Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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May 12, 2026

Boozytimes

by David M Willis on August 16, 2024 at 12:01 am
  • 01 – Love Dares You To Change
└ Tags: joe, joyce

Discussion (143) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. IntangibleMatter
    IntangibleMatter
    August 16, 2024 at 12:03 am | #

    If she’s trying to waggle her eyebrows suggestively she has only suggested a vague idea of discomfort and a need to go to the bathroom.

    • Blibdoolpoolp
      Blibdoolpoolp
      August 16, 2024 at 12:11 am | #

      I think trying really hard to avoid a sneeze would also be a potential suggestion from panel 6’s Joyce-face

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      August 16, 2024 at 3:21 am | #

      But she does need to go to the bathroom.

      That’s where the shower is.

      • Segnosaur
        Segnosaur
        August 16, 2024 at 6:56 am | #

        Question… Do they have toilets in the communal shower rooms if the dorm?

        It may seem redundant since each room has its own bathroom, but they may have them for visitors.

        • Hof1991
          Hof1991
          August 16, 2024 at 9:05 am | #

          Yes. For visitors and for when you need one and your room one is occupied. Or if you’re showering and need one.

    • Mark
      Mark
      August 16, 2024 at 6:40 am | #

      Give her a break. She’s new at this.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      August 16, 2024 at 8:07 am | #

      I AM SEDUCING YOU

      YOU ARE SEDUCED

  2. Golden Yak
    Golden Yak
    August 16, 2024 at 12:03 am | #

    *I’m* turned on.

    • Decidedly Orthogonal
      Decidedly Orthogonal
      August 16, 2024 at 1:13 pm | #

      Is that from the dead Mike referrence in the alt text?

  3. Thag Simmons
    Thag Simmons
    August 16, 2024 at 12:03 am | #

    That’s a big promise Joe

    • DashWallkick
      DashWallkick
      August 16, 2024 at 2:10 am | #

      Especially since we know his concepts of dating are largely building up to sex.

  4. Yumi
    Yumi
    August 16, 2024 at 12:03 am | #

    Mike’s gonna read the hover text, accept it as a challenge, and that’s how he’s going to return to the comic.

    • Schpoonman
      Schpoonman
      August 16, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

      Don’t you dare.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      August 16, 2024 at 12:19 am | #

      Cyber-Mike Rises, coming to theaters (and in your mom) Summer 2025.

      • CianM1301
        CianM1301
        August 16, 2024 at 3:10 am | #

        Ticket price is one nickel.

    • Meagan
      Meagan
      August 16, 2024 at 12:30 am | #

      I still haven’t ruled out such an occurrence. The comments section was way too convinced that it was a fake out, there is basically nothing that is going to make me give up my prepared for a ‘gotcha.” Don’t even bother.

    • Dday
      Dday
      August 16, 2024 at 12:36 am | #

      Maybe he managed to schedule some real gut punch of a tweet before he died.

      • Matthew Davis
        Matthew Davis
        August 16, 2024 at 8:11 am | #

        He convinced Danny, who coded it, that it was or something else and will make him push the button accordingly.

    • Segnosaur
      Segnosaur
      August 16, 2024 at 6:58 am | #

      Yeah but given Joyce’s new attitude, she will be the one getting punched every few seconds for having “lustful thoughts”.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      August 16, 2024 at 6:58 am | #

      Could be it turns out Mike had a long-lost twin brother who finally learned about him. :O

      • Amelie Wikström
        Amelie Wikström
        August 16, 2024 at 8:50 am | #

        “I’m Mike’s identical twin brother, Mike 2. Mike has already told me everything you all have been up to so there’s no need to fill me in or anything, and to make things easier you can just call me Mike.”

    • Merbrat
      Merbrat
      August 16, 2024 at 3:46 pm | #

      *wah* I can’t sort how to see alt-text, on phone ot tablet! Help?
      I think I used to know, but I’ve slept since then.

