I just feel like posting videos today.
Can you guess the underlying theme here?
Well, I kind of gave it away with the title, huh?
Enjoy the videos, or not, as you wish, and consider this an open thread.
Categories
We Hunted The MammothBucking the Backlash
Man, traveling with infants is exhausting even when there’s not a whole lot but sitting around visiting when you’re not in the car.
Me bairns had their six-month checkup, they’re doing very well, but they had another round of shots and their first flu shots, so they felt awful for a couple of days.
I haven’t been around much as a result, but nothing of value was lost.
Yay for healthy bairns!
Did I tell you guy that my best friend had a baby boy? It’s a big deal, because her last baby was born very prematurely and almost died, and she was again showing signs of the problem that caused that preterm birth. She deperately wanted to make it to at least 28 weeks, and she made it all the way to 32 weeks and she and her son are healthy. He had to stay a few extra weeks in the hospital as a precaution, but he’s home now and everyone (including his older sister) is over the moon.
After weeks of anxiety-fueled procrastination, I have decided to go with my father’s plans and attend UCSC this quarter. My main reasons for doing so are
1) I will find it very difficult to go to school without him paying for my tuition, and he will refuse to pay for any more of my university education if I refuse to go this quarter
2) If I move to Colorado now, I’ll have a very hard time trying to move out of my mom