Well, folks. I managed to wait until it was 1 March even in Hawaii this time.
What rants do you want to muster up? Here are mine thus far:
The COVID-19 situation is getting more serious, yet the current administration cannot see it through any other lens than “how does this bolster Mr. Orange?”
Next, airlines waiting until literally the last minute to let their passengers know if their flights are canceled due to this health issue.
Finally, people who buy into woo medicine and cures. That’s part of the reason we’re in this situation in the first place!
My cousin mentioned the other day that construction workers on his project are having trouble getting dust masks because panicky idiots are buying up all the masks to “protect” them from COVID-19. This is stupid for many reasons:
Wrong type of mask, idiots.
My cousin is in Georgia which, at last check, is on the opposite side of the continent from California and Washington state where the only reported US cases have been. (As of 3.1.20, that is.)
It’s easier and cheaper to get a bar of soap and wash your hands.
When was it decided that all toilet paper must come in “mega” size? Unless I want to buy the godawful cheap single-ply stuff, I’m stuck with a roll that’s too large to be installed in the holder.
Last Friday (I guess that was technically still February) the weather was crappy – snowy and windy. I was expecting a postal delivery and apparently the lazy unionized mailperson’s solution to the crappy weather was not to attempt delivery at all but just take it back to the local post office. The tracking info just went from “out for delivery” to “notice card left”. But there was no card, and no footprints in the snow – no one had even come to the door.
I had to call the post office to find out where it was, although that information appeared in the tracking notes shortly after. So I had to drive out to get it. Tugging at my jacket zipper to get zipped up against the wind, I broke the zipper. And it being recycling day, there was a great big recycling bin blocking my driveway, because I couldn’t put it on top of the adjacent snowbank. I briefly moved it out into the street, where a gust of wind caught it and blew half the contents all over the place, which I had to pick up. Then I put it back on the driveway. When I got back, the wind had blown it over again. And my jacket is still broken.
Strange. I usually buy so-called “double rolls” to save time running around replacing them, and have never had a fit problem. They’re specifically designed to be compatible with common holder configurations. Perhaps you have an unusual artistic holder design. I do have that problem with paper towels. My paper towel holder is a cute odd wooden thing I picked up at a farmer’s market once whose front is a sort of sculpture of a puppy. Only regular size paper towels will fit, or the extra-large ones after they’ve been used for a few days.
Last Thursday, I felt so sick I thought I might actually be dying. Deluding myself that I could eat a “sensible” amount of carbs when I have type-II diabetes lead to exhaustion, brain fog, edematous legs and a blood glucose reading of 230. I finally decided nothing less than fasting is going to help at this point. It’s now Day Three (3 1/2 if you count from the last time on Thursday that I ate). I am so insulin resistant now that it’s taken this long for my blood glucose to fall to 106, and it’ll presumably still be ten to fifteen points higher in the morning. I have had a vicious sugar-withdrawal hangover all day, and the hunger pangs keep coming. But until I see a blood glucose reading of below 90 it won’t have been long enough.
The GODDAMN CHAIN-SMOKING POTHEADS DOWN STAIRS. FUCK.
I hadn’t slept well in weeks, some days not at all. I come into my room at the end of the day AND IT SMELLS LIKE SOMEONE SHOVED M-80s UP A FUCKING SKUNK’S FUCKING ASSHOLE. I call the housing department and they do JACK FUCKING SHIT, just sending out memos that of course DO FUCKING NOTHING.
I’m getting ill. My appetites gone. I’m fantasizing about taking a BLUNT FUCKING OBJECT AND–
My roommate has now lived here four months and has yet to buy toilet paper or paper towels (or laundry detergent or dish soap or hand soap or clorox wipes or sponges or trash bags or any other household item except for some toilet cleaner when she first moved in). I’ve asked her to, too- more because it’s much easier for her to do it than it is for me than actually because I’m all that worried about the sharing of duties… but she still hasn’t. The annoyance today is because I’ve asked her to do it several times this week and finally just did it myself today. Also, I’ve still been not home for the most part except late in the evening and sometimes a stop to check in on my cats right after work, so I’m mostly not the one using stuff and you would think at some point, she’d get around to the idea that she might go grocery shopping. I don’t think it’s necessarily something she means to do (or not do), but… the outcome is the same whether she means it or not.
The thing that gets me, honestly, about so much of this little stuff- all these little adult responsibilities that she doesn’t handle- is that people keep acting like she’s here to take care of me and is doing me a big favor. Like that was the whole thing when we decided she would move in: everyone going on about how it’s going to be so much better for me. Let’s be clear, though- I try not to think of it in these terms or make this be a thing at all, but I did not let her move in with me because I wanted or needed a roommate. There were things I struggled with, but I enjoyed living alone. It was 100% because SHE had been evicted and needed a place to go and I had enough space to accommodate her. I like her very much, but having her here doesn’t really benefit me very much. She doesn’t contribute a cent to the bills, very little to household expenses (although she does have a nice vacuum), and as far as helping me out with tasks I can’t do, the only thing I can usually count on her for is taking the trash to the curb (which is not insignificant) and sometimes bringing cat food and litter from my car into the house. She’s got an active social life and it’s difficult to predict when she’ll be there and when she is, she’s tired and wants to chill and watch TV or she’s got people with her or she’s busy fighting over the phone with one of a variety of suitors. And also, between her stuff and her kid and her animals, the house is MUCH messier and there’s more trash, more dishes, more work trying to keep up with the pet hair, etc. Which… removed of context, there’s nothing wrong with that. But when I do ask her to help me do something, she may intend to, but 90% of the time, it’s not getting done.
