Philotic Web

Aarrrrrrggghhh!

I hope you did.

(Granted, last time I was at the zoo, I may have aimed a warning kick at a Canada goose that was approaching me and my baby too closely while I was nursing. He got the idea.)

(Granted, last time I was at the zoo, I may have aimed a warning kick at a Canada goose that was approaching me and my baby too closely while I was nursing. He got the idea.)

I've had to protect my kids from advancing geese with my stroller before. It was winter and they really wanted our lunch. If the bird is approaching you, you have every right to protect yourself. If you're approaching an innocent bird, the bird has every right to protect itself. So I'm going to yell at you to leave the bird alone or I'll call security! Because the bird is going to protect itself, it's mate and it's nest and you're going to be in pain.

Last spring, our zoo had to have a security guard following each goose family around the zoo so that people would leave them alone. Talk about a waste of money!

Oh good grief. People! Sheesh.

I'm glad I haven't seen that here yet. People look and ooh and ah, but no chasing.

Personally, birds up close freak me out, a bit, so I doubly don't get it.

Church. Seriously, it is really starting to get to me being around all these super-conservative people all the time who have no respect for education, science, or rationalism. To make matters worse, the whole thing I'm there to do, the music, is of mediocre quality and there is no way to improve it without importing an entire choir of musicians from outside the church.

Church. Seriously, it is really starting to get to me being around all these super-conservative people all the time who have no respect for education, science, or rationalism. To make matters worse, the whole thing I'm there to do, the music, is of mediocre quality and there is no way to improve it without importing an entire choir of musicians from outside the church.

You ought to find a different church. The right one is great.

Some people are better off with no church at all.

I really hate when you are waiting all day for a call back from the doctor's office and then you make a really brief phone call and right then, they call but it's at the exact moment that you are dialing so it goes to voicemail. And it's right after they close, so you can't call back until tomorrow. I'm so frustrated!

I really hate when you are waiting all day for a call back from the doctor's office and then you make a really brief phone call and right then, they call but it's at the exact moment that you are dialing so it goes to voicemail. And it's right after they close, so you can't call back until tomorrow. I'm so frustrated!

That is the worst... at least its not friday and you don't have to wait until Monday to call them again.

YES. That would be even worse.

Bleh, this reminds me... I hate calling the doctor, and I need to do so tomorrow afternoon.

Yeah, I think today was even worse because I have calls in to two doctor's offices and I didn't get responses from either by the end of the day (except for the one I missed). Grrr!

How few public men's washrooms have baby-changing facilities.

Quick story: I was grocery shopping Thursday night and I have a cart I use for heavier/bigger loads, which I used that night. Awesome things about that trip were that it took less time than any trip I've made before (I'm learning the stores or the crowds were smaller at night, or both) and I saw part of the skyline all lit up (so, so much massive amounts of love). s*** part about it was, the cart hit uneven pavement and came to a dead stop while I kept moving forward. My shin slammed very hard into the metal of the cart and it hurt quite badly. Thankfully, I was close to home.


What I hate is, after not noticing it Friday or Saturday, when I woke up this morning, it hurt again when I walked around. Not enough to induce a limp or to not move but just enough to be a nuisance.

I'm really not a fan of how many times Nom has barfed today, nor the difficulty of cleaning some of her targets.

I'm grateful, however, that none of said targets have been me.



ETA: Aaaaaand round two!

I'm really not a fan of how many times Nom has barfed today, nor the difficulty of cleaning some of her targets.

I'm grateful, however, that none of said targets have been me.



ETA: Aaaaaand round two!

I'd like to say something here about witnessing the power of this fully armed and operational battle station. That, or "That thing's operational!".

I hate how tired I am.

I'm on day 7 of a 13 day work stretch and i'm exhausted already : (

I know that it's pretty brave of me to say such a thing on this board (sarcasm, by the way), but good GOD I hate it when people imply that reading any book, any kind of book at all, is a waste of time.

There was this completely crappy opinion piece in the NY Times that some jerk always gets saddened when he sees adults reading YA novels, and about how much he looks down on them for wasting their time. I don't want to link to it because, seriously, such things are normally said just to garnish ad revenue. But then, then, people in my Facebook feed repost it with positive things to say. "I don't like his tone, but he's absolutely right."

