I feel their pain As I mentioned in a post in another thread, the east coast blizzard that hit earlier this week resulted in a three day extension to my in-laws' visit with us. Luckily, they departed at 7:00 am yesterday, not a moment too soon for them or us. My mother-in-law, 79, has Alzheimer's and my wife doesn't get to see her as often as she'd like, but by Monday, even she was ready to gouge her eyes out with knitting needles. As I was having my first cup of coffee this morning and scanning the front page of the paper (yeah, the real thing--I don't have an iPad like NetData to bring to the shitter with me!), the article above caught my eye and had me laughing aloud. I suppose being stranded in my in-laws' house would be worse than having them stranded in mine, but I really don't plan on testing that theory. Focus: Have you ever been trapped by circumstances with people (not necessarily family) that have brought you to the brink of insanity? Did "American Psycho" start to have a whole new appeal?
Hell is other people, and often specific other people. Coming home for the holidays exacerbates this - you don't have your own space, your own car, your own stuff, etc.
Focus: Have you ever been trapped by circumstances with people (not necessarily family) that have brought you to the brink of insanity? Did "American Psycho" start to have a whole new appeal?[ I think anyone who comes home from college during holiday breaks will agree with me that it kind of sucks. I love my parents but my mother is a strict, overbearing person who inflicts herself on me for no other reason than the fact that that I am her child. I am accustomed to keeping my own schedule and doing things for myself, and adjusting to the parent-child relationship for the month that I live with them between semesters is a trying experience.
Then why do you deal with that? Why dont you sit her down and explain to her that your an adult now. You'd be much better off. Focus: Never really had the opportunity to be driven crazy by someone because Im very blunt. If someone is pissing me off, Ill let them know, or tell them to cut their shit out. I couldnt deal with an overberring parent or family member for years on end or Id loose my fucking mind.
When I did my basic officer training way back when, we were "lucky" enough to have a bunch of French Canadian medical types (doctors, nurses, etc), that were being indoctrinated into the military, but had to go through the same Basic as the rest of us. While the rest of us graduated as Officer Cadets on our way to Military College, they were assigned ranks of Captains or Majors. They didn't take well to the thought that they were nothing like the rest of us during the training. They were condescending little shits that were always fighting with us and each other, and were really just one big clusterfuck. The rest of us in the Company used to laugh our asses off at them, thankful that they were off on their own. Until we had to go into the field for 10 days. And they were integrated with the rest of us. And we had to try and get shit done with them, while they were being spoiled asswipes that caused nothing but problems, and refused to listen to anybody. Even those that were placed in temporary command for the various training exercises we did. I think only one of them got a blanket party, and then the rest kind of settled down, but it was only a little bit, and not for long. Longest 10 days of my life... being awake for 20+ hours a day, forced marches, fake attacks by enemy forces at all times, etc., etc. It was really a mental test more than anything.
I was staying at a friends house for about a week or so along with his family. First night we go out and have a good time, hang out etc... In the morning his dog dies. His dog that was already essentially dead. I'm not talking a young pup that got ran over by a car but rather the thing couldn't even get up on it's own to go to the bathroom and had been like that for weeks. They had to have seen it coming right? Nope, it died in the morning and I was litteraly awoken by wails coming from the other room. I peek in to see them all around each other and in tears. It's a pet and some people get super attached so I give them space and leave the house for the day. I come back the next day since all my stuff is there and the sittuation is not much better. My friend who was 19 at the time would burst into tears a minimum of 3 times a day FOR THE ENTIRE FUCKING WEEK. The rest of his family weren't much better. I'm sure they were very sad but look at it from my point of view. I could give a fuck about the dog to be honest. It was very old and it was its time to go. At least it got to escape I was stuck listening to these people remenisce and burst in tears again as if they saw their mother being gunned down. What was supposed to be a fun week turned into me watching a bunch of people mourn something that gets eaten in certain countries.
During a 1/2 hour power out, I once was trapped in an elevator in my first apartment building with a fucking claustrophobic. He was already breathing like a prank call pervert from the ride even while the thing was operating and when it shut down he started hyperventelating, then after 5 minutes he decided to leap from one side of the elevator to the other, body-checking the walls like a mongoloid as if that was going to get it working again. Don't get me wrong, I was patient witht he guy. I told him just to close his eyes, sit, and think about something pleasant. He smelled like shitty stale wine (which I hate) and refused to calm down (which I hate) so I screamed at him to sit in the middle of the floor or I was going to actually choke him out. That insensed him even more, so I shoved him against the wall and threatened violence (for a change, he was smaller than me). We spent the rest of the wait with me sitting in the middle of the floor, him pacing circles around us until the power blissfully came back on. As long as I lived there, I never got in an elevator with him again.
