We're All Fine Here, Thanks. How Are You? - The FanFic Social Thread

Well, wrapping gifts did not get me into the Christmas spirit. I just feel extremely MEH. It's like I'm going through the motions.

Time to become Scrooge...

 

I wish I knew how to help, Trak...

 

I can help! I have been in Scrooge mode since early November. I suggest frequent utterances of "Bah Humbug!", particularly in response to anyone wishing you "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays".

 

I like this idea. Already started it last week, just need to start saying it more often.

 

Nothing cures Scrooge mode like ogling an over-accessorized gun!

 

Needs more pouches, belts, barrels, and Rob Liefeld.

 

On the contrary, that would be a great visual deterrent to keep carolers away.

 

SabyneAmberle, I'm sorry to hear that. Teachers who see their students as people and can make the school day more than a checklist are real treasures. Best wishes for you.

 

Sorry to hear that SabyneAmberle. I've had a couple teachers who have really stuck with me like that.

I'm currently not in a Scrooge mode, but I'm not exactly feeling festive either. Maybe it's the stupid dead tree in the middle of my table. I've done my "baking duties", got all the fancy hors d'oeuvre I usually buy and got all my gifts. I feel like I've done all the motions, just not with my usual festive spirit.

I was bored so I went to my mom's (and played Cards Against humanity with my brothers and one of their girlfriends - it was a lot of fun). I told my mom I really didn't want to pack up my cat, myself, and all the gifts and stay with her for a week, so I'm just going to leave the cat home alone for ~30 hours and go over for Christmas eve and day. The cat should be fine, right?

 

Yes stress can cause it to happen and it also does sometimes happen over night like in Poltergeist - trust me I know. There have been known cases in which if stress caused it and you can alleviate the stress the follical can start to produce melon again which gives us our color -- but it's rare. My hair went straight for a small thatch of white over night at 19 and has become a skunk strip. Getting a color that fades so it doesn't look so stark against the white is the best -- it usually takes a few tries --- I like Garnier's Olia.

 

Put out plenty of food and water and the cat should be fine. I've left Mabel alone one weekend before. Had a full catbox to clean afterward, but she was fine.

 

Okay. Thanks. I think I might have left her alone for a night before, but she was with her older brother then. I just figure, I dont want to A) have to drive with her for 40 minutes (she hates the car and I hate driving with any distractions) and B) confuse the hell out of her by bringing her to her old home when she JUST got settled here. Plus she makes a good excuse on why I can't stay more than one night. In my youth I was a pretty good couch surfer (and being the middle child, I WILL end up being the one without a bed) but now a days, I like my queen sized pillow-top mattress.

 

Just be prepared to come home to a full catbox, empty bowls, and an indignant cat who glares at you at every turn because you weren't there to cater to her every wanton desire. Mabel gives me The Look when I go out for a few hours.

Anywho, I think this pic has helped lift my Christmas spirits a bit.

 

Don't you mean your Crypt-mas spirit, TrakNar?

 

That pun didn't even have a ghost of a chance.

 

I get The Look, quite often. I'm used to it.

And that photo is frightening. Juuust sayin. But whatever gets you in the spirit

So, frustrating things. They are starting to put out final grades. I've gotten 2/3 grades thus far: A- in Early Modern European history, not a huge surprise, it was what I was hoping and expecting; and an A in International Economics. Which brings me to frustrating thing number 1: me questioning my major and my entire life "plan" really. My entire life would be so much easier if I were an econ major - better GPA, easier classes, and I'd be a shoe-in to work for the government if I graduated with even a BA in economics. It would be a boring career move, but a safe one, plus I wouldn't have to do a graduate degree. Frustrating thing number 2: my Pirate grade isn't up yet. It's the one I'm most interested in, plus it's the one without any exam, so you'd think it would have been up first, but nooooo.

 

I shaved my head.

Well, buzzed it, sorry to disappoint. But, my hair is now at most a half-inch long.

I feel slightly less meh with a lot less hair.

 

SabyneAmberle, my deepest condolences for your teacher's passing. And what Kahara said is so true.

TrakNar, while I cannot 100% understand as I come from a slightly, slightly different culture, perhaps if I shared why I am not a big fan of the next week and the buildup to it could be at least somewhat comforting?

As I said earlier, I live in an eastern Orthodox country, that also happens to be old calendarist. What does that mean? Basically, while we use the normal calendar just like the rest of the world, all church holidays fall 13 days later than they do for everybody else. Also, since we embrace a lot of totally-not-Christian-actually-pagan customs, our Christmas is a very modest holiday. Most people would consider it bad taste if they were gifted something other than traditional fruits and nuts, or eventually a nice book. We do all the overspending and kitschy poop for New Year's Eve or the holidays I mentioned on the previous page.

