Jeanie Bottle 791
Apr25
Natalie’s being quite responsible, here.
EDIT: Sorry the page was late… I accidentally scheduled it for 10:00pm my time, instead of 9:00. >_<
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Natalie’s being quite responsible, here.
EDIT: Sorry the page was late… I accidentally scheduled it for 10:00pm my time, instead of 9:00. >_<
Yeah, don’t want to get involved or you may be up gaming all night.
I guess Neil isn’t a car guy
I think he’s just trying to avoid getting into a dick-measuring contest, given that he’s gotta have some of his own teenage engineering feats to brag about.
Hard to win a dick-measuring contest when you ain’t got a dick.
Or when . . . whatever happened to Colonel Gathers in Venture Brothers happens.
Naw, most girls are waaaaayyyyyy more accomplished than we let on. It’s just that a lot of us do what we do because we just want to understand things or make the world better. No point bragging about it (besides, it’s more impressive when people notice without you pointing it out.)
I’m still trying to work out if the JATO on the impala is a Darwin Awards reference, a Mythbusters reference, or both.
I am guessing a few more beers and she’ll end up bragging about an engineering feat of her own or pointing out how they could have done a better job with one of their projects if they did X instead of Y. Also be careful of carbonated alcoholic beverages, carbonizations gets the alcohol into the blood stream faster.
True. The CO2 creates carbonic acid, which lowers the pH and causes the pyloric valve to open and allow alcohol to enter the duodenum, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. That’s why you get drunk faster on a gin and tonic, as opposed to straight gin.
Doing X instead of Y is a funny turn of phrase in the context of Natalie/Neil.
You mean doing XX instead of XY.
I was strictly referring to the second allele, but you understood the principle.
THREE cabins? That’s a really big boat. Liam must be loaded.
I’m sure Neil/Natalie is going to have trouble dealing with Rodge tonight. She might want to join Araceli & Caley.
It’s like the Tardis. Bigger on the inside than on the outside.
Liam is an investment banker, so loaded is probably a given. He also said he’s lived aboard since his ex wife got the house, so yes, plenty big enough to live on full time for a guy who probably isn’t into cramped quarters.
In the 42 foot sailboat from years and years ago where I spent a month of my youth, there was technically space for six people: two in the bow, two in the bunk beds, and two in the captain’s cabin. Technically, I wouldn’t necessarily call each of these three spaces “cabins” except for the stern quarters, since it had a door.
But if Liam’s boat is larger than 42 feet, and the illustrations appear as if it very well could be, then yes, I can see it having three cabins, with doors, and very possibly more than one bathroom.
Part 777 shows that the distance from the water to where Rodge is standing is about twice his height, so when you factor in the part of the boat below the waterline the ship is probably tall enough to fit two levels below the deck he’s on.
Don’t drink the beer!
Who knows what you’ll do with Rodge later when your inhibitions are lowered.
Maybe Liam and Rodge should take one cabin.
Of course the problem will be explaining why Natalie wants a different cabin from her fiancé.
Just tell the others she broke it off. Y’know, that *almost* describes how Neil got there.
Years and years ago I spent a month on a sailboat traveling through the Caribbean and west coast of Central America. Yeah, I know, Natalie, Rodge, Araceli, Liam, et al are at a slightly different latitude, but it is absolutely possible and even pleasant to sleep on deck instead of below deck. “Fresh air” and all that is a perfectly acceptable explanation.
It used to go without saying that until you were married, you didn’t share a bunk. Certainly not with children around. “Try before you buy” wasn’t something you publicly acknowledged.
Hey at least Jean didn’t mess with Natalie brains like that one time to prove some point to some Djinn or Genie was it?
“Just drink the beer. Don’t fuel the stupidity…”
I don’t think Natalie understands beer.
The beer fuels her own stupidity. She is trying to avoid fueling the boys’ stupidity.
Hahah, my first car was a family hand me down 1963 Impala with a 327 4b carburetor engine. Unlike present cars vehicles of that vintage were fun to work and get your hands all greasy.
Today’s cars are designed by computers, which allows the designer to use all the space under the hood. That makes it an incredible pain in the ass just to replace a fan belt. Older cars you could climb into the engine bay. Easy-peasy!
Just because it’s not your hobby doesn’t make it stupid.
A Jato pack. This is starting to sound like a Willie Coyote cartoon.
I’d like to see a J.A.T.O. pack strapped to the General Lee. (In this webcomic)
Of course, that was the very first episode of Mythbusters.
A reference to an urban legend, immortilized in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3WC4zL6tnw
I have heard of people making rocket cars that can break the sound barrier. But if you try to put a rocket to a regular car, death is basically certain.
The only question is, where on God’s Green Earth did he get a rocket
JATO is Jet-Assisted; not a rocket. And supposedly, it was out of a scrapyard somewhere.
Purpose-built jet/rocket cars, such as the record-setting Thrust SSC, are designed around the booster, with the thrust and aerodynamic forces carefully accounted for. Strapping such engines onto a vehicle not made for them, however, results in terribly unbalanced forces that can flip the car over.
Mythbusters tested this urban legend. Twice. They got some really spectacular footage.
Natalie might want to hold off on the booze. I hear drunk girls are more pliable.
Heh. Or more aggressive. I have to wonder how Rodge would react if Natalie started coming on to him–hard. As in, “satisfy me or shrivel into a husk trying” hard.
I strongly suspect that part of what attracts her to him is that she’s a challenge.
*smacks self*
Possibly the clumsiest sense-reversing typo I’ve ever made.
“What attracts him to her is that she’s a challenge.”
