Sounds more like an earlylife crisis: college edition. Wouldn’t the college version of a midlife crisis be happening to sophomores or juniors? I know mine did.
Though it could be midlife for Danny, given comic time, I have some doubts on him ever getting to be a senior.
What you’re describing there sounds more like regular separation anxiety or adaptation issues.
The quarter-life crisis traditionally is when you _are_ an adult by every metric, generally a couple of years after you enter the job market, and you become disillusioned with your old expectations of adulthood and your vision for your own life.
Most of it is social and environmental, but there could also be a biological component since 25-ish is when our brains are finally fully matured and life-altering decisions we made as teens might not look so hot anymore.
“So, uh. What’s the optics on an actual music major bringing ‘er ukelele-slingin’ computer science major boyfriend to to practice room? Does it cancel out, or…”
I mean, if she’s practicing her music along to his ukulele, that should if anything be good? keeps a ukulele guy from taking a booking a music major needs and still means he gets practice and stays out of sayid’s way
Well, sure, but I’ve brought some. This one’s an old favorite from childhood: https://youtu.be/YQIxKorzI4c
Take me home, country roads!
(Oh, gosh, I love how she forgets the lyrics in the final verse!)
Sorry, sorry… I know, not everyone likes country music, and her electoral politics were deeply problematic. Complicated legacy. Don’t listen if you don’t like it.
You don’t have to apologise for anything- it’s a publicly available, very well-known song, which exists quite independent of any political or indeed other considerations. You weren’t putting it forward as a piece of music created by a paragon of human virtue, just innocently sharing something with, evidently, no ill-intention whatsoever, so you’re good. It’s depressing how people have to apologise for everything these days; can’t we just give each other the benefit of the doubt?
Talking about the “benefit of the doubt” is rich, coming from a person who routinely calls people trolls and misgenders them over simple misunderstandings. Lead by example, maybe.
Now I worry, Sal thinks Danny isn’t unique and quirky but a shallow copy-paste hipster with no real personality or self-confidence. None of which might be wrong, but he’s a sweet guy and watching the two them was my favorite part of this comic in its current iteration. I don’t want them to break up.
I don’t think Sal would ditch somebody she genuinely likes just because a stranger calls him basic. (If anything, she might feel for Danny getting put into a box… but mostly she just feels awkward, and it’s funny.)
I would be really sad if this turns into a conflict between the two of them, because they are sweet and just getting started. Also this is kind of an overblown issue – the college could easily resolve it by giving priority to people who are music majors or at least taking a music class. It’s not fair to blame Danny for it. So I hope you are right she just feels awkward.
God, I remember my first year of college. You couldn’t throw a stone without finding some white dude playing a ukulele in the dorms. I went to a community college a couple hours from IU, too.
When there’s people who need them for the education their tuition also pays for? Monsters is harsh but yeah, I can get why music majors would be annoyed with them.
Absolutely this. The college has various options here – some worse than others, but for sure, they could limit only a few rooms for open use or restrict students not taking a music class to one session a week.
Yeah, they can, but people are gonna people and I’m not surprised at all music majors are annoyed that other people are hogging the equipment they need to do their homework.
Alright, so the “dorks” fuck off forever and stop trying to do something new, because it’s a “crisis”, I guess. Not remotely their fault there’s a room shortage, but blame has to be thrown, or else there can’t be a villain to condemn.
They don’t have to be horrible villains to be condemned for people to be annoyed at them. It’s not their fault the university is shitty about this, but yeah, when someone is using the school resources you NEED for your homework because they think it’d be a fun afternoon, you might be annoyed at them even as you recognize it’s not their fault or even really wrong for them to do.
I like how Sal’s eyes slowly shift. In the last panel they are spaced so far apart she looks like a herbivore – she reminds me of a cow.
Not like as an insult, her big black eyes just remind me of really sweet cow I met on a farm once. She let me pet big pink cow nose which was nice and also kinda slimy.
Sayid: is that rock music
Sal: what did you say
Sayid: why is there a crowd surrounding us
Announcer: 3
Sal: about mah
Announcer: 2
Sayid: is that an announcer
Announcers: 1
Sal: BOYFRIEND
gargoyles: FIGHT!
Sayid: gargoyles?!?
Sal: *punches sayid in a way where her left fist punches forward while her right side leans back*
There isn’t. The only-soundproofed-from-each-other thing isn’t actually a thing and Sayid heard nothing. He just saw Sal and Danny come in together and is messing with her.
It’s evident they can’t be heard from this desk, at least, unless they’ve all simultaneously taken a break from playing. Otherwise, Sal would hear them too and wouldn’t have thought they were soundproof.
And yeah, Danny’s current interests seem like a bit of a a reaction to a quarter-life identity crisis, trying to figure out who he is and striking out in a particular direction.
Saiyd is obviously being a touch on the nose here, but that’s just ’cause it’s funny. But yeah, Sal’s gonna get stressed about that.
The thing is… the stuff that we see that she likes in Danny has been there the whole time in the comic. He’s a warm, friendly dork that is earnest and sweet and about as complex as he seems. He’s not simply his interests, and its not his interests that she seems to be drawn to, its that dorky, sweet personality that she’s liking.
In the end, as long as they doesn’t set it all on fire out of sheer paranoia about how real this all is, they’ll be fine together.
……..uh, who piled up all these greasy rags, old newspaper and tanks of gasoline?
Maybe you confused quarter-life (18-20) with quarter-century (25)?
Life expectancy for men in the US is 73.2 years (in 2021 for newborns, but it was a bit above 76 in most of the 2010s). A quarter of that is 18.3 years (19 if we take 76 as a reference point).
As a white college-educated guy, Danny probably has a higher life expectancy than the average, but that would still put the quarter-life marker within his college years.
That’s oddly specific. Sounds like Sayid has it out for Danny in particular.
For what it’s worth, I knew a Biology major who spent a lot of spare time using the music department’s stuff, particularly their pianos. She just liked to relax by playing.
I think that the specificity was just for the sake of the joke, honestly.
And just about every department is going to be very touchy about Their Department’s Space getting taken over by another department that isn’t going to use it seriously.
Except for Computer Science, anyway. The only people that use the Computer Science lab are non CS students who don’t have the right programs on their personal computers. CS students prefer to do their work in their own rooms, where shirts and pants are less mandatory…
Considering I was a biology major that took an acting class for my art credit (photography was booked out instantly), you can get weird people doing cross stuff for electives and non major credit requirements. I could just be the weird one though, since I also took a public communications class and it was NOT what I thought it would be (I thought it would be about public speaking, etc, not the corporate job). No one knew why I was there, including me, but it was too late to switch to another useful class that would fit in my schedule at that point, so I was along for the ride.
On a side note, a work project I was on for science I was accused of actually being a psychology major rather than biology/environmental major. I had some fellow students helping me out with a time consuming part (gluing seeds onto coffee stir sticks), but the only time the could help out was when I had to get work done on a class lab report. Since I had to be there to “supervise” them on such an inane task, but was multitasking by working on my laptop (so there for questions), they claimed that I was just there to take notes to see how long it took for them to go insane. Since I had to do thousands by myself every day the start of that summer, and on the more difficult toothpicks instead of the easier coffee stir sticks, I thought that they knew nothing of insanity. I never did understand why that project required the seeds to be glued on.
If only you’d had a Studio Art major there. They might’ve shown you how to get the seeds on with spray-adhesive. And you could remind them to eat and sleep sometimes! Everyone wins.
The problems were that you needed to use a certain type of glue to not hurt the seeds and that big seeds like wheat seeds wouldn’t stay on the toothpicks (stir sticks were easier, hence my switching). It was done so that you could find the seeds/seedlings/plants later on, as the study was testing how invasive possible biofuel species are. They just never stayed glued on, especially when the soil wasn’t tilled or was clay (tested in a crop setting, edge setting aka riparian or forest edge, and in a forest). It was well intended but unpractical in a real life setting for that specific area.
I am laughing about the possibility that it was a double blind study. I more blame the big university that created the protocol and probably had the man power to throw at it.
Maybe the “get over yourself” remark was a bit harsh. I do think it’s a problem with the system and not individuals, though. He can be mad all he wants, and he’s clearly just venting a frustration here, I just wish it was more common to aim at The Actual Issue and not unaligned people going about their day.
Just because an actual issue with the university is to blame doesn’t make it wrong to be frustrated with the people taking advantage of that university issue and making it harder for the people who need the rooms. It might not be their FAULT, and they may not be doing anything WRONG, but it’s still valid to be frustrated with them.
Maybe, but feelings are weird sometimes. I’ve been there for sure when professors refuse to make the readings accessible online and then someone is in the library using the singular copy that exists. I had limited time to go to the library because I didn’t live on campus and was dependant on my mom’s schedule to get around (for various reasons public transport wasn’t a great option). So a lot of the time I just didn’t end up doing the reading. And yeah, I knew it wasn’t the other students’ fault, but I definitely felt some frustration in their general direction for it. Never did or said anything about it but it was still there. I can’t imagine how pissed I’d have been if I’d needed it for an actual assignment and had to try to specifically carve out time for the library for it.
Sayid hasn’t said or done anything to the CS majors in question either. He’s just grumping about it to another music major. That’s fair game.
