The Not Happy Thread

Wow! You must have a lot of humidity there to feel so hot.

 

I just want to say - whoever said these things to you is vile.

 

I was going to put this in the "things that annoy you, but shouldn't" thread, but thinking on it - it should annoy me, goddammit!

So, after having waited six weeks for a appointment with a bank to open a business account, last week, I turn up.

Branch is shut. OK... maybe I've got the wrong day. Check email. Nope, right day. Get straight back in taxi and go home.

Ring bank. Spend 4 hours on hold. Finally get through, they say they'll get the branch manager to call me back.

An hour later, manager rings me. Tells me that appointment should never have been made in the first place because the staff member left ages ago and the branch has no business managers there any more!

Blaaaaaaaargghhhh.

 

I'm beginning to think that I'm not wrong in being a sweaty, confused mess:



That's 98.6 with a heat index of 111.2f for y'all USians. And this is one of the days when I have to walk a half hour each way to work.

 

God, 200 bucks a month for parking, plus insurance, gas, car payments, zero free parking... No thanks.

 

More of a "well shit!" Moment than a not happy, but I saw a post mixed in with the memes that said: have you ever met someone great and all you can think about is how much it'll hurt when they leave? My gut reaction to that is "well, don't think about the leaving, then???" But the more I think about the quote as a whole, there are a few people I'd apply it to. I miss them and it hit me today just how much.

 

Grinching about the interface changes that get dumped on us by sites we rely on. Facebook. Our email providers, etc.

Been wrestling with the new Facebook layout crap overnight. And have to deal with my new email interface as well ...which has not improved a damn thing, and has made several things I regularly do with my email either impossible or much more fiddly. I used to be able to just click "Mark as Spam" which was in the menu bar while I was reading my Inbox, and that was it. Now I have to click on "More" and open a new window, which allows me to mark something as Spam. Moving an email from my Inbox to a specific folder now takes two clicks, one hover, and a scroll instead of 1 click and a scroll. This is an improvement? I don't think so....

I did attempt to deal with the new Facebook layout, which will be forced on us in September, but quickly switched back when I realised they've removed our Friends list. Some of our Friends (like around 20) are now displayed in 'Contacts,' while the others are ...where? Dunno. Certainly not in the Friends section, where I can find a list of wannabe Friends and People I May Know, but not the Friends I actually already have.

Just heard from another person who has discovered she can't move photos from one Album to another any more in the new layout.

Just GRRRRR....

You'd think, in this time of political upheaval and Covid, when folks are relying on things like Facebook and Email to stay in contact with friends and family and employers, etc, that they'd stop mucking with the interface and forcing us to re-invent an inferior wheel? Surely they could add in the option to use Dark Mode, which some people really like, without crapping up everything else at the same time?

And what's with the round profile pics? It has screwed up people's photos. I now have at least one Friend with only one eyeball showing.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

My parents are visiting.
I love them and im super happy that they are here... But they are having issues with each other. I went out with my mom today, and she vented about my dad. About their arguments and how unhappy she is.

I want to be a good person and listen, because i know she needs to talk to someone, and i know shes sad, and i know im that person for her.... So i suck up my own discomfort and sadness and listen....
It also sucks that im that person for my dad too...so i listen to his side and i just feel caught in the middle.

Older brother says he just ignores them. I cant just ignore them. It feels wrong. I also dont WANT to ignore them.

Ahhhh! Im going crazy!

 

Started a fight tonight on accident. Let my emotions get out of control. But it also made me realize I've been trying to make something happen that isn't going to, so there's a bonus, I guess. Doesn't stop it from being heartbreaking.

 

Man, I've been in that exact situation. My parents did this to me a lot before and after they divorced five years back. They were both hurting and talked to me more openly than they should a child. Fun times.

 

Sooo...

Not sure if I just saw a dead person, but when I was leaving the neighborhood, I saw two police cars and a fire engine, soon accompanied by an ambulance pulling up.

When I got by, I took a glance and saw what appeared to be an old man lying in the grass on his side.

No wrecked cars, nothing. Just him on the ground.

 

Bicycle, then?

 

Large time-spans don't mean much, honestly. I could spend five years practicing guitar once a week or twice a day. The latter will have marked improvement (hint: I did the former and never learned to play guitar). Though if you walked up to one of these creators you mentioned and said: "So it only took you five years to get this good, eh? And natural talent took you the rest of the way?" She'd either laugh or cry in your face. Maybe a mix of both.

I hope you find a creative outlet that you at least enjoy. Or maybe you'll stop writing for a while and come back to it. I did. Frankly I think too few people create. My theory is that's why there are so many haters on social media (I know I get bummed out when I only consume). It's especially bad because people often always expect more than an intrinsic reward for most creative pursuits, so they usually don't see a reason to do things if there's no peer-proven success or general profit.

 

Yup, 24 speed Giant cross-bike (or maybe "hybrid"? Whatever your local term for a mountain bike riding profile with skinny street tires and gearing is).

 

Iain: I'll take weather for a hundred, Alex.

Alex: This weather condition is indicated by a yellow circle on a light blue background.

Iain: Oh, that's easy Alex. What is a "torrential thunderstorm"?

Alex: Yes! You nailed it!

<Iain claps soggily>

 

I'm back from traveling for a funeral. I'm not upset about the funeral, or the days afterward in mourning and spending time with family. I'm upset at coming back to the grind. I forget how much I love Minnesota as a home, especially during the summer. I'm quite isolated out here in California, though I've lived here for near eight years now, and I miss the change of seasons and the storms. The dull dust bowl of a city I live in outside of San Diego never has been me, and likely never will be. But it is home, no matter what I feel. It's at displaced times like these that one feels as if they lack a home. They feel listless, hovering between places with no real attachment or care.

I'm supposed to be posting responses for my class, but I struggle to find patience or interest. I'm not myself today for sure, and doubt I will be for some time.

 

Wherever you go, there you are. Give yourself some time.

 

This is some of my favorite advice anyone's ever given me. Sometimes it's hard to remember that I can't do everything right away and that I need to allow myself to adjust to a change before I can go forward.

On topic:

The guy I dislike heftily returns to work on Monday. I'm already irritated by whatever condescending shit he's going to do, but I'll be prepared because we've been doing really well without him. So we don't really... need him.

 

The day I decide to sleep in past my usual 530am wake up I'm greeted with a screaming ring in my ears. Thanks tinnitus for reminding me I have no actual control over my sleeping hours...you can stop now...oh you're here to stay? Sure, take as much space as you would like...

 

I'm lucky I guess. My tinnitus will keep me up all night, but once I pass out it goes down with me.

 

Woke up with an annoying high frequency thing in my left ear...never heard this specific sound before, so I hope it goes away.

 

I live in an area where amish romances and crime fiction are major (if not the only) food group of the reader variety.
Nothing wrong with either of those... Ive read a few amish romances and they were ok.... But when you're in charge of ordering materials for the entire fiction collection.... It kind of limits the things you can/want to order.

Unfortunately, sci-fi/fantasy, speculative, and worldly fiction (such as an author with a clearly NOT european name or set in a different country) are too out of the box for this demographic....

 

This kind of thing makes me so mad. Are there still troglodytes around these days who will not only think such things but also say them?? Especially with everything that's going on? Even with COVID and everything, there's no excuse for it.

 

That's weird...I would have thought that these things are determined by age or sex, not geography.