Will do. Thank you. I am thinking of contacting the school principal and asking her to see if she can help. Surely someone in our community must be able to get her help. She told me she’s skipping pain meds because she can’t afford them. 
Fucking commercials and advertisements fucking everywhere. I click on a video, there’s an ad. I try to read a webpage - there’s an ad right over where I was reading. I try to watch tv - there’s an ad over the lower third of the screen (or crawling across the bottom third of the tv). I try to see the credits after a tv show or move - there’s ads pushing the credits into a tiny little unreadable space. I try to go watch a live sports game - there’s ads covering every square inch of the stadium and causing stoppages in play so they can broadcast ads. I go shopping in a store, and there are ads playing over the speaker system. Heavy, heavy sigh. We’re all the frogs in the boiling water - no science fiction extreme look at the future that has ads everywhere possible will live up to what is going to be our future, I suspect.
The science fiction story I read concerning ads had subliminal messages incorporated to make people eat, buy and otherwise consume more.
Fred Pohl’s The Man Who Ate the World?
So this week we have had two people ignore bells, lights, walk lights, crossing arms, train horns, etc. and walk into the path of a moving commuter train. One was killed, the other was cut and bruised but otherwise not hurt. Both, as far as I have heard, were using cellphones or iPods when they were hurt. Now the discussions are about what more the transit authority can do to make crossings safer. My response - nothing. Some people are too friggin’ stupid to live, and they prove this by talking on a cellphone instead of noticing the bells, lights, walk lights, crossing arms, train horns, etc., and the 50 ton train bearing down on them.
Cat Whisperer, just think of it a evolution in action
Six months ago I started getting thirstier than normal (and I’ve always been a thirsty guy).
My vision changed. Not much, but pretty much all at once.
Bought reading glasses last month because I can’t read small print up close anymore.
In the last month, it’s gotten worse.
I’m drinking nearly a gallon of liquid a day.
And of course, that all has to come out on a regular basis.
Losing my appetite.
Mouth dry, especially my lips and the tip of my tongue.
Physical pains here and there.
Made a doctor’s appointment to have it checked out on the 19th, with a Obesity, Metabolism and Endocrinology specialist.
Next month my company goes to the ultrashit insurance plan.
Oh yeah, had to email the family and say “You know how I’m always broke and humiliated at Christmas time? Well this year every dime I have is going into medical tests.”
IANAD, but that sounds to me like it might be incipient diabetes. Don’t delay, Chimera.
I have a lot of pain meds that are waiting for the next time the local hospital has their “dump the drugs” day. I’d love to send them to your friend, but we would all end up in jail. Maybe she could get better health care there. Honestly, it upsets me that I have drugs that people need and can’t afford and the only thing I can do with them is trash them.
Agress with Chef Troy, Chimera, do what you can right away.
The drug posts reminded me - I have Restless Leg Syndrome, which is a problem that deserves a Pit thread all of its own. I participated in a drug study a couple of years back for Mirapex, which I happily discovered takes care of the RLS. All was well and good until I lost my job and therefore my insurance. One month of Mirapex is over $200. I just can’t afford it. I have insomnia anyway and it’s worsened by the RLS.
Happy ending - my last Dr. visit I brought up the possibility of getting the generic - and my Dr. gave me a three month supply of the real stuff! I am so happy! Even when I can’t sleep at least I can rest without twitching.
And to make this post suitably Pit-worthy: if you think RLS is a problem “made up by the drug companies to sell more drugs” you can kiss my wide white ass.
To my harpy of a Sister-in-Law:
Listen, you miserable whiny bint. You have complained about every gift I have given you since you married my brother*. I have gone out of my way to get thoughtful, carefully selected items to give your worthless carcass, and every year you find some fault with it.** Well, this year I’m out of ideas. This year I’m just going to give you a $20 bill, place it in an envelope along with a picture of my ass, drive down to your hillbilly shack, and cram it down your ugly gullet. Merry Christmas.
