Our meal plan was just one lump sum for a semester put on our student IDs. Between all the pizza I had the shit I’d get at the student run Starbucks on campus, and side effects from my anxiety/depression meds, my Freshman Fifteen was definitely closer to a Freshman Forty
The meal plan at my college had all you could eat at the Caf (acceptable salad bar, pretty terrible everything else), and the one meal a day student restaurant that had THE BEST green chili burgers. I lived off burger-lunch for a full year before I got sick of it.
I commuted to night school so I never had a meal plan.
TIt turns out the Freshman 15 was just on a tape delay, because I ate way too much take-out, and too many frozen dinners and prepackaged snacks once I got my own place. Learning to cook helped reverse that for a few years, but then 2020 happened and they came back with a vengeance. Fun.
Yeah, the kids now have it good. I never had the meal plan because I didn’t ever live in the dorms and the cafeteria food was mediocre on a good day (I did eat in a few of them with friends a few times). They did have a few separate off-hours pizza places and burger places, but they were the same cafeteria pizza and burgers. Anyway, the meal plan was optional if you didn’t live in a dorm and pretty much a scam if you did since most people didn’t eat cafeteria food any more often than they absolutely had to.
Oh, and I hear they have high speed internet now. We just had dialup, which wasn’t as much of a problem because the web hadn’t been invented yet.
Yeah, optional if you didn’t live in a dorm, but pretty much required if you did – since you couldn’t officially cook in the dorm. We complained about the food, but we ate it. Eating out for every meal wasn’t really an option for most of us. Nobody was that rich.
And honestly the food wasn’t that bad most of the time. My first year we had a big cafeteria, ala carte style. Food wasn’t great, but plenty of options, so you could usually find something. After that I lived in a smaller dorm, where it was served more as a sit-down dinner thing. The cooking was better, but you ate what they were serving that day. Breakfast was cooked to order though, which was really quite good.
And I’m laughing now, because we didn’t even have internet back then! The computer department had some localized network and that was it. My boyfriend (computer science) had a computer I sometimes used for work processing, and playing old adventure games like SunDog. *Stop! You killed our leader!*
No Internet here either. In my last couple years I had some friends running dial-up BBSs that I got a Usenet feed from. That was my first Internet experience, before the Web existed.
The fun part was when I actually wanted to call those friends to meet up or whatever and got to try to whistle to the modem.
Wouldn’t be shocked if the meal plan covers chains that are in the student union or one of the dining halls – some big schools have tie-ins like that. (If you recall way back, there’s a Chick-fil-A on campus.) But the Taco Bell we know of is off-campus (not as far out as Blowjob Cat but still firmly in Bloomington proper.)
I know there was some kind of student discount/potential tie in to meal plans local restaurants had up at another big school I know of, but I don’t remember the details (didn’t go there myself) and I’m not sure it’s still active. But there are some pretty elaborate ways to try and attract students.
Checking on Google Maps, there’s a real Mexican restaurant right around the corner from one of the Tacos Bell within reasonable distance of the campus.
Yeah, and you had to plan to eat when the cafeterias were open. If you slept in too much, you had to go down the street to the Chinese restaurant for lunch. At my uni, they had just started offering alternate options at an on-campus cafe just before I graduated. Now those options appear everywhere! Kids these days. We had to eat what they offered, uphill both ways, and we liked it!
((listen if i used the hyphens in chick-fil-a i’d have to use en dashes on either side of the “and”, and that means i’d have to go find an en dash to copy and paste))
Next up, watching the entire presidential movie library. First is Hercules in New York. But do they know how to use the three clam-shells? Dinner may make some earpy demands.
I was referring to the stuff on the plate, which I assume is hot sauce.
(And it was a Danganronpa reference…said sauce sort of resembles blood, which means in the DRverse where the Ultimate Date necessarily happens, it should be pink. >_>)
One of you cuts with the knife, the other holds with the fork, and you cut for each other and feed each other. Everyone else in the restaurant gags at how lovey-dovey you’re being.
Where will Ruth’s date be happening? Is there a chance it could also be at the Taco Bell? Because I personally would love if the dates intersected as they maybe crashed and burned, maybe soared.
Well, Ruth’s bi, so she likes to have options for….
… actually, you know what? I’m stopping that right there. I’m not entirely certain HOW I was going to pull that joke off, but there was at least a 45% chance that it would have been unintentionally offensive.
Seriously, Walky, at least take her to Arby’s. You can watch the mysterious lights floating above the sign, talk about how God is dead and existence is meaningless… way more options.
*Random Story*
My mom worked across the street from an Arby’s. One day a tornado touched down and took the Arby’s sign and then went back up into the sky. That was the only thing the tornado touched. We never heard of anyone finding the sign again.
“Your tone is quasi-facetous, but you do not realize that Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the Franchise Wars. So now, all restaraunts are Taco Bell.”
Well yeah, but only if you wanna eat the steak with one hand like an animal. So, only if you wanna do it right. Fuck utensils, they’re a tool of classier oppression. Eat your spaghetti with your hands, do it for democracy!
And who the hell came up with this idea of cooking your meat??? Eat it raw, like a rea man! Actually, the hell with steak, just bring him the cow and let him gnaw it straight from the carcass!!!
I’m pretty sure there was a cranky caveman uncle who said that about young people these days and their cooked mammoths.
Okay, I draw the line at eating the meat raw. We’re not coyotes. With America’s food safety standards, there’s too high a chance of horrible agonising death for me to ever feel safe eating a raw steak of any kind.
Eating spaghetti with your hands is apparently the traditional way in Napoli (although on most of the photographs and painting I found showing that, the subject are either children or people during Carnevale, so maybe not ‘the proper way’)
ok the Italian Wikipedia article for spaghetti does mention them being eaten by hand well into the 19th century “in Naples and other cities of southern Italy”.
There’s a fun story there, that’s actually very relevant to Taffy’s comment!
So, forks had existed for a long time, but they were 2- or 3-pronged, longer, and very sharp. You used them for stabbing your meat basically, and you wouldn’t be advised to shove them inside your mouth.
Spaghetti was a pretty popular dish in Italy, and with the acclimatation of tomato in Europe, by the 18th century they started being made with tomato sauce— and there was much rejoycing, because spaghetti and tomato sauce objectively slaps.
But that dish is famously messy today— so it would’ve been that much worse in the dark forkless ages. Spaghetti was definitely way too undignified to be served at upper-crush tables, so the gentry simply didn’t eat it, at least not when receiving.
But then, this one king of Sicily, Ferdinand II, was like, “this is unacceptable, I love spaghetti, I want to eat spaghetti anytime I want and I want to eat spaghetti with my hoity-toity friends without everyone getting covered in oily tomato stains!” and he called his chamberlain, a guy named Spadaccini (whose then I believe earned his place in history) and told him to fix it. And that’s how Spadaccini invented the short, 4-pronged, less-pointed fork! which finally allowed the king, and all of humanity thereafter, to eat spaghetti slightly less indecorously =D
…And for whatever reason, Neapolitans stuck to the old way for a few more decades. why? i don’t know. But i guess this is the context you might’ve heard about that. =P
Honestly, which sounds worse to you. Holding a steak in your non-handholding hand and taking a bite occasionally or holding a messy taco in the same hand and having it fall apart whenever you take a bite.
but adding even 1 to zero would be an infinite percentage more of whatever that 1 is than the zero was. Although when talking of zeros and percentages we are already in paradox territory anyway, so um…everything is an illusion?
