August August minirants!

[MissTake]

Well, I guess I'm off the Christmas card list.

Youngest nephew called, wanted to talk about some stuff my Mom has been up to regarding some of her properties. When Dad was alive, they had decided one property would go to my nephews after Mom also passed. Nephews decided the land was already theirs and have pretty much destroyed it. Mom goes up there and cries to see what they have done. If Dad were around, there would be some skull cracking occurring.

But he's not, and Mom is a batty control freak. Control freak? Yes. Batty? Dementia is kinda close. Yes, she has said things that have alienated my sister. Sis and I used to talk daily, hang out, &c. Now we maybe email each other once every few weeks. I cannot talk about Mom to her, she screeches at me if I do, then finishes with "Well, she brought this on herself".

At this point it's Mom, me, and TheKid on one side, everyone else on the other. Nephew wanted to know if I knew what Mom was doing. I told him most of what I knew. Anything more than that he would need to talk to her directly. He threatened that if she followed through with selling the property, the family would be completely divided. It already is. The only time you all talk to her is when you want something. This nephew is so condescending towards Mom- it's sickening. He claims he has such deep concern for her. Really? Then why are you never there when she needs you? Other nephew is a good guy who lets this one fight his battles.

I know my Mom is difficult. She exhausts me sometimes. Dealing with her paranoia makes me wants to beat my head against a wall. But she's my mom.

I know some people do not have close relationships with their family. That is not us. When Dad was alive, we all were together at least once a month. In the summer we would all be at the cabin every weekend. It was chaos, and we loved it. After Dad died, it all fell apart. I miss the way it was, the way it will never be again. I am guessing I set the volley for the family war that has been brewing for over five goddamn years. In some ways I am happy I said my peace, but I am also terribly sad for all that is now lost with the family.

Fuck.

[SnakesCatLady]

{{{MissTake}}}

[MissTake]

Thank you...

To add even more fun to this evening/morning?
I just got back from an underage drunk chase. TheKid was cited. Her best friend's mom went apeshit, kicked friend out of the car, brought her home. She was worried about him, so we went the hunt. Found his angry drunk ass, delivered him home (luckily his mom let him in). Then TheKid said her purse was at someone else's house. Had to hunt her down so TheKid could get her belongings.

Found out TheKid does a damn fine job punishing herself. She even became upset with me because I was laughing at the situation. Am I disappointed? Yes. Angry? No. Life happens, she's an adult, made a poor decision, and she will need to deal with the ramifications of her actions.

[Chimera]

I get up and get out this morning because at 9am, it was an amazing 64 degrees (up from a low of 59) and awesomely sunny and I wanted to take a long walk in the morning coolness.

The outer glass front door to our apartment complex had been shattered.
The inner door lock was fucked and it was difficult to open from the inside.

Goddamned stupid people.

I walk down the row toward the street, past about 30 of the roughly 200 apartments in this building.

Three of them have their AC units blasting away.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by flatlined

Sends comforting thoughts to saje. Its so hard to lose a beloved pet, and to lose 2 in the same day must be so much worse. Of course you are mourning now.

my rant: I think I'm going to be a widow before I'm a bride. Bill is talking about buying a Harley. Of course, he's not content with something small and nimble like mine, he's looking at 800 lb UltraGlides.

The man has never owned a motorcycle before.

Oh man. He's having motorcycle envy!

Can you lend him yours, maybe get some other friends to lend him theirs, so he can test-drive some models in a safe environment? I mean, if you can define "surrounded by a bunch of dudes who'll bite you if you so much as look as your woman askance" can be considered safe.

*after checking Harley's webpage* They have trikes! ... man it's a good thing it's out of my range, it's the closest thing to a bike I could drive with my equilibrium problems... look bros, my trike has more horsepower than your two cars together! VROOM VROOOOOOOM

Originally Posted by madrabbitwoman

Does this mean I an an adulterer (Coz I invited him home and initially consented).

Focusing just on this, because I know sometimes people manage to beat themselves over the stupidest shit: NO. You didn't know he was married; even if you'd had consensual sex with him, even if you'd been having consensual sex with him for months before figuring out the bastard was married, you wouldn't be an adulterer any more than he'd be a virgin. Got that?

