163

Numb
Posted on May 9, 2023 by David M Willis

163 thoughts on “Numb”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    have you tried snuggling with a block of ice

    (woulda suggested some… OTHER things, but that might not be a good idea for reasons)

    [unless you WANT to spend $$$$$ on a barrel of benzocaine]

    1. Ana Chronistic

      did you have that alt-text in the queue for THAT long??
      (RIP)

      1. TheLurkerAbove

        6 month buffer, Conroy passed on 10th November 2022, so it checks out.

  2. Schpoonman

    FeelsBatMan

  3. Proto_Eevee

    don’t make me sad about kevin conroy again I just got over it

    1. GholaHalleck

      So telling you about the video of him singing “I’m so blue” would be a bad thing right?

      1. Clif

        Very.

        What’s the URL?

        1. fezzam

          v=55zpDpTbAiw for youre youtubes

    2. Nicoleandmaggie

      Matt Baume had a really great YouTube video on him.

  4. Stephen Bierce

    * plays Gordon Lightfoot’s “Carefree Highway” on the hacked Muzak*

    1. Ntrovert

      Nice choice (and another RIP, damn).

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        oh hey, fringe pfp

  5. UrsulaDavina

    Weed would probably be better Dotty. Though whether Carla is willing to share is another matter.

    1. UrsulaDavina

      In terms of inebriatation or attempting to get Crunk as kids say. Therapy would be best or telling your therapist would be best

    2. thakoru

      There was a whole bonus comic specifically about Carla not sharing her weed.

      1. Azhrei Vep

        Dorothy has reached the point of breaking and entering. She doesn’t have to ask.

    3. MrBookBoy

      No problem, Merideth is just a few doors down

      1. HueSatLight

        I believe Meredith’s room is the only one whose location in the wing can’t be pinpointed, other than which direction the door opens. Not arguing she’s not nearby, even if she were at the far end of the variable length hall. Just a factoid. Would be neat to see more Meredith.

  6. NGPZ

    Given this is Dumbing of Age, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. Ruth really is good at her core. ?

    1. True Survivor

      I mean I feel that maybe the best outcome would have involved more talking and less immediately giving the underage depressed girl alcohol, but like you said then it wouldn’t be Ruth and she is far from Ruthless. Also, how where do you get all your cool emoji’s? Do you make them yourself or does the comment board come with them?

      1. Nono

        I think it’s a case of ‘she’s going to get the alcohol eventually, one way or another.’ But this way Ruth can keep an eye on her.

        She won’t abstain because of her RA, but maybe she can drink with a friend.

        1. GholaHalleck

          This is not the first person Ruth has handcuffed and held hostage in her room due to the other person’s poor life choices after all.

      2. shanunu

        I just have those emojis on my phone keyboard

        1. NGPZ

          Yeah I just copy and paste from this: https://getemoji.com/

      3. Maddie B

        On Windows, you can press Win+. (windows key and period/full stop) to open an emoji window for text input.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Wait, what?!

          ?

        2. stacyswirl

          ? I had no idea.

        3. David

          Man, I don’t get more than ☺ and ☹ with my normal Compose key combos.

        4. GeekyWarrior

          I’m FREE!! FREE FROM MEMORIZING ALT CODES ♥♥☺
          ?

    2. Angel

      well i doubt she’d do the same thing if it were Mary, but i imagine mary wouldn’t also be asking ruth for alcohol either

  7. RassilonTDavros

    Oh okay Dorothy’s only reading from Roomies!-year-two Danny’s playbook, cool cool cool, definitely no trucks waiting in the wings here

    1. True Survivor

      The eighteen-wheel curled up in Ruth’s closet: *Abort, Abort, they’re on to us*

  8. Yotomoe

    God I can’t imagine using drugs in order to alter my mood.

    I use cake.

    1. NGPZ

      Don’t forget video games! ?

      I mean let’s be real Mario games are just one big acid trip LOL

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        Por que no los dos?

      2. ZerglingOne

        Video games and weed go together like eggs and toast. Both good on their own, but amazing together.

        1. NGPZ

          It’s true. ???

    2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Tarvek: “You know, there’s more to being an evil despot than getting cake whenever you want it.”

