I love that you have such a supportive person in your life. 
I have a much group that we try to get together regularly (every couple of months) and it’s like herding cats. We’ve informally settled on if at least half of the group can make a particular date we get together. Everyone just comes as they can. No one makes it every time but I think the longest absence for any particular person is probably ~9 months.
That sucks. It’s difficult to find new adult friends let alone a group of people with shared interests.
My undergraduate degree is in English and I wanted to be a writer when I was younger. There were some groups formed years ago but they inevitably dissolved due to the issues you mentioned.
I’ve kept up my professional writing skills as a social worker but the creative part of me has suffered. Last year I started writing small stories about humorous events in my life on Facebook. That was working well until my computer broke.
I discovered that it’s easier to write with an intended audience in mind however vague. Your group helped with that.
I hope you find a way to continue writing in a way that brings you joy. 
I hope he gets sent back to his actual home as well. What an unimaginable situation.
Huh??
Before I bitch about my current woes, I’d like to go on record as saying a lot of y’all are having problems well beyond the “mini-” level. And mine seem a bit more of the first-world mini-rant variety, but I still have to deal with them.
Last week I got a call from the owner of the storage lot where we keep our RV. Apparently, thieves had broken into several units, and ours suffered thousands of dollars of damage from the scoundrels. Doors ripped off hinges, frames bent and locks severed with bolt-cutters. Drawers and cabinets yanked open and damaged. And they found nothing to steal. Fucking morons.
So our fall travel plans are now cancelled. Our vacation is cancelled. And we will be “out of commission” for months waiting on replacement parts. It’s easily fixable, but the doors are a unique shape/type and will take quite a while to back-order and paint the graphics.
First world problems for sure, but I’m still bummed about it.
Your RV damage is well beyond the mini level and hugely frustrating. You have my sympathies. I hope you have good insurance for all this stuff. Not a “first world problem” at all – it’s the problem of a world populated by far too many assholes.
Can I just say…
I don’t know or care what Ed Sheeran’s political views are because, no matter what they are, they won’t stop Perfect from sucking ass.
… and that’s his true crime.
Apropos of nothing at all, I was chatting with the LXW today and among the duties currently occupying her busy life is taking care of her daughter’s Bernedoodle while she’s away for a month on business. She tells me that this Bernedoodle – a mix of my beloved Bernese Mountain Dog and Poodle – is just about the loveliest dog you could ever hope to meet, and he’s a big hit at doggie daycare, and loves playing with all the other dogs.
There’s just one problem. The dog is a raging misandrist! 
He just hates men. Not a problem for the LXW or the daughter, but he barks at her fiancé and all other men he may come across. No one knows why. I thought it was pretty funny!
I have yet to meet this pup but I suspect that despite my huge affinity for his ancestry, and being practically an honorary Bernese Mountain Dog myself, I’ll probably get the same treatment!
And he’s a Lannister!
Sounds like my horse. Buddy, who owned her, told me she hated men. No, she didn’t, she just didn’t like him. I was able to work with her nicely and well; she trusted me. She did not trust him, who yelled at her constantly. I just calmly talked with her, used her name, gave her nice groomings, and treated her like she was an actual horse who deserved respect.
In the end, Buddy gave up. “You seem to be the only one who can control her, so she’s yours, from here on.” Well, that’s how I got a horse. She was nothing special, a Clydesdale-Morgan cross, as best we could figure. But best of all—she was mine.
We enjoyed many happy rides together. She never hesitated at anything I wanted her to do, because she knew that I would never over-extend her into something she was not capable of. She continued to dislike Buddy, but I never had a problem with her. I have a lot of fun stories about my time with her.
Perhaps the dog is a misandrist. Or perhaps the dog just hasn’t met the right man yet.
They were talking about downsizing, and I, perhaps incorrectly, remembered you having done so.
Oh, okay. That makes sense. Yes I did that 3 years ago almost to the day. I might need to go update that thread one of these days. Everything is still fine over here. Carry on.
Oh, don’t minimize it. That fucking sucks. It’s even worse when it was damage done to you by a fellow human.
We started the week with a surprise hole in our master bathroom ceiling (only a picture will do it justice.)
That gash is about 15" long. We’re not sure if it’s the roof or a leaking pipe. It’s not leaking anymore but we stopped running the bathroom stuff and it stopped raining, pretty much concurrently, so I don’t know the source. I assume this is going to require extensive restoration work.
