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Is it because of the snow, or because I look like Jesus, Green Lantern.
D'oh!
That's what happens when your super suit is animated...
Huh, I guess you can add Aroden to people I kinda look like. Except I NEVER put my hair in a ponytail.
Serviles subtype and a feat. Too lazy to write more!
Happy natal day, Drejk!
Unless you were a virgin birth.
In which case, you should probably have the Green Lantern t-shirt.
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The choir director and the two "permanent" chaperones (I being one) are going over the other possible chaperones for the SoCal trip, as there are always more volunteers than there are spots.
So, since the trip is quite expensive ($400 for 3 nights) we provide scholarships to students who can't afford to come to ensure that all of the students can participate. And yes, as a fair disclaimer, I am a significant source of those scholarships, so I have a vested interest in this, which is why I'd like to hear other people's reactions.
One woman requested and received a $250 scholarship for her daughter to be able to go on the trip. When she received the chaperone form a month later, she checked, "Yes, I can contribute to my own costs on the trip," because that checkmark (against my preferences) says, "This will increase your chance of being considered."
Personally, this really bothers me. "I cannot afford to send my daughter on the trip, but I can pay for myself."
In my view, it is at best selfishness: "My desire to go trumps my daughter's desire, so I can find room in the family budget for myself." At worst, it is out-and-out greed: "Hey, my daughter can go on the trip and I can get away with paying half price! Score!"
If she'd just said, "I needed a scholarship for my daughter, but I'd really like to help," she'd be a shoo-in.
But the whole, "I need a scholarship for my daughter but I'll happily pay for myself," has us wondering about her character.
Any alternative takes on this?
EDIT: Oh, and yes. The scholarships come with the standard boilerplate: "If your circumstances change and you find that you can afford this trip for your child after all, please do so so we can use the money for other needy kids."
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Oh, and apropos of nothing:
The Fluffernutter: She's a ragamuffin/Siberian mix, which makes her an amazing fighting cat with the personality of a dog. So other cats run up, attack her, she says, "Oh, are we playing now?", beats them senseless, and watches confused as they run away hissing.
She's not a dumb cat; she's an optimistic cat. "Yes, I see, hear, and smell the rain, but until I feel it I prefer to believe that it doesn't exist." And OMG is she LOUD. At 6:30 am sharp when I start work, she wanders the house, yowling, until I let her out on her harness.
The Calico, aka "Little Miss Hates the World": Our calico is a rescue cat. When we chose her, she was hopped up on pregnancy hormones. Once those wore off, we realized what a monster we'd adopted. She hates people. She hates dogs. She hates other cats. She is afraid of nothing. Yet she's an absolutely useless fighter so she's spent her 11 years with us getting beaten up by a running series of other cats.
The *only* creatures she tolerates are kids under 4. We have no idea why, but she goes up to them, purrs, lets them poke her in the face or pull on her tail, and is infinitely gentle with them. If you're 5 or older and you pet her more than twice, you will bleed!
I've spent this evening watching Nigerian melodramas with ALL (DE), although we had to quit about a third of the way through 'Mother of the Night Witches', more's the pity.Nollywood?
Yep. We asked ALL (DE)'s Mum for some recommendations and she pointed us towards a couple of beauties. What I would really like is a Nigerian version of Conan, or some sort of historical drama involving Hausa knights, so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled/do a bit of research...
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Y'know, it's really sad to me. I know that a lot of store-bought stuff is cheaply-made, mass-produced, and designed to be a quick-and-easy-and-inexpensive replacement for something that's harder for you to make yourself.
Bisquik comes to mind: If you make it with water as instructed, you get pancakes or waffles that are technically edible, as long as you have enough syrup. If you use milk, butter, and eggs, you ask, "Why did I need a mix again?", but they reach the, "Not bad, but I could do better," plateau.But you'd think there would be something you could get that would be better than you could make yourself.
