The Rant Thread

[Kessari]

This is a rant about my parents. This whole situation with them is driving me insane, so here it comes:

My parents got into a really big fight last weekend, which ended with my mother standing in front of my door late Saturday evening. We went out for drinks and talked. Well, it was more like her ranting about what an asshole my dad is... I listened, didn't really say anything to it, except, that she had to talk (no screaming, no accusations) to him instead of me when they cooled down. For the first time in my whole life I felt like the only adult in the family.
I had to go visit them twice this week for appointments and it was hell. On Monday they weren't talking to each other at all and since Wednesday apparently they've gone from not talking to just glaring at each other. If they actually have to talk it's sarcastic and cold. For my sake my dad tries to act as normal as possible around my mother. I know it's hard for him, but he doesn't want to drag me into that mess. My mother on the other hand does the exact opposite. Yesterday she said, that I shouldn't forget that they both love me and will always be here for me. I said I love them too, but even if it sounded heartless, that I don't want to be dragged into the mess. I don't want to have to decide between them. So she says she understand and that she wants me to stay out of it, but 10 SECONDS later starts ranting about my dad and what she hates about him and all that crap. DID YOU ALREADY FORGET WHAT YOU SAID TEN DAMN SECONDS AGO????
God, I hate this situation. She acts like it's all his fault. Nothing is ever her fault. It never was, it never will. She wants to change him, but doesn't see, that she CAN'T change him. It wouldn't be fair for fucks sake! You can't change someone else and if you can't live with it then you got to take your consequences. She should start changing herself before trying to do that to someone else.

Don't get me wrong, I love both my parents dearly, but my mother is a tough cookie to deal with. Wednesday when she picked me up from the train station, I was in her car for 10 minutes until she said the first thing to almost make me lose my temper. It was so hurtful that I almost started crying, because I was so angry. She had blood poisoning last Christmas and had to have three operations to save her leg, but that DOESN'T MEAN THERE ARE NO OTHER PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO ARE IN PAIN!!! Get over it! How dare she compare her "suffering" to someone who just lost their parents?! How dare she compare herself to someone who's been suffering their whole life? How the fuck dare she do that?!
It took ten minutes for me in her presence to want to go home, get away as fast as I could.

Yesterday I passed my eyesight test for being able to drive. I've waited for this moment for over 6,5 years and she can't even be happy for me. She can't even pretend to be. And worse, she makes me feel bad about it. It was supposed to be one of the best feelings in the world. Finally holding that piece of paper, that I thought I'd never get and she has to ruin the moment for me.
I know she's miserable, but why does she have to drag others down as well? It's not fair!!!

As I said, I love my parents and I'm sure both of them make/made lots of mistakes, but lately I think I understand why that marriage is failing slowly. I understand it and I hate it.

[Finey_McFine]

My bf called me yesterday with some crazy news. Her sister, who is about 8-9 yrs younger than us, sprung a mystery man on her and announced their impending marriage.

OK, this is some crazy shit. She met this guy through an online dating service 5 DAYS AGO! They live about an hour apart and he drove over to meet her, asked her to marry him, and she said yes. They set a date for Oct 4...2 weeks away!

We asked her why the rush, why not just live together for awhile? Because he's a "traditionalist" and doesn't believe in premarital sex/living in sin yadda, yadda, yadda. He also told her that he is a millionaire and once they are married, that she doesn't have to work anymore. But first he'll need to live with her because all of his money is tied up in offshore accounts and she bought it...HOLY HELL BATMAN! I mean hello! Psycho axe murderer much?

And they say that gays are ruining marriage...bahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

[JustSkipIt]

My wife is basically upset that our "level of passion" (read sex life +) does not equal that of a fictional, independently wealthy, heterosexual couple who have been married 7 months. She's been reading basically published Pride and Prejudice fanfic and ...

[Finey_McFine]

I'm highly irritated with the new ATM machines at my bank. All branches have switched to envelope free deposits. Supposedly, you can deposit up to 30 items at a time (cash and checks) and the machine will scan & add the items, etc. Anyway, this particular branch by my house has machines that refuse to take my checks. It is so fucking frustrating! It doesn't matter if it's 3 or 30 items...it scans the first few and then spits everything else out. I end up getting pissed and leaving or having to make a u-turn and go back through the commercial drive through...if it's opening and the deposit tube is functioning. It never happens at the bank by my studio, but sometimes I need to bank near my house and boy does it get me wound up!

