158

Karaokeing
Posted on February 8, 2024 by David M Willis

158 thoughts on “Karaokeing”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    unironic JOMO, rewarded with a side of bleeding out

    1. Ana Chronistic

      gonna wager they had a staffing shortage like what we got which is why they’re throwing OT at me I don’t actually want

      1. True Survivor

        I don’t know those acronyms, but it sounds like you are having a hard time. I am sorry about that. I hope it gets better. Thanks for still bothering to show up on the comment boards. This community would not be the same without you.

        1. RassilonTDavros

          Quick search tells me JOMO is “Joy Of Missing Out,” presumably as opposed to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). So presumably the joy of not participating in a specific social activity or trend that you really didn’t want to participate in.

        2. Thag Simmons

          Yeah, I’ve felt that one before

        3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          OT means Overtime, where they make you work more than the usual number of hours. Which usually means more money, but can be a bummer if you’d rather sleep or something.

      2. Needfuldoer

        OT is OK, as long as its not consuming the majority of your otherwise-non-work waking hours most days.

        1. Ana Chronistic

          Just as a note, I’m reflexively against it after a dark period in our (branch of the) company’s history when we were SO miserably behind and being audited that we worked LITERALLY EVERY DAY for as much OT as they could squeeze out of us (though weekends were at least few…er hours)

          Also I am super comfortably set for the time being, so it’s a total disincentive to trade my precious time off for ANYTHING

  2. quark

    ruth is canadian, youd think shed be comfortable with cold coffee

    1. Decidedly Orthogonal

      We played GTA here too. It’s hot coffee or iced coffee. No in between.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Tim Horton’s is basically their Dunkin’, and I think there would be riots in the streets around here if Dunkin’ started serving their coffee cold and stale. (Ice coffee is fine, that’s cold on purpose.)

      The only place that could get away with that was Building #19. But we shouldn’t make fun of it, because like the signs said “someday you’ll be old and weak too”. Sometimes I miss that store…

    3. Theluxland

      As a canadian, Ice coffee is okay but never in room temperature.
      And i’m quite the exception but I take ice coffee even in winter.

      1. Daibhid C

        Same here (earlier today in fact).

        Sometimes my mouth is dry, and I don’t feel like fizz, and there’s nowhere selling hot beverages (or I don’t want to wait for one).

        And yes, I’m aware there’s this stuff called “water”.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Water is just coffee that hasn’t reached its full potential yet.

        2. NGPZ

          I fell hella feel ya on this one.

          An ADHDer who’s been without Ritalin for months, coffee is essential for self medication T_T

  3. shadowcell

    if you wait long enough you can stab him with the coffee

    1. Schpoonman

      Aw, dammit!

      1. David DeLaney

        semi-perfect murder weapon

        –Dave, no, officer, he always had random coffee stains on his clothing

  4. Schpoonman

    Split the difference. Get canned coffee, use the can as a weapon.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Does coffee even come in cans any more?  All I seem to see now are bags, self-serve bulk displays, or plastic containers.

      1. Smallmoon

        can confirm. have seen canned coffee in convenience stores in the midwest. brand is La Colombe.

      2. cain

        I think they mean premade liquid coffee in a soda can. Lots of brands of that.

      3. Taffy

        Starbucks, Folger’s, Monster Java, Coke, assorted semi-generic brands, there’s tons.

        1. NGPZ

          Yeah, I thinking like the bulk cans sold at warehouse stores like Costco.

  5. John Campbell

    You know, you could get the coffee on the way back.

    1. Jo_cubstar

      This was also my thought

      1. C.T. Phipps

        They would also buy a coffee maker.

        Costs less than a room full of blue paint.

  6. Bittersweet

    These two have the same energy as when you can’t fit two puzzle pieces together so you just cut one into shape and plug it in backing side up so there’s just a little cardboard splotch in the middle of your 4000 piece picture of ducks.

    1. twig

      What kind of monster does THAT.

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Presumably someone who enjoys ducks. I’m more of a classical paintings puzzler, but to each their own.

  7. NGPZ

    I imagine a talking cat in place of Jason, dialogue still checks out LOL XD

    1. stePH

      Now I’m picturing Krosp in his place.
      Which reminds me, what happened to Girl Genius this week? Most current page is from last Friday. ?

