Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[Pseudonym]

The girl scouts preach Darwinism. :D

[Pseudonym]

The junior school next to my office are having their end of year party. They've got a buffet set out in the carpark and three different types of bouncy castles, one is a big slide, I'm really jealous. However, they also have one of the local fire engines doing a demo, and the siren is going off every other minute deafeningly loudly. It's really... starting... to... grate...

 

[Fantasy Lover]

Last weekend the public transport held a four day strike and I wasn't able to go to my work, I didn't see anyone for four goddamn days and nobody could give me a ride, I really need to get my drivers licence.

 

And I'm really hoping I'm not opening a can of worms with this, but last month was pride month and guess what came up again? A call for heterosexual pride, for goodness sake, you have your stupid pride month. You have multiple months to celebrate it, so for the love of God can we stop having this stupid conversation?

[Fantasy Lover]

My day has been kind of a let down: I was hoping to go to a convention with my best friend, so I texted her the day before asking what time we could meet there. She didn't reply and I didn't give it much thought until the next day, I couldn't reach her and had to call her mom only to find out she had a migraine. So I tried to make the best of it and went alone, I didn't stay long so I went home to feed my cat, and then went to my mom where my grandparents were and immediately started to criticise my cosplay :(.

[Pseudonym]

That's not a can of worms it's perfectly reasonable (your view I mean, not theirs). Alas there are idiots everywhere for everything. Is Pride a different month in different countries? I saw a lot about it in America last month but I think our is this month.

 

I'd be screwed without my car. We have pretty good public transport but I work a fair distance away and it'd be a nightmare. My car has caused so many problems and cost me so much money recently though that it is tempted to just start going by train.

 

Don't know if this is a rant because I find it kind of darkly funny, but remember when I moaned about a load of people flying over my garden when I was topless? Today I'm, uh, wearing even less and a police helicopter appears to be doing a grid pattern, since they're going slow I suspect they may have their cameras on. Ah well, whatever.

[Fantasy Lover]

According to Wikipedia it's celebrated world wide https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_pride. Also, how could you be wearing less than you were Topless?

[Pseudonym]

Nekkid. ;)

[Fantasy Lover]

I figured.

[J.P.]

I suggest using sheets. Or blankets.

[J.P.]

Also an umbrella might do.

[Carol the Dabbler]

But maybe she's trying to get a tan. In which stretch camouflage netting over your entire garden.

[Pseudonym]

Yup going for a tan. Or trying to.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Is such a thing even possible at your latitude? 

[Pseudonym]

Barely, which is why I'm stripping off and making the most of every tiny ray of sunshine that I can get. 

[Van Buren Supernova]

However, they also have one of the local fire engines doing a demo, and the siren is going off every other minute deafeningly loudly. It's really... starting... to... grate...

 

Those sounds could drive me nuts in no time.

I remember walking at a night market where people were selling all sorts of nitty gritty, and this stall was selling clocks, watches, so he felt the need to advertise what he was selling and put clock alarm non-stop. Even when I could escape the sound I felt like strangling him and shouted at his face,"Do you think the condom seller advertise them literally too?!? HMM????

 

Today I'm, uh, wearing even less and a police helicopter appears to be doing a grid pattern, since they're going slow I suspect they may have their cameras on. Ah well, whatever.

Do you think the police got the scoop from the pilot back then?

And do you think you had been recorded in google earth?

 

But maybe she's trying to get a tan. In which stretch camouflage netting over your entire garden.

Then she would have camouflaged-pattern tan?! :D :D :D

[Carol the Dabbler]

But maybe she's trying to get a tan. In which stretch camouflage netting over your entire garden.

Then she would have camouflaged-pattern tan?! :D :D :D

Only if the earth stops rotating.

 

As the position of the sun changes in our sky, the position of the camouflage shadows will also move.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Right.

But then again, the intensities of the sun at different hours are not the same, not to mention other factors like wind and possible weather change throughout the tanning period.