I needed some Cajun seasoning to season the red beans and rice I'm making for dinner tonight. I grabbed a recipe off AllRecipes.com and mixed together some of our ancient herbs and spices (some at least 10 years old), found that I was out of cayenne pepper (kind of important in Cajun cuisine), and decided to see whether I could use one of the many bottles of store-bought stuff people have gotten me over the years.
It was pathetic. My decrepit, "These herbs should have been thrown away when Impus Minor was still in diapers" mixture was so much richer, more aromatic, and more flavorful than any of the store-bought bottles that I had to sigh, toodle over to the corner store, and pick up some fresh cayenne.
I'd just like to think that somewhere, out there, is store-bought food that's at least comparable to homemade. Is that too much to ask?
I'm finding in general you have a far, far, far higher bar of expectations than 99% of people.
Question
The only thing I can use in her defense is that maybe circumstances *have* changed in that month. You have presented no way of knowing they haven't.
Otherwise...your logic seems sound.
Edit: Tax Return could have happened.
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I'm finding in general you have a far, far, far higher bar of expectations than 99% of people.Food expectation stuff
Part of that changes with what you can afford, and as you get older. Those go a little bit hand-in-hand, but not completely.
20-25 years ago I was perfectly happy buying some crappy ground beef, browning it, draining off a ton of grease, and then just adding some ketchup and calling it dinner.
Not so much anymore.
What Vanykrye said.
I don't expect to be able to go to Wal*Mart, buy Wal*Mart generic Cajun seasoning, and expect it to taste like anything beyond sawdust.
But at the sheer income level in this area (we just broke the "$200,000/year is middle class" barrier), you'd expect I could go to a local grocery store and they'd be carrying something better.
Yes, the Oaktown Spice Shop is utterly amazing, and if I'd had an hour to walk there, get the stuff, and walk back, I would have scurried over in a heartbeat.
But the corner store is 5 minutes away, and the fact that they don't have anything that compares to homemade is... sad...
EDIT: Yeah, yeah. I own a car. But I don't actually like to drive it anywhere I can easily walk, which is about a 1.5-mile radius.
Question
The only thing I can use in her defense is that maybe circumstances *have* changed in that month. You have presented no way of knowing they haven't.
Otherwise...your logic seems sound.
Edit: Tax Return could have happened.
Oh, yeah. There are all kinds of ways she could have had a windfall and suddenly had enough to afford it. But in that case I'd expect her steps to be:
(1) Pay back the scholarship so that another kid can use it(2) If there's any left, pay for herself.
Paying for herself before paying back the scholarship doesn't sit well with me even if her financial situation has changed.
Question
The only thing I can use in her defense is that maybe circumstances *have* changed in that month. You have presented no way of knowing they haven't.
Otherwise...your logic seems sound.
Edit: Tax Return could have happened.
Oh, yeah. There are all kinds of ways she could have had a windfall and suddenly had enough to afford it. But in that case I'd expect her steps to be:
(1) Pay back the scholarship so that another kid can use it
(2) If there's any left, pay for herself.Paying for herself before paying back the scholarship doesn't sit well with me even if her financial situation has changed.
Smaller tax return than expected.
Like I said, it's the only real thing I can come up with. And she probably figures it's a bigger hassle to go through reversing the scholarship.
Is $250 the max scholarship or is there a free ride option? If a full scholarship is an option and she got $250, then she was still able to pay some of it at the time. Regardless she's still paying $150 for the daughter.
I'm just playing devil's advocate here.
It's not a formal scholarship, it's just, "I know the bill is $400, but I can only pay $150 right now. Is that OK?"
"Yeah, sure! And make up the rest when you can!"
And it gets noted in a notebook that $250 went to pay for her kid so we can track the budget.
So it really is just, "Yeah, I'm not going to cut you the rest of the check, even though you asked me to. Instead I'm going to pay for my own trip to increase my chances of getting chosen."
What Vanykrye said.
I don't expect to be able to go to Wal*Mart, buy Wal*Mart generic Cajun seasoning, and expect it to taste like anything beyond sawdust.