      • Andy
        Andy
        August 16, 2024 at 11:02 pm | #

        At least on android, tapping the empty space under the bottom right of the comic has a pop-up showing the alt text. Also long pressing the comic will show most of all of the alt text.

  5. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    August 16, 2024 at 12:03 am | #

    Its worse when they just waggle on their own and you can’t stop them.

  6. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    August 16, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

    Alt text: “Oof.”

    • Rose by Any other Name
      Rose by Any other Name
      August 16, 2024 at 12:30 am | #

      … that’s what he said.

      (sorry, not sorry)

      • Kyrik Michalowski
        Kyrik Michalowski
        August 16, 2024 at 12:34 am | #

        … XD
        My ribs now hurt from laughing, so thank you(./?)

  7. cbwroses
    cbwroses
    August 16, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

    Nothing so sexy as the old Groucho Marx eyebrow wriggle.

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      August 16, 2024 at 12:09 am | #

      (Margaret Dumont has liked your post)

    • Dday
      Dday
      August 16, 2024 at 12:41 am | #

      I refuse to join any shower that would have me as a member.

      • Mark
        Mark
        August 16, 2024 at 6:41 am | #

        🙂

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        August 16, 2024 at 6:59 am | #

        But do you refuse to join any club that would have your member?

        • Dday
          Dday
          August 16, 2024 at 8:26 am | #

          Outside of his member, I’d say a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of his member, its too dark to read.

  8. Nono
    Nono
    August 16, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

    Sounds like some high brow flirting.

    • Hoboturtle
      Hoboturtle
      August 16, 2024 at 12:18 am | #

      The day has only just begun. You didn’t have to make people resort to violence.

    • True Survivor
      True Survivor
      August 16, 2024 at 12:19 am | #

      She is the fore-head-most expert in seduction.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      August 16, 2024 at 7:00 am | #

      Eye see what you did there.

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      August 16, 2024 at 8:11 am | #

      Don’t get so angry, you’ll just start lashing out.

  9. saltchocolate
    saltchocolate
    August 16, 2024 at 12:06 am | #

    Damn, hovertext!!

    (I thought this might be a full “Damn you, Willis” but I decided that has to be reserved for confounding things happening in the comic itself….)

  10. John Campbell
    John Campbell
    August 16, 2024 at 12:07 am | #

    I suppose they could get Booster to glue a yellow broom to their forehead…

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      August 16, 2024 at 3:24 am | #

      Amber and Amazi-Girl get distracted bickering with each other long enough for Brain!Mike to take the helm.

  11. yak
    yak
    August 16, 2024 at 12:10 am | #

    Well Joyce got over that quickly.

    • Switchchris
      Switchchris
      August 16, 2024 at 12:19 am | #

      She Trusts Joe, and trust can go a long way. Trauma doesn’t always hit you hard, sometimes its just a quick shock and you can calm yourself down once you have a moment to think or if your with somebody you trust.
      Joe is correct, she chose to get drunk herself and didn’t ask if he would even want to drink, he was obviously feeling uncomfortable about it even before she started drinking. So even if him not drinking triggered her trauma, she put herself in that situation, not Joe. He also made sure she was safe and having fun the whole night, got her home safe and without them getting caught with her drunk off her ass. She would probably find it hard to stay upset at him for being a responsible boyfriend.

      • DashWallkick
        DashWallkick
        August 16, 2024 at 2:14 am | #

        I think she on some level understands she’s being irrational. “I’m not fragile.” “Relationships are.” probably hit home for her, given she kinda blew up hers with Jacob.

    • DailyBrad
      DailyBrad
      August 16, 2024 at 12:25 am | #

      I feel like it’s more that talking it out helped both of them feel heard, plus he’s agreeing to meet her in the middle. With that, she’s got less to be upset with him about.

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      August 16, 2024 at 4:21 am | #

      Amazing what an understanding conversation can do.

  12. Cattleprod
    Cattleprod
    August 16, 2024 at 12:10 am | #

    I would be very concerned if their next date ended with Mike punching Joe again.