I think it's almost impossible to get equal tan with that. But on the bright side, the next time flying things pass by, they won't notice her because of the camouflage-patterned skin.

 

I have a neighbor's rant again.

They seem like well-to-do people, with nicer garden (huh :P) and cars.

In their funny little heads, they think it's appropriate to park their bloody precious cars outside my fence, some idiots even blocked the very little gate space to get my motorcycle (and me!) in and out. 

Well, of course I didn't let them live happily ever after because I got furious when I couldn't get in or out. Who doesn't? And I hate it even when it's only in front of my fence. Well, that space is mine, everyone has their own, and my haunted house plants need sunshine and once in a while I had cars also. (My place is the cluster of dead-end small road where ten houses, five each, face each other and everyone has their own space and could temporary park their vehicle in front of their own houses, beside their own garage)

 

So the two times it totally blocked my way, and numerous other times the car was at my fence, the respective owners of the cars had their own space empty. (That is the most infuriating part) Everytime, they seem to find it inconvenient to have vehicle blocking their precious way, huh? I had to slide in between the tight space and made a deduction of who the owner was by going from house to house looking for idiots. They would of course got an earful from me and that's the best I could manage. Luckily, my murderous face worked too well, nobody dares to do it anymore but sometimes, like yesterday, one still had the audacity to park at my fence, although he was ready to move it anytime I need, which was quite 'okay' although I couldn't help to be very sarcastic because he was a new offender and I wanted to be sure he knows it's not okay, and yes, of course his own space is empty.

Worse, sometimes they actually tried to joke about it and even made small talks. Of course, they found out soon enough from my monstrous glare: really?!?, and I actually made my impatience shown too well, not with words but they got it and stopped talking, ended up stumbling over their keys; faster, faster! So I'm not sure my reputation helps to offset my garden condition.

 

[Pseudonym]

People parking where they shouldn't drives me nuts. Especially when their own spaces are free and they just decide not to use them. I don't have that problem where I work now, but before we moved premises people would park across the doors all the time - not taking into account the door opens outwards and so I was literally trapped inside. One time they parked less than a foot away, left and the place was deserted - the only way I got out was by taking off my backpack, coat and jumper and then I barely managed to squeeze through whilst feeling like all my inner organs were getting crushed and my ribs were going to get wedged. Ridiculous. We told them over and over again and yet they still kept doing it. 

 

I have a few rants today too. 

 

1st - One of my old school friends had a baby last year and she named him Zachary. I have zero interest in babies, I think I've mentioned before that I'm sick of all the photos she keeps sending me of him. Anyway, yesterday I was bored so I asked her if 'Zach' was playing in the garden enjoying the sun. I'm sure I've called him Zach before, but this time I got a pointed reply that it was 'Zachary.' Why the hell would you name your kid something if you don't like the obvious diminutive? Does she really think that when he goes to school all his little school friends won't call him Zach? You're setting yourself up for a lifetime of irritation if you call your kid something you hate. 

 

2nd - My dad was taken into hospital on Friday night - he's okay, but he's been having a lot of issues recently with having vacant spells, fainting and even a couple of fits. We thought it was due to his medication, but his doctor rang on Friday night to tell him to get to hospital straight away because one of his hormones levels was really dangerously low. And then came the delights of the NHS. Now, don't get me wrong I'm thankful we have free health care, and a lot of the staff are great, but they seem to have really shown their sh*tty side this time. Despite the doctor saying it was an emergency and he could collapse any moment they kept him in A&E for hours before bothering to see him - my mother had to demand they actually look at his notes properly because they were all just sitting around chatting and drinking tea. Then they put him in a ward with four women. Normally they keep the men and women separate because who the hell wants to be stuck in with members of the opposite sex? First of all, for women it might not feel very safe (they are with my dad obviously, but they don't know that), secondly it's not very comfortable being in with members of the opposite sex when you're already feeling ill and looking like shite. Then they've done things like got blood all over his pillow and then not got rid of it even when he asked. Left sticky pads on him from his EKG. Woke him up at stupid times to go for tests when it wasn't necessary. Generally been brusque and unpleasant. My mother even had a run in with the woman running the charity shop in the lobby when she tried to top up his phone so he could ring if he needed to. And when my eldest brother asked my mother to check if he was on a certain type of drip they refused to give her information over the phone - which I would understand if it was confidential but it was a very simple question. Gah. 