I imagine that for Walky, arithmetic is easy; add, subtract, multiply, etc. is all about the same processes, just finding shortcuts and easier ways to do the bigger numbers, and you can do a lot of that with pattern recognition. It’s the more advanced, conceptual maths that likely elude him.
I’ve absolutely eaten Taco Bell and thought what I ate tasted fine, but I’m also aware that Taco Bell is right around the bottom of the barrel as far as fast food goes. It’s trash, just good tasting trash.
See, people say that, and while I will admit there is basically only one taste to the food, it strikes me as above averagr as far as fast food goes. They got a fair few vegetables in there, not to mention vegetarian options. And the “power” bowls and burritos have GOT to be way betted for one than like, a bacon cheeseburger. Again, not saying Taco Vell is great, just, the burger and chicken fast food places strike me as wayyyyy worse.
They all print their nutrition information online.
If you’re careful about what you pick, you can find something reasonably healthy at any of the big fast food chains. (Most of them have a non-fried chicken patty sandwich and salads now, for example.) I think it’s harder to dodge high sodium content at Taco Bell, though.
When they got rid of the Bell Beefer I died inside. When they lost the Taco Salad, I grew grim. But the end of the Chicken Soft Taco (the one with the buttermilk sauce)? Taco Bell, you are dead to me. Dead!
Dude, YEAH. Handholding and fast food is a great first date. Casual, low pressure, low stress, lots of opportunity to talk. My first date with my current boyfriend was at Starbucks (which neither of us really drink….it’s a long story) and my first date with my ex was at a McDonalds (though, tbf, it wasn’t originally a date).
I’m glad Lucy is getting everything she wanted but at the same time I worry about this relationship. Will Walky maintain enough standards and not gross out/disillusion Lucy about himself? And will this be good for Walky and his general schooling?
I feel like there’s a path forward here that doesn’t result in heartbreak or anything, but it’s going to be interesting seeing him taking the lead in a relationship. With Dorothy, he was often along for the ride, and Amber, it was a non-starter due to the Sal baggage. This is going to be a very different role for him, and Lucy doesn’t really strike me as a girl who has dated previously, or if so, not a lot, so she’s going to have a lot to learn, too.
I agree. But I see a lot of potential for them to be good together. O think the only real thing is Lucy’s infatuation needs to fade a little but that’s not unusual or bad she’s like a 19 year old with a crush that has been like all of maybe 2 weeks long she’ll settle down and then I think they’d be a great match
Honestly, I’m not super worried about Walky in this relationship. It’s more just that Lucy is so attached to him and seems so incapable of asserting herself around him, frankly I’m not convinced she’s emotionally mature enough for a relationship at this point
I actually think this is actually pretty positive I know this relationship won’t work easily but I know Good and well it will be because of his parents racial issues specifically his mother’s racism I think the two of them will work really really well once the infatuation fades a little from Lucy we know she’s smart funny they have similar interest she’s a lot like Dororthy very organized and driven just not quite as type A she’s already pushing walks and helping him with endeavors just not quite as demanding so I think they could be perfect with just a lil Tim for them both to grow into it.
Yeah she knows what he’s like and isn’t illusions she’d just a little overly infatuated which is perfectly normal it will fade a bit once they get actually closer. I am hopeful for this couple they are cute and really seem to fit well.
You know… for all the time I’ve been saying that Lucy deserves better than Walky… that was mostly based on my misconception that he understood her feelings just fine just wasn’t that into it.
THIS is exactly what Lucy deserves. Walky just walks in, asks for a date and makes an excellent job of it. No drama, no stupid games, just taccos and handholding.
I’m pretty sure they will work themselves up to smooches before the night is over.
It’s his obliviousness which I didn’t even know about which made me wonder if Lucy could do better.
And I can’t stop grinning at Walky’s “whole package” contents encompassing “girl” and “likes cartoons”. He doesn’t yet recognize she’s an alpha sweetie, doe he?
This. The only reason I didn’t think Walky was a ‘good enough’ partner is because I thought he was either oblivious or not into her and I want Lucy to be happy. Now that Walky knows and wants to date her, he is definitely good enough.
Starbucks, I think. College sweethearts will often grab a couple of seats and snacks and talk for hours between classes. (Yes, Starbucks has fast food.)
Alternatively, the concessions desk at a movie theater. Yes, that is also fast food.
White castle, actually- aside from their valentine’s day events; white castle’s tiny burgers mean it’s easier to buy a combo meal to split, and nothing gets my heart working- I mean, fluttering- like their portion sizes. Aside from that, you really can’t go wrong with getting chinese food takeout (chains like P.F. chang’s or panda express) together. Depending on your order, it’ll leave you less greasy-fingered than burgers or KFC/Chick-Fil-A or pizza and it’ll also give you more opportunities to try eachother’s food! Finally, there’s nothing like being taken out for ice cream. DQ is a fine way to do that, I guess. You can split an extra-large milkshake by ordering one off-menu!
This concludes my dating advice. Remember to follow your state’s covid protocols before instantly finding true love at the drive-thru thanks to my guidance.
I am grinning so hard right now. Gosh, Lucy, you’re the cutest, and Walky trying to be debonair is frankly hilarious. It’s fun, though, to see him exhibiting more agency, especially in his romantic life, even if Dorothy spurred him to go for it.
When my spouse (then fiance) and I were in taco bell getting marriage counseling from his dad, a group of people came in and got married there.
So taco bell is very romantic actually
Lol I grew up in sort of a cult and had basically an arranged marriage (We were not allowed to so much as hold hands while engaged until marriage) and now I’m a polyamorous ace spectrum bisexual enby.
Maybe I’ll write a memoir some day
My first date with my ex-wife we ended up at Taco Bell. We went to the same Taco Bell for Valentine’s Day. Just all in all a very romantic place!
(Admittedly the way we entertained ourselves on Valentine’s Day was by listening to the sad love songs and watching the people sitting alone looking sad. We might be horrible people.)
Walky, be a little more ambitious in the future. Earn a little bit of money so you can pay to take her to a real dinner every once in a while as well. She deserves it, even if she does not realize it yet.
Fancy restaurants for dates are too pricey. You can get double the romance at half the price by buying or making good food and having a picnic. Just check the weather forecast ahead of time and find somewhere bug-free.
Sure, maybe later on, but Taco Bell is actually a pretty good first date. There’s lots of time to talk and get to know each other as dates, there isn’t too much pressure (which a fancier place would definitely bring), and it’s casual enough most people would feel comfortable (again, fancy place, not so much). It also doesn’t set the bar too high that you feel you have to match that every time.
It’s mostly that I don’t like Taco Bell, but there’s a lot of room to go up the scale before you get uncomfortably fancy. You don’t need to go to the dress up fancy French restaurant that needs reservations, but maybe Galasso’s?
It might also be good to do the first date at a place you’re not already going regularly, just to make it stand out.
We could manufacture shoes. Jennifer decides to help. Joyce decides that as Dorothy’s ex, Walky is too good for Lucy. Lucy introduces Walky to her evil older brother. Taco Bell goes out of business. Lucy turns out to be hyper insecure. Being taken makes Walky more attractive yet and girls come out of the woodwork.
Also, am I the ONLY one who likes the idea of chilling at a fast food place more than dressing up and going somewhere fancy? (I can see that I’m not the only one, but still there are lots of complaints aimed at Walky.) I don’t want to feel awkward and overdressed and like I’m putting on airs. I want to feel comfortable with someone who shares my tastes. Not taking them for granted, but if the relationship needs to be garnished with swanky venues then it’s probably not strong enough to endure without them.
