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

[Carol the Dabbler]

If you have any questions about the math, feel free to post 'em here and I'll see if I can help.

As long as it's not calculus....

[Pseudonym]

Ooo, that could be handy, thanks. You can be my secret weapon! 

[Arcadia]

18 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

Taking my car to the garage later to *hopefully* be fixed. Fingers crossed it'll be cheap and easy, and hopefully I won't need to rant.

So how did it go?

[Pseudonym]

*deep breath* Well, it's had the battery replaced twice already, but the auto-elec guy rang and told me there was no drain and it needed the battery replaced. So I was dubious, but he said he'd checked everything and it was definitely the battery. So fine, he changes it, I go to pick up the car, and he said after he spoke to me on the phone he did a bit more investigation and, I still can't get over this, the one that the last garage put in, the one that has been causing me so much grief, IS THE WRONG BATTERY FOR THE CAR! It's not even the same shape! He said it was a cheap and nasty make anyway, and didn't have anywhere near enough power to actually run the car - he showed me the diagnostic printout and the amp reading was way under what it should be. So, hopefully that will have sorted it, I'll be wary until I've been driving it about for a while without any more disasters but I can't believe that. It's so bloody dangerous, and they must have known they were putting the wrong battery in and I was going to continue having problems - he said they had actually wedged cardboard under the battery to lift it up because it wasn't tall enough. I'd seen the cardboard but assumed it was there to stop the battery slipping. I go on the motorway everyday, and the garage who replaced the battery originally knows that, it's beyond dangerous. My mouth dropped open when the auto-elec guy told me, and I would have taken it with a pinch of salt were it not for the fact that, as I said, the batteries are completely different shapes. Shocking. But fingers crossed that is the problem and the sodding car will now behave. 

There's a big family gathering today, I don't want to go, have rather conspicuously not commented on it, and have no intention of going. But I have woken with a niggling feeling of guilt. 

I think my dreams are tormenting me recently, I can't remember them but I keep waking up feeling desperately lonely. 😖

[Artemis]

1 hour ago, Pseudonym said:

There's a big family gathering today, I don't want to go, have rather conspicuously not commented on it, and have no intention of going. But I have woken with a niggling feeling of guilt. 

I think my dreams are tormenting me recently, I can't remember them but I keep waking up feeling desperately lonely. 😖

How are things between you and your family?  Forcing yourself to get a little social time might help if there’s loneliness plaguing you; but I also know that it could have the opposite effect if your family dynamic isn’t good.

I always feel a twinge of guilt for skipping family functions too.  I decided not to attend a cousin’s wedding a few years back and heard about how rude and “antisocial” I was being for weeks beforehand.  I barely knew that cousin, and I was only invited because my brother was one of his groomsmen.  But my family thought it reflected badly on them if I didn’t go, and they didn’t want to have to answer questions about my absence, even though I gave them a perfectly good excuse to use.  So it turned into a standoff between me and their massive guilt-tripping, because I was going through a really bad time and I wasn’t about to suffer through a wedding just to make them feel slightly more at ease.  I held my ground, my cousin didn’t have to pay to feed me (my wedding gift to them  ), and guess what?  Nobody at the wedding even asked about me.  So their anxieties were entirely unfounded.

 

[Pseudonym]

Different type of loneliness, I think I keep dreaming I'm married/dating someone and then keep getting confused when I wake up to find I'm not. 😐 Don't know why my dreams have decided to gang up on me in such a way. 

My family is okay, I just really don't want to have to deal with a load of people, the noise, the busyness, eurgh. Don't want to be involved. 

 

I can't delete this H ---> h 

I've had this happen on here a few times recently where it won't let me delete part of a post until I refresh the window. Weird. 

 

[Pseudonym]

Ah, just had a text that my parents and my eldest brother are in A&E (ER to Americans). My dad keeps having funny turns and collapsing, the doctors have been looking into it but not found what's causing it, but apparently he had another one this morning. So now my brother has gone to the hospital with them - hopefully he'll be able to get something actually done since he's a pretty highly ranking doctor in his own right. Last week my dad collapsed in the street, and because he was suddenly dead weight my mother couldn't hold him up, so she wrenched her arm and he hit the pavement head first. Didn't do any lasting damage luckily, could have been a lot worse. 

[Artemis]

16 minutes ago, Pseudonym said:

Different type of loneliness, I think I keep dreaming I'm married/dating someone and then keep getting confused when I wake up to find I'm not. 😐  Don't know why my dreams have decided to gang up on me in such a way. 

Oh yeah, I’ve had those.   