[Laragh]

They're drilling I don't even know what outside my apartment and it's cut off my internet 'til Monday. I've got a good phone, but it's starting to drive me a little insane, not to mention costing a fortune to access the internet on. I know I shouldn't have such reliance on something that's really so trivial, but I feel like my right arm has been cut off :/

[Ariel]

Hey, Laragh! Feeling the pain, girlfriend, believe me!

My rant is about my stupid company which is providing me with a new cell phone. That part is good! The bad part is that they have cut off my current phone before the new one has arrived - so no cell! Yep, I'm a first responder for emergencies so this is a NOT GOOD! And I'm on hold with the I.T. folks - yeah, IT is right! Stephen King has nothing on these folks!

Take care, all!

Ariel
How I Met Your Mother

[Finey_McFine]

Ugh, I feel like today's gonna be 'one of those days.' I'm tired, don't feel good, it's my 7th day of work this week and I just wanna stay home and watch football. Plus, I can't get this fucking bracelet on!!

My wife got me this beautiful tennis bracelet for my birthday last year. It was too small so we got it sized properly and she asked me last night with this sad little pouty face, how come I don't wear it. OK so here's the deal: I love the bracelet, it's stunning and the most beautiful piece of jewelry I own but...I can't fucking put it on by myself! Because it's also the most fucking aggravating piece of jewelry I own!

When I wear bracelets, I often take them on and off throughout the day because they drive me crazy when I type and scratch up my laptop, but days when I'm photographing all day, I like to wear them. Except this particular bracelet has a security clasp and is difficult for someone using two hands and impossible using one. I just spent the last fifteen minutes trying to put the fucking thing on and I'm ready to throw it across the room. So now I have to put it in my pocket and hope that I don't lose it so I can have my assistant put it on me when I get to work.

Ugh! I need Starbucks.

[JustSkipIt]

I know that I always rant when I'm at my in-laws' but here I go again. My kids will have their 4 and 8 year birthdays this year. We have invited my wife's parents, sister, and brother (and his family) to every one of their birthday parties. They've never come. I'm not sure they've ever RSVPed. They don't generally acknowledge birthdays, call, send a card, or a present. Sometimes they combine a X-mas gift and say it's also a birthday gift. Last year her SIL actually had separate birthday and X-mas gifts for the kids which surprised us both.

Anyway, we get here yesterday and Rachel was chatting with her sister about how is Myra (said sister's best friend who's husband died a few months ago) and Andrea says that Myra is having a joint birthday party for the boys next weekend so she thinks she will drive down there. Points: 1. The "boys" are like 22 and 24 years old. 2. They live in Houston which is approximately 1.5 ours farther away than our house. 3. She has never been to our kids' (her niece and nephew's) parties. 4. She has not visited us in 2-3 years.

Arggghhh. I dread the day the kids ask more pointedly why Rachel's side of the family are so lame and pray they never come to any conclusion (such as they must not love us or something like that).

[Finey_McFine]

Deb- I have to say...I love your in law rants. I'm just glad that you have the kids to distract you:)

I feel your pain in regards to the birthday thing. I skipped a party today because I'm kind of sick of being expected to attend this particular kids party and have their family NEVER reciprocate. Ever. And it's not about the gifts or anything like that, it's about them putting a little extra effort into being in my child's life as I am in theirs. It's annoying.

Between my wife and I, we have 16 nieces and nephews, none live remotely close and it's way too expensive to buy for all of the Birthday's and Christmas. So, unless we're all together for the occasion, we don't do gifts. It's kind of an unwritten rule and it works. Sometimes we send a "family gift" and vice versa.

[Finey_McFine]

My mother is a stubborn pain in the ass. She has serious health issues, high blood pressure, 2 strokes, congestive heart failure, etc. She refuses to quit smoking and frying everything she eats, then acts surprised when something goes wrong. She hasn't been feeling well lately and had a Dr's appt today. My brother took the day off, unpaid, to take her and she refused to go, said she "didn't feel like it." So, now it's 10:30 at night and she's at the er with my sister in law. Who has to be up at 5am for work. They didn't believe me when I told them that she does this shit on purpose. Well, I guess now they're getting a hard dose of reality.