[LavenderBlue]

Great. One of the companies I work for has switched from no direct deposit to no check at all. My paycheck is two days late so far. I wonder if payroll realizes we freelancers actually rate them worse than company tech support . . .

[digs]

Re: Fw: Fw: ignorant forwarding

We were desperately looking for a way to "defriend" my mom, but since she doesn't do facebook, it was all via email. We finally got the chance when my mom forwarded a video clip, and we got to say "Mom, you can still send us personal notes, but don't forward anything. With our slow connection, the last email took half an hour to download."

Now she pouts: "Did you see those DARling baby animal photos that Aunt Mildr...oh, that's right, I'm not allowed to send you ANYthing..." "Mom, we'd love to hear from you, just not those forwards. The wiring in our old house just won't take it." (Hoping she'll imagine knob-and-tube wiring in our walls ballooning up from all the anti-Obama pics backed up).

The only negative thing I said lately was "Mom, the problem with all those forwards is that such a small percentage of the political ones were true."

[Chimera]

All I can say is Mail Rules rule. As above, create a rule that says if it is from her and it contains FW in the subject line, it goes straight in the trash.

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Chimera

<snip>
I walk down the row toward the street, past about 30 of the roughly 200 apartments in this building.

Three of them have their AC units blasting away.

This summer I've been noticing a bunch of vehicles idling with no one in them - I assume that they're doing this to keep the air conditioning going while they're out of the vehicle, but it's kind of stupid - to start with, it just isn't that hot here, and to end with, just suck it up already - your car's not going to get that hot in five or ten minutes. Idling isn't against the law here - it's just a dick move.

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

This summer I've been noticing a bunch of vehicles idling with no one in them - I assume that they're doing this to keep the air conditioning going while they're out of the vehicle, but it's kind of stupid - to start with, it just isn't that hot here, and to end with, just suck it up already - your car's not going to get that hot in five or ten minutes. Idling isn't against the law here - it's just a dick move.

Last saturday it was starting to deluge [I was over near Slippery Rock PA] so I decided to take a short nap in a rest area. I have those plastic thingies on my windows so I can put them down an inch or two without it raining in, so I got a little bit of breeze. As I drove into the rest area, I saw the sign about idling and illegal. So what is there? A full up parking lot for trucks with every damned one idling.

On the plus side, I got an unexpected 6 hours of wonderful sleep instead of the usual hour and a half or so my insomnia usually lets me have. Must have been the rumble of the trucks and the tapping of the rain on the car. Great, to get a good nights sleep I guess I need to be an over the road trucker

[eenerms]

After I chipped one veneer in the front 6 out of 8 have to be replaced because of the if you replace or even patch the one the rest(they are 17 years old) it wll look funny as well as they are worn and slowly failing. There goes the money for the deck. on top of that I have a massive canker sore on my lip..this is going to be a fun week
Anyone have a Valium?

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by eenerms

Anyone have a Valium?

No but I will share the crab rangoon that mrAru made us for lunch today - it has srichwhatever sauce, ginger, garlic, surimi [sealegs], cream cheese and sour cream in it, and uses wonton wrappers. They are baked instead of fried. So cute! And not bland, since I get 3 of them as a portion, I want stuff that is not bland!

Next time he makes them, I am thinking shrimp instead of sealegs. Sealegs was good in it, but I think shrimp would be better, and I definitely like the wonton wrappers baked instead of fried.

[flatlined]

(((madrabbitwoman)))

Nags you after hugs. Stop doing this. Don't waste the time that you could be using to document the critter apocalypse in your home! You are blameless. Your time is limited and good kitteh and bunny pics are priceless.

Originally Posted by Yllaria

I feel for you flatlined. My Mom worked as a nurse for awhile and one of her rants was that there should be a law requiring motorcyclists to shave their legs - because it's much harder for the nurse to do it after the compound fracture.

At least they only had compound fractures. I will suggest this to him, though.

Originally Posted by SnakesCatLady

flatlined - take him to look at a CanAm Spyder. Way cool and much more stable than an UltraGlide. As much as I love the big Harleys I know I couldn't handle one. So, if I ever win the lottery, it's either a Sportster or a Spyder.

