Tag: Wally

Life During Bore-time

The year’s most utterly predictable FW arc rolls into its fifth week. To recap:

  1. Wally announces he’s heading into his final semester; Funky and Rachel remark on Wally’s progress vs. post-traumatic stress disorder.
  2. We meet Adeela, Wally’s hijab-wearing classmate. Wally and Adeela are thrown together as study partners.
  3. Without even really trying, the two decide they can’t get along, and agree to ask their professor to assign them different partners.
  4. The sound of a loud siren sends the two into a panic; when they regain their senses they learn it was merely a test of the campus tornado warning siren.

Now, let the bonding commence. Before their scare, Adeela refused to sit at the same table as Wally. Now she sits thisclose, and shares a memory about her life back home. Is Batiuk channeling Yogi Berra here? “…when you went back to bed, you’d be up for the rest of the night” feels kind of like “It’s so crowded, nobody goes there anymore.” Except, you know, not funny, although Wally’s rejoinder does draw a wry smirk from Adeela.

Hack-oo

Link to today’s strip

Let’s try some haiku
Hat tip to billytheskink
(Mine won’t be as good):

They don’t test sirens
That warn about tornadoes
Back home in Westview?

“Tell me about it”
She knows “it’s an expression”
Don’t mansplain, Wally.

Adeela’s no dope;
Though she grew up overseas
Her English is fine

Buddy looks dismayed
Must know he’s failed his master
For the umpteenth time

Though she’s “exotic”
Adeela looks generic:
Very simply drawn

Her head looks like a
Potato wrapped in a scarf
But less int’resting

No punchline today
PTSD’s not a joke
Nor “an expression”

Now we all must wait
To find out if Sunday’s strip
Provides some respite

Tongue Tied and Twistered

hitorque
October 30, 2018 at 9:06 am
…If the Funkyverse was in Kansas, then this would be a mere Tornado Siren Test and nobody would raise an eyebrow…

timbuysOctober 30, 2018 at 4:24 pm
I grew up in Illinois. We had (still do? I dunno) those. Growing up, I can recall at least two times when they went off for the real deal. The second time was when I was on my college’s quad with some friends…

Finally somebody stops to check on the still-hunkered down study buddies, who in the wake of the perceived threat have progressed from quarreling to finishing each other’s sentences. Buddy continues to minister to his master by licking his hand. Buddy, by the way, has been in Wally’s life for nearly eight years; so long in fact that his once golden fur has turned gray.

I Think It’s…Stupid…

Still no big reveal as to the source of the scary orange capital R’s, but while these two were experiencing their respective flashbacks, something happened to put them both on the ground. I don’t suppose panicked Wally tackled Adeela, else she’d be running away shrieking. Having the other students walking by instead of stopping to offer assistance is probably the most realistic human behavior Batiuk’s depicted in months. Also, while we are all fond of Buddy, he’s pretty useless as a service animal.