Oh, I know. Everyone has loss, everyone deals with it, and life goes on. I've just been like 1 step from losing my temper at work, online, and at home all week, and I can't really explain why. I mean, it's been two years. Not sad, not lonely, not even really depressed, just angry.
Rant VIII: The Reckoning
- Thread starter Anonymous
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- boat people
On the up side, after all of the really frustrating murder-thought inducing things, the last teacher I talked to said that my son is doing amazingly well in his class, aka the subjects he struggled with the most last year.
SO NOW I AM HOME AND ONLY WANT TO MURDER PEOPLE WHO CONTROL SCHOOL FUNDING. That is all.
SO NOW I AM HOME AND ONLY WANT TO MURDER PEOPLE WHO CONTROL SCHOOL FUNDING. That is all.
Dave
Staff member
Hey, did you guys know that dental coverage isn't part of the ACA, even if it's oral surgery? Neither did I. So even though my plan says Sammi is covered for wisdom teeth extraction and I've been paying her premiums for TWO YEARS, her pre-treatment estimate was denied as she's over 19. Oh, they happily took my money and say she was fine, but when it comes to paying out an actual claim...
Sue them. Seriously. They ether own you a refund for the years she wasn't eligible or need to consent to the surgery.
Also, is this YOUR insurance? She's supposed to be allowed on it as a dependent until 25.
Dave
Staff member
For medical insurance, yes. For dental, no. Dental and vision coverage is not covered by the ACA. And you found out about that about an hour after I did.
What's funny is that the oral surgeon said that we need to have payment on the date or no dice. Not possible. So they suggested doing it WITHOUT ANESTHESIA TO LOWER COSTS!!
Uh...no. Not happening.
I did wisdom teeth extraction with about 12 needles of novocaine in my face. It was still the most painful experience of my life (root of one of the teeth was hooked into my jaw, so the extraction took a piece of my jaw with it). I let loose with a blood gurgling (cause my mouth was full of blood) cry of agony when it came out.
Don't fuckin' do it without anesthesia.
Don't fuckin' do it without anesthesia.
I get my fillings done without anaesthesia, but I've never had other dental work done.
I had to have my wisdom teeth cut out. Instead of coming through my gums like this ^^ they were completely sideways > < and pushing on my other teeth. I had general anesthesia and woke up during the procedure. Later I puked on my parents' new carpet. Good times.
Except for waking up during the procedure, this happened to my brother (including puking on our parents' carpet!).
Y'all need to move to Taiwan and become naturalized citizens. We have nationalized healthcare. I've had all my wisdom teeth out, several root canals, and a cap fitted on my tooth. All of them were with delicious delicious anesthesia.
Of course, our nationalized healthcare system is running out of money and may collapse soon, so if you're coming here for dental work you'd better get a move on.
Of course, our nationalized healthcare system is running out of money and may collapse soon, so if you're coming here for dental work you'd better get a move on.
One of mine was badly impacted so I had a general as well. Omg I couldn't imagine it without!
Soooo how's the typhoon and everything
Very wet, yet very entertaining.
Okay, the death and devastation wasn't entertaining. But I had fun walking through the rain and wind. And when the wind's strong enough to even knock the likes of me around, you know that's some bad-ass wind!
You need those goggles now more than ever!
Is it safe?
*sigh* Still depressed. Called in to "work" on Monday to tell them I wasn't coming in. Told my boss I assumed I was fired after Friday & Saturday. She said she'd have to talk to her boss about that. Never got back to me, so again, I assume I'm fired.
In the meantime, I have chance to see an author tomorrow: Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes. Some customers got me tickets to see him through their work after thei heard I was an author, myself. Having never read Book of Negroes, I bought it last week with the intention of reading it before tomorrow.
I'm only 100/600 pages in.
