Jess Door |
It's things like this that give the rest of us religious people a bad name.
My parents are religious, and so am I. so there are awful people that use religion to impose cruelty on people. Just like others do it in the name of science and progress, or use their own pain as an excuse to inflict pain or cruelty on others. And there are people that use religion or science or pain to try to make the world around them better. I think this stuff is more about people than philosphy.
My dad hurt me, but I take some comfort in that it was unconcious, poisonous learned behavior from his parents.
When my grandpa tried to get my then 16 year old dad to shoot a bi-racial man that was dating my aunt, my dad stood up to his father, refused, and stopped grandpa from doing anything either. That takes a lot of moral fortitude, and I'm unspeakably proud of my father for that strength of character (once my brothers and I heard this story, we all agreed that Grandpa deserved the minimal respect due him as the patriarch of the family - when we are in his presence, we are polite. Nothing more. He is not deserving of anything more than that from any of us). And my dad stood up for his sister when grandpa, grandma, the other aunt and another uncle didn't.
I talk about this stuff because I want to work through it to the point where I can control the effect it has on me and my actions. My dad was a big improvement over his parents, whatever his flaws. I would like to do my best to continue the trend.
Jess Door |
Sorry you had such a miserable time.
Hey, I DID the scholarship, and I did get to go to college. Some of the stuff I dealt with did stink, and if I ever get to have kids, I'm going to help them set up their financial life rather than shoot it repeatedly in the foot, but it worked out. I'm glad they loosened up for the youngest brother - just wished they'd managed for me too. the brother's paying off his "invisible Ferrari" well enough, they don't regret their trust in him. so that's good.
Mike Welham Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012 |
Mike Welham Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012 |
Celestial Healer |
Orthos wrote:It's things like this that give the rest of us religious people a bad name.My parents are religious, and so am I. so there are awful people that use religion to impose cruelty on people. Just like others do it in the name of science and progress, or use their own pain as an excuse to inflict pain or cruelty on others. And there are people that use religion or science or pain to try to make the world around them better. I think this stuff is more about people than philosphy.
Case in point: My step-father was a hateful, abusive agnostic. I, for one, know that miserable people come from all creeds (or lacks thereof).
Orthos |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Orthos wrote:It's things like this that give the rest of us religious people a bad name.My parents are religious, and so am I. so there are awful people that use religion to impose cruelty on people. Just like others do it in the name of science and progress, or use their own pain as an excuse to inflict pain or cruelty on others. And there are people that use religion or science or pain to try to make the world around them better. I think this stuff is more about people than philosphy.
Oh I agree. It was more a comment on things like that being thrown out as the reason religion is bad, and the foundation of stereotypes and assumptions that get spread around to discount this or that group. I'm well aware there's good and bad folk on both sides of every line. It's just frustrating to see people doing things like this and perpetuating the mindset.
It's just kind of a "Dude people already dislike us, stop proving them right"
Bitter Thorn |
Bitter Thorn wrote:Orthos wrote:Bitter Thorn wrote:I could stand an apartment, mostly because I need very little space to live comfortably, and renting an apartment is cheaper than renting a small house with the extra costs for land, upkeep, taxes....Jess Door wrote:I wanted an off campus apartment badly - the money the school provided for room and board could move off campus, and I had another girl lined up as a roommate with the same scholarship. We would have saved so much money. But I had no credit history, and my parents wouldn't cosign the lease. So...there it is.That bites. I can't even stand apartments any more. The last time I lived in any kind of institutional housing goes back to Korea in '86.For me the issue is not mainly square footage. I just couldn't stand the restrictions of apartment or condo life. Living on top of other people is not for me. I like my little house in my little cul de sac.
I wouldn't mind a more remote location though.
huh. Weird.
returns to 9th floor apartment in 20 floor building
Will you come visit my compound when/if I build it? ;)
Mike Welham Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012 |
taig wrote:I need a cost effective solution to stop the dust bunnies from reproducing, though!Spay and neuter your kitties. And your arrogant asses. This public service announcement brought to you by the Spay and Neuter Society of America.
I wish I knew of one. As a multi-cat "owner", I find it a constant struggle to stay ahead of the dreaded dust bunnies.
Mike Welham Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012 |
Emperor7 |
Ugh. Grandpa versus Dad versus me stories. Grandpa was a real piece of work.