      Agatha: “If that’s what you think, then you’re doing it wrong!”

      – Girl Genius

      1. True Survivor

        You see that’s what I respect about Palpatine. He takes over and, unlike all real world dictators who spend all day in stuffy suits and military uniforms, he actually uses his UNLIMITED POWER to improve his standard of living, never being seen outside his bathrobe for the next twenty 25 years.

        1. drs

          lol

        2. Kimi

          I wish that we could upvote things sometimes. This is hilarious.

      2. GholaHalleck

        I dare to hope we’ve hit the 2/3rds mark on the already-over-a-year-long filler arc for GG.. but I worry I’m wrong.

    3. UrsulaDavina

      I found a little gummy from time to time helps with my mood though sometimes it leads me to eat cake

    4. Kyrik Michalowski

      I miss being able to alter my mood with substances, but I can longer do so due to my meds. No alcohol, no weed, no cigarettes, and no “other” substances either.

      Shit sucks yo. :/

      1. Subjektivity

        I mean, you could, but you’d have to be good about moderation which I, historically, know that I’m not lol. Unless you have a super paternalistic psychiatric provider you should be able to use the occasional mood altering substance without endangering your treatment. The real question is why you want to alter your mood. If it’s due to a lack of sources of meaning and satisfaction in your life, then the real danger is not addressing that directly. Without the direction those provide, you can become dependent on the drug to paper over the discomfort that makes you feel and then you can get into real trouble.

        1. thejeff

          Maybe don’t dispute people’s medical issues? You don’t know what the meds are or what they’re taking them for, so saying it’s only “super paternalistic psychiatric providers” that would object is absurd. Drug interactions exist and can be serious, even with moderate use.

        2. Subjektivity

          Uh… seems like you have an axe to grind and I don’t know why, so no point in escalating. I had no intention of “disputing” their medical issue. I just know that a lot of institutional providers have blanket “no drugs” policies where they withhold treatment and valuable medications if a patient is found to be using illicit substances which can ultimately cause more harm than whatever drug use occurs. If that is the case here, then my point was that it’s possible to find a provider that will partner with you to make sure that any substances you do use are used safely instead of blindly imposing total abstinence.

    5. StClair

      Refined sugar isn’t usually considered a drug, but maybe it should be.

      1. Chris Phoenix

        Samuel R. Delany had a character list it as a drug in one of his science fiction books. Triton IIRC.

        1. rachel

          wow damn I LOVED triton so much, I think of the socialist system in it often

      2. Kimi

        Considering caffeine is probably a drug and isn’t really regulated, I don’t know if I trust regulations.

      3. eh, whatever

        Whether it’s refined is completely irrelevant. I have no idea why that isn’t obvious to more people.

      4. Subjektivity

        It absolutely should be. We can pretend that we are abstract rational beings but at the core of our cognition is an engine that cares about one thing above all: food. Sex, meaning, everything else is secondary to that drive in food’s absence. We can ignore it because our technology has allowed us to provide food for a vast number of people but it is always in the background modulating our behavior and sugar is a powerful trigger.

    6. bejouled

      Same. Every so often I come across something about sugar being addicting and I just… Sort of intentionally ignore it

    7. True Survivor

      Me too. Sometimes I find my self eating a cake and not even really enjoying it – having realized I mostly even started eating because I was feeling down. I still finish my piece of cake, but when it comes to cake I have the backbone of an earth worm.

      1. Kimi

        Since I get hangry, or chocolate cravings during certain times of the month (along with emotional swings then), food/chocolate is normally my first go to when I am feeling upset.

    8. HueSatLight

      I am fairly certain I have heard “cake” as a name for a drug.

      1. HueSatLight

        I think it had to do with cannabis resin, but there’s so much edible stuff now, I can’t find anything about what I remember.

      2. PirateTawnee

        Cake was the name of a fake drug on the satirical UK news comedy Brass Eye back in the 90’s. The whole episode is on YouTube, worth a watch.

    9. Needfuldoer

      Honestly, same. I have zero interest in getting intoxicated*. I’ve just never seen the appeal. ?

      (To be clear, that’s just me. If others want to that’s fine. Just be safe, and don’t expect me to clean up vomit.)

