The Gaming Den

violence in the media wrote: You mentioned earlier that this past year you made about $9000, and just recently appended that was a result of 2 jobs and 60 hours a week. That leaves you making only about $2.90 an hour, assuming a 52 week work year (I can't imagine you getting paid vacations in this scenario). Unless one (or both) of these jobs has unimaginably spectacular fringe benefits, there must be a more profitable use of your time. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing that causes you to log so many hours and get paid so little?

That's a fair enough question, and one I feel that I should address in the name of being transparent.

The second job ended near the beginning of 2010 when I had a mental breakdown, at which point I dropped one job and took a semester off from school to get my head back together. [EDIT: According to my records, I quit my second job in mid-May of 2010 to be exact]

9k last year really is a bit low for me, after I got fired end of last summer I was out of work for a little over two months. Had that not happened, it would have been closer to 11k to be 100% fair. (Part of my mental condition, I'm afraid. I don't mislead people with the intent on doing so, I just get confused when my panic disorder flares up. My apologies for anyone who might feel mislead by my rantings while I'm flipping out. I really should hit the free clinic up and see if I can get some drugs to prevent that.)

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I got a 6 pack of Hornsby's Hard Cider. It's very sweet, but I have drank 2 and I don't feel anything. I think I might give this to my GF as this is clearly a girly drink.

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:I got a 6 pack of Hornsby's Hard Cider. It's very sweet, but I have drank 2 and I don't feel anything. I think I might give this to my GF as this is clearly a girly drink.

I'd suggest trying Rekorderlig's pear cider (with wild berries). It's sweet and has 7% alcohol, comes in 500ml cans. Usually one or two of these will have me buzzed or close to it, depending on the day. I don't recommend their Elderflower cider, though; haven't tried any other types either.

nm

Meikle: I don't think I"ve actually seen Rekordelig except when a friend of mine brought a case back with him from England. He was enough of a beer enthusiast to pay the taxes/whatever necessary to ship like about 10 cases of different beers/malternatives.

More personal politics! Have a friend who is a hardcore Republican. Thinks that Reagan pissed streams of gold and shat bricks of traditional values while facing down the Soviet Union. Is too poor to afford health insurance, but constantly complains about Obamacare, and the nefarious Democratic plot to destroy America. Fights bitterly against government involvement in health care despite having been to the ER several times without health insurance.

The entire thing just blows my mind. I don't want to say that I experience any schadenfreude in him having visited the hospital without health insurance, but that would be something of a fabrication. Hope he finally wises up and realizes that his corporate masters won't reward him for his fealty, though.

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:I got a 6 pack of Hornsby's Hard Cider. It's very sweet, but I have drank 2 and I don't feel anything. I think I might give this to my GF as this is clearly a girly drink.

Fair enough. Try vodka.

I used to have a bottle of Vox that I used to take nips from. Killed it about a year ago, but Vox is pretty good vodka. One day, I will be able to afford good booze again.

I might have a use for Hornsby's. I wonder if I can get larger bottles, it'd make good punch. (My old bro Galahad_Knight taught me the recipe. I don't remember the proportions, but hard cider, aftershock, and apple pucker makes a good fall punch. He also recomended Dry Ice to carbonate it, but that's somewhat expensive and you can injure yourself if you eat the ice).

Also, a coworker is letting me leech off his internet as long as I don't bog it down. Seems like a decent guy.

I have decided that part of my problem is that I tend towards being unsociable. I am making effort to open up to people more and let them help me. After all, refusing any assistance isn't making people not call me lazy, I should probably stop trying to impress people who aren't impressed.

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:(My old bro Galahad_Knight taught me the recipe. I don't remember the proportions, but hard cider, aftershock, and apple pucker makes a good fall punch. He also recomended Dry Ice to carbonate it, but that's somewhat expensive and you can injure yourself if you eat the ice).

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:but that's somewhat expensive and you can injure yourself if you eat the ice.