You can just go to hell. There is something to be gained out of reading any book, in my opinion. Whether that book is poorly-written, has nothing positive in it, is intended for a lower age group, was marketed to a lower age group because it has a young protagonist, whatsoever. You can reed Mein Kampf and learn a heck of a lot.

I may be getting a bit hyperbolic here, but his base conclusion that "adults reading YA must not be mature" is so hate-inducing that I just start spewing vitriol.

Is he the guy who said "I'll read Hunger Games/YA when I get through the other 3,000 years worth of books written for adults"?

I read a whole series of opinion pieces a week or two ago about YA trends and that one was one of them.

Grr. That makes me so mad. It's the exact same attitude that people like my Mother-in-law with anything animated. "Why would I watch a kids movie?" *headdesk*

Forgot to add...

You can reed Mein Kampf and learn a heck of a lot.

Do you have to be in band to do this or can anyone with an adventurous streak give it a go? Sounds delightfully musical.

There was this completely crappy opinion piece in the NY Times ... about how much he looks down on them for wasting their time. I don't want to link to it because, seriously, such things are normally said just to garnish ad revenue.

It being the NY Times, I suspect it isn't just for ad revenue, but rather just an example of their standard literary snobbiness. Most of what Orson Scott Card picks up on as wrong with the world of academic literature in his introduction to EG is exemplified by the NY Times.

Do you have to be in band to do this or can anyone with an adventurous streak give it a go? Sounds delightfully musical.

Haha, just caught this!

Other people's gender-biases with regards to my wedding planning.

Does anyone ever try to tell David that he needs to buy wedding insurance?! (Yes. Wedding Insurance. Really. Someone in all earnestness told me that I need to convinvce David that we should get Wedding Insurance. And no, this wasn't a wedding industry professional. This was a relative). Does anyone bother to ask David what our favors are, or criticise him for the fact that we're not hiring a dj, or give him s*** about the fact that he hasn't picked out his shoes yet and the wedding is almost four months away?! NO. BECAUSE HE HAS A PENIS.

And while NEITHER or us have any intention of getting Wedding Insurance, we are both equally invested in this damn wedding. David knows just as much about the chairs as I do. He is putting in just as much time, effort, and money into the entire affair. He cares deeply about the things we want said at our ceremony. He is very invested in the music that we play, the food that we serve, the people we invite. I am getting so damn sick of fielding every single question for my family, HIS family, his friends, my friends, random co-workers, TOTAL STRANGERS. As if I were the only one who cared or was aware of or involved in this wedding at all. Or worse, as if David is somehow ABOVE this s***. And I apparently am not. People have actually TOLD me that they think David is obviously too busy with school and work and his social life to give a damn about the wedding or have any reliable information about it. Guess what, assholes. I, TOO, HAVE A JOB AND A SOCIAL LIFE AND A s***** OF DOMESTIC RESPONSIBILITIES to take care of so that we can actually eat and wear clean clothes and get the damn bills paid while David is at school. I don't just sit around all f****** day ratcheting up our budget and adding s*** to my goddamn wedding registry.

DAVID IS GETTING MARRIED TOO, PEOPLE. HE IS ACTUALLY PRETTY PSYCHED ABOUT IT. He is perfectly capable of talking about this crap. My vagina does not automatically make me a wedding-obsessed air-head. Nor is David a dim-witted caveman unable to understand things like what desserts we're going to serve. We both have rich, fulfilling, complicated lives outside of our up-coming wedding, about which I am 100% capable of conversing. David does not get a free pass because of his f****** anatomy, people.

I am seriously contemplating buying a strap-on and whipping it out the next time people start in on this bullshit.

Whew. I...didn't realize quite how upset I was until I got started...

I am seriously contemplating buying a strap-on and whipping it out the next time people start in on this bullshit.

Do it!

Something that I JUST CANNOT STAND (and doubtless this is here already) is people that are so convinced that they are right, even about something that you would have better knowledge of, that they don't even let you express your opinion. They cut you off in mid-sentence and it's INFURIATING. They don't listen to an argument (probably out of fear of being proved wrong) and even say "You think..." even though they can have no idea about what you think.
I once had a teacher who misheard some of my mutterings and told me I was being rude and disrespectful and everything else and when I tried explaining that she'd misheard me all I got was "I don't need to hear this. I sat there and heard everything you said, I don't need you to tell me what you said. I don't want to hear your lies."

IT DRIVES - ME - NUTS!!!!
NYAAAAARRRHH!!

