The spite, hate, rage, apathy and mild irritation thread...

[neonblack]

Too broke to pay for childcare to go to band practice

Have you considered buying one of those huge headphone ear protectors and giving him the Switch to let him sit on the corner at band practice? Maybe it could work if you pointed out the bathroom. That basically worked for a former band with an xbox in the corner.

I thought about that, but our room is pretty tiny and it gets pretty loud in there. We could probably take it down a little while he was there, but he's also really curious about playing music (which is AWESOME) so I worry that he would take his headphones off and/or try to mess with pedals or the drums.

Maybe I'll try to rearrange the room to give him some space and see how he does one time. Maybe we'll work on writing or tweaking stuff instead of running through our set at full volume.

[neonblack]

Jesus Christ it is hard to be a good man. I'm still trying, but holy shit. Maybe some other folks could try a little bit? Things would be a little more humane, perhaps?

I often wonder how much easier my life would be if I were a total piece of shit

[Invisible Man]

Lawn mowing headphones and let him run.

Yours would be waaaaay easier. But everyone else's would be harder. Thus the problem.

#tragedyofthecommons

[neonblack]

run

I think the room is like 7 ft x 9ft? And stuffed with gear haha. He would likely have to sit on top of a Peavey head and use gig bags as cushions.

Possibly doable.

My bass player has been looking around for a bigger place with less people around. We share a warehouse with like 20 other bands, plus a hip hop studio. It's a cool environment and it's a good place to meet other bands but also when the stoner metal band next door starts playing, we can't really get much done.

Been putting in applications and sending out resumes like crazy. Nothing back yet. Had to borrow money from my grandpa to pay rent for the first time in 2 years. Didn't feel good.

[Corey Y]

Jesus Christ it is hard to be a good man. I'm still trying, but holy shit. Maybe some other folks could try a little bit? Things would be a little more humane, perhaps?

I often wonder how much easier my life would be if I were a total piece of shit

I have this thought A LOT. Same with my wife. We also talk a lot about we both were just kind of doing whatever as kids, with no one watching, while our parents partied and were alcoholics and/or drug addicts and discuss how much easier parenting would be if we just didn't give a shit. Also, how it must be really relaxing to be shitty and/or stupid, because they never worry if they're fucking up or doing enough.

[friendship]

Jesus Christ it is hard to be a good man. I'm still trying, but holy shit. Maybe some other folks could try a little bit? Things would be a little more humane, perhaps?

I often wonder how much easier my life would be if I were a total piece of shit

I have this thought A LOT. Same with my wife. We also talk a lot about we both were just kind of doing whatever as kids, with no one watching, while our parents partied and were alcoholics and/or drug addicts and discuss how much easier parenting would be if we just didn't give a shit. Also, how it must be really relaxing to be shitty and/or stupid, because they never worry if they're fucking up or doing enough.

My parents were also profoundly irresponsible, shitty people with no remorse, and here's how I like to think about it. It's true that their surface consciences are clean, thanks to their childish egos protecting them from any critical self-reflection, but when I look at their lives I see nothing but vapidity and waste, and I find it difficult to believe that this isn't a source of pain and regret in the deeper, unexamined layers of their psyche. Parenting was something they clearly hated doing, and they did such a bad job of it that none of their children speak to them, so they don't even have anything to show for all that struggle. They'll never face their life choices, so redemption is not possible, but the reality of their lives serves as its own punishment: empty, valueless, bereft of genuine connections with other people, without even material accomplishments (other than what they inherited from their dead parents) to console themselves with. It doesn't make me happy to understand this about them, because it's sad and pointless, but it's a (possibly morbid) form of satisfaction to know that they've reaped precisely the life that they sowed.

All this to say, yeah shitty people look like they're totally fine because they don't cope with shame, guilt, regret, or engage in the hard work of being a better person, but ultimately their lives are truly pathetic in a way that others who make an effort will never be.

[Corey Y]

Yeah, I'm too much of a tortured existentialist to really regret caring and thinking about things. Depression and anxiety seem to be the cost of really intensely being aware of, thinking and caring about everything going on around you, but I'd rather feel shitty and try to find a way to process it than just be willfully ignorant and shitty all the time. I kind of feel pretentious talking about the subject, I don't think of myself as a genius or a brilliant and insightful artist or anything. I've always just been painfully sensitive since I was a kid and it seems like 99% of people just don't notice everything that's happening around them or intentionally ignore it and I've never been able to do that.

[Invisible Man]

Sensitive instruments take accurate measurements.

(But they're easy to damage.)

[aens_wife]

Sensitive instruments take accurate measurements.

(But they're easy to damage.)

It me.

[aens_wife]

I learned some new bullshit from USPS today. Turns out that you cannot stop an international package NO MATTER WHAT, unless you can file a mail fraud claim and have that processed before it gets to its destination.

I had two possibly fraudulent web sales in the last 24 hours. Both from England. One of them had already shipped and one hadn't. All of the money (almost $1500) is frozen in my credit card account. Fine, no big deal. I'll just call the USPS and pull the first package back and wait for the credit card shit to work out. NOPE. Even though it is in Minneapolis and I have a tracking number, they can do nothing. Fuck this whole entire day/week/month/year.

[Chankgeez]

Maybe you can contact Royal Mail and have 'em stop it?

[Achtane]

The stupid, or assholes, or stupid assholes are playing life on easy mode. Everyone knows that hard mode unlocks the...uh, true ending?
New Game Plus?
Hmm...

[Olin]

Maybe you can contact Royal Mail and have 'em stop it?

Yeah, at least try this, Royal Mail are about 6000x more competent than North American postal services, might not go anywhere but it's worth a shot.
Also threatening the scammer with small claims court usually works in England because absolutely no one is prepared to go there and it's a spectacularly unpleasant experience for both sides, especially the scammer.

edit: inb4 someone tries to tell me there isn't an actual court for small claims, I know.

[Jwar]

I learned some new bullshit from USPS today. Turns out that you cannot stop an international package NO MATTER WHAT, unless you can file a mail fraud claim and have that processed before it gets to its destination.

I had two possibly fraudulent web sales in the last 24 hours. Both from England. One of them had already shipped and one hadn't. All of the money (almost $1500) is frozen in my credit card account. Fine, no big deal. I'll just call the USPS and pull the first package back and wait for the credit card shit to work out. NOPE. Even though it is in Minneapolis and I have a tracking number, they can do nothing. Fuck this whole entire day/week/month/year.

Can you do a fraud charge back so you can get your money at least? That fucking sucks.

[aens_wife]

I don't think we can do a fraud charge back because the $ was more than our processor covers. It was over $600 for the first scammer. We refunded the second scammer ($840) today before we shipped the pedals.

I filed a mail fraud charge tonight and I'll keep bugging the postal service but I am not optimistic. What a shitty awful day (for more reasons than just this).