Theres always a middle ground, something doesn’t have to be full on swanky but it also doesn’t have to be a place that, might, give you a dodgy tummy later (certainly doesn’t help romance when you on the toilet)
I am confused as to why everyone keeps saying that taco bell gives you stomach issues. I’ve never had that happen… I’ve only had that happen when I have spicy foods and nothing at taco bell even registers as spicy :0
There’s also the option of dressing up in hobbit costumes and going to Denny’s. Best of all worlds. You look cool, but in a way that isn’t putting on airs, just putting on nerd. And you get the sit down dinner experience for almost fast food prices. Low stress, fun times. Just a totally random example that is totally an absolutely normal thing people do on early dates. It has a high chance of leading to a long and happy marriage (sample size… very very small)
Not at all. I feel the same way. 🙂 For me, it’s more about the company and the “feel” of the date, and the memories you create together. It may not be classy, but I’ve had a lot of good memories at McDonald’s over the years, and it’s delicious comfort food to me. Why shouldn’t I share that with the person I love? Or better yet, why not find a person to whom McDonald’s also has a comforting meaning and build on that shared preference?
I love good food and showing off by dressing up, but I’d much rather do that with a partner than as a first date. Relaxing and holding hands while eating tacos sounds way better for a first date
Dang. Walky can afford buying silly clothes but not something nicer than fast-food tacos? I know he’s not Mr. Moneybags with the Walkertons putting both Sal and him through college, but still…
Walky isn’t a bad person but he puts up a front that of being a flippant, immature slob. He’s physically attractive, yeah, but his deepest emotional relationships in-series have been with Dorothy, Amber, Billie and Sal, the former two starting at Goofball Nutbar Walky before seeing his deeper qualities, Walky being about as much of an open book around Billie as he can (and nowadays resetting back to their High School status quo where she’s ignoring him while Walky is brute forcing his way into her life), and Sal rejecting him until Walky made an effort to patch things up with her and made it clear that losing his sister was actually emotionally devastating to him.
What I’m getting at is that the most fulfilling relationships Walky has had in his life have been people he has been emotionally intimate with, and he sure as hell has not been like that for Lucy, but Lucy is all over him. If Lucy were just at the same level Dorothy was at the start, noticing him and making a move and from there seeing the real Walky that’d make a lot of sense, but Lucy’s head over heels for Walky at his most impersonal, and I think going forward this has two consequences.
One is that Lucy is this smitten with Walky as a result of some dangerously low self esteem and she’s as aggressively nice and compromising to as many people as possible so they’ll like her, but then they don’t seem to give her the time of day either. She latched onto Walky’s persona of a dumb, odorous slacker thinking that Walky, the Walky that only exists on the surface, is the only person who’ll love her back.
The other thing I’m thinking is that by having a partner who doesn’t challenge him to grow up, Walky’s just going to keep being that same immature kid and be progressively more and more annoying, especially with the backslide he’s having that’s probably due to the trauma of Mike’s death, which Walky clearly has not dealt with because having to get therapy is for girls.
TLDR: The relationship is doomed because they’re both total bottoms.
okay so, not saying you’re wrong in your assessment of Lucy, but “aggressively nice” OK that’s fair “compromising” is she? she clearly doesn’t have a problem telling the truth to Walky at least. she also calmly told Jennifer early on “I’m who you’ve got, you’ll just have to deal”. and she has her own brand of sass. “to as many people as possible” also fair “so they’ll like her” ok but being liked by many people is a reasonable thing to wish for, if she doesn’t go as far as to let people walk all over her “dangerously low self esteem” what is that based on? she did say she was “not popular in high school” but that could mean any number of things.
i may be biased (by my grav) but i don’t have quite such a scary read on Lucy. I agree she is a “people-pleaser” (she readily admits it) and has a sunny, Joyce-esque disposition (she also admits that)… but those are personality traits, not neuroses (necessarily).
There’s kind of a couple angles I’m looking at Lucy.
One is that we already have someone who is effortlessly outgoing and dedicated to being nice to everyone with no real drawbacks in that particular regard. It’s Joyce, and she’s a big deal, so I don’t think Lucy’s going to hit the same beats without a twist in the motivation. Joyce’s social drawbacks mostly stem from being 100% Joyce all the time, whereas Lucy is a much more comparatively normal and subdued person. That’s the meta take.
The other thing is that I’m kind of working backwards. I think, by design, we haven’t really gotten any substantial reasoning why Lucy’s got it this bad for Walky compared to how Dorothy and Amber both approached him a lot more naturally and only fell for him once showed he was emotionally invested in them. Lucy right now would be like if Dorothy was dropping the L-word with the guy who wanted to wear his pajama jeans outside as opposed to Walky who showed off in front of the Dean and bought her flowers and chased after Amazi-Girl and led a manhunt for Billie.
So the question is “why does Lucy got it so bad for Walky when he’s never showed an inkling of his better character to her, and if she’s got it so bad why doesn’t she ask him out?”
My theory is that, with how she tried super hard to integrate Billie into the dorm and then got ignored hard by everyone, and how she seemed to not even have the slightest idea Malaya hated her guts, Lucy’s desperate for positive affection and latched onto Walky because the person he’s presenting to her is also kind of a loser like how I think Lucy considers herself.
Like, she was way too into the idea that Walky “actually liked her” and proved it not by saying so but dressing up in a superhero costume and rescuing her, like she was passively all these months for him to make a move and prove he liked her.
oh i see, you’re playing 4D chess out here =D
those are all really good points. I think i’m still more reserved because i’m just a wilfully gullible reader, so, i’ll be all flabbergasted when the shoe drops while you’ll be like, “toldja. B)”
I don’t actually know if I can say since it was in a discarded Patreon strip about Amber circa the death of Toedad where she has a bit of a soliloquy about her actions and motivations, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to go “oh yeah this is what Amber said” and if that would spoil her later character growth.
So technically speaking I didn’t even predict it, since it hasn’t canonically happened.
I’m a little worried bc Walky only seems to be interested bc he knows Lucy’s interested. That doesn’t mean that he can’t like her back, but even with his obliviousness, he never showed signs of romantic interest in her before.
Thats a fair point. It seems to be a case of he didn’t know she liked him and was just off his thing with Dorothy and Amber so he wasn’t paying attention when it was brought to his attention hey she likes you he had the realization in the first panel holy crap you’re the whole package and I was missing it.
Pizza is the best first date. Leisurely. Eat as much as you want but you are sharing a meal. Better seats. A restaurant but not fast food. Ours was Rocky Rococo. Forty five years later we still eat there just in a different city.
I kinda live college life vicariously through this comic. I worked during the day and took night classes at a crappy school whose main selling point was that it was very close to my job. All while living in my parents garage (appropriately converted).
But it worked out. I was able to put two daughters through college without them having to take out soul crippling student loans, and they did get dorm life and meal plans.
If this works out well for Lucy (which I hope it does), I hope Lucy thanks Dotty for putting her before herself. Dotty could have fucked all this up (literally) but saw that Lucy’s affections were more than physical and thus came first. Those two are good eggs.