[JujuDeRoussie]

So Monday I bought a car, yay! My first car. I contacted my bank/insurance who had informed me that because they were my bank, I'll have a small discount. So on Monday I call to check for an appointment now that I have all the information on my car. Thursday I go, and my counselor tells me he has to call Brussels to check something. No news on Wednesday so I call, and I get another appointment today. Turns out that I can;t be insured there because I do not have my home insurance there, because my parents aren't costumers (my mother passed away and my father that I recently met is in France), and because I do not have a job, they can;t insure me. No matter that I can pay upfront. So for days they let me wait and now I have to find another insurance but it'll have to wait until next Wednesday (am gone for the weekend to London and the one I've been advised is closed on both monday and tuesday).

So my car is still at the dealer who said it's fine but who would like for it to be gone because he needs the space.

[Finey_McFine]

My kid is having four girls sleep over tonight and they were out in the back of my truck talking when a mom drove up to drop off her kids pj's, pillow, etc. Well, one of the girls hopped in her van to warm up and commented that the seat smelled like pee. So instead of just blowing off the comment or addressing the rude kid, she goes the passive aggressive route and announces it in her fb status.

Now I ask you, who caused the drama here? The kid or the mom? Answer: The stupid ass mother! If it happened to me, I would have made a smart ass comment right back, like "It didn't smell like that before you sat there," lol. I mean, they're 12 yrs old and maybe it did smell like pee!!! She's a HUGE drama queen and starts more shit than the kids do. I REEEEEEALLY hate having to deal with her.

[BeMyDeputy]

So, my future in-laws are staying with Adam and me for a few days.

Yesterday during lunch, I managed to offend Adam's dad somehow, though no one knows what I said that was the problem.

While I was away at my cousin's wedding, Adam's mom took over my kitchen.

I like my future in-laws. They're nice people. But right now, I feel out of place in my own home.


Of course, when I was at my cousin's wedding, I watched the bride's brother yell and swear at our grandmother in HER own home.

I'm trying to get better from being sick, and all I want to do is curl up on the couch and play Dungeon Defenders, but I can't.

[Finey_McFine]

God awful day today, grrrr! It started off with me loading the new Lion OSX on my laptop so I could sync my iPhone with iCloud and the result being that I can no longer access MS Office anymore, says it's not compatible. Well guess where my fic is? That's right, it's in WORD! So now I gotta figure that shit out or go buy a new version of Office for several hundred dollars, like I said grrrrrrr!

Then it just got better from there...I had customers from HELL! No joking, literally spawns of the devil himself. I felt like I was trapped in an episode of The Twilight Zone; like Rod Serling was going to step out from behind a door at any moment.

Let's see what else...Oh, apparently a camera flash card failed because I'm missing random images form the 29th and now have to reshoot two full sessions. Then a lady needed a digital image emailed to her late today and gave us the wrong email address 3 TIMES!!! And each time she didn't receive the image she called and yelled at me, even though I repeated the address back to her several times. I even asked her to email me and I would just hit reply. She said, "I don't have time!" Then the topper of the day was a kid that I told I would stay for to do a retake for the yearbook (the deadline was a MONTH ago) and he ended up being 45 minutes late, then his Dad wanted more pics taken. I said NO and he could't imagine why. Oh well, maybe because we CLOSED 30 minutes ago!!! Asshat.

My assistant asked, "What the hell is wrong with people today?" I said, 'I betcha it's a full moon." BINGO! We have a winner! LOL I'm leaving to go home now and drink heavily. Good bye.

[EasierSaid]

Not a rant, but a reply - Word docs can be opened in Pages ($20 through the Apple iApp store) or TextEdit (free on your Mac). Try Pages. IMHO it is better than Word for word processing.

[Finey_McFine]

Thanks Heather! I download it last night and it works great!!

[Finey_McFine]

I am so done doing favors for people. I really don't want to feel this way but, I sick and tired of feeling like I'm being taken advantage of.

I got up at the ass crack of dawn this morning to help out my neighbor because her husband is out of town. They have 8 kids and she has to leave for work before the 3 little ones get on the bus. So, when he's gone we help out by taking the three littles at about 6:30, feeding them etc, and then putting them on the bus around 8am. Well apparently, a middle kid is sick...which SHE KNEW LAST NIGHT, according to a late evening fb status update I just saw and NEVER bothered to let us know. So, I got up showered, rushed around in somewhat of a walking coma and they never showed. She never let us know, I finally sent her a text and she acted as if it was no big thing.

