Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 07, 2015

And so… So far, it wasn’t the kind of work that Gunther didn’t dig….. Not so much as the time spent in doing it… and doing it… and doing it… and….

An approximate month a half sure can do a boy in.

Nothing like knowing you’ve made a bad decision that can’t even begin to be rectified until the medical supply van shows up… ;)

" Day After Day" (Click for “♫”!)“Sticks And (A)Lones”“The Deep End Of The Gene Pool”“Robinson Crusade”“When You Get Down To It”“A Brand New Light Bulb”“Due To Make Do”“A Fork In The Road, And Food For Thought”“ Carry That Weight” (♫)“The Ballad Of Gunther And Rosa”“Forever Is A Long Time”or“Permanent Pressed”

Forget that….no thanks.

Belinda is first. Great. Let’s all celebrate that little victory……NOT.

LOL!

Well, I may or may not disappear tonight! So, I’ll begin with the end: “Some experience of popular lecturing had convincedme that the necessity of making things plain touninstructed people was one of the very best means ofclearing up the obscure corners in one’s own mind.”(T. H. Huxley, 1825-1895)

(Gn’R:) “…All we need is just a little patience… pat-iennnnce….” (♫)

What he is saying is that there was no future in this dead end job. And eventually Rosa is bound to discover that to. But it may take her a lot longer, and she may be in denial about that.

IJB: “Living” by doing what one loves… ;)

Hope Gunther get a SHAVE !!!

I think I will sign off for now…FF is starting to sloooowwww down Already! And, besides, I am falling asleep in my computer chair! (Not enough sleep last night!). IS Katie is upstairs playing with her new toys from SantaPaws (they were back-ordered! She has one more coming in the mail…). ’Nite all! ;)

By the way I got your reply from yesterday and coincidently, today I missed school for the first time this year. Odd.

It’s not too late for Gunther to enroll in college.

Personally, I feel he would benefit by joining the military (this has the added benefit of additional characters to the strip).

Once you start down this path, forever will it dominate your destiny…or at least for 45 days.

I didn’t read all the comments…but I am getting the feeling that Mr Greg Evans is attempting to put a little growing up into the strip…just as strip charecters are maturing, possible hoping the reader of the strip grow up too..Personally I like it…and if it takes Gunther a week or so to finish the tale that’s OK for me too…

Why Rosa wanted this type o existence is beyond me. If she had medical training she would have more to offer. She is doing work that draws on none of her education. She has put in a great deal of effort to get to do this menial labor.

“I can do anything for a day, but 45 days is too long.”

I have to wonder how Rosa, a very bright girl, can find her fulfillment in such a repetitive and menial volunteering (i.e., no pay). It’s not as thought she were an Albert Schweitzer or Mother Teresa, saving people or drawing worldwide attention to their plight. She’s little more than a flunky with no hope of advancement. Maybe she will tire of it like Gunther, too; just a little later….

-this will all have been a dream sequence…-I hope you aren’t right!

There are plenty of fish in the sea Gunther! Keep the man look. Mama needs to focus on her own life now.

I’m wondering why they were initially being driven to the clinic, and now they’re hiking along what looks like a decent road for a vehicle, and…AND they’re carrying backpacks full of sticks. What’s with the sticks???

Basic jobs? Like backpacking sticks to the clinic?

I’m curious as to how Rosa is going to eat/sleep in this village. If the clinic can provide in exchange for her unskilled labor then surely one of the locals could be doing the job Rosa will be doing. Her parents don’t support what she’s doing so they won’t be sending money to support her activities. She left without telling her uncle so no help there. Besides there probably isn’t an ATMs or grocery stores or apartment buildings in this village. Basically the only thing she has going for her is that her uncle sends medical supplies but that really doesn’t do her any good unless she’s going to try and trade the supplies for food and shelter. Basically she is a drain on the villages resources and nothing more.

Wait. The Good People in This Remote Peruvian Village NEEDED “Help” Gathering STICKS?!!?

“We are Groot.”

Do you have a comment, or do have insomnia and like to keep hitting the refresh button?

Well, in that part of the world, manana means just what it says!

That doesn’t happen unless doctors show up. Then the line can stretch for a mile.

“Let Belinda enjoy it. It doesn’t take anything away from you”.I’m happy for her.She’s my inspiration.Would that all “afflicted” people could find happiness so easily.

I miss the plaid shirts.

We ARE Groot.We are Groot?We are Groot ?Grooty, man.

A mediocre doctor might be a great typist, but even a mediocre doctor will save more lives than your average typist on any given day.

