I guess that’s a LITTLE racist to say this, but most of my friends who are descended from Asian families know at least a little bit of yoga, often from grandparents, and such.
A couple of times a month? That…seems excessive to me. Then again I've never been to a spa in my life or now anyone who has been (as far as I know) so I don't know what the average would be for people who do that type of thing . It seems like such an upper middle class mom thing to do or very special occasion someone got you a gift certificate (for mother's day;) type of thing.
Well, I'm sure a lot of people would go that often if they could afford to. It's like massage: You get it on special occasions, it's nice; once a week is even nicer.
This is a Korean type spa called a jimjilbang. They're usually like $100 for a 12-24 hour period and don't include things like massages or facials. It's more like a big bath house with saunas than what Americans know as a spa.
Not the only one. I felt like she lingered on that 'yeah' like maybe going to a spa a couple times a month isn't as good. perhaps alluding to something or foreshadowing something.
A salt room or salt sauna is where you rub sea salt into your skin, then you sit in the heat for a bit, and afterwards rinse the salt off. Combined with the heat, it’s supposed to pull toxins out of your skin, as well as exfoliate away dead skin. I’ve done it a couple times and it feels AMAZING. Your skin is really really smooth afterwards.
Supposedly, heated lumps of salt release negative ions which are good for the body. I'm not sure about the science behind that, but I have seen electric lamps built into big salt crystals (usually 12-18 inches tall) for sale at natural healing shops. They look pretty cool, if nothing else.
Isn't that exactly how Hannah's described it, though?
She had a whole musical number about looking for a path into "nothing." She insisted that Marigold was hiding behind a facade of upwardly mobile happiness….The second Hannah finds out about the spa habit, she's gonna smirk and nod and be unbearably self satisfied.
bryanew710
I meant that Hannah doesn't think the road she's taking is escapism.
Hannah seems to be (or she was anyway) wallowing in misery and brutal honesty (as she sees it) while Marigold has built up an, "Everything's fine! I'm living the life of a TOGETHER person, fake it 'til you make it" type. Marigold wants to do everything she can to not look directly at/distract herself from her any unhappiness/dissatisfaction while Hannah can't take her eyes off it. I mean going to a spa multiple times a week? Marigold's trying to escape from something. So this makes me think Hanna was right about their being something false about who Marigold's becoming. The rift got caused when Marigold just insisted that she was being who she was not who she was trying to be.
Wow. Eve looked like a pretty average young lady in the beginning of the comic.
As she grew older, she started to look more and more like a baby.
The cutest baby.
I can’t quite decide what that look on Mar’s face is in the last panel. She LOOKS content to me, but that doesn’t jive with going to a spa twice a month and her hesitation in responding to Jane. Maybe she misses Hannah?
I felt like Marigold was realizing that, yeah, it IS nice! It's easy to forget that doing things you enjoy with people you enjoy, is – enjoyable! Seems like Mar has some reclusive tendencies, and anyone who can relate knows how that feels lol. I took this as her feeling… empowered? since Hanna's absence in her life. Idk, I just love this storyline and this comic and the colors and everything agh
Aw man, the storyline before we see how miserable Hanna is, and how Marigold acts a foil for Hanna’s struggle to become/be the person she wants, with the life she wants. But now we see Mar, escaping the city to freaking spa away reality, and she doesn’t even want her friends to come with her. I think if Marigold and Hanna could talk without diagnosing each other, they could reconcile pretty easily. They seem to both hate the idea of each other, but not the actual person.
Meanwhile Eve is just enjoying the heck out of herself, making sure she gets snacks, chilling out, and not over-thinking it. Atta girl!
Oh wow, Korean sauna! I've loved this comic for so long, and have always appreciated your inclusion of Asian American characters and culture but this definitely takes the cake! I've have been in a salt room stretching just like Eve. Basically, Meredith, you're great and I like you a lot.
P.S. If they go get a scrubby massage are you gonna include the old Korean ladies in their underwear? Oh I'll just keep reading.
Finally been able to check back on OP after my exams… so happy to be bombarded by new arc strips! Seriously makes me want to try out these awesome Asian spas but I don't think we have any where I'm at. 🙁
Oh, also: am I the only one who thinks Mar's got a look of newly realized contentment in the last panel? Like a "Maybe it isn't the spa that's making me feel good today, maybe it's being with mah freeeends~" type of look?
I found out about these things actually through Groupon. I was actually looking for water park discounts for the kids, and this one place was billing itself as an indoor waterpark. Turns out it was part of a sauna/spa complex, and that it was family-oriented, and there's all these neat sauna rooms and hydrotherapy areas and hey, men go to these all the time. So I tried it out one day and loved it. I go there once every couple of months now.