But at the sheer income level in this area (we just broke the "$200,000/year is middle class" barrier), you'd expect I could go to a local grocery store and they'd be carrying something better.
Yes, the Oaktown Spice Shop is utterly amazing, and if I'd had an hour to walk there, get the stuff, and walk back, I would have scurried over in a heartbeat.
But the corner store is 5 minutes away, and the fact that they don't have anything that compares to homemade is... sad...
EDIT: Yeah, yeah. I own a car. But I don't actually like to drive it anywhere I can easily walk, which is about a 1.5-mile radius.
There are things I will make and throw in some Tony Chachere's on general principle. Mostly for seasoning flour/cornmeal for frying fish and hushpuppies, or throwing on frozen fries so they taste more like Five Guys fries. Or mac and cheese. It has its uses.
But, yeah, I miss Oaktown Spice something fierce.
I'm lucky - given the size of the South Asian community around these parts, if I want proper good spices, I can go along to my local market and there they are.
I'm finding in general you have a far, far, far higher bar of expectations than 99% of people.Y'know, it's really sad to me. I know that a lot of store-bought stuff is cheaply-made, mass-produced, and designed to be a quick-and-easy-and-inexpensive replacement for something that's harder for you to make yourself.
Bisquik comes to mind: If you make it with water as instructed, you get pancakes or waffles that are technically edible, as long as you have enough syrup. If you use milk, butter, and eggs, you ask, "Why did I need a mix again?", but they reach the, "Not bad, but I could do better," plateau.But you'd think there would be something you could get that would be better than you could make yourself.
I needed some Cajun seasoning to season the red beans and rice I'm making for dinner tonight. I grabbed a recipe off AllRecipes.com and mixed together some of our ancient herbs and spices (some at least 10 years old), found that I was out of cayenne pepper (kind of important in Cajun cuisine), and decided to see whether I could use one of the many bottles of store-bought stuff people have gotten me over the years.
It was pathetic. My decrepit, "These herbs should have been thrown away when Impus Minor was still in diapers" mixture was so much richer, more aromatic, and more flavorful than any of the store-bought bottles that I had to sigh, toodle over to the corner store, and pick up some fresh cayenne.
I'd just like to think that somewhere, out there, is store-bought food that's at least comparable to homemade. Is that too much to ask?
Gonna second Orthos here. Depending on what it is, something from the grocery may be better than anything I can make.
In the case of cajun powder, I can pretty much guarantee I wouldn't know the difference one way or the other.
Mac and cheese is one of those things I can make better than anything I can buy at the grocery or at a restaurant. Making cheese sauce properly from a roux is just so much better than anything I've ever purchased...but it's also been years since I've put in the time to do so.
** spoiler omitted **
Best case scenario I can think of is she (a) wants to send her daughter on the trip, and (b) wants to chaperone it. She has only $550 to throw at both, and wants to pay what she can. Whereas in another life she might pay for her daughter's full ride and ask for a $250 scholarship for herself to chaperone, the chaperone form says that paying her own full ride increases her odds of chaperoning.
Thus, she asks for the partial scholarship for her daughter to make up the $250 she doesn't have, and throws 400 of the dollars she does have at her own expense.
No way to know for sure I guess, good luck NH!
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I like that that casts her in the most positive possible light.
It still leaves me leaning towards, "No," though, as communication is critical for chaperones, and if that IS her situation, she should be talking to the choir director instead of trying to play shell games with money.
I'm going to put LM on the spot here, because I know she's 1500 miles away and by the time she got here she'd have calmed down enough not to harm me TOO seriously.
LM has complained about her money issues before, so I don't feel I'm out of line to say, "What if this were LM and Hermione?"
Step 1: LM would have been communicating with us the whole time about Hermione's payment. I've been being kind because it is my nature, but this woman didn't even tell us she wasn't going to pay. She just put in the first payment, stopped paying, and it was the daughter who had to say, "Yes, I'm still planning on going. I guess we need some help with money."
Step 2: Had LM come into some cash, she would have talked to us and asked us how we wanted to manage her payments.
