The Vent and Rant Thread

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You know, I'm sorry, but...what the hell?

There are folks out there called MOVERS. They are paid for this crap. Sure, everybody has budgetary limits, I get that. But if you can't (or she can't) afford professional movers, put up a thing at the local college, or wherever, for burly guys (and gals, if they have the muscles) to move the damn stuff.

I think it's absolutely ridiculous for ANY part of your family to think that sounds like a good idea. I don't care if you're Dwight whatsits, the Rock guy. Those of us who work ungodly hours deserve what few days off we get. If my family came up with something cracked like that, I'd book myself in to the nearest 5-star hotel, buy some nice movies, and get room service.

Daft bastards. Don't get sucked in!!! There's nothing self-centered about it. It's more like...self-preservation. You simply need to find your own damn lifeboat.

Hitch

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

What Hitch said, Rumple.

In spades. This is simply ABUSE. I couldn't agree more with Hitch on this.

[issybird]

While I'm in full agreement with everyone on the Christmas Day move, I also know that families are touchy situations and you have to pick your battles.

This would be my position: It's your sister's apartment AND she's younger than you. She gets staircase duty. Depending on your father's level of fitness, he should probably be at the receiving end. Your sister can tell him what room as she gets upstairs with each load; she can sort it out later at her OWN leisure. You're stuck with car to lobby, but at least it's not the stairs.

[Rumpelteazer]

My mother put her foot down (for now), mostly since my father hasn't had a day off since she bought the apartment. Each Sunday and Monday (the days the store is closed) and several nights a week he goes over there (mostly with her, but on Monday on his own) to do the electrics, paint, sand, etc.

As I said, I don't expect much downtime from next Tuesday until the 8th of January, when the school vacation ends. Normally I would have 3 days off during that period. So I've decided that the Christmas Eve, the 25th and 26th are days off. I told her this and she didn't look too happy. But she worked in retail and should remember how insane those 4 weeks surrounding Christmas are. Plus, she doesn't get how draining this time of the year is for a super introvert like me.

To be honest, I will be glad when she's moved. No more going downstairs in winter to find the store freezing cold because she has turned off the heating (she can hear the heater hum at night), no more waking up at 1am on Sunday morning because she's vacuuming her room (she's a night owl) or having to wait until 8pm for dinner because she forgot to text my mother to let her know what time she would be home.

On the plus side, all that extra work means a bit of extra money. So I've decided it's okay to spend more on a laptop, so I can get one I can play The Sims 4 on.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

My mother put her foot down (for now), mostly since my father hasn't had a day off since she bought the apartment. Each Sunday and Monday (the days the store is closed) and several nights a week he goes over there (mostly with her, but on Monday on his own) to do the electrics, paint, sand, etc.

As I said, I don't expect much downtime from next Tuesday until the 8th of January, when the school vacation ends. Normally I would have 3 days off during that period. So I've decided that the Christmas Eve, the 25th and 26th are days off. I told her this and she didn't look too happy. But she worked in retail and should remember how insane those 4 weeks surrounding Christmas are. Plus, she doesn't get how draining this time of the year is for a super introvert like me.

To be honest, I will be glad when she's moved. No more going downstairs in winter to find the store freezing cold because she has turned off the heating (she can hear the heater hum at night), no more waking up at 1am on Sunday morning because she's vacuuming her room (she's a night owl) or having to wait until 8pm for dinner because she forgot to text my mother to let her know what time she would be home.

On the plus side, all that extra work means a bit of extra money. So I've decided it's okay to spend more on a laptop, so I can get one I can play The Sims 4 on.

I was just fixing to ask before jumping to conclusions. Is your sister handicapped in some way? I ask because you commented about her taking vacations with you and now it seems she is not capable of moving some boxes. Or is it the old case of she is parent's favorite child?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I was just fixing to ask before jumping to conclusions. Is your sister handicapped in some way? I ask because you commented about her taking vacations with you and now it seems she is not capable of moving some boxes. Or is it the old case of she is parent's favorite child?

Cin's right. I should have asked.

HOWEVER, that being said, I've lived a lifetime with a much-younger brother, who was "Mummy's favorite" type of thing. It led to endless bitterness, divisiveness, and didn't help HIM a damn. (He's gone now, didn't even make it to the age of 50.)

That can be bloody hard on everyone ELSE in the fam, too.

