I'm sorry, but morning of the first day of the biggest/busiest program our agency runs annually is NOT the day for another, unrelated department to ask me to install, learn, and teach brand new software to a user when a report they need to do with it is due at 1:00 the same day. I very nearly walked out at 9:30 and took a sick day after dealing with that. -_- (It didn't help that my stomach started going woogy on my drive in to work.)

In reply to ashlayne (msg # 730):

Apparently your stomach knew something you didn't and was trying to warn you.

I know it's not hubby's fault he got a nasty stomach bug and has been laid up for several days, but I also was not super-stoked about having to have managed our somewhat elaborate Halloween display for trick-or-treaters all on my own.  From decorating to prop set-up and triggering to lighting to costuming.  If my mom hadn't swung by to see me at the last minute I might have about had a calf because the lights chose fifteen minutes before showtime to blow a fuse that I could not fix due to my costume limiting my mobility.  (The costume involves a large set of wings, and I couldn't get close to the plug with how I had things set up.)

Luckily hubby has promised to help break down and store everything for next year, so he can't claim he doesn't know where anything is in 2017.

When I call tech support, I'm carrying bafflement and humiliation, even if I know nobody's onmicompetent. Fortunately, provided the tech can speak English (or whatever) competently, s/he has always interacted with patience.

I'm only posting this here because there were members of the RPOL community who helped me out a couple of years back when my service dog, Goldie, blew out her knee and needed surgery I couldn't afford, and I thought they should know.

Shortly after her knee surgery, Goldie was diagnosed with liver cancer.  We were told it was fairly benign, as far as these things go, but it would slowly grow and eventually rupture.  It had already invaded almost all of her liver, and at 11 years old she wasn't a good candidate for any of the usual treatments, even if we could have afforded them.  We have spent the last few years making certain she was not in pain, and every day she let us know that she was just not done being a dog yet: she ate and played and cuddled and still insisted on trying to do her job as my service dog.  Then, in late October, we realized that her fight against the cancer was coming to an end, and the family had to make the hard decision that it was time to let her go.  We set the date for Nov 4th, then started to spoil her rotten, giving her any and every treat we knew she enjoyed.  When it was time, the doctor was amazing, and Goldie's passing was as peaceful and pain-free as we could have hoped.

I've been pretty fruiting messed up since then, and I need to go about and apologize to my GMs and players for abandoning them, so I needed to get this posted.

Goldie was a good dog, loyal and loving, and she had a good, long life.  I will miss her for a long time to come.

So sorry to hear about that Empryss, I'm sure you will eventually recover but I'm sure your GM's will be understanding, when someone *yes I say someone as dogs are feeling beings same as cats* leaves our life after being a huge part of it for so long, we grieve the loss very hard. Just hang in there, it might take time but things will get better in the end.

So sorry, I know what it's like to lose a four-legged member of your family.  No matter how much you know it's time, and for the best, it's still rough.  :-(

Like John Oliver before me, I'm ready to call 2016 in favor of someone else and just be done with it.

This week alone I have been rejected for jobs I am extremely qualified for, have had to spend far too much money because the entire world collapsed the moment I decided to switch jobs, and multiple people accused me of not taking my lifelong passion seriously because they saw me wearing a cloak when I turned in some paperwork. It's not even a disheveled cloak. It's crushed velvet. It's crimson. It cost me more than some people spend on their car payment in a month. But, no, of course I think that the job I got hired to do and that I'm pursuing a Master's for and that I've spent the last decade of my life doing in one form or another is a joke and that's why I was wearing something during the five minutes I was in the building. I definitely didn't wear it after that or throughout the rest of the day. I only did it to insult you, anonymous coworkers, because that's the kind of person I am, which you'd know if you'd have said a word about it to me.

Ugh. I'm sorry, to anyone reading this, because I am in a bad mood (and I know this is a venting thread but just... guh).

So, anyways, because of the Great Cloak Scandal of last Monday (not Monday four days ago, but Monday last week) which I only learned was even a thing yesterday, I couldn't get a confirmation of employment, and so the apartment I was looking to rent was rented out already. Good. Fine. Whatever. It's not like there aren't any other cat-friendly apartments in the city I live in, right? No. That's wrong. There aren't, or at least nothing in a price range I can afford or that's safe to live in. So, great. Perfect, really.

