Random Rants ΟΔ: broken record

[aimeeandbeatles]

I think something died in one of the other apartments. The entire building smells awful. I can't even eat without feeling nauseated.

 

[The_J]

Make sure that someone else can smell it too, just to be sure that it's not an issue with your brain (if the latter is the case: ER ASAP!).
If so, then get the house manager to check around.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

The other neighbours were complaining about it too, and one of them said they called the manager. But until they get here there's the smell...

 

[Synobun]

Maybe a mouse in the vents.

 

[Snerk]

I smell a rat.

 

[rah]

Maybe a mouse in the vents.

Better that than a neighbor.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Better that than a neighbor.

I was just thinking, is everyone accounted for? Maybe call 911 to do a "wellness check"?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Modern world, full of opportunities to lock one's head up one's butt. A guy in my town got hit by a train. Witness says he had his headphones on and was looking at his phone and just walked right in front of it. A freaking TRAIN. If a train can sneak up on you, what does that say about cars? Thugs? What else are you missing out on? C'mon people, LIVE.

 

[Cutlass]

My sister is being committed to a mental institution tonight. She gave birth to her first child 3 weeks ago so I guess you could say she had post partum depression, but from what I've heard there seem to be symptoms of a mixed manic episode. She does have a history of Bipolar, as well as OCD mostly manifested as Scrupulosity.

My mother is coming home from the hospital tomorrow. She seems to be recovering well from the stroke she had on labor day and is basically back to how she was a month ago except for some more visual impairment. It is hard to say how much of that is due to neurological damage, diabetic retinapathy, cataracts, or losing her glasses. She can make out colors well now but has trouble reading with letters or numbers less than about a half inch tall.

Mom has been asking how my sister is doing, but dad insists that we need to keep her condition secret from mom as he fears worrying about it would hinder her recovery.

I'm sorry for all the trouble your family has been having.

Have you considered the possibility of chemical toxins in the home or water?

 

[Takhisis]

But is there not also a Spanish word for 'homework'? Google suggests "la tarea", "los deberes" or "el trabajo de casa"; that second one presumably has the same root as the French, "les devoirs" (= lit. 'the obligations').

Or did you mean that you never got homework from school in Argentina...?

The German tendency to use compounded words does sometimes feel a little like Newspeak, though (my wife has a translated copy of 1984, which I should probably have a look at at some point). Their animal-words are a case in point: How many of these have you met so far?

And here's a couple more that aren't on any of those lists:

Nashorn = 'nose-horn' = rhinoceros
Nilpferd = 'Nile-horse' = hippopotamus

...although admittedly, the 'English' words for those are (pretty much) straight outta Classical Greek...

Spoiler :

Rhino-keros = nose-horn
Hippo-potamou = horse of the river

...so who am I to judge?

Of course the Españish (or, for the cultured, Castilian) tongue has many words for ‘homework’.
But I think that the sense of humour dictates that first you write down some things on the blackboard and say that that's all the homework for next class, and then a couple days later you just drop a bombshell on the unsuspecting students, namely, more homework.

Nashorn and nilpferd are calques from the two original Greek names.

Of the Germans and their weird animal names: I knew ‘Schwein’, because we use ‘Schweinsteiger’ as an example of when to pronounce ‘st’ as though it were ‘ßt’.

 

[MaryKB]

I'm travelling to Ontario tomorrow for my parents' 40th anniversary on Saturday, and I'm feeling a lot of anxiety.

My fiance is coming with me, this is going to be the first time he's met any of my family, and I'm really not sure how it's going to go. My parents have pretty much never approved of anything I've done in my entire life, and most stories they tell about me to my extended family are lies, because for some reason they think something they make up is better for me than how I've chosen to live. My whole family treated my last boyfriend like total crap (he ended up being a horrible person, but they didn't even know him when they treated him poorly), so I feel I'm justifiably worried.

And my parents have been miserable for decades and completely hate each other, I don't know why they're even celebrating, I mean both of them absolutely hate each other, you know what I mean? Well I guess it's just an excuse for family to get together, right?