There are a few Spyders in my area. I guess people would notice them because they look so odd. The problem with bigger bikes is that they are hard to control at slow speeds. 800 pounds with a lot of the weight up high is much harder to balance than my dropped and lowered Sportster. At the risk of being rude, I'm going to repeat myself. The man has never owned a motorcycle in his life. He's going to die if he does this.

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

The idiot with the loud bike in my neighbourhood upped the ante yesterday - he blatted by with his stereo cranked up so he could hear it over his incredibly loud bike. And today, he brought a friend home - on his own incredibly loud bike. Seriously, why can't I shoot these bastards?

I'm sorry. I get on Tony about this all the time, but he doesn't listen. Or maybe he just can't hear because he rides a loud bike with the stereo cranked up. I promise to bitch him out in your name.

aruvqan, what are sealegs?

Nava I don't want Bill on my bike. Its too quick. I could outrun your bros without shifting into 2nd gear!

My friends would do a lot for me, but they wouldn't let someone who has never had a bike ride one of theirs. If they did, I'd be sooooooo pissed!

Bill needs to start small and slow, like most surviving bikers did. Bikes have the controls in different places. The clutch is controlled by the left hand, instead of the left foot. Brakes are controlled differently, front is right hand, back is right foot. Trying to do all of this on an unfamiliar machine while going 80 mph just doesn't work out well.

I think Bill needs to get a scooter and put around my neighborhood for a while.

Bill doesn't get it. He says that because he is used to handling heavy equipment, he should be able to control a bike. I say that we should get married now so that his obit with have a line about the greaving widow flipping the casket off and shouting I TOLD YOU SO, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!"

[Chimera]

Originally Posted by flatlined;15352037[B

aruvqan[/b], what are sealegs?

All I could think of was this (1:57 in), but supplies would be rather limited.

[flatlined]

I'm so fucking ticked off by this that I'm going to go mop my floor. Maybe I'll wash the mini blinds as well. All of the kittehs run off and hide because when mom runs out of things to wash, she looks at them...

[kaylasdad99]

Originally Posted by aruvqan

Last saturday it was starting to deluge [I was over near Slippery Rock PA] so I decided to take a short nap in a rest area. I have those plastic thingies on my windows so I can put them down an inch or two without it raining in, so I got a little bit of breeze. As I drove into the rest area, I saw the sign about idling and illegal. So what is there? A full up parking lot for trucks with every damned one idling.

On the plus side, I got an unexpected 6 hours of wonderful sleep instead of the usual hour and a half or so my insomnia usually lets me have. Must have been the rumble of the trucks and the tapping of the rain on the car. Great, to get a good nights sleep I guess I need to be an over the road trucker

Or, you could hire yourself out as a passenger to truckers who want to use the HOV lane. They get to drive the carpool lane while you sleep, back and forth along the interstate.

Win-win!

[Chimera]

Looks like the Temple Shooting is Domestic Terrorism. Sadly, this board will only see another "every motherfucking thread devolves into Gun Control" week.

[ioioio]

Originally Posted by eenerms

After I chipped one veneer in the front 6 out of 8 have to be replaced because of the if you replace or even patch the one the rest(they are 17 years old) it wll look funny as well as they are worn and slowly failing. There goes the money for the deck. on top of that I have a massive canker sore on my lip..this is going to be a fun week
Anyone have a Valium?

Abreva is a miracle drug for cold sores. It's expensive, but you only need a little and can save the rest. I keep a tube in my purse. If I apply it as soon as I sense a cold sore coming on, it prevents the sore from opening. It will definitely make your massive canker heal more quickly.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by flatlined

aruvqan, what are sealegs?

Originally Posted by Chimera

All I could think of was this (1:57 in), but supplies would be rather limited.

The first word she used was surimi, which often comes on the packaging itself. It's those fake crab legs aka crab sticks, you know those white cylinders with half the surface dyed red, sold to put in salads and stuff like that? They're usually in the frozen section or with the fish.