People have unfair feelings all the time. That’s just how feelings work. They’re not always rational. Sayid hasn’t done anything about them other than talk to another music major about it.
I think the point is that they’re not music majors, and therefore don’t *need* the practice time, and the music majors who DO need the practice time, in order to do well with their classes and all that, don’t get their practice time.
That is an issue with the management system of the booking process not giving music majors priority or blocking out specific periods of time just for music majors or not having specific rooms solely for music majors.
The issue is not actually dorks like Danny wanting to pick up an instrument and using available music resources to improve. Directing the anger at people like Danny is at best, misplaced anger, but at worst, music elitism that you shouldn’t get to use music resources if you’re not already decent at it.
All correct, but then again, we can just look out the door to see how struggling people turn on one another over the inflated scarcity of resources that could be easily resolved via better organisation by those in power.
Emphasis on “easily solved”. The ones in power will claim it’s just so impossible right now, we swear, to get even a minor change done, when in reality, it’s basically as easy as waving their hand in the right direction.
And those white guitar guys get shat on endlessly for allowing themselves to be seen in public Being That Way. I can’t blame a person for just wanting to practice in peace with company they choose, sometimes.
That said, Danny absolutely practices by the breakup steps plenty. It’s probably just a little warmer indoors where he’s not gonna get his uke tossed in a snowdrift.
This. Like, it is common as hell for white college guys to try to pick up instruments to impress people, but they also get endlessly made fun of for it and a self-aware person would try to do it in a practice room to avoid mocking.
People don’t actually like being made fun of for trying to learn things and sometimes, they just like to play for themselves. They don’t always want to perform for others. It can be helpful for some people to deal with emotions to just play in peace.
>”People don’t actually like being made fun of for trying to learn things”
Go figure. There’s a weird undertone today, and it seems to be implying that people should stay in their little box and not reach outside of it if that might overlap with somebody else’s box.
Yeah, I’ve picked up on that vibe too. Like, it is not ACTUALLY a crime for other people to use school resources even if those resources are not being managed properly so the right majors get majority use.
You’re right, it’s not a crime, but when it’s an issue of ‘want to use’ vs ‘need to use’, I don’t think that the people who need it being annoyed that it’s being hogged by people who want to use it because it seems like a fun way to use the day or because they’re exploring new things (both of which are good) are being elitist or mean or saying they should never ever try music at all.
I definitely get why music majors would be annoyed at non-majors making it difficult to get enough practice time they actually need for their classes, but it really seems like this is a problem that should be solved at the department level by giving majors priority access to the practice rooms.
Yeah, it’s not necessarily Danny’s problem, but it’s certainly going to make Sal feel awkward about asking for more time. Especially if Danny’s the only one who’s been actually playing.
There can’t be that many computer science majors playing ukelele at one college, right? There were a few people who played guitar in my freshman year, but I have no idea what their majors were or anything.
I guess this is supposed to be comedy, but I feel for Sal. It must be fucking exhausting having people calling out everything you do or like as “fake”, leaving you unable to enjoy… well, anything.
People enjoy so many things because they ARE fake. Look to everything from ‘high culture’ to ‘pro wrestling’. DO you REALLY think paint splattered randomly on a canvas is worth a million dollars? because there are ‘artists’ whom have scored big in the art scene on that very gag, and sometimes the ‘experimental’ music really is just discordant banging on instruments by some talent-free self promoter.
People LOVE fake stuff. They love fake so much the called it ‘reality television’ even though it was obviously and clearly staged, managed, and scripted.
People ADORE fake stuff. From politics to art to culture, the most lucrative fads have been rooted in something unreal, something more akin to “We wish it were this way” than in reaiity. The whole business of FICTION is the fake, and just remember when you were a KID? and you loved MAGIC??
The whole business of Illusion is faking people out.
Part of growing up, is realizing and recognizing that “Sure, it’s fake, I like it anyway.” that’s why you find real athletes who enjoy pro wrestling-they KNOW it’s fake…but it’s fun, and enjoyable, and it’s better than the falsehoods they run into day-to-day-to-day like fake affection, fake respect, fake concern…
Based on what I was constantly told as an autistic kid, being an adult basically amounts to being 100% fake in every single thing you do and never being authentic about anything, on penalty of death.
Sounds miserable, and I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Finding joy as an adult comes from unlearning that lesson, IMO. Never be ashamed of your interests and avoid wasting time and energy on the things you dislike. Block out the haters and never become one!
Yeah, I learned real quick not to listen to those weirdos and to instead look down on them as inferior. The ones who try to be all “no fun or interests allowed, only toil and insecurity” are so obviously just weak-minded miserable dickheads with no curiosity, who just wanna drag everyone down into the mud with them, so they don’t deserve much in the way of respect, acting that way.
All that is solid, but bypasses that Sal is always getting called fakey by Mal. People enjoy fake stuff but still often desparage it. They certainly still use the word pejoratively while laughing at reality shows or a wrestling drama.
this is where developing the famous “Thick Skin” comes in-which is a process. She needs to learn whose opinion really matters in her life-which is to say, which people she really gives a shit about versus those she simply has to share oxygen and real estate with. One of the best lessons from Satanic philosophy is not to waste your time, energy and concern on those who don’t deserve it from you.
This is a good outlook to have, broadly speaking. As long as we remember that “thick skin” doesn’t mean “impenetrable” and there’s always gonna be someone or something that just gets right under there no matter how hard we try, and all we can really do is deal with it as/after it happens.
1) What’s something “basic” that you enjoy without irony?
2) What’s something “quirky” or wacky or weird that you’ve worn loud and proud? (Doesn’t have to be a hat.)
Sorry, sorry, I know country music has some deeply problematic politics, and Loretta Lynn’s presidential electoral politics in particular are worthy of criticism. The sound of the pedal steel and slide guitars, though… very nostalgic for me.
I dont think you need to apologize for your interests, cause then everyone would have to, since things they like probably have a history of extortion or crappy politics!
You rock that poor taste in music unapologetically Laura!😏
Laura you should check out some of the newer young alt country music like Willi Carlisle, Orville Peck, Sabine McCalla, Charley Crockett and Amethyst Kiah if you think country is still basic or aligned with conservative politics. There’s some amazing new stuff coming out that’s escaping the shadow of the post 9-11 conservative takeover of country. Fewer songs about America being number 1 or how much they love their truck, more songs about systemic racism, living in the closet or how the rich are destroying the planet.
Also for my own reply:
1) The basic macdonald’s cheeseburger, something about that and nothing else on their menu calls to me every so often.
2) A coworker once told me I dressed like a wizard sex worker (he used a meaner word) in my off hours. I told him I dress for the job that I want. I have a collection of wild jackets including one that turns me into a living disco ball.
This makes me want to all crazy fan-boy on you, scream “HELL YEAH”, and ask if I can give you a hug. All of which is meant as a compliment (in case it don’t be clear)
Heartily seconded, even though my own fashion choices are decidedly in the “boring”-sort-of-“conservative” column. That last one in particular sounds rad.
Also, it’s connected enough to the comic that this kind of stuff is usually fine? Like, yes, there were some problems back a bit when there were several other factors, but I really don’t think this is an issue.
1. Electronic dance music. Not the indie, quirky, stuff (that too, obvs, but that’s beside the point). The Cookie-Cutter-EDM they play at normie clubs.
2. My shock pink, fluffy, hoodie. It’s aggressively pink. And comfy. So, so, comfy. And it’s hard to find something big and comfortably oversized at my height.
People, mostly colleagues (who don’t know me very well), look at me like I’ve suddenly gone crazy when wearing this thing.
Something that other people might consider cliché or played out already or unsophisticated. Something that you enjoy unashamedly despite the possibility of scorn. Like pumpkin spice lattes. Or 80s synth pop. Just something you really like, even if it’s not seen as cutting edge right now.
Oh, huh. That’s a tough one, because it requires me to know what other people think is cliched or unsophisticated. Hmmm.
Basic: I’m still a big fan of classic Old World of World of Darkness
‘Quirky”: I rarely go out for recreational purposes without a set of horns and possibly a tail on. Claw gloves are pretty common as well.
1. Avenged Sevenfold (they’re considered a bit of a “starter pack” band in the metal subculture, but I’ve always enjoyed their music)
2. A cravat/waistcoat combo to work. I love being the Eccentric Edwardian Librarian.
Avenged Sevenfold is a good sound. Musical genres aren’t a TCG, although now I wanna play a TCG or deck-building game based on different types of music. That sounds more fun than judging people based on their taste.
Still not sure what you do with the cards, though. Can you battle them like Pokémon? Tell stories with them? Build card houses with them? And who would win in a card battle between Cindi Lauper and Justin Bieber?
Those seem to be the ones that are mostly geared toward collecting and trading between friends/fellow hobbyists. Can’t identify an actual game they’re used for.
1. Pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin iced coffee, from Starbucks and Dunkin’ respectively.
2. My most eye-bleeding outfit in school was a neon green windbreaker, orange pants with a dragon on the left leg, and those green&yellow tie-dye crocs. This was middle school.
In high school I wore one of those bear hats with the long arms that doubled as a scarf and mittens. This was convenient because I frequently walked between buildings to distribute laptops.
Currently, I have an All Might hoodie. It makes my CEO cringe when I attend work functions.
