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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 5h
A. A. Rubin @thesurrealari.bsky.social ⋅ 19h
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Celebrate Transformers Day 2025! 
BJ: “What?”
Ruth: “BYE FELICIA”
BJ: “who what”
Ruth: *takes off running*
Me: “Who the fuck is Billy Jean?”
Took me a sec
Not Ruth’s lover (anymore).
I thought she was the one for her! But the kid is not Ruth’s son. Howard’s actually her younger brother. She probably would be something like a mother figure for him due to their unfortunate home life, though. :/
[i wish i’d put parentheses around the final two sentences but OH WELL]
LOL nice one.
BJ cat
All those who haven’t been dumped tonight, raise your hands!
Oh, not so fast, Billie!
…put your hand down, Walky. You’re not kidding anyone.
Ruth: Personwhosdumpedsayswhat.
Billie: What?!
Ruth: Glad that’s settled, I don’t make the rules.
“Aside from all the hall rules that I do make because I’m an awesome RA!”
I thought the awesome RAs were the ones who only enforce the hall rules that mattered. Oh, and also don’t cause more PTSD than they help resolve.
Let the Walkys hit the floor
Let the Walkys hit the floor
Let the Walkys hit the floor
Let the Walkys hit the [tch tch]
FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR
One… Something’s wrong with him
Two… Something’s wrong with him
Three… Something’s wrong with him
Four… Let’s face it, the dork’s got problems!
Dorothy says he’s fine.
Look at her, who wouldn’t believe that face.
*”Truckin'” continues playing*
♫ Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it’s been ♪
THIS is the quality content I come here for!
Glad you like this content!
When do we get to the part where Jennifer and Amazigirl decide to investigate Asher’s role in Mike and Amber’s father’s death?
Sal gets involved somehow, and the three of them are in the same room at the same time.
Jennifer wins gold in mental gymnastics trying to square reality with her perception.
Man, Ruth somehow made Billie forget about their relationship… Wow awkward city central. But forget all that,
*in a VERY worried tone* Willis…. What in the Bulmeria happened to Billie’s tag???
Robin pulled it
It’s been Jennifer since she started asking people to call her Jennifer (post timeskip). Willis asked (or maybe wondered aloud) in the comment section whether he should change it to Billie again during this flashback chapter.
And then it was sometimes Billie for some of the flashback strips, but not all of them and now it seems to have reverted to Jennifer.
I think it’s a gag that got fumbled. Looks like it’s all Jennifer again now, though.
Hence why I’ve been saying BJ (also it’s a serendipitous joke)
It got dumped.
I think it’s intentional, and it shows that the break between Billie and Jennifer happened because Billie was heartbroken over Ruth and had to distance herself from those feelings.
WELP.
Yep.
YEP.
Yeppers.
I wonder how many o thers heard that. Maybe dina (even if it’s not dinosaur related. or becky? )
Aren’t Becky and Dina still helping Mary take down the hell house?
Unless it’s dramatically convenient for them to be coming down the hall. Last we saw, Jennifer and Ruth and Becky and Dina were all still in the Hell House. Perfectly reasonable for Becky & Dina to have finished.
Also, we may be inflicted a strip of Mary somehow attributing the breakup to her own holy works.
Remember how pleased she was with herself in the strips immediately prior to the flashback.
Well depending on story/comedic timing they could be right at the tail end of it or so
Or becky’s hearing relative to lesbian/woman loving things would set off her radar, even if it’s not necessarily a happy thing
Wow, panel 4 Dorothy really has the Awkward Amber Smile down.
looked more like a
face than awkward smiling
WAIT THAT’S HOW SHE DOES IT?????????????????
IS THAT ACTUALLY ALL SHE SAYS AND THAT’S HOW THEY BREAK UP WHAT–
JFEIDGHDFILUGFSAUIGSFAIUGBSAFIULGFASILUGBASLIUBGAILUG
Oh, you know there’s going to be more, probably in tomorrow’s comic.
can’t really imagine any alternatives would’ve been better , at least it wasn’t too public/obvious to everyone else
Ruth. NO.
Well, at least she didn’t add to the drama.