Cordially,
Pixiesnix
*They’re both unrepentant assholes, so they’re made for each other. I only keep in contact (limited at that) for fealty to my parents.
** I have asked her every stinking year what she wants for Christmas, and she always responds with some vague, confused answer. FUCK THAT SHIT
Sorry, I am a little sensitive about this around the holidays. My in-laws have always treated me as a non-existant part of the family and now they are starting to do it to their grandkids. I am pretty sure that it is just that they still hate me with the fire of a thousand suns but it could be related to them being adopted which just pisses me off.
(No less than my mil’s glee when we were having fertility issues since it was certainly MY pipes that weren’t working. I am pretty sure she thought this would make my husband move on and find a new wife. She doesn’t know her son very well.)
My real rant: I sprained my ankle on the 15 of November. It is not getting better and I don’t have time to lie down with my foot up. There are the normal things (laundry, groceries, cleaning) and of course all the Christmas stuff to do. My husband cannot do everything by himself.
I will just keep gimping along until after the holidays and hope I am not doing any permanent damage…
And now people are asking me how my ankle is. FFS, I am still limping and it’s been over three weeks. I know you are just trying to be sympathetic but please just don’t ask.
Given the circumstances you’ve outlined, I wonder why you’re considering giving her a “gift” at all.
I’m gonna third this opinion. IANAD either but it sounds eerily similar to what happened to my dad before his diabetes diagnosis. He was dead at the age of 59 because he didn’t take care of it. Please, do this random internet stranger a favor and get yourself checked out, ok? 
I absolutely can’t stand when people get all dramatic and tell people, “now you’re a statistic” when something bad happens to them. I had that happen to me at work today and it made me feel like stabbing someone. We’re all statistics, dumbass. Saying, “Now you’re a statistic” doesn’t somehow make you cool, deep or intellectual. It makes you sound a like the self-absorbed asshole you are who cares a little too much about what other people think of your intelligence. Cut it out.
Also, I wish people would stop assuming that flipping out over every little think = competence. Christ on a cracker, do you really think people are smarter when they’re screaming at systems for not moving fast enough? Do you really think you’re more effective when you’re freaking out? If so, kudos to you because I lose brain cells and kill workplace relationships when I do that. Given that most departments who have worked with you in the past have advised me, “I don’t ever want to meet with that person again,” perhaps you should reconsider your approach.
My cat won’t stop attacking our Christmas tree.
We have a 4’ tree that we put on top of a small table to make it look bigger. I’ve moved the ornaments so that none are hanging down past the lowest branches. I put a tree skirt underneath that makes a crinkly noise when he touches it, hoping that would deter him. No such luck. He likes to take a running leap at the base of the tree. It hasn’t fallen yet, but I’ve come home a few times to find it leaning. Will he lose interest eventually? I hope so.
(Even though this really pisses me off, I have to admit it’s hilarious to watch him do this)
I would continue giving her gifts for family harmony, but every year it would be some generic, cheap picture frame from WalMart. Two can play the passive-aggressive douche game.
It’s making me chuckle just thinking about it - I can picture him running at it with a kitty scream of “KOWABUNGA!!!” ringing in his kitty head. 
In addition to kaylasdad99’s advice, I’d be interested in exactly how they said she’d be covered and why it didn’t happen. It may be that they were just wrong, and gave her bad information. Or it could be that there was a snag in the process and there’s a chance that if it’s kicked in the right place, coverage will happen.
Even if they’re now advising her to get a job :rolleyes:, make sure she’s gotten an explanation on what is different between then and now.
I give her gifts to keep the peace, essentially. It would be even more of a headache to not give her a gift than to give her one.
Cat Whisperer, that’s a good idea, especially considering they’ve been giving us pictures of themselves as gifts for years. Thanks!
Well, okay, but you’ve already pointed out that you see the two of them on a limited basis. Is there a problem with limiting it by just one more day out of the year (you could make it up by adding in Arbor Day or something)?
P.S. Liking Cat Whisperer’s idea, especially if you include a note: Here’s a frame for you to put next year’s Christmas present into…