    10. Caninse

      I just take a nap when I’m feeling depressed or anxious or cry it out if it gets really bad. Crying or sleeping is surprisingly effective for helping your brain reset.

    11. zee

      They’re called re-uptake inhibitors and they’re amazing

  9. Jamie

    Well, I guess we know when Willis wrote this alt-text.

  10. Pocky

    Girl really wants to just forget what happened.

    The weed would be a better option though, and safer lol

  11. CMasta1992

    Oh that alt-text was a punch

  12. Dday

    It always bugged me how Dotty was basically the human embodiment of writing “my greatest weakness is that I’m a perfectionist” on a job application. But now I’m just really sad…

    1. Dday

      Also:
      ?️?Conroy??️

      1. Needfuldoer

        I think we know when this strip was drawn/uploaded…

        o7

  13. EAG46

    If this is Dorothy’s first time drinking alcohol, she’ll need to mix that Scotch with something to make it go down easy. Otherwise it’ll just hurt more. Maybe Ruth can help with that.

    1. Nono

      It’s not her first time. She’s had wine in France, she got drunk at Joyce’s party, she’s drunk with Jennifer.

  14. pickonecard

    Honestly Dorothy getting drunk *with Ruth there* is the best case scenario for a meltdown years in the making

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      You aren’t wrong; Ruth will at least keep an eye on her and be there to help if she drinks too much and/or gets self-destructive. Although some would argue drinking is self-destructive already.

    2. HueSatLight

      The sample bottles are a good way to limit how wasted she gets too, I’m assuming they’re the shot-sized minibottles.

      1. HueSatLight

        Plus, Ruth can start her with the good stuff, so she’s not wasting it after already drunk on rail. As the good book says.

  15. BBCC

    Oh dear. Yeah this has worrying implications for where Dorothy is going.

    1. GholaHalleck

      Handcuffed to the bed post but without getting her pants ripped off, if I can toss out a bet.

  16. HueSatLight

    getting wasted is a good plan if you don’t want to humiliate yourself again. New chapter has to be pretty soon, so I bet we won’t see her drunk dials/texts.

    1. HueSatLight

      is ^not^ a good plan

      1. DailyBrad

        I just assumed you were being sarcastic, anyhow.

    2. StClair

      that’s what the “adult” supervision is for.

    3. Kyrik Michalowski

      Hopefully Ruth will be there to persuade/prevent Dorothy from sending drunk texts/calls.

      Last time I drunk texted someone it was my girlfriend at the time, and they were sappy texts that simply made her laugh and reminded me to drink plenty of water. Miss having someone to do that with.

  17. Freezer

    I see nothing but good decisions here.

  18. Suet

    Dotty, being selfish – with or with out truancy – does not need to be humiliating. You don’t need to act like Dom DeLuise in Munchie.

    But Carla’s joints sound nice also. Boosts her depraved ego. hums Numb by Khalid

  19. Archieve

    Think there needs to be a serious discussion on what counts as being a ‘ little bit’ selfish. Cancelling a planned friend’s hangout to sleep in or watch cartoons is in leauge with what I think Ruth had in mind when she gave that advice.

    1. Masumi

      You gotta consider, Dorothy never got to calibrate her selfishness. She always went for zero. Or her best guess thereof. So she’s still gotta learn how much a little bit is.

    2. Subjektivity

      I mean, this case is a bit complicated. She had been dating him for awhile and had only pushed him towards Lucy because she thought it was the unselfish thing to do since she couldn’t give him the relationship he wanted. Now that her reason for pushing him away has evaporated, she was hoping to undo that mistake. She knows that he is with Lucy now but despite the real world time that has passed, Lucy and Walky haven’t even made it past their 3rd date. So yea, it’s a bit dickish to try to break up a new couple but honestly, I’m suspicious of people who “fall in love” that early into a relationship anyway. In all likelihood you are more enamored with the idea of being with someone than you are with the actual human being standing next to you. To love someone, you need to get to know them.

  20. Marvelman

    I like this story-line because her peers don’t think of Dorothy as having problems or as needing their support.

    1. Freezer

      It’s looks to me like Dorothy is consciously avoiding her friends who would see that and actually try to help (Or in Joyce’s case, get someome else to help).

