posted
Folks, it's holiday season. Relatives (both loved and despised) are coming to visit, finals are due (or past due), grades are coming out, bills are accumulating, it's time to buy presents for people and you either don't know what they want, don't have the money for it, or don't like them and resent feeling obligated to get them a @#$% thing.
There's Salvation Army folks incessantly ringing those @#$% bells at every turn, people (seemingly) happier than you are wishing you a "Merry Christmas", as if it mattered to them, cheesy Christmas tunes blaring from the PA system of every store, idiots turned out in "Santa hats" and wearing holiday ties and shirts and sweaters and earrings. Some folks even put fake antlers on their dogs and say "How sweet! He looks just like a reindeer."* Charities you never heard of are calling or mailing entreaties for you to donate money or time or "Just a reminder" that they remember your past generosity and want to see if you're still that gull..., er, generous.
It's the season of visiting relatives. Either you go see them or they go see you. You either can't watch TV or stay up and read because of all the slumbering bodies in the living room. Or you can't sleep because the lost tribe of Israel has camped out in your house and won't pipe down. Or it's YOU who's the visitor and can't sleep because your hosts are vampires who only walk at night. Or you can't stay up to your accustomed late hours because your Amish relatives go to bed when the sun goes down. And besides, it's hard to sleep because this isn't your own bed and there's twenty people jockeying for a position in the bathroom queue when you get up in the morning.
Folks, it's the time of year when people put on a happy face because if they don't they'll snap. It's the most stressful time of year for many. They look back at the previous year and realize things haven't worked out the way they expected. They look forward and see Y2k, bills for extravagant Christmas presents, etc. They look around and see a demanding teacher, professor, or boss, little or no appreciation, and lots of people things seem to be going very well for, just to lend some contrast to their drab, wretched existence.
Lee's been fired, or at least put on indefinite hiatus. The general level of stress in the Forums community is high. I think the recent incident with Lee has served as a target for people who are already stressed out to focus their general anger and frustration upon.
We could all see Lee needed a break. How he got it is up to the administrators of this forum. How we react to it is up to us. Let's not spin out of control, shall we? These forums have, with almost clock-like regularity, spun out of control and crashed right around this time of year. Let's try to prevent that from happening, okay?
--Baloo
*I have only one friend with a dog that big!
------------------ A cheeseburger, french fries and a vanilla shake. It's not the best meal; far from it. But it is perfect, the Holy Trinity of American cuisine. --James Lileks http://members.tripod.com/~Bob_Baloo/index.htm
posted
I'd like to agree, but I'm under less stress now then I have been for the last eight years, I'm just angry. I just made my last post in the other thread, I'll let it go now, but I'll not forget.
To Baloo, LOA, 1stof2, Jubilee, Monty, Ziyal, Bryce, Jeff, Elim, Krenim, and others who I just don't have time to list. I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to stoke the fire. I'm going to go drink some weak american beer now, bowl a few games, and chill.
------------------ Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time!! Gandalf
posted
Liam: My source of stress passed away in May. I had been looking after a sick reletive for the past eight years, most of it wasn't bad, but after Dad died, my aunt, his sister, went to pieces, and over a six months period, made my life and hers, hell. that all ended in May. I have noticed that I no longer blame my brother for all the bad things that happen around the house. I don't get upset when he leaves news papers all over the house, his cloths, both clean and dirty, in the bathroom. Women are starting to look my way, for the first time in my life I have more then one prospect for a date for the weekend. I got a large raise at work, going from 15,000 a year to 18,000. Life is looking better and better.
------------------ Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time!! Gandalf
posted
I don't tend to get stressed. I live by a simple principle of Bhudda.
"If there is a problem and you have a solution, don't worry about it. If there is a problem and you can't find a solution, don't worry about it."
Best piece of advice I have ever heard.
------------------ "That is the metaphorical equivalent of flopping your wedding tackle into a lions mouth and then flicking his love spuds with a wet towel". - Rimmer
posted
That actually sounds very much like something my grandfather used to say when the grandkids got whiny...
"Okay, so there's a problem. If you can do something about it, shut up and do it. If you can't do anything about it, shut up because crying about it won't do any good either."
Grandpa was the Buddha?? And here all this time I thought he just wanted peace and quiet.
------------------ Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson
Final Exams, a Dead Grandpa, chronic fatigue acting up, a possible case of pnuemonia, three projects that I can't do that have to be handed in next week and if I don't hand them in I'll fail, My mother being a pain in the ass bitch AGAIN, Not being able to eat for a week, and..... oh.... what was that last thing?
I SWEAR TO gOD IF ONE MORe THING happenS, THIS BOMB IS GonNA BLOW.
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