Original Commentary

Quick geography recap. The island (and country) is named Hippedown. As is the capital city, where the Minerva Theatre is located. Kimberly is from Caix-upon-Kindness, (which is located by the Kindness River [pronounced with a short "i"]), which is on the other side of the same island. So why is she taking a boat? Because the roads between the cities aren't in great conditions and long-distance travel by bus can be unpleasant. Most of the inter-city travel on the island is done by boat, because most cities are on the coast and the interior doesn't have much in the way of infrastructure.

And yes, that's the second month-long gap in Kimberly's journal in as many days. Brisbane isn't skipping pages; they just don't have entries. There's a story behind those as well. And this wasn't written with the intention of never showing Kimberly's father. It just worked out that way.

The sky is grey to show the coldness. In the first draft Isabel wrote, it was going to be snowing, but she decided that "sad bunnygirl in snow" wasn't how Kimberly was. And with the exception of the first panel, she's not writing as she's doing things. She wrote the entries for the last three panels while on the boat, of course. There's more to explain here, actually. But I'll save that for tomorrow - Terrence

Modern Commentary
It is unfair for Kimberly to blame herself. Her dad just kinda wished her luck and left her on her own. He's been difficult to get a hold of.

I'm sure she smiled and said she was doing fine (but didn't mean it); he smiled and said he'd send money when he could (but also didn't mean it).

Even if Kimberly could've been more direct about how bad her situation was, it's still not her fault. Dude knows how much the rent is and how much he's given her and what kind of shortfall there was. - Terrence