    • not someone else
      not someone else
      August 16, 2024 at 12:12 am | #

      Honestly, I would seriously consider subscribing to their Patreon for a non-canon zombie uprising omake.

    • MordWa
      MordWa
      August 16, 2024 at 1:33 am | #

      Can we swap out zombie-Mike for Zombie-Reagan? I miss that guy.

      • clif
        clif
        August 16, 2024 at 4:37 am | #

        What about AI-Reagan?

  13. Dante
    Dante
    August 16, 2024 at 12:12 am | #

    GKHJ. Too wholesome, it’s going to kill me

  14. Risky
    Risky
    August 16, 2024 at 12:13 am | #

    Can you smell what she’s cooking, Joe?

  15. NGPZ
    NGPZ
    August 16, 2024 at 12:13 am | #

    Joyce was indeed successful, in her own cute, dorky way ^^ <3

  16. Taffy
    Taffy
    August 16, 2024 at 12:16 am | #

    Wow, it only took a quick talk, just like I said. The amount of unearned smugness in my bones is melting the marrow and replacing it with solid hickory-smoked pork chop ore.

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      August 16, 2024 at 12:27 am | #

      It’s a good feeling.

    • Schpoonman
      Schpoonman
      August 16, 2024 at 1:11 am | #

      Mmmmm, meat ore.

      • Taffy
        Taffy
        August 16, 2024 at 1:15 am | #

        Ethically and sustainably sourced from the pro-union meat mines.

      • Disastroid
        Disastroid
        August 16, 2024 at 6:01 am | #

        I’m told a meaty ore is what killed off the dinosaurs.

        • Michael Steamweed
          Michael Steamweed
          August 16, 2024 at 7:02 am | #

          Nah, some new studies have come out saying it was an ass-troid.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        August 16, 2024 at 9:18 pm | #

        I’d mine some more but I’m out of adventures for the day. 🙁

  17. Dean
    Dean
    August 16, 2024 at 12:19 am | #

    Joe will have to get some flowers, and also a shovel.

  18. Ty34er
    Ty34er
    August 16, 2024 at 12:19 am | #

    She’s still over-correcting and at some point, it’s going to catch up with her.

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      August 16, 2024 at 12:26 am | #

      Have you thought that maybe she just want enjoy things she’s been told her entire life will send her to hell? And that’s not a bad thing?

      • Kyrik Michalowski
        Kyrik Michalowski
        August 16, 2024 at 12:32 am | #

        Excellent point. Considering how sheltered Joyce’s upbringing was I’m actually more surprised that she didn’t go completely overboard. She’s getting to enjoy things in her life that she never had the opportunity to experience, and she is enjoying new things. However she hasn’t gone of the deep end, and she has good people around her so I think she’ll be fine.

        • Jeremiah
          Jeremiah
          August 16, 2024 at 12:59 am | #

          Thanks you that’s exactly what I’m saying. It is literally what most teenagers do when they actually given some semblance of actual freedom, it just look more overt from Joyce due to how long she’s been repressed.

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      August 16, 2024 at 4:23 am | #

      God forbid someone have a little fun.

    • Daibhid C
      Daibhid C
      August 16, 2024 at 4:46 am | #

      Look, I’m a teetotal ace who’s so law-abiding it worries me that my local library has stopped bothering about overdue books. And even I’m thinking “You go, girl!”

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      August 16, 2024 at 7:03 am | #

      With a safe partner, flirting is a fun activity. You can copy what you’ve seen others do, but you can also feel safe to experiment and try new things.

  19. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    August 16, 2024 at 12:30 am | #

    I am glad they talked it out, and that Joe’s sharing what he specifically wants here, too. It makes sense, given a lot of this is so new to him.

    Also, I wonder if they’re ever going to carry out their threat- err, promise, Joyce and Dorothy, of a double-date. Given Joe and Walky’s personalities, that’d be good for some laughs.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      August 16, 2024 at 12:32 am | #

      There’s at least one fanfic exploring that scenario.