I don't think I agree with you guys about Marigold's expression in that last panel. I think she is probably just internally remarking on how nice it can be to spend time with your friends in silence and comfort, and on how far she has come to enjoy such a seemingly boring activity, without need for distraction or the desire for oblivion some of you are accusing her of. Happiness is not always represented by laughter or a poetic smile.
72 thoughts on “#749 – double life”
Bernadette
Eve is the CUTEST. The colors are looking great.
Arish
Eve is so cute in that last panel, dawww…
joewbank
I know people keep saying this, but I really can't believe how much the color adds to this comic. You two make a freaking awesome team.
@nullward
Happy baby pose!!
bryanew710
What is Eve doing?
Jesse G.
Happy baby! It's a yoga pose.
bryanew710
Thanks. Considering my little brother used to work for Lululemon, you'd think I would know that…
Chris
Living!
Remm
Spa-ing
lisavilisa
Happy Baby yoga pose
Joshua
Looks like yoga, probably happy baby pose.
DreamCarver
Stretching?
@educated_owl
looks like the happy baby yoga pose, i think
sthetic
She's holding her own feet, like a baby does.
Why? Because she's in a room that looks like the inside of a uterus (google it).
pianobug
She's doing like a "happy baby pose"-style stretch.
jeybork
Probably stretchin'. Ever tried that one? Feels good
jet jaguar
Such a great stretch!
bryanew710
Yeah…I just couldn't reach my feet like that.
Kathleen
Stretching
GreenwolfeESL
Looks like child's pose. But I'm not sure if Eve does yoga.
5-tons-of-flax
I think it's Happy Baby. Child's pose is the one where you kneel down and tuck your head under.
GreenwolfeESL
'Tis true. Which came to me as I was going about my day. D'oh!
Courtney
No, that’s happy baby! Childs pose is where you kind of fold over onto yourself.
Jerkbutt
Wait. My yoga teacher has always called this happy LADY pose. Am I getting trolled by my yoga teacher
Zee
I guess that’s a LITTLE racist to say this, but most of my friends who are descended from Asian families know at least a little bit of yoga, often from grandparents, and such.
zach
trouble in paradise..
woooow
"It's nice!", she said.
But she was lying.
It was not nice.
juliet delta
IT WAS AWESOOOOOOOOOO
caramalundqueer
A couple of times a month? That…seems excessive to me. Then again I've never been to a spa in my life or now anyone who has been (as far as I know) so I don't know what the average would be for people who do that type of thing . It seems like such an upper middle class mom thing to do or very special occasion someone got you a gift certificate (for mother's day;) type of thing.
Birke
Well, I'm sure a lot of people would go that often if they could afford to. It's like massage: You get it on special occasions, it's nice; once a week is even nicer.
Naomi
This is a Korean type spa called a jimjilbang. They're usually like $100 for a 12-24 hour period and don't include things like massages or facials. It's more like a big bath house with saunas than what Americans know as a spa.
Rut
Its just $45, to use the whole facility as long as you want, and there are almost always coupons making it $35 or less.
Kahl
Anyone else feel like Marigold isn't really happy?
Adi
Not the only one. I felt like she lingered on that 'yeah' like maybe going to a spa a couple times a month isn't as good. perhaps alluding to something or foreshadowing something.
But i don't like Mar so.. idk *shrug*
bryanew710
Pretty sure that's what Hannah has been trying to prove all this time.
TRA
Watching Eve hold her feet up, is one of the most adorable pictures I've ever seen!
melmc
Looks like eve is doing a stretch my yoga class calls "happy baby" or "dead bug".
nova
What is the purpose of a "salt room"???
Antsan
I guess it's to free up ypur sinuses.
LB
A salt room or salt sauna is where you rub sea salt into your skin, then you sit in the heat for a bit, and afterwards rinse the salt off. Combined with the heat, it’s supposed to pull toxins out of your skin, as well as exfoliate away dead skin. I’ve done it a couple times and it feels AMAZING. Your skin is really really smooth afterwards.
Birke
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000142405274870388…
MerchManDan
Supposedly, heated lumps of salt release negative ions which are good for the body. I'm not sure about the science behind that, but I have seen electric lamps built into big salt crystals (usually 12-18 inches tall) for sale at natural healing shops. They look pretty cool, if nothing else.
MerchManDan
"Damn" indeed. Even with a membership, that must get pretty expensive.
other
Uh oh, Mari's mental cracks are starting to grow.
GreenwolfeESL
I can't help thinking that both Hannah and Marigold are trying for a version of escapism. Different paths to bliss or oblivion.
bryanew710
You could be right. I'm sure Hannah doesn't see it that way.
Jessquire
Isn't that exactly how Hannah's described it, though?