1. Pumpkin spice lattes and also pumpkin spice other things. Also, Taylor Swift.
2. From middle school through high school, I was pretty much always wearing a purple jacket. I went through a number of them over the years. It’s not a quirky or weird clothing item in itself, but the sheer consistency with which I wore them, it was like I was a cartoon character and this was my default character design for each season.
Heyyyyy, another country fan! And I’m not even one of those ‘pre-9/11 crooning country’ fans from back when it was Cool. I’m one of the ones who started consciously listening after 9/11. Am I a fan of the ultra nationalist “USA, guns, trucks and Jesus” songs? No, no I am not. Angry girl country, fun party songs, and sad personal tragedy songs though? YUP. Love Taylor Swift. Love cheap fast food like Wendys and McDonalds.
2) I wear wrestling shirts. I also had a pair of red cowboy boots that I was always wearing with red and black and so I started calling them my ‘Targaryen boots’.
Love country! One of my happiest memories is attending the Grand Ole Opry after singing (karaoke) at (on the sidewalk outside) the Country Music Hall of Fame. (It was just for fun.)
Oh no, Sayid is another Malaya and Sal has difficulties to handle this kind of criticism! She could start see Danny in a different way… let’s hope not, let’s hope Sal learned how don’t be influenced by other people’s opinions. Danny deserves more credit!
I think the answer to this is preferential booking for music majors (for example, by opening reservations for the next time slots a couple hours earlier for music students, by reserving an amount of the practice rooms just for music students (ie rooms 1-3 can’t be booked by randoms), or by having an amount of time slots dedicated to music students)
Back when I was in college, this is exactly what my university did, to the point that your reservation could be kicked if a music major needed it more.
There were a couple of the smallest rooms set aside from this system, but you were still technically fighting music majors for them anyway.
Ultimately at the end of the day, it’s a school. If someone wants the room to have fun and explore music, vs someone who NEEDS the room for homework/assignments/etc. then yeah, the person who needs it should get it, even if it means bumping someone’s fun afternoon to a later day.
I have a garage, with a lot of things I’m trying to do: a Yamaha keyboard, a recorder, a lot of nanquim and pencil for draw, watercolor for painting. I have lot and lot of Comic, because I’ve tried to create a comic for my onw. I have tried to create a garden, a garage to open and fix cars.
Computer programming can be a lonely and exhaustive life.
My understanding of the last few panels is that Sal is imagining several or many instances of Danny and is grappling with the fact that it’s turning her on.
Maybe the motorcycle was a way to hide that she had spent her high school years secretly listening to Bon Iver.
His frustration isn’t really that the CS-majors are exploring music for the first time, it’s that there aren’t enough rooms for everyone, so he can’t get access to the room he needs anymore.
If there were plenty of practice rooms available, Sayid probably wouldn’t be annoyed to see a legion of dilettante Dannies. But, there aren’t enough rooms, and the department isn’t prioritizing Music majors, so it’s frustrating that he can’t get what he needs.
Sayid isn’t even doing anything bad with his frustration — he’s not harassing anyone, he’s not trying to get anyone kicked out, he recognizes that his frustration is his own problem (his personal beef), and he immediately apologizes for getting it on anyone else. It’s chill.
When they’re blocking people who actually need the rooms for homework and assignments? That’s not called field elitism. And it may not be the fault of CS majors, but yeah, I can understand why he’s annoyed at them.
In college my job was to clean the rehearsal rooms. Each room had a piano, a trash can, and a little soundproofing on the walls. In all the years I was there, I saw maybe a dozen rooms being used total, and the trash cans were more often than not empty. You didn’t need to sign up for a room. Maybe that’s the secret to keep them from being overbooked.
Or put the practice wing on the opposite end of everything on campus.
I think there was an Episode of Rick & Morty about this dynamic. Rick and Beth Civilization Collab Bonding Moment. Gotta redirect the CS Majors out of the Music Major Hub. Redirect the flow.
I think some folks in the comments here are a bit too hard on Sayid, like yeah I also hate it when folks get too judgy and shit on folks they decided are too ‘performatively quirky’ or ‘basic’ or whatever. But that wasn’t really the thing Sayid was complaining about as much as the Computer Science Ukulele Dork taking up important facilities from the Music Majors – the folks who actually need them for their actual studies.
The matter here isn’t “there’s a lot of folks like Danny, so he’s not that Special. /:”, as much as “if it was just Danny, him using the Practice Room wouldn’t be an Issue. But because there are many like him, it causes a serious overbooking problem.”
And like, yeah, this isn’t really the fault of Danny or any other individual Computer Science Ukulele Dork for deciding music is their new call in life and it should be solved in the administrative level (like many people suggested, some sort of reservation system that prioritize the actual Music Majors above others) but like….. It’s not like Sayid is yelling at Danny or preventing him from reserving a practice room or organizing some sort of Anti Computer Science Ukulele Dork Protest or something.
He just has some frustrated feelings (that he even kinda underplays by calling it a ‘personal beef’) that he’s venting out to his fellow Music Major. That’s really all. I think it’s kinda silly to claim that unless he’s offerring some sort of systematic solution in place, it makes him some sort of a Giant Tool to complain about this situation at all??? Can Sayid even fix the reservation system as just some 19 year old behind a desk?
It feels like the only reason why people are so angry at Sayid is because they feel like his comments might endanger the peaceful adorableness of Danny/Sal but like… if we’re looking at him as an in-universe person, it’ll be weird to hold him accountable for something like that, as if he as any sort of responsibility to shield Danny/Sal from any possible harm. It’s not like he’s even trying to break them up or anything like that, just that his comment about his own personal problems *might* start a chain reaction that *might* cause problems in their relationship going forwards.
(Clearly Sayid should just be aware that Sal and Danny are main characters and he’s a Minor Character at best and so any possible problem he can have is always secondary to preserving the relationships of the characters who get to be on the Cast Page.)
I think a lot of the frustration is that while he’s not directly attacking Danny to his face, Sayid IS shit-talking him to his girlfriend (which is a really scummy move when intentional). Now, we have no narrative evidence he’s even aware Danny was the one playing (he only mentions that the room SOUNDED like ukulele) but it’s a reasonable extrapolation that he knows he’s point-for-point describing the guy Sal walked in and has been sharing a practice room with (most practice rooms have windows on the door, and he was close enough to the doors to identify which one sounded like ukulele). At best, he’s pulling the “I don’t want to dump my personal biases on you but let me take the smallest invitation as permission to do it anyway” move that in fiction often precedes sitcom drama, at worst he’s trying to make Danny look bad to his hot girlfriend. In either case, he’s heaping blame for the situation on the wrong parties (clearly the University should address their reservation system if it’s causing problems) and it shouldn’t take meta-knowledge for him to know better. I feel like we just had a way messier and more vitriolic example of how venting about groups of people that describe those within earshot is socially dangerous…
I took Sayid at his word: this is his own personal problem to deal with, and he immediately apologizes for getting his frustration on anyone else. I don’t think that Sayid is being a sneaky mastermind of passive aggression vs Danny and Sal. Dude just wishes it was easier for him to reserve a practice room when he needs one.
I still read it that way, because Sal’s awkwardness is much funnier if it was totally unintentional.
There is zero chance he even knows sal and Danny are dating. They’ve been together 48 hours max and aren’t super loud about it. Assuming he even paid attention to who she came in with he probably just assumed it was her buddy or some dork she got to help her with her assignment. And i doubt he even paid attention. Sayid isn’t studying the main cast members and their interpersonal relationships
Sayid giving a point-by-point description of Danny could very well just be Rule of Funny, or to emphasize just how many Dannys are out there on campus. This is 100% consistent with similar things that happened in the comic. There’s really no need for it to be intentional on his part.
From his dialogue it seems like he recognizes Sal as, like, a fellow member of the Music Department and appreantly he and Danny interacted once in one of the Patreon strips…. but there’s really no indication that he like, remembers Danny (do you remember every student you interacted with, like, one time?), much less that he knows Danny is involved or even that he and Sal are a Thing now.
The description is almost certainly based on running into Danny in the patreon strip, but I agree there’s no reason to think he knows that it’s Danny in there with Sal.
And it just so happens that theDanny evo banner is right at the top of the page while I’m reading this strip. And he’s looking so proud and sure of himself in the midst of his freshman identity crisis…lookit em! He’s so smug! I’m gonna need to poor myself a strong one tonight…
Okay 1. Why do people think sayyid airing a legitimate grievance about music majors being pushed out of their own space is him being whiney and acting like Malaya? I’m an actual college student living on campus. Its like its own little society. This is the closest thing we have to gentrification, he’s rightfully pissed.
2. Why are people acting like this will at all effect sal’s view on or relationship with Danny? Its sal. If she gave a shit about the oPtIcS she wouldn’t be dating this dork in the first place.
It might. Or at least a Complication. Thus the immediate worry and defensive reaction(s).
Their relationship is good and wholesome and people here (myself included) want to protecc that.
Nobody’s said anything about “allowed” or whatever. All I’m trying to communicate is that his frustration feels misaimed, and I did dial back on the “getting over himself” part.
So, funny story. My sister double-majored in music and computer science. She went on to grad school for CS (at Indiana University, no less!) and since she’s a badass singer, she auditioned for choir as a fun thing to do while working on her PhD.