…oh the other link in my previous comment is not *quite* SFW i guess i should’ve said sorry for whoever was shocked by the sight of a glowing moose dick
Aaaaaaa this is so cute! Panel 3 Lucy is too much for me. I loved Lucy’s crush but I didn’t necessarily ship it until right now, I’m the damned captain of this ship. I really hope they just have a cute relaxed happy relationship, we need one now that Becky and Dina are having an Arc (for clarity i think they’ll be fine)
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admittedly how I ate so much Chick-fil-A
specifically nuggets and waffle fries, not even a drink bc I could get cheaper elsewhere and also the meal
plan only covered like $5 per meal for meals not at the cafeteria
also Walky has never tried a STEAKHOUSE SALAD APPARENTLY
(prob bc it a salad)
My meal plan in college covered all sorts of nice things. You could get sushi, salads, veggie burgers…during the day.
I worked nights. The only places that were open at night and accepted my meal plan were the pizza and burritos restaurants.
My Freshman Fifteen nearly turned into a Sophomore Shitload before I learned to cook a bit and was able to rein it in.
About the only thing my meal plan didn’t cover was the kosher dinner menu. Which admittedly was a bummer because the kosher meals took more prep and thus were healthier and tasted better.
Had a similar deal with where I went to college. Our meal plan was just one lump sum for a semester put on our student IDs. Between all the pizza I had the shit I’d get at the student run Starbucks on campus, and side effects from my anxiety/depression meds, my Freshman Fifteen was definitely closer to a Freshman Forty
The meal plan at my college had all you could eat at the Caf (acceptable salad bar, pretty terrible everything else), and the one meal a day student restaurant that had THE BEST green chili burgers. I lived off burger-lunch for a full year before I got sick of it.
I commuted to night school so I never had a meal plan.
TIt turns out the Freshman 15 was just on a tape delay, because I ate way too much take-out, and too many frozen dinners and prepackaged snacks once I got my own place. Learning to cook helped reverse that for a few years, but then 2020 happened and they came back with a vengeance. Fun.
So weird to me, apparently because I’m old. We had a meal plan in the dorms, but it didn’t pay for meals at local restaurants. Just the cafeteria.
Yeah, the kids now have it good. I never had the meal plan because I didn’t ever live in the dorms and the cafeteria food was mediocre on a good day (I did eat in a few of them with friends a few times). They did have a few separate off-hours pizza places and burger places, but they were the same cafeteria pizza and burgers. Anyway, the meal plan was optional if you didn’t live in a dorm and pretty much a scam if you did since most people didn’t eat cafeteria food any more often than they absolutely had to.
Oh, and I hear they have high speed internet now. We just had dialup, which wasn’t as much of a problem because the web hadn’t been invented yet.
Yeah, optional if you didn’t live in a dorm, but pretty much required if you did – since you couldn’t officially cook in the dorm. We complained about the food, but we ate it. Eating out for every meal wasn’t really an option for most of us. Nobody was that rich.
And honestly the food wasn’t that bad most of the time. My first year we had a big cafeteria, ala carte style. Food wasn’t great, but plenty of options, so you could usually find something. After that I lived in a smaller dorm, where it was served more as a sit-down dinner thing. The cooking was better, but you ate what they were serving that day. Breakfast was cooked to order though, which was really quite good.
And I’m laughing now, because we didn’t even have internet back then! The computer department had some localized network and that was it. My boyfriend (computer science) had a computer I sometimes used for work processing, and playing old adventure games like SunDog. *Stop! You killed our leader!*
No Internet here either. In my last couple years I had some friends running dial-up BBSs that I got a Usenet feed from. That was my first Internet experience, before the Web existed.
The fun part was when I actually wanted to call those friends to meet up or whatever and got to try to whistle to the modem.
Wouldn’t be shocked if the meal plan covers chains that are in the student union or one of the dining halls – some big schools have tie-ins like that. (If you recall way back, there’s a Chick-fil-A on campus.) But the Taco Bell we know of is off-campus (not as far out as Blowjob Cat but still firmly in Bloomington proper.)
I know there was some kind of student discount/potential tie in to meal plans local restaurants had up at another big school I know of, but I don’t remember the details (didn’t go there myself) and I’m not sure it’s still active. But there are some pretty elaborate ways to try and attract students.
Checking on Google Maps, there’s a real Mexican restaurant right around the corner from one of the Tacos Bell within reasonable distance of the campus.
Come on, Walky, splurge a little.
Yeah, that’s pretty common these days. Either on-campus fast food or deals with the local chains. Completely alien to my college memories.
Yeah, and you had to plan to eat when the cafeterias were open. If you slept in too much, you had to go down the street to the Chinese restaurant for lunch. At my uni, they had just started offering alternate options at an on-campus cafe just before I graduated. Now those options appear everywhere! Kids these days. We had to eat what they offered, uphill both ways, and we liked it!
i’m at the chick fil a
i’m at the taco bell
i’m at the combination chick fil a and taco bell
((listen if i used the hyphens in chick-fil-a i’d have to use en dashes on either side of the “and”, and that means i’d have to go find an en dash to copy and paste))
((grammar is ALL or NOTHING you can’t just half commit
or i mean you can but it might bug you))
wtf is that line break in between “meal plan”
(adding to the mess by saying that was supposed to be a reply to the first comment but no one cares but I want that on the record anyway)
Well, you got both the first and the second comment this time.
Oh, Lucy… 🙁
That some pick me ass shit.
I mean, she’s not lying, at least. If she likes him and hangs out with him, anyhow, she is legitimately down for it and not just saying so.
Pictured: The Ultimate Date.
Is that from Demolition Man?
Next up, watching the entire presidential movie library. First is Hercules in New York. But do they know how to use the three clam-shells? Dinner may make some earpy demands.
That’s no Ultimate…the liquid isn’t hot pink.
You fool, that’s Baja Blast!
I was referring to the stuff on the plate, which I assume is hot sauce.
(And it was a Danganronpa reference…said sauce sort of resembles blood, which means in the DRverse where the Ultimate Date necessarily happens, it should be pink. >_>)
How can you use a knife and fork and still hold hands?
One of you cuts with the knife, the other holds with the fork, and you cut for each other and feed each other. Everyone else in the restaurant gags at how lovey-dovey you’re being.
Then, while they’re still gagging, you steal all their food together.
Sounds like plan.
Can’t wait to see how this goes… wrong? right?
There’s gonna be two dates this plotline and at least one of them is going to go down in flames.
Whichever one that will be, hopefully there will be an appropriate extinguisher nearby.
Where will Ruth’s date be happening? Is there a chance it could also be at the Taco Bell? Because I personally would love if the dates intersected as they maybe crashed and burned, maybe soared.
Ruth’s date is at the Pizza Hut.
Walky’s date is at the Taco Bell.
Both dates are at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
I feel like a lesbian date happening at a taco place would be perfect, actually.
Well, Ruth’s bi, so she likes to have options for….
… actually, you know what? I’m stopping that right there. I’m not entirely certain HOW I was going to pull that joke off, but there was at least a 45% chance that it would have been unintentionally offensive.
Are you saying you’re going to taco break from making jokes?
Well done. I’m still trying to figure how to work in a Wiener King joke.
thejokerclapping.gif
I salute your forbearance.
Both could end up going down in different types of flames depending on the quality of the “food” from the Bell
Seriously, Walky, at least take her to Arby’s. You can watch the mysterious lights floating above the sign, talk about how God is dead and existence is meaningless… way more options.
*Random Story*
My mom worked across the street from an Arby’s. One day a tornado touched down and took the Arby’s sign and then went back up into the sky. That was the only thing the tornado touched. We never heard of anyone finding the sign again.