In the grand scheme of things, I guess it's not a big deal, but God Damn It! A fucking courtesy call would be nice, a quick text, "Hey don't bother getting up, I'm staying home today," ANYTHING! Because you know what? You're giant litter of children are not my responsibility; stop acting like that gives you a free pass and expect others to just do things for you. Just because I only have one child, doesn't mean I'm sitting around here bored...I could have been in a warm bed snuggling with a naked wife!

[JustSkipIt]

My wife and I had a humongous fight yesterday/last night. Partially it was fueled by exhaustion and coming home from 7 days at my in-laws. But it started because not an hour from the farm Chiara asked if she could spend her birthday at the farm next year and Rachel said she could spend next year and every year at the farm from now on. No considering me. No discussion. No prevaricating because she's talking to a 4 year old. I was upset that she committed us to the farm for 4 days after Xmas for the foreseeable future. So she got all hurt and said we should stop the conversation.

8 hours later I want to pick it up and we start fighting again. Rachel says that the fact that I think I should be included in conversations like that is an insult to her, her family, her mother, etc. She says I'm saying that I hate them all and am never willing to ever visit again which means she can never see her family again. Understand that we spend a fucking week there every Christmas. Plus 3 or so other 4 day visits a year. It is literally the largest share of my vacation from work. No... I just think I should be involved in the plans. Anyway... it all comes down to Rachel's mom is 82 and her dad is 86 and she's afraid they will die. Like soon. I get that that can be scary but Rachel says she thinks about it every day. She can hardly breathe for thinking that she can't exist in a world that her mom is not in.

My question is -- Is that normal? Is it normal to obsess over your mom dying? To believe you can not exist without her in the world?

[Laragh]

Not worth reliving.

[drlloyd11]

My question is -- Is that normal? Is it normal to obsess over your mom dying? To believe you can not exist without her in the world?

I worked on this answer four or five times before settling on this.
It's normal to have periods of loss and fear. When these hit its like a tidal wave that you try to grab on to anything to hold on. The thing is when the tide recedes, what do you do then?
At any given moment,*any* irrational thought is possible when faced with this. The desire to drive in Indiana overnight to say goodbye, the desire to pick a fight with another loved one, the desire to die or have a baby or just drink.
I learned that when I was like this, it was better to let me feel the things I needed to feel but also understand I may not feel that way in a week or a month or a year.
If people tried to to talk me down, I was angry at them for "acting like it didn't matter". There was no talking sense to me. But giving into what I wanted would have been a mistake too.
I guess I consul patience, listening, but firmness. Let her be afraid, but know that even if she won't it admit it, she won't be afraid all the time.

Hows that?

[SickSadGirl]

I'm feeling absolutely frustrated right now. My best friend's birthday is tomorrow. But, she has been ignoring me for over two years. Not answering any calls, texts, messages, friend requests, anything. When I happened to see her at her new (?) job this past summer, all she said was, "Oh my God." Then, "How are you?" very sarcastically. She never gave me a reason for not talking to me, and we didn't have a fight around that time. In fact, I can't remember any fights we ever had. A few small disputes, but we always got through it.

I've talked about this with most of my other friends (and even a few strangers), but everyone tries to tell me that it's her problem and I should forget about it. I know they're trying to be nice and helpful, but the thing is, they don't understand how much that friendship has helped me. How important she is to me. So, except on nights dedicated to alcohol consumption, I stopped talking about it. But, I still think about it everyday. I write about it, but since I don't know anything new after over two years of this, it's kind of useless.

Now, since I never heard anything from her like, "Back off!" or "We're done", I keep hoping maybe we'll talk again someday. I'm pissed at myself for being so stupid, though. I shouldn't allow myself to have that hope. Or, if I do let myself think like that, I should at least control it. Unfortunately, I'm really dumb, so I got her a birthday present. I made a few mix cds and wrote a letter, too. I dropped it all off at her parents' house last night. Her mom didn't seem to recognize me at first, but she also didn't act like there was anything weird about me dropping off an early gift. So, I immediately went into a daze wondering how her mom wouldn't know we weren't speaking, since they've always been pretty close. ARGH!!!

