Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for June 02, 2009

It’s a lot more fun without the instructions.

I have a feeling that Calvin’s going to mess this up and blame Hobbes.

Dad I know your a little busy at the new house but can I stay up just a little longer.

Just until 11:30 remember you have school finals to do.

thanks dad.

I’m glad this site doesn’t have Twilight braggers cause i hate it when my friends brag about it. I liked the Underworld movies better anyways.

Typical male - when all else fails, read the directions.

Whey did Moses wander 40 years in the desert? Because even back then men refused to ask for directions.

Good night everybody. It’s almost 11:30 and I did promise dad that I would be in bed by the time he gave me.

I hope they have extra glue. I think the current sharing between a little kid and a plush toy(even if he is a tiger) is a path to disaster. I remember those plastic frustrations . They were a nightmare even when you did read the instructions.

The airplane which had fallen into the Atlantic, would need someone who puts the pieces together too and who saved the people at all!

I wonder if it’ll fly…………

I like to assembly those models pieces, and Jigsaw Puzzle …

charlie37133 said, 17 minutes ago ladywolf17 you go to bed better that calvin

Big girl knows better what Dad says. LOL

LX013 said, 16 minutes ago The airplane which had fallen into the Atlantic, would need someone who puts the pieces together too and who saved the people at all!

Prayers go out to those victims!

You should know that this is one of the most classic of the Calvin & Hobbes? This strip is the motto of all us geek in the word!

calvin aint no sissy…. yet

To Ivy0730Lcsq, Thanks for the thought, we’re all shook up over here. I hope that they are with Calvin and Hobbes:we all need to feel a little closer to that world…even if you gotta still go to school in the morning.

Why are men afraid of instructions? Calvin what’s going to happen when you get your first Ikea furniture? This is heading for disaster…

Calvin and glue ?? That will become a disaster, even he read the instructions before.

I’m not sure I want to see what happens.

Gweedo and Ladywolf, stay tuned.

(spoiler: a Spaceman Spiff scenario with lots of parts misaligned on the spacecraft)

I used to love to make non-standard models - putting the parts whereever - This is perfect for Calvin.

u dont have to look like one to be one calvin

Huh? Does anyone here know of a way to get model airplane glue off a plush stuff tiger? Because I remember getting it all over the place when I made my first model and mom had to throw away a tablecloth….and my fingers stuck together for a day or so…

smile

How about this? My husband was driving his friend to the dentist. His friend has a Tom-tom and it was on, HOWEVER, my husband still called me at home to get directions.

Calvin dares to learn visual skills, without a nagging woman to harp at him, the model will without a doubt be a mess but the learning will remain.

Why are you all doubting Calvin? His plane will turn out exactly the way he wants it to… wait… he is trying to recreate all the aircraft disasters…isn’t he?

(ha)

This does not bode well for the model…..

I think they did something like this when they were working on Star Wars. But then my memory needs glue too.

Calvin is smart so he may make it work but I’d use the instructions.

Why do men fear to ask for directions? Because they think it makes them look weak and it gives the person giving the directions a one up position. I wouldn’t worry about that as much as driving around wasting gas and time instead of getting where you’re going.

Looks a bit like my son with a new set of Legos when he was younger. But that was because he couldn’t read. Now that he’s seven, he follows the directions, at least the first time he builds it. After that he uses the pieces to make fantastic creations with his own imagination, which is how it should be. We learn and create so much more when we don’t follow the directions.

Ldywldkat: i think nail polish remover might work, but use it sparingly i for one can’y wait to see the finished model

ladywolf17; good luck w/ the rest of your finals

I tried using the instructions when I built models, they didn’t help. (Is that Slot A or SlotQ? Glue it all and let God sort it out.)

Hey Carmy… you “molded” your model - opps, I mean husband - well !!! ;>0

Hobbes must be the sissy side of Calvins imagination

Take all the pieces off the trees, throw them in the box, add glue, put box top on and shake vigorously. Allow 30 minutes drying time. Walla!

I recall those old plastic model instructions used to be pretty dang good—with detailed pictures and all. But speaking of ‘instructions’….