So probably not going to go. What's the point if I haven't even read any of his work, especially when he has a newer book out now. And what am I supposed to do? Introduce myself as a fellow author? He's a multi-award winning author and I'm just an idiot with a couple of stupid books that barely anyone has read, let alone heard of. I've been getting depressed all over again just thinking about the whole fucking thing.
In the meantime, I have chance to see an author tomorrow: Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes. Some customers got me tickets to see him through their work after thei heard I was an author, myself. Having never read Book of Negroes, I bought it last week with the intention of reading it before tomorrow.
I'm only 100/600 pages in.
So probably not going to go. What's the point if I haven't even read any of his work, especially when he has a newer book out now. And what am I supposed to do? Introduce myself as a fellow author? He's a multi-award winning author and I'm just an idiot with a couple of stupid books that barely anyone has read, let alone heard of. I've been getting depressed all over again just thinking about the whole fucking thing.
You're right, Heinlein, Asimov, Tolkien, whatever, started out with their first book being immediately sold 50,000,000 times in their first weeks.
Of course you're a small time author right now. Everyone starts there. The times have changed, and these days there's an absolute glut of wannabe authors self-publishing through the internet. It's even harder than before to get recognized, to gain some traction. You, however, managed to get your first two novels published, by an actual, real, paper, brick-and-mortar, publisher. Know what happened to Heinlein's first novel? Never published. Asimov's? Published after his death, when they found the 50-times-rejected manuscript.
Going up to him and saying "hey colleague, how's it hanging? I've never read any of your work" may be arrogant. I don't actually know him or his works either, so I don't even know what genre it is, but try going up to him, asking him about his start, the troubles with getting published, whatever, without whining. Engage him, ask him for tips to get recognition, what do I know?
Some authors will look down on young upstarts. The same is true in other careers. Frankly, they're jackasses, for the most part. Everyone started out young and inexperienced; the good ones who made it will be willing to talk to young newcomers and help them.
I know it's a cliché, but you've got nothing much to lose. Even if he outright rejects you and laughs at you - I'm fairly sure he can't be more negative about you than you are already yourself (this is not a compliment. Think positive. You're awesome in many ways.). If you've got the tickets, go.
And as for your job - not calling can mean "it's all okay, we expect you on Monday" just as easily as "you don't have to come in anymore". Frankly, if the latter, I'd expect them to call to hand in credentials, uniform, sign papers, and so on. If they didn't tell you literally and to your face "don't bother coming in", go in, or call to check. It's not because you're currently in a funk and somewhat hating yourself, that everybody suddenly hates you.
I went. Met him. Muttered something about being a writer. Probably just came across as a nervous idiot the whole time. He was nice about it, though. Took my card and said he'd look up my book.
Got a free copy of his new book, too, since they were giving it out with the whole shindig. So there's that, I guess.
Got a free copy of his new book, too, since they were giving it out with the whole shindig. So there's that, I guess.
I can imagine it doesn't feel like an Epic Win, but be positive. Maybe he'll look it up. Maybe he'll be intrigued. Maybe he'll order it and read it, and like it, and tweet about it, and generate a thousand extra sales. Maybe he'll have forgotten about it 10 minutes after you talked about it. You still dared go up there and got a free book out of it, so it's still a net positive.
fade
Staff member
I've got a friend who just wrote a book. He is a salesman by trade, but he's by no means a gregarious extrovert. He's been very successful at marketing it, though. He will unabashedly tell anyone about it. He had some bookmarks printed up, and he's been to cons, including the big one here in Houston where he got a table. That one's important because he said he noticed a lot of his fellow authors would just sit there at their tables with blank faces and wait for someone to come up to them. He got up and walked over to people who even looked his way, and started up conversations. Genuine, friendly conversations, like, "Hey, do you like scifi? Disaster stories? Want to hear about this one?" He sold his entire collection of books doing that. I've watched him in action. He waits for the hook, and then goes for it. Like, he waits for someone to mention his book to a new connection, and then straight for the sale. It's kind of mesmerizing.