Happy birthday, Old Man.
Other than well wishes, you are getting nothing else from me.
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*Almost* -- my birthday is on Sunday.
And I think a lot of bitterness stems from how easy it is to give me a "great" birthday:
Once I'm home, I relax with a book or some anime for a couple of hours, then we do a takeout dinner, and the family sits together and does a board game (Arkham) or a movie.
I go to bed by 10:00 pm happy and satisfied.
Doesn't seem too hard.
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...[birthday tirade]
It really is appalling how your feelings and beliefs, no matter how strong, are readily thrown out around celebrations such as your birthday or the holidays because you somehow have to "suck it up and deal with it."
Apparently, being "celebrated" means you are required to be "abused".
Yep. My mother-in-law is at it again. I have told her explicitly that I do not want to receive gifts. EVER. I have told her explicitly that I no longer drink alcohol, and never will. Yesterday I got the inevitable email from her that she wants to stop by today to "drop off my gifts". I guarantee at least one such "gift" will be a bottle of wine.
I started to write back to inform her that she would do no such thing, but GothBard absolutely insists that I keep my mouth shut for her sake.
And I have to ask, "What about my sake? Do my feelings on my birthday matter for anything at all, or do you all just treat me in ways that I have repeatedly indicated that I hate, because you care so little for me and so much for "tradition" that my emotional well-being means nothing to you?"
Is it any wonder that every year on my birthday I try to hop in the Celica and drive away at 5:00 am, not returning until after 11:00 pm?
[/birthday tirade]EDIT: People call me a whiner and say, "Just suck it up and accept the gifts graciously. You can throw them out later." But it's the principle: I very clearly indicate that I strongly dislike X. My friends and relatives assume I'm joking or not very serious, and no one could really not like X, and force it on me anyway. I consider it akin to someone saying, "I don't like chocolate," and all their friends and family giving them chocolate for every single birthday because, "No one doesn't like chocolate."
It's such tone-deaf disregard for the person's feelings that you start to wonder whether said friends and family members actually care about them at all, or whether it's the rituals and gestures they love.
I actually want to get him ostensuously wrapped presents that when opened have absolutely nothing inside.
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...[birthday tirade]
It really is appalling how your feelings and beliefs, no matter how strong, are readily thrown out around celebrations such as your birthday or the holidays because you somehow have to "suck it up and deal with it."
Apparently, being "celebrated" means you are required to be "abused".
Yep. My mother-in-law is at it again. I have told her explicitly that I do not want to receive gifts. EVER. I have told her explicitly that I no longer drink alcohol, and never will. Yesterday I got the inevitable email from her that she wants to stop by today to "drop off my gifts". I guarantee at least one such "gift" will be a bottle of wine.
I started to write back to inform her that she would do no such thing, but GothBard absolutely insists that I keep my mouth shut for her sake.
And I have to ask, "What about my sake? Do my feelings on my birthday matter for anything at all, or do you all just treat me in ways that I have repeatedly indicated that I hate, because you care so little for me and so much for "tradition" that my emotional well-being means nothing to you?"
Is it any wonder that every year on my birthday I try to hop in the Celica and drive away at 5:00 am, not returning until after 11:00 pm?
[/birthday tirade]EDIT: People call me a whiner and say, "Just suck it up and accept the gifts graciously. You can throw them out later." But it's the principle: I very clearly indicate that I strongly dislike X. My friends and relatives assume I'm joking or not very serious, and no one could really not like X, and force it on me anyway. I consider it akin to someone saying, "I don't like chocolate," and all their friends and family giving them chocolate for every single birthday because, "No one doesn't like chocolate."
It's such tone-deaf disregard for the person's feelings that you start to wonder whether said friends and family members actually care about them at all, or whether it's the
We did that for my Dad. He loved it.
Happy birthday, Old Man.
Other than well wishes, you are getting nothing else from me.
Save nudity. Everlast-ing nudity.
Get it?
I explicitly told everyone I know I would rather get no gifts than "dad gifts" for father's day.