… and on the 47th day they’d still be doing basic things. Rosa & Gunther, get an education and an internship— then return to Peru and do the healthcare and engineering that the Peruvians in the village can’t do for themselves.

As he enters the village, G-man is still wearing plaid.At breakfast we see his second non-plaid shirt.It’s the hyphen in between is where the story lies.

I still think that the prior references to “paths” should logically result in a meeting with the Shining Path. This present plot action has to be a dream, or there is something wrong with the way this comic strip is moving forward. Gunther and Rosa caught by the Shining Path could be a true character-building event in their lives, not to mention making the comic strip a real gut grabber. I really hope this present storyline is just stalling so that Greg can finish his holiday vacation.

What are they carrying in their backpacks?

Gunther is soooooo boring!!!! What a baby!!!!

If Rosa is a smart as the comic implies, she should use her brain and become a nurse or a doctor. She would then have so much more to “help” the world that just gathering sticks. She is a silly rich girl who has yet to grow up. Gunther should wise up and go to engineering or tech school, so he can run he own company some day and help build bridges and stuff that the world needs. The way this comic moves, I will not live long enough to see this through.

“Go out and get some kindling wood so we can start a fire.” How many of us remember being told that? It doesn’t take much thought to do that. I must have been still in diapers when I was first given that chore. So, Rosa, get some training at college, get your degree and then return to the village where you can use the skills that you must first develop.

She’s not the one who needs to go away, because she is not bored, just impatient. Let the bored leave.

Something in the Aussie character? (No offense.)

I think Gunther is suggesting that while helping the downtrodden in Peru is wonderful and noble… his effort in menial tasks did not sit with him as being particularly useful relative to his potential. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++It is MY opinion that Gunther DOES now like the idea of travel and being on his own, and always has believed in helping other…. I feel that Gunther will now go to college to help himself learn skills that are more specialized and helpful for him TO BECOME a more valuable volunteer. I could easily see Gunther pursuing engineering like he originally wanted, or some other profession (medicine, teaching, etc) that would be a more specialized service career. Then, I would not be surprised at all if Gunther joined the Peace Corps after graduation.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To me, this highlights the difference between Gunther and Rosa. I still think Rosa is rather self-centered (not thinking about Gunther much if at all during this journey). Her “volunteerism” spirit is intense right now, but her skill set is rather minimal. She seems to be very much only about the present. Gunther seems more thoughtful and looks more at the bigger picture. His volunteerism spirit is more temperate than Rosa’s, but I would not be surprised if he was very involved in volunteerism across his lifetime. Rosa… might be a volunteer for her lifetime, but her character traits also suggest she may burn out quickly.

-a selfish girl-One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to stop reading comments on this board that give me heartburn. Obviously, I’ve broken that resolution, but I’m going to have to try again to stick to it. Life is too short to deliberately court pain.-Your definition of a ‘selfish girl’, please?-Otherwise, I will continue to contend that you believe anyone who is an idealistic and wants to help others is simply selfish, or, only a man could have a ‘calling’ to help others, so Rosa is simply acting badly.-I’d also like it if you would show me where Rosa criticized Gunther for wearing plaid or sewing. -I believe it’s probably normal for girls and women to want the men in their lives to kiss them, which for a woman is an indication that a man cares for them. So if you define Rosa as ‘selfish’ because she was open with Gunther about the fact that he was not showing her that kind of attention, then I must assume that you have found a woman who doesn’t care if you show her physical love.-You may define this post as a personal attack, but I see it as a request for clarification.

Her life was nothing but school, you would need to know her to understand.Yes, I know her very well. Faith’s earlier post mentioned she has been to India twice. The girl I graduated with would never look past an open book.

Sorry, I made a mistake, Faith has only been to India once, I should have gone back and read it before I posted.

Hmm; I thought the med van was just going to drop them off with the supplies & not be back for a month. Maybe he’d stay for a night before returning & Gunther learned within hours that this was not his calling.

If they were just doing basic jobs that work certainly could have been done by locals, not people who had to travel thousands of miles to get there. Gunther was wasting his talents there and he finally came to that realization.

Right.Gunther didn’t spill any of this to his “friends” back at the party.Only Momma and Quill! will know of his travails.PS – Suck it up Gunth, Lima is only three hours ahead of California, ask Quill! what REAL jetlag is like.

“and Gunther finds that his computer tech skills are valuable to the community leadership. However, since they are gathering sticks, I doubt Evans has done any research on this at all.” If you read all the strips, you should have noticed that Gunther’s computer skills were very much noticed in Lima. You are being gratuitously rude to Evans.

So he couldn’t donate 45 days of his Very Valuable Time to doing something for someone else? What a jerk!!!