Is it me or has the knack of including easy-to-follow instructions gone completely south over the years?? I admit maybe it’s Old Me vs Modern Geek, but I always end up at my wits end when trying to follow the way they don’t say the simplest things nowadays…..’specially when their so-called help is in microscopic type.

Looking forward to seeing Calvin’s phantom catastrophe.

Wait -a-minute who needs instructions when you’re SPACEMAN SPIFF MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE!!!!!

I think I remember Calvin flying the Phantom in one Sunday strip…

Why don’t men read instructions? Its partly pride, and partly the joy of completing something without them, figuring it out for yourself.

I MUST have the instruction how to read carefully before I assemble the parts for airplane, truck and etc… But sometimes, the parts will not fit in right way, too loosing to fit in, or the parts are missing. Well, I really enjoy assembling the model cars and whatever.

@Wildmustang, you seem to have lots more patience than Calvin. And probably better model skills when it comes to using just enough glue, reshaping parts, painting, and all the rest.

grazer said,

“Is it me or has the knack of including easy-to-follow instructions gone completely south over the years?? ”

grazer, this is because most instructions are written by people for whom english is not a primary language. Add to this the fact that many companies seem to feel that instructions can be minimized due to their help call centers, although, good luck in actually being able to get in and talk to someone. Hopefully, the on-hold music is good.

Calvin and glue. Yikes!

calvin you may not look like a sissy but you will do something wrong and blame it on hobbes as always:)

Sorry for how long this post is going to be but when I read today’s Calvin and Hobbes, it brought back a memory from my childhood I don’t like thinking about but given how closely related I feel it is, I just HAD to comment on it!

What’s up with men and their inordinate fear of reading/following/asking for directions???!!!

I remember when I was a kid going on vacations with my parents. Every time without fail (even if we were going someplace we had been to multiple times before!), my dad would miss a turn, exit, or just not see a street sign he needed to find, so he’d stop at convenient stores then send either my mother or me in to get directions that were supposed to put us back on the right path. She and I always dreaded those times because if the new directions didn’t work out right and we had to stop yet AGAIN for FURTHER directions, WE’D get all the blame for not telling him right and getting us lost even further! It was just awful!!!!!

I never COULD figure out why he wouldn’t just do it himself so it would get done right the first time (possibly ….. but probably not!! God love him but sometimes it seemed like he barely knew East from West, North from South his sense of direction was so bad!!!) and save my mom and me from all the stress but I guess if things didn’t work out right and we were STILL lost then who was he going to blame then??? Because he certainly couldn’t blame himself!!!!! The vacations themselves were fun but getting there then eventually coming back were VERY bad times! I was glad when I got married and those “fun family vacations” with my dad were finally over!!!!!

Thankfully, my husband has a wonderfully mechanical brain and can figure most things out just by looking at them but he’s not afraid to pick up a set of instructions to put something together (especially when it has A LOT of pieces!) nor is he afraid to look up where he wants to go in an unfamiliar city/town on MapQuest either!!!!! He likes being educated and prepared on any subject he’s trying to tackle and is more than willing to resort to printed instructions/directions when necessary!!! He doesn’t believe he’s a “sissy” for doing it and neither do I!!!!! That’s how you avoid wasting time and having to do things over again: you read the instructions and do it right the first time!

The model kits I purchased when I was a pup came with four or five square blocks of wood, sandpaper, glue and an exacto knife, I had to supply the imagination, plus which the directions were vague at best.

The model kits I purchased when I was a pup came with four or five square blocks of wood, sandpaper, glue and an exacto knife, I had to supply the imagination, plus which the directions were vague at best.

A thousand pardons for the double post, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

It is ALWAYS more fun w/out instructions….jajajajaj

OH MY GOODNESS!

Calvin is lucky, he has Hobbes as friend!

@ GretchensMom…..

Glad todays comics/comments helped you rightfully vent about the sad side to fun times. My old man was alot like that too. As smart as he was (big IQ) he was mentally challenged in areas most people aren’t—and was too proud/embarrassed to try deal with it so he often used the family to cover for his inadequacy while he hid in the background.

Glad you’ve since discovered most men don’t fall into that extreme. Most of us guys can find our way home….and a few of us can even read instructions.

…………………..