  20. AbacusWizard
    AbacusWizard
    August 16, 2024 at 12:34 am | #

    Dumbing of Age, Book 17: So Fun You’ll Forget You’re Not Doing Crimes

  21. two-star
    two-star
    August 16, 2024 at 12:35 am | #

    A sexy shower, with sexy milk-jug boots.

    • Jesse
      Jesse
      August 16, 2024 at 12:51 am | #

      Ohhh, fuck yeahh, wear those sexy mipk-jugs on your slutty feet, mmmmm…

      • Jesse
        Jesse
        August 16, 2024 at 12:54 am | #

        *milk – I couldn’t spell, ’cause I was thinking about the sexy repurposed plastic footwear *droool*.

      • Taffy
        Taffy
        August 16, 2024 at 1:15 am | #

        Don’t go inviting them in.

      • Aura
        Aura
        August 16, 2024 at 1:24 am | #

        Now I feel like I need a shower >.<

  22. Drain
    Drain
    August 16, 2024 at 12:48 am | #

    The joejoyce we want and the JoeJoyce we deserve 🥲

  23. Jesse
    Jesse
    August 16, 2024 at 12:49 am | #

    Are they gonna “Weekend at Bernie’s” Mike with them?

  24. Anon A Mouse
    Anon A Mouse
    August 16, 2024 at 1:09 am | #

    Yet another example of how the world is a better place with Mike dead.

    • Jesse
      Jesse
      August 16, 2024 at 5:28 am | #

      👍

  25. Cmd1095
    Cmd1095
    August 16, 2024 at 1:26 am | #

    Ah the autistic struggle of not being able to properly control one’s face, I know it well. Though for me it’s less eyebrow control and more my mouth. I can’t smile on demand, at all, or frown on demand. I’ve got no input on my expression and whenever I try it goes about as well as this is for Joyce XD

    • davus
      davus
      August 16, 2024 at 1:30 am | #

      can you control the individual muscles?

      • davus
        davus
        August 16, 2024 at 1:31 am | #

        wait, you kind of answered that, I guess. (making expressions manually is hard.)

      • Cmd1095
        Cmd1095
        August 16, 2024 at 8:45 pm | #

        So I can sort of control the individual muscles to an extent, but the end result of manually smiling makes me look like I’m from the movie “Smile” and it’s very unsettling even to me lol

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      August 16, 2024 at 2:12 am | #

      Yeah i feel this, it’s also why i found forced smiles like Becky’s rather… unsettling.

      Like how do you even do that? T_T

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        August 16, 2024 at 7:07 am | #

        Too often our deliberate, forced, unfelt smile looks more like “The Cage” Spock trying to blend in.

      • Amós Batista
        Amós Batista
        August 16, 2024 at 9:26 am | #

        The smilling struggle is so real… That’s why I prefer making selfies always with a serious face.

    • zee
      zee
      August 16, 2024 at 1:14 pm | #

      Oh I didn’t know lack of control over facial muscles was an autistic thing, that’s interesting! So much of the experience is about how we receive information, the more physical symptoms are interesting to me.

      I never had that, I’m more of a “practicing fake smiles in the mirror for masking purposes” kinda gal. I do struggle to keep my forehead relaxed though, maybe that’s something. The subtle feeling and visual difference of my hooded eyelids drives me crazy so I constantly have my eyebrows raised, and it’s starting to give me wrinkles .-.

      • Yumi
        Yumi
        August 16, 2024 at 3:33 pm | #

        Very same, from the practicing fake smiles in the mirror to the wrinkles forming by eyebrows (though in my case it’s that’s my eyebrows are often scrunched without me realizing it when I’m alone and feeling stressed, which is pretty much anytime I’m driving).

