Struggle Thread mk II - No one likes us, we don't care

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Ate a dozen cookies in a sitting.  Now I feel like shit.

I once ate a pound of cookies in a sitting. It not only made me feel like shit, it wasn't very filling either.

 

[king of the internet]

Ate a dozen cookies in a sitting.  Now I feel like shit.

What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall while you inhale a package of oreos in twenty minutes, must be a glorious sight

[CatsCatsCats]

Christmas potluck today at work, the break room is a sea of stuff I know I'm going to eat and fat shame myself for

[I'm a Puppy!]

Eat a 16 oz. steak and everyone's asking how good it was. Eat a pound of cookies and everyone loses their minds.

[Purrp Skirrp]

Working in a factory for an unlivable wage because I dropped out of college. Thanks Obama.

[I'm a Puppy!]

Working in a factory for an unlivable wage because I dropped out of college. Thanks Obama.

If only they had released that Michelle rap earlier!!

[Madrun Badrun]

Working in a factory for an unlivable wage because I dropped out of college. Thanks Obama.

Well at least you won't have to work there long once robots make you obsolete. 

[Shadow Mod]

Working in a factory for an unlivable wage because I dropped out of college. Thanks Obama.

There were unions once, the good ones even paid for health benefits for your spouse and children.

[TakingBackSunday]

I have interviews all next week for a couple companies in nashville, atlanta, chicago, and cleveland.  Interest from Mailchimp...kind of cool.

I know this is a struggle thread but I wanted to bump it to say that my struggles aren't so struggly anymore

[Joe Molotov]

Working in a factory for an unlivable wage because I dropped out of college. Thanks Obama.

There were unions once, the good ones even paid for health benefits for your spouse and children.

My grandma was able to live out her old age on my grandpa's GM retirement benefits. Seems almost unbelievable now.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I found out on 23AndMe that I'm 3% Ashkenazi.  Not sure if it is a rounding error; I have no idea just how accurate and reliable those test results are.

[Shadow Mod]

Can't digest dairy like I used to 

[lennedsay]

I found out on 23AndMe that I'm 3% Ashkenazi.  Not sure if it is a rounding error; I have no idea just how accurate and reliable those test results are.

What was the closest relative that popped up on 23andMe? And how many matches? Just curious. My husband had a first cousin pop up. He's adopted so there's a gigantic can of worms to be opened with that. He messaged her and she seemed eager to talk, but had no idea which aunt or uncle could be his parent. In his true fashion, my husband just never responded after that lol And I facebook stalked the shit out of her and her family, because that's what I do. They're all from Louisiana, so they're French Canadian, and a set of great grandparents were Sicilian. His results reflected all that to a t.

We signed him up just to find out nationality/background, but we have no idea if any of his results are accurate since he doesn't know his biological family. I need to do mine so at least we'd know if its semi-accurate. My mom did one on Ancestry.com and a first cousin popped up that was her actual first cousin. And the nationality results seemed pretty accurate based on her research.

[CatsCatsCats]

Might be able to get out of Christmas at my parents after all -- apparently last week my brother got booked for getting in a drunken, public, physical altercation with his girlfriend. He was already on probation and in diversion for a similar situation this summer. Both times she's been saying it's all her fault etc. I mean, I've seen this girl get pretty out there while drunk with her emotions and behavior -- but there's no excuse for my brother to get physical, he's basically built like the mountain. While living with them, I never saw them get physical but they were always very loud and dramatic after a certain amount of booze. This recent event happened on her birthday at a modest mouse concert. Really glad I'm not living with this currently. He gets arraigned thursday and is being held without bail due to the prior probation. They just moved in together too so I'm sure that will be a mess -- they got a no contact order dropped last time this happened, but that was only a harassment charge -- the sounds like it will be more domestic abuse / assault. Edit: looked up his arrest and it just says harassment.

My parents are bewildered where this could come from. My parents who drank and fought my entire childhood. Really wish I could turn off emotion and just disconnect from this family. It seems like every interaction I have with them as an adult just causes me pain. It's shitty to say, but it's not like they're my blood either.

[CatsCatsCats]

Holy shit. Just got a text from my dad, apparently according to a witness who contacted the girlfriend via Facebook my brother kicked her while she was on the ground. The girlfriend has been saying she doesn't remember the night.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Dude thats really messed up, all the best not letting it get to you.

[brawndolicious]

It's going to get bad for a while. I would try to get your brother a lawyer and encourage him to accept a plea with no felonies. He admits he fucked up but his life isn't necessarily ruined. Also keep in touch with the gf and try to assure her you're not trying to take sides (could be impossible since he's your sibling).

