Category Archives: Irritating Things

Jury Duty

Posted on by
2

I might have jury duty tomorrow. Did you know that while pens, pencils, plastic utensils, and jewelry are allowed in the assembly room, knitting needles and crochet hooks are not? I’m not exactly sure how knitting needles are more lethal than a pencil (unless they’re spy knitting needles that are actually hypodermics (and how cool would that be?!)). I’m considering taking yarn and knitting on pencils just to be obnoxious. OK, not really. I’d probably get arrested. (“What are you in for?” “Knitting.”)

Also, the “quiet room” is currently closed. That means the only place to wait is in the general assembly room, where they will show movies.

I got a broken wing

Posted on by

Shoulder: still hurts. Saw doctor. Said “It hurts when I do this.” He said “Oh.” Sense of humour is not strong in that one.

Anyhow. I have a referral to see an orthopedic surgeon for a cortisone injection.

… in December….

Like, a month from now.

For what will probably be a 15 minute visit where I tell the guy “it hurts when I do this” (and then he’ll say “So don’t do that.” because dude, if an orthopedic surgeon doesn’t know that joke then this world is more hopeless than I thought.)

So I ask you, dear viewing public (all four of you), what do I do if between now and then the pain gets unbearable? Can I go to the ER or an Urgent Care place and beg for help, complete with documentation that yes, it’s a real problem and I’m waiting to see someone so they’ll know I’m not a junkie looking for a fix? Or do I do my usual thing of just complaining loudly and often and working through the pain? Or (possibly the best option): see the urgent care guy while complaining loudly and often and annoying Kitti.

Because honestly, it hurts a lot. It’s no longer a “it hurts when I do this” thing, it’s a “it hurts all the time and it hurts more if I do this.” Most of the time it’s an 8 out of 10. Sometimes I forget how much it can hurt and I use my arm like a normal human being and then it’s a 10 out of 10. If I’m not really careful when I’m asleep (think about how difficult that is) we’re talking a 12 or a 13 of pain. I’m tired because I’m not sleeping well because the pain wakes me up. I’m tired because I spend the entire day hurting. I’m starting to stress out my other arm because I’m over-using it.

And for the first time in my life I hate having manual car windows and seatbelts because reaching back to get the belt hurts like hell and winding down the window is uncomfortable.

Oh, Bollocks.

Posted on by

I was checking out some true crime books on Amazon and noticed a disturbing trend in the reviews…. there are a lot of people out there who rated books lower than they might have because of the use of British slang and terminology.

“The language was a little too British for me so I took off a star because not everyone knows that kind of British slang… but oh well.”

and

“Have now finished reading this book. Interesting cases. Only thing I don’t care about is the British vocabulary. As we in U S say on Elm Street, for example, this book says in Elm Street. Causes me to lose some concentration.”

Really? Really?! I do understand that some local slang is hard to follow. I’m a devout Anglophile and pretty much live on BBCAmerica and even I get confused by some terms (especially ones that are specific to a region or an age group) but then again I have the same problem with some American English slang. And generally, it’s not that hard to pick up from context. It also doesn’t take that long to look it up (later or at that moment (yes, that does take you further out of the reading, but only for a few moments and that must be better than sitting there frustrated, right?)), so when you encounter it again you don’t lose any time.

One does wonder how they manage with the cop lingo that occasionally turns up in the books. I’m also willing to bet the people who left these reviews (and the others like them) don’t read much science fiction and fantasy.

I bought one of the books that had such a review. It’ll be interesting to see how “hard” it is to understand.

Immigration Fun Never Really Stops

Posted on by

Kitti is going to go back to school in January. He’s filled out the financial aid forms and turned in his college application. You’d think that would do it — well, aside from the placement testing and the picking of classes, at least.

Not so if you’re an immigrant.

He’s already had to go to the school so they could copy his green card and stamp his application. Then he got a letter asking why he never registered with Selective Service. Here’s some of the fun things I learned about Selective Service as a result.

  • Any male between 18 and 26 has to register.
  • It does not matter if you aren’t a citizen.
  • It doesn’t even matter if you’re here legally or not.
  • If you live full-time in the US, you have to register.
  • Failure to register may result in imprisonment for up to five years and/or a fine of not more than $250,000.

Exemptions are given to men who entered the US over age 26, so now Kitti has to prove he was over 26 when he moved here (he was). His original passport expired and we don’t have a copy of his original visa (that was in the passport, which Canada kept when he renewed it). I mailed a request for a letter of exemption from Selective Service, but I’m worried they won’t give it since we don’t have anything that solidly proves what year he entered the US. There’s a date on his green card, but that might not be acceptable — afer all, he could’ve been living in the US for years and years before getting that.

Annoyingly, he’s going to have to go to the school again and show them his green card again and hope that they accept the date of entry on the card as proof enough. Fortunately, I think the “worst” thing that could happen is he gets denied a Financial Aid loan. In that case, we’ll just have to pay for a semester on our own and try again in the autumn. Maybe by then we’ll have a way to prove he didn’t need to register with Selective Service.

You would think that in this age his social security number would have a little flag on it that said he was exempt from registration. Or that different government agencies would share data.