      1. anonymsly

        Agreed, Dorothy goes to a fair amount of trouble to seem untouchable and problem free to her peers. She doesn’t want them thinking she’s a person with needs.

    2. Needfuldoer

      That tends to happen when you bury your own problems by losing yourself in helping others with theirs. Eventually that self-care debt comes due, but nobody believes you need the help because you’ve always been fine before.

  21. Matthew Davis

    I wonder if Ruth has the alcohol as a test for herself. Because I could see her doing that. Or maybe it was Billie’s and she hadn’t the heart to get rid of it.

    1. Freezer

      It’s a common thing in fiction that the alcoholic keeps booze nearby as a test (see also: The recovering alcoholic bartender). Don’t know if that’s a thing IRL.

      1. zee

        Bojack horseman and the galaxy in a bottle. Less a test, more a reminder

    2. Angel

      isn’t something like scotch a bit on the pricier side compared to six packs of beers? i can imagine not wanting to throw it away even if you give it as a gift or drink very rarely for a special occasion

      1. Bicycle Bill

        She’s probably getting those ‘sample’ bottles (little 2-ounce bottles, sometimes referred to as ‘airline bottles’) from Jason at no cost.  But I find it hard to believe that Ruth is a scotch drinker.  Scotch whisky is definitely an acquired taste, and most younger drinkers are drawn to a sweeter, heavily flavored type of booze like flavored vodka to cover up the bite of the alcohol itself.

        1. Reltzik

          It’s from Jason. He probably has Standards when it comes to alcohol.

        2. thejeff

          Though a little weird to be coming from the bartender. Bars don’t usually stock the nip bottles.
          As for acquired taste, while we don’t know exactly what Ruth used to drink, we know it was strong and came in large brown bottles. I would have guessed cheap whiskey rather than Scotch. She was looking for oblivion, not taste.

        3. zee

          Eh, brown liquor generally goes down easier and tastes less bad than white liquor. I think bourbon is way nicer but I’d rather drink either than touch white rum ever again ?
          Also whiskies are just expensive compared to party vodka I’d assume

        4. thejeff

          Vodka makes a more neutral mixer, if you’re looking to hide the flavor in mixed drinks.
          I’ve recently found some white rums that I actually like, but a lot of it is just cheap rum.

      2. GholaHalleck

        The little shot bottles range from 1-5 bucks here, Dewars and J&B are less then a fiver.

        1. Needfuldoer

          So those little nip bottles I see trashed on the side of the road all the time cost that much, each?

          That’s sadder than all the crumpled $10 scratch tickets littering the convenience store parking lot…

        2. C. L. Hunt

          Fyi, sometimes the homeless drink to help stay warm over chilly nights.

        3. thejeff

          Note that this doesn’t work. You might feel warmer, but you’re actually more at risk of hypothermia.

        4. Needfuldoer

          That just makes it even sadder!

    3. thejeff

      What test? Ruth’s drinking again. We saw at the bar when she picked up Jason instead of Daisy and it’s been referenced since.
      She’s convinced herself it’s okay because she’s 21 now and it doesn’t cause an immediate obvious reaction with her medication.

  22. butts

    ‘me find it elsewhere?’ damn dotty even your grammar is slipping

    1. eh, whatever

      Well, “slipping”… this is part of the same shift that has turned “would you mind my opening the window” into “would you mind me opening the window”.

  23. DailyBrad

    I am sure it’s cold comfort to Dorothy, but I feel like Walky is very likely to forgive and forget here with her. She’ll know, though, and it’ll nag at her.

    That said… she would not be the first or last to do this, and that includes actual presidents. Like this is no more embarrassing than FDR and Warren G. Harding’s transgressions.

    1. GholaHalleck

      I doubt Carter was her hero president, and he’s basically the cleanest one we ever had, and even he pardoned Nixon.

      And I doubt she’s worried about Walky forgiving her, more then the realization that she tarnished his image of her.

      Her need to have people think the best of her is what’s caused this spiral to start spinning down the toilet.

      1. Clif

        Carter did not pardon Nixon. Ford did. Carter was a wonderful human being and an ineffective failure of a president.

        Where did you get the idea that Carter pardoned Nixon?