      1. Daibhid C

        I’ve been wondering that as well. There’s usually some kind of art if the comic isn’t done, or at least an announcement. I even braved the Site Formerly Known As Twitter to see if there was some sort of explanation on the feed, but nope.

        1. thejeff

          Kaja’s in the hospital. Gall bladder surgery.

          Not actually sure where I saw the report.

        2. Daibhid C

          That would explain it.

          Hoping all goes well for her.

  8. Cattleprod

    The frozen coffee sharpened into a blade.

    1. Jamie

      This is the way.

      Bonus points if you melt and drink it after the stabbing.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        No, no, no! You serve it to the detectives investigating the murder!

        1. StClair

          This.

        2. Daibhid C

          Jason Chesterfield’s TAs of the Unexpected.

        3. Plain Marie

          If you marinate the leg of lamb in coffee, then you…. No wait, that would ruin both. And the metaphor.

  9. Just an Armadillo

    This is one of the healthier relationships I’ve seen in this comic, and that’s terrible. Seriously, how is this above par!?

    1. True Survivor

      I guess, Jason is just really bad at golf?

      1. cbwroses

        He’s too British to learn a Scottish sport, even if it is internationally played.

        1. Daibhid C

          Sorry, but I think you mean he’s to English to learn a Scottish sport.

          Quick refresher for anyone confused:
          Britain: Geographic term. Mainland England, Scotland and Wales.
          Great Britain: Geographic/political term. England, Scotland and Wales including small islands.
          British Isles: Geographic term. Great Britain, the island of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
          United Kingdom: Political term. Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
          British Islands: Political term (rarely used): The United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
          British (demonym): From the United Kingdom.

          See how simple it is?

        2. Taffy

          Gods forbid anyone use colloquial shorthand.

        3. Daibhid C

          If I said someone was too American to learn a Texan sport, would that be “colloquial shorthand”, because obviously what I mean is they’re a New Yorker?

        4. Daibhid C

          Actually, that analogy would probably work better the other way around, now I think about it, because the British stereotype of “American” is closer to the American stereotype of “Texan” than of “New Yorker”.

          And now I’m imagining Jason’s counterpart Jay-Bob Chuck, attending Oxford in his ten-gallon hat and neckerchief.

    2. Rabisch

      Is terrible rhe relationship or the fact that it’s one of the heartier among many bad ones?

  10. Sirksome

    An iced coffee is supposed to cold. Ruth never specified what kind she’d like. Think outside the box, Jason!

  11. sdrainbow

    love panel four. just, like, visually. so cool looking and stylistic!

  12. PirateTawnee

    I feel like you can probably stab him with his own femur if the end breaks off when you remove it.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Yeah but then you’re breaking a perfectly good femur.

  13. Sirksome

    I know I’ve asked this before but Jason does actually have an apartment or something right?

    1. Thag Simmons

      Great question!

    2. cbwroses

      Iirc he does, but said her heating is better.

      1. DailyBrad

        Yeah, he just prefers to hang out in her place.

        1. John Campbell

          I mean, I had my own dorm room in college, but I preferred to hang out in my girlfriend’s. Because it had my girlfriend. And her floormates were less obnoxious than mine.

        2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          I had a roommate in college who was always over at his girlfriend’s place, such that to this day my friends deny his existence. (To be fair, I had spent half of the previous year without a roommate.)

        3. Mturtle7

          I shudder to imagine what Jaon’s floormates must be like, if the DoA Read Hall floormates are also less obnoxious than his own.

        4. John Campbell

          I’d take anyone on Ruth’s floor (really, even Mary) over anyone who was on mine. And the other wing of my dorm was worse.

    3. RassilonTDavros

      I think so? He mentioned having a landlord at one point, but I think that was pre-timeskip so not sure if it still applies.

    4. Sirksome

      I’m just noticing his getting dressed which implies he’s left clothes there which raises questions like if he’s switching clothes he must shower there too right? Then I remember the whole hiding Becky when she wasn’t enrolled there thing and I’m wondering how okay this all is. Is Ruth abusing power here? Is it okay cause he works for the school again?