It ended up in Winkie Country. Unless it was one of the original red-and-yellow signs, in which case it could be Quadling Country.
Obviously Regalli meant to say, mysterious sign floating above the lights.
lolol wtf Rayndel 🤣
That is amazingly odd.
“Your tone is quasi-facetous, but you do not realize that Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the Franchise Wars. So now, all restaraunts are Taco Bell.”
Well, at least in Walky’s world
I believe it was Pizza Hut in the international release, since Taco Bell hadn’t been inflicted on most of the rest of the world at the time.
I mean Lucy wasn’t really in my personal ship harbor but anything good for Walky makes me happy!
Guess Walky is doing better at math?
I was going to say, he’s not wrong. Any positive integer number of hands held is an infinity percent increase over zero.
Math, yes. Logistics, no.
It’s just as easy to hold a steak with one hand as it is to hold a taco with one hand. Walky should know this.
Well yeah, but only if you wanna eat the steak with one hand like an animal. So, only if you wanna do it right. Fuck utensils, they’re a tool of classier oppression. Eat your spaghetti with your hands, do it for democracy!
And who the hell came up with this idea of cooking your meat??? Eat it raw, like a rea man! Actually, the hell with steak, just bring him the cow and let him gnaw it straight from the carcass!!!
I’m pretty sure there was a cranky caveman uncle who said that about young people these days and their cooked mammoths.
Okay, I draw the line at eating the meat raw. We’re not coyotes. With America’s food safety standards, there’s too high a chance of horrible agonising death for me to ever feel safe eating a raw steak of any kind.
Yea, but hands are objectively gross.
And yet we hold them.
Sushi, then.
I don’t THINK we’ve fucked up algae yet, but we’re probably on track, so get it while you can.
Cooking meat is good when you do it right.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5y2voEWJ6U
Do you want Prions? Because that’s how you get Prions
I want prions.
Do you mean a Prius?
Both, please.
Eating spaghetti with your hands is apparently the traditional way in Napoli (although on most of the photographs and painting I found showing that, the subject are either children or people during Carnevale, so maybe not ‘the proper way’)
what? i’ve been in Naples a few times and i’ve never heard of anyone who does that XD
ok the Italian Wikipedia article for spaghetti does mention them being eaten by hand well into the 19th century “in Naples and other cities of southern Italy”.
There’s a fun story there, that’s actually very relevant to Taffy’s comment!
So, forks had existed for a long time, but they were 2- or 3-pronged, longer, and very sharp. You used them for stabbing your meat basically, and you wouldn’t be advised to shove them inside your mouth.
Spaghetti was a pretty popular dish in Italy, and with the acclimatation of tomato in Europe, by the 18th century they started being made with tomato sauce— and there was much rejoycing, because spaghetti and tomato sauce objectively slaps.
But that dish is famously messy today— so it would’ve been that much worse in the dark forkless ages. Spaghetti was definitely way too undignified to be served at upper-crush tables, so the gentry simply didn’t eat it, at least not when receiving.
But then, this one king of Sicily, Ferdinand II, was like, “this is unacceptable, I love spaghetti, I want to eat spaghetti anytime I want and I want to eat spaghetti with my hoity-toity friends without everyone getting covered in oily tomato stains!” and he called his chamberlain, a guy named Spadaccini (whose then I believe earned his place in history) and told him to fix it. And that’s how Spadaccini invented the short, 4-pronged, less-pointed fork! which finally allowed the king, and all of humanity thereafter, to eat spaghetti slightly less indecorously =D
…And for whatever reason, Neapolitans stuck to the old way for a few more decades. why? i don’t know. But i guess this is the context you might’ve heard about that. =P
That was an amazing story, thanks Milu.
my pleasure!
Honestly, which sounds worse to you. Holding a steak in your non-handholding hand and taking a bite occasionally or holding a messy taco in the same hand and having it fall apart whenever you take a bite.
Honestly? Holding hands, period.
This is… not true? 0 + X% is, regardless of X, 0.
but adding even 1 to zero would be an infinite percentage more of whatever that 1 is than the zero was. Although when talking of zeros and percentages we are already in paradox territory anyway, so um…everything is an illusion?
For any finite X, yes. When X is transfinite, it’s an indeterminate form.
I imagine that for Walky, arithmetic is easy; add, subtract, multiply, etc. is all about the same processes, just finding shortcuts and easier ways to do the bigger numbers, and you can do a lot of that with pattern recognition. It’s the more advanced, conceptual maths that likely elude him.
Walky, you’re an endearing disaster and emphasis right now on the second part.
I thought it was going well so far.
For me, the second part makes it extremely hard to see the first. Or how others do. *shrug*
I hope this is one of those stories that has a happy ending, but I’d also be fine with a supervillain showing up and ruining everything.
A supervillain isn’t even needed here, just slightly more subpar health and safety standards from Taco Bell
Can they actually be more subpar?
Taco bell is delicious and I will die on that hill
I’ve absolutely eaten Taco Bell and thought what I ate tasted fine, but I’m also aware that Taco Bell is right around the bottom of the barrel as far as fast food goes. It’s trash, just good tasting trash.
See, people say that, and while I will admit there is basically only one taste to the food, it strikes me as above averagr as far as fast food goes. They got a fair few vegetables in there, not to mention vegetarian options. And the “power” bowls and burritos have GOT to be way betted for one than like, a bacon cheeseburger. Again, not saying Taco Vell is great, just, the burger and chicken fast food places strike me as wayyyyy worse.
They all print their nutrition information online.
If you’re careful about what you pick, you can find something reasonably healthy at any of the big fast food chains. (Most of them have a non-fried chicken patty sandwich and salads now, for example.) I think it’s harder to dodge high sodium content at Taco Bell, though.
Taco Bell is delicious and I will die from that Bell
When they got rid of the Bell Beefer I died inside. When they lost the Taco Salad, I grew grim. But the end of the Chicken Soft Taco (the one with the buttermilk sauce)? Taco Bell, you are dead to me. Dead!
Their breakfast is the best fast food breakfast
The couple that shits together, fits together.
The supervillain won’t be at Taco Bell; he’s too busy selling pizza (and subs).
“One of these days I’m just gonna snap and have [Head Alien] invade the Dumbiverse.”
— David Willis, August 27, 2018 (SPOILERS)
Dammit that was meant to be a response to Proto_Eevee’s comment about a supervillain showing up and ruining everything
Never have I wished harder for David Willis to snap.
half the cast turns to dust
No fair making me laugh so hard while my wife is trying to sleep.
Someday he will return to us. Someday.
HAIL TO THE ONCE AND FUTURE SUPERVILLAIN!
The It’s Walky!/Dumbing of Age crossover dares to finally answer the
onetwo questions fans have had on their minds since April 30, 1998:Does Head Alien have femurs? And does he need them to live?
Head alien takes over Taco bell. Walky and Lucy have to defeat him to recieve their chalupas
Not impossible, if Taco Bell shells out a whole lotta money to do a Dexter and Monkey Master-themed promotion.
Absolutely genius.
I can totally picture Walky accidentally getting into a heated fight with a mascot over getting the wrong toy or something.
Watch this Shortpacked comic turn out to have been foreshadowing
Don’t remind him.
Ahh nothing more romantic then an unlimited supply of Baja blast.
Is that what you call your time on the toilet a few hours later?
Only if you have weak guts for tiny baby.
