FML general thread [7]

[Bagheera]

I'm packing just in case.

Edit: if I were her, we'll have to go, but the problem is that she doesn't want to leave her children... and much to my dismay, the supposed-in-laws approved of their fat-fuck sumbitch relying on my sister for anything including money.

In others' eyes she would've been called a "martyr" for trying to put up with that kind of shit.

What a fucking mistake. I should've called it a long time ago. Should've stopped the fucking wedding. I've put up with one human monster a long time ago, and now this.

ISTR your legal status is a bit of a sticky issue, and I'm not sure how trustworthy the cops are in your country to begin with (probably varies with the municipality, like most places). But if there's physical abuse going on it's definitely time to get out. If your sister doesn't want to leave her kids, fine -- take 'em with you. But definitely get the fuck outta Dodge.

[Shinoyami65]

I held off on getting a student visa too long, and now I'm dangerously close to my departure date. Not to mention that the embassy here is too understaffed and stripped down to accept cash payments so everything will have to be done online. This all led to a very heated argument with my mother and grandmother in which a lot of buried tensions were unearthed. I want to focus on the task at hand but there's so much hostility flying around and secrecy that I have no idea what to idea what to do or how they'll respond. Perhaps I'm just a terrible person for letting things get to this point.

[NemZ]

Identify what needs doing and do it. Everything else will wait.

[Shamsiel-kun]

Today I avoided death by elevator.

Took the one elevator down, noticing how it seemed to shift down a bit much under my rather low weight and thinking "Well, if it falls down, it's only two floors. That's survivable (with some broken limbs at most).". Walked to the dumpster and dumped two garbage bags (no, they did not contain any elephant corpses that could explain the behaviour of the elevator). Walked back and decided to take the other elevator.

Baaaaaaaaaad choice.

It goes up, normally. Then, it slows down a bit too early. Eek.

Bumping a bit, it comes to a stop. I look up expectantly at the door, and to my dismay see it stopped about 40 cm into the second floor. The rest of the lift is stuck between the first and second floor. The door doesn't budge.

"What now?" I think. Nothing happens for a while. "It's a bit nippy in here, and I don't have a coat", I consider, eyeing the emergency button. Should I push it? "I hadn't planned to spend my evening like this*..."

Just as I feel the first moments of panic seep into my mind the elevator lurches, as if it were an ancient buried holy beast woken from a long sleep by the cries of excited human settlers. "Ah." Quickly followed by "Wait, why is it going down instead of up?"

Fortunately for my sanity it goes down 1.5 floors and stops nicely at the lowest floor, upon which I can escape from its clutches through the (this time) unlocked door.

This time I take the stairs, although I do feel somewhat shaky in my legs. The other elevator and its saggy floor shall not get me instead.

Tomorrow morning my frozen solid corpse shall not be found stuck between the first and second floor.


* It's funny the kind of stupid thoughts will go through your head when you found yourself stuck somewhere with no escape.


***

I shall put this experience somewhere close behind 'heavy turbulence on a transcontinental flight' on my scale of genuinely scary stuff (TM).

[Dartz]

Some cunt keyed my car at Cars and Coffee.

Not a big keying... but it's fucking noticeable.

[NemZ]

My grandma (mom's mom, last remaining grandparent I have) has been in a nursing home for years with advanced Alzheimer's, but starting having a series of seizures this morning so it's looking like the end for her. The real FML though is that I don't feel much of anything about this other than a vague 'finally...' sort of vibe. I suppose in all ways but physically she's been dead to me for a long time, having forgotten everyone including herself and just being this old person-shaped thing in a room far away that I very seldom needed to think about.

Of course this will still just be the beginning of all kinds of family squabbling over the estate, especially with my uncle (an 'organized' hoarder) who will need to get all his old shit out of her house or else buy the thing outright to pay my mom and other uncle their share. Ugh... so much Do Not Want. On the semi-bright side I had my dark suit tailored recently so I guess I'm good to go.