      1. Aura

        Or does that make it less okay seeing as Ruth’s still a student there, even if not one of his?

        1. Ray Radlein

          Wouldn’t be less okay; he’s a student as well. If TAs couldn’t date students, they basically couldn’t date anyone, including each other.

        2. Needfuldoer

          Jason/Sal and Jennifer/Ruth were problematic (as far as the school’s concerned) because of their inherent power imbalance. In both cases, Jason and Ruth could theoretically have abused the power granted to them by the school to coerce the other into a relationship.

          Sal was one of the students Jason oversaw, and Ruth was Jennifer’s RA. Jason and Ruth don’t have power over each other in any official capacity, so that conflict of interest doesn’t exist. (And in theory, moving Jennifer to another building would’ve resolved their power imbalance. Their relationship imploded for other perfectly valid reasons.)

        3. Sirksome

          To clarify here I’m not asking about any potential power imbalance in the relationship. Them dating is okay. I’m asking if Ruth is using her privilege as RA to let Jason squat in her dorm. He was staying there before he lucked into another TA job. I imagine no one is allowed to just let non students stay in their rooms proven by how Becky had to hide her presence there. Is Ruth just ignoring that rule because she’s the RA and Jason’s her boyfriend?

        4. anonymsly

          Jason is a student, though? A grad student IIRC (maybe just an upperclassman) but a student nonetheless.

        5. thejeff

          Becky was living there. Jason is just sleeping over with his girlfriend. Guests are allowed. Moving in isn’t.

          I believe there are rules about how long, but they’re basically ignored as long as no one complains.

        6. Otl1973

          Sleeping over with your boyfriend/girlfriend certainly wasn’t allowed when I was in school (admittedly, many many decades ago), which is not to say it didn’t happen fairly frequently. But then, the closest they had to a coed dorm at the time was 2 separate buildings that shared a lobby. (A year or 2 earlier they had some that were coed by floors, but a state legislator complained about “taxpayers’ whorehouses”, which put an end to that.

        7. thejeff

          To be honest, I have no idea whether it was allowed when I was in school in the late 80s, but it was commonplace, as long as the roommates didn’t raise too much of a fuss.
          I actually continued on weekends for several years after I graduated, since I was dating a girl who was still in school. So I wasn’t even a student there for part of it.

        8. thejeff

          I swear I closed that tag. 🙂

        9. Yumi

          Spending the night was allowed when I was in college ~10 years ago. I think you were supposed to log your overnight guests or something? Like, with the front desk. But also, no one cared if you didn’t.

        10. Bittersweet

          I had an RA roomie in college (the perk of the RA was having one roommate instead of two). She overlooked me letting my boyfriend stay over and cuddle in my bed (and me basically moving into the boys dorm to stay over there) as long as I ignored her doing the same with her boyfriend who wasn’t even a student, and also told nobody about the pot and alcohol.

          Like, it’s not great behavior, but I’m not gonna vilify Ruth for behavior that’s probably roughly as common as speeding. Or at least, every other RA I mệt was abusing their power in the exact same ways.

      2. BBCC

        Becky stayed (or rather, intended to stay) more than five days, which was the guest policy maximum at the university (at least when that storyline was written). So long as Jason doesn’t sleep over every single night for more than five days, they should be good.

  14. Bootshivers

    I like Jason way too much for this to be his fate

  15. HueSatLight

    I know what he did with Sal was bad, but I don’t like him even if he didn’t do that. I’m not going to rationalize it, he just rubs me the wrong way. If he’s going to be on screen, I want bad things to happen to him.

    1. Thag Simmons

      Upper-class Brits often evoke that sort of reaction.

    2. Sirksome

      I mean just at a base level Jason is kind of self absorbed. That’s pretty off putting.

      1. HueSatLight

        I dunno, there’s other characters at least as self-absorbed as him that I like.

    3. jflb96

      I don’t know, Sal jumped him. Like, yes, he should’ve turned her down and tried to find someone to do what Danny ended up doing, but I can see why someone who’s barely 20 would forget that when faced with the enthusiastic consent of someone who’s only off-limits because he marks her homework.