This year, I'm healthy and happy, so I'm OK with everything being the way it is in terms of how it affects me. At the same time, it still bothers me how some people act awful for 11 months and then think they can make it up with one month of supposed, forced joy and expensive gifts; and I'm no less bothered by the fact that the bigger branch of a single religion basically controls the world the way we see it, that we count years from a date that might not be the right date to everybody. Before smartphones were widely spread, for years, I was regularly getting texts on December 25th because "the date doesn't matter". While it's nice to know that people think of you, I cannot help thinking that a child is groomed into being an exclusive adult, who is told that the customs are in crisis, which is most likely not true. The truth is that there's still no universal acceptance for the rest of us, despite the fact that we make the majority of the world's population.

Before the medicine I have to take three times a day cleaned up the excess insulin, I would literally run away from the internet communities in December, as I would feel discriminated, attacked and last year, when I said that I don't like this month, the actual owner of the other community I frequent, otherwise not really a nice person per sé, responded to my locked status message and told me that I need help. How did I dare attack his beliefs with my misery? Really?

So, whatever makes you feel bad right now - it's not a crime. I don't like to see you sad, which is a whole different matter, but you're cool, you play to the beat of a very different drum on many fields as I have seen, so please don't think that you have to be what the society expects you to be during the holiday season.

*huge hug*

*social justice warrior rant over *

Chyntuck, I guess I didn't manage to explain it well once again, so I'll retry at some point.

But I have power over you and you totally went with two of my favourites, so...perhaps I'm a Jedi Force mage. And now when you're feeling avo-awesome, I assume I can safely say that you're in our sect cult club now?

I NEVER SAID I WASN'T HYPER MYSELF. I kinda wish my stomach would put up with coffee, so I could be a true Cornholio, this way, it's Pepsi Max for me.

And this other part of the reply got my attention, as not many people can grasp how people from our area feel when we head off to countries where overall standard is higher.

I ran out of money last year in Switzerland, mostly because of my insulin resistance that was not diagnosed at that point, but it wouldn't have been much different had I not been as hungry, as I would have probably spent more money on smaller amounts of quality food, rather than buying large amounts of cheap snacks.

Since you practice law, I wonder if there are a lot of unregistered workers in Greece? In Serbia, the official average salary is just under 400€ a month, but all I see is people who barely get 200 and work overtime, and people who get anything between 800 to 3500, but without any benefits, as they're either officially getting 200 and the rest underneath the tables, or they freelance like me. While I had crap months when my salary was in the range of 250-400, I also had months when my salary was err, very Swiss or Swedish, and I would not mind paying my own benefits, if the law would recognise my category (currently, we can only register ourselves as an one-person company and pay a whooping 140 a month for future pension and health insurance). Is it that way there, too?

Also, since you said that the salary I more or less figured out the amount of is enough to lead a comfortable life in Greece, I now wonder if my country is unrealistically expensive, as that would be enough to cover basic costs, but not much beyond that. One just cannot live like a person with hobbies, interests etc here without 1K or more.

I will have to try this. Perhaps my Greek cooking book will have the right quantities. Thank you so much.

Finally responding to this - as I had everything I was supposed to respond to open in one large reply window and then my computer had to be reset to complete Windows Update and...I forgot to save the response. Then it happened again. And again. And again. I guess I am a likely candidate for adult ADHD by now. O_O

I did notice that you pick the exact opposite of things I'm using for my face, so, yeah. In our training sessions, we were always encouraged to ask additional questions to the person with oily skin, so we could first determine if they get spots, if their skin is sensitive, if it's really oily or mixed and. In my experience, it also makes sense to ask if your skin is thick or thin. For example, if mine was thin, I guess I wouldn't need to exfoliate once a week with products not necessarily intended for my skin type in order for my cream, serum and facial wash to have effect. So, those would be my questions.

If that helps, my friend and former co-worker says that Angels on Bare Skin works better for her than Aqua Marina, Herbalism and Dark Angels do, when combined with Enzymion, Vanishing Cream or Imperialis; as otherwise, the three mentioned products dried her out. As I tried all of them out of pure curiosity during summertime, I'm pretty sure they do dry out to a certain extent as well, as I normally don't get dry cheeks when it's warm outside.

Handy Gurugu in combination with some Lemony Flutter on problematic spots (I literally get a single occurrence of what might be eczema on the root of my right hand's thumb, year after year) is what does the job for me most of the time. Things like Tiny Hands and its previous incarnation, The Soft Touch, never worked for me, as they don't penetrate the skin and hydrate it/cure the problems, they're more likely to create a protective layer. I did not try Formulae Know As, and Helping Hands tends to smell vile if it's a bit older, so Gurugu is a safe bet.

I'm curuious about Putty For Your Hands, as a lot of people say it's a great solution for sensitive skin, but I'm not sure if it pays off, given how many times most people wash their hands - you have a toddler, I have a dog, would that thing last more than a week? And what if Findsboy would chew on it, in your case, given his artistic tendencies? Hmmm...

I might be an enabler, but re: biting Honey...Almond Butter looked more cakey. I swear half of its ingredients go into the birthday cake my mom has been making for me since my first birthday. So, if it surfaces in the Kitchen or wherever...I am recommending it as a dessert.

Disclaimer: my former workmates used to make fun of me and ask if I thought that Lemony Flutter can cure cancer, revive the dead and lead to world peace - that's how many things I tried it for.