And then let's add onto it that one of my games is slowly trying to pull itself apart, so I had to reschedule it, and that means that I've had to drop one of my players. So now I get to give that good news, and I hate losing players, and I hate having to give bad news to someone who has done nothing wrong except for getting a job with hours that used to work for the game, but now they don't. It's not fair to them, but adjusting the game to accommodate can't be done without being unfair to someone else so it's just... peachy. Just. Peachy.

And, on top of that, because my new job doesn't pay as well as my old job, and despite me having an excellent credit rating and perfect rental history, the agency I want to rent through is like "Oooh, sorry. You'll have to pay a few months in advance because you're not earning enough right now." I earn over two times the monthly rental cost every month, which isn't much, I know, but seriously? Seriously? You know I'm leagues above not just people my age, but most consumers when it comes to reliably paying my bills, rent and otherwise, but you think I'm enough of a problem that you want me to pay three months in advance? I can't imagine how that works out for anyone, but whatever. You know what? I have the money, and it's not even important to me because if I pay in advance then that's one less bill I have to worry about until February. I've got it and I'll pay it and I have no idea why I even bother keeping up all of my good habits if this is how I'm going to be treated for it.

And, you know what? That's what I think it's boiling down to for me. I do things right, most of the time. I'm not perfect, but no one is. I pay my bills on time. I took out a credit card which I use for small purchases and pay back quickly. I ride my bike to work instead of taking my car, saving on both gas and traffic flow, even when it's horrible outside and it would be so much easier to just drive in. I'm nice to most people and I try to help people whenever I can. I'm a hard worker and I'm soft-hearted to a fault. I listen and I'm patient and, you know what, I even remember to call my mom and my dad at least once a month, which I think is important because they were always good to me, even when I didn't realize it. I don't eat out much, I eat cheaply at home, and when I do go out it's usually to treat a friend to a semi-nice meal somewhere not that expensive so they can relax and feel good about themselves. I have my faults, plenty of them, but most of them aren't the sort of things people ever realize about me because they're my demons, and I deal with them on my own, and that's... not the healthiest thing in the world but it's fine because I don't let it hurt others.

But when I decide to make a career change because my job was sucking the life out of me and I was in a good financial position to make a change without breaking the bank? Well, that's when the cat gets sick, the car breaks down, the medical issues in the family spring out of the floorboards, health insurance comes due, car insurance too, and now triple rent plus security and pet deposit? Yeah. Sure. There goes everything I worked so hard to save up over the year all in less than a month, but that's fine. Who cares, yeah? And then to be questioned about my intentions and ethics because of an item of clothing that most people can't even properly identify? Yeah, I didn't really need my self-esteem either. And then to have to be the guy giving out bad news on top of it? I didn't know there was that much left of me to break.

So, 2016, you win. Just... just please stop, okay? You win. I just want to live my life again without waiting for the next blow...

Jeez Tyr Hawk, I'm sorry life decided to kick you down. :( It's never any fun when it does this and that makes no sense why they wanted three months in advance when even if you're not making as much, you still make enough to cover the monthly plus your bills, so that is bogus on their end. But not much you can do about that I suppose, I wish you the best and maybe next year will be better for you. Keep your head high and don't let it take you down okay.

RPOL-specific: When you want to play in a system that you love, but the only existing games are held on lockdown by the same rotating clique who seem hellbent on recreating junior high school social dynamics, but for Geeks.

RL vent: the atrocity at Standing Rock! Brown Shirt thuggery against indigenous people protecting their water supply. I'm so sick of America prioritizing profit over people, domestically AND globally!
This message was last edited by the user at 03:16, Wed 30 Nov 2016.

In reply to smokinbarrel (msg # 739):

RPOL: do what all us frustrated people do, change your circumstances. Run the game you want to see, and you'll attract the kind of people who will help your gaming style flourish.

Real life: this . . . is harder to fix, I'm sorry to say. But something's got to give there, and it's high time human decency won out

GMing isn't the same experience as being a Player.