It’s interesting that more of the comments deal with jetpacks and engineering or the number of bedrooms on the boat than with the comic situation of Natalie and Rodge sharing the same cabin and, by insinuation, the same bed. Even Natalie is more concerned about stirring up the stupidity between Liam and Rodge. Maybe Jeanie did do something to her mind to make her more receptive to Rodge.
I think it’s likely that she feels she can easily fend off any moves by Rodge, probably by just reminding him that her real name is Neil. And that if he tries anything, she’ll kick him in the nuts and put him in a headlock.
I think it’s because the idea that Rodge and Natalie would be sharing a room was a foregone conclusion. They’ve been put in that situation before in Vegas, Liam believes them to be engaged, and it gets them away from the others for exposition about Rodge’s behavior, Jeanie-related discussion, and how to proceed. Or maybe we’ll see Nat attempting that while Rodge falls asleep. Pretty sure the Walls of Jericho aren’t about to fall, though.
Could Jeanie have thrown a spell that gradually increased Natalie’s receptiveness towards Rodge? Araceli’s headache could be a reaction to the increasing magic effect on Natalie. She was Neil’s genie, which means that she was Natalie’s genie, too. A spell to change Neil’s basic nature, such as the mental attack I’m proposing, would be the sort of thing that one’s genie would/should sense. The fact that it’s on Natalie, rather than Neil, is messing with her own senses and giving her the headaches.
Anything’s possible, given that it’s magic. But I don’t see Jeanie as having anything like that degree of subtlety.
gotta ask it. After they are stranded on the island will Natalie and Araceli be running around in grass skirts?
No. Araceli could poof up anything desired in the way of clothing.
Two thoughts.
The fact that Araceli has a headache may be an indication that there may be some Bermuda Triangle effect hampering her magic. She hasn’t actually tried to poof anything, yet, and may not be able to.
Even if that isn’t the case, she can’t just poof anything she needs without revealing that she’s a genie to everyone around her, and I’m not really sure that even Caley knows.
I think that going from merely having a headache to losing her magic is a huge leap for which there is zero evidence. After all, there’s no indication that there’s anything unusual going on; genies may get headaches just frequently as humans do.
And if she produces a new item or two of clothing, within reason, she can just claim to have had it in her bag. That’s a simple, believable explanation that accounts for everything.
Lastly, Caley knows Araceli’s a genie; she’s seen her do magic before.
But if Araceli is able to use her powers, why would she use magic on clothing when she could instead fix the boat/teleport/ summon a rescue plane or boat to get them home? For this to play off of Gilligan’s Island, either Caley would have to forbid or otherwise prevent Araceli from saving them or Araceli’s power would need to be on– no, make that off– the blink.
I have never met a technically or mechanically minded male who didn’t share tinkering-in-my-youth stories. I don’t know about females, unfortunately, but it’s definitely part of the male social approach. It’s part competitive, but it’s also a way of sharing really cool experiences that mundanes don’t seem to get.
Natalie’s view of this ritual as “stupidity” is a strong sign that she’s more invested in her female persona than her engineering persona at this point–and I, for one, find that fascinating and hope she continues to drift.
It happens with women, too, just not as frequently, partly as it’s less socially acceptable for women to be into that sort of thing. I went through a late-teen-rebellion period, too; where I dyed my hair black, bought a motorcycle and wore dark eye makeup and a lot of leather.
Women get over it sooner, I think, whereas some men never seem to. Rodge seems like perpetual adolescent.
It’s not a question of “getting over it”. It’s a matter of getting it out of the way in any given relationship. But in my experience, it’s a necessary step. It’s a quick way of judging each other’s interests, and an ice breaker. Like any other ice breaker, it’s routine and rather formulaic. It’s only immature if you dwell on the size of the fireballs. Very quickly, you are expected to move on to current endeavors, and how large you project those fireballs will be.
And don’t try to tell me that women don’t have similar conversational rituals.
But don’t get me wrong, those are just as important.
(However, don’t get me started on women competing over who’s had the most abusive boyfriend or husband. Ugh. Ick.)
“Natalie’s view of this ritual as “stupidity” is a strong sign that she’s more invested in her female persona than her engineering persona at this point–and I, for one, find that fascinating and hope she continues to drift.”
I agree. Each time Neil is transformed into Natalie for any length of time her feminine persona seems to get stronger. For example, the first time this happened was when Jeanie was in Las Vegas and Natalie was left alone for a week (page 232). I don’t believe crying over a soap opera plot is particularly masculine.
I think Neil realizes that each time Natalie’s persona is released, he slips further into that reality. That’s why he objects so strenuously (page 762) even though resistance is futile in the face of cosmic power.
An engineering discussion is considered “stupidity?”
It’s not an engineering discussion, outlining a problem and how to solve it. It’s a trading of youthful exploits. i don’t find it stupid, it’s a fair way for tech types to get to know each other.
Kattgirl, you are right. I just want to see Natalie dancing in a grass skirt
Okay. <grin> But no coconut shells, please; they hurt and there’s no give to ’em. 😉
a properly placed arm across the chest to maintain CD’s pg-13 rating.
I was thinking, that is if genies can’t get sick or feel the pain of normal human maladies could Araceli be experiencing a backlash from meddling with human behavior? On a previous page Natalie and Rodge are sitting close together with their hands in ” possible ” intimate locations with each other. Yes, it could have been a drawing error, but CD or Robert usually fix those quickly. Neither reacted to being told that they will be sleeping in the same cabin or bed. Could Araceli have made them act more like a loving couple because of their earlier behavior toward each other? They really were not setting a good example in front of the kids.
Araceli could be doing a good turn for Natalie for the woman to woman talk they had earlier.