Or ok, maybe she did, but seeing how bases on the amount of drama already ongoing, the law of diminishing facepalms means the marginal drama she added to the night has way less impact than if her drama was the only one on offer.
I hope Billie didn’t here that.
idontknowwhatiexpected.gif
Nope, not touching this one. Mostly because I’m fucking stoked about IRL.
Today I had a coding interview with an indie game studio making an Earthbound-style pixel RPG about an ADHD autistic girl and her friends and her struggles growing up! They might hire me as a programmer!
Wish me luck!
*plays “I Hope I Get It” from A Chorus Line on hacked muzak*
Good luck!!
Best of luck! Fingers crossed! Golden kittens parading across your walkways with bunches of four-leaved clovers in their mouths!
Best of luck!
That’s exciting! Good luck!
Best of luck. They would be lucky to have you.
Best of luck!
Bah. If you need LUCK something’s gone badly wrong. I wish you an interviewer who recognizes your potential.
Which is pretty random, which then gets back to Luck. I wish his interview roll is a Nat 20.
Good luck, Wellerman!
Good luck.
Wow! Good luck!
Aaaah how exciting! I hope they recognise how awesome you are and hire you!
Hey that’s awesome! Break a leg!!!
Best of luck!
Good luck!!!
Good luck!
Wow! I hope for the best! And want to play that game….
oooh nice
good luck Wellerman!!! <333
Good luck!
good luck
Not in a text message?
Too impersonal.
Ruth wants her and Billie’s to die the way it lived: with an alarming and baffling act of self-destruction.
her and Billie’s *love
RUTH NO
I mean, the party is ruined – why not make it into a worse state of ruin?
Pfffffahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahaa
Somehow even ruder than dumping via text…
well, that always seemed impersonal but other than rude, if someone was dumped/cut off via text i’d kinda half assumed the person didn’t feel safe doing it irl or just ghosting
It always sucks to get dumped, no matter how it’s done. While some ways may be more rude than others, I think sometimes people get inordinately mad at the method of getting dumped, as a way to feel mad about being dumped at all.
That said, completely by surprise, while you think everything’s going great, in front of all your mutual friends… yeah a quiet text would’ve been better than that.
That’s a really good point.
That’s a possible interpretation but there is a certain stereotype of people doing it that way because breaking up is unpleasant and when you text someone you don’t have to see any of the messy outcome. That’s why breaking up by text is often seen as cold and unfeeling, or maybe a little cowardly.
Yeah no wonder Billifer pissed.
A break up like that and in public?
We haven’t yet reached the what why stage.
Oof. Now there’s going to be two people on the floor.
with or without femors?
I see you trying to spell that word a different way every time you use it.
Using the medium of daily comments on a comic strip to make a subtle point about English orthography, are we?
One hell of an Irish Goodnight
Dorothy is very well drawn in this strip.
Oh Dorothy, trying so hard. Unfortunately she lives in the DoA universe and is thus doomed to drama.
Drama overload? Always!
Good thing she lives for the drama, of her own admission! She must be so stoked rn.
OOF. Ruth, damn, way to make the party even more dramatic. Jesus.
Well… It at least sidesteps the fight I was fearing. For about 20 minutes, probably.
No wonder Dina and Becky were elsewhere. Seems like this is just the party of Maximum Breakup Energy.
Bobby Joe caught up with her the very next day.
Go on, take the money and run!
So, is that better or worse than breakup by text?
Worse — it’s in front of lots of people whose opinion she cares about. Getting thrown into a couch was less embarrassing than this. At least a text lets you feel terrible in private.
Best worst case: other people heard it, but she didn’t.
what.
Just casually dropping a drama handgernade in the room before leaving, classic Ruth
DUN DUN DUNNNN
Dumbing of Age Book 13:
Stupid html. Let’s try this:
Dumbing of Age Book 13: <fourth panel>
good old teacher aproach Ruth… somebody on the floor? meh i bet he has it coming. Do you want to expell him too?
Eh, it’s Walky.
No, this is Dumbing of Age.
She may not realize he was pushed and think he’s just being weird.
It needs Ruth giving Billie the bird twice while moonwalking away.
