The Not Happy Thread

She’s twenty-eight. She married with children. And yeah, she is the most immature friend I have sometimes.

I play dungeons and dragons with her, and her characters are always edgy/angry “lone wolf” characters who refuse to work with the party and constantly cause problems. One time the party was attacked by a monster and she literally sat there and watched them die because she felt like it. Another time she went on a murdering spree in town because she was bored. It’s been three years and she still doesn’t understand the basic rules.

Her husband, meanwhile, is my favorite guy to play with. He’s funny, helpful, and great at improv.

To be fair, she has a six-month-old baby. Every time she starts being a jerk, I remind myself she just gave birth and is probably stressed and sleep deprived. But I’m getting tired. Before that, I cut her slack because she was pregnant. Before that, I cut her slack because she having a hard time getting pregnant. Before that, I cut her slack because she just got married. Before that, I cut her slack because she has anxiety problems. I’m going to be “cutting her slack” for the next eighteen years of this kid’s life. There will always be something wrong, some excuse for her being a dick.

I’m starting to realize this has nothing to do with the baby. She’s always been self-centered and immature.

She has a lot of positive traits, but they’re slowly disappearing.

I think I’m going to take a break from our friendship.

 

Feel free to say I see them everywhere right now, but the points about wanting praise and taking not even the gentlest of criticism strikes me as narcissistic. She's not acknowledging where you differ at all, wants praise and is persuading herself that as a published author you know better than her readership and will tell her they're wrong when they're blatantly not. I can't stand people who don't strive for better.

I admit, my WIP is that very genre, but I am also giving more recent works in the genre a middle finger as well.

 

It's been a week of having to medicate myself to sleep and waking up with the cerebral capacity of a slime mold. I genuinely cannot remember what it feels like to wake up refreshed, recharged, mentally acute. Is that even a thing, or am I just retrofitting a revised version of how things used to be?

 

Yeah. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with romance (or fan fiction).

But she’s bad at it, and she wants me to hand her meaingless praise. Even if she was good at it, I don’t care. I don’t read pararnomal romance or heterosexual romance. That’s two strikes. I have nothing against it, I just don’t like it. No matter how great your pancakes are, I’m not going to like them, because I don’t like pancakes. I don’t care if you’re Gordon Ramsay.

 

I am bad a romance writing too.

 

This. Absofreakinglutely horrible at it.

 

If it makes you feel any better, I haven't woken up refreshed in three years.

 

You both should give it a try. It'd make a good challenge @ 500 words. I imagine I'd be crying

'Baby, I'm crying. He kissed the kitten in his boilersuit and gave it to the lady... ... [sob sob]...'

...

altho' there's one or two in the 'Erotica' that make you despair for mankind -

'You couldn't have drawn better titties on a broad, and her ass was like a red balloon at playtime. When she spoke I can't remember...'

 

I disagree with this.

 

Blood? Where is this blood you speak of? Skiiiiiinnnyyyy!!!! I see you liking that I like blood too. *grins @SkinnyPuppy* Are you a purveyor of the sweet crimson as I am? Perhaps we could share a flamenco dancer sometime? @katina lady in red who bleeds twice is nicer still.

 

I did, and it came out like I had seventy-four opposing thumbs and was well versed in dry humping a couple of Bert and Ernie dolls with tassled assless chaps, rainbow leg warmers, and a VHS copy of Flashdance playing "maniac" in the background.

 

I’m pretty good at writing bad romance. I’m a ho.

 

Same in Finland. Been really dry since May, and now it's been 30 C outside for several days and apparently it will last several more. I made the mistake of going out for a run. I felt like melting, like I was cheddar on toast. Honestly, I think I can handle -30 C better. High temperatures are fine in a sauna, where you roast yourself for maybe fifteen minutes and then step out and have a cold beer. But this is too much!

 

You don't make me want to go back home! Though it's as hot here, just not many forested to worry about. Don't know about the rest of England, but this town is just quietly dead and slowly melting.

 

...aaaaand you're friends with this person why? Seriously, she sounds like a total user.

 

@KaTrian @Komposten maybe because all the rainy weather immigrated to Greece. We've been having almost tropical weather until last week. Weather's getting better though, with a sunny 36 tomorrow. Thank god!

 

I'm the same with horror movies. I cannot take gore, and I will probably hate someone who tries to bully me into watching one. I suppose spending enough time dealing with real life fear is bad enough. In part, that is why the common thread in my work for a long time has been showing humanity for its monstrous side.

Seriously though, I'd explain calmly to her husband you don't want to be friends with her and why. Then treat her with absolute apathy. If she asks for critique, say no. She's not worth your time or sanity.

 

Crime/torture gore, mind fucks, and comedy.....now thats my thingie...or something like that

 

36°!?!?
I've been melting in 32° and blazing sun the past 2 weeks. Absolutely terrible! So happy I managed to catch Ljubljana, Slovenia in an unusual temperature low of 'only' 25° and clouds.

I want my Swedish winters back! (The snowy ones, not the rainy ones.)

 

The greatest horror movies don't require blood and gore to be scary. After all, those things aren't necessarily scary, they're unsettling. It's the same thing as the oft overused jumpscare. Jumpscares aren't scary, they're startling, but our brains misconstrue our surprise with fear, so we believe that we were truly scared.

This is exactly why I refuse to watch any of the SAW movies. They're billed as scary movies, but they're just gore masked as horror.

Just a bit of a tangent, sorry!

 

makes a good whinge though. All those movies labelled as "horror" but that are actually just disgusting...

One of the scariest scenes in recent horror movies, imo, is the night scene from Conjuring. Triggers all the fears I had as a kid and that still sometimes creep up to me. (pity they had to end it with yet another jump scare though)

 

The Conjuring is a modern masterpiece in horror in my honest opinion. They actually created tension and atmosphere, unlike most movies that come out now. If you haven't already seen it, I'd definitely also recommend Ouija: Origin of Evil. The original Ouija movie was pretty terrible, but the prequel is stupendous.

 

Weirdly, I can read gory novels or watch horrifying stuff in anime just fine, there's enough of a disconnect to not set me off. But when I'm watching it in a live action format I feel physically sick. I've read, and was fascinated by, the Dexter novels, for example, but I couldn't watch the TV series.

Funnily enough I'm the same with erotica, learned that via True Blood. I feel like a voyeur watching that stuff, but sex scenes in the written word are somehow different in my head.

 

Not to do with my response to Puppy, but an update on my comment about the two letters.

I sent them both after I returned to work today. The closest thing to vitriol in either letter was telling Dad how i was tied of feeling like I could be replaced with a cardboard cutout.

I've already blocked my mother's and sibs' numbers on my phone. Now to batten down the hatches and see who gets recruited to tell me how upset my mother is.

 

@S A Lee Stay strong in these trying times!