      • Cmd1095
        Cmd1095
        August 16, 2024 at 8:49 pm | #

        Yeah I don’t know if it’s a universal thing, but it is a trend I’ve noticed among neurodivergent people. I imagine that like most autism symptoms, it’s a spectrum and not everyone has it equally

  26. shrub
    shrub
    August 16, 2024 at 1:56 am | #

    I find it interesting how others like to treat Joyce like she’s a little kid yet she’s navigating her first real relationship really well and Joe is doing a great job as well

    I’d especially like Dorothy and Sarah to take note of how Joyce is doing, they’d both learn a thing or two

    • shrub
      shrub
      August 16, 2024 at 1:57 am | #

      Walky could also learn from Joe as well

  27. Queezle
    Queezle
    August 16, 2024 at 2:00 am | #

    awwww these two did so well!
    Now someone needs to hunt down Mary and throw her into the sun.

    • Mark
      Mark
      August 16, 2024 at 6:54 am | #

      Ugh, sudden premonition: Mary’s going to find a way to tattle to Joyce’s mother, Dad gets drawn in, and the parents make a big scene…at the Fountain, no less.

  28. Waffliesinyoface
    Waffliesinyoface
    August 16, 2024 at 2:06 am | #

    i want this date to go super well and i want it to be sweet and heartwarming and i FIRMLY expect that i will go “d’aawwwwww” while reading it

    which is very ironic given my current malaya avatar, god dangit malaya

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      August 16, 2024 at 7:09 am | #

      Malaya hates the fakey stuff. But maybe just possibly maybe Joyce and Joe are being authentic and not-fakey? Malaya might approve in a “meh” accepting way? (i dunno, i’m reaching on this one.)

      • Emperor Norton II
        Emperor Norton II
        August 16, 2024 at 8:36 am | #

        Malaya hates other people’s fakey. She is perfectly fine with her own fakeyness.

      • Mturtle7
        Mturtle7
        August 16, 2024 at 4:18 pm | #

        My gut feeling is that, after spending more than a minute watching Joyce/Joe interact, Malaya would reluctantly acknowledge that their romance is probably genuine, simply because she would find it too weird and stupid to possibly be faked. However, because they’re single at the moment, they would also BURN with seething envy at how sickeningly sweet the relationship is, and thus complain loudly about the whole thing ANYWAY.

        …Or wait, IS Malaya single at the moment? I can’t remember off the top of my head how their whole thing with Marcie resolved, if at all.

  29. Suet
    Suet
    August 16, 2024 at 2:30 am | #

    I mean, as long as you don’t eat at Galasso’s again, he would never have to stare at Conquest… Taco Bell, then?

    Sorry, Joyce, you’d be more able to wiggle your ears than waggle your eyebrows.

  30. Chase
    Chase
    August 16, 2024 at 2:31 am | #

    God damn, is the hovertext a reference to Mike??

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      August 16, 2024 at 2:46 am | #

      Survey says: Yes.

  31. Bogeywoman
    Bogeywoman
    August 16, 2024 at 3:35 am | #

    I found out only a couple days ago that my sister can wiggle her eyebrows like Jim Carrey cos she was obsessed with him as a kid. I’ve been trying to figure out how to do it and I just look like I’m having a stoke

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      August 16, 2024 at 3:45 am | #

      So you’re doing it properly?

    • Daibhid C
      Daibhid C
      August 16, 2024 at 4:42 am | #

      I spent far too much time trying to raise a single eyebrow sardonically like Mr Spock or Lord Vetinari. Never managed it.

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        August 16, 2024 at 7:11 am | #

        I learned I could do the Spock eyebrow when I first watched TOS. I can also switch raised brows from side to side quickly. Can do the tongue curl thing, too. Yay for useless genetic quirks.

    • Segnosaur
      Segnosaur
      August 16, 2024 at 7:03 am | #

      I can move both my eyebrows independently. I can also move my ears and flair my nostrils.

      I have a very talented head.

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        August 16, 2024 at 7:11 am | #

        Can ya do the tongue curl thing?