Spoiler:

(n.b: unless there's something quite wrong with her, the vacuuming while I was trying to sleep? Yeah, THAT would be a no-fly-zone with me. It's hard enough to get a decent night's sleep, when you're working ungodly hours; someone running a damn vacuum, "because she's a night owl?" BS on that. If she were working 16-hour shifts, and the ONLY time she had was the middle of the night, that's one thing. But just BECAUSE? When she turns off the heat, because SHE can hear the hum? How about a little reciprocity?)

Hitch

[Rumpelteazer]

Not handicapped in any way. But yes, she's the favourite. And I'm the one who feels overly responsible. I know for sure then when I move I won't get half the help my sister is getting.

And the vacuuming happened a couple of time, until I blew up after a particular busy and tiring Saturday. My sister need to be occasionally reminded not everyone is like her.

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

[Cinisajoy]

Well in that case, she should do most of her own stuff.
Thanks for the clarification.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Not handicapped in any way. But yes, she's the favourite. And I'm the one who feels overly responsible. I know for sure then when I move I won't get half the help my sister is getting.

And the vacuuming happened a couple of time, until I blew up after a particular busy and tiring Saturday. My sister need to be occasionally reminded not everyone is like her.

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

Let's guess: are you the eldest???

Hitch

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Let's guess: are you the eldest???

Hitch

A good guess. And both my parents are also the youngest sibling, so I feel they can identify more with my sister than with me.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I thought YouTube doesn't have a 10 minute limit on video's anymore for a long time; at least not for regular content creators.

Then why is there such a trend going, with people trying to speak so fracking fast? If they go any faster, some reviewers/tutorial creators can rival a **** auctioneer. I actually think some are speeding up their video's and keeping the audio at the same pitch, or something.

I've heard that there was some sort of 'idea' in the USA, some time ago, to speed up all TV programs by 10 percent (thus cutting a 42 minute show down to around 38) to be able to fit more commercials in there without exceeding one hour. Has that ever taken off?

Last night I decided to get laptop which can play The Sims 4 and decided to watch some videos of people building Sim houses on YouTube (building houses is my favourite thing to do). Most of them were so sped up that you just couldn't clearly see what people were doing to make the house. I don't mind if it's sped up a bit, but this was ridiculous.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

A good guess. And both my parents are also the youngest sibling, so I feel they can identify more with my sister than with me.

Oh, I'd love to say it was a one-off thing, but the saga of being the eldest is a pretty well-known song. I am, many of my entrepreneurial friends are; there is simply something about being the eldest that ends up (generally--not always, of course) making you "the responsible one," and inevitably the one that gets screwed over, in favor of the baby of the family. It almost drove me, and my sister (younger than I, but older than him) berserk, dealing with my mother's relative insanity about not seeing my brother's flaws, or being unwilling to admit that they existed. {shrug}.

The whole "move on Xmas day" thing, and the fact that your parents hadn't stepped in, or said "that's insane" by the time you'd written the post? HAD TO BE a younger sibling that was a favorite. No other sane explanation. (I'd assumed that if there were extenuating circumstances, you'd have said.)

Hitch

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Oh, I'd love to say it was a one-off thing, but the saga of being the eldest is a pretty well-known song. I am, many of my entrepreneurial friends are; there is simply something about being the eldest that ends up (generally--not always, of course) making you "the responsible one," and inevitably the one that gets screwed over, in favor of the baby of the family. It almost drove me, and my sister (younger than I, but older than him) berserk, dealing with my mother's relative insanity about not seeing my brother's flaws, or being unwilling to admit that they existed. {shrug}.

The whole "move on Xmas day" thing, and the fact that your parents hadn't stepped in, or said "that's insane" by the time you'd written the post? HAD TO BE a younger sibling that was a favorite. No other sane explanation. (I'd assumed that if there were extenuating circumstances, you'd have said.)

Hitch

You are my long lost older sister. Or do we just share the eldest trait? Or what is It about moms and sons?
I wasn't either one of my parents favorite but then they both taught me to voice my opinion. They didn't like it when I did it to them.
I take that back, I was dad's favorite when he needed a "perfect" daughter to get what he wanted. Especially after I developed upstairs. I don't mean incest but stuff like buying beer when he was too drunk, meeting the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders or attempting to get on George Jones bus. (I felt it was in my best interest not to accept that invite.)

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

In fact, I think it's routinely done in shows that have reached the point of syndication--the magic, 100th episode mark.

I read something about...8%? They gain a few minutes of advert time, for each show?

I watch next to no TV these days, and can't comment on speed ups, but the temptation to fit in an extra commercial or two will be overwhelming.