And flatlined: I agree that Bill really should learn to drive on two wheels before buying something with more horses than the Pony Express, but I don't think he'll be an easy one to convince. Most Spanish bikers started on a Vespino.

[Morgyn]

Originally Posted by flatlined

[b]There are a few Spyders in my area. I guess people would notice them because they look so odd. The problem with bigger bikes is that they are hard to control at slow speeds. 800 pounds with a lot of the weight up high is much harder to balance than my dropped and lowered Sportster. At the risk of being rude, I'm going to repeat myself. The man has never owned a motorcycle in his life. He's going to die if he does this.

<snip>

Bill needs to start small and slow, like most surviving bikers did. Bikes have the controls in different places. The clutch is controlled by the left hand, instead of the left foot. Brakes are controlled differently, front is right hand, back is right foot. Trying to do all of this on an unfamiliar machine while going 80 mph just doesn't work out well.

I think Bill needs to get a scooter and put around my neighborhood for a while.

Bill doesn't get it. He says that because he is used to handling heavy equipment, he should be able to control a bike. I say that we should get married now so that his obit with have a line about the greaving widow flipping the casket off and shouting I TOLD YOU SO, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!"

I can't recall, has anyone suggested that you have him talk to some of your male biker friends, particularly the ones who ride the big bikes? Maybe if they tell him how they had to learn "with training wheels", so to speak, before moving on to the big stuff, he'll listen. (Yes, I know. He should listen to you, because you have the experience he doesn't, too. Sometimes people just listen better to their own gender when it comes to things like this. It's stupid, but it's true.)

Also, is there a driver's ed type of course he can take on how to ride a motorcycle? A little pre-owner's experience might give him a needed reality check.

Another thought: do you know any paramedics or medical personnel who've dealt with the aftermath of motorcycle accidents? Arranging a chat with them (with graphic pictures of the result of overconfidence) would also help give him that reality check.

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by flatlined

aruvqan, what are sealegs?

Surimi, fakeish seafood based on blending actual crab or lobster with whitefish and starch. A reasonable substitute if you are making something like seafood salad or crab rangoon. Or adding to alfredo sauce.

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by kaylasdad99

Or, you could hire yourself out as a passenger to truckers who want to use the HOV lane. They get to drive the carpool lane while you sleep, back and forth along the interstate.

Win-win!

Nice idea but I have trained myself not to sleep in moving vehicles ... a good precaution when you do lots of late night driving. Hence the pulling over to nap.

[actually back when I was young and stupid I used to drive to the other work locations instead of fly so I had my own car, and I did more cross country trips where I would drive until I got sleepy then pull over and nap for an hour or so, then drive again. I could solo across country in 5 days without stopping at a hotel, saving my per diem =) ]

[eenerms]

Originally Posted by laina_f

Abreva is a miracle drug for cold sores. It's expensive, but you only need a little and can save the rest. I keep a tube in my purse. If I apply it as soon as I sense a cold sore coming on, it prevents the sore from opening. It will definitely make your massive canker heal more quickly.

Thanks for this, but it isn't a cold sore it's on the inside of my lip, where I bit it.

[purplehorseshoe]

Ouch!

[Yllaria]

Originally Posted by flatlined

. . . Bill doesn't get it. He says that because he is used to handling heavy equipment, he should be able to control a bike. I say that we should get married now so that his obit with have a line about the greaving widow flipping the casket off and shouting I TOLD YOU SO, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!"

Oh, dear. That will not cross over well. Do you know anyone who both rides a motorcycle and works with heavy equipment? They'd be able to say with authority that the two are not the same. And even if his experience does change the shape of his learning curve, the curve is still there. Do not discount the curve.

[Kimballkid]

Originally Posted by flatlined

my rant: I think I'm going to be a widow before I'm a bride. Bill is talking about buying a Harley. Of course, he's not content with something small and nimble like mine, he's looking at 800 lb UltraGlides.

The man has never owned a motorcycle before.

I'd never owned a motorcycle or even a scooter before a couple of months ago when I bought a little 50cc scooter to tool around town with. I was kind of surprised at how heavy that little thing is, I can't imagine trying to finagle around an 800 pounder. Especially if you put a passenger on with you.