“By the end of the first day it hit me, there would be a second day, etc, etc, etc.”………………….The exact same feelings I had in Basic Training, only not just a second day, but a second, third, and fourth year, and no bailing out. Gunther will always have to live with the knowledge that when the going got tough (or even hopeless), he ran from it. No “Semper Fi” for the G-man.

“Basic jobs”=sweeping the floor, cleaning the toilets, mopping up after sick patients. But it’s not just the work—there’s no future in that. Rosa surprises me; with her intelligence, she certainly should have realized she could do lot more good by getting an RN first. Anyone can do the “basic jobs”.

On the first day they gathered sticks. On the second day they gathered rocks. Then they gathered leaves, grass and more sticks. By the second week the medical staff had to admit that they had run out of ideas for worthless tasks for these two useless people to do, so just stand in the corner and don’t get in the way.

If something isn’t right, it is better to find out before you spend the next 30 years trying to make it that way. Thanks for the advice Dad. Just wish you were still here so that I could thank you in person.

Perhaps this was the plan for Gunther all along?A new year – a new Gunther!

Now Quill has real competition!

He needs to join the Marine Corps and go through Boot Camp and then Infantry school, spend a tour in a combat zone so he has something to compare this horror too.

People can change. Whether it’s intentional or not.See “Candorville” today.

Hmmm…..I read through many posts here and on previous days and have this to offer if you will.

We are commenting on this strip as though it is supposed to have even the slightest amount of realism. The situations here are not realistic at all. They are situational humour, like Seinfeld was. Each event or montage is supposed to be humorous in itself. Rosa dating Gunther? unrealistic and there was no reasonable excuse ever demonstrated for this relationship. Knute using a stapler gun to hang stuff – haha funny?? But no consequences ever for his stupidity. Luann dating Aussie boy long distance – unrealistic given how shallow she is.

Yet we (me too) are commenting on these current events as though they are explainable rather than looking at them as we would look at slapstick – in a ‘hahaha, ok let’s move on now’ way. Gunther was dragged by his other head to Peru (or wherever) in spite of his better judgement. Rosa didn’t give a rat’s a$$ that she may have destroyed his education hopes. But in the moment, it was so Cuuuuuuute. Now we are trying to find meaning in this.

Let the flaming begin, hahaha.

So is Rosa now just a flash from the past or will she too return to Gunther and his less than welcoming embrace? Does anyone really care?

That he has no skill or natural ability to contribute? Nothing to be ashamed of. Not everyone has the same calling

Marine training would make Gunther a lot more useful in a remote Peruvian mountain clinic than he is right now.

I insist that Bernice and Gunther would make a cute couple and I’d like to see them going beyond friendship.

Twice a day?!? Gadds! I would rather do just about anything than shave once a day, let alone twice! Part of my issue (only part) may be that my hair is very curly, and when I do shave (I shave my neck line once a week or so to look tidy), the shaved area develops uncomfortable red bumps (the technical term is “pseudofolliculitis barbae”) which afflicts many people with curly hair. Fortunately my quantity of red bumps is relatively minor so I do continue to shave my neck once a week. But, for people with exceptionally tight, curly hair, the discomfort is far greater and they often avoid shaving at all.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++That said…. I also admit that I like how I look much better with a neatly trimmed, full beard and moustache, rather than my shaved face.

Meds command a high price on the black market. Gunther with an M-16 could provide security for the clinic.

Can Marines walk across an open field with their uniforms’ falling apart? Because Gunther and Rosa (and Quill and Luann) can’t do that.

Ya know, if all Gunther did during his trip into the remote wilderness was learn more about himself and his life and what he want, the trip to Peru was hardly wasted.

If learning what he wanted and needed from a woman was what he learned from Rosa, the romance was not wasted.

Aye.

LOL!!

I think he’ll go back. Probably just needed to check on Mr. Gray. Gunther will miss work.

This is Gunther’s adventure!

Since this story is fiction, I don’t see why Evans—my grandmother’s name by the way—should need to do any research into remote outposts in the Andes.

about sticks, I think after driver left, they were accommodated ti a place, and they had to get sticks to put it in a small furnace to heat their room(s)

It seems that Princess Rosa only cares about herself, yet she dragged Gunther along!

The question is:

Did Gunther grow up or give up?

Step 3: "Homework: Brush up on your ‘intellectual giants’ impersonations by following them on their respective ‘Talking Heads/Opinion’ shows, and bask in the rays of their ‘self-made importance’ "….

So much for the romance!

I wonder how Gunther gave up shaving and started drinking beer and coffee?

True, true…..