      1. David DeLaney

        > Like, yes, he should’ve turned her down and tried to find someone to do what Danny ended up doing

        I am SO quoting this out of context here

        –Dave, and wish to see the Slipshine

      2. HueSatLight

        1. I said that wasn’t the reason I dislike him, because since its not, I didn’t want someone to decide to relitigate it.
        2. uh, no. you don’t forget, as a TA, during office hours, when you’re tutoring a student, that you’re not supposed to fuck students. You don’t have to have been a TA to know that, but I was one.

        1. jflb96

          1. I wasn’t disagreeing with you not liking him.

          2. How many of your students were quite so active in distracting you from that as Sal was?

  16. Dday

    Hey so wait he’s still boning a student, how does that factor here?

    1. BBCC

      She’s not his student so it’s not a conflict of interest. Same reason Jennifer could date Ruth after she moved dorms.

      1. cbwroses

        Plus they started boning after he stopped being a TA and before he became a TA again.
        So as long as long as the only T and A in their relationship stands for Thoughtful and Affectionate, there is no issue (What? What did you think T and A stood for? Get your mind out of the gutter).

        1. Jamie

          First and last letters of tibia. Obviously.

        2. J.Gawain

          Ruth is finally branching out from only taking Femurs then. Good for her.

      2. Dday

        Huuhhh did they wait till after she moved out? I forget how that played out

        1. BBCC

          No, but after her Gramps stopped the school from firing her they moved Jennifer to another dorm to remove the conflict of interest.

    2. Thag Simmons

      She’s not his students, so it’s not an abuse of his powers.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Likewise, he’s not one of the residents she’s in charge of so it’s not an abuse of her powers either.

  17. BBCC

    It’s important to have non perishable shabby things!

    1. David DeLaney

      FEMURS

  18. RassilonTDavros

    This comic is reminding me of my bizarre method of consuming morning coffee back when I was in college, which was to make coffee when I went to bed and leave a cup of it on my improvised bedstand, so I could drink some to help me get out of bed when I had a morning class.

    I had problems.

    1. Jamie

      I mean, almost all of the developed world’s societies are built on the assumption that there are only morning people and you have to wake up early to be a worthy human being.

      On that note, I haven’t used an alarm clock in a decade because I use my seniority at work to say fuck that shit I’m not attending your morning meetings. Worth it.

      1. Mark

        I want to live in one of those societies. Around here the whole country (except maybe still Utah?) observes Daylight Saving Time so slackers can steal our morning light from our most productive hours, to give it to whatever it is they do outside after dinnertime.

        1. John Campbell

          What DST actually does is force people to get up an hour earlier.

        2. HueSatLight

          It wouldn’t be so bad if we only did the fall part.

        3. Daibhid C

          I dunno, a few years in, when the clock says it’s 11am and it’s still dark out, I feel like you might think “Maybe when we stopped springing forward, we should have stopped falling back as well.”

          On the other hand, after 24 years, you’ll have acquired a whole extra day, so that’s something.

        4. Daibhid C

          Wait, I went the wrong way, didn’t I? Um, same stupid point, but the other way around.

        5. Taffy

          This doesn’t make sense.

        6. Sarah Lea

          Like…have a life outside of building the wealth of others?

    2. Mr D

      I still do that when I get morning shifts at work.

  19. Bryy

    I really like Ruth and Jason as a couple. It’s the same kind of jadedness as Ruth and Billie, but far more healthy.

    Too bad it’s not going to last.

  20. cbwroses

    You would have loved it, Jason.
    It had your gf, 3 of your former students, one of which is your gf’s ex gf (both of whom probably still love and want each other ), the other students being your 2 favorite tutees (the distaff twin being the one you had sex with), her boyfriend (who helped her understand math better than you did), and the spear twin’s ex (who is going through a breakdown and/or crisis).

    Imagine the epic playlist that occurred last night, let alone what might have come out if you’d been there.

    Side note: I was today years old when I learned that distaff has to do with sewing and that it’s used as a term for female because sewing was seen as “woman’s work” AND that the opposite of distaff, in this regard, is spear.