  32. DorJoJo
    DorJoJo
    August 16, 2024 at 4:03 am | #

    They are so cute and i love them and i really really want their date to work out and not turn into an argument or problem because they are great and i am CONSTANTLY WORRIED they’ll break up

  33. Da Boy
    Da Boy
    August 16, 2024 at 5:10 am | #

    Crisis Averted! May they date and prosper!

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      August 16, 2024 at 7:12 am | #

      As the Vulcans say, “Date long and prosper.” (shipping is logical; vulcans approve of infinite diversity in infinite combination)

  34. Acher4
    Acher4
    August 16, 2024 at 5:29 am | #

    Ia Amber going to appear at the date, as her “suprise” third split personality: Mike…
    and start punching?
    😛

  35. Adept
    Adept
    August 16, 2024 at 5:30 am | #

    She’s still pressuring him to drink and get drunk. If anybody gets that into alcohol that quickly, I suspect trouble ahead.

    • morleuca
      morleuca
      August 16, 2024 at 5:33 am | #

      She’s collecting experiences. She wants to be drunk with someone as a couple.

      • Mark
        Mark
        August 16, 2024 at 7:02 am | #

        Not unreasonable. It’s the “you owe me” that I find troubling. But this is new territory for her. Maybe in time she’ll learn that “aw, Joe, this is something I want to share with you” is a lot more appealing — at least, I would find it so.

        [except that my name isn’t Joe….]

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      August 16, 2024 at 5:53 am | #

      Yeah, he seems real torn up about it.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        August 16, 2024 at 9:55 am | #

        Maybe not “torn up”, but definitely deflecting away from it. Like he did last time.
        I think it’s pretty clear he’s still not comfortable with the idea, for the reasons he gave in the last strip. Despite Joyce handwaving them away with “I’m not fragile.”

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      August 16, 2024 at 10:03 am | #

      Okay.

  36. ValdVin
    ValdVin
    August 16, 2024 at 6:21 am | #

    Joyce: “And the first step is putting on my shower stilts!” raises eyebrows provocatively.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      August 16, 2024 at 7:14 am | #

      Mmm, oh, yeah, dirty sexy plastic jug shower stilts. A Rutten original!

  37. Mark
    Mark
    August 16, 2024 at 6:57 am | #

    Happy to learn that Joe thinks their truncated date was fun, regardless.

    • Amelie Wikström
      Amelie Wikström
      August 16, 2024 at 8:48 am | #

      I figure it was the most real thing that’s ever happened to him up to that point. Even with Mike’s presence skewing it towards unreality. He’s dwelled on it and decided it was fun, or at least fun is a safe word to describe it without getting too real.

    • Segnosaur
      Segnosaur
      August 16, 2024 at 10:02 am | #

      When Joe was referring to their first date being “real” and “fun”, I think he was emphasizing the “real” part rather than the “fun” part.

  38. MB
    MB
    August 16, 2024 at 10:34 am | #

    They are growing up. Learning to communicate… to take a breath, a moment, and listen.

    • Pseudowolf
      Pseudowolf
      August 16, 2024 at 1:30 pm | #

      Ah, yes. As noted relationship councilor Robert Van Winkle says, they must “Stop, collaborate, and listen”

    • Autogatos
      Autogatos
      August 16, 2024 at 2:55 pm | #

      Yeah this is actually an example of a super healthy relationship imo.

      People in relationships always make mistakes. There’s no such thing as a perfect relationship because there’s no such thing as a perfect person.

      As someone who has been happily married for over a decade, I’ve found main difference between my current relationship and past ones isn’t whether or not we ever argue or disagree or make mistakes. It’s how we deal with it when those things happen. In unhealthy relationships, arguments don’t get resolved, resentments continue to build, people don’t learn from their mistakes and try to do better, etc. In a healthy relationship, arguments and mistakes will ideally lead to understanding each other better and ultimately strengthening the relationship.

  39. Drew
    Drew
    August 16, 2024 at 11:46 am | #

    This is where we find out that this is, in fact, a rehash of the Walkyverse, and everyone has been abducted by aliens and has powers they don’t know about.