…. or that Selective Service registration would have been abolished.

Things I Have Recently Learned About FedEx

Posted on by
  1. Home Delivery is Tuesday through Saturday
  2. If Monday is a holiday the Home Delivery staff is off on Tuesday
  3. The FedEx driver that covers my neighborhood needs either a GPS or lessons in reading
  4. It’s really hard to prove that you didn’t get something

On the 25th FedEx delivered an order from Keurig to my house. It was K-cups of iced coffee because Kitti and I have been drinking it like crazy and it’s not something I’ve been able to find in stores. The tracking information said it was delivered. It wasn’t there when I got home, so I did the usual thing of checking to see if my neighbors took it in, rifled through the junk mail to see if a delivery attempt notice was left and the package was mistakenly noted as delivered, and eventually resigned myself to the fact that the package had been left on my porch and someone walked off with it. I made myself feel better by imagining the thief opening the box only to find four dozen tiny cups of coffee grounds and being really disappointed.

On the 27th I reported it as lost and waited for FedEx to get back to me.

Also on the 27th my mom bought a violin for me. A kind-of expensive electric violin. She paid extra for Saturday delivery. Saturday morning I was up about 9, hanging out in the living room with the dog, doing nothing. When mom came over around noon she asked if I’d gotten it yet. I said no, figuring that they just hadn’t delivered yet. Mom went online and showed me the delivery confirmation that said it had been dropped off at 9:45.

I have a dog. If someone DOES come up the steps (even if they’re going into the house next door) he wanders over and sits by the door in case it’s someone coming to our house. Not in a watchdog kind of way. More in a “I just met you and I love you” way. Anyhow. Me. Dog. Living room. Door? No. Kitti and the dog went out for a walk sometime after 10am, so if something had been left on the porch they would have seen it.

So mom called in and reported it as missing. Yes, we checked with the immediate neighbors. We even walked to $MyHouseNumber on the streets parallel to mine in case the driver just got turned around in the one-way streets and left it on the wrong block. No luck.

BOTH things are tagged as “Delivered: Left on porch.” FedEx has to get in touch with the driver and have him (or her) go back to where they delivered it. They aren’t working today because yesterday was a holiday (See #2 above). I don’t really know what good that’s going to do. The driver will go back to where he (or she) delivered it, say “that’s the house” and how will anyone know it’s actually my house? Will someone go with the driver? If the driver realizes they screwed up the first time and goes to my house on the re-check and says “that’s the house” whilst pointing at my house, how can I prove he (or she) didn’t deliver there the first two times? “See this empty spot? This is where the coffee isn’t. And over here? That’s where there isn’t a violin.”

I’d already ordered more coffee before we knew the violin was missing. It’s also being shipped FedEx. I wonder if it’ll ever show up, or if I’ll be out the price again. More importantly, I hope mom can get a refund on the violin and the shipping cost.

Being Bored

Posted on by

I watched the first episode of the US version of Being Human last night.

I won’t be watching the rest of it.

I can’t fault the writing. Well, I can in parts. Parts of it were fantastic, and it was the parts that were taken almost directly from the UK Pilot episode.

The biggest problem is weak acting. The vampire seems to have absolutely no facial expressions. The werewolf seems intentionally rude and obnoxious instead of really socially inept and trying to be normal but getting it wrong.

There’s also no sense that Aiden (the vampire) and Josh (the werewolf) are actually friends. They’re more like two coworkers who are driven to live together because they’re broke, not because they’re honestly interested in looking out for each other.

Other things that bother me:

  • The ghost (Sally) is dressed almost identical to Annie. There was no need for that.
  • The whole season is going to be a clone of the UK series. Why? Why not take the basic characters but build a whole new world around them? Considering the UK show has been on BBC America and is readily available in the US, why? (I feel the same way about Law & Order UK. I like it, but really wish they’d stop recycling scripts from the original series.)

    There’s no need for the copy-and-paste job. You get all this room to play with, with what are three interesting characters in a very strange situation. If the audience has seen the original, they’re not going to be satisfied with the watered-down version of plots they already know.

  • Lastly, and I’m going to be completely blunt here, there’s jealousy involved. Why’s this crap on the air, when I can (and have) written better? And which I won’t write ever again, because I don’t want anyone thinking I’m ripping off that.

What The Effing Eff Is Wrong With The World….

Posted on by

Dear Reality-Television Producers and the People that Watch the Shows:

I hate you.

E!’s new reality competition series “Bridalplasty,” where brides-to-be battle to receive their wishlist of plastic surgeries and their dream wedding.

“This show, you’re getting it all. The drama, the challenges, the eliminations,” Moakler tells us. “You’re getting the competitiveness, but you’re also getting the docu-style.

“It’s 12 brides living in a house and each week they compete in different bridal challenges, whether it be cake challenges, gown challenges, flower challenges,” Moakler says of the show. “Beforehand they all made a wishlist of any plastic surgeries that they could possibly dream of. So if they win a challenge they get to pick one surgery off their list and get it done. The final bride, the last bride standing, gets everything off their list and a $100,000 wedding.

source

I really, really hate you.

Get off my planet.

Sincerely,
TheNinth