        1. vulcanodon

          It’s easy for historical things to get mixed up. I remember Ford pardoning Nixon like a personal grudge though, because it is.

          Have to take issue with Carter being ineffective though. He took on complicated problems that had little political benefit for him, which is a different thing. He set a standard that we will be returning to shortly, out of survival necessity.

          “Successful” presidents wind up being American icons after totally shafting the middle and lower classes.

  24. LIGHTWEIGHT BAYBEE

    based carla

  25. Angel

    well, you can’t get ‘hangovers’ with weed, as far as i know though also might be risky, i hear some ppl canget rly bad highs despite stoners being annoying about how great weed is all the time

    1. LIGHTWEIGHT BAYBEE

      ye it can really fuck with you if you’re not ready to accept your faults as your brain goes through more esoteric paths

    2. Taffy

      Oh yeah, you gotta pace yourself sometimes. I’ve had a couple of bad highs and both were from taking too much THC at once. At a few points, it felt like I was falling for half an hour, and I kept experiencing things in a weird, non-linear feeling way. It’s fun at a smaller scale, but if I can’t move under my own power it gets scary fast.

    3. zee

      You also have to try really hard to get a hangover at 19 tho

      1. thejeff

        College kids often put the work in though.

        They also often forget to hydrate properly before going to bed/passing out.

  26. Steelbright

    Dark Dorothy Dark Dorothy

    1. Clif

      I’m imagining that as a chant accompanied by drums.

  27. shrub

    Emotionally blackmailing an alcoholic, nice one Dorothy

    1. Amós Batista

      Dorothy knows exactly the people weak point, in the most necessary times. She’ll be fucking insufferable and powerful when she left the need to be nice to everyone.

      1. Masumi

        Ooooh, NOW she’s ready to become president.

      2. Drain

        Being helpful and noble is key to her identity the way being sexually “pure” is still and will continue to be for some time key to Joyce’s. The parallels between this and the weird JoyceJacob situation are relatively big, both involving a very selfish desire to get with a man who is taken (though Joyce iirc did it with the justification that Raidah sucks and was mean to Sarah and Dina, Dorothy did it knowing it was selfish but clearly not really realizing how extreme of a selfish act that was).

        If that mini arc with Joyce was any indication, Dorothy won’t really learn much from this but she IS gonna return to some of her old ways once she has this all figured out. I just hope that does not involve getting with Joe.

  28. Maddie B

    Just realized I’m a day late to say something about shipping DoRuthy.

    Not that I actually do, but…

  29. BOOSTER SHOT

    I love how Dorothy doesn’t even consider spending time *getting high with Carla*

    1. Allison Branford

      To be fair, Carla, for all her many qualities, of which she will expound upon at length, probably doesn’t know who Dorothy is.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Right, because Carla’s going to share. Or keep anything Dorothy says under her hat.

      1. Madock345

        Share? No. Sell.

        1. BOOSTER SHOT

          Ruth could get pretty easily convince Carla to share by playing on her ego. And threatening to involve her parents. My point more was that it was amusing how little of a choice that was, because Dorothy’s smart enough to know that getting high with Carla is not going to be an introspective, relaxing time.

        2. NGPZ

          Yeah, according to one bonus strip, she’s not gonna spare her weed given how expensive it is. Ruth likely also knows this, and that suggestion was probably a ploy to get Dorothy to give up in her quest for escape via substance, giving in only upon knowing how she was gonna find it one way or antoher.

  30. Lamppost

    I question Dorothy’s methods here, she’s being really awful towards Ruth, but honestly I think having a good sad drunk cry could be good for her. Sometimes you need to hit that place before being able to recover and move forward.

  31. Allison Branford

    One facet of Dorothy’s problems, is she broke it off with Walky before all his emotional distance and lies caught up with him. So now, she sees the failure of the relationship as her fault, when it was going to fail either way. She sees Walky as a wonderful person she hurt instead of the emotionally unavailable man-child he is.

    1. BOOSTER SHOT

      Idk if it’s fair to call someone who still has “teen” in their age a “manchild”. No one should be expected to be fully mature during your first year of college.

  32. Amós Batista

    At her point of life, I think there’s no more advice for Dorothy.

    Any opinions can her who is so low at point of life. I don’t have any idea of how can I help her.