Step 3: Had LM NOT come into cash, she would have contacted us and asked, "I can't pay for my own way, but can I help in some other way? Some cooking? Sewing? Picking something up for you?"
And someone who did that would be a 100% guaranteed, "Yes, this person is going on this trip," because that is EXACTLY who we need as a chaperone.
Giving us money games and dead silence is NOT the way to get us to trust you.
So much rain. We've gotten 10 inches of rain this week since Tuesday.
Oh couldn't find the reclette cheese so had to settle with Mozz. I thought provolone but wasn't feelin it.
*puts on the evil GM hat* Time to make something really nasty for tomorrow.
Like a mythic great wyrm black dragon ravager?
No, just some drowned enemies coming back for revenge.
I think the weirdest boss I ever did was a werewolf, (My own buffed template mind you) vampire, half red dragon, barbarian. He had a adamantium cage built around his heart as well. I was partially inspired by white wolf's abominations, and this browser game I was playing at the time I think it was called adventure quest or something like that. I was in my teen years which is why it was so weird. I did however make it make some sense since the Barb started out a lycanthrope from a tribe, he stole the blood from the vampire queen to convert himself and then using magic and elder vampire abilities drunk enough red dragons to basically get the effects of the half-dragon template. The game was all about keeping him from taking over the world as well as getting these artifact weapons he was trying to claim. worked out pretty well.
Something sounds off here. You sound incredibly suspicious if this woman for some reason, and she sounds like she doesn't have all the information or funds for this trip. Maybe she doesn't trust her daughter to go on her own? I dont know. But something sounds off.
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My son asked me what I want for Father's Day this year. I said "A time machine and a condom".
I'm pretty sure that creates a paradox. If he buys it for you then you go back and stop his birth no one will be there to buy it from you so boom paradox.
Also you're a terrible father.
So does the fact no time traveler has every been witnessed prove that time travel is impossible or that its heavily regulated or that we die out before we could ever get to that point. I suppose it could be that we are just on the time line that was before it was discovered and creating another time line is like creating another universe so No one in the time travelers actual past would be able to see him go back but rather a different universe splits off every time he does. Kind of like in back to the future 2.
*you'reMy son asked me what I want for Father's Day this year. I said "A time machine and a condom".I'm pretty sure that creates a paradox. If he buys it for you then you go back and stop his birth no one will be there to buy it from you so boom paradox.
Also Your a terrible father.
Huh what are you talking about? I spelled it right. You're just trying to mess with me!
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Just came back from kranji countryside, happily eating everything.
I had wheatgrass ice cream, aloe vera and rosella jelly, deep fried frog legs,fried frog skin, deep fried crocodile nuggets, drank goats milk...
And watched little kids try to catch frogs. When the frogs hopped in their direction, they ran away screaming. Lol.
*purrs contentedly*
The crocodile nuggets were surprisingly good. I don't think deep fried is the best way to serve frog, frog is better off stir fried with oyster sauce, spring onion and ginger.
Deep fried crocodile nuggets however, taste like deep fried pork chop.
Also the dog at the frog farm was nudging my aunt for treats but never approached me. Get what I mean by animals see me and run off?
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Its because you eat all of them!
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They know you're a predator.
They know your a predator.*you're
Now you're just trying too hard.
Just had a guy try to check in, but his card was declined. I told him it was declined and he said "I know. That card doesn't have any cash on it. Can you just give me the room and I'll pay cash in the morning." No, I need a valid card to hold the room, then you can pay cash in the morning. After begging a bit, he says "Well, does it have to be my card? I can give you someone else's." (What? Why do you have someone else's credit card?) And yes, it has to be your card. So he fiddles on his phone for a bit doing I don't know what, and then leaves.
That happens often to me . I don't know why they think when I say I need a card I don't mean a working card.
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*yourNow you're just trying too hard.They know your a predator.*you're
No! because its you are trying too hard!
I just need to do Data's thing and not use contractions at all. If anyone asks I will just say "does not compute"!