No ties.
No mugs.
No cheap mass manufactured crap that says "world's best dad" or whatever.
No tools.
No clothes.
A new pipe is nominally "dad-gift" while actually paying attention to a hobby I have, so that seems to be what Tala has planned for me as a loophole.
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I hate when actors chime in on the motivation for their characters or what they're doing off screen or whatever.
MFer, you don't write this stuff.
You are just a guy who looks like the character that they are paying to play pretend in front of the camera. You don't have writing, directing, or show running credits. Your opinion is about as valid as the gaffer's, the production assistant, or the boom mic operator.
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I think you'd be fine. I believe she's in her 70s.Okay, anyone want to beat up someone else for me? One of my nieces is working on her PhD in Neuroscience, planning to be a researcher. One of her grandmothers on her mother's side is bullying her. Saying things like "Your only getting a PhD? You need to get an MD too. You're not a real doctor without an MD." When my niece said she doesn't want an MD since she wants to be a researcher, not a physician, the grandmother responded "Whatever. You really need to give up all of that and start having babies. You're not getting any younger."
I never liked that woman, and this just makes me angrier.
I'd volunteer, but the judge said if I beat up any more octogenarians I'll be in real trouble...
Judge: Why the accused beaten that eighty five year old grandomther?
NobodysHome's Attorney: Your honor, in my client's defense, he acted in deep belief that she is merely seventy two.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I spent yesterday cleaning all the gutters on my mother's house (which completely filled the brush bin; I don't think she had done it in at least a decade) and then pressure-washing the front and east side. This morning I'm pressure-washing the back and the west side, and then we start painting the exterior.
The realtor is sending photographers on Saturday at eleven, and the listing goes live on Monday.
Meanwhile, the second offer that Mom and Eve made on a house in Maine was accepted. It's already got stalls and a paddock so they can keep the horses at their house instead of boarding them somewhere else like they do now. And it's got a chicken coop and room for a few goats. And it's a half an hour from the beach.
But, holy heck, we've got a lot of work to do this weekend. I thought it was a big job moving from California to Texas, but Oregon to Maine with a toddler and three horses is worse.
(Hashtag how I spent my summer vacation.)
Lease Imps from NobodysHome and Crookshanks from cap, and have them ride the horses over the summer through the America to their new (horse, not kids) home.
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I hate when actors chime in on the motivation for their characters or what they're doing off screen or whatever.
MFer, you don't write this stuff.
You are just a guy who looks like the character that they are paying to play pretend in front of the camera. You don't have writing, directing, or show running credits. Your opinion is about as valid as the gaffer's, the production assistant, or the boom mic operator.
What they thinking about the motivation for character DOES influence the way they play the character. The degree of directorial oversight does vary between directors and movies - there are very strict directors that micromanage (or at least try) every expression of the actors, but most leave a degree of freedom to them.
And there are a lot of cases when an actor's improvised reaction was kept because it was found more fitting than what was originally planned.
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I hate when actors chime in on the motivation for their characters or what they're doing off screen or whatever.
MFer, you don't write this stuff.
You are just a guy who looks like the character that they are paying to play pretend in front of the camera. You don't have writing, directing, or show running credits. Your opinion is about as valid as the gaffer's, the production assistant, or the boom mic operator.
Well...not really. Depends on the production studio and the director as to how much input the actors have.
The writers are usually off in the corner wondering why pages 26-47,49, 2 paragraphs from 51 and the entire second act are sitting in the trash can.
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I swear, after all the hoopla, all the complaints, all the legislation, and all the other nonsense surrounding it, you'd think major companies like Microsoft would have some concept as to the idea of "opt in".
(1) A Windows update ran yesterday. Suddenly there was an annoying sunny weather report sitting in my taskbar. There was a Microsoft Edge shortcut on my desktop. I removed the offending shortcut, Googled how to get rid of the weather report and removed it, grumbled about Microsoft constantly adding crap I didn't want to my machine, and moved on.
(2) Today a second Windows update ran. And POOF! The weather report was back!