 

3rd - My middle brother - the one I work for. Most days I could rant about him for hours, but my mother rang me and all my siblings Saturday morning to say Dad was in hospital, and I was the only one who actually answered my phone. My eldest brother and sister got voicemails and rang back as soon as they could. My middle brother got a voicemail, didn't bother ringing or messaging, hasn't asked how he is or what's happening, has shown zero interest or concern. As I said, my Dad is okay, but to be so self-absorbed and disinterested to not even sent a text message? Some days I could cheerfully murder him. It's like when I fell down the stairs last year, and sent an email to say I couldn't go into work because I thought I had broken my foot, I couldn't walk and had to go to hospital, his answer was 'okay.' Not how are you, can I help, what happened, just okay - like pointedly not giving a f***. And I have to stop talking about it now, because I'm in the office and if I work myself up too much I'll rip his head off when I see him. 

 

And wow, that was longer than intended, I guess I was more irritated than I realised!

 

[Arcadia]

Urk. Sorry, that IS bad. Glad your dad's okay.

 

I don't know if this makes it better or worse, but I've seen the same kind of thing at the hospitals here, for which we pay hugely. Quality of care varies widely between one visit and the next. It's frustrating, to say the least.

 

According to a student of mine who is also a doctor, you should make sure the doctor knows what happened; s/he should be aware the hospital staff didn't do their job properly. Sometimes they'll take it seriously and take steps to try and get the situation corrected. Other times they'll just blow you off. In which case, change doctors.

[Pseudonym]

Yea, I think they'll have to say something. The doctor specifically said on the phone he wouldn't have to wait, and when my mother told the receptionist she said 'well, doctors don't know everything.' What and you, a receptionist, do?

When my dad first got ill about ten years ago my eldest brother had to ring up the desk at one point and bully them into sending him my dad's notes because he had suspicions things weren't being checked properly. 

[Fantasy Lover]

My work has found a solution to people who are parking where they shouldn't: they installed a parking machine and you just need a code to enter and exit.

[T.o.b.y]

Glad to hear your father is okay, Pseud!

 

In defense of little Zachary's parents, it's really no use limiting your choice of names with the idea of avoiding unwelcome nicknames. My parents did that - gave me a name they thought nobody could possibly mess with - and I hadn't been in school for more than three days when my classmates came up with at least three variations. All of which I disdainfully ignored of course.

 

My husband has a long name and people keep showing surprise that I don't use a diminutive. But I like it as it is.

[Fantasy Lover]

I hate my name, when I was little people made fun of it, now I'm older people ask how to pronounce it :comp:

[Carol the Dabbler]

My parents did that - gave me a name they thought nobody could possibly mess with - and I hadn't been in school for more than three days when my classmates came up with at least three variations.

 

A gal I know tried to do that. She and her husband went through every possible way that names can be used -- with/without middle name, initials, etc. -- and came up with the perfect unbreakable name, Jeffrey Lemm (not his name, just an analogous one I made up). All was fine, or so they thought, till one day the mother heard her son's classmate call out, "Hey, Phlegm!" Turns out they hadn't stopped to think that the kids would call him Jeff

[Van Buren Supernova]

If I remember correctly, a friend told me Zachary (I believe partial, not full, but not Zach) actually means ball in some part of Asia. Yah, THAT ball.

 

So Zach actually sounds pretty good, it's probably the only way to avoid the connotation. :p