What grinds your gears?

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TenaciousBe
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Re: This is so far beyond political differences.

Post by TenaciousBe »

gbruin wrote:The mother fucker in chief suggesting that covid numbers are artificially inflated by doctors who are profiteering from it. His hubris and dishonesty and negligence as the country's "leader" has contributed to tens of thousands of excess deaths with no end in sight. And he offers up this bullshit to deflect the blame?

Fuck you, Trump. And fuck anyone who believes you.
Amen, brother. Tuesday canNOT come soon enough.
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TenaciousBe
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Re: What grinds your gears?

Post by TenaciousBe »

Less important than Trump riling up his cult members, but something else that still grinds my gears -- as someone who's been helping to create and run fan sites / groups / etc for Alter Bridge since the day the band was announced, every time there's a new release, whether it be a full album or in today's case, the release of Last Rites, we always, always, ALWAYS have to chase around these chuckleheads who find leaked versions of the tunes and either post them, or post links to them, or post info on how to get to the links of them. It's like pulling teeth trying to convince people that sharing illegal, stolen copies of a band's music actually hurts them, and is actually not right and not a good thing to do. They think it doesn't matter, it won't hurt the band's bottom line, but it DOES matter. It does hurt the band. If you can keep it in your pants and wait 2 or 3 fucking hours for songs to be released through official channels, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, whatever, the band gets SO much more from the collective views and downloads through those platforms than they do some untraceable mp3 that you download from a shady leaker site. They just want to laugh it off like it doesn't matter, but it FUCKING MATTERS.
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gbruin
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Tis the season to be pissy about voluntary activities

Post by gbruin »

Putting up Christmas lights.

I love the lights when they're up. Doing it makes me nuts.
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zazthespaz
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Re: He hung one up anyway.

Post by zazthespaz »

Did they all light up or did you have a bunch of strands that have a section out like my dad did?
anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.
gbruin wrote:
Go reread what zaz says

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gbruin
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And it's exactly like that

Post by gbruin »

They all work now, but I haven't hung any yet. They intentionally wait until they are precisely located on the furthest extreme ends of tiny unreachable branches or suspended from the precariously overhanging edges of steep and snowpacked roofs 3 stories above gardens of shark tooth like decorative rock before they protest, silently whimper, flicker, and mockingly die out.
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zazthespaz
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Re: Bruin, G. Stringlet, TABN "What grinds your gears?", 2020, pp. 246

Post by zazthespaz »

"Alas, poor blue light! I knew it well!"
anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.
gbruin wrote:
Go reread what zaz says

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zazthespaz
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Re: Pro: My Dad is very forgetful

Post by zazthespaz »

Pro: Got most of my Christmas shopping done early this year.
Con: Found out my Aunt sent my Dad the same gifts I got him.
anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.
gbruin wrote:
Go reread what zaz says

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gbruin
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Another perk of moderatorship

Post by gbruin »

zazthespaz wrote:Pro: Got most of my Zazmas shopping done early this year.
Con: Found out my Aunt sent my Dad the same gifts I got him.
FIFY
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MaraCarr
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Re: What grinds your gears?

Post by MaraCarr »

I hate it when I put in a full week and get excited about going home to see my family.. then I get a call that they need me back at work and that it’s critical! :(

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zazthespaz
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Re: Especially that Greg guy. :humina

Post by zazthespaz »

MaraCarr wrote:I hate it when I put in a full week and get excited about going home to see my family.. then I get a call that they need me back at work and that it’s critical! :(
Hope it’s clearing up for you! I’m keeping all of you medical workers in my thoughts!
anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.
gbruin wrote:
Go reread what zaz says

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Crumbso
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I got 'da Tier 4 blues

Post by Crumbso »

Being stuck inside for the foreseeable future, not seeing any family or friends at Christmas or NYE. However, I'm healthy and so are they currently so it's still alright.

Still I got the weekly food shop to look forward to.... that's about as exciting as life gets for the moment.
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gbruin
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One Day Remains

Post by gbruin »

Happy New Year, TABN. I'm hopeful that 2021 brings everyone a healthier and happier year. Love you guys.
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Ubik
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Re: I got 'da Tier 4 blues

Post by Ubik »

Crumbso wrote:Being stuck inside for the foreseeable future, not seeing any family or friends at Christmas or NYE. However, I'm healthy and so are they currently so it's still alright.

Still I got the weekly food shop to look forward to.... that's about as exciting as life gets for the moment.
Tier 4 wooooo!
For all of the hope that it brings...

MaraCarr
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Re: Especially that Greg guy. :humina

Post by MaraCarr »

zazthespaz wrote:
MaraCarr wrote:I hate it when I put in a full week and get excited about going home to see my family.. then I get a call that they need me back at work and that it’s critical! :(
Hope it’s clearing up for you! I’m keeping all of you medical workers in my thoughts!
Thank you! Your thoughts and prayers are needed to keep us all going! I’m blessed to be on the healthy side caring for those who are sick and those same people are just praying for another chance to be healthy! I should not complain! It’s a blessing to help keep people alive even if it’s just ...one more day!