Love the Carbot Zergling portrait ZerglingOne ♥
Dude, YEAH. Handholding and fast food is a great first date. Casual, low pressure, low stress, lots of opportunity to talk. My first date with my current boyfriend was at Starbucks (which neither of us really drink….it’s a long story) and my first date with my ex was at a McDonalds (though, tbf, it wasn’t originally a date).
My first proper date with my fiancé was at a McDonald’s. He had come on a long flight and it was late and we were too tired to go anywhere else.
My first after work meet up with the woman who eventually set me up with my current girlfriend was at the McDonalds near where we worked.
First date with CG was at Nation’s Giant Hamburgers, were you do need both hands to hold on to the burger.
*plays Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Meat Man” on the hacked Muzak*
Good choice
I’m glad Lucy is getting everything she wanted but at the same time I worry about this relationship. Will Walky maintain enough standards and not gross out/disillusion Lucy about himself? And will this be good for Walky and his general schooling?
I feel like there’s a path forward here that doesn’t result in heartbreak or anything, but it’s going to be interesting seeing him taking the lead in a relationship. With Dorothy, he was often along for the ride, and Amber, it was a non-starter due to the Sal baggage. This is going to be a very different role for him, and Lucy doesn’t really strike me as a girl who has dated previously, or if so, not a lot, so she’s going to have a lot to learn, too.
I agree. But I see a lot of potential for them to be good together. O think the only real thing is Lucy’s infatuation needs to fade a little but that’s not unusual or bad she’s like a 19 year old with a crush that has been like all of maybe 2 weeks long she’ll settle down and then I think they’d be a great match
Actually, she was crushing on him in October already. It’s January now.
Honestly, I’m not super worried about Walky in this relationship. It’s more just that Lucy is so attached to him and seems so incapable of asserting herself around him, frankly I’m not convinced she’s emotionally mature enough for a relationship at this point
She has pushed back on his ideas, and said “we didn’t need to know that”.
I still think Walky/Dorothy is the better couple, but Dorothy seems to have thrown her desires under the bus, so.
And now she learns again that no good deed goes unpunished.
honestly, she hast to learn some time, and well Walky is a pretty low stress first boyfriend.
So Walky is a good practice boyfriend?
I actually think this is actually pretty positive I know this relationship won’t work easily but I know Good and well it will be because of his parents racial issues specifically his mother’s racism I think the two of them will work really really well once the infatuation fades a little from Lucy we know she’s smart funny they have similar interest she’s a lot like Dororthy very organized and driven just not quite as type A she’s already pushing walks and helping him with endeavors just not quite as demanding so I think they could be perfect with just a lil Tim for them both to grow into it.
‘lil Tim’ will be the name of their first child.
This many months in, Lucy should know exactly what she’s getting with Walky, and she appears very happy to get it.
Yeah she knows what he’s like and isn’t illusions she’d just a little overly infatuated which is perfectly normal it will fade a bit once they get actually closer. I am hopeful for this couple they are cute and really seem to fit well.
My main worry is she’ll be really hurt if or when she finds out Dorothy was the one who had to prod him into asking her out.
If it’s phrased, basically correctly, as “made him realize she was interested” rather than “prod him into asking her out”, I doubt it’d be a big deal.
You know… for all the time I’ve been saying that Lucy deserves better than Walky… that was mostly based on my misconception that he understood her feelings just fine just wasn’t that into it.
THIS is exactly what Lucy deserves. Walky just walks in, asks for a date and makes an excellent job of it. No drama, no stupid games, just taccos and handholding.
I’m pretty sure they will work themselves up to smooches before the night is over.
So, good on you Lucy.
Agreed. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this ship until Walky’s first panel assessment. I’m now super excited about this!
It’s his obliviousness which I didn’t even know about which made me wonder if Lucy could do better.
And I can’t stop grinning at Walky’s “whole package” contents encompassing “girl” and “likes cartoons”. He doesn’t yet recognize she’s an alpha sweetie, doe he?
Edit if I could: That “Lucy could do better” thing has been turned over in the last few strips.
This. The only reason I didn’t think Walky was a ‘good enough’ partner is because I thought he was either oblivious or not into her and I want Lucy to be happy. Now that Walky knows and wants to date her, he is definitely good enough.
David Walkerton has got some goddamn game. I’ve never had the balls to just do that in my life.
TBH I think not asking a person with a crush on you out on a taco bell date is more a form of wisdom…
…then again, I was just going to list the fast food places I consider more romantic instead so I’m one to talk
So which are the fast food places that are most romantic? This is valuable information.
Starbucks, I think. College sweethearts will often grab a couple of seats and snacks and talk for hours between classes. (Yes, Starbucks has fast food.)
Alternatively, the concessions desk at a movie theater. Yes, that is also fast food.
Do cheetah steaks and sailfish filets also count as fast food?
White castle, actually- aside from their valentine’s day events; white castle’s tiny burgers mean it’s easier to buy a combo meal to split, and nothing gets my heart working- I mean, fluttering- like their portion sizes. Aside from that, you really can’t go wrong with getting chinese food takeout (chains like P.F. chang’s or panda express) together. Depending on your order, it’ll leave you less greasy-fingered than burgers or KFC/Chick-Fil-A or pizza and it’ll also give you more opportunities to try eachother’s food! Finally, there’s nothing like being taken out for ice cream. DQ is a fine way to do that, I guess. You can split an extra-large milkshake by ordering one off-menu!
This concludes my dating advice. Remember to follow your state’s covid protocols before instantly finding true love at the drive-thru thanks to my guidance.
I am grinning so hard right now. Gosh, Lucy, you’re the cutest, and Walky trying to be debonair is frankly hilarious. It’s fun, though, to see him exhibiting more agency, especially in his romantic life, even if Dorothy spurred him to go for it.
Agreed! I think this is a great direction for him and it’s good to see Lucy’s infatuation paid off.
To quote Thor 2, I see this as an absolute win.
This “Thor 2” comment has way too many layers
I’m enjoying this so much right now as well.
Well Walky you are pretty scrawny so steak, veges and potatoes are exactly what you need however you manged to not screw this up, yet, so well done
this will go well with no complications whatsoever
Off to a good start anyway.
Smooth Walky is smooth! Not just Dinner…but Romantic Dinner ™!
Walky tries Romantic Dinner™!
It’s super successful!
Aim higher
Would you be ok with this if it was a chipotle and or qdoba?
This is ADORABLE!!!
Extremely adorable, and I love it!
When my spouse (then fiance) and I were in taco bell getting marriage counseling from his dad, a group of people came in and got married there.
So taco bell is very romantic actually
Everything about this story sounds ridiculously interesting – I’m 100% serious.
Lol I grew up in sort of a cult and had basically an arranged marriage (We were not allowed to so much as hold hands while engaged until marriage) and now I’m a polyamorous ace spectrum bisexual enby.
Maybe I’ll write a memoir some day
I mean, the old “Run for the Border” slogan works well with eloping…
This will only end in tears.
In the meanwhile, the popcorn guy is having a two-for-one sale right now…
Romance usually does.
But if you get it right, it could go your entire life before it ends.
(Buys XXL, shares with everyone)
cheers omg omg *squeals*
My first date with my ex-wife we ended up at Taco Bell. We went to the same Taco Bell for Valentine’s Day. Just all in all a very romantic place!
(Admittedly the way we entertained ourselves on Valentine’s Day was by listening to the sad love songs and watching the people sitting alone looking sad. We might be horrible people.)