At the audition, there was a sign-in sheet where everyone wrote down their name, their voice part, and their field of study. Most folx auditioning were music students of one kind or another. When my sister wrote down “computer science” on the sheet, the music grad student running the audition was like “Computer science? What do you DO with that?”
They were just completely out of touch with anything outside of the classical music world.
Hmm, you’re right, it COULD have been a joke that went over my sister’s head, but she’s a real smartypants (see: computer science PhD *and* serious about performing classical music). But regardless of whether it was intended as a joke, I’m pretty sure she was able to laugh it off!
On a re-read and with yesterday’s strip in mind, I think there’s just too much disastrophe being read into this one. Sayid is explicitly venting, even if I think his actual frustration is aimed at the wrong target, and he freely admits it’s a Him Problem. Danny and Sal aren’t doing anything wrong either, and I don’t get why anyone would think they were, since it’s not like they made the resources finite. The only actual “problem” in-comic is that the resource is finite, and that’s…kinda just how things are. Things aren’t unlimited. Frustration is Fine, Actually, because it’s frustrating when you can’t do something you’d like to do, even when it’s nobody’s fault.
Too much moral weight being assigned to this, I think, based on how little is actually being said in-story. Scenarios are being created from thin air and treated like they’re on-panel, or at least it tastes that way to me.
(Before the resident Deliberate Misunderstander(s) chime in, I’m not trying to shut down any discussions and you know that.)
Yeah. The thing is nobody IS doing anything wrong here, except the university. Sayid’s grumping because people who don’t need the music rooms are crowding out the people who DO for educational reasons. Being grumpy about them may not be fully 100% rational but feelings aren’t always rational and it’s fine to be frustrated about these dumb kids.
And the dumb kids aren’t doing anything wrong either by using the space that’s freely available to them. It’s not their call to make things more available for music majors.
The university needs to get on it and prioritize booking for music majors. That’s not on anybody else, it’s just a frustrating situation where nobody’s actually done anything wrong.
When I was a freshman CS major, I bumped into the president of the tabletop gaming club in the computer lab on my first night on campus. I had no identity crisis, for I had finally found my people, and the gamer identity that had marginalized me in my hometown was suddenly valid.
…You know, more I look at this strip from Sal’s perspective, the more I suspect she’s thinking, “Wait, is Arms BS’ing me right now? If not, then why is there a -TREND- of CS majors wanting to be (at least) superficially like Danny? did I start this? did Danny start this? is he just using me to look good? is Danny more unremarkable than I thought?” We’re seeing three whole panels of her not knowing exactly how self-centered to be.
Loading ...
so it’s Midlife Crisis: College Edition?
That is college.
Nah. There’s at least one more midlife crisis to come after that. Sometimes two or three!
Aren’t those usually reserved for people who led a charmed life and can’t handle change? I swear I read a thing someplace about that.
My midlife crisis resulted in me joining the army reserve at age 36. Before I knew it, I was 60 and was forced to retire.
Sounds more like an earlylife crisis: college edition. Wouldn’t the college version of a midlife crisis be happening to sophomores or juniors? I know mine did.
Though it could be midlife for Danny, given comic time, I have some doubts on him ever getting to be a senior.
That’s called a quarter-life crisis.
Right around the time when most people are in a new environment with freedom from parents and family.
But also semi-self responsibility.
Almost an adult, still a child.
What you’re describing there sounds more like regular separation anxiety or adaptation issues.
The quarter-life crisis traditionally is when you _are_ an adult by every metric, generally a couple of years after you enter the job market, and you become disillusioned with your old expectations of adulthood and your vision for your own life.
Most of it is social and environmental, but there could also be a biological component since 25-ish is when our brains are finally fully matured and life-altering decisions we made as teens might not look so hot anymore.
Sal: Oh no, Ah forgot to tag which one’s mine!
(Sal walks back to find the hallway filled with identical ukulele dorks)
Sal: NOOOOO!
Then again, if Ukulele weirdoes are your thing…
It’s Raining Ukes? 🙂
Now I’m imagining the a bunch of Danny’s sitting on a conveyer at the airport, while Sal stands by confused trying to pick out the right one.
Where’s Waldan?
At the end of the comic Danny is going to show up to the final battle leading an army of them.
It’ll be that scene in The Good Place when all the Janets show up.
Ukuleles will rule!
Ukeleles may rule.
Ukeleles rule…kelele… xD
Win!!
“Wake up!” x10000
The hats discarded, ukeleles raised as clubs as they charge
Seems like a rather niche demographic you’re describing for it to be that big a problem, Sayid. 🤨
You should really know better than to try to put one over Sal like that.
You say that, but you’re not the one who has to chase them out with a broom at the end of every shift.
Wasn’t there a Patreon Comic that had something very similar?
Yep. That was Asma, Jennifer, and Ruth, in the lobby area.
No involving the music rooms.
I found it!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-strip-june-12254472?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_fan
Goddamn, Willis.
He does seem weirdly angry at what is likely a small group of people. Maybe they stole his sleeves to make more newsboy hats?
My heart of hearts kind of hopes that Danny somehow inspired some sort of weird following with his Good Egg vibes.
Honestly Sal’s established as wildely desirable
maybe this like a 4d chess move from Sayid to make her think Danny is lame to try to get an in with her. who knows.
Avatar checks out!
No, some of the other CS guys saw Danny and Sal doing duets and they have come to the conclusion that this is how you get hot girls.
I mean like he said, they’re overbooking the music rooms so the actual music majors can’t use them. I’d be pretty pissed too
“So, uh. What’s the optics on an actual music major bringing ‘er ukelele-slingin’ computer science major boyfriend to to practice room? Does it cancel out, or…”
I mean, if she’s practicing her music along to his ukulele, that should if anything be good? keeps a ukulele guy from taking a booking a music major needs and still means he gets practice and stays out of sayid’s way
Is Danny a CS major?
Yes.
Yep.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/worry/
Music pedagogy is an important job skill. Music departments usually let their own students teach in their practice rooms.
“We call ’em ‘Dannies,’ for short. Not sure where the name came from, though…”
Be glad I’m not bringing out any Loretta Lynn.
Bad timing on that reference.
Eh. It’s been a day. I didn’t give her majesty an hour, and I *liked* her.
Well, sure, but I’ve brought some. This one’s an old favorite from childhood:
https://youtu.be/YQIxKorzI4c
Take me home, country roads!
(Oh, gosh, I love how she forgets the lyrics in the final verse!)
Sorry, sorry… I know, not everyone likes country music, and her electoral politics were deeply problematic. Complicated legacy. Don’t listen if you don’t like it.
You don’t have to apologise for anything- it’s a publicly available, very well-known song, which exists quite independent of any political or indeed other considerations. You weren’t putting it forward as a piece of music created by a paragon of human virtue, just innocently sharing something with, evidently, no ill-intention whatsoever, so you’re good. It’s depressing how people have to apologise for everything these days; can’t we just give each other the benefit of the doubt?
Talking about the “benefit of the doubt” is rich, coming from a person who routinely calls people trolls and misgenders them over simple misunderstandings. Lead by example, maybe.
… do I know you? Because I don’t think you know me.
Yeah, cuz there’s just sooo many people with default Joe icons and hyphens for names around here. 🙄 But whatever, play dumb all you like.
“Oracle” is a really inapposite choice of sobriquet for you, pally, but… bored of you now, move along
Would you like some tea to go with your sentence enhancers?
We got mint, chamomile, rose and chickweed.
Now I worry, Sal thinks Danny isn’t unique and quirky but a shallow copy-paste hipster with no real personality or self-confidence. None of which might be wrong, but he’s a sweet guy and watching the two them was my favorite part of this comic in its current iteration. I don’t want them to break up.
Don’t worry, she’s really experienced at sniffing out bullshit.
Sayid’s probably just jealous or something.
If she leaves this conversation thinking Danny is the hipster, that’s on her. Sayid’s being kind of a jackass.
I don’t think Sal would ditch somebody she genuinely likes just because a stranger calls him basic. (If anything, she might feel for Danny getting put into a box… but mostly she just feels awkward, and it’s funny.)
Yeah, that, and this is pretty hard to argue with:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/adorable/
I would be really sad if this turns into a conflict between the two of them, because they are sweet and just getting started. Also this is kind of an overblown issue – the college could easily resolve it by giving priority to people who are music majors or at least taking a music class. It’s not fair to blame Danny for it. So I hope you are right she just feels awkward.
it’d be funny if she forgot which room number she had; and just kept opening doors of near identically dressed dudes that all looked like Danny.
and that just keeps happening, every night, for the remainder of the comic’s run
i wouldn’t even be mad
You see both, you’ve seen them all!
Maybe Sayid is the one who paid the wind to blow Danny’s hat away.
Dun-dun-duuuhn…
Sal is now forced to completely re-evaluate her relationship with Dan, so what will the outcome be? Ditching him? Trying to change him?
Remembering she dislikes trying to impress people, especially those who enjoy putting people into boxes?
They’ll be OK. : )
She’s gonna bang Danny in the room to taunt arms guy because he can hear them.
What? No she’s not
How did you even come to that conclusion?
God, I remember my first year of college. You couldn’t throw a stone without finding some white dude playing a ukulele in the dorms. I went to a community college a couple hours from IU, too.