@ wicky—Yeah, my first model kits were much like that (even had to whittle, shape and sand our own propeller!) Tough hobby to master in those days. I usually gave up after a coupla months of tedious work and not much to show for it.

No problem wicky. Perhaps your fingers were glued to the keyboard ??

Some people have such great spatial abilities taht they cansee how a model should go together. Others need those step by step instructions. Calvin isn’t a geek or a nerd. He’s ADD with poor impulse control.

I’m surprised no one mentioned the fumes from the airplane glue. Wasn’t that the stuff that kids were getting loopy on and then started sniffing it to get high! I think I remember the warnings when I was a kid of it killing brain cells! Kids would say they’d get so high on just the fumes putting the models together , that even if they used the directions, they couldn’t assemble the kits anyway! I don’t know the series but they probably wouldn’t use that idea of Calvin and Hobbes having a 60’s high while making the model. It just would set forth a bad image for the characters and give kids the idea to try it but in an adult comic version it could be funny! Maybe that’s just my twisted sense of humor!

You people have no lives

Cant wait til tomorrow strip, find out what’s the airplaine gonna look like?!…. I think I already know what’s gonna look like.D

heehehhe! ah what we all do when we excited b4 frustration sets in =D

EMET, you’re right about the leadership. However your comment about the bush issue is a little like, “Water you doing with that staff?”. (sorry - bad pun)

I know that this is gonna end up a mess and the airplane will suck, and Calvin and Hobbes will be upset because iit doesnt look like the one in the picture!! (i bet)

A sissy? No. A kid without a model jet? Yes.

poor GretchensMom, do you not know real men don’t ask for directions or read instructions. that’s womenswork. HAHAHAHA

My dad is pretty stubborn at times. He doesn’t like to admit when he needs help with something. He never seems to lose his cool, that’s what amazes me considering he only has one good arm to work with. His other arm has nerve damage. And did you know that he can carve objects out of wood with a knife.

GretchensMom - you have a wonderful husband… I remember once I was trying to put together a stool, and I read the directions very carefully (that didn’t scare me, maybe because I’m female), and getting very annoyed because (a) I had parts that weren’t in the list (b) I was missing parts that WERE in the list.

So I phoned the company, and spoke to several employees who didn’t have a clue, and finally was passed over to someone who DID have a clue. He just laughed and said they had probably put in instructions for an earlier version. Very quickly each of us realized that the other was intelligent enough for a meaningful discussion, and I think we both found it a relief, being surrounded by ignoramuses.

He walked me thru the process of putting the stool together, and everything worked perfectly, and we were both very pleased.

The punch line? His native language was NOT English. It was Chinese. His English was not the very best, but it was pretty good, and his intelligence transcended the language barrier.

Hey aswain17, if us people have no lives then why are you here.

I HAVE a life, it’s just a little off kilter.

RinaFarina, your experience with the gentleman from China reminds me of my trials with my old computer (a Compac) when it acted up. I made 3 or 4 calls to their tech support line. Each time I spoke with a different person who sounded like they were in India. Each time the issue was not resolved. The last I called I got a guy that I immediately pegged to be from Canada. We talked politics and sports while he ran some remote tests. Bottom line, we had an enjoyable conversation and he authorized sending my computer back to be rebuilt. It worked when I got it back so I immediately sold it and bought a new one.

haha too bad he doesnt know whats going to happen with out the instrucktions !! it going to be funny!

ladywolf17 said, 3 days ago

I’m glad this site doesn’t have Twilight braggers cause i hate it when my friends brag about it. I liked the Underworld movies better anyways.

and i say to that true i like underworld movies too but i like twilight too sooo srry i guess

ps good luck with ur test….

LX013 said, 3 days ago

The airplane which had fallen into the Atlantic, would need someone who puts the pieces together too and who saved the people at all!

i say to that is pray to all the ppl but i dont think they would srvive too bad good luck in heaven…

Do I Look Like a Sissy ?

wow

Calvin and glue, glue and Calvin. This doesn’t look as bad as you described it!!!!! I love twilight ! ( bragging) We’re going to be the twilight bragers !!! hehe he ! somehow, i think the model will turn out badly, and 1ce again, calvin will blame hobbes.