Rant VIII: The Reckoning

Squidleybits

Squidleybits

My work's pay centre has made a complete disaster of my claim and I got a super upsetting email today. I needed to write a few important emails and my kids were picking at me and climbing on me and I was getting impatient and then my mum was in my face about being upset by how badly they are dealing with my claim and that I was short with the kids. Then she was angry with me for being on the verge of tears about it. Then once I finished my email, she forbade me to speak of it again this weekend.

I can't drink so I bought some stress Pokemon :(

In the year since I could drink, this is the one time I could really use one. A cold Diet Coke and MewTwo are poor substitutes.
 
Celt Z

Celt Z

Dei said:
Well, I went and toured that school because I am a fucking masochist. I learned two things:

1.) Tuition is EVEN HIGHER than I thought
2.) This school would be perfect for my son in every way. It cares about the kids, teaches everything in a way that puts their adaptive needs first instead of second, IT IS NERDY AS FUCK, they make kids take at least one college class and have a job experience before they can graduate.....

Long story short, I might just get drunk and cry tonight. Maybe while playing some video game that has lots of stress relief.
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Not that I want you guys to take on any debt, but is there possibly a school loan you guys can qualify for to off-set the initial costs? Or scholarships?
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Squidleybits said:
My work's pay centre has made a complete disaster of my claim and I got a super upsetting email today. I needed to write a few important emails and my kids were picking at me and climbing on me and I was getting impatient and then my mum was in my face about being upset by how badly they are dealing with my claim and that I was short with the kids. Then she was angry with me for being on the verge of tears about it. Then once I finished my email, she forbade me to speak of it again this weekend.

I can't drink so I bought some stress Pokemon :(

In the year since I could drink, this is the one time I could really use one. A cold Diet Coke and MewTwo are poor substitutes.
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So...why couldn't your mom watch the kids for a bit so you could take care of an important matter that needed your attention?
 
Dei

Dei

Squidleybits said:
My work's pay centre has made a complete disaster of my claim and I got a super upsetting email today. I needed to write a few important emails and my kids were picking at me and climbing on me and I was getting impatient and then my mum was in my face about being upset by how badly they are dealing with my claim and that I was short with the kids. Then she was angry with me for being on the verge of tears about it. Then once I finished my email, she forbade me to speak of it again this weekend.

I can't drink so I bought some stress Pokemon :(

In the year since I could drink, this is the one time I could really use one. A cold Diet Coke and MewTwo are poor substitutes.
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I find myself avoiding telling my mom about upsetting things in my life because she also gets in my face about how upsetting things in my life are to her, and it makes me so frustrated, and generally just more upset. :(
 
Squidleybits

Squidleybits

Dei said:
I find myself avoiding telling my mom about upsetting things in my life because she also gets in my face about how upsetting things in my life are to her, and it makes me so frustrated, and generally just more upset. :(
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Yeah, because it's all about them eh? There was no consideration given to me about how upsetting this would be, the only family concern was for others in the family that I was scaring me. Their words not me.
 
Dei

Dei

I really wish I didn't feel like my options were fighting with a broken system and hoping my son will be able to fight for himself in four years or essentially getting a second mortgage. Fuck everything.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Gotta love when a customer leaves a $5 bill for a tip...only for another customer to take it for themselves. And helped themselves to some cans of pop.

Worse - and I HATE saying this because I support equality - they were black. We saw them on tape. It only furthers the negative stereotype.
 
strawman

strawman

Nick's workplace experienced a crime, one which impacted him directly (tips, i.e. the alleged criminal stole from him) and so now we have to attack him?

I'll tell you what, these days I just can't keep up with who we're supposed to attack at any given moment.

He shares his disappointment first that he had to experience this, and second that this unfortunately had he side effect of reinforcing a stereotype he has that he recognizes is bad. He's fully cognizant of the problem. I don't think we need to pile on his already on display guilt.

But maybe I'm just behind the times and society has decided that even these expressions of self exploration must be quashed and disallowed.
 
blotsfan

blotsfan

stienman said:
Nick's workplace experienced a crime, one which impacted him directly (tips, i.e. the alleged criminal stole from him) and so now we have to attack him?

I'll tell you what, these days I just can't keep up with who we're supposed to attack at any given moment.

He shares his disappointment first that he had to experience this, and second that this unfortunately had he side effect of reinforcing a stereotype he has that he recognizes is bad. He's fully cognizant of the problem. I don't think we need to pile on his already on display guilt.

But maybe I'm just behind the times and society has decided that even these expressions of self exploration must be quashed and disallowed.
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Women and gay people, as always.


Anywhom Nick, I'm sorry if I meant to make it sound like what happened wasn't shitty. I didn't mean to come across as attacking you. Kinda just a way to think about stuff like that.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

blotsfan said:
Women and gay people, as always.


Anywhom Nick, I'm sorry if I meant to make it sound like what happened wasn't shitty. I didn't mean to come across as attacking you. Kinda just a way to think about stuff like that.
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It's okay, I get it. The same thoughts ran through my head since it happened. It's just that I've experienced thieves who were black that actually DID play the race card. And I could see tbese particular people doing the same just by their attitude.
 