I was in your position (but not as bad) with my parents 10 months ago and the first instinct is to just not get involved in the mess between two dysfunctional adults but it's probably best for you if you just try to get thus over with as quickly as possible.

[Shadow Mod]

Some people who need therapy the most never get it, it seems.

[chronovore]

Man, CatsCatsCats, that's doubly horrible to have to deal with during an already stressful time of year.

In honor of your name, I offer the following inspirational poster:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Madrun Badrun]

Gained 7 pounds in the last month.  I can't wait to marry a military man so I can just let myself go. 

[Purrp Skirrp]

The Bore doesn't have a dark theme, does it? :'(

[Phoenix Dark]

The Bore doesn't have a dark theme, does it? :'(

Not unless Beezy, Himu, AiA, Mr Nobody, and Stony aren't telling me something.

[brawndolicious]

So I just explained to a 40-something Nepalese woman why it's not okay to doodle swastikas onto kleenex boxes, even though it is a religious symbol in Hinduism. She was apparently surprised that the Germans also used this symbol at one time. This woman has multiple college degrees.

[Phoenix Dark]

So I just explained to a 40-something Nepalese woman why it's not okay to doodle swastikas onto kleenex boxes, even though it is a religious symbol in Hinduism. She was apparently surprised that the Germans also used this symbol at one time. This woman has multiple college degrees.

[Madrun Badrun]

Stop pushing your eurocentrism on people brawndolicious

[brawndolicious]

That was pretty, prett-ay good.

[Rufus]

So I just explained to a 40-something Nepalese woman why it's not okay to doodle swastikas onto kleenex boxes, even though it is a religious symbol in Hinduism. She was apparently surprised that the Germans also used this symbol at one time. This woman has multiple college degrees.

[Joe Molotov]

The twist is that Glen Shinobi is a 40-something Nepalese woman.

[Madrun Badrun]

 Been trying to ease up on eating doughnuts so I switched to muffins.  Ate too many muffins today.

[brawndolicious]

So I asked the janitor who's from Ghana whether he learned this kind of stuff about Nazis at an early age like we do here and he said his major in the University of Ghana was actually Modern European History.

 

But that yes it's normal for people in Western Africa to at least know the swastika is associated with the Nazis even if they don't know the particular reason. Had a good laugh at her ignorance. She has a Masters you guys.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Yeah that sounds like a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode.

Larry: So I explained to her that it's not okay to doodle swastikas onto these kleenex boxes. And she has multiple college degrees.

Jeff: Woooow. That's crazy!

Larry: I know that's crazy right. But who knows what they teach in Nepal.

*gets into awkward situation*

Guest: Larry... did you put these swastikas here?

Larry: What? No. A Nepalese woman I know did that. And she didn't know about the whole Nazi germany thing. Crazy right?

Guest: A Nepalese woman?

Larry: Yeah and she's got college degrees and everything. Can you believe it?

Guest:

[Human Snorenado]

Sent my mom an email trying to reconcile with her but making it blatantly clear I want and will have nothing to do with my sister's toxic bullshit. Been almost 4 months since we talked, which was a 2 am phone call from mom trying to get me to call my dad in the middle of the night because my sister was making a bs suicide threat after wrecking her car. Spoiler alert: she didn't kill herself, because what she does when she gets upset and overwhelmed is threaten suicide so people will leave her alone or at least quit suggesting she has any culpability for the shit show that is her life.

Anyway, I feel bad for my mother but will have nothing to do with the train wreck that is my sister at this point, and made that clear. I guess I should reconcile or blah blah blah whatever. I feel bad about not being in my mother's life, but real talk: her continued support of my sister (taking care of my sister's 16 year old kid with asperger's after my sister had another kid about a year ago because dear sister was overwhelmed and couldn't deal with it all, naturally) is taking years off of my mother's life, and frankly I find that to be bullshit.

+3 drinks into the evening, by the by.

[Tasty]

Got a scary sounding eviction-ish notice. Hopefully I can straighten this out tomorrow. 

[Tasty]

Straightened out. I knew I was overreacting because of lack of sleep, but still, that letter scared the piss out of me.

All square now.

[Human Snorenado]

Not paying your rent on time

[Tasty]

[Mupepe]

If you're not going to pay on time just tell your landlord.  Then you can avoid that scary letter on your door.  Tenant laws are on your side either way.  Most landlords don't want to go through the hassle of evicting you. 