I'm slightly forgiving of exposing a new feature so that users are made aware of it. But once you've exposed it and the user consciously turns it off, don't go around re-enabling it!!!
Char's Counterattack is on Netflix.
I repeat.
Char's Counterattack is on Netflix.
This is a MUCH better translation than my vhs fansub.
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He's a fantastic kid. He doesn't drink nor do drugs. He's absolutely willing to compromise with us on anything we ask him to. He has a lot of really awesome friends.
Unfortunately, he has one friend of the "adults are idiots, there's nothing dangerous around here" variety. He's pretty much nocturnal, rising at 2-3 pm, leaving the house, and not coming home 'til 3-4 am. He likes to hang out in parks in Berkeley, or in the bustling drug hub north of the U.C. Berkeley campus. Or tonight he plans on taking the group to "the beach" and getting seriously drunk and stoned, trusting Impus Major to drive him home safely at some ungodly hour.
He has a second friend of the "hysterical" variety. Impus Major's only encounter with police was when she took some THC gummies, decided she was having an overdose, had a massively dramatic meltdown on the sidewalk, begged Impus Major to call 911, and he did. And of course the paramedics and police raked him over the coals. Because it's always the sober one who's looking out for everyone else who gets in trouble. And she's done worse, including filing police reports against her "friends".
And of course, he's spending all day, every day this summer hanging out with those two.
I've let him know they're trouble. I've let him know it's not going to end well. But he feels it's better if he looks out for them than if he doesn't. And I'm a mature enough parent to let my 20-year-old son make his own decisions and his own mistakes, and I'm only there to provide guidance.
I really hope this stupidity doesn't come back to bite him.
I don't celebrate Father's Day.
That said, I am going over to visit my dad with some high quality takeout on Father's Day because raising 8 kids IS a Herculean task and he accepted it without complaint, even though most of us weren't his biological seed.
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** spoiler omitted **
It is EXTREMELY frustrating when someone takes up the protector role for a group of friends. I wish you luck!
Arguably the most famous line in Gundam history- one that even the creator, Tomino Yoshiuki-o-sensei, could not quite explain when I met him so many years ago- makes more sense now with this new translation.
That Netflix cut out the credits of the movie to put in an ad, however, is unforgivable.
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** spoiler omitted **It is EXTREMELY frustrating when someone takes up the protector role for a group of friends. I wish you luck!
Well, the fact is, that was me back in the 1980s. But my job was to keep my friends from hurting other people or destroying too much property. There’s quite the difference there.
I swear, after all the hoopla, all the complaints, all the legislation, and all the other nonsense surrounding it, you'd think major companies like Microsoft would have some concept as to the idea of "opt in".
(1) A Windows update ran yesterday. Suddenly there was an annoying sunny weather report sitting in my taskbar. There was a Microsoft Edge shortcut on my desktop. I removed the offending shortcut, Googled how to get rid of the weather report and removed it, grumbled about Microsoft constantly adding crap I didn't want to my machine, and moved on.
Interesting. I got the weather report after an update a few days ago but no edge shortcut. How is that whatever I have done to avoid it worked better than for you, who are dealing with IT professionally?
(or maybe it's just that EU versions have to be more respectful of the user's privacy because of EU privacy laws?)
EDIT: Or maybe the desktop shortcuts to two other browsers were enough of a hint...
I'm slightly forgiving of exposing a new feature so that users are made aware of it. But once you've exposed it and the user consciously turns it off, don't go around re-enabling it!!!
I wonder if it is deliberate pushing of a feature or merely lousy programmers that are too are lazy to have the update keep the preexisting setting for those who already opted in, instead writing it with being on by default?
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It's annoying when people come up with obtuse ways of doing something because they don't want to do it.
I once had a worker so unhappy with the work we were doing, I watched her deliberately step on a rake which she left facing the wrong way, smack herself in the head, and then ask to leave because she might have a concussion.
No surprise, she never came back...for which I was grateful.