[Ray]

AC broke. Sweating like a beast. Feels like I'm locked in a greenhouse.

[Chuckman]

I must go forth and confront my lawn. Don't pray for me, I'm already sweaty.

[Shinoyami65]

Aside from the loops you have to jump through to get UK Visa, it's also so expensive

Aside from the costs of the linguistic and medical tests, the health surcharge is 832 USD, the actual visa application costs 515 USD...and if need it within a week you have to pay an extra 183 USD.

According to my grandmother, back in the 1900s you could get a visa by just showing your university acceptance letter, and it wasn't as expensive as it is now...

Someone, somewhere, is making a lot of money from this...

[Bagheera]

Can't you request fee waivers? In the U.S. a lot of our applications are hellishly expensive, but fee waivers can be requested for many if you don't have the means to pay. Things might obviously be different in the UK of course, but it can't hurt to check.

[Trajan]

My Samsung Galaxy S4 won't charge no matter what outlet or cable I use. I'm going try taking out the battery and seeing if that works. If not, I'll go to the AT&T store and see what they can do. Even though it's an older model, I've only had this phone for slightly over a year so I'm hoping I won't have to get a replacement. Still, this pretty much fucks up my main source of communication and time keeping. I might have to buy an alarm clock if I don't get this fixed soon.

[Shamsiel-kun]

^ If it's the battery, I'd be very surprised if it weren't be still sold now, considering my decade-old phone's battery can still be bought new...

My grandma (mom's mom, last remaining grandparent I have) has been in a nursing home for years with advanced Alzheimer's, but starting having a series of seizures this morning so it's looking like the end for her. The real FML though is that I don't feel much of anything about this other than a vague 'finally...' sort of vibe. I suppose in all ways but physically she's been dead to me for a long time, having forgotten everyone including herself and just being this old person-shaped thing in a room far away that I very seldom needed to think about.

When my grandmother (well, one of them, the other died instantly of a heart attack) was on the way out, a lot of my family reacted in this way, and I found it an awful, dehumanizing, reaction. I guess it's a way of dampening the impact once it finally comes. Whether it actually works I don't know, because when she finally died the strange thing was that I was much less affected than many of the people who had that reaction...

So, um, er, my reply really doesn't help you much, except for saying that others experience things the same way you do.

[Sgt. Griff]

New graphics card was supposed to come with MGSV. Went to claim but the people in charge of it rejected my invoice.

I've been waiting so long.

[NemZ]

Well, she seems stable for the moment so it may have been a false alarm.

Speaking of old batteries... today was an exceptionally craptastic day indeed. Needed to go shopping because out of TP and pretty much out of food (just things that need to be cooked, but missing ingredients and such... why must I procrastinate so much? ), but oh joy, car won't start. Won't even try to crank over, but lights weren't left on so it's a mystery. Well let's just look under the hood... oh, whee, the hood release lever isn't working either. About an hour of mcgyvering shit later I get the hood open and clean a bit of corrosion of the battery, but I work from home and it's the middle of the day so all my friends are working and nobody who lives in my building is around to get a jump. Don't really feel like paying for a tow truck just for that, so screw it, I'll wait.

At some point needed to crap of course, because the universe hates me. No TP, no kitchen towels (not without batter acid crud on them, anyway), no napkins... newspaper is quite an uncomfortable wipe, let me tell ya. I escape without papercuts and call it a pyrrhic victory.

Finally find a pseudo-friendly new neighbor that I don't actually know later who sort of reluctantly agrees to help, only to discover that of course my jumper cables aren't in my trunk for some reason and that guy didn't have a set, so thanks for nothing mr. random lives near me stranger who probably dislikes me now for wasting his time. Gets to be middle of the afternoon now, call friends who are getting off of work soon... none of them have jumper cables either. Seriously people, get it together. Finally offer to buy a damn new set if someone will just get over here already... and even with a jump it cranks sadly but still won't start. They take off while I call the dealership, but their service guys are all booked so can't help until tomorrow.