[Tasty]

Sweet. I knew I was overreacting about it but I had never gotten something that sternly worded before.

What I did this month is I paid half the rent on time then half on the 14, and the 14 is when the letter was dated.

Setting up automatic payment so I don't have to worry about this anymore, just have to make sure my roommate pays me on the 30th so I don't get fucked.

[Steve Contra]

Car got broken into and my washing machine broke on the same day

[Madrun Badrun]

Maybe it was your washing machine trying to finance its own repair? 

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Maybe it was your washing machine trying to finance its own repair?

Que the price is right fail song.

Horrible.

[Madrun Badrun]

Got two giant pimples but its ok cause I'm not seeing anyine over the the holidays anyways. 

[Madrun Badrun]

My mouse is a doughnut and I've been drinking since six.  everything is sticky!

[Madrun Badrun]

My neighbor just heard me shouting jamestown.  well thats embarrassing. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Dunno why I go inside gas stations instead of paying outside; a struggle occurs each time I go in. This morning I was in line and overhead an older white gentlemen explaining that Anne Frank was fabricated by the "Jewish government" to create sympathy for Jews, which they quickly exchanged for money/land/etc. One of the points he made, which I could tell he was quite proud of himself for figuring out, was "what happens when you put the stein back into her last name? You get Frankenstein. Another fake story with similar themes with the Holocaust."

[Madrun Badrun]

 

[Madrun Badrun]

Out of clean underwear 

[Human Snorenado]

Dunno why I go inside gas stations instead of paying outside; a struggle occurs each time I go in. This morning I was in line and overhead an older white gentlemen explaining that Anne Frank was fabricated by the "Jewish government" to create sympathy for Jews, which they quickly exchanged for money/land/etc. One of the points he made, which I could tell he was quite proud of himself for figuring out, was "what happens when you put the stein back into her last name? You get Frankenstein. Another fake story with similar themes with the Holocaust."

Failing to avoid human interaction whenever possible is the biggest L you can inflict on yourself, breh.

[Madrun Badrun]

Saw an old man, sitting alone at a bus stop getting drunk on mouthwash

[Shadow Mod]

Saw an old man, sitting alone at a bus stop getting drunk on mouthwash

Sure that wasn't a vision from the Ghost of Christmas future 

[Phoenix Dark]

At my parents house and the family is discussing their favorite interracial couples, but each one named is a white man/black woman type.

[Tasty]

Weirdest fucking Christmas ever.

OK, so every year since I can remember my grandmother and grandfather (on my mom's side) has come to watch us open gifts in the morning. After we grew up, the focus switched to my niece, who lived with us. When she and her mother (older sister) moved out of my parents' place to their own, all of us made a trip to their house for the past few years (about a 45-min drive for us and 30-min for my grandparents.) Then we'd all go over to my grandparents' house in the afternoon/evening for dinner and more presents (from them.)

Well this year everything got changed up cause of potential family drama, so my sister and niece slept over on Christmas Eve and for the first time in four years we opened gifts in the morning at my parents' house - and for the first time ever, without my grandparents there at all.

So the first bit of drama starts when my 7-year old niece has finished opening her presents from "Santa" and starts on the gifts from my younger sister and me. Younger sis gives her a stocking full of stuff, and she's very proud of it because this is the first year she's had enough to do anything Christmas-y and buy gifts and I love the stocking idea (older sis and me got one too.) It's fun and unique and a a "full" gift while obviously being inexpensive enough to not break the bank. I give her kudos for it. And my niece loved it too.

But then the niece opens my presents for her. Now, everyone who knows me knows I go overboard with everything. This year I downsized significantly, but it was still something of a full spread. She mentioned wanting Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for her 2DS when she was visiting me in Boston and we were playing New Leaf together. So I got her:

- Happy Home Designer, of course.
- An Isabelle Amiibo, imported from Japan (since they're rare as hell here.)
- An Amiibo reader for non-"New" 3DSes (for her 2DS, obvs.)
- A 6-pack of Animal Crossing Amiibo cards.
- And an Animal Crossing Amiibo card binder.

She was obviously freaking the hell out for all this, but it set my sister off since she "liked my gift more." And I have to guiltily admit I like trying to one-up everyone else, cause I like being the cool uncle. But I did feel bad about that.