Well, the fact is, that was me back in the 1980s. But my job was to keep my friends from hurting other people or destroying too much property. There’s quite the difference there.** spoiler omitted **It is EXTREMELY frustrating when someone takes up the protector role for a group of friends. I wish you luck!
I kept my friends from harming others, but I definitely didn't stop them from destroying property. Although it was more of a "living in the moment" type of property damage.
I was the guy that always had pot and always shared and was always up for an adventure as long as someone else was driving (I didn't actually get my driver's license until I was 24).
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It's annoying when people come up with obtuse ways of doing something because they don't want to do it.I once had a worker so unhappy with the work we were doing, I watched her deliberately step on a rake which she left facing the wrong way, smack herself in the head, and then ask to leave because she might have a concussion.
No surprise, she never came back...for which I was grateful.
True story from my high school days working at McDonald's
Employee: Can I go home early? Like now?
Manager: You have a 6 hour shift. You're only an hour and a half in. No.
Employee sticks his hand in the 335°F fry vat. Facial expression did not change. Holds his hand in there for about 10 seconds. Then pulls his cooked hand out.
Employee: NOW can I go home?
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I was just appalled at the privilege they were showing before taking off. Nocturnal Guy's parents make significantly more than we do and gave him their wonderful 15 mpg SUV, which costs over $60 to tank up. So he didn't want to drive it because he doesn't have a job. Whiny Guy didn't want to ride in the Prius because he thinks it smells... which is funny because I don't like him on our couch for the same reason.
Thinking back on the sheer number of appalling vehicles we rode around in because we couldn't afford decent ones, listening to kids complain about the FREE FULLY-INSURED CARS they're getting is rather galling.
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What I did on my summer vacation, Friday:
1. Finished pressure-washing the other two sides of the house.
2. Helped my mom and Dr. Darling load the truck to take a big load of old trash to the dump, because my mother has been under the impression for the past 20 years that you don't throw garbage away, you just throw it on the side of the house where nobody goes.
3. Helped Eve paint the exterior of the house. The last time it was done, our stepdad was still alive, and he's been gone for twelve years.
4. Currently running emergency errands for mom and Eve to prepare for the photo shoot tomorrow.
Tired. Very tired.
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I don't celebrate Father's Day.
But do your wife and kids?
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I don't celebrate Father's Day.But do your wife and kids?
No, as long as someone doesn't remind them about it. Fortunately, it's a summer holiday so it's easy to forget about.
It's annoying when people come up with obtuse ways of doing something because they don't want to do it.I once had a worker so unhappy with the work we were doing, I watched her deliberately step on a rake which she left facing the wrong way, smack herself in the head, and then ask to leave because she might have a concussion.
No surprise, she never came back...for which I was grateful.
True story from my high school days working at McDonald's
** spoiler omitted **
...he did what?
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It's annoying when people come up with obtuse ways of doing something because they don't want to do it.I once had a worker so unhappy with the work we were doing, I watched her deliberately step on a rake which she left facing the wrong way, smack herself in the head, and then ask to leave because she might have a concussion.
No surprise, she never came back...for which I was grateful.
True story from my high school days working at McDonald's
** spoiler omitted **
When the General and I dated in high school she said she never calls in sick to a job because then she ended up feeling like s&$& the next day.
I really took that to heart, even after we broke up. So much so I've never actually called in sick when I wasn't sick. I've called in saying I was in jail, being held for ransom, and dead, but never sick.
I was just appalled at the privilege they were showing before taking off. Nocturnal Guy's parents make significantly more than we do and gave him their wonderful 15 mpg SUV, which costs over $60 to tank up. So he didn't want to drive it because he doesn't have a job. Whiny Guy didn't want to ride in the Prius because he thinks it smells... which is funny because I don't like him on our couch for the same reason.
Thinking back on the sheer number of appalling vehicles we rode around in because we couldn't afford decent ones, listening to kids complain about the FREE FULLY-INSURED CARS they're getting is rather galling.
Man, I miss Mayor Dave. Just saying.
