Rant Thread II

[korinna5555]

My car is busted. AGAIN. For fucks sake, it hasn't even been out of the shop two weeks..

Maybe naming it Mr Moonlight WAS a bad idea........ >_>

[Pineapple_Juice]

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

Nah, it didn't puncture, it broke.

One time I got hit in the eyebrow with an empty carton of orange juice. My whole face was covered in blood in like two seconds.

Did it hurt?

[donmara]

nyc sucks.

[korinna5555]

I have to write this paper about drugs, for my anatomy class.
It's quite simple, really.. five pages, double spaced, about why drugs work the way they do. Stimulants, depressants, section of focus on opiates, and cannabinoids. I decided not to go in to hallucinogens because they vary.
I'm struggling with it because it's boring. It's MIND NUMBING.
At least I'm allowed to say whatever I want; my anatomy teacher is rather liberal when it comes to drug use.

[Underwater Ophelia]

Originally Posted by Pineapple_Juice

Did it hurt?

It was a while ago, but I remember it hurt being hit, but I didn't actually know I was bleeding until someone else pointed it out. It was sore for a while.

[Pineapple_Juice]

That is so weird, who'd have thunk.

[the-nihilist]

I think that we, the people of the south, need to band together and work towards the goal of eradicating our most hated enemy: the horse fly.

[Solumina]

Lately I have been having quite a difficult time effectively communicating my thoughts and I seems to be making a lot more typos than usual. I don't like this at all.

[Ben Lahnger]

I really wasn't holding the spelling of putput against you!

[Alan]

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!
I'm so fucking pissed at some people's stupidity.
So dig it, there's this girl I was going out with, and she had this best friend; I was talking with her to try and get to like her.
The pretty girl and I have a passion for jazz and doesn't like talking about inane stuff, so I had a similar expectation of the friend.
Then I saw that she had a completely vacuous stare. Hell, the most sentiment in her face was actually sort of anger - she was fucking getting pissed at the fact that she didn't understand what I was talking about!
So I turn the conversation to a lighter note. I make jokes and tell her a 'silly dream of mine' that I wish would happen; can't remember what it was but I still mentioned Ortega.

Then she tells me what her silly dream is about how the world should be. She tells me that she wishes you could just go outside and the ground is made of money so you can just grab all the money you need and there wouldn't be any poverty.
I laughed.
She asked me what's so funny.
I had a dumbpiphany. http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php...&id=1863#comic
She was fucking serious.
Then I started teaching her about supply and demand and how capital works.
SHE GOT MAD AT ME!
Fuck her. Plus she's ugly.

[Solumina]

Thanks ben, I feel so much better now


Alan I hate trying to talk with people like that. It is one thing to be dumb but fuck her for getting mad at you about it.

[donmara]

For fuck sake, why do some people have to be so god damn loud. Its annoying, its obnoxious. Die.

[Ben Lahnger]

Yeah, Alan, it puts you in an untenable position. It's impossible to have a conversation with people that vacuous without either pissing them off or imploding.

I hope it doesn't affect the relationship with the girl you like, but I suspect it will. I would, unfortunately, be mentally questioning her choices and reviewing who else she likes to hang out with. That might not be fair, but I'm not always fair.

I went out with a girl once who was decent enough herself, but I couldn't understand her choice of friends until I came to understand her self-esteem issues. The problem with self-esteem issues is you can be supportive all day, give the person plenty of encouragement and compliments, but only they can overcome the issue by their own accomplishments. Self-esteem can only be built ... it can't be given.

My SO's daughter keeps picking the wrong kind of guys to go out with. I keep telling her after each disappointment that maybe she should take a break from dating and concentrate on finishing up at school and improving herself, so that she can understand that she deserves better instead of continuing to make bad choices. But she keeps going back ... because the quick-fix to low self-esteem is to have someone's affection ... just about anyone's affection. And that's just a temporary band-aid that hurts just as much each time it's ripped off. *sigh*

[Saya]

I didn't want to make a news thread out of it since its not really news, just proving Palin wrong (and thats never news) but I got a headache. God damn I hate Sarah Palin.

[Ben Lahnger]

Originally Posted by Solumina

Thanks ben, I feel so much better now

I know your comment was serious and my reply was genuinely meant to be a light-hearted joke to make you feel better, but I couldn't quite tell from this response if you took it that way or if this was sarcasm.

I know that not being able to express yourself clearly when you have demonstrated an ability to communicate eloquently and intelligently in the past must be frustrating. I was just trying to make you feel better about it. You really haven't been that much off your game as far as I could tell.

[Solumina]

It may have been a slightly sarcastic reply, but certainly not the bitter kind of sarcasm that is so prevalent on these boards, after all I knew you were just joking.

My post didn't really have as much to do with what is going on around gnet (although I'm happy to hear that I'm not too far off my game here) but more so with communicating with Jake, relatives, and vendors for the wedding, plus trying to deal with the move, both getting things sorted so we can all move out, plus getting everything sorted with the new place, when none of my roommates (the current ones more so than the future one) seem to be able to do any of the sorting. It just kind of feels like every conversation that I have has to happen over and over again before we all even know what the other is talking about.

It doesn't help that my mind becomes quite cluttered when there is clutter around me and there are boxes and half disassembled furniture everywhere at home plus we are reorganizing a bunch of stuff at work so right now I'm pretty constantly surrounded by clutter.