Ukelele is the people’s instrument. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZaR_4us6Ec
How dare these dweebs use the practice rooms their tuition pays for. What horrible monsters they must be.
Smash their Ukuleles! Hang them by the stings! Burn them with the tinder!
When there’s people who need them for the education their tuition also pays for? Monsters is harsh but yeah, I can get why music majors would be annoyed with them.
It might have more to do with whatever time everyone has free time. There’s probably a rush hour during certain times of the day.
Seems more like a practical failing of the school for not setting aside 2/3rds of the rooms for those with classes for music.
Absolutely this. The college has various options here – some worse than others, but for sure, they could limit only a few rooms for open use or restrict students not taking a music class to one session a week.
Yeah, they can, but people are gonna people and I’m not surprised at all music majors are annoyed that other people are hogging the equipment they need to do their homework.
How dare those music majors be annoyed they can’t do their homework because some dorks decided to have a quarter life crisis
Alright, so the “dorks” fuck off forever and stop trying to do something new, because it’s a “crisis”, I guess. Not remotely their fault there’s a room shortage, but blame has to be thrown, or else there can’t be a villain to condemn.
They don’t have to be horrible villains to be condemned for people to be annoyed at them. It’s not their fault the university is shitty about this, but yeah, when someone is using the school resources you NEED for your homework because they think it’d be a fun afternoon, you might be annoyed at them even as you recognize it’s not their fault or even really wrong for them to do.
Sal calculating whether Arms would make a good replacement boyfriend.
Then calculating that he is calculating on her calculating, and going for him over Uke Weirdo.
Then, calculating if she should recalculate her answer of the first calculation, after the second calculation. Still calculating.
I like how Sal’s eyes slowly shift. In the last panel they are spaced so far apart she looks like a herbivore – she reminds me of a cow.
Not like as an insult, her big black eyes just remind me of really sweet cow I met on a farm once. She let me pet big pink cow nose which was nice and also kinda slimy.
Cows are adorable. No one should be offended by being compared to a cow. If anyone is using cow as an insult, they are the rude ones.
Agreed!
For once it’s not Dan Danning it up.
But he DID adopt the Uke and cap. (Well, the ur-cap.)
Sal: oh no we colonized the practice rooms
Sayid: is that rock music
Sal: what did you say
Sayid: why is there a crowd surrounding us
Announcer: 3
Sal: about mah
Announcer: 2
Sayid: is that an announcer
Announcers: 1
Sal: BOYFRIEND
gargoyles: FIGHT!
Sayid: gargoyles?!?
Sal: *punches sayid in a way where her left fist punches forward while her right side leans back*
DING DING DING 😁
Now I want a DoA Fighting Game! It has begun!
Then why was there only ONE room he could call “the one that sounded like ukulele”?
There isn’t. The only-soundproofed-from-each-other thing isn’t actually a thing and Sayid heard nothing. He just saw Sal and Danny come in together and is messing with her.
It’s evident they can’t be heard from this desk, at least, unless they’ve all simultaneously taken a break from playing. Otherwise, Sal would hear them too and wouldn’t have thought they were soundproof.
Ah, here’s the drama for this plotline…
And yeah, Danny’s current interests seem like a bit of a a reaction to a quarter-life identity crisis, trying to figure out who he is and striking out in a particular direction.
Saiyd is obviously being a touch on the nose here, but that’s just ’cause it’s funny. But yeah, Sal’s gonna get stressed about that.
The thing is… the stuff that we see that she likes in Danny has been there the whole time in the comic. He’s a warm, friendly dork that is earnest and sweet and about as complex as he seems. He’s not simply his interests, and its not his interests that she seems to be drawn to, its that dorky, sweet personality that she’s liking.
In the end, as long as they doesn’t set it all on fire out of sheer paranoia about how real this all is, they’ll be fine together.
……..uh, who piled up all these greasy rags, old newspaper and tanks of gasoline?
Linda, most likely.
Danny’s not even 20. He would be nowhere near a quarter-life crisis.
Maybe you confused quarter-life (18-20) with quarter-century (25)?
Life expectancy for men in the US is 73.2 years (in 2021 for newborns, but it was a bit above 76 in most of the 2010s). A quarter of that is 18.3 years (19 if we take 76 as a reference point).
As a white college-educated guy, Danny probably has a higher life expectancy than the average, but that would still put the quarter-life marker within his college years.
I did look it up before posting, and quarter-life crises are often mid-20s to early-30s. So it is an actual term.
20 is… A quarter of a lifetime (Well, for the majority of people).
Majority of people who can afford healthcare, maybe.
I mean, I hope he lives past 72 too, but you never know…he could have passed his quarter-life mark eight years ago.
….how old do people live where you’re from
who knows, with current medical advances, maybe the average gen z lifespan will be 130
Okay but what are the rules if they are WITH a music major?
That’s oddly specific. Sounds like Sayid has it out for Danny in particular.
For what it’s worth, I knew a Biology major who spent a lot of spare time using the music department’s stuff, particularly their pianos. She just liked to relax by playing.
I think that the specificity was just for the sake of the joke, honestly.
And just about every department is going to be very touchy about Their Department’s Space getting taken over by another department that isn’t going to use it seriously.
Except for Computer Science, anyway. The only people that use the Computer Science lab are non CS students who don’t have the right programs on their personal computers. CS students prefer to do their work in their own rooms, where shirts and pants are less mandatory…
The Psychology majors will run tests on you and pay you $20.
If you invade the Theater spaces, the Theater majors are just glad people are there. Captive audience! Captive for…. theater.
Considering I was a biology major that took an acting class for my art credit (photography was booked out instantly), you can get weird people doing cross stuff for electives and non major credit requirements. I could just be the weird one though, since I also took a public communications class and it was NOT what I thought it would be (I thought it would be about public speaking, etc, not the corporate job). No one knew why I was there, including me, but it was too late to switch to another useful class that would fit in my schedule at that point, so I was along for the ride.
On a side note, a work project I was on for science I was accused of actually being a psychology major rather than biology/environmental major. I had some fellow students helping me out with a time consuming part (gluing seeds onto coffee stir sticks), but the only time the could help out was when I had to get work done on a class lab report. Since I had to be there to “supervise” them on such an inane task, but was multitasking by working on my laptop (so there for questions), they claimed that I was just there to take notes to see how long it took for them to go insane. Since I had to do thousands by myself every day the start of that summer, and on the more difficult toothpicks instead of the easier coffee stir sticks, I thought that they knew nothing of insanity. I never did understand why that project required the seeds to be glued on.
What a story!
> glueing seeds on
Oh wow, your Psych Supervisor didn’t even let you in on the study? Harsh.
Double-blind study, baby!
If only you’d had a Studio Art major there. They might’ve shown you how to get the seeds on with spray-adhesive. And you could remind them to eat and sleep sometimes! Everyone wins.
The problems were that you needed to use a certain type of glue to not hurt the seeds and that big seeds like wheat seeds wouldn’t stay on the toothpicks (stir sticks were easier, hence my switching). It was done so that you could find the seeds/seedlings/plants later on, as the study was testing how invasive possible biofuel species are. They just never stayed glued on, especially when the soil wasn’t tilled or was clay (tested in a crop setting, edge setting aka riparian or forest edge, and in a forest). It was well intended but unpractical in a real life setting for that specific area.
I am laughing about the possibility that it was a double blind study. I more blame the big university that created the protocol and probably had the man power to throw at it.
Sayid’s met Danny there before, in a patreon strip I think.
It’s a call back to that.
I can relate to that person a lot. (I mean, you basically just described me.)
Also sorry for flagging, it was an accident.
does music majors have no priority or hours only for them?
Its not a phase Sal! UKE is my life now
What does Beef have to do with any of this?
Oh wait. Now I get it.
“I give you the future…. BEEF!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyCSThEPYGk
Sometimes people use things, Sayid. Get over yourself and stop judging people for things that don’t matter.
Maybe people like Sayid don’t get enough opportunities to get this kind of energy out of their systems.
They should all play more video games 😛
and surrender their energy to me like I’m fucking Queen Beryl or somethingIf the problem he describes actually exists, it might matter to music majors very much. In that case, I would understand his bitterness.
I mean if they’re blocking the actual music majors who need the rooms for their assignments then he has a pretty decent reason to be pissed
Maybe the “get over yourself” remark was a bit harsh. I do think it’s a problem with the system and not individuals, though. He can be mad all he wants, and he’s clearly just venting a frustration here, I just wish it was more common to aim at The Actual Issue and not unaligned people going about their day.
Just because an actual issue with the university is to blame doesn’t make it wrong to be frustrated with the people taking advantage of that university issue and making it harder for the people who need the rooms. It might not be their FAULT, and they may not be doing anything WRONG, but it’s still valid to be frustrated with them.
I mean, I guess? If they’re not responsible for the problem existing and it’s not any sort of wrongdoing, I just think it’s weird to take aim at them.
Maybe, but feelings are weird sometimes. I’ve been there for sure when professors refuse to make the readings accessible online and then someone is in the library using the singular copy that exists. I had limited time to go to the library because I didn’t live on campus and was dependant on my mom’s schedule to get around (for various reasons public transport wasn’t a great option). So a lot of the time I just didn’t end up doing the reading. And yeah, I knew it wasn’t the other students’ fault, but I definitely felt some frustration in their general direction for it. Never did or said anything about it but it was still there. I can’t imagine how pissed I’d have been if I’d needed it for an actual assignment and had to try to specifically carve out time for the library for it.