    1. Sam

      Probably, a hug and a listening ear would go a long way. But Dorothy is the ‘helper’ friend so she’s not gonna want to burden anyone.

      1. Mark

        Just do it anyway. “One’s enough to start with. Sit. Talk. What’s this all about?”

        1. Sam

          I agree that she SHOULD do it anyway. I mean, there’s not much point in having close loved ones if you become so afraid to burden them, that you can only open up to strangers. You got close to these people in the first place for a reason and most people want to support their loved ones and don’t see it as a burden.

          But helpers often have a hard time asking for help, especially as people may think they are put together so they are always going to be okay or always be bringing fresh problems to them.

        2. Mark

          I meant that Ruth should just do it: the hug, the talk. It’s kinda her job anyway, at least the talk.

        3. HueSatLight

          A high five at least.

    2. Lamppost

      I agree with Sam about the hug and the listening ear, but I also think some of Dorothy’s problem lies in the fact that she puts so much effort into a distant future, and puts no effort into maintaining short term happiness. When the distant happiness goal crumbles, she has almost nothing that keeps her afloat as a functioning person. She broke up with Walky and she almost acts like an authority figure in her relationship with Joyce, so I don’t know if she would be able to accept help or advice from her even though they are best friends.
      From my perspective, a good cry would probably help her, and then to focus on her own short term happiness (but like, in a healthy way – get a new hobby, go take an improv class or something). It’s easier to evaluate your own goals in life if you’re in a space where you know what kind of things you need to function in your daylight life.

      1. Lamppost

        daily* life

  33. Yeet

    how big is a sample bottle? are american drinking tolerances striking again or am I vastly underestimating the size of the bottles? or perhaps the size of ruth’s stash…
    anyway, goddammit dorothy, be honest with your therapist or something

    1. Taffy

      About a shot, usually.

      1. Amós Batista

        If I’m thinking right, these samples are the size of my thumb. 😮

        There’s no way somebody can be drunk with only one sample.

        1. Taffy

          Well no, the point is to have one or two, just to see if you like the alcohol inside. Depending on the person, it’d probably take about 4-5 of them to really do much.

    2. Amelie Wikström

      Who knows how many little bottles she may have smuggled in her jackets?

      And also I think we can give her more than one afternoon to experiment with reassessing her life goals for the first time since age 4 before panicking.

    3. GholaHalleck

      50m a bottle

      1. GholaHalleck

        50mL damned fingers

  34. vulcanodon

    Just now realizing perhaps the one advantage of never presenting as the confident, sensible one… low expectations made it easier to survive repeated humiliation

  35. Adept

    Has Ruth changed her meds? Isn’t alcohol an even worse idea for her than it used to be, these days?

    1. thejeff

      She has. We’ve seen her drink before since the timeskip – notably during her date with Daisy where she picked up Jason. She said at the time that her new medication didn’t have the nasty interaction with booze that hit her before the timeskip.
      And she’s legal now, so there are obviously no problems.

      It’s not like she was alcoholic or anything, right?

      1. Adept

        She was suicidally depressed, and drinking heavily. That sounds like an alcoholic to me.

        1. zee

          Obvious sarcasm

    2. Adept

      Why did my avatar change? Noooooooooo

      1. thejeff

        It’s all Charlie’s fault

        1. NGPZ

          Hey now Lyle was thrown in too!

        2. Pergola

          Are you sure? Really sure? How many new gravatars did DYW throw into the rotation? I want to see the model sheet!

        3. NGPZ

          I can’t list them all now, but I can confirm that there are 29 avatars in total.

          You have to shuffle the gravitar 20 times for a 50/50 chance of getting any specific one.

        4. Adept

          Oh, to the reshuffler I go then.

  36. Wendy

    Oh, this one hurts. 🙁

    Currently going through a somewhat similar situation as Dorothy which might be why this is so painful for me to read, but…man, it’s hard seeing someone who has historically been so tough be so down low. I know she’ll be okay but I hope it’s soon.

    1. NGPZ

      I didn’t know masking counted as being tough. ?

      Also, me too. ?

  37. Megan Rivera

    Does anyone else think Ruth looks REALLY good in black? I think she found her color.

    1. Angel

      green and black is a great combo

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