I was a fucking zombie all last night, even when my super nice girlfriend was finally able to spend time with me, and again at work today! I know I need to let this go. Why do I let myself keep thinking about this stuff that probably doesn't matter, this crap that won't change anything?! Obviously, nothing I do will change her mind. Yet, I let myself have this stupid hope.


Sorry this was so long.

[Ariel]

Hey SSG,

I'm feeling some of your hurt. I'm a pretty straight up person and I love it when I really know what's going on with people. I find it crazy-making when I ask an honest question, am willing to hear the worst case scenario, but instead get avoidance or downright lies.

In your heart of hearts you've already shared the answer about this problem, so I'm not going to offer advice. I figured that you shared to lay down a very painful burden with some people who care.

Anyway, I'm sending the good thoughts - take care.


Deb,

Total honesty? I see a few sides to the situation. #1 people shouldn't promise away your vacation without discussing it unless your wife planned a separate vacation and even then I think she should have talked it over with you. Spouses need to consult each other on vacation plans period.

On the other hand, I can see where your wife might have been tired and just said what she said and then got her back up and became defensive. The good news with four year olds is that they sometimes (but not always) remember this commitment.

It also seems like you resent spending so much time with Rachel's family and you know what? I don't blame you a bit! I love my Mother and Father-in-Law but would NOT like to spend the bulk of my vacations with them. So, maybe Rachel can visit some times without you. I don't know the whole situation, but sometimes that works. Like my wife wanted to go to a Broadway show and I couldn't afford it. She was gone for three days, no biggie. I know it's trickier with the bigger family.

Anyway, your post got me thinking and that's a good thing-- WAIT it's 2:17 a.m. and that's NOT a good thing!

Good night all! Take care everyone!

Ariel
How I Met Your Mother

[CrazyTaraWitch]

When I started my job at the beginning of last May, with the promise that it would be feel time during the school year and part-time over the summer, with the implication that the summer work would be significant and consistent. At the time that seemed great, I had savings and was getting financial aid for school, and my hourly pay was going to be a little better than what I was used to, so I thought it would work out great. Then it turned out that the summer work was extremely part-time-- most weeks 5 - 15 hours, at random times and often with less than a day's notice, and one or two weeks none at all. But, by the time I realized just how little work there was going to be, summer was well under way, and I knew come early August I'd be back to full time, so I let it go, decided to stick with the job. Then in September or October I found out my employer is pregnant, and will go on maternity leave in April so she won't need me for 6 weeks. Well crap. 6 weeks of no money? No way I can handle that. So I told her that was great and secretly thought, okay, I'll get a new job when the baby comes. Then in November I found out they'd be gone all Thanksgiving week, so no pay for me, and a week or two later she announced that she'd gotten a new job. A new *part time* job. Well fuck. But she said she would be getting free-lance work in the afternoons 3-4 days a week, so I figured I'd still be working easily 30 hours a week, most likely closer to 35. Well, that was a big cut, but I did the math and estimated that most jobs I could get would have enough lower hourly pay that my total income would be about the same, so I decided to stay for the time being. She also said that the new job would only have her off work for 1 month in the summer instead of 2.5, but I'd already figured on leaving before the summer; however I crunched numbers and figured out that if I couldn't find another job, I'd get by (barely) on 30 hours a week, even with all the time off. Then she told me I'd have a week off in February, unpaid as always. It happened to land immediately following a short trip I'd planned, so I decided to extended the trip-- at considerable cost. Then her original free-lance job wasn't giving her enough hours, so she was still having me work around 30 hours a week but would often not be working herself in that time, so she found a new afternoon job. What she failed to tell me was that said new job is only 1 afternoon a week, which she announced yesterday, so starting in February I'll be down to 26 hours a week, a 35% decrease from original amount of work. Fuckety fuck fuck fuck. So now I'm stuck with a job that I cannot live on long term without rapidly losing my savings, and with my trip coming up next month I can't even properly look for a new job. I've applied for nearly a dozen babysitting jobs in the last couple weeks hoping to supplement my income, but haven't heard back from any of them; apparently 3.5 years experience working in daycares and as a nanny, a Child Development Associate Credential, and half the credits to an Associate's degree in Child Development doesn't qualify me to put someone's kids to bed or sit around while they sleep.