Dorothy and Walky did nothing wrong. I’ve come to the light.
Frayed nerves it is. Mine are pretty frayed right now.
If anyone else has got frayed nerves tonight, feel free to leave soft soothing things in the comments here. We can un-fray each other, maybe.
Here’s a soft thing: cookie pancakes.
I was gonna post the Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie recipe (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/9863/mrs-fields-cookie-recipe-i/), but it’s much too complicated, so instead I’ll just make instant pancakes with chocolate chips. Much easier.
What are your favorite ways to un-fray your nerves?
(No snark, please. See above: frayed nerves.)
Reminds me of the string who walked into a bar and ordered a beer. Bartender said, “We don’t serve strings here.” String contorted himself into a pretzel shape and jumped up and down until his threads were dangling all over the place out every which way. Then he ordered a beer again.
Bartender said, “Aren’t you the same string I just said ‘no’ to?”
String grinned proudly and said, “NOPE! I’m a FRAYED KNOT!” ;-D
Gonna make me fat with that recipe! also BOOooooooOoo
My way to unfray nerves is to tidy/organize my space, helps me clear my head and declutter my mind
That sounds like a wonderful way to get calm. I think I would just get more stressed out if I tried it, but I’m glad it works for you.
Well organizing my art supplies with a good video on, new wax in the scentsy burner and ending with a good hot shower is the best lol for me
Oh, that sounds perfect ! Just the thing to get you in a creative frame of mind to use those art supplies sometime. How soothing!
Thank you everyone for this long and helpful list of ways to feel better. It’s so good to have resourceful and generous friends like you folks. <3
What did the bartender say to that?
She said “I’m SEW KNOT gonna fall for that!”
” Knotty boy”
Oooh-ooh! X-)
She said, “Go across the street to the all night takeout. They serve natto.”
Or knot-chos with cheese!
Laura this is an intervention
Whew! Thanks for straightening me out. I would have been stringing them along all night! ;-D
Ok, last one. Bartender said, “You see this hole in my sock? Well, you’re still a string, *darn* it!”
Ahahahahaha
spooling out 
an endless string 
of puns
love this entire thread
i’m afraid to get roped in
and get stuck in a loop
Ya’ll are being a *noose*ence
:V
Awww come on, you’re so serious,
you’re like the Stringer Bell to my Omar
Mac and Cheese and the Binding of Isaac for me.
Yum! :-9
On that note I’m all too curious as to what it would taste like if I made it with CBD oil….
I bet it would taste delicious and send you right to sleep! I’ve done that with sweet potatoes after an injury — slept for a good 3 days. Lovely.
That does sound lovely 🥰
My favourite ways to un-fray my nerves in alphabetical order:
-Cat hugs
-Discworld novels
-Drink some tea
-go for a run
That sounds just perfect.
oh no! sorry about your frayed nerves. hope you’re feeling better by now.
Damn those cookies look good! how about the pancakes, did you make them?? also a great idea. Haven’t had pancakes for quite a bit! (why?! what is wrong with me)
anyway, yesterday i found a bunch of very ripe bananas (dumpster divin’, babies
) so i’m definitely planning on making myself some banana milkshake today. lots of ice. hmmmmm yes that ought to be s(m)oothing
Anyway, here’s some of nerve-loosening techniques…
1) do you have a friend you can call and just be like “hey i’m feeling like shit, you have a moment?” and they know what to do? like the kind of humour you like, or the sort of discussion to drag you into to get you all excited and distract you?
3) music! you said you also do music. once i start playing and/or composing, i will often entirely lose myself in the music, the moment, and own it and never let it go (go!). For real, though. it’s to the point where i need to ration myself haha. if i know i have something to do, someplace to be, etc i will not allow myself to start playing because i will only ping back to reality hours later needing to pee real bad and having no sense of the time that’s elapsed.
2) nature + physical effort? i live relatively near mountains, like if my mental situation can wait till the next day or two to be taken care of, i will go for a hike and it does me wonders. often with a friend. maybe overnight, find a nice place to camp or sleep in an open hut, have a splif, watch the stars, listen to some chill tunes…
Alternatively if you have a park or forest in the vicinity, just being outdoors and surrounded by trees (and squirrels =3) tends to make me feel better.