Sayid hasn’t said or done anything to the CS majors in question either. He’s just grumping about it to another music major. That’s fair game.
Valid? Sure, maybe. Pretty unfair though. But a momentary venting isn’t a sin or whatever it is people think is being said.
People have unfair feelings all the time. That’s just how feelings work. They’re not always rational. Sayid hasn’t done anything about them other than talk to another music major about it.
How dare people away from home decide to learn an instrument they’ve likely never been encouraged to play before or try.
Either you learn it when you are 5 or never. /s
I think the point is that they’re not music majors, and therefore don’t *need* the practice time, and the music majors who DO need the practice time, in order to do well with their classes and all that, don’t get their practice time.
Sounds like a problem with the booking process, not the individual non-majors.
That is an issue with the management system of the booking process not giving music majors priority or blocking out specific periods of time just for music majors or not having specific rooms solely for music majors.
The issue is not actually dorks like Danny wanting to pick up an instrument and using available music resources to improve. Directing the anger at people like Danny is at best, misplaced anger, but at worst, music elitism that you shouldn’t get to use music resources if you’re not already decent at it.
All correct, but then again, we can just look out the door to see how struggling people turn on one another over the inflated scarcity of resources that could be easily resolved via better organisation by those in power.
Emphasis on “easily solved”. The ones in power will claim it’s just so impossible right now, we swear, to get even a minor change done, when in reality, it’s basically as easy as waving their hand in the right direction.
They could just do it outside or at parties like every other white college guy with a guitar
And those white guitar guys get shat on endlessly for allowing themselves to be seen in public Being That Way. I can’t blame a person for just wanting to practice in peace with company they choose, sometimes.
That said, Danny absolutely practices by the breakup steps plenty. It’s probably just a little warmer indoors where he’s not gonna get his uke tossed in a snowdrift.
This. Like, it is common as hell for white college guys to try to pick up instruments to impress people, but they also get endlessly made fun of for it and a self-aware person would try to do it in a practice room to avoid mocking.
People don’t actually like being made fun of for trying to learn things and sometimes, they just like to play for themselves. They don’t always want to perform for others. It can be helpful for some people to deal with emotions to just play in peace.
>”People don’t actually like being made fun of for trying to learn things”
Go figure. There’s a weird undertone today, and it seems to be implying that people should stay in their little box and not reach outside of it if that might overlap with somebody else’s box.
Yeah, I’ve picked up on that vibe too. Like, it is not ACTUALLY a crime for other people to use school resources even if those resources are not being managed properly so the right majors get majority use.
You’re right, it’s not a crime, but when it’s an issue of ‘want to use’ vs ‘need to use’, I don’t think that the people who need it being annoyed that it’s being hogged by people who want to use it because it seems like a fun way to use the day or because they’re exploring new things (both of which are good) are being elitist or mean or saying they should never ever try music at all.
I definitely get why music majors would be annoyed at non-majors making it difficult to get enough practice time they actually need for their classes, but it really seems like this is a problem that should be solved at the department level by giving majors priority access to the practice rooms.
Yeah, it’s not necessarily Danny’s problem, but it’s certainly going to make Sal feel awkward about asking for more time. Especially if Danny’s the only one who’s been actually playing.
Sal, Danny might be basic… but he is your basic.
It sounds like Danny is actually BASIC.
Well, if he is a CS major, he will likely learn BASIC at some point.
Danny is like mustard — basic, and an acquired taste, but nice and hot. 😊
And a little tart! 😉
And makes your lips tingly! hee hee! ☺️
fuck i wanna be someone’s pog champ so bad 😭Hey, yo’ don’t be calling mustard basic! Mustard is ART!
😉 (Joke!) /s
It is art, though.
-this alt text
YES!
There can’t be that many computer science majors playing ukelele at one college, right? There were a few people who played guitar in my freshman year, but I have no idea what their majors were or anything.
I guess this is supposed to be comedy, but I feel for Sal. It must be fucking exhausting having people calling out everything you do or like as “fake”, leaving you unable to enjoy… well, anything.
People enjoy so many things because they ARE fake. Look to everything from ‘high culture’ to ‘pro wrestling’. DO you REALLY think paint splattered randomly on a canvas is worth a million dollars? because there are ‘artists’ whom have scored big in the art scene on that very gag, and sometimes the ‘experimental’ music really is just discordant banging on instruments by some talent-free self promoter.
People LOVE fake stuff. They love fake so much the called it ‘reality television’ even though it was obviously and clearly staged, managed, and scripted.
People ADORE fake stuff. From politics to art to culture, the most lucrative fads have been rooted in something unreal, something more akin to “We wish it were this way” than in reaiity. The whole business of FICTION is the fake, and just remember when you were a KID? and you loved MAGIC??
The whole business of Illusion is faking people out.
Part of growing up, is realizing and recognizing that “Sure, it’s fake, I like it anyway.” that’s why you find real athletes who enjoy pro wrestling-they KNOW it’s fake…but it’s fun, and enjoyable, and it’s better than the falsehoods they run into day-to-day-to-day like fake affection, fake respect, fake concern…
Based on what I was constantly told as an autistic kid, being an adult basically amounts to being 100% fake in every single thing you do and never being authentic about anything, on penalty of death.
Sounds miserable, and I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Finding joy as an adult comes from unlearning that lesson, IMO. Never be ashamed of your interests and avoid wasting time and energy on the things you dislike. Block out the haters and never become one!
Yeah, I learned real quick not to listen to those weirdos and to instead look down on them as inferior. The ones who try to be all “no fun or interests allowed, only toil and insecurity” are so obviously just weak-minded miserable dickheads with no curiosity, who just wanna drag everyone down into the mud with them, so they don’t deserve much in the way of respect, acting that way.
All that is solid, but bypasses that Sal is always getting called fakey by Mal. People enjoy fake stuff but still often desparage it. They certainly still use the word pejoratively while laughing at reality shows or a wrestling drama.
This is what I was referring to, yes.
this is where developing the famous “Thick Skin” comes in-which is a process. She needs to learn whose opinion really matters in her life-which is to say, which people she really gives a shit about versus those she simply has to share oxygen and real estate with. One of the best lessons from Satanic philosophy is not to waste your time, energy and concern on those who don’t deserve it from you.
This is a good outlook to have, broadly speaking. As long as we remember that “thick skin” doesn’t mean “impenetrable” and there’s always gonna be someone or something that just gets right under there no matter how hard we try, and all we can really do is deal with it as/after it happens.
i hope sal starts dating sayid instead of danny. danny can get bent.
I hope Sal keeps dating Danny and ignores Sayid’s whiny bullshit. Sayid can get bent.
Yeah, how dare Sayid…..be annoyed people are taking the stuff he needs for class so they can fuck around and have fun?
Wait…
Danny’s literally just sitting there lookin’ like some cornbread, you leave him be.
That rings so MUCH of truth.
At least they are actually practicing music in there instead of doing something else.
OK, new game.
1) What’s something “basic” that you enjoy without irony?
2) What’s something “quirky” or wacky or weird that you’ve worn loud and proud? (Doesn’t have to be a hat.)
1) Basic enjoyment: Loretta Lynn, country music, slide guitar
2) Loud and proud: big straw Texas hat, first day of high school. “Howdy!”
Sorry, sorry, I know country music has some deeply problematic politics, and Loretta Lynn’s presidential electoral politics in particular are worthy of criticism. The sound of the pedal steel and slide guitars, though… very nostalgic for me.
I dont think you need to apologize for your interests, cause then everyone would have to, since things they like probably have a history of extortion or crappy politics!
You rock that poor taste in music unapologetically Laura!😏
Laura you should check out some of the newer young alt country music like Willi Carlisle, Orville Peck, Sabine McCalla, Charley Crockett and Amethyst Kiah if you think country is still basic or aligned with conservative politics. There’s some amazing new stuff coming out that’s escaping the shadow of the post 9-11 conservative takeover of country. Fewer songs about America being number 1 or how much they love their truck, more songs about systemic racism, living in the closet or how the rich are destroying the planet.
Also for my own reply:
1) The basic macdonald’s cheeseburger, something about that and nothing else on their menu calls to me every so often.
2) A coworker once told me I dressed like a wizard sex worker (he used a meaner word) in my off hours. I told him I dress for the job that I want. I have a collection of wild jackets including one that turns me into a living disco ball.
> I dress for the job I want
This makes me want to all crazy fan-boy on you, scream “HELL YEAH”, and ask if I can give you a hug. All of which is meant as a compliment (in case it don’t be clear)
Heartily seconded, even though my own fashion choices are decidedly in the “boring”-sort-of-“conservative” column. That last one in particular sounds rad.
You dress for the job you want, so does that mean you wanna be the next person to play Doctor Who on TV? A disco ball coat would be amazing.
Thanks, Mars Pearl and Reaver!
1) mac and cheese, corndogs, mustard 😋
2) my alien hoodie 🥰
Sorry if these answers don’t seem too creative, my brain be melted from coding all day 😅 🫠
Totally creative, yo’! The game is: Basic, loud and proud!