I know I've done better for my kids but there seems to be no end to the needs, and a definite lack of understanding of the impact of their 'needs' on my wife and me. And a bigtime lack of gratitude.
MSU 'requires' freshmen to live on campus. Hopefully my daughter grows up a lot and makes some responsible friends so they can move off campus to reduce expenses. Room and Board is over $8k, but I'm afraid to look at exactly how much more.
Bitter Thorn |
lynora wrote:Yeah, my parents basically expected me to pay for everything for college myself too. They filled out the FAFSA and contributed like two hundred dollars and that was it. The real kicker for me is that they paid for my sisters schooling. :(Yeah, my middle brother and I went to the university, on the same scholarship, for the same major. And my parents were resigned to filling out the FAFSA at that point, thank goodness.
For the youngest son, they cosigned on private university out of state tuition....
.....
Yeah.
My folks put my older sister through school at Trinity in San Antonio. She is an exceptional academic. She's working on her doctorate at A&M now. I took the Army route. I would have been a terrible waste of my parents money had I gone to college before joining the Army. I think it worked out very well. Dorian has done quite well for herself, and I needed the time to get my act together and earn my own college money. I've never asked my parents for a dime since I was 17, and my daughter and son in law have never asked me for a dime since they got together. It has all worked out fairly well for us.
I was tremendously fortunate to have been adopted by my folks.
lynora |
lynora wrote:Yeah, my parents basically expected me to pay for everything for college myself too. They filled out the FAFSA and contributed like two hundred dollars and that was it. The real kicker for me is that they paid for my sisters schooling. :(Know that feeling. It's annoying even knowing that they just didn't have it when my turn came up and that my sister only went about a semester to community college.
I'm the oldest. Because my mom was sick and in hospital so much I had adult responsibilities since I was in elementary school. I honestly think somewhere in there they just forgot that I was still a kid. Since my sisters are much younger than me they had more of an opportunity to have a normal childhood and all the stuff that goes with that. On the one hand I'm glad I was able to help give them that, and on the other hand I really wish it hadn't had to come at my expense.
Patrick Curtin |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ugh. College stories
First time around I shouldn't have gone. In hindsight, I should have done a military tour fresh out of high school. I paid for it via Sallie 'a#%#&%+' Mae, and despite having a scholarship for tuition and it being the Eighties I still limped out of there with a $10K burden and a partially-completed English degree. Even if I had graduated the degree would have made great toilet paper, not much else. But I was still a foolish kid then and didn't want to 'be a slave of the system'. So English it was.
Second time a decade ago, I found a four-year program offered locally at a community college. It was cheap, and I managed to get a four year degree for about $7k ( with a lot of transferable classes from my first go). Problem was, being a mid-thirties ex-military dude was not an enviable place in the world of marketing. So now, I work at a coffeeshop >.<
Feh, bad cess on colleges and their tuitions. Shiny buildings, sports teams, six-figure administration salaries, tenured professors in useless major tracks. Who needs it? I hope the online paradigm reduces them to parking lots.
Orthos |
Feh, bad cess on colleges and their tuitions. Shiny buildings, sports teams, six-figure administration salaries, tenured professors in useless major tracks. Who needs it? I hope the online paradigm reduces them to parking lots.
If I ever go back to school - which is doubtful, because I refuse to take a loan ever again and doubt I'd qualify for a scholarship - this is definitely the route I'm going.
lynora |
The online thing works great for liberal arts, but doesn't do much good for science majors. Lucky for me the second go round I've been able to take a lot of classes at the local community college, but next year I'll be back at the expensive school. Thousands and thousands of dollars of debt. Yay. :/
But it's the only way to get where I wanna be, so I'll just have to figure it out.
Orthos |
I think that's a large part of my "problem", in that I haven't really decided on any one "thing" to pursue for a lifelong job. Hence I have no drive to go back to school or struggle (again) through debt for the ensuing payoff. Between that, a low standard of living, a disdain for the college atmosphere, and a refusal to both spend money that I didn't earn and put myself again in debt, it makes any prospect for re-entering the world of education pretty nil.