[Anaamika]

Here's my mini-rant of the day: apparently my state bar association doesn't recommend lawyers in my county! What!

[SnakesCatLady]

Ok, it's Monday and I have had my quota of "ewwwwwww" for the entire week, if not the month.

I went to complete my payment for my hockey season ticket. In a cheerful mood I got home to discover Chernobyl, the outside cat who really belongs to a lady down the street, had left a gift on the door mat.

A rat. Or rather, pieces of a rat. The little ratty head carefully placed where the head would go if the front third of the rat wasn't missing - next to the back two thirds of the rat.

It's still there. Mr SCL can deal with it when he wakes up. I will hurl if I have to touch it.

[Kimballkid]

Originally Posted by aruvqan

As I drove into the rest area, I saw the sign about idling and illegal. So what is there? A full up parking lot for trucks with every damned one idling.

They even make it illegal for semis to idle? That seems strange.

[Cinnamon Imp]

Originally Posted by kaylasdad99

Could be. Our pregnancy wasn't a multiple, but the first order of business when we got to the OB/GYN was to have kaylasmom's IUD removed.

Well, second, actually. First was for her to pee on a stick that hadn't been purchased the previous Friday night at Rite-Aid.

Hmm, they took my word for it on the Superdrug(tm) and local mini-market cheapo tests, but the scan showed that any occupant has since vacated the premises.

Ah well, at least I know now! Although I'm wishing for once I hadn't been prompt and taken the first test, if I'd left it another 4 days I'd have just assumed it was a late weird period, and saved various people a lot of stress

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Chimera

Looks like the Temple Shooting is Domestic Terrorism. Sadly, this board will only see another "every motherfucking thread devolves into Gun Control" week.

Yesterday's horrible event sure didn't take long to go there. I get so damned tired of that ongoing argument here.

Originally Posted by eenerms

Thanks for this, but it isn't a cold sore it's on the inside of my lip, where I bit it.

There's something you can get for canker sores, too - I was looking for something else, but I found this - a cover for canker sore, which seems like it would work (they are awfully irritating - you can't keep your tongue out of them, everything you eat bothers them, etc.).

Originally Posted by Kimballkid

They even make it illegal for semis to idle? That seems strange.

I understand that semi trucks have different idling requirements, but the vehicles I see idling are never semi trucks.

[Projammer]

Originally Posted by flatlined

Bill needs to start small and slow, like most surviving bikers did. Bikes have the controls in different places. The clutch is controlled by the left hand, instead of the left foot. Brakes are controlled differently, front is right hand, back is right foot. Trying to do all of this on an unfamiliar machine while going 80 mph just doesn't work out well.

I think Bill needs to get a scooter and put around my neighborhood for a while.

Bill doesn't get it. He says that because he is used to handling heavy equipment, he should be able to control a bike. I say that we should get married now so that his obit with have a line about the greaving widow flipping the casket off and shouting I TOLD YOU SO, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!"

Threaten to put a padlock on his fork until he takes an approved Motorcycle Training Course. And then do it.

Note that the link is for a class in Houston so no excuses. Classes every weekend.

[Morgyn]

Originally Posted by Projammer

Threaten to put a padlock on his fork until he takes an approved Motorcycle Training Course. And then do it.

Note that the link is for a class in Houston so no excuses. Classes every weekend.

Not only that, but the web site says an approved course is mandatory before you can get a motorcycle license. Bill pays attention to that sort of thing, right?

[purplehorseshoe]

He damn well better!

[Projammer]

Too late for an ETA, but if threatening to padlock the fork or front rotor isn't sufficient, you might ponder aloud the possibility of making the padlock a Prince Albert.

[StarvingButStrong]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

Here's my mini-rant of the day: apparently my state bar association doesn't recommend lawyers in my county! What!

Maybe all the lawyers in your county are crooked.

[Morgyn]

NOooooooOOOOOooooOOOOOOO!

Debby Boone is doing commercials on TV! And they're playing THAT SONG again.


Make it stop! Please make it stop! Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop.