She had a whole musical number about looking for a path into "nothing." She insisted that Marigold was hiding behind a facade of upwardly mobile happiness….The second Hannah finds out about the spa habit, she's gonna smirk and nod and be unbearably self satisfied.
bryanew710
I meant that Hannah doesn't think the road she's taking is escapism.
caramalundqueer
Hannah seems to be (or she was anyway) wallowing in misery and brutal honesty (as she sees it) while Marigold has built up an, "Everything's fine! I'm living the life of a TOGETHER person, fake it 'til you make it" type. Marigold wants to do everything she can to not look directly at/distract herself from her any unhappiness/dissatisfaction while Hannah can't take her eyes off it. I mean going to a spa multiple times a week? Marigold's trying to escape from something. So this makes me think Hanna was right about their being something false about who Marigold's becoming. The rift got caused when Marigold just insisted that she was being who she was not who she was trying to be.
pieman
It looks like they're relaxing in a shark's mouth.
elci629
it's happy baby pose that Eve is in. lovely hip opener.
Karinpa
Is this one of those moment where you realize "Fuck, I not enjoying sharing this space/time with others"… Poor Mar if its one of those moments
Chris
Wow. Eve looked like a pretty average young lady in the beginning of the comic.
As she grew older, she started to look more and more like a baby.
The cutest baby.
KitKats
Letting go some of that cynicism will do that to a person! ?
Lane
I can’t quite decide what that look on Mar’s face is in the last panel. She LOOKS content to me, but that doesn’t jive with going to a spa twice a month and her hesitation in responding to Jane. Maybe she misses Hannah?
ohbuckets
I felt like Marigold was realizing that, yeah, it IS nice! It's easy to forget that doing things you enjoy with people you enjoy, is – enjoyable! Seems like Mar has some reclusive tendencies, and anyone who can relate knows how that feels lol. I took this as her feeling… empowered? since Hanna's absence in her life. Idk, I just love this storyline and this comic and the colors and everything agh
MCortland
Aw man, the storyline before we see how miserable Hanna is, and how Marigold acts a foil for Hanna’s struggle to become/be the person she wants, with the life she wants. But now we see Mar, escaping the city to freaking spa away reality, and she doesn’t even want her friends to come with her. I think if Marigold and Hanna could talk without diagnosing each other, they could reconcile pretty easily. They seem to both hate the idea of each other, but not the actual person.
Meanwhile Eve is just enjoying the heck out of herself, making sure she gets snacks, chilling out, and not over-thinking it. Atta girl!
Jonathan
Marigold clearly carries her book by wedging in her waistband, under her shirt. Glad to know I'm not the only one who does this.
Naomi
Oh wow, Korean sauna! I've loved this comic for so long, and have always appreciated your inclusion of Asian American characters and culture but this definitely takes the cake! I've have been in a salt room stretching just like Eve. Basically, Meredith, you're great and I like you a lot.
P.S. If they go get a scrubby massage are you gonna include the old Korean ladies in their underwear? Oh I'll just keep reading.
aristarcop
I know you're all "Eve is so cute." She is, but Jane… Dayum!!! Dat girl is foyne!!
Arianod
Oh yes, you can't beat Jane for foynesse. But Eve hogs all the cute. Forever.
Ivy
Honestly if I could afford it, I'd go to a spa like that twice a month too.
formerNYCer
It's fun seeing Spa Castle in Octopus pie. I couldn't handle going there several times a month like Mar can though haha
peakpointmatrix
Is this arc just one big ad for Korean Spas?
Cause it's working.
Marvin Choi
Eve got super cute holy crap
Hunter_Rose
Is the salt room supposed to be cold/cool or is it also heated like a sauna?
Arianod
Maaaaan, the cuteness is just beaming out of Eve and it doesn't stop. Can't even deal with it *_*
Ron
I'm Googling for a local spa now!
@tinatinabanana
Finally been able to check back on OP after my exams… so happy to be bombarded by new arc strips! Seriously makes me want to try out these awesome Asian spas but I don't think we have any where I'm at. 🙁
Oh, also: am I the only one who thinks Mar's got a look of newly realized contentment in the last panel? Like a "Maybe it isn't the spa that's making me feel good today, maybe it's being with mah freeeends~" type of look?
Devon
1) "Double life" I LOLed.
2) This is kind of like an ad for Korean spas. I'm going to look up if there are any in my area. This just looks the nicest!
@TMOverbeck
I found out about these things actually through Groupon. I was actually looking for water park discounts for the kids, and this one place was billing itself as an indoor waterpark. Turns out it was part of a sauna/spa complex, and that it was family-oriented, and there's all these neat sauna rooms and hydrotherapy areas and hey, men go to these all the time. So I tried it out one day and loved it. I go there once every couple of months now.
David
I don't think I agree with you guys about Marigold's expression in that last panel. I think she is probably just internally remarking on how nice it can be to spend time with your friends in silence and comfort, and on how far she has come to enjoy such a seemingly boring activity, without need for distraction or the desire for oblivion some of you are accusing her of. Happiness is not always represented by laughter or a poetic smile.