[Ben Lahnger]

Oh, don't I know that "cluttered surroundings - cluttered mind" feeling. I hope you find some order ... and peace ... soon.

[Underwater Ophelia]

I really don't like it when people don't use their turn signals.

[Ben Lahnger]

Originally Posted by Underwater Ophelia

I really don't like it when people don't use their turn signals.

FUCK YEAH! Don't come drive in Houston. Fuckers here think there's a law against using them.

My SO only uses them when she thinks somebody is nearby and can see. I tried to tell her because of blind spots and the inability to maintain 100% focus on your surroundings at all times because of human nature, that the best practice is just be in the habit of using them all the time whether you think someone is watching or not, but she's not buying.

I can tell she grew up in Texas. I was raised and learned how to drive in Wisconsin, where you learn to signal as if your life depended on it ... because with those icy roads, it sometimes does.

And the cops down here don't even bother enforcing the law on turn signals. It pisses me off!

[Solumina]

Ugh people are like that here too and I can't stand it, especially since they have a bad habit of suddenly cutting across a few lanes of traffic to make a turn.

As for me getting away from clutter the best I can do for now is keep the boxes organized. Thankfully at work this week I'm up in putt-putt so I'm away from most of the reorganization clutter at the desk. So far I've also been helping the newbies out and I keep having to run back to the desk but that should be all over by now so I can stay in my nice, neat bubble. Also we got the go ahead to move in on the 26th without having to pay pro-rated rent for May since they will be sort staffed that weekend and they have plenty of time to get the apartment ready, I guess there is an up side to moving during a holiday weekend.

[the-nihilist]

I agree about the turn signals. Unfortunately, when you use them to change lanes, the person in the adjacent lane behind you sees it as a signal to speed up to prevent you from getting in front of them.

[Underwater Ophelia]

Originally Posted by the-nihilist

I agree about the turn signals. Unfortunately, when you use them to change lanes, the person in the adjacent lane behind you sees it as a signal to speed up to prevent you from getting in front of them.

Yeah that's irritating. I mean, I'm not saying I don't make mistakes once in a while when driving, but you can tell some people are DELIBERATELY being douchebags. Now again, I'm not saying I'm not sometimes deliberately a douchebag, but the road really isn't the place for it.

[Ben Lahnger]

Originally Posted by the-nihilist

I agree about the turn signals. Unfortunately, when you use them to change lanes, the person in the adjacent lane behind you sees it as a signal to speed up to prevent you from getting in front of them.

For a while when I was between cars, I was taking a lot of taxi cab rides, and the cab drivers here in Houston uniformly told me (since I was observing the behavior and asked about it) that they don't dare signal a lane change or other drivers will do just that and prevent them from being able to get into the lane.

[sibyl vane.]

Originally Posted by Alan

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!
I'm so fucking pissed at some people's stupidity.
So dig it, there's this girl I was going out with, and she had this best friend; I was talking with her to try and get to like her.
The pretty girl and I have a passion for jazz and doesn't like talking about inane stuff, so I had a similar expectation of the friend.
Then I saw that she had a completely vacuous stare. Hell, the most sentiment in her face was actually sort of anger - she was fucking getting pissed at the fact that she didn't understand what I was talking about!
So I turn the conversation to a lighter note. I make jokes and tell her a 'silly dream of mine' that I wish would happen; can't remember what it was but I still mentioned Ortega.

Then she tells me what her silly dream is about how the world should be. She tells me that she wishes you could just go outside and the ground is made of money so you can just grab all the money you need and there wouldn't be any poverty.
I laughed.
She asked me what's so funny.
I had a dumbpiphany. http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php...&id=1863#comic
She was fucking serious.
Then I started teaching her about supply and demand and how capital works.
SHE GOT MAD AT ME!
Fuck her. Plus she's ugly.

Everyone I know is like this.

[Ben Lahnger]

Great. Now I'm looking up traffic fatality statistics at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration site and thinking somebody should make a documentary about how unsafe the fucking drivers in this state and especially in this city are.

2008 Texas Average Fatality per 100,000 Population: 13.90
2008 U.S. State Average Fatality per 100,000 Population: 12.25
2008 Best State (lowest) Average Fatality per 100,000 Population: 5.59

Now I'm sure that last bit is skewed by geographic and population factors ... I don't know but I'm pretty sure there's probably less driving done per person in places like Alaska and Hawaii. But still, we're above the national average.

Also, people in this state really like to drink and drive. These are the number of Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities (BAC = .08+) Per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled for 2008.

Texas: 0.54
U.S. Average: 0.40
Best State: 0.16

Then, in the state, I live in the worst county for fatalities! These numbers are for 2008 and I know they're skewed because Houston is the 3rd or 4rth largest city in the U.S. but they still give me pause.

1) Harris County: 354
2) Dallas County: 202
3) Bexar County: 159
4) Tarrant County: 138
5) Travis County: 89

In fact, over the last 5 years Harris County has averaged over 1 traffic accident fatality per day. On average, every day someone in this county dies in a car accident. That is very unnerving. And frustrating. And ire inducing.

I wonder how much those fatality statistics could be reduced by people just using their turn signals ... and not drinking and driving.