<sobs helplessly>

I got so fucking. sick. of. that. song. It was all anyone ever wanted to sing in middle school chorus (until it was Evergreen). Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeittop.

<goes off to play Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner as an antidote>

[Dr. Girlfriend]

Originally Posted by flatlined

I'm so fucking ticked off by this that I'm going to go mop my floor. Maybe I'll wash the mini blinds as well. All of the kittehs run off and hide because when mom runs out of things to wash, she looks at them...

If you run out of things to clean you can always come over here and help me out. I don't want your kittehs to freak out! And I have chocolate...

Not really a rant, just the goofiness of my boyfriend. He got to work this morning only to discover that he had forgotten that he's working 2nd shift this week. So he goes back home for a while. Then when he gets to work at the proper time he realizes he forgot his lunch. I just got back from delivering a sandwich to him, he's the only one in his department during 2nd shift and he can't leave the phone bank.

[digs]

Originally Posted by Morgyn

<goes off to play Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner as an antidote>

At least you don't have to worry about Warren Zevon shilling for "Ronco's Songwriting Gold of the 80s".

I've seen John Sebastian (Lovin' Spoonful), Beckley and Bunnell (America), Neal Sedaka, Mickey Gilley, and even Smokey Robinson hawking those "20 CD, Cassette or 8-Track" sets of oldies. Always teamed up with someone half their age (and intelligence).

And the ads go on and on, filling a whole half hour on one topic. WHY? Is there ANYone who says "Naaah... don't need to hear 'American Pie' again" who then does a 180 and decides to call the 800 number after the 29th minute of hearing snippets of Don McLean (and Jim Croce, and Leo Sayer...and Debby Boone)?

[Morgyn]

Originally Posted by digs

At least you don't have to worry about Warren Zevon shilling for "Ronco's Songwriting Gold of the 80s".

I've seen John Sebastian (Lovin' Spoonful), Beckley and Bunnell (America), Neal Sedaka, Mickey Gilley, and even Smokey Robinson hawking those "20 CD, Cassette or 8-Track" sets of oldies. Always teamed up with someone half their age (and intelligence).

And the ads go on and on, filling a whole half hour on one topic. WHY? Is there ANYone who says "Naaah... don't need to hear 'American Pie' again" who then does a 180 and decides to call the 800 number after the 29th minute of hearing snippets of Don McLean (and Jim Croce, and Leo Sayer...and Debby Boone)?

<wince> OK, I'll cop to it. I've bought a couple of those collections (Razor & Tie: Totally 80s and Awesome 80s). What can I say, I enjoy (almost all) the songs they listed and didn't have the cash or inclination to purchase all the albums those songs were released on.

Thankfully, Debby Boooooooone was never on the infomercials I saw, nor is her music. <shudder>

Does anyone remember when daddy Pat tried to do heavy metal and started wandering around in a leather jacket with chains? There was a sight needing brain bleach!

[ENugent]

A different earworm for you.

[Covered_In_Bees!]

God damn it. You dumb asses, you don't need to post in a thread to subscribe to it, especially if you're just going to post something that's even more fucking useless than your posts already are.

Click on "thread tools" upper right of a thread, in a blue bar right below the page numbers, if any. Click on "subscribe". Choose your notification options and you're finished.

Fuck.

[Nava]

I would have sworn I had honey...

I would have sworn I had a reserve bottle of olive oil...

Didn't I have whole rice?

I was sure I had a cloth bag here. Where the hell is the cloth bag?

... why is the toaster there instead of on the counter, which is its proper place?



First I'm going to kill my mother for reorganizing my goddamn kitchen, and then I'm killing me for letting her in. She was in the house for less than three hours, but she put the toaster in a low shelf and hid any ingredients she doesn't use, plus my reserve olive oil and the cloth bag!

[TheTerribleTako]

Why does there always have to be drama in weddings? Warning: long, whiny drama.

One of my friends from high school recently asked me and two other friends from high school to be her bridesmaids. We all live in different states now and have since grown into very different people, but we all still chat with each other with varying frequencies and we've taken vacations together in the last few years as well.