Walky, I know ya trying “real hard” to be “romantic” and shit, but how about if she were to pay for her own food, then?!
Gah, so adorable you know it’s not gonna last long. Not to say it’s gonna be a bad relationship but you live you learn!
Walky, be a little more ambitious in the future. Earn a little bit of money so you can pay to take her to a real dinner every once in a while as well. She deserves it, even if she does not realize it yet.
Fancy restaurants for dates are too pricey. You can get double the romance at half the price by buying or making good food and having a picnic. Just check the weather forecast ahead of time and find somewhere bug-free.
Yeah, college is expensive enough already and there are much better ways to have romantic dates without spending more money than you can afford.
She’d be probably much happier with a date in some nerd space.
Sure, maybe later on, but Taco Bell is actually a pretty good first date. There’s lots of time to talk and get to know each other as dates, there isn’t too much pressure (which a fancier place would definitely bring), and it’s casual enough most people would feel comfortable (again, fancy place, not so much). It also doesn’t set the bar too high that you feel you have to match that every time.
It’s mostly that I don’t like Taco Bell, but there’s a lot of room to go up the scale before you get uncomfortably fancy. You don’t need to go to the dress up fancy French restaurant that needs reservations, but maybe Galasso’s?
It might also be good to do the first date at a place you’re not already going regularly, just to make it stand out.
There is no other shoe. It cannot drop if it does not exist. Nothing is the matter in this scenario. There is no other shoe.
We could manufacture shoes. Jennifer decides to help. Joyce decides that as Dorothy’s ex, Walky is too good for Lucy. Lucy introduces Walky to her evil older brother. Taco Bell goes out of business. Lucy turns out to be hyper insecure. Being taken makes Walky more attractive yet and girls come out of the woodwork.
Girls aren’t made of wood, silly. Not since the 70’s, at least.
What about sugarwood, cinnamon, and…. hmmm. Some sort of nice wood. Rosewood maybe?
I keep forgetting that cinnamon is wood.
Girls come out of the cinnamon. Just doesn’t sound the same.
Girls come out of the woods.
well, we know witches are made out of wood
Didn’t Ruth already give his other shoes back?
And that was the moment that Lucy got an aneurysm and literally died from happiness.
… Okay, it wasn’t, but that’s what her face makes me THINK is about to happen.
I’m living for panel 5 Lucy
Same. She’s super cute here.
DoA Book 11: [insert Panel 5 Lucy]
Panel 2 Lucy is also Very Good
****panel 3 damn it
This is way too cute to not make me root for them
Well, that’s Lucy sent to heaven.
Call me cynical but I’m not waiting for Willis to drop the other shoe.
Sorry *now* rather than *not*
I’m glad you corrected that. I was so confused. the idea of being cynical and not waiting for the other shoe made my brain hurt a little lol.
Also, am I the ONLY one who likes the idea of chilling at a fast food place more than dressing up and going somewhere fancy? (I can see that I’m not the only one, but still there are lots of complaints aimed at Walky.) I don’t want to feel awkward and overdressed and like I’m putting on airs. I want to feel comfortable with someone who shares my tastes. Not taking them for granted, but if the relationship needs to be garnished with swanky venues then it’s probably not strong enough to endure without them.
Theres always a middle ground, something doesn’t have to be full on swanky but it also doesn’t have to be a place that, might, give you a dodgy tummy later (certainly doesn’t help romance when you on the toilet)
I am confused as to why everyone keeps saying that taco bell gives you stomach issues. I’ve never had that happen… I’ve only had that happen when I have spicy foods and nothing at taco bell even registers as spicy :0
There’s also the option of dressing up in hobbit costumes and going to Denny’s. Best of all worlds. You look cool, but in a way that isn’t putting on airs, just putting on nerd. And you get the sit down dinner experience for almost fast food prices. Low stress, fun times. Just a totally random example that is totally an absolutely normal thing people do on early dates. It has a high chance of leading to a long and happy marriage (sample size… very very small)
Not at all. I feel the same way. 🙂 For me, it’s more about the company and the “feel” of the date, and the memories you create together. It may not be classy, but I’ve had a lot of good memories at McDonald’s over the years, and it’s delicious comfort food to me. Why shouldn’t I share that with the person I love? Or better yet, why not find a person to whom McDonald’s also has a comforting meaning and build on that shared preference?
Fancy and expensive dates are definitely overrated.
I love good food and showing off by dressing up, but I’d much rather do that with a partner than as a first date. Relaxing and holding hands while eating tacos sounds way better for a first date
No, I think you’re bang on. First dates should be casual and about getting to know the person as a date.
Ah, you crazy kids.
Countdown to the Slipshine: T-minus 28 real-time days.
It’s hard to not be happy for her. They’re good kids, they deserve something nice, eh?
I like Lucy and I’m happy for her (not happy its Walky as she deserves better…like Jacob)
Are Butt-Tacos making a comeback?
Oh gawd.
I like Walky, I like Lucy, I don’t think either is really under or overshooting, but also, christ =/
Dang. Walky can afford buying silly clothes but not something nicer than fast-food tacos? I know he’s not Mr. Moneybags with the Walkertons putting both Sal and him through college, but still…
Lucy says she likes it and like half the comments are talking about how great fast food first dates are, come on
Lucy face on today’s page is just :chef_kiss:
Well, I hope she’ll stay as positive past the “honeymoon” period of the relatioship 🙂
Walky took a girl to Taco Bell once and it all ended in tears.
I like that Walky’s entire qualifications for dating Lucy are that she’s a girl and she likes cartoons. It makes so much sense for him.
i mean, he was wise not to open with that, but the fact that her complexion might make his mother seethe seemed like a nice bonus.
Kinda surprised that Jennifer didn’t somehow manage to f**k this up for Lucy. It was a reasonable expectation! Oh, well.
Dunno how this will end. But is nice to see Lucy so happy♡. How will Jennifer react?
Anyway here’s my read on these two:
Walky isn’t a bad person but he puts up a front that of being a flippant, immature slob. He’s physically attractive, yeah, but his deepest emotional relationships in-series have been with Dorothy, Amber, Billie and Sal, the former two starting at Goofball Nutbar Walky before seeing his deeper qualities, Walky being about as much of an open book around Billie as he can (and nowadays resetting back to their High School status quo where she’s ignoring him while Walky is brute forcing his way into her life), and Sal rejecting him until Walky made an effort to patch things up with her and made it clear that losing his sister was actually emotionally devastating to him.
What I’m getting at is that the most fulfilling relationships Walky has had in his life have been people he has been emotionally intimate with, and he sure as hell has not been like that for Lucy, but Lucy is all over him. If Lucy were just at the same level Dorothy was at the start, noticing him and making a move and from there seeing the real Walky that’d make a lot of sense, but Lucy’s head over heels for Walky at his most impersonal, and I think going forward this has two consequences.
One is that Lucy is this smitten with Walky as a result of some dangerously low self esteem and she’s as aggressively nice and compromising to as many people as possible so they’ll like her, but then they don’t seem to give her the time of day either. She latched onto Walky’s persona of a dumb, odorous slacker thinking that Walky, the Walky that only exists on the surface, is the only person who’ll love her back.
The other thing I’m thinking is that by having a partner who doesn’t challenge him to grow up, Walky’s just going to keep being that same immature kid and be progressively more and more annoying, especially with the backslide he’s having that’s probably due to the trauma of Mike’s death, which Walky clearly has not dealt with because having to get therapy is for girls.