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Re: that rake story and the McDonald's story
Why would you physically abuse yourself to get out of an easily replaceable minimum wage job? Quit. Better than second degree oil burns.
I was just appalled at the privilege they were showing before taking off. Nocturnal Guy's parents make significantly more than we do and gave him their wonderful 15 mpg SUV, which costs over $60 to tank up. So he didn't want to drive it because he doesn't have a job. Whiny Guy didn't want to ride in the Prius because he thinks it smells... which is funny because I don't like him on our couch for the same reason.
Thinking back on the sheer number of appalling vehicles we rode around in because we couldn't afford decent ones, listening to kids complain about the FREE FULLY-INSURED CARS they're getting is rather galling.
I've seen the gas prices out your way. How is he supposed to drive if he doesn't have the ability to gas up the car?
Re: that rake story and the McDonald's story
Why would you physically abuse yourself to get out of an easily replaceable minimum wage job? Quit. Better than second degree oil burns.
The difference is who says the not-waiting-to-work person goes home. If the the employee does it, it's job abandonment.
If the employer does it, no matter how stupid the circumstances, then such a person can bring legal action against employer if they don't get unemployment.
We used to have some kids at work that would game the fact that Corporate was cutting hours. They'd half-ass their job, and if someone said they could go home 'early'?
So and so told me to go home early, so I couldn't get it done right.
Best cure was to look 'em in the eye and say 'That's a decision you need to make for yourself, I'm not your boss.'
(Helped by fact Corporate was being cheap and wouldn't assign a manager or supervisor to the shift. Technically, if I told someone to go home, I could get fired.)
Re: that rake story and the McDonald's story
Why would you physically abuse yourself to get out of an easily replaceable minimum wage job? Quit. Better than second degree oil burns.
The difference is who says the not-waiting-to-work person goes home. If the the employee does it, it's job abandonment.
If the employer does it, no matter how stupid the circumstances, then such a person can bring legal action against employer if they don't get unemployment.
We used to have some kids at work that would game the fact that Corporate was cutting hours. They'd half-ass their job, and if someone said they could go home 'early'?
So and so told me to go home early, so I couldn't get it done right.
Best cure was to look 'em in the eye and say 'That's a decision you need to make for yourself, I'm not your boss.'
(Helped by fact Corporate was being cheap and wouldn't assign a manager or supervisor to the shift. Technically, if I told someone to go home, I could get fired.)
And in my McDonald's case, he also didn't get to go home after that. He was detained first by us, then by the police (very close by) until the medical personnel arrived. Involuntary mental health hold.
Also, that's not 2nd degree burns.
I've seen the gas prices out your way. How is he supposed to drive if he doesn't have the ability to gas up the car?I was just appalled at the privilege they were showing before taking off. Nocturnal Guy's parents make significantly more than we do and gave him their wonderful 15 mpg SUV, which costs over $60 to tank up. So he didn't want to drive it because he doesn't have a job. Whiny Guy didn't want to ride in the Prius because he thinks it smells... which is funny because I don't like him on our couch for the same reason.
Thinking back on the sheer number of appalling vehicles we rode around in because we couldn't afford decent ones, listening to kids complain about the FREE FULLY-INSURED CARS they're getting is rather galling.
Could be worse. When I passed through So Cal between Kingman and Barstow a couple of weeks ago, it was over six bucks a gallon down there.
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When we were in high school, my boyfriend maced himself in the bathroom of the McDonald's where he worked because (a) it was a slow shift and he was bored, and (b) he was excessively emo and wanted to know what it felt like.
Re: that rake story and the McDonald's story
Why would you physically abuse yourself to get out of an easily replaceable minimum wage job? Quit. Better than second degree oil burns.
The difference is who says the not-waiting-to-work person goes home. If the the employee does it, it's job abandonment.
If the employer does it, no matter how stupid the circumstances, then such a person can bring legal action against employer if they don't get unemployment.
We used to have some kids at work that would game the fact that Corporate was cutting hours. They'd half-ass their job, and if someone said they could go home 'early'?