The bride, who I'll call Monica, thought it would be a good excuse to get us all together and celebrate her Fall wedding in Utah, which is very nice in theory. However, we're all scattered around the U.S. and with the exception of Monica, none of us have much money to spare at the moment. We all agreed to be her bridesmaids however, partly out of a sense of obligation.

When I was talking with Monica initially, I told her that because of her October wedding date, I would probably only be able to fly in for the wedding and nothing else since I had school and not much money for anything else. She agreed and said it'll be a low-key thing, not to worry. So, having agreed, I heard no news from the bride for about a month, which isn't unusual since Monica could be kind of flakey at the best of times.

Then, about a month ago, she called to tell me that I needed to try on bridesmaid's dresses that weekend, take pictures of myself in them and send them to her so she can pick out the dresses in time to make the cut-off date in case we needed to make special orders, there's a Vegas bachelorette party in August, I needed to be in Utah the Friday before the wedding in order to attend the rehearsal, oh and by the way, one of the other bridesmaids, Rachel, just told her she wouldn't be able to be a bridesmaid anymore, did I know what's wrong?

Turns out Rachel didn't feel close enough to Monica anymore to take on the burden of being a bridesmaid and combined with the rest of her life falling apart, it was just too much. I encouraged her to let Monica know. She did - I don't know what was the excuse she used, but everyone was satisfied and we all moved on.

Then, about a week ago, I was chatting with the last bridesmaid, Phoebe, and when I asked her if she wanted to share a hotel room, she told me that she didn't want to be a bridesmaid anymore either due to all the demands that Monica was making. She told me she didn't want to "humor her" anymore but she'll let her think it's about the money. I'm sad about it since this will reduce the amount of people I know at the wedding to just the bride, but I sort of agree with her.

Another week passes and Monica calls me in a panic saying that Phoebe won't return her calls and just sent a Facebook message saying she can't be a bridesmaid anymore without any explanation, did I know what's going on? I can't say anything since I felt that what Phoebe told me was confidential, but I gently suggested that money might have been a factor and encouraged her to contact Phoebe again. I tried contacting Phoebe too, but she's ignoring me as well now.

So now I feel awkward and the friendships will probably never recover, and I'll be spending up to $1000 on a bridesmaid dress, plane tickets, and hotel rooms that I should be putting towards textbooks and living expenses cause it would be rude and petty to ditch the bride-to-be right now. I probably shouldn't have agreed to be a bridesmaid in the first place, but it didn't seem like it would cause so much problems down the line at the time.

[perfectparanoia]

subscribing

<ducks>

[perfectparanoia]

Originally Posted by TheTerribleTako

Why does there always have to be drama in weddings? Warning: long, whiny drama.

See, now, that's just wrong. When I asked my bridesmaids to be bridesmaids I outlined all the requirements.

1. How much it would cost (luckily they all lived in town except one who stayed in my apartment so it was pretty much the dress and any showery thing they wanted to do).
2. Where they were expected to be and when.

And then I gave them an honest statement that they could back out if they couldn't afford it or whatever.

I am SO glad that I don't have many close friends. This all sounds way too dramatic.

[TheTerribleTako]

Originally Posted by perfectparanoia

This all sounds way too dramatic.

You sound like you were a very reasonable bride.

Yeah, way too dramatic for me too. Which is funny, we were all friends in high school because none of us liked the usual teenage drama that went on in high school. Guess we're making up for it now. To be fair to Monica though, I think she underestimated how much of a pain it would be for all of us to fly in for a weekend and how much $1000 is to our budgets.

[Cat Whisperer]

It wouldn't be a wedding if there wasn't High Drama (and lots of it!).

[Nava]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

It wouldn't be a wedding if there wasn't High Drama (and lots of it!).

Are you saying my cousin didn't get married? I'm reasonably sure he did! Helluva salsa number they did for a First Dance, too...

[Chimera]

Originally Posted by Nava

First I'm going to kill my mother for reorganizing my goddamn kitchen

If my mother rearranged my kitchen, there would be some extremely loud and harsh words about messing with a kitchen that wasn't hers to mess with.

"You know why it was the way it was? Because I fucking like it that way, OK? It's my goddamned kitchen, not yours, and I will thank you not to change it to suit YOU!"