Hungry, haven't eaten all day. Should have considered this before telling friend to just go do his whole responsible adult with a family thing, but such is life. Walk my fat ass a mile or two to the nearest store, a Dollar General, to finally get some damn TP and weird brand milk so I can make some soup. Soup? Haha, no, sorry, all that soup in the back of the pantry shelves is old and nasty which is why it's perpetually the last damn thing in there you idiot. Enjoy walking back to Dollar General to buy a sad dinner of Hot Pockets... except data limit reached on phone, so walk is even more boring than expected second time around. At least it wasn't goddamn raining I suppose, but such has been my day.

Laugh you bastards. I command it.

Update: Got it started again, immediately took it up to the local pats store and got the battery and alternator checked out but both seemed fine. Apparently the mystery culprit is that my tail lights are being stuck on and drained it overnight. This happened before a few months ago and I thought it was fixed when I replaced the pedal switch, but I guess either the replacement was bad or I have a short somewhere. But hey, at least it's drivable again so I can get it to the shop on Monday, but until then I have to go back to pulling the fuse on those lights when I park.

[Shamsiel-kun]

Enjoy walking back to Dollar General to buy a sad dinner of Hot Pockets... except data limit reached on phone, so walk is even more boring than expected second time around.

What is it with people and their phones and their unability to live without the damn things for more than five minutes? Sounds like a drug addiction, wonder when rehab clinics will start offering programs for that.

Enjoy the walk itself, look around, think about stuff! You don't need that piece of electronics nearly surgically attached to your face!


Grrr...looks like no one has made a mobile phone in the shape of a headcrab yet...but a facehugger phone case exists: http://www.instructables.com/id/Face-Hugger-Phone-Case/

[Mr. Tines]

Grrr...looks like no one has made a mobile phone in the shape of a headcrab yet...but a facehugger phone case exists

You can get that sort of thing off the shelf in Japan, rather than custom printing it.

walking back to Dollar General

Sounds like it's more than a quarter mile away -- so the sort of gig for which the bicycle was invented. Though that would probably involve re-inflating the tyres, hoping they hadn't perished from neglect, and taking your life in your hands on the open road.

[Bagheera]

Grrr...looks like no one has made a mobile phone in the shape of a headcrab yet...but a facehugger phone case exists: http://www.instructables.com/id/Face-Hugger-Phone-Case/

Why would you share that when it's not commercially available? You're so mean!

[NemZ]

I haven't owned a bike for decades, though it would have been handy indeed.

And yeah Shamsiel-kun, walking along a highway at night in the middle of nowhere sure is scenic. Grass, pavement, gravel, the occational bit of litter or roadkill... ahh, nature! What a shame to miss all that when I could have been doing something else instead.

[Shamsiel-kun]

I haven't owned a bike for decades, though it would have been handy indeed.

And yeah Shamsiel-kun, walking along a highway at night in the middle of nowhere sure is scenic. Grass, pavement, gravel, the occational bit of litter or roadkill... ahh, nature! What a shame to miss all that when I could have been doing something else instead.

Well, you never wrote that it was night, nor that it was a highway, nor that it was in the middle of nowhere*. Or was I supposed to know precisely what you were seeing (or not) at that time? So I'll at your

* As an aside, there's pretty many people in certain circles who'd probably say that the "middle of nowhere" is much more interesting than the average city street - and safer! No crazy drunks and dumbass drivers to avoid, but fresh air, relative silence, time to think, and maybe a chance to see or hear (or encounter) some interesting wildlife.

Edit: Hmmm, by the looks of it (Bing Maps and pictures), Carbondale is nowhere near the concrete-filled shithole you seem to be implying it is. Even the city center looks fairly green, certainly much greener than the city where I work, while the suburbs are considerably more green than where I live. I don't understand what you're complaining about, honestly.

[NemZ]

Is green scenic? I guess if you're not used to it, but to me it's just some boring trees.