So and so told me to go home early, so I couldn't get it done right.
Best cure was to look 'em in the eye and say 'That's a decision you need to make for yourself, I'm not your boss.'
(Helped by fact Corporate was being cheap and wouldn't assign a manager or supervisor to the shift. Technically, if I told someone to go home, I could get fired.)
Still not worth it. So you get fired from a minimum wage job. So what? Don't list it on your resume and put "in school" for the blank spot. It's not like you're losing valuable experience at a job anyone gives a crap about. It's not like you couldn't replace it in a couple days with another POS minimum wage crap.
100% NOT worth oil burns.
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It really sounds like some of you never actually worked/lived through (or perhaps just don't recall) ACTUAL poverty if you think that anybody at all is functionally able to quite a job, any job, for any amount of time without ending up homeless. I had a burner cell phone with no contract and bought 100 minutes/texts at a time, and my only hobbies at the time included the FLGS club with a $2 door fee, all my cards were second hand, and I had to rely on friends books in order to play RPGs as I didn't even own a computer to otherwise "acquire" the PDFs.
I worked my way up as a fast-food worker from minimum wage to a manager making $1.50 more and on more than one occasion I still had to borrow cash from neighbors to fill my tank with gas to get to work and missing a single day meant having to pay my landlord the rest of my rent money a week late... and two thirds of my meals at that time were free food that was already in the "waste' garbage can. I still have many scars from working and cleaning the grills and fryers to this day and they remind me every day just how unfair life can be and how lucky I have been to stumble into a career that I love and pays well after all this time.
Some people can't just quit a job no matter how much they hate it or the toll it takes on their body, support systems, savings, and a flush job market are not a universal truth.
I have never had a fast food-related job, but my brother was the cook at the weird little cafe in town that was (badly) decorated to look like a cave inside, for reasons that remain unclear. There was a similar one in an equally krutty town around 8-10 miles away, but I have never seen one anywhere else, so it must have been a phenomenon restricted to North Dorset in the early 1990s. Good.
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I've injured myself countless times at work, but never intentionally.
It's ALWAYS way more satisfying when it's unintentional.
Of course that just might be my last concussion talking.
It really sounds like some of you never actually worked/lived through (or perhaps just don't recall) ACTUAL poverty if you think that anybody at all is functionally able to quite a job, any job, for any amount of time without ending up homeless. I had a burner cell phone with no contract and bought 100 minutes/texts at a time, and my only hobbies at the time included the FLGS club with a $2 door fee, all my cards were second hand, and I had to rely on friends books in order to play RPGs as I didn't even own a computer to otherwise "acquire" the PDFs.
I worked my way up as a fast-food worker from minimum wage to a manager making $1.50 more and on more than one occasion I still had to borrow cash from neighbors to fill my tank with gas to get to work and missing a single day meant having to pay my landlord the rest of my rent money a week late... and two thirds of my meals at that time were free food that was already in the "waste' garbage can. I still have many scars from working and cleaning the grills and fryers to this day and they remind me every day just how unfair life can be and how lucky I have been to stumble into a career that I love and pays well after all this time.
Some people can't just quit a job no matter how much they hate it or the toll it takes on their body, support systems, savings, and a flush job market are not a universal truth.
Every single point you make is absolutely fair and true; BUT, I think it's a matter of association.
Vanykrye wrote, "True story from my high school days..."
Personally, I immediately imagined the unidentified employee as a high school kid who was working for extra cash for food and gas money rather than a full-time employee trying to make ends meet.
And you are yet again correct; nowhere did Vanykrye identify the employee in that manner. Since he referred to it as HIS "high school days", I made the (likely incorrect) leap of logic that the afflicted employee was also a high schooler. I suspect many fellow FaWtLers did the same.
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Who's got two thumbs, and just had his Anniversary yesterday? (And celebrated more Anniversary today?)
Me. It's me. I've got both thumbs *and* I just had my Anniversary with Firedove, my wife! WOO~! :D