Failing even that i go for an aimless walk while listening to a good podcast. These days i’m super into this gothic midwestern fiction show called Unwell, the production and acting are stellar, and i often make my walks longer these days to finish an episode =)
9) i think you know pretty well how to take care of yourself, and this is not necessary, but do you take anxiety meds? or have you considered it? Do you have a good mental health professional to turn to and ask? Sometimes biochemistry is just biochemistry.
5) the way my brain works, unless i’ve reach crisis level or am in a fullblown depressive episode, i can almost always distract and relax myself with NERD SHIT
I read a lot of evolutionary biology for dummies, i love Stephen Jay Gould’s books for instance. Yesterday i spent several hours on youtube learning about the 19th-century french revolutions (not “the” french revolution, the next few ones =P). Anything that i just happen to find wildly fascinating suddenly for no reason.
G) novels that leave you feeling fuzzy and optimistic! I recommend “Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver and its sequel “Pigs in Heaven”. She is so endlessly tender to her characters, it’s really heart-warming.
If you read French and you have a way of finding French books, I suggest “Heureusement Qu’on Va Vers L’Été” by Christiane Rochefort. It’s just lovely, and whimsical, and shamelessly utopian =)
√2) romcoms. Specifically, lesbian romcoms. In that genre, I have no standards, other than it has to be very mushy and i want girls kissing by the end of the movie. Personal Favourites include: “Saving Face”, “D.E.B.S.”, “But I’m A Cheerleader”, “Drool”, “La Llamada” (aka “Holy Camp!”), “I Can’t Think Straight”, “Imagine Me & You”. They are all awesome. AMA.
Good luck <3
oh! and,
β) learning Chinese. or whatever, some language you’re interested in. these days i’m learning chinese, chiefly on Duolingo, and i do not have any reason to do so other than, the learning itself is fun. You seem like you like languages, have you thought of picking one up at random for the sake of it? i do that. apparently. (i will spend an hour or more every day on duolingo lately. i’m very committed to this pointless endeavour.)
Yes, much better milu. Thank you so much. What a beautiful long list of happiness strategies. So lovely and helpful.
I’m gonna take a little power nap right now, then see what kind of yummy brain-healthy foods I can eat.
(Loved the puns upstairs too!)
my pleasure!
oh yeah, sleeping! its a neat #lifehack, now that you mention it. i LOVE sleeping. yay naps!
Fire up Grim Dawn and murderising everything. Great stress burner.
Dunk in the bathtub and just stay there soaking in hot water. Can’t do that these days cos of surgery stitches, but I can’t wait to go back to doing it.
Safe and thorough surgery healing to you, JBento! Here’s hoping!
Thanks. Stitches come off tomorrow, then it’s gonna be a hassle of taking care that the cuts don’t reopen for a couple of days, and hopefully the biopsy results are gonna be negative so I don’t have to be cut in these specific spots again.
How’s your head doing today?
Oh goodness gracious, JBento! You have a lot on your mind! Here’s sending ALL my hopes for your negative biopsy! Wishing good healing for you.
Brain feels OK right now. Usually does in the morning. Gotta see how I do with a little work. Thank you for asking. <3
Huh, generally I’m accused of having nothing on my mind, so thanks for the novelty of it. ;p
Eh, just two neves the dermatologist thought looked iffy. It’s probably fine; if not, they’ll just dig in again. Bit of a hassle, but what you’re gonna do?
Hope brain OK-ness continues. Sounds like rest helps, so naps and breaks!
Thanks, pal!
I’m really glad you’re getting that checked out. Best to check!
Oops. Meant for that reply to go at the end of the thread. Thank you all. A little sleep works wonders. <3
Thank you everyone for this long and helpful list of ways to feel better. It’s so good to have resourceful and generous friends like you folks. <3
My favorite way to unfray my nerves is to drink hot drinks. Actually it’s almost the only way I know. I don’t even like hot drinks that much, lol
They are so great because they force you to sip slowly. Wonderful idea!
If it were done, t’were best done quickly.
The Scottish Play!
Meant that to be a reply to Clif.