You should try being a fan of game systems that never get played ever, not even by a small group on lockdown. But, alas, I also know what you're talking about. It's a real shame, but sometimes that's how the cookie curmbles. And while I can sympathize with

If you want to get more players into a system (or more potential GMs, as I like to call them), something's gotta give, and it's more likely they'll pick it up and try to run it if they've had a chance to be the player once. It sucks, but that's the life we of the We Like Unpopular Games Club.


Minor vent of my own - and I hope this doesn't count as 'politics' but - I'm tired of people acting like America is the only country doing terrible things. Most countries and people in power prioritize money over people, and it's been that way for as long as money has been a source of power (a.k.a. ever since we stopped trading fish for shoes). And there are good reasons for that (which goes into very political territory, so I won't say anything more on that here), but the point is it's not just America and those people do not represent everyone. And I use represent in the broader sense ("be a symbol or embodiment of"), not the political one.

Well, Tyr Hawk, as a fan of Unisystem, I feel YOUR pain! I've lucked out and found one of the few ongoing games on that system (6 years, I think). I understand the point about "Being the Change I want", but I'm one of those people who derives little pleasure from GMing. It quickly feels like Work to me.

As for your other response, I don't assume that America is the only offender or the center of the world. MY vent addressed what I see as my country's crimes against humanity. Precisely because we're not alone in the world. Nations like Iceland and Norway got their act together enough to offer humane options, so it's not as though profiteering and exploitation are our only options.

Is it coincidence that you mentioned the only two nations that still have commercial whaling?

Or are you secretly part of some horrific anti-cetacean conspiracy?

Even the Japanese are polite enough to call it "research".

The point to this is, we all have our issues, even Iceland and Norway.  Now sure, you might say, "whales aren't people" but I know a good many people who believe them to be better.  There's no denying that globally, "whale rights" are a thing.

(The Norwegian government is so desperate to keep whaling going that they support it with subsidies and free storage space.   When the Norwegians stopped buying enough meat to justify a market for it, they authorized its use as animal feed.  Just to really give the figurative finger to the animal rights activists, the whale meat animal feed goes to minks at fur farms.  If the animal rights lobby ever goes full on Al Queda somewhere, good chance it will be in Norway.)

The whaling industry is not my favorite, no, but these countries offer a higher quality of life for citizens."Progress, not Perfection".

Please remember that political commentary and discussion is not permitted in RPoL's public forums.  If you want to discuss such matters, feel free to do it in private.

Thank you.

Thanks, I didn't need my nerves anyways.

So, this is mostly my fault, but it's still frustrating as heck.  I have most of my bills on automatic deduction - this usually saves me endless worry of "Did I send it in?  Did they get it in time?"  When I moved to my new house this summer, there were a few hiccups with changing the address, but we had it sorted out after about a month or two.

Cut to last week and I get a sudden piece of mail from the city (for sewer/garbage) threatening me with a final notice an overdue bill with a potential lien on my property if I don't pay it.  I flip out a bit, because I have it on automatic to prevent things like this.  Apparently since the move that is no longer the case, and I need to re-send it in for the new address.  Thanks for letting me know about that in advance guys!

Then today we get a knock on the door from our water company.  They were here to turn off our water for non-payment.  WHAT THE WHAT?!  I instantly get on the horn with the water company and pay the bill, giving the guy the confirmation number and preventing anything from happening to our water.  After I get on the website later and take a close look on the account, it seems that no, automatic payment was never turned on for the new address account.  Because all of the prior statements I had ever gotten in the mail from the water company were just statements I filed periodically, I hadn't even opened them for a couple months, and so had completely missed the bill and payment demand before they sent someone to knock on my door.

So, yeah, that was just not at all what I wanted to deal with today.

Even so, you dealt with it successfully.

In reply to OceanLake (msg # 748):

There is that.  Just spent an hour going through all my stacked-up "to be filed" pile, making sure I didn't miss anything else.  Everything seems to be all right now, but my heartrate is still going like gangbusters and it's been seven hours since the doorbell rang.  I'm going to take a nap, and then maybe watch something distracting, because I feel like I'm still in "fight or flight" mode.