 

[Artemis]

Oh no.    That’s bad news.  I hope he’ll be alright and they can find out what’s causing it.

 

[Arcadia]

Wow, Pseud, you have rather a lot bearing down on you at the moment. My sympathies. Hope it all turns out well, esp with your dad.

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

3 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

I can't delete this H ---> h 

I've had this happen on here a few times recently where it won't let me delete part of a post until I refresh the window. Weird.

There do seem to be a few weird bugs remaining.  Hopefully the software company is aware of them, and we'll get some fixes with the next rev.

Regarding your car battery, sounds like it had been installed by the same guy who did my exhaust system some years back.  Fingers crossed that the proper battery does the trick.

Best wishes to your dad.  Scary business, but hopefully they'll find the problem and be able to help.

[Pseudonym]

Well, they're keeping him in hospital for a few days on a heart monitor so we'll see what the results in. They gave him extra steroids when he got in which raised his blood pressure - part of the keeling over is that his blood pressure suddenly drops meaning there's not enough blood going to his brain. Which is scary. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, Pseudonym said:

... part of the keeling over is that his blood pressure suddenly drops meaning there's not enough blood going to his brain. Which is scary.

For sure.

The low BP may also explain the odd thinking/behavior that you mentioned a while back.  So hopefully they'll be able to deal with that as well.

[Pseudonym]

That was the same thing, he goes vacant before he collapses. It's just that time I got him to a chair before he hit the floor. I was also close enough that I could prop him against my side whilst I manoeuvred him rather than trying to hold him back with just my arms. Even still he almost crushed me, lol. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I can imagine!

 

[Arcadia]

Oh dear, we went through that with my dad … sudden drop in blood pressure and out he'd go. Scary when it happens, although he never seemed to suffer any long term ill effects from it.

I've passed out myself a couple of times. Weirdest sensation.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Any idea what causes it?

[Arcadia]

In Dad's case, his general health was pretty poor by then. Other than that, no idea. The doctors never seemed overly concerned about it.

In my case, I'd been ill and in bed for ages, got up, trudged up the stairs, reached over my head for something in the closet, and bam! out like a light. Learned pretty quick not to do that again.

[Carol the Dabbler]

37 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

I'd been ill and in bed for ages, got up, trudged up the stairs, reached over my head for something in the closet, and bam! out like a light. Learned pretty quick not to do that again.

Not something likely to hit you again while you're driving, then.  That's good!

I had a somewhat similar thing happen once.  I had the flu and got out of bed to use the toilet.  As I sat there, the world went completely black.  Fortunately I wasn't alone in the house, so I hollered for assistance.  Didn't actually pass out, though, just went blind and wobbly.

[Pseudonym]

I've had black spots gathering in front of my eyes but not actually passed out. 

Dad has cancer so he's on a huge cocktail of drugs, which makes it even harder to pinpoint exactly where the problem is. 

My WhatsApp contact in Shetland just sent me more photos of the most recent killer whale sighting. 😭

[besleybean]

Loved my 5 years living in Shetland.

I too got to see a pod of orca while I was there.

[Pseudonym]

If I saw them I'd probably be so overwhelmed I'd start sobbing, lol! Are there many jobs there? The lady I've been talking to said there was but it seems unlikely to me...?

Maybe I'll get to do a project up there one day. Fingers crossed!

[besleybean]

If you like barren, wild and remote places...Shetland is for you. 

Great for wildlife.

When we were there, there was plenty of available local housing and jobs too.

Don't know how much of that is still so.

But most of my husband's family still live there, so if you have any questions I can ask.

My daughter was born there and is so proud of this, she desperately wants to go back again.

The time we saw the Orca, it was Christmas Day and they were in one of the sea lochs(voes, in Shetland).

It was beautiful weather and was a magical experience.

Remains my best Xmas ever!

I see you are in Cymru.

Have we had this conversation before?

I lived in Hwlfordd for 3 years.

[Pseudonym]

Yup, I like barren remote places, I like anywhere where the scenery is amazing and I can be outdoors.That would be a fantastic Christmas, I eventually want to go into marine conservation so whales and dolphins are really 'my thing.' I read that some of the great whales also get seen from the coast, according to the Shetland Facebook page they recently saw four humpbacks. 😮

Ah ha! I'm in Swansea, so not too far. 

Have we had this conversation before... I don't know. Maybe? But if so I don't remember.

 

[besleybean]

Abertawe...only visted once, but liked it.

Oh and did the Dylan Thomas pilgrimage, too...

Yeah I got very excited when I saw about the humpbacks.

You know they get an albatross visiting Shetland, too?