The Not Happy Thread

But not inaccurate. In some areas it still applies.

 

I've been saving up for the next round of classes, which it now looks like I'm going to miss because of not only health issues, but I need new tires on the car before winter. I've been driving around on a set of used tires because my car seems to be a magnet for every nail, screw and bolt in the roadway. (That's why the used tires, they're only $20-30.) I can pay for the tires, or I can pay for the classes, but not both.

 

Apparently I've lost the ability to sleep.

The past few nights I've slept a few hours and then I'm awake for the rest of the night. Leaves me with an awful headache and the feeling I'll sooner or later crash at work.

 

Spoiler: Writer Rant Ahoy

Writer Rant Ahoy:

You know what sucks about historical fiction? How sometimes there's not a whole lot of information to go on with a historical figure.

Like take this standalone story I'm writing set in 1821 Paris, France. Amos Garnier (my fictional character) meets Louis Braille (an actual historical figure) and while Louis doesn't play a huge part in the plot (besides showing off his invention to Amos) researching him led me to think back on biographies I've read about Louis in the past.

For starters, some biographies had his mom dying of cancer, others had his dad being the one that died. Then there are figures whom I'm not entirely sure even existed (like the presence of a 'Dr. DeFou' dude in one of the biographies, and a love interest named Denise in another. Look, I don't doubt he had a girlfriend, just..I don't think making up your own characters in a biography is a thing to do. It's like me having Abraham Lincoln meeting Issac Foller, a random name I just came up with.)

So awesome, two biographies who can't decide which of the parents died (if they even did die) and we've got people running around who may not have even existed.

But the worse offender is how they depict Louis. One had him being a kind, compassionate man always striving for curiosity and discovering ways to solve problems. The other painted him as a sort of self-absorbed martyr. The latter even goes as far as to say Louis dies alone in a hotel room when the former had him dying in his home surrounded by family and friends (of which Pierre Foucault was one of them, but he certainly didn't appear in the biographies. Insert 'Am I A Joke To You' Meme Here.)

You'd think for a guy who basically gave the blind and visually impaired the keys to success, his biographers would actually try to keep in sequence rather than going, "lol nope" and seemingly making up things as they went along.

*sighs*

Point is, when biographies can't even agree on certain things, it makes trying to write a historical fiction in which your legit fictional character(s) meet said historical figure rather difficult.
Sorry for the rant. It's early in the morning and this has been churning in my head for years.

Wow, even I got it all wrong. I am ashamed to be a history major now.

-> Louis' father did, in fact, die in 1831.

-> There actually was someone named Pierre DUFAU (not DeFou, wtf) who took over as director in 1842 after basically fabricating lies to get his predecessor (Pignier) removed. He was the dickwaffle who tried to suppress Louis' invention.

-> In 1821, Guillie was the director of the Royal Institute of Blind Youth who was...basically a dickwaffle who abused the students and had an affair with a woman (like you do) so he was fired and replaced by Pignier who was the exact opposite.

 

Took three different chunks out of three different body parts because I "forgot" to put the guard back on the angle grinder. Some days I wonder how I'm even alive... or if I even deserve to be.

 

It seems fall has come quite literally. My dogs made me fall over twice in the two last weeks. First Bilbo (Flat-Coated Retriever approx. 80 pounds) wanted a “meet and greet” with a West Highland Terrier, which was already growling and barking. It wasn’t helpful that I was standing on a quite slippery and steep lawn. I fell right on my butt.

Today Henry (Labrador mix approx. 60 pounds) wanted to chase something in the bushes and “forgot” that I was on the other end of the leash (he has a flexi leash). Imagine yourself holding a long rope which is tight to a car and the car starts moving abruptly. Then you get the picture of me, doing a belly flopper.

Now Henry is moping because I cancelled his walk and went straight back home with an ache around my rips.

I hope ‘All good things come in threes’ won’t apply to this.

 

Decided to have a go on a couple of lotteries tonight - the Euro and the Health. Checking the Euro is a breeze. You scan the QR code and it tells you if you’ve won. The Health Lottery not so simple. Their website and/or app lets you input your numbers manually and then checks. Sounds simple enough and I was delighted when I got the message “Congratulations! You’ve won £10”

That was until I noticed my numbers had been checked against yesterday’s draw!!

Why in the name of holy fuck would it check numbers against a draw that’s already been and gone????