That's why you don't put just the ice in there, you use a net bag.

Or you can just put the ice in there and learn who the idiots are.

Cynic wrote:Meikle: I don't think I"ve actually seen Rekordelig except when a friend of mine brought a case back with him from England. He was enough of a beer enthusiast to pay the taxes/whatever necessary to ship like about 10 cases of different beers/malternatives.

Ah. Well, in Ontario (at least my corner of it) the LCBO stocks it and a few varieties. Then again, the LCBO has imports from all over so this may explain it.

Two things that my period of being broke had caused inadvertently:

1. I've dropped 15 pounds. You can see muscle definition in my arms and legs again. I have a gut, but I think that's just how I'm put together.

2. Fast food now makes me violently ill. I think I will chose to not re-train my digestive tract to handle it.

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:2. Fast food now makes me violently ill. I think I will chose to not re-train my digestive tract to handle it.

It's amazing how that works. Happened to my wife and I after a year and a half without fast food.

Ditto me, too. I can tolerate fast foods that aren't the stereotypical fast foods (the local Asian market makes huge batches of spring rolls every morning, and those don't make me sick, and a couple of places that make salads don't make me sick, either), but feed me garbage and I'm out all day.

This, of course, has led to some pretty crazy food inventions (egg mchashbrown) in my attempts to recreate something I used to like but without the part that makes me feel like crap.

I've discovered that even though nonagenarians are supposed to be going through a second childhood, they are not as easy to take care of as a 4-year-old.

yuck-tastic spoiler alert. not for the kinda faint of heart.

Cleaning old-man-poop off of carpet= not at all in my favorite task list.

I feel for you, Cynic. My mom and I used to do in-home care, and both of us swore never again. It's exhausting, often thankless, and relief comes in the form of death (which sucks when you care a lot about the people you're caring for).

Yeah, I agree with you. But it seems harsh to even consider death for the man who raised me for a decent section of my life. But, meh. Really, my post above was just me ranting in the face of a down moment in the day.

I figured it belonged in this thread but really it hits a little too close to home (in hindsight) to vent about other people in this sense when I have been in their shoes before, in a sense.

Thanks for caring though, Maj.

Cynic.

I meant to say, but failed hardcore, that not only is your job exhausting and frequently gross, but the ending sucks. My mom had to take care of her husband (died of lung cancer), both parents (at separate times), and two very close family friends - one had a stroke, and the other had congestive heart failure.

I remember her coming into my room, sitting down on the bed and just bursting into tears after her dad died. She just got sick of the death.

It really takes a lot out of you and it's easy to feel guilty when you want to escape. But you need to escape to keep your energy high and your sanity recognizable.

Feel free to rant any time you need to - that's what the thread was intended for.

I am 21, and I just got braces. BRACES. I have to wear them for a year and a half, and god-damn are they annoying. I think I'm going to have to use liquid food for like a week because eating is painful, and I get this really nasty painful feeling just pushing my teeth together.

I can take comfort in the fact that they are apparently "not very noticeable". When I'm not smiling.

Vnonymous wrote:I am 21, and I just got braces. BRACES. I have to wear them for a year and a half, and god-damn are they annoying. I think I'm going to have to use liquid food for like a week because eating is painful, and I get this really nasty painful feeling just pushing my teeth together.

I can take comfort in the fact that they are apparently "not very noticeable". When I'm not smiling.

As someone who once had braces, I will tell you this: The pain will never be anywhere near what it is now. The first day isn't just more painful than the rest of the experience, it is easily 10+ times more painful.

And learn to smile with your mouth closed.

My sister got braces when she was in her mid-teens.

You'll also ache when they're tightened/adjusted.

Maxus wrote:You'll also ache when they're tightened/adjusted.

This is true. It's just not nearly as bad as the first time.

Also, in my experience, the worst should be over in 36 hours or less. Now, I heal notoriously fast and I was younger, so maybe twice that for you, but there's no way you should be out for a week.