But syndication is a rather different place these days. Back when it was on, my favorite TV series was Joe Straczynski's Babylon 5 SF effort. It was produced specifically for the syndication market. It was a planned five season story arc, and as each season ended, there was nail biting about whether it would get renewed. (Straczynski had to move things around to tie up main story lines in season 4, when it appeared season 5 would not occur. It did in fact get bought and aired, but was much weaker than the preceding seasons. I wondered after the fact how it might have looked had episodes been shown where originally planned in the sequence.)

Part of the problem affecting B5 was the shrinking syndication market. The intended customers were independent stations not affiliated with a major network, but new networks were forming, like Fox, and the number of independents was shrinking. Stations affiliated with networks gave preference to network offerings in prime time, and getting those offerings was why they affiliated.

I'm not sure what the syndication market looks like now, but it's certainly a different place than it was.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Oh, I'd love to say it was a one-off thing, but the saga of being the eldest is a pretty well-known song. I am, many of my entrepreneurial friends are; there is simply something about being the eldest that ends up (generally--not always, of course) making you "the responsible one," and inevitably the one that gets screwed over, in favor of the baby of the family. It almost drove me, and my sister (younger than I, but older than him) berserk, dealing with my mother's relative insanity about not seeing my brother's flaws, or being unwilling to admit that they existed. {shrug}.

I often think I lucked out, since I'm an only child. (People with siblings ask "Is it better?", and all I can say is "How should I know? I have no experience with siblings to make comparisons.")

My SO is the middle child of three, with a (late) older brother and a younger brother. The family dynamics were dysfunctional. She was dad's favorite child. Her younger brother was mom's favorite. Older brother was odd man out, with problems compounded by dad having expectations of him he couldn't meet. (Dad should have known better than to have those expectations.)

My SO's dad died when she was a teenager. From her stories, her dad was someone I'd have enjoyed meeting and talking to. But I told her bluntly, "He was a wonderful father for you. He was the wrong father for your brother Bill.", and she had to agree.

Bill died a few years back during Hurricane Sandy. We went down to NC where he was living to visit him in the hospital where he was in intensive care. He never came out. He died of complications of several serious health issues, made worse by the fact that he had never properly cared for himself. Had he done so, he might still be with us.

He thought for a long time he would not outlive his father (and considered himself in part responsible for the heart attack that killed his dad.)

The late psychiatrist Eric Berne identified a common psychological game called "Look how hard I was trying!" The person playing the game has fantasies of others all being properly abashed at not having treated the player better when the full extent of his efforts is revealed. The "hard" version of the game has the player dying, with fantasies of "Won't they be sorry they didn't all treat me better after I'm dead?"

Bill appeared to be playing that game, and had he been convenient, I'd have dragged him aside and said "I know what game you're playing. Stop! They won't be sorry after you're gone. They'll curse your name and pee on your grave because you ran out on your family and friends." He wasn't convenient, and the opportunity didn't arise. It might not have done any good if it had, but would have been worth the attempt.
______
Dennis

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Back when it was on, my favorite TV series was Joe Straczynski's Babylon 5 SF effort. It was produced specifically for the syndication market. It was a planned five season story arc, and as each season ended, there was nail biting about whether it would get renewed. (Straczynski had to move things around to tie up main story lines in season 4, when it appeared season 5 would not occur. It did in fact get bought and aired, but was much weaker than the preceding seasons. I wondered after the fact how it might have looked had episodes been shown where originally planned in the sequence.)

Part of the problem affecting B5 was the shrinking syndication market. The intended customers were independent stations not affiliated with a major network, but new networks were forming, like Fox, and the number of independents was shrinking. Stations affiliated with networks gave preference to network offerings in prime time, and getting those offerings was why they affiliated.

I'm not sure what the syndication market looks like now, but it's certainly a different place than it was.
______
Dennis

Wow, that's weird. (not a rant). A few days ago, I'd sent an email to one of the (Irish) programmers who maintain our production website. I forget the context now, but I'd ended the email with "Ex-term-i-nate! Exterminate!," and to my shock and horror, he had NO idea what the hell I was on about. Somewhat boggled, I asked him how he could consider himself a Nerd, to learn that lo, he'd never seen Dr. Who. (Really???)

I told him that he was destroying his reputation and Nerd credentials. We had a back-forth, and he'd asked for Nerd-certified SF shows, and the first thing out of my mouth (fingertips) was Bab5, which I loved. It's not something that (these days) comes up in conversation daily, or even monthly or yearly, so it's odd to see it mentioned here, within spitting distance of my own discussion about it.

I remember a guy...for the life of me, now, can't remember his name, but his sig block was "G'Kar is Too Cool for TV," for years. Makes me smile to think of it.


Hitch