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gbruin
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I'm a bum compared to nurses

Post by gbruin »

MaraCarr wrote:
zazthespaz wrote:
MaraCarr wrote:I hate it when I put in a full week and get excited about going home to see my family.. then I get a call that they need me back at work and that it’s critical! :(
Hope it’s clearing up for you! I’m keeping all of you medical workers in my thoughts!
Thank you! Your thoughts and prayers are needed to keep us all going! I’m blessed to be on the healthy side caring for those who are sick and those same people are just praying for another chance to be healthy! I should not complain! It’s a blessing to help keep people alive even if it’s just ...one more day!
Amazing job, MC. You and your colleagues are the best. :hug
Another photobucket casualty... :(
As your courage crashes down before your eyes, don't lay down and die

MaraCarr
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Re: I'm a bum compared to nurses

Post by MaraCarr »

gbruin wrote:
MaraCarr wrote:
zazthespaz wrote:
MaraCarr wrote:I hate it when I put in a full week and get excited about going home to see my family.. then I get a call that they need me back at work and that it’s critical! :(
Hope it’s clearing up for you! I’m keeping all of you medical workers in my thoughts!
Thank you! Your thoughts and prayers are needed to keep us all going! I’m blessed to be on the healthy side caring for those who are sick and those same people are just praying for another chance to be healthy! I should not complain! It’s a blessing to help keep people alive even if it’s just ...one more day!
Amazing job, MC. You and your colleagues are the best. :hug
Thank you so much! That means The world to me! :hug
I appreciate you as well... You are awesome... the years you put into the craft are unmatched! God BlessYou! I pray for our Doctors... much respect! :bow

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Crumbso
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Re: I'm a bum compared to nurses

Post by Crumbso »

MaraCarr wrote:
gbruin wrote:
MaraCarr wrote:
zazthespaz wrote:
MaraCarr wrote:I hate it when I put in a full week and get excited about going home to see my family.. then I get a call that they need me back at work and that it’s critical! :(
Hope it’s clearing up for you! I’m keeping all of you medical workers in my thoughts!
Thank you! Your thoughts and prayers are needed to keep us all going! I’m blessed to be on the healthy side caring for those who are sick and those same people are just praying for another chance to be healthy! I should not complain! It’s a blessing to help keep people alive even if it’s just ...one more day!
Amazing job, MC. You and your colleagues are the best. :hug
Thank you so much! That means The world to me! :hug
I appreciate you as well... You are awesome... the years you put into the craft are unmatched! God BlessYou! I pray for our Doctors... much respect! :bow
I hope the latter half of 2021 can relieve some pressure from you guys. It must have been a challenging 2020 to say the least.
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MaraCarr
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Re: What grinds your gears?

Post by MaraCarr »

Thank you! I’m incredibly blessed! I have a job and my kids. My siblings and my mom! And my sweet friends in Alter Bridge! I am so blessed!

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Crumbso
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Re: What grinds your gears?

Post by Crumbso »

Long rant here. I know others are also having bad years but I just need a place to vent this stuff.

The UK's universal credit system sucks! My mother lives on her own and recently lost her job due to COVID. The bureaucracy of getting payments has left her with no money for almost a month and a half! Of course, my sister and I are both pitching in to help pay her rent but money is not easy to find this year.

It doesn't help that she was hugely depressed last year after several bad events and the aftermath of a messy divorce. She was left suicidal throughout 2019 and early 2020, I caught the signs of that almost too late. I got her help but ever since I have been jittery about how she is. The past five years seem to constantly pummel her.

Brexit has ruined my side-hustle selling amps and guitar gear throughout the UK and the EU. Import fees, customs documentation and VAT requirements have made all of my pricing and delivery options completely uncompetitive and hence I've lost maybe 40% of my customers. It also has made future plans with my other half, who is Italian, immensely more difficult because our plans of moving to Italy in the future (or any other EU country) are now more complicated.

Add to that, my other half's father is very ill with some form of lung disease. He's going through chemo but he is in denial and still smoking and drinking (he's pretty much a functioning alcoholic) and going out to bars. He currently weighs about 45kg/99lbs! The prognosis doesn't look all that great but he's not very forthcoming with information to my partner and she needs to get out to Italy to find out what's going on... which is massively complicated by COVID. Flights are getting cancelled left and right, prices fluctuate and entry/exit requirements change daily. Her departure has been delayed 3 times.

Finally, my job was driving me literally insane. My duties over 9 years have increased steadily to the point where at the end of 2020 I was on the edge of a genuine nervous breakdown. My manager is an extremely toxic individual and I was planning to leave in 2020.... of course COVID made that a completely terrible move as I have a mortgage and my mother to look after financially. I had to do something to maintain my sanity so I negotiated going down to 4 days a week this year (which they agreed to but have yet to actually start) which is actually helping a bit with my mental state but then money will further tighten..... I figured less money is better than having a breakdown and getting fired, despite the increased financial pressure.

I hope it gets better because I was having panic attacks at the end of 2020 (I've never had them before) and was getting severe mood swings and sudden bouts of extreme depression. I have a history of depression and suicidal thoughts from a previous abusive relationship but the anxiety is an entirely new thing to me. I've grown increasingly disillusioned over the past couple of years but it was finally reaching breaking point. I used to find some comfort in life through my band and my motorcycle review youtube channel but those have had to go on the backburner for obvious reasons.

So yeah. That's my vent. I hope that I can forge a different path forward. I'm planning to use my 4 days a week at work to use the free day to do an Open University degree course in counselling and psychology. I need to find a job in the world that I feel is contributing to the greater good.

I hope everyone else is coping with the COVID. Just remember it's okay to reach out to those around you and/or people on the internet or stress/depression/suicide helplines.
Last edited by Crumbso on Fri Feb 05, 2021 8:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
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gbruin
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Rooting for you, your mum, your partner, and for better times

Post by gbruin »

Wow, Crumbso, that's a ton. I wish I had something more tangible to offer you other than my huge respect for you for battling through all those issues. Hoping you'll get some good outcomes and better days ahead soon.
Another photobucket casualty... :(
As your courage crashes down before your eyes, don't lay down and die

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