Patrick Curtin |
The online thing works great for liberal arts, but doesn't do much good for science majors. Lucky for me the second go round I've been able to take a lot of classes at the local community college, but next year I'll be back at the expensive school. Thousands and thousands of dollars of debt. Yay. :/
But it's the only way to get where I wanna be, so I'll just have to figure it out.
Science degrees at least offer a decent chance at a job. Liberal arts should be online. Theres no logical reason to spend $100K for a degree that is likely to get you a job with a $30k starting salary (if you are lucky)
lynora |
lynora wrote:Science degrees at least offer a decent chance at a job. Liberal arts should be online. Theres no logical reason to spend $100K for a degree that is likely to get you a job with a $30k starting salary (if you are lucky)The online thing works great for liberal arts, but doesn't do much good for science majors. Lucky for me the second go round I've been able to take a lot of classes at the local community college, but next year I'll be back at the expensive school. Thousands and thousands of dollars of debt. Yay. :/
But it's the only way to get where I wanna be, so I'll just have to figure it out.
Now that I agree with wholeheartedly. It's part of why I dropped out partway through during my first attempt at college. It was just throwing good money after bad at that point. And I was too sick to actually go to classes, but that's a whole different rant on the incompetency rampant in the medical profession and how listening to patients can save everyone a lot of trouble.
Jess Door |
Bah, patients never know anything!
;)
I was fortunate in that I had a lot of subjects I could have studied and enjoyed, and I was practical enough in high school to go for a major where I can work in pretty much any field, anywhere. Computer programming is so ubiquitous at this point that I can't think of an industry where it's not important, if not critical. I've worked in fashion, food, cooling/heating, housewares and retail goods, charter aircraft operations, and now the financial sector.
My good friend is an accountant, also for purely practical reasons. We're both big into art, but couldn't bring ourselves to spend the money on an art degree - though she took art history courses for fun, and I took art and Japanese courses for fun as well. I guess we're both kinda sellouts. :D
lynora |
Bah, patients never know anything!
;)
Yes, this seems to be what they teach in medical school. :/
Three years (only about one of which I actually remember) and various medical professionals, all to figure out that I was having a rare but serious reaction to a usually harmless medication....all of which was solved by a doctor having the sense to ask when the symptoms started and what changes occurred at that time.Urizen |
Jess Door wrote:taig wrote:I need a cost effective solution to stop the dust bunnies from reproducing, though!Spay and neuter your kitties. And your arrogant asses. This public service announcement brought to you by the Spay and Neuter Society of America.
I wish I knew of one. As a multi-cat "owner", I find it a constant struggle to stay ahead of the dreaded dust bunnies.
Likewise. They spawn. Exponentially. Like tribbles.
Urizen |
MSU 'requires' freshmen to live on campus. Hopefully my daughter grows up a lot and makes some responsible friends so they can move off campus to reduce expenses. Room and Board is over $8k, but I'm afraid to look at exactly how much more.
That requirement is b.s. And even more so when they're packing some of them to 4 a room like sardines and you're paying some serious jack.
OSU is attempting to make that also a requirement for sophomores, now.
Urizen |
If I ever go back to school - which is doubtful, because I refuse to take a loan ever again and doubt I'd qualify for a scholarship - this is definitely the route I'm going.
A school loan or a loan in general?
If the latter, good luck with that if you can pay everything by cash. Even then, there are certain things you cannot get feasibly w/o a credit history.
Catch-22
Patrick Curtin |
Bah, patients never know anything!
;)
I was fortunate in that I had a lot of subjects I could have studied and enjoyed, and I was practical enough in high school to go for a major where I can work in pretty much any field, anywhere. Computer programming is so ubiquitous at this point that I can't think of an industry where it's not important, if not critical. I've worked in fashion, food, cooling/heating, housewares and retail goods, charter aircraft operations, and now the financial sector.
My good friend is an accountant, also for purely practical reasons. We're both big into art, but couldn't bring ourselves to spend the money on an art degree - though she took art history courses for fun, and I took art and Japanese courses for fun as well. I guess we're both kinda sellouts. :D
Believe me, its better to have a 'practical' degree and keep your 'libArts' leanings as a hobby/ occasional Community college course. A lot of people I was friends with in HS with went into computer science. Many of them are pulling down immense salaries as senior IT admins at big companies. And they still read plenty of books on the side =/. I can barely crack a book open before falling asleep exhausted.