Breaking the screen of your smart phone should be covered by the phone warranty.
I mean it makes sense right. Battery goes bad, something happens to a component of the motherboard, mechanical failures all covered.
Screens, nope, nada, not even. Even though that is the most common problem for smart phone users.
Warranty fixes cost $5. Broken screen via phone insurance $50.

This comes about from my previous phone something went wrong, to the point that the speaker started to suddenly get Very hot (burned my ear on it when answering a phone call). Cost me $5 to get it replaced. (Took less than 24 hours all told and got my new phone Monday.)
Drop the replacement phone and break the screen (today in fact) making phone totally unusable (It's so broke that any attempt to swipe the screen gets me glass splinters in my finger). Add in irony, they asked me if I had an alternate number I could be reached at, despite looking at my account info and seeing I Don't have any other phones ... (I had to call from my providers store as I can not use my phone ...)
Difference 2: Warranty I can get via in store, they just send it to the store.
Insurance: Will deliver it to your house, sometime in a 12 hour window and you have to be there to sign for it. Which means till it gets here I have to remain at my home from 7am till 7pm.

They could, but you'd have to pay a lot more for your phone if they did. A lot more. And, not to side with them or anything, but a lot of the time when the screen is broken it's not the only issue. Many phones with a broken screen have all kinds of internal damage to any number of other pieces. Not always, mind you, but it's often enough that you're usually looking at getting a "new" phone (in quotations because more often than not it's refurbished, so I mean "new to you") for $50 which, given the cost of most phones today, is a pretty sweet deal.

That being said, I bought a Motorola phone with a shatterproof screen, because they do warranty that screen for (up to) 4 years at no cost. Mostly because you have to want to break it to actually do so, but partially because Motorola is pretty good people. Probably, anyways.

This is not an advertisement for Motorola. I just happen to really like my phone.


This, however, is a bit nonsensical. I know that most of them will, if you talk to them, allow you to not sign for it, or send it to somewhere other than your home address (like a work address, or a friend's house) to avoid stuff like this. Were neither of those an option? =/ Because, if not, bummer.

Looking forward to my birthday, or so I thought. That was before I had the mods of a game I've been in for soon-to-be literal ages "politely" tell me that my new character could not be played the way I designed him, because of me preemptively OOC apologizing for something he might chose do. (Start a fight with someone.) OK, fine. I can deal with that.
Then one of my friends, one that I consider a brother, decides to basically go "*bleep* you Bebo, I hate you. I'm done dealing with you not telling me things and disappearing for days at a time." (Sorry for working hard not to fail my classes???)
Aaaand then I found out someone else I knew and loved is dead. Alright... Fine... I'll just go quiet for a few days to cope... I'll be fine...
Last and possibly least, a costume I need to finish before the 16th might not get finished because the skirt, hair-thingy, and shirt need to be finished.
Here's hoping my game goes well... (hehe, I'm a were-chihuahua.)

tl,dr: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! My week is being annoying.

In reply to Tyr Hawk (msg # 751):

They sent it via UPS, so had to sign for it. But I got it, actually works Better than the 2 previous versions of the phone I had before (which were both New, while this one is Refurbished. So how insane is that.)
Good point on the cost.
I use Samsung phones myself. Partly because of the service I use has limited choices in brands they carry (predominately LG and Samsung).
Presently I am paranoid mode about my phones safety, only comes out of the case when I have to use it and I keep a firm grip on it at all times that it is out of the front protective case. (One big down side for this phone is they only make 1 case for it and it's not all that useful if it is in use. Nothing on the case protects the corners of my phone, which is what hit the ground and broke the screen the last time.)

Funny story, but most Refurbished phones are actually tested more rigorously than New phones. For example, at Cell Phone Company A, which I worked for, the phones went through something like a 156-point test before they'd let a Refurb out the door. New phones, meanwhile, are generally just assumed to work because they're new. They still go through testing, don't get me wrong, but it's usually not as extreme (because people are more wary of a refurb).

Glad to hear the rest worked out though. ;)