IT'S ALL ABSOLUTELY FINE

June 11, 2016 8:24 PM

"How are you?" "I'm fine." "Are you lying?" "Yes."

Ruby (@rubyetc, be shh now,rubyetc) lets us know that They are back:

What are you doing?
Tell me something nice
Where are we going?
What's that

Inside Rubyetc's Murky Head

summertime
making things
smalltalk

posted by the man of twists and turns (28 comments total)

Left turns under the green dome with butterscotch camels.
posted by sammyo at 8:45 PM on June 11, 2016

New Tuesdays mantra, excellenty!
posted by carsonb at 8:48 PM on June 11, 2016

What's the word for when you're not sure you like something but you want to keep reading?
posted by Lexica at 9:07 PM on June 11, 2016 [7 favorites]

Yes! A new description for when things are going badly: a load of wanking arse bollocks.
posted by droplet at 9:25 PM on June 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

i love ruby etc so much
posted by nadawi at 9:27 PM on June 11, 2016 [3 favorites]

This is exactly what my head is like somedays
posted by AlexiaSky at 9:55 PM on June 11, 2016

I could have an arrow through my head and my answer would still be 'fine'. Well, that's not true. Once I was on fire under the midday sun and went into a supermarket to get something cold to drink. I'm mopping sweat off and the cashier follows the scripted: how are you?

I stop hydrating for long enough to say I'M HOT. The flirty cashier shyly replies 'Yeah, you are'. OH! I almost handed over my housekeys fumbling for the change because I suddenly became the most awkward person in the world.
posted by adept256 at 11:39 PM on June 11, 2016 [10 favorites]

"I'm not fine" has real power in my corner of society. Use it sparingly, but USE IT. People die (or suffer a lot) when they don't.
posted by poe at 12:50 AM on June 12, 2016 [7 favorites]

Back when I was volunteering on the weekends at a half way house for mentally ill youth, "fine" was usually glossed as Fucked up Insecure Neurotic and Emotional.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:56 AM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

But more to the point: amazing, expressive line. Like a modern day Jules Feiffer.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:56 AM on June 12, 2016 [4 favorites]

I like this one.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:42 AM on June 12, 2016 [12 favorites]

"I'm not fine" has real power in my corner of society. Use it sparingly, but USE IT. People die (or suffer a lot) when they don't.

Absolutely. There is a big difference between the polite etiquette of interaction between, well, in my example, I broke the script with a supermarket cashier. But I knew her for four seconds.

In Australia, where I live, there is an Are You OK? campaign and the premise is pretty simple. If someone looks like they're struggling a bit, ask if they're ok. It seems to work.
posted by adept256 at 1:53 AM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

What's the word for when you're not sure you like something but you want to keep reading?
Metafilter?
posted by comealongpole at 2:29 AM on June 12, 2016 [8 favorites]

Inside Rubyetc's Murky Head

Great interview - hope she's OK, three years on. (Love these, and the drawings too, hadn't ever seen them, thanks for the discovery.)
posted by progosk at 3:22 AM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

I like dogs, jam and shouting

I do hope she's a Shirley Jackson fan.
posted by wilko at 3:54 AM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

What's the word for when you're not sure you like something but you want to keep reading?

Life.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:24 AM on June 12, 2016 [6 favorites]

of course reminds me of this internet classic (of which i have a signed print, if that tells you anything about how fine things are)
posted by thedaniel at 4:51 AM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is amazing. Thanks for posting!
posted by Annika Cicada at 5:25 AM on June 12, 2016

This is good. Thank you.
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:34 AM on June 12, 2016

I love this/her! Thanks for the post. This speaks to me.
posted by billiebee at 6:01 AM on June 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

Metafilter: Waiting for the void.
posted by sammyo at 6:17 AM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

... but from this far distance and not likely to ever have any interaction with the artist and even unlikely to notice her blog or art or stuff ever again even tho' there is a pang of superficial empathy: I'm really happy she has a dog.
posted by sammyo at 6:21 AM on June 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

I stop hydrating for long enough to say I'M HOT. The flirty cashier shyly replies 'Yeah, you are'. OH! I almost handed over my housekeys fumbling for the change because I suddenly became the most awkward person in the world.
posted by adept256

Shouldn't you be adept451?
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 6:28 AM on June 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

I love this. It reminds me of floccinaucinihilipilificationa's work so much.
posted by ananci at 11:43 AM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had saved the "is dog" one a while back but never found the rest. Thanks!
posted by matildaben at 5:30 PM on June 12, 2016

i love ruby etc so much

Omg, I've been reading her comics for years and I've always read it as ruby tec. You just blew my mind @nadawi
posted by littlesq at 9:02 PM on June 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

I love these! Have to keep myself from pinning every. single. one.
posted by tuesdayschild at 2:08 PM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

littlesq, I just found this as a search result (looking to follow ruby etc on Tumblr), so it seems like that's not uncommon.
posted by EvaDestruction at 2:30 PM on June 13, 2016