On top of that it’s Monday and I have a list of shit to do that causes me anxiety, mostly involving phone calls. I’m still mad about stuff at work. My therapist encouraged me to write out my feelings but I think that will only encourage rumination.
I’m working on relaxing. I got a lot done Saturday so Sunday I was like, I guess I can relax. I let my son take a two hour bath and just rested on the bed.
The boy is whupping my ass at chess now and he’s turned into quite the little shit-talker.
“Thanks for the free knight!”
“Did you make a silly mistake?”
He is also pretending to devour the captured pieces and hide them in his pocket.
I’m not ranting about that bit, it’s just cute.
As @pullin said, a lot of the rants up thread are far from mini. You all deserve better than life has been dishing out recently.
Here’s one that’s bona fide mini.
Clorox 2 color-safe “bleach”. I don’t use it often, but I’m almost out and none of our mainstream grocery store brands, Winn-Dixie & Publix, seem to stock it. They always did, but somehow not now. No shelf tag either indicating they’re temporarily out. They just don’t carry it. As best I can tell. I’ve looked repeatedly in the several different stores of both brands that I drive by while going hither and yon. Haven’t found any anywhere, nor the shelf tags.
Both Clorox’s own website and Amazon confirm the stuff is still made and still available. But why is it not in my stores?
Does anyone else here use the product or notice that it’s scarce or non-existent where they are?
I do (have good insurance), although we keep a somewhat high deductible to cut costs.
I’m surprised by the level of interest the police are showing. They came out and met with me and the lot owner, and cautioned us away from the RVs until they were cleared. They entered with guns drawn, and serious warnings for anyone inside to “show yourselves NOW”. The RVs were empty, but I got an incident number and the name of the detective assigned to the case. He’s already contacted me and wants to meet to go over all the details.
Apparently, the total damage has passed easily into 3rd degree felony territory, since there were multiple similar break-ins in other lots on the same road. And after talking to the insurance claims adjuster, I’ve been contacted by the insurance company’s lawyers too.
Not only are these morons facing possible jail time and fines, a small army of insurance lawyers are brandishing their briefcases and marching* in unison, chanting “SUB-RO-GATE! SUB-RO-GATE!”
My insurer proved they mean business on collecting from miscreants after the last time I was rear-ended. I thought the driver who chose face-timing over watching the road was judgment proof, but they went after them anyway. A year or so later my agent told me they’d gotten a judgement against them, and to my surprise, they had to pay (at least) my deductible.
*OK, a bit of poetic license, but fun to imagine. 
The two strong-willed women have been here again, gently persuading me into what to do to get the house prepped for sale and the necessary renovations. Despite the LXW funding much of this, I’m pushing back on a lot of it. Much is yet to be determined but a lot of it is detail stuff that only women would care about. OTOH, aren’t women the major decision makers in house purchases?
Household purchases maybe, but buying a whole house? I’m guessing that’s more of a joint decision.
We’re preparing our old place for sale and I do think there’s something to attending to the details. I remember being put off by places that didn’t even seem to try.
This week is just sucking so far, and it’s mostly my anxiety about stuff that’s happening and that I have to do. We got a hole in our ceiling and so far nobody’s come out to see it, yesterday I had to pick the boy up because he sustained minor damage to his noggin’, I had to run to the doctor today, I have a stressful work meeting Friday to worry about, Thursday we’re going to try to get the boy started on meds, plus he has some Fun Fair thing at school. The usual chaos with a side order of anxiety.
I told myself I can live my life while anxious. I’ve been trying to take that attitude this week. More of an acceptance thing. But wow has it been an anxious day.
I was thinking to myself today as I drove to McDonald’s to grab food after my appointment that I have no idea how to take care of myself. I have all of the raw knowledge but lack the real-world experience. It’s a daunting task.
My son ran up and down our stairs 19 times this morning, for fun (nothing makes you feel as old as a small child) so I thought maybe I can start doing some stair laps in the morning. Even if it’s just like, two. Anything’s better than none.
I mean, people are different and all, but I know I wouldn’t buy a house if my wife wasn’t 100% on board, but I would buy one if she were 100% and I wasn’t.
Agreed. We bought a place that didn’t even try, and we got a fantastic deal because no one else wanted it. We bought it for 80% of what the move-in-ready place around the corner (three doors down from us) sold for three months later — it has half our square footage and a fraction of the yard.