Do you think Billie even heard that
wait what
“He’s fine, we’re fine, I’M FINE!!”
Very convincing, thank you.
Also wait WHAT
Oh so Becky and Dina just flat out missed all the drama
That’s probably why they survived Halloween.
Easily the single worst way she could have done it. Casually, like an afterthought, in front of all of her friends.
This is the moment she say Joyce’s segregated chex mix.
Ruth: “Wait so Amber’s single? Let me go check on her real quick. Oh, and Billie? We’re through”
Technically
**Technically**
Breaking up via whisper footnote is the least dramatic Ruth can be about this??
But, also- ***TECHNICALLY***
Since she KNOWS this is an OBNOXIOUS way to break up with someone, and that it’ll get a reaction-
No. No this is dramatic as all get out xD
Wait, was Ruth always going to break up with Jennifer at this party? Not only in public, but also in front of all of Jennifer’s friends?
JFC.
I mean, she wants this to be as permanent and no, “Can we talk about this?” as possible.
These people live like two doors from each other. Doing the break-up in front of people does not preclude either of those things happening afterwards.
Yikes! So there really IS a break-up method worse than texting it.
Thanks. This made me smile.
In the second last panel who said “Sure let me help you…” ?
I’m pretty sure that’s Jennifer. The “all by myself” is there because Ruth is high-tailing it.
Ah thanks!
Dorothy: things are really tense right now so maybe don’t do that thing you were thinking of doing
Ruth: WHAT ??? BREAK UP WITH HER RIGHT NOW???? IF YOU SAY SO DOROTHY
Nailed it
you can take it from here, Dorothy.
I hear you like being the adult in the room
Kinda hoping Billie didn’t hear that, because that’s probably one of the worst ways to break up with someone.
I get it.. Dorothy was begging Ruth with her eyes not to break up with Billie, after Ruth confided in her. Ruth was understandably pissed that her concerns were being reduced to “dramatic.” It was spite. It’s always spite.
I dont… think so? She’s just made up her mind. She wants to tip the bandaid. She knows (or well, she’s decided) there’s never gonna be a *good* time. Compared to how intense her own emotions about the impending breakup must be at this moment, I really doubt Dorothy’s opinion even rates.
Maybe. I’m going solely off of the visual cue of Ruth’s smaller pupils after Dorothy says that. It is often like a defensive/offended/indignant cue in comics? At lease the opposite of the empathy larger pupil thing.
It just makes more sense to me why she would completely disregard Dorothy’s request, and it’s more satisfying. Not too attached to this theory tho; I could very easily be misreading.
Personally I think Ruth realized the party was already on awkward footing and she wouldn’t be making things any worse by breaking up with Billie.
Perhaps!
I read Dorothy as asking Ruth not to break up with Billie *at the party*. Dorothy knows that Ruth is resolved to break up: she just wants to salvage what’s left of the social event.
Oh, this part I get. I still think it was unintentionally condescending of Dorothy, like Ruth wouldn’t understand that it was a bad time. It would be more evidence of Dorothy not understanding social behavior, like the current day storyline is exploring.
Ruth did say that she wanted to break up when they were both in a good place, and there were signs earlier in the night that Ruth was doubting her decision. I think it just pushed her, since she seems to super regret it in present day.
If life is like Tweet, Ruth is tweeting and muting Billie.
Who said the “pick up this candy” line tho?
My guess would be Billie. Usually if someone off-screen says something, they get tagged (unless it’s a surprise, then they get retroactively tagged the next day).
I dunno.
If Billie heard Ruth then suddenly all her anger towards Ruth post time skip suddenly makes perfect sense, she didn’t just dump Billie, she did so in probably the most humiliating way possible
And in a manner that implied she didn’t really care.
“a walky”
Needs some finger guns.
Well holy fucking shit!
If you know what’s going on in her head, it ain’t great but it’s understandable. Her mood here is completely zeroed out. If you don’t know though, this is extraordinarily fucked up.
Billie claims that Ruth is not good at reading the room, but Ruth is reading the room just fine! She leaps from spotting Walky on the floor to wanting to check up on Amber, even if that’s just an excuse to leave the party.