IronBrig4

IronBrig4

Call a spade a spade. They were petty thieves and deserved to be called out on it.

And what is the deal with made-up black names? Those names aren't African in origin. Hell, I've lived in two African countries and never came across a La'trell or Bunqueesa. Those names seem to emphasize poor education and upbringing.

I also get annoyed at the veritable flood of today's middle-class white kids named Aiden, Brayden, Braiden, Cayden, Kaydin, etc.
 
Charlie Don't Surf

Charlie Don't Surf

IronBrig4 said:
Call a spade a spade. They were petty thieves and deserved to be called out on it.

And what is the deal with made-up black names? Those names aren't African in origin. Hell, I've lived in two African countries and never came across a La'trell or Bunqueesa. Those names seem to emphasize poor education and upbringing.

I also get annoyed at the veritable flood of today's middle-class white kids named Aiden, Brayden, Braiden, Cayden, Kaydin, etc.
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what the fuck
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

IronBrig4 said:
And what is the deal with made-up black names? Those names aren't African in origin. Hell, I've lived in two African countries and never came across a La'trell or Bunqueesa.
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That's kind of the point. When africans were taken and shipped overseas, they were renamed, their Masters giving them "proper, Christian names" because they didn't like their african names. Over generations, that culture was lost, and a way of reclaiming it was to shed their slave name and adopt a new one. That's where it started.
 
Denbrought

Denbrought

IronBrig4 said:
And what is the deal with made-up black names? Those names aren't African in origin. Hell, I've lived in two African countries and never came across a La'trell or Bunqueesa. Those names seem to emphasize poor education and upbringing.

I also get annoyed at the veritable flood of today's middle-class white kids named Aiden, Brayden, Braiden, Cayden, Kaydin, etc.
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By the ratings I'm guessing this is a reference to something, but eh. Names are a very visible piece of the expressions of culture and class. Other marginalized groups elsewhere in the world do similar things. Plenty of Roma and lower-class kids in my neighborhood growing up with caricatures of American-culture-sphere names like Kevin, Yoni, Melodi, Yonatan, Brayan, Yeiremi, Dilan, etc.

Fascinating topic, when you dig into it.

blotsfan said:
Anywhom Nick, I'm sorry if I meant to make it sound like what happened wasn't shitty. I didn't mean to come across as attacking you. Kinda just a way to think about stuff like that.
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Ditto.
 
IronBrig4

IronBrig4

Ravenpoe said:
That's kind of the point. When africans were taken and shipped overseas, they were renamed, their Masters giving them "proper, Christian names" because they didn't like their african names. Over generations, that culture was lost, and a way of reclaiming it was to shed their slave name and adopt a new one. That's where it started.
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Oh I get that. Masters also had a tendency to name their slaves Hermes, Gustavus, and other names that were personally amusing to them. But the made-up names I'm talking about can't be found in any of the dozens of indigenous African languages.
 
Null

Null

IronBrig4 said:
Oh I get that. Masters also had a tendency to name their slaves Hermes, Gustavus, and other names that were personally amusing to them. But the made-up names I'm talking about can't be found in any of the dozens of indigenous African languages.
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Which is fine, because you're not dealing with indigenous Africans. Modern African-American names draw from a lot of mixed heritages, as well as using phonetics and, well, just whatever the fuck they want. You've got Creole. You've got Arabic (since converting to Islam as a gesture of Black culture was popular a generation or so ago) influences. You've got Gullah, which is a mixture of numerous West African languages, Creole, and Seminole. Afro-Caribbean Patois. All of the above, mutated with the dialects of the Deep South. Ghetto slang.

African-Americans have had to repeatedly redefine themselves as a group, and non-standard naming is part of that.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

I went to school with a guy named Mars Milleniumfalcon Starcruiser. I wouldn't have believed him, but he had a sister named Galaxy Kittyhawk Starcruiser and she went to school with my brother. Apparently Mars served in the Navy and then went on to become an engineer, but I haven't heard from him in years. Heard he and all his siblings (there were 4-5 Starcruiser kids) ran away from home as they turned 18, changed their names, and disowned their dad though.

I just did a google search on the name and apparently I'm not the only person who NEVER forgot the name. I hope things turned out well for him and his siblings, because they went through a lot of shit for those names.
 
Cheesy1

Cheesy1

AshburnerX said:
I hope things turned out well for him and his siblings, because they went through a lot of shit for those names.
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That was one thing my dad always said he was very conscientious about when naming me and my siblings. My mom wanted some rather "non-traditional" names for us, but my dad wouldn't have any of it because he didn't want us to have to go through school and life being made fun of for them.
 
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AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Cheesy1 said:
That was one thing my dad dad always said he was very conscientious about when naming me and my siblings. My mom wanted some rather "non-traditional" names for us, but my dad wouldn't have any of it because he didn't want us to have to go through school and life being made fun of for them.
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There's nontraditional and then there's changing your name to Starcruiser and making your kids deal with it. :okay:
 
Frank

Frank

My brothers and I are all steeped in family names, which I think is probably close to how most families do it. I'm a The Third, named after my grandpa. My brothers are named for an uncle of my dad's (whom was only a little older than my dad so they were more like brothers) who died right before my brother was born and the other grandfather.
 
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