I may have won £10. I don’t know

 

Magnesium, Inositol and B6 should knock you right out. If that doesn't, Valerian Tea, or capsules should work. Or passionflower. So many natural ways to induce sleep, and I will not recommend melatonin as a supplement; people get addicted to that, and it interferes with the body's natureal production.

The first three should work, and if they don't, the last two should be added.

Green tea has theanine, this blocks a lot of the excitatory neurotransmitters that contribute to lack of a restful sleep. It also helps the brain produce GABA and Alpha brainwave pattterns, which are usually the patterns that guide you into a deep sleep. (Most of the stuff I listed help increase GABA production in the brain. GABA is the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter, responsible for turning your nervous system off and allowing you to get a good nights rest.

 

So only... eleven months left until I can sleep a full night. Great!

 

My translation app gives this:

Spoken sentence (in western letters):
Watashi no hobākurafuto wa unagi de ippaidesu

Translation:
My Hovercraft is full of eels...

If that's yout problem I guess you're solid

 

I’m so sorry and I understand.

Obaasan & mom have these weird things we do to ensure we get attention when trying to buy high-end products from classy places: we style our hair certain ways, do our makeup, wear our nicer but not quite ostentatious clothing, and then my mom wears this super giant diamond ring surrounded by more diamonds and my grandmother is carrying a designer bag and I wear my pearls. We literally have to make ourselves up a certain way to be taken seriously and to be treated nicely.

Although I love personally being able to pull the white card in Asian places. Like walking up to the rude worker who bowed and speaking in loud American:

Hey, you, I need you to help me. This *hold up phone to face with photo* do you know where this is? I want to purchase this. Please and thank you. It has to be in this colour. Okay? This colour. Cause I found that one *hold up bag* but I don’t want that one. Okay? Okay! So where can I get this one?

And when the terror overtakes their face and they keep stuttering “Sorry, sorry” and they’re trying to get a word in edgewise to stop my upbeat by in-your-face Americanisms, I’d say 日本語で話して頂いても構いませんよ。or something, and hopefully the flood of relief will make them better disposed towards assisting me properly.

The real fun is when they do try to back away or run off like the last guy, and you can go Oh, the bag is this way? Alright, let’s go, I’ll follow. No need to slow down, yeah, we can jog. Boy this bag in this colour must be in hot demand if we gotta sprint towards it, but I’m game. I’ve survived plenty of Black Fridays in my day. Do you have Black Fridays here? It’s the best. After a food coma and an awkward but mostly civil family gathering trial-run for the main event, Christmas, you gotta get up SUPER early in the morning to wait outside a shop in a ridiculous mob of people—

And so on.

Mostly I just pull my white card in eateries, like when I want to pick up baked green mussels with my hand to my mouth and not hashi or some other thing I kinda want to do but know I’m not supposed to. Ignorant whitey can be a fun if you play it right~

However, to be fair, as a woman (a 5’9 woman but still female) it’s less actively frightening to be followed doggedly by me than it might be from a gentleman of the same persistence.

 

Fucking dickheads that like to give me bogus ass addresses and then I have to call them to figure out where the hell they live so I can do my job.
Fucking not happy living in the nightmare version of Mulberry sometime.

 

@Cave Troll, are you English or American ?

 

American.

 

Oh! But you said 'dickhead'.

 

Dickhead is very American. "Bellend" isn't.

 

Then there's knob-gobbler. I'm not sure if that's relevant but I'm going to pretend I'm contributing.

 

What about "wanker"? I've heard it described as one of the most British words ever, but apparently Americans use it too.

 

I've heard Americans say 'twat' but they pronounce it 'twot'

I've watched a lot of American films and TV shows in my time and I've not never heard no American say 'dickhead'.

 

Wanker is not American. Lived all over the country. Never heard it. Twat is rarely used,and snubbed almost immediately by most. Dickhead is common with certain groups. I, coming from the military, heard it nearly daily.

 

Gotta agree. I've lived all over the US and never once heard the term "wanker" until meeting a fellow student from GB.

 

Me, trying to parse out your stacked negatives:

 

I've heard it at least once in an episode of Friends, although that was the shorter 'wank', I assume to mean 'being a dickhead'. Joey is mad with Chandler for something he did. Chandler apologies, but Joey counters with another example of Chandler's misdemeanours to which he replies, "Yeah, well that was when I was being a wank."

I'm paraphrasing.

3.50 if the 'play from here' doesn't work.