Freshman dorm. My roommate and best friend was a friendly, popular guy. As a result, half the kids in our building were constantly hanging out in our room, smoking and bumping Phish, which I never got used to. No offense to any of those particular people: Certainly none of them was the relentlessly negative punk I was then. Even at the time, I liked most of them one-on-one. But I'm a loner in my hardwiring, and that's what it took for me to realize I simply can't function with zero privacy for months at a time. It definitely bumped up my respect for the military.
Last year while headed to go snowboarding with my friends, we were caught in a major snow storm. We figured that we would be able to blast through the storm and make it to the cabin easily. Well, a partial avalanche caused the highway to be closed. We had to pull off to the side of the road and wait for the highway patrol to reopen the road. We waited about 2 hours before deciding to head back down the mountain. When we pulled out from the parking lot we were told we couldn't go down. A plow had slid off the road and wasn't starting up again so we had to stay put. It would have been OK to stick around but the truck was loaded with my friend's 2 dogs, another 2 of his friends, and his SUPER bitchy wife. I had to listen to his wife bitch NON stop for 6-8 more fucking hours before the road opened to go back down. She kept telling him how much he sucked because he should have researched the storm better and how uncomfortable she was having to stay in the truck, take the dogs out, and walk in the snow. At first I was making fun of the situation by mocking her when she got out of the truck. But, one can only mock and keep light of the situation for so long. I had to take frequent walks outside to keep from strangling her or completely losing it. I couldn't believe how bad she treated my friend. I never saw this side of their relationship and it baffled me. They are going up to ski soon. I declined to go with them in their truck. It's worth the $100 in gas to drive alone.
I flew over MN once. I could feel the boredom from 30,000 ft. Where exactly in NJ did you go? I'm defending again. BRING IT.
Both North and South. South was much more tolerable as I was outside of Philly. We had call centers out there. Why they picked NJ I'll never know. Yeah, MN (Twin Cities) is SO boring. I mean we have nothing to do, except sports teams in all 4 major sports, a major university with a couple DIII colleges as well, a gigantic fucking mall, more theaters per capita than New York, and constantly ranked as one of the healthiest cities in America due to our outdoor activities. Focus: My ex-girlfriend got pissed off at me because in joking around with her brother I told her to "lighten the fuck up" when I was drunk. This was apparently the straw that broke the camels back. She was pissed at me the rest of the night, next day, and car ride home. What made it worse, she insisted on staying down there all morning and afternoon so I had to be stuck with her family and an awkward situation. Riding back with her and her brother was pretty laborious too because she wouldn't talk to me. We got back and broke things off. It was one of them most painfully awkward situations ever, but I'm glad that shit ended then.
Stuck in Lubbock Texas for the weekend due to mechanical problems with the airline. Decided to go exploring and discovered my first dry county. For anyone unfamiliar, Lubbock must have been where they filmed The Book Of Eli. Goddamn, Tijuana looked like less of a demilitarized zone than that fucking shithole.
I was trapped in elevator in Boston for an hour with a person who had irritable bowel syndrome, so there. I really actually felt bad for the guy, he was so apologetic the whole time and he surprisingly admitted to me he had IBS. But unfortunately all the apologies in the world dont take away the constant smell of rancid ass in a tiny, cramped elevator car.
Okay, you win. And yes I WAS acting a bit out of line, but I was working a shitty job at an uppity-ass car wash run by rich, cheapskate pigs that I just HATED working at. I've heard of Vice Cops that came home less surly than me when friday rolled around, which was the case here. I just wanted to get home and get twisted, and I am the only one in my entire 10-story building that gets caught with the ONE GUY you wouldn't want to be trapped in an elevator with. It's Die Hard-sequel odds, in the end could you really blame me for scaring the piss out of him?
Reading comprehension ftl. He was in Boston. You try spending an hour in a city that makes Philly looks like Paris.
Agree with the holidays with the family thing, especially since my parents only have an apartment up here (snow birds) with limited cable, crappy internet and no yard. There's nothing to do during the day, luckily we all get blasted at night. Really now? Boston is a very nice city. Are you sure when you went there you weren't in Dorchester or something?
Check back with me in about a week and a half. Come Tuesday The Girlfriend and I are driving up to Ohio to spend a week with her parents, staying at their house. I don't really expect it to be all that bad actually, her parents have been really cool the few times I've met them but in all those instances I was able to spend a couple hours with them and then go home to my own stuff and my own bed. Our plan is mostly to play in the snow, sit in her Dad's "man cave" and watch movies on his 50+" HDTV and eat her Mom's excellent cooking (and drink, thank God). I'm hoping it won't be too bad, but in the end I will be sleeping on a sofa and spending a week straight with her parents...and no sex. She better do as she promised and make with the road head on the drive up.