To me, it sounds like a strange combo of mustard and horseradish, ready to be used on hot dogs. O_O Definitely not a person.

Here's more of her: https://www.flickr.com/photos/supersonic_squirrel/16034436655/

I try to pimp her wherever I can, the world NEEDS to see her. A part of me is scared that she might be brainwashing me into helping her with world domination, tho.

Thank you.

That's a 550D in Europe, a good model. I believe it has a better body than 60D, in terms of durability. For some reason, 60D has a resin body. That's the only thing I'm not too crazy about.

I'm definitely interested in seeing your dog and that landscape, whenever you get to it. Heck, I'm interested in seeing anything.

I think I won't be able to sleep now. I never saw one, but my parents said that one was in my bed during out '84 summer vacation in Croatia, so...I've been freaking out since then. And now you say this. O_O Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip!

...

Just realised that I forgot to take part in two out of three interviews that came after mine.

 

So remember back in September when I was talking about the protests over the police shooting nearby during the grand jury hearings? Guess what: the protests haven't stopped. Now they've managed to force the Walmart store where the shooting occurred to shut down on the busiest shopping day of the year. Despite the fact that the grand jury cleared the officer, the protesters are STILL demanding that he be indicted for murder. Elsewhere, the protesters have also said that they want that Walmart store to close down permanently (I have no idea why) and are also demanding that the police chief (who happens to be my uncle) be charged with complicity to murder because he trained the officer who shot the guy WHO WAS WAVING A GUN AROUND.

Let me summarize what the evidence, including security camera footage, has conclusively shown. This Crawford guy lived in the Cincinnati area, but for some reason came all the way to the Beavercreek store (about an hour's drive north of Cincinnati by Interstate 75), presumably to "go shopping". I don't buy that for a second, because he would have had to pass at least a dozen other Walmarts along the way. Upon arrival, he sends his girlfriend off to another section of the store and then makes a beeline for the sporting goods department. Crawford then, in a blatantly obvious manner, peers down each aisle of the department one at a time until he spots the BB gun (digression: BB guns are NOT "toy" guns! They are REAL guns capable of causing REAL injury and REAL deaths, and must be treated as a real gun by both the person holding it and anyone who is threatened by one.) that has been all too conveniently left lying open, out of the box, on the shelf. Upon spotting it, he makes a beeline straight to it and grabs it. He then heads directly to another department (pet supplies, I think, but I could be wrong) and quickly locates a package of BBs that has been left there (are you getting the feeling of a set-up here, because I sure am), with which he loads the gun and begins waving it around. Naturally, someone calls 911, police officers show up and order him to drop the gun, he either actively refuses or simply ignores them (I don't know which) and continues waving the gun around, and one of the police officers decided that lives were in danger and shot him.

All of this was clearly shown by the evidence and video footage presented to the grand jury, who determined that no charges were warranted, yet the protesters cannot understand this and continue to demand murder charges. I'm beginning to wonder if these protests will ever end.

 

I always am glad I somehow manage to get all the Christmas gifts for friends and families shipped off. How is everyone today?

 

Well, I'm not very happy, as evidenced by my previous post.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in that description of events that Crawford wasn't the only person who died that night. While he was waving the gun around inducing panic, a lady near him dropped dead of a heart attack. The coroner ruled her death a homicide, yet the protesters' skulls are too thick to understand that they are supporting a murderer. It's all about race for them.

 

You know, I never use this word, but that sucks.

 

My dad tried to go to Walmart to look for something small. Bad idea. Not only is the local Walmart slammed because it's the Saturday before Christmas, but it's doubly slammed because it's the closest Walmart to the one in Beavercreek that shut down due to the protests. Good thing I finished my Christmas shopping last night.

 

As someone who was held up by another person with (what turned out to be) a BB gun, I can attest to the point jcgoble3 is making here. In my case, the weapon was indistinguishable from a Colt .45 M1911, and the Tallahassee Police Department cornered the person(s) involved within fifteen minutes of my 911 call. I was fifteen at the time.

The prosecutor ended up charging the guy who actually had the gun, a Hispanic boy about my age, with attempted armed robbery, but did not file a charge against the other boy present (also around my age), who was black. The two had seen me earlier that day in the K-Mart near my house and had apparently followed me around, possibly deciding that I was a decent mark (I'm white), but I have no way to know that and it doesn't matter in the end because I had nothing to fork over. TPD wanted to charge both of them as adults, but cooler heads prevailed and the one kid was given a bench trial, found guilty, and sentenced to some number of hours of community service. In my honest opinion, that was very possibly the best result that could have come about, for everyone involved, and I learned a hell of a lot about life in the course of that one incident and its aftermath.

So yes, BB guns are not to be taken lightly, especially considering that a large chunk, if not the majority, are designed to outwardly resemble real-world firearms. While they're not regulated in the sense that you don't have to have ID to buy them, any store with employees with an ounce of sense to share between them will not just sell one to some preteen kid or a grungy-looking teenager who looks like they're up to no good. Merchants do have the right to refuse service in such kinds of situations.