This weekend just can't go fast enough, I can't wait for Monday, lol. At least I'll get to see my nieces.

 

[Synobun]

Will you be staying with them? If you are, I'd suggest getting a motel. Costly, but well worth the lack of stress in being trapped under the same roof as the negativity.

 

[Takhisis]

And my parents have been miserable for decades and completely hate each other, I don't know why they're even celebrating, I mean both of them absolutely hate each other, you know what I mean? Well I guess it's just an excuse for family to get together, right?

This might sound like an aphorism written by Homer Simpson for a fortune cookie, MaryKB, but hatred and love are both sides of the same coin.

 

[MaryKB]

I'm using an AirBnB rental. I absolutely refuse to stay with my parents (especially if I'm bringing a man). Not only do they totally not respect my privacy, but sadly their place is so filthy, last time I stayed with them (2006) I had to cry myself to sleep. I tried to hire someone to clean their apartment in February, but those people I hired quit in tears after only 15 minutes in my mother's bathroom. Oh dear, I must sound just like a horrible person, but it's something that's always troubled me.

 

[Synobun]

Nah. We don't pick our biological family. They are what they are, and it isn't easy to separate yourself from that. My sister is filthy and a hoarder as well.

 

[Takhisis]

Have you cleared this with your future husband? It seems as if he deserved a warning at the very least.

 

[Cutlass]

Mom's dog is still untrained. And when sis went over to try to help her out some, mom gets in a hissy fit, so sis leaves. So dog is still not housebroken after a couple of months.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Nah. We don't pick our biological family. They are what they are, and it isn't easy to separate yourself from that. My sister is filthy and a hoarder as well.

We don't pick them is pretty easy. The critical thing to get, for me, was that just because they happened to be related to me their opinions didn't automatically carry more weight than anyone else's. That took some ego busting, since by nature it seemed to make sense that anyone related to the mighty me should, in fact, count at least double...but, actually, they don't.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I'm travelling to Ontario tomorrow for my parents' 40th anniversary on Saturday, and I'm feeling a lot of anxiety.

My fiance is coming with me, this is going to be the first time he's met any of my family, and I'm really not sure how it's going to go. My parents have pretty much never approved of anything I've done in my entire life, and most stories they tell about me to my extended family are lies, because for some reason they think something they make up is better for me than how I've chosen to live. My whole family treated my last boyfriend like total crap (he ended up being a horrible person, but they didn't even know him when they treated him poorly), so I feel I'm justifiably worried.

And my parents have been miserable for decades and completely hate each other, I don't know why they're even celebrating, I mean both of them absolutely hate each other, you know what I mean? Well I guess it's just an excuse for family to get together, right?

This weekend just can't go fast enough, I can't wait for Monday, lol. At least I'll get to see my nieces.

Somehow I'm reminded of a friend's parents. I met this person in 1985 - she was wearing a gorgeous authentic-looking Fourth Doctor scarf at the summer SF convention in Calgary, so I complimented her on it. We got chatting, and next thing I knew, I was invited over to her house to watch videos.

Anyway, her family situation was weird. Her parents were divorced, loathed each other, yet still lived together. Apparently they figured that just because they couldn't stand each other, it was no reason not to save on household expenses, so her dad kept on living there. Eventually he moved to one of those Canadian snowbird communities in Arizona and died there... and my friend and her brother didn't miss him for a nanosecond.

From my own family experiences, once the parents don't get along, it's really not best for the kids if they stay together (assuming there's a viable childcare solution available - in my case, my grandparents). So I absolutely do not understand married couples who hate each other and remain married. I guess there are reasons of finance, religion (if your religion doesn't allow divorce), social standing, etc., but it's not something I could do.

I hope they have somewhere other than a filthy apartment for the celebration, like dinner out or something.

 

[Zkribbler]

[slips a thermonuclear bomb to MaryKB]:

If your parents start ragging on your fiance, merely say: "I don't understand why you're even celebrating your anniversary. It's clear to everyone that you two loath each other." Your fiance will be immediately forgotten.