1: Starbucks, I like their green tea lattes, bite me
2: Green Hocus Pocus cape I got at Hot Topic, yes I’m 32( to be 33 this month) but I was an October baby and I look young so.. bite me :V
Note: please dont literally bite me ;3;
But you’re a Reaver! What if you bite us first! /jk
😏😘
Hey, this is cute, but it’s not about the comic? Just saying, maybe not the place to post random stuff where people are trying to talk about a strip?
It’s near the bottom, I do believe Willis said it was fine if it wasn’t at the top?
Also, it’s connected enough to the comic that this kind of stuff is usually fine? Like, yes, there were some problems back a bit when there were several other factors, but I really don’t think this is an issue.
Thanks, folks.
1. Electronic dance music. Not the indie, quirky, stuff (that too, obvs, but that’s beside the point). The Cookie-Cutter-EDM they play at normie clubs.
2. My shock pink, fluffy, hoodie. It’s aggressively pink. And comfy. So, so, comfy. And it’s hard to find something big and comfortably oversized at my height.
People, mostly colleagues (who don’t know me very well), look at me like I’ve suddenly gone crazy when wearing this thing.
Rock it out! Loud and proud, yeehaw!
I don’t know, what do you mean by basic?
Something that other people might consider cliché or played out already or unsophisticated. Something that you enjoy unashamedly despite the possibility of scorn. Like pumpkin spice lattes. Or 80s synth pop. Just something you really like, even if it’s not seen as cutting edge right now.
Or ukelele and newsboy hats.
Webcomics?
For sure!
Oh, huh. That’s a tough one, because it requires me to know what other people think is cliched or unsophisticated. Hmmm.
Basic: I’m still a big fan of classic Old World of World of Darkness
‘Quirky”: I rarely go out for recreational purposes without a set of horns and possibly a tail on. Claw gloves are pretty common as well.
Bah. Stupid clunky brain. Just “Old World of Darkness”
Wow, AWESOME!!! Rock on with your horns and tail!
Mocha lattes and cat ears?
Rock on with your cat ears and mochas! 😀
1. Avenged Sevenfold (they’re considered a bit of a “starter pack” band in the metal subculture, but I’ve always enjoyed their music)
2. A cravat/waistcoat combo to work. I love being the Eccentric Edwardian Librarian.
Avenged Sevenfold is a good sound. Musical genres aren’t a TCG, although now I wanna play a TCG or deck-building game based on different types of music. That sounds more fun than judging people based on their taste.
Ok, so apparently that’s really a thing:
https://www.cardboardconnection.com/bad-music-trading-cards
I’m sure by “bad” they meant GREAT!!!
Still not sure what you do with the cards, though. Can you battle them like Pokémon? Tell stories with them? Build card houses with them? And who would win in a card battle between Cindi Lauper and Justin Bieber?
Those seem to be the ones that are mostly geared toward collecting and trading between friends/fellow hobbyists. Can’t identify an actual game they’re used for.
Dude, I wore a cravat and waistcoat to work today too! Twinsies!
Starbucks and PSLs. Its the most caucasian behavior i engage in
Love it! Yum! :-9
1. Pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin iced coffee, from Starbucks and Dunkin’ respectively.
2. My most eye-bleeding outfit in school was a neon green windbreaker, orange pants with a dragon on the left leg, and those green&yellow tie-dye crocs. This was middle school.
In high school I wore one of those bear hats with the long arms that doubled as a scarf and mittens. This was convenient because I frequently walked between buildings to distribute laptops.
Currently, I have an All Might hoodie. It makes my CEO cringe when I attend work functions.
Those dragon pants sound AMAZING!
1. Pumpkin spice lattes and also pumpkin spice other things. Also, Taylor Swift.
2. From middle school through high school, I was pretty much always wearing a purple jacket. I went through a number of them over the years. It’s not a quirky or weird clothing item in itself, but the sheer consistency with which I wore them, it was like I was a cartoon character and this was my default character design for each season.
Swifties unite!
Heyyyyy, another country fan! And I’m not even one of those ‘pre-9/11 crooning country’ fans from back when it was Cool. I’m one of the ones who started consciously listening after 9/11. Am I a fan of the ultra nationalist “USA, guns, trucks and Jesus” songs? No, no I am not. Angry girl country, fun party songs, and sad personal tragedy songs though? YUP. Love Taylor Swift. Love cheap fast food like Wendys and McDonalds.
2) I wear wrestling shirts. I also had a pair of red cowboy boots that I was always wearing with red and black and so I started calling them my ‘Targaryen boots’.
Love country! One of my happiest memories is attending the Grand Ole Opry after singing (karaoke) at (on the sidewalk outside) the Country Music Hall of Fame. (It was just for fun.)
Hey! My family went there too when we went to Nashville a few years ago. It was a lot of fun! The karaoke thing sounds like a blast!
It really was. Happy times with friends.
Oh no, Sayid is another Malaya and Sal has difficulties to handle this kind of criticism! She could start see Danny in a different way… let’s hope not, let’s hope Sal learned how don’t be influenced by other people’s opinions. Danny deserves more credit!
I think the answer to this is preferential booking for music majors (for example, by opening reservations for the next time slots a couple hours earlier for music students, by reserving an amount of the practice rooms just for music students (ie rooms 1-3 can’t be booked by randoms), or by having an amount of time slots dedicated to music students)
Back when I was in college, this is exactly what my university did, to the point that your reservation could be kicked if a music major needed it more.
There were a couple of the smallest rooms set aside from this system, but you were still technically fighting music majors for them anyway.
bullshit that you could lose a reservation once you had it, although I’d understand more if it was solely during finals
Ultimately at the end of the day, it’s a school. If someone wants the room to have fun and explore music, vs someone who NEEDS the room for homework/assignments/etc. then yeah, the person who needs it should get it, even if it means bumping someone’s fun afternoon to a later day.
Uh oh, a cliffhanger! I guess tomorrow we will have a Biff & Roz strip or something.
Sayid bish you BETTER not have created a crack in their relationship, because I WILL NOT forgive you
I can relate with that, Sayid.
I have a garage, with a lot of things I’m trying to do: a Yamaha keyboard, a recorder, a lot of nanquim and pencil for draw, watercolor for painting. I have lot and lot of Comic, because I’ve tried to create a comic for my onw. I have tried to create a garden, a garage to open and fix cars.
Computer programming can be a lonely and exhaustive life.
My understanding of the last few panels is that Sal is imagining several or many instances of Danny and is grappling with the fact that it’s turning her on.
Maybe the motorcycle was a way to hide that she had spent her high school years secretly listening to Bon Iver.
Ah, typical field elitism, how dare people outside of your field wanna engage with it, right?
Gotta keep the circles closed and the gates shut tight, or else people might start getting ideas above their station.
Place your bets: what are the odds Sayid uses CS computers to mix music?
His frustration isn’t really that the CS-majors are exploring music for the first time, it’s that there aren’t enough rooms for everyone, so he can’t get access to the room he needs anymore.
If there were plenty of practice rooms available, Sayid probably wouldn’t be annoyed to see a legion of dilettante Dannies. But, there aren’t enough rooms, and the department isn’t prioritizing Music majors, so it’s frustrating that he can’t get what he needs.
Sayid isn’t even doing anything bad with his frustration — he’s not harassing anyone, he’s not trying to get anyone kicked out, he recognizes that his frustration is his own problem (his personal beef), and he immediately apologizes for getting it on anyone else. It’s chill.
When they’re blocking people who actually need the rooms for homework and assignments? That’s not called field elitism. And it may not be the fault of CS majors, but yeah, I can understand why he’s annoyed at them.
Reminds me of the ep of himym with the breaking glass
Your own
Personal
Beefus
Bigus Beefus?
Reach out and touch meat
gay atheist and hella into Taffy’s version of the lyrics
Reminder that, if needed, Sal can say it was for helping working on her chorus singing:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-13/01-bring-me-to-life-drawing/bluke/
I mean, that’s literally the actual reason they booked the room.
Yup, Sal’s in music. She booked the room, it doesn’t matter if she brings an IT dork with a ukulele or a full mariachi band with her.
Sal looks like she’s undecided on whether or not to agree with Sayid or punch his lights out for dissing on Danny. XD
In college my job was to clean the rehearsal rooms. Each room had a piano, a trash can, and a little soundproofing on the walls. In all the years I was there, I saw maybe a dozen rooms being used total, and the trash cans were more often than not empty. You didn’t need to sign up for a room. Maybe that’s the secret to keep them from being overbooked.
Or put the practice wing on the opposite end of everything on campus.
I think there was an Episode of Rick & Morty about this dynamic. Rick and Beth Civilization Collab Bonding Moment. Gotta redirect the CS Majors out of the Music Major Hub. Redirect the flow.
oop
Did Danny already Dan this up without even being in the room???
college residency as a live/work complex gets complicated. No place is exclusively for work or play. it’s chaos!
I believe Sayid’s comment is a callback to this bonus strip, and not meant to be anything serious.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-strip-june-12254472?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_fan
And pretty sure Sal is doing the side eye puppet gif
https://giphy.com/explore/side-eye-monkey
I think some folks in the comments here are a bit too hard on Sayid, like yeah I also hate it when folks get too judgy and shit on folks they decided are too ‘performatively quirky’ or ‘basic’ or whatever. But that wasn’t really the thing Sayid was complaining about as much as the Computer Science Ukulele Dork taking up important facilities from the Music Majors – the folks who actually need them for their actual studies.