So World War Drama II happens when we're opening gifts later that day at the grandparents'. Niece gets a lot of neat stuff from them, but then starts opening clothes after clothes after clothes, and just lost interest. To be clear, she was acting like a complete unappreciative brat here. It's a side of her I've very rarely seen and it wasn't pretty, and it sucked cause you could see it was breaking my grandmothers' heart (to her credit, she's always quick to say "something" in situations like this, but bit her tongue this time.)

So then my mom yanks up the clothes and goes to the kitchen and hides them. "We're donating them to goodwill because I work in a women's center twice a month and I see young girls who don't have NOTHING and it's sickening <niece> would act like that."

So my sister starts in about how it's not her place to do that (true) and how mom needs to butt out of her parenting (since obviously this conversation dredged up other arguments about how to raise this child, and both think they're right.) My older sis and I have a conversation outside where she's on the verge of tears, and then about half an hour later there is full blown screaming on the porch between her and my mother.

I know other people have had family drama at holidays but this is my first real experience with it. So on top of 70-fucking-degree whether, no grandparents in the morning, and a fucking screaming match after dinner, this Christmas is the first one I can say without a doubt: sucked.

Here's to hoping for next year...

TLDR:

[Shadow Mod]

And I have to guiltily admit I like trying to one-up everyone else, cause I like being the cool uncle.

Part of the problem if your niece is acting bratty, don't feed into that...

[Mods Help]

The first Christmas that sucks always sucks. I hope it doesn't happen next year. Sorry for the bad experience.

[Tasty]

And I have to guiltily admit I like trying to one-up everyone else, cause I like being the cool uncle.

Part of the problem if your niece is acting bratty, don't feed into that...

She was great and well-behaved the entire morning, even for the "boring" gifts like clothes and crayons and shit.

She did apologize (on her own, since my mom/sister were fighting) to my grandma afterwards.

Objectively, she gets spoiled, but that's inevitable when she's:

- The only child in her family
- Her parents are separated, and the father's side gets her the same amount of shit as we do
- She has everyone on her mother's side (me, my younger sis, parents and grandparents) constantly getting stuff for her

Hard for me to stand out in all that. But I find a way.

But she's no Angelica. I feel she's fairly well adjusted, even if I agree she gets way too much. FWIW I get her way less shit than I did when she was a toddler (and I said as such during my post.) And I LOVE playing vidya with her.

Sharing the love for Animal Crossing

...with a seven-year old

[Tasty]

The first Christmas that sucks always sucks. I hope it doesn't happen next year. Sorry for the bad experience.

Thanks. I think 1 out of 24 isn't so bad. I'm so, so grateful I have the childhood memories of Christmas I do. Fucking magical as shit and I hope my recollection of them stays as sharp as possible.

I think what I need to come to grips with is the old way is on its way out. It sucks to think about, but my grandparents won't be here much longer, and the rest of us will have to make our own traditions for the holiday. Same as everything I suppose. But yeah, it sucks to be in the transition of it all. Nothing is working right and it all sucks.

[Mods Help]

And I have to guiltily admit I like trying to one-up everyone else, cause I like being the cool uncle.

Part of the problem if your niece is acting bratty, don't feed into that...

I think to be fair to Andy, that they should explain the importance of clothes. a lot of kids hate getting clothes for Christmas. I think it was a good time for a lesson of being appreciative and wouldn't fault Andy or even the niece in this case. She's 7 and doesn't know better. I think it was a good time for the family to instill the importance of clothes and the idea of Xmas gift sharing rather than fighting about it. Honestly, no offense to you Andy, but Andrex's mom is kind of the person who escalated things here. Not Andrés, not the grandparents, and not the niece. Andrex's sister has the right of it that their mom has no right to decide what to do with the clothes, and rather than correct her granddaughter and promote more appreciative behavior, she decided to ignore the problem in general by threatening to donate the clothes.

I can only imagine how Andy's grandparents feel about their daughter (?) deciding to donate the clothes they bought (made?) rather than teach their great grandchild the value of their gift.

[Mods Help]

I'd suggest to Andrex to tell your mother your sister is right and to support your sister and to use this time to instill a lesson for your niece tbh but it looks like she already knows she was wrong and is a good kid anyways.

[Shadow Mod]

Kid's mom should be calling out her daughter for being bratty, explain the importance of clothes/useful gifts that aren't just toys.

Kid's mom's mom should stay out of it, ain't her kid.

You should check in with your sis/kid's mom about your niece's behavior as of late before showering her with tons of gifts.

Chill out more with your grandparents before they're gone.

[Human Snorenado]

The one day of the year Taco Bell is closed. Hardly seems worth it, brehs.