TLDR: The relationship is doomed because they’re both total bottoms.
I’m guessing Walky did see a therapist and it didn’t work out – he did say the ones on campus aren’t very good.
Interesting take, hopefully they can both grow through this relationship
okay so, not saying you’re wrong in your assessment of Lucy, but
“aggressively nice” OK that’s fair
“compromising” is she? she clearly doesn’t have a problem telling the truth to Walky at least. she also calmly told Jennifer early on “I’m who you’ve got, you’ll just have to deal”. and she has her own brand of sass.
“to as many people as possible” also fair
“so they’ll like her” ok but being liked by many people is a reasonable thing to wish for, if she doesn’t go as far as to let people walk all over her
“dangerously low self esteem” what is that based on? she did say she was “not popular in high school” but that could mean any number of things.
i may be biased (by my grav) but i don’t have quite such a scary read on Lucy. I agree she is a “people-pleaser” (she readily admits it) and has a sunny, Joyce-esque disposition (she also admits that)… but those are personality traits, not neuroses (necessarily).
There’s kind of a couple angles I’m looking at Lucy.
One is that we already have someone who is effortlessly outgoing and dedicated to being nice to everyone with no real drawbacks in that particular regard. It’s Joyce, and she’s a big deal, so I don’t think Lucy’s going to hit the same beats without a twist in the motivation. Joyce’s social drawbacks mostly stem from being 100% Joyce all the time, whereas Lucy is a much more comparatively normal and subdued person. That’s the meta take.
The other thing is that I’m kind of working backwards. I think, by design, we haven’t really gotten any substantial reasoning why Lucy’s got it this bad for Walky compared to how Dorothy and Amber both approached him a lot more naturally and only fell for him once showed he was emotionally invested in them. Lucy right now would be like if Dorothy was dropping the L-word with the guy who wanted to wear his pajama jeans outside as opposed to Walky who showed off in front of the Dean and bought her flowers and chased after Amazi-Girl and led a manhunt for Billie.
So the question is “why does Lucy got it so bad for Walky when he’s never showed an inkling of his better character to her, and if she’s got it so bad why doesn’t she ask him out?”
My theory is that, with how she tried super hard to integrate Billie into the dorm and then got ignored hard by everyone, and how she seemed to not even have the slightest idea Malaya hated her guts, Lucy’s desperate for positive affection and latched onto Walky because the person he’s presenting to her is also kind of a loser like how I think Lucy considers herself.
Like, she was way too into the idea that Walky “actually liked her” and proved it not by saying so but dressing up in a superhero costume and rescuing her, like she was passively all these months for him to make a move and prove he liked her.
oh i see, you’re playing 4D chess out here =D
those are all really good points. I think i’m still more reserved because i’m just a wilfully gullible reader, so, i’ll be all flabbergasted when the shoe drops while you’ll be like, “toldja. B)”
If it makes you feel better I have successfully predicted a plot point in this series exactly one time.
haha =D what was it?
I don’t actually know if I can say since it was in a discarded Patreon strip about Amber circa the death of Toedad where she has a bit of a soliloquy about her actions and motivations, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to go “oh yeah this is what Amber said” and if that would spoil her later character growth.
So technically speaking I didn’t even predict it, since it hasn’t canonically happened.
Aw man.
Well, im sure the real treasure was the community of like-minded nerds you met along the way ^^
Awwww, Lucy’s joy is warming my heart ~
I’m a little worried bc Walky only seems to be interested bc he knows Lucy’s interested. That doesn’t mean that he can’t like her back, but even with his obliviousness, he never showed signs of romantic interest in her before.
Thats a fair point. It seems to be a case of he didn’t know she liked him and was just off his thing with Dorothy and Amber so he wasn’t paying attention when it was brought to his attention hey she likes you he had the realization in the first panel holy crap you’re the whole package and I was missing it.
On the other hand, he could just grow to like her after dating for a while. Nothing wrong with just trying out dating to see how it goes
I have thought about it and decided that this is cute. Good for them!
Pizza is the best first date. Leisurely. Eat as much as you want but you are sharing a meal. Better seats. A restaurant but not fast food. Ours was Rocky Rococo. Forty five years later we still eat there just in a different city.
Walky had a thing for smart girls with glasses.
I’m a little worried at how quickly this got off the ground. Still, maybe it will go well. Good for them.
I kinda live college life vicariously through this comic. I worked during the day and took night classes at a crappy school whose main selling point was that it was very close to my job. All while living in my parents garage (appropriately converted).
But it worked out. I was able to put two daughters through college without them having to take out soul crippling student loans, and they did get dorm life and meal plans.
If this works out well for Lucy (which I hope it does), I hope Lucy thanks Dotty for putting her before herself. Dotty could have fucked all this up (literally) but saw that Lucy’s affections were more than physical and thus came first. Those two are good eggs.
I hasten to mention that David has not thrown a toy at Lucy’s head.
I was half expecting Walky to walk in, and Lucy just in her bra and panties, because Jennifer told her that she needed to, “up her game”.
No no, Jennifer would advice she do it in Walkys room so he has no where to run.
I was thinking that too. He comes in and she’s stripping down to follow Jennifer’s advice.
This is adorable?? But I’m so worried lol. I feel like Lucy’s gonna get crushed to bits.
FIRE IN THE DISCO!
FIRE IN THE…. TACO BELL!
DON’T YOU WANNA KNOW HOW WE KEEP STARTIN FIRES???!!!!
IT’S MY DESIRE!!! ITS MAH DEZAH-YUH
this is iconic how has no one has linked to this already
also this is the Walkyest shit ever and i love it
boy am i on top of my linking game today
Link is titled ”Walky[…]s[…] shit”
Knowing Walky’s obsession with that, talk about a risky click
totally SFW. although if you’re like me you might not be able to repress a hoot so, be aware i guess
…oh the other link in my previous comment is not *quite* SFW i guess i should’ve said sorry for whoever was shocked by the sight of a glowing moose dick
the in-universe pizza place that becky worked at too expensive
did she ever formally quit there btw?
Lucy is the cutest and the sweetest and she deserves good things. Even if this doesn’t work out, I’m really happy she got something she wanted.
This is even funnier when you realize Billie is standing over in her half of the room, staring at Walky in a mix of confusion and disdain.
Oh yeah, I wonder if she’s left or still around. It’d be pretty hilarious if she is.
I see the tags are foreshadowing the next love triangle: Lucy, Walky, and Taco Bell. Who will win?
as it happens, that love triangle has been foreshadowed before. Unaccountably, the Taco Bell tag was not included then.
Heh!
Aaaaaaa this is so cute! Panel 3 Lucy is too much for me. I loved Lucy’s crush but I didn’t necessarily ship it until right now, I’m the damned captain of this ship. I really hope they just have a cute relaxed happy relationship, we need one now that Becky and Dina are having an Arc (for clarity i think they’ll be fine)
holding hands at a taco bell IS the perfect date!!
that’s….that’s kinda sorta absolutely adorable.
please let it work out between these 2…
This comic made my heart happy 🙂
I have told my wife; I’m happy to eat at Burger King, as long as I’m with her.
Dang it, Woke Walky made me tear-up, even sniffle a little.
Anyone notice how Lucy’s eyes are about to burst out of her face?
Oh, Lucy. You’re such a Joyce.
Romantic meals at Taco Bell? This already sounds too much like Walky and Dina’s ill-fated relationship.
http://www.itswalky.com/comic/take-a-seat/