[Finey_McFine]

Is today Friday the 13th, a full moon or perhaps really a Monday? Because I truly believe the God's are testing me today.

First, I'm running late because the lawn guys unhooked their trailer behind my truck and I had to wait for the guy with the truck to get back. Then I get behind a complete ASSHOLE that has decided to take a Sunday drive and go 38 in a 55 on a two lane road. Road rage, it's probably what actually pushed me over the edge. Anyway, I get to work and my POS freezes up while I'm on the phone with a customer and then the phone decided to reset itself and disconnects them...mid sentence. After that 20 minute aggravating interlude of resetting everything, I get a call from a customer about an image that my lazy ass editor was supposed run by me before he emailed them the proofs, but of course being a lazy ass he didn't and sent half ass shit instead. He's not here today, so now I have to do his fucking job for him. Which means that the pile of stuff on my desk, from being gone for a week, is just going to get bigger. I've taken work home every night this week and have been up until 2-3am just trying to catch up. Which isn't going to happen anytime soon because I have Girl Scout cookie obligations all weekend and into next week!

F'in A Cotton, I need a drink.

[a.renegade.dream]

Ugh. My girlfriends mother is an absolute lunatic. She'll go on screaming fits for next to no reason, swearing and slamming things, and end them just as abruptly. I'm completely used to this, of course, being as Maggie and I have been together nearly three years, but it still gets to me once in a while. Today is one of those days. We (Maggie and I) told her the other day that we were moving into an apartment together and since then she's been practically intolerable. Forcing Maggie to throw everything in sight away, saying it's junk, or trash, or that she doesn't need it, and then how she can't use any of her cleaning supplies to do this anyways, so why are we even going to bother. It's super frustrating and I can't wait to get my princess out of this nightmare and into a safe and loving place where it's just the two of us, or cat and ferret (and maybe a few plants). I've already vented to my younger sister about this earlier today, but then another round of screaming death happened and I got aggravated again. One more week, one more week..

[BeMyDeputy]

Some days I get forcibly reminded that health care, particularly in the US, is a business, and it makes me fucking stabby.

I'm bipolar. The only reason I'm can go to graduate school is because I'm on a combination of drugs that keeps me stable. One of these drugs has really bad withdrawal.

Now, I may be all stable and shit, but I'm not the most organized person in the world. I don't pay enough attention to things like "how much medication do I have left." I know it. Which means that I frequently end up calling the pharmacy when I only have a day or two left.

This, this is not my rant. I know this about myself. It's always been true.

So, sometime early last week I go to my pharmacy and say "Can you please fax a refill request to my psychiatrist?" And they say "sure." And I go away thinking I'll get my fucking drugs later that week.

Well, I don't hear back from them, so on Sunday I drop by and say "hey, I ordered drugs days ago. Why haven't you texted me about picking them up?" And they say "oh, the psychiatrist's office denied the request, saying you need to make an appointment."

It was really fucking nice of someone to tell me that. Only, they didn't. My psychiatrist's office didn't. My pharmacist didn't. I had even tried to make an appointment the last time I saw my psychiatrist, but they didn't have 2012 in their calendar yet, so I couldn't. Instead was left on a Sunday night with no way to contact my psychiatrist and a very, very low supply of my drugs.

Thankfully, when I did get in touch with my psychiatrist's office and made an appointment, they were able to fax a refill request once I'd made it so I have drugs to last me until the appointment.

But seriously. They should have called me to let me know the fucking thing had been denied.

[Finey_McFine]

I have tried REALLY hard for the last four years to like my sister in law, but alas...I just don't. I don't even think my brother likes her that much, but he's too whipped to do anything about it. My wife called it from day one, "I don't like her. That whole sickly sweet southern innocent christian thing...it's bullshit. I don't trust her." I just chalked my wife's feelings up to "The Bacon Incident" of 2008 (which is a whole other story), but boy was she right. This chick likes to play games.

My brother came down last night to pick up my niece and from the minute they walked in the door, she was a complete bitch. I was in the laundry room and she thought I was out of earshot as she proceeded to yell at both my daughter and her step daughter about the TV being too loud and them needing to go to bed. WTF bitch!? It was only 10pm, they're last night together and the last free night of spring break. Not to mention, IT'S MY HOUSE! I'll have the fucking TV as loud as I want it and don't yell at my kid! Of course her tune changed as soon as I walked in the room.