The matter here isn’t “there’s a lot of folks like Danny, so he’s not that Special. /:”, as much as “if it was just Danny, him using the Practice Room wouldn’t be an Issue. But because there are many like him, it causes a serious overbooking problem.”
And like, yeah, this isn’t really the fault of Danny or any other individual Computer Science Ukulele Dork for deciding music is their new call in life and it should be solved in the administrative level (like many people suggested, some sort of reservation system that prioritize the actual Music Majors above others) but like….. It’s not like Sayid is yelling at Danny or preventing him from reserving a practice room or organizing some sort of Anti Computer Science Ukulele Dork Protest or something.
He just has some frustrated feelings (that he even kinda underplays by calling it a ‘personal beef’) that he’s venting out to his fellow Music Major. That’s really all. I think it’s kinda silly to claim that unless he’s offerring some sort of systematic solution in place, it makes him some sort of a Giant Tool to complain about this situation at all??? Can Sayid even fix the reservation system as just some 19 year old behind a desk?
It feels like the only reason why people are so angry at Sayid is because they feel like his comments might endanger the peaceful adorableness of Danny/Sal but like… if we’re looking at him as an in-universe person, it’ll be weird to hold him accountable for something like that, as if he as any sort of responsibility to shield Danny/Sal from any possible harm. It’s not like he’s even trying to break them up or anything like that, just that his comment about his own personal problems *might* start a chain reaction that *might* cause problems in their relationship going forwards.
(Clearly Sayid should just be aware that Sal and Danny are main characters and he’s a Minor Character at best and so any possible problem he can have is always secondary to preserving the relationships of the characters who get to be on the Cast Page.)
I think a lot of the frustration is that while he’s not directly attacking Danny to his face, Sayid IS shit-talking him to his girlfriend (which is a really scummy move when intentional). Now, we have no narrative evidence he’s even aware Danny was the one playing (he only mentions that the room SOUNDED like ukulele) but it’s a reasonable extrapolation that he knows he’s point-for-point describing the guy Sal walked in and has been sharing a practice room with (most practice rooms have windows on the door, and he was close enough to the doors to identify which one sounded like ukulele). At best, he’s pulling the “I don’t want to dump my personal biases on you but let me take the smallest invitation as permission to do it anyway” move that in fiction often precedes sitcom drama, at worst he’s trying to make Danny look bad to his hot girlfriend. In either case, he’s heaping blame for the situation on the wrong parties (clearly the University should address their reservation system if it’s causing problems) and it shouldn’t take meta-knowledge for him to know better. I feel like we just had a way messier and more vitriolic example of how venting about groups of people that describe those within earshot is socially dangerous…
I took Sayid at his word: this is his own personal problem to deal with, and he immediately apologizes for getting his frustration on anyone else. I don’t think that Sayid is being a sneaky mastermind of passive aggression vs Danny and Sal. Dude just wishes it was easier for him to reserve a practice room when he needs one.
I still read it that way, because Sal’s awkwardness is much funnier if it was totally unintentional.
There is zero chance he even knows sal and Danny are dating. They’ve been together 48 hours max and aren’t super loud about it. Assuming he even paid attention to who she came in with he probably just assumed it was her buddy or some dork she got to help her with her assignment. And i doubt he even paid attention. Sayid isn’t studying the main cast members and their interpersonal relationships
Sayid giving a point-by-point description of Danny could very well just be Rule of Funny, or to emphasize just how many Dannys are out there on campus. This is 100% consistent with similar things that happened in the comic. There’s really no need for it to be intentional on his part.
From his dialogue it seems like he recognizes Sal as, like, a fellow member of the Music Department and appreantly he and Danny interacted once in one of the Patreon strips…. but there’s really no indication that he like, remembers Danny (do you remember every student you interacted with, like, one time?), much less that he knows Danny is involved or even that he and Sal are a Thing now.
The description is almost certainly based on running into Danny in the patreon strip, but I agree there’s no reason to think he knows that it’s Danny in there with Sal.
We even saw on Patreon bonus strips that there ARE a large number of them – it’s not just Danny.
And it just so happens that theDanny evo banner is right at the top of the page while I’m reading this strip. And he’s looking so proud and sure of himself in the midst of his freshman identity crisis…lookit em! He’s so smug! I’m gonna need to poor myself a strong one tonight…
Okay 1. Why do people think sayyid airing a legitimate grievance about music majors being pushed out of their own space is him being whiney and acting like Malaya? I’m an actual college student living on campus. Its like its own little society. This is the closest thing we have to gentrification, he’s rightfully pissed.
2. Why are people acting like this will at all effect sal’s view on or relationship with Danny? Its sal. If she gave a shit about the oPtIcS she wouldn’t be dating this dork in the first place.
This whole strip is a joke it ain’t that deep
Gentrification? That seems a little strong when it’s just people using resources that aren’t specifically geared toward their major.
“gentrification”…. the internet just loves to take a word and run with it, huh?
I said it’s the closest thing we have on a college campus, which, you cannot literally gentrify. To actual college students it’s serious business
I think people are nervous about Sal because of that side-eye at the end.
It just looks like self-conscious semi-guilt, to me.
Its a meme reaction, it’s the punchline.
Saiyd do be getting dog piled and told to get over himself over a slightly negative opinion that he apologizes for sharing is a bit ridiculous.
People are allowed to get grumpy about your faves guys, freaking ease up..
Not to mention that a big reason people love the SalDan relationship is because of how healthy and stable it is
It being torn about by Saiyd’s comment is the opposite of that. The side eye is not foreshadowing disaster that will drop within the next few months
It might. Or at least a Complication. Thus the immediate worry and defensive reaction(s).
Their relationship is good and wholesome and people here (myself included) want to protecc that.
I wish negative opinions weren’t so prevalent. It sort of takes the fun out of reading the comments for me.
Yeah, people really be picky and choosy who is allowed to be negative, Joyce is allowed because we know her circumstances, Saiyd isn’t because…
…I guess it’s rude or w/e.
Nobody’s said anything about “allowed” or whatever. All I’m trying to communicate is that his frustration feels misaimed, and I did dial back on the “getting over himself” part.
So, funny story. My sister double-majored in music and computer science. She went on to grad school for CS (at Indiana University, no less!) and since she’s a badass singer, she auditioned for choir as a fun thing to do while working on her PhD.
At the audition, there was a sign-in sheet where everyone wrote down their name, their voice part, and their field of study. Most folx auditioning were music students of one kind or another. When my sister wrote down “computer science” on the sheet, the music grad student running the audition was like “Computer science? What do you DO with that?”
They were just completely out of touch with anything outside of the classical music world.
Are you certain that wasn’t a missed joke? Because that’s the sort of thing music majors get from CS people all the time. 😛
Hmm, you’re right, it COULD have been a joke that went over my sister’s head, but she’s a real smartypants (see: computer science PhD *and* serious about performing classical music). But regardless of whether it was intended as a joke, I’m pretty sure she was able to laugh it off!
On a re-read and with yesterday’s strip in mind, I think there’s just too much disastrophe being read into this one. Sayid is explicitly venting, even if I think his actual frustration is aimed at the wrong target, and he freely admits it’s a Him Problem. Danny and Sal aren’t doing anything wrong either, and I don’t get why anyone would think they were, since it’s not like they made the resources finite. The only actual “problem” in-comic is that the resource is finite, and that’s…kinda just how things are. Things aren’t unlimited. Frustration is Fine, Actually, because it’s frustrating when you can’t do something you’d like to do, even when it’s nobody’s fault.
Too much moral weight being assigned to this, I think, based on how little is actually being said in-story. Scenarios are being created from thin air and treated like they’re on-panel, or at least it tastes that way to me.
(Before the resident Deliberate Misunderstander(s) chime in, I’m not trying to shut down any discussions and you know that.)
Yeah. The thing is nobody IS doing anything wrong here, except the university. Sayid’s grumping because people who don’t need the music rooms are crowding out the people who DO for educational reasons. Being grumpy about them may not be fully 100% rational but feelings aren’t always rational and it’s fine to be frustrated about these dumb kids.
And the dumb kids aren’t doing anything wrong either by using the space that’s freely available to them. It’s not their call to make things more available for music majors.
The university needs to get on it and prioritize booking for music majors. That’s not on anybody else, it’s just a frustrating situation where nobody’s actually done anything wrong.
I’m glad we can agree that the true villain of this comic is the academic institution itself.
Isn’t it always? 😛
Abort abort abort!
When I was a freshman CS major, I bumped into the president of the tabletop gaming club in the computer lab on my first night on campus. I had no identity crisis, for I had finally found my people, and the gamer identity that had marginalized me in my hometown was suddenly valid.
What a beautiful story!
Thankfully I was both a CS major and a guitarist (bass if I felt like I could get away with it).
…You know, more I look at this strip from Sal’s perspective, the more I suspect she’s thinking, “Wait, is Arms BS’ing me right now? If not, then why is there a -TREND- of CS majors wanting to be (at least) superficially like Danny? did I start this? did Danny start this? is he just using me to look good? is Danny more unremarkable than I thought?” We’re seeing three whole panels of her not knowing exactly how self-centered to be.