And yet, still, people act like she’s doing something nice for me by living with me and they’re sooooo glad I’ve got someone there to look after me. Right. Because she’s definitely the adult in this situation and the one doing all the work and I’m barely capable of feeding myself and am so lucky to have her. And not that I couldn’t use someone here to help out- everything really is difficult, painful, and complicated if it’s possible at all and I could very much benefit from having a little backup, especially on the really bad days. But like… even an able-bodied person should reasonably be able to expect their roommate to sometimes buy toilet paper and do some of the chores, preferably without having to be asked, right?
Victoria Police Licensing & Regulation Division (LRD) will not issue any authorization for airsoft importation on the basis that “no genuine reason exists to own them, because there is no approved range in Victoria to undertake these war games”
(pssst. you don’t need an “approved range” you could just use your own private property)
So LRD, when you say stupid things, people have a tendency to think you are stupid. How about peanuts? No genuine reason exists to own them either. Or a porsche? No genuine reason exists to own them. Ban them too.
You are guilty of the crime of Internet Ambiguity, since Victoria is both a major city in BC, Canada, as well as a state in Australia. It took me a few moments to figure out that you are apparently referring to the one in Australia. I agree that the rule is stupid. This is the kind of idiocy that gives gun control a bad name. Some places have restrictions on airsoft guns mainly because of their potential resemblance to real guns, but they are legal almost everywhere, provided they don’t exceed some specified muzzle velocity.
She didn’t pay her bills, which I knew. We’ve worked together and been friends for a long time and she used to get her utilities shut off pretty much every month. There was always some reason that was transparently 85% bullshit, but… we legit do not make very much money. So I knew part of it was poor money management and some poor impulse control (she did usually have the money when more fun things came up), but it was also that she didn’t have enough wiggle room for those things and having 100% of your money go to necessities and never being able to do or buy anything enjoyable gets really wearing. So this was… I mean, she’s my friend and I couldn’t let my friend be homeless or not have a safe and reliable place to come back to. And for the bills, I was already paying them. I didn’t ask her to partly because I wanted to give her the chance to get back on her feet financially. And partly, it was because I knew she wouldn’t and if I depended on her to pay half of things, I would constantly be fighting with her and nagging her and trying to chase it down and it would be a huge source of conflict and frustration and a lot more work and stress for me than just doing it myself and knowing it’s going to get done.
It’s not entirely fair to blame it all on her- my goal in this was to make sure she (and her little girl) was safe and had a place to go. And I mean, I knew who she was. I had been to her old place. I did not honestly have a lot of expectations as far as housekeeping or advanced “adulting.” I expected to be looking after her a lot and like… it’s worth it knowing she doesn’t have to worry about having shelter and heat and food. It’s more stuff like… people will call her when they want to tell me something as though I’m not capable of communicating independently or they’ll ask if she’s going to be home so they can drop something off like the fact that my body doesn’t work right means I can’t be responsible for it and like… even when I am obviously the one managing something, like when I call our landlord to tell him something needs to be addressed, it’s “Okay, when will your roommate be home so I can send someone?” and like… I’m not a fucking baby, thanks. And of course she plays into it a bit because she’s getting a ton of praise and people telling her what a good person she is and how they feel so much better knowing I’ve got someone to take care of me, but can you blame her? It’s not any one person’s fault- it’s just frustrating and most frustrating of all is the fact that I am legitimately less capable and less useful than I was before and I have my own issues around my broken-ass body that color everything else and that I can’t reasonably expect anyone else to understand.
Well, shut my mouth and call me Smiley! I take all my worries back. You know exactly what you’re doing (and what you’re doing is being twice as caring and patient as I would ever be).
I like to drink a certain brand and flavor of herbal tea. Other brands don’t taste the same and I’m all sorts of picky and special. I opened a new package and could smell that it wasn’t the same because that’s just how high maintenance I am. When I checked the ingredients on the new box and compared to an older box on the webpage, I found that they had changed out 1 little tiny amount of something that nobody but an idiot like me would notice.
All I wanted was a relaxing cup of tea before going to bed, and now I’m totally annoyed.
It took me a few moments to figure out that you are apparently referring to the one in Australia. I agree that the rule is stupid. This is the kind of idiocy that gives gun control a bad name. Some places have restrictions on airsoft guns mainly because of their potential resemblance to real guns, but they are legal almost everywhere, provided they don’t exceed some specified muzzle velocity.