So, my brother and I planned to get up this morning and take the girls fishing before they had to head home. We decided to get up and out by 9am. I got up, no brother. I knocked on his door and nothing. I eventually gave up and went back to bed. He finally rolls outta bed around 11:30 with a scowl on his face. "We're not going fishing, it's too late and J wants to head home asap." Again I say, WTF??? Apparently, she kept him in bed and then when it was too late, let him up and told him no like he's a small child. I think what irritates me the most is that he allows her to totally control him. Seriously dude, grow some balls!

[Finey_McFine]

OMFG! Dealing with my daughters friends and their parents is a HUGE lesson in patience. Jordan wanted to go to the mall today with 3 friends. I told her I'd drop them off, but to see if one of their parents could pick up. Two decided not to go and the third's Mom said, "no way they are going unsupervised, I'll go with them." Ok, whatever...super micro managing control freak. The kids are old enough to go alone and they need the practice at becoming responsible young adults. Plus, who the fuck that age wants their parents always hanging around? And what parent wants to hang out in Claire's or Wet Seal? I'm sorry, maybe it's just me, but when I was that age, I wanted to hang with friends and not parents. I wanted to play video games and eat at Orange Julius. What is the deal with this generation of parents wanting to be up their kids asses 24/7?

Anyway, they live on the next block over, literally 2 seconds away and the kid told Jordan to just meet them there? WHY? Why can't you just pick her up??? If I was going, I WOULD PICK UP YOUR KID and have on many occassions, it's the logical thing to do. What, I'm going to get in my truck and follow you guys down there (20 minutes away),just to drop her with you? Again I say WTF??? It makes ZERO sense. I could understand if they had something to do before hand and we needed to meet them after, but they didn't, so it was just incredibly fucking stupid. I told Jordan that this was all K's doing so she could have complete control over the situation and that her Mom probably had no idea what was going on. I got sick of the bs, called the Mom and I was so right!!! Why the hell does this kid have to be my kids best friend?????

[CrazyTaraWitch]

For the most part today has been awesome, so much so that I feel like an ungrateful jerk for complaining, but I keep getting bummed by the one sucky part of the day.

For the last several months, I've been a pretty active member of a very small (30ish members, but only 8-12 of us really active at any given time, and only about 6 of us that have been active most of the time since we created the group) facebook group of Doctor Who fans. It's a really supportive and friendly group, and though I stand out a bit there (cause most of the posts are about expressing attraction towards a few of the male characters) I've generally felt very welcome. Heck, I think I was the third member, plus one of the first admin. This rant may not make much sense to people that don't know a little about Doctor Who, but basically, there have been 11 Doctors, and they're not just different actors, they have different personalities, despite being more or less the same character. There have also been many, many Companions that have traveled with him, and many different head writers that have taken the show in different directions. Personally, I love all the Doctors, nearly all the Companions, and the majority of the directions the show has gone in, but I understand many fans don't feel the same, and I've always known that most of the members of this particular fan group don't like the current show-runner and Companions, and don't like the current Doctor as much as the previous two. It's generally not been an issue, because we're a pretty respectful group and the #1 rule is that we not diss any of the Doctors, plus we rarely get into deep discussions--we're more about having fun and keeping things light and silly, plus occasional rants or raves. Once, despite knowing that I was the only real River fan in the group, I posted a very rant-y post about annoyance over some very harsh attacks against her character in another group, and got some really supportive comments, especially from the head admin. So, recently I posted a Doctor/River short story I'd written, and I got overwhelmingly positive feedback, again with the head admin speaking up the loudest, this time with praise. I was surprised and touched by the level of interest and support from the group, considering no one who read the story ships the pairing. I've also seen occasional comments from the head admin stating that she loves 11, just not as much as 9 and 10 but he's still great. I think it's reasonable that I drew the conclusion that the head admin wasn't strongly against 11, or him being paired with River, though of course I knew that 10 is very much her favourite Doctor. Then yesterday she angrily posted an article she'd come across stating that 11 is better than 10, and said shit like that is why she posts so much about 10. Now, the fact is 10 is far more popular than 11; yes there are people who say 10 sucked, but I spend a lot of time in large fan groups (more, I'm fairly certain, than the head admin does) and I still see way more people saying 10 is the best ever. Granted I didn't care for the article because it gave bad support for the preference, but the head admin's attitude was what really got to me, because she seemed to be up in arms over the simple fact of someone preferring 11 to 10, and was acting like it happens all the fucking time when in reality 11-lovers are in the minority. Today she posted a link to her response (because, she said, she tries to "not play favourites" in the group), and I knew it was going to rant at people who diss 10 and probably talk about why he's the "best" Doctor and was prepared to get a little annoyed because I adore 10 and 11 pretty equally and hate to see either of them talked badly about, but I was not prepared for how vehemently she spoke out about every single aspect of the show since 11 took over, and talking about how she hated this Doctor and thought he was wooden. What really got to me was her saying that the 11/River relationship made her feel ill, because why the hell did she claim to love my story if she detests the pairing at the center of it?? Several of the other members professed strong agreement with her response, and now I feel like I really don't belong there. I don't really want to be part of a group where everyone hates on my favourite head-writer, my favourite Companion, and one of my favourite Doctors. On the other hand, it's the only fan group I have where I actually feel like a person, where I can post things and have people care, where everyone is friends and we just have fun. Until today, I loved the group, and I know most of the members (the head admin especially) want me there, but now I'm just pissed and I feel like I don't fit--nor want to--in a group that trashes aspects of the show I completely adore.