  40. Yumi
    Yumi
    August 16, 2024 at 11:58 am | #

    What are some of your favorite cute date ideas? I like going to the zoo, to a museum, to a local fair, or to a pottery painting place (though now that I do ceramics classes regularly, I have more than enough of my own pottery at home).

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      August 16, 2024 at 2:08 pm | #

      Having a picnic in a park

      Food court at a mall,

      Even just playing games with each other, either on the couch together or online

      One of my friends met their husband playing Minecraft together ^^

      • Yumi
        Yumi
        August 16, 2024 at 3:16 pm | #

        I’ve never been on a date at a board game café, but that seems like it’d be fun. After I know the person a little, I’d also like library dates that are full of talking about books one’s read throughout their life.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      August 16, 2024 at 2:31 pm | #

      I usually go for the dinner and movie mainstay, but sometimes there’s a carnival of festival nearby. An out-of-town shopping trip is always a good time too, even when we only end up with like one thing.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        August 16, 2024 at 2:57 pm | #

        There are reasons dinner and a movie is a classic, even if it seems trite and unimaginative.

        • Yumi
          Yumi
          August 16, 2024 at 3:13 pm | #

          One thing I don’t love about the standard format of that is that it seems to be dinner and then a movie, which I guess makes sense if the best time to meet starts around dinner time anyway, but I prefer the structure of a movie and then dinner. Then you can talk about the movie as a good starting point. But also, I don’t love going to the movies, so it wouldn’t be a top choice for me anyway.

          • Jeremiah
            Jeremiah
            August 16, 2024 at 4:11 pm | #

            I am guessing it’s in part for not going to the movies hungry, I heard the snacks there can be pretty damn expensive.

            • NGPZ
              NGPZ
              August 16, 2024 at 4:23 pm | #

              especially given if they don’t got an arcade inside

              it’s because that’s literally how theaters make most of their money; the majority of ticket sale money goes to the people who actually make the movies

            • Yumi
              Yumi
              August 16, 2024 at 6:19 pm | #

              Then you miss the fun of sneaking food into the theater, though!

              • NGPZ
                NGPZ
                August 16, 2024 at 7:29 pm | #

                I’ve legit never had to do that.

                Theaters I’ve been to in CA at least just don’t care

                and a good thing given certain people have to bring their own food for health/medical reasons.

                • Taffy
                  Taffy
                  August 16, 2024 at 9:52 pm | #

                  Anymore, employees anywhere aren’t allowed to stop you from doing anything. You could walk into the new Avengers movie and start jelqing in the front row, and they’d be powerless to stop you. It’s really fucked up.

                • Yumi
                  Yumi
                  August 16, 2024 at 10:26 pm | #

                  I still sneak my snacks in, out of respect.

    • Jerach
      Jerach
      August 16, 2024 at 4:59 pm | #

      I haven’t really been on much in the way of dates but I think a farmer’s market and a walk in the park sounds really nice. Going for a short hike and getting ice cream after also sounds neat. I just generally really like going outside with people.

    • Mark
      Mark
      August 16, 2024 at 5:58 pm | #

      Bowling, mini golf, bicycling with a picnic lunch, a walk in a nice park with a picnic lunch. But movies are good too.

  41. BorkBorkBork
    BorkBorkBork
    August 16, 2024 at 5:08 pm | #

    The human part of me thinks this is warm, positive, healthy.

    The depraved writer side of me sees “simultaneous boozy times” as a loaded Chekhov’s gun.

    But that paranoid part of me sees guns everywhere. Like, everywhere.

    Hey, I wonder when Liz is going to swing by and see Sarah again. Maybe Joyce will invite her along to the next keg party.

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      August 16, 2024 at 7:06 pm | #

      Often it’s good to turn off the trope seeking part of your brain, it often give false positives.

  42. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    August 16, 2024 at 9:26 pm | #

    The closer we get to Joe, and Joyce doing the horizontal tango the closer I get to selling my organs so I can pay for a slipshine account.

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