I feel much better now.

My vagina does not automatically make me a wedding-obsessed air-head

Why are you so sure this is sexual bias? So far all I can gather is that people talk to you about the wedding not to David and while that understandably pisses you off I can't "see" anything here that suggests that sex or anatomy has anything to do with it.

Women, in my experience, talk about this a lot more. My sister's getting married and that's certainly the case.

:::shrug::: Was I over-reacting? Probably.

But I am not one of those women who talk about my wedding all the time. In fact, I go out of my way to avoid talking about it, for various reasons. Pretty much the only people I talk to about my wedding (besides David) are you guys, because I post about it here.

In your experience, women talk about their weddings more frequently than men. But I don't fit into that expectation. It's frustrating because I have to bear the brunt of everyone's questions and criticisms because they just ASSSUME I am obsessed with my wedding and want to discuss it ad nauseum. No matter how many times I demonstrate that that is not the case. I don't give a s*** about traditional wedding stuff like, say, a color scheme. We aren't having one. And this makes people irrationally, inexplicably angry. But they take all that and dump it on me, alone, even though there's another person involved who equally does not give a s*** about whether or not we have a color scheme.

Is saying that it's all totally a gender bias simplifying a complex issue? Of course. But considering how many "expectations" people assume I'm going to meet based on, not their prior knowledge of me as a person, but "most women in their exeprience" when it comes to weddings is tiresome.

I totally agree. I wasn't saying I thought it was right or anything I was just offering my thoughts as in "This is what's happening in my experience so maybe the people who give this crap to you expect the same things". I know all about not conforming to people's expectations.
I hang out with a guy whom most think is mad and my older brother gets s*** from everyone in Werribee for being a metal-head and a goth.

Stuff what those people think/say and good luck with the wedding (and that strap-on idea).

I'm super bummed about tonight. I want so badly to see The Hunger Games, and it's probably the last week it'll be in theatres, but I didn't find a babysitter in advance and everyone is (understandably) already busy. Sometimes I hate how complicated babies make things. Most of the time, we just drag her along, so it's always a sharp reminder when I want to do something she can't come for.

Is there a rule against babies at the theatre? Everyone around here takes babies. I've nursed many-a-time in the dark theatre.

Not to be the awful childless moviegoer but as far as I'm aware, I've only had one positive experience with parents bringing babies to the movies and a whole crap-ton of negative ones. Unless it is specifically a young children's movie where I expect there to be kids who can't follow movie-going protocol to begin with or you can either guarantee your child will be quiet the whole time or you will take them out if they fuss and can't be soothed, I'd prefer people leave their children at home. I can't tell you the number of times I've been distracted or unable to hear a movie because someone's child was crying and they just sat there like they were the only ones who paid to get in.

Then again, this problem of being rude/noisy in theaters is not limited to the young ones, as teenagers and adults are just as likely to be stupid. Basically, I need to keep going when people are at work/school or fly to the one theater in Texas that has all those glorious, enforced rules in order to keep the movie-going experience worthwhile.

I totally understand what you mean, Alea. I'm not judging you for feeling that way at all! Some people ARE rude with their babies. I'm considerate with my babies and would never let them continue to cry in the theatre. I never take a child over the age of 1 to a non-kid movie. But with my babies, I know if they are starting to get fussy that I can nurse and they will be quiet and fall asleep.

I don't want to be That Parent who drags their child to a movie and they cry the whole time. Nom is usually pretty fussy in the evening and while I'm okay wrangling her in the pub, at Latin, or even during the CMS plays where everyone knows us and dotes on Nom anyway, a movie theatre doesn't sound fun. I want to be able to enjoy the movie myself, not be distracted by her. If it were a matinee when she's more easygoing, I'd be tempted, but not the evening.

Ideal would have been the "Big Scream" showing where they leave the lights up some and it's especially for parents with under-1s, but if they had one for Hunger Games, I missed it.

Also, if I did take her and nurse her and let her sleep through it, she'd be up all night, and I'm not cool with that either, lol.

I'm sorry the timing with her temperament won't work. I'd babysit if I could!

I'd babysit if I could!

Yep. If I start walking now...


Seriously, though, I don't think even the rude parents are intending to be rude in most cases. I think it's just a tough situation for a lot of people and I understand for some, there's the feeling of "If I don't get out of this house/around other adults/out to do something different, I'm going to go crazy."