[JustSkipIt]

So we're at the in-law's because my wife's old high-school teacher/mentor died and she wanted to go to the wake in Dallas. We tried to figure out a way we could both go but could not come up with anyone who could watch the kids/where we could stay for her to do that. So we planned a trip to the farm. We came up Thursday and will go back Sunday. In-laws are what in-laws are. No particular drama there.

So the wake was 5-8 Friday in Dallas (about 1:00 away from the farm). My wife left about 3:45 in a very heavy bad rain storm and had to drive through Terrell which had a bad accident. She called me about 5:10 to say that she was there. The connection was so bad that she had to call twice and I had to walk around the house trying to hear. What I got was bad storm, bad weather, leaving phone in car, will text me when she leaves. So I make dinner for the family (in-laws etc.), we eat, get ready for bed, put the kids to bed, get back up to hang with the in-laws. Etc. 8:00 comes and goes. 9:00 comes and goes. 9:30 comes and goes. I put the dogs out and in. Feed the dogs. Get ready for bed. Text Rachel. Her father calls her. The first time it goes straight to voicemail. The second he leaves her a message. Is her phone out because of the storm? Is she driving? Is she still there? Did she eat dinner or just drink (the wake was at a wine tasting place with no food)? 10:00 I go to bed, leave my phone on, and text her that I'm going to bed and please plug in my phone when she gets home. Understand, if she is in an accident, we will never know. We are not at home. The police would not think to check here for us. And if she were in an accident and we find her, we have no way to get to her. She has the car and car seats. I would have to go into Terrell (40 miles) to buy new car seats and back to put them in her mom's car and then find the hospital or whatever. 10:30 her father knocks on the door and sticks his head in to say that she is just leaving the wake and will be home in 45 minutes. 11:30 she gets back. So she was supposed to leave there at 8:00 and left at 10:30 and just lost track of time.

Fucking shit.

How Goddamn inconsiderate can she be? And the thing is that this is not unusual. It is a pattern. She ALWAYS is later than she said she would be. She went out of town for funeral last year and said she would be home about 12:00 or something and left Houston about 3:00. At least that time she had her phone. When she meets a friend for dinner she says she will be home about 7:00 and if she's home at 7:45 that's good. Jesus Christ, woman! Take your phone into the fucking bar or ask one of the other folks the time every so often. I shit you not that when I told her this is an unacceptable pattern she says she needs to learn to estimate her time better. Not she needs to call or text. She needs to say that she will leave at 9:00. Or whatever.

Apparently this has been her whole life because as we sat around and waited and her parents got more and more worried and I said yes... this is one of the things about her she says one time and then ... and her dad and mom started to chuckle and said she is late and doesn't check in. We know. So I guess she started this 25 years ago or something.

On my run this morning it sort of hit me. She is not going to change this. She is going to think she is being controlled or something but she is not going to change because she doesn't care. She has gotten upset with me in the past for not being home 10 minutes early from a run but she doesn't see a double-standard and she is not going to change.

I don't know whether to feel depressed or freed by that realization.