    1. jflb96

      Well, technically it’s to do with spinning, which is one of those jobs that you do a surprising amount of when every thread of every cloth has to be produced by hand, which is why women who’d opted out of the ‘making more hands’ industry were generally assigned to be spinsters

      1. Uly

        I was reading an analysis which suggested that in order to clothe a family of six (one married couple, one grandparent, one teen, one child, one baby) in a single new outfit a year a person using a hand spindle would have to do nothing but spin thread for eight hours a day, six days a week – and that’s before we get to weaving!

        You can spin ten times faster (or ten times more, depending on how you look at it) using a spinning wheel, but those were invented surprisingly late.

        1. jflb96

          And each of those people’s clothes is also an average of a quarter-acre (about 1000 square metres, or four tennis courts (doubles)) of flax, which had to be sown and harvested and worked into fibres before it can be spun, and then when it’s spun it has to be woven, and then when it’s woven it has to be dyed and measured out and cut and sewn into shape; all of this by hand.

        2. Uly

          And while you probably know this, people reading might not – working flax into fiber is not an easy job! It’s all soaking and beating and all.

          Other fibers are no better – wool has to be washed (even if it’s coated wool, that is, where the sheep wear little jackets to minimize the amount of crud that gets trapped in the fleece) and cotton needs the seeds removed and it all has to be combed and carded.

        3. John Campbell

          I’ve been doing experiments with nettle fibers, which are similar to flax production-wise, but also a huge pain in the ass (or any other exposed flesh they might accidentally brush) to harvest. It’s allegedly possible to get fine, soft, linen-like fibers out of them, but I haven’t managed yet. All the stuff I’ve been able to produce is either coarse or too short or brittle to spin. I think I’m over-retting them.

    2. John Campbell

      Spinning, actually. It’s a rod that flax (or other fiber) is wound on to be fed into the spindle.

      Amusingly, distæf was a masculine noun. Spere was neuter.

      1. Mark

        My hypothesis is that Germanic languages glommed onto the gendering of words thing from Latin because it helped make common sequences of words more pronounceable, ignoring the typical actual gender of their referents because it didn’t work so well for them. See Twain’s “The Awful German Language” for excellent examples.

        I have not researched this. Maybe when I retire.

        1. Uly

          Gender is widespread throughout the IE languages. The Germanic languages certainly did not get it from Latin.

    3. Bash

      I didn’t expect to learn so much from a comment thread. I’m impressed.

  21. Francoinblanco

    Asking an Englishman for coffee is as insensitive as asking an Italian for ketchup

    1. jflb96

      Actually, coffee was big over here before tea took off, to the point where there were kings who tried to legislate against coffee houses as places where people might meet and have political discussions and talk themselves into republicanism

      1. Jamie

        In fairness, has France ever imported anything good into England?

        1. C.T. Phipps

          Presumably anything edible.

        2. David DeLaney

          Brigitte Bardot?

        3. Hof1991

          William the conqueror. Eleanor of Aquitaine. Much better than the later Dutch and German imports. Because they can’t be trusted to rule themselves.

        4. jflb96

          Well, this was back before France had a go at being a republic, when the French import was the returned king

    2. Daibhid C

      Tell that to Anthony Stewart-Head.

      (Am I right in a vague recollection that you got Those Nescafe Gold Blend Adverts on the other side of the pond as well? Only it’s called Taster’s Choice or something?)

  22. DashWallkick

    I wonder if Jason knows that Ruth is still hung up over Billie and that’s what the “Karaoke”ing was.

    1. Mturtle7

      I really, really, don’t think he’s anywhere near perceptive enough to notice that OR inquisitive enough to ask about the general topic. He’s kind of an oblivious dude.

    2. Tesset

      Yes. A solid 10% of his (minimal) screentime is him commenting on that

      Most recent example

  23. Steelbright

    I feel like the problem with Ruth and Jason is they’re like… Too alike. Both kinda prickly, but it falls flat cause that’s just normal, it’s like passionless pricklyness, nothing to bounce off. Not that it’s necessarily a problem to have a relationship that isn’t all ups and downs, or even one where you’re not really trying to have a romance, it’s just… Not a fun ship, heh.

    1. Bash

      Maybe why they’re so rarely on panel together.

    2. Mturtle7

      When you put it like that, it occurs to me that he’s kind of a stereotypical “rebound” boyfriend for Ruth. She likes being with him because he’s SAFE, not because they have any particular chemistry or deep affection for each other. He likes being a doormat for her, has no passion or optimism which might interrupt her frequent depressive spirals, and at the same time isn’t nihilistic or self-destructive enough to actively make those spirals worse.

      Or, to look at it yet another way: she ended her last relationship because it was getting too happy and that made her scared, so it makes perfect sense that she would immediately gravitate towards the guy with a gigantic stick up his a**.

  24. Bash

    Are they living together? He was in her room when she wasn’t even there. I know college couples can spend a lot of time together, but waiting in an empty room until they come back late?

    1. Spriteless Aunty

      Ahh, that is the true narrative purpose of this strip.

  25. Cloud

    By british law, he will bring her tea instead.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      With or without salt?

      1. David DeLaney

        sfx=’GladOs’

        you monster

        1. clif

          I understand it’s been scientifically proven that a bit of Creole seasoning will improve the taste of tea.

        2. Otl1973

          I’m pretty sure nothing would improve the taste of tea, at least enough to make it drinkable b

        3. Taffy

          What an odd thing to say.

  26. Suet

    We can stab Jason for even longer if Barry does a better job at being a TA than him.

    “Gonna make it” where? and how?

    1. Needfuldoer

      She should’ve invited him along instead.

      Barryoke.

  27. C.T. Phipps

    Is Jason living with her? That seems a bigger violation than painting the room blue.

    1. Sirksome

      I honestly don’t know. I asked the same question above and so far the answer seems to be maybe. Don’t think about it I guess?

      1. Needfuldoer

        If you’re wondering where he eats and sleeps
        and other living facts (la la la)
        just repeat to yourself
        “it’s just a comic, I should really just relax.”

    2. HueSatLight

      can’t really tell her boss the paint is just spending the night.

  28. DarkoNeko

    I’m sure some of the biscuits are both technically non-perishable, and hard enough to serve for stabbing.

  29. Taffy

    Oh, he got his job back? I don’t remember seeing it, so I’m assuming it was off-screen.

    1. Taffy

      Oh wait yeah, there was that thing with Robin’s class. Nevermind.

  30. Throwatron

    ngl he’s kind of a catch

  31. Suzi

    I find it weird how much I actually enjoy this pairing. I don’t know if they’re going to work out really in the long run, but I like their banter. It feels like they’re more on even ground with each other than their other pairing, not just power-dynamic-wise (TA/student and RA/resident) but just, emotionally and maturity they’re kinda on the same page.

  32. Call Me Deacon Blues

    I know the joke is that they won’t make it, but… I honestly really like them as a couple lol

  33. Juanoku

    These two would never work as a couple, but they’re hilariously good friends already

    1. Zaxares

      I’m not sure about “never work.” I actually do know couples like this in real life. Yes, I know what you mean in that it’s not a “you are the light of my life and my reason for existing” kind of relationship, but they’re comfortable with each other, are a good(ish? At least where Ruth and Jason are concerned) support person for each other, and there is at least enough physical attraction to see to it that their needs are sated. As far as relationships go, it could be a LOT worse/unhealthier. XD

      1. Juanoku

        The thing is that i have a hard time believing Ruth is attracted to him. It feels more like a “I’ve got nothing better to do” than attraction

  34. Mr. Random

    I kinda think they’d work….
    I don’t even know, it feels like they’ll hang around each other way longer than healthy, but weirdly supportive, but more of the dysfunction.
    Which… I don’t know if that’s better or worse than Billie who encouraged self-destructiveness?

  35. Rabisch

    I like this couple, really a lot. They both have done big mistakes, but he seems to be better now and her is on the right path and way better than how she was with that disgrace called Jennifer.

    1. John Campbell

      I don’t believe Ruth ever dated Jennifer. Only Billie.

  36. Pocky

    wow; I forgot he got to position.

    who am I kidding; he was always gonna get it, despite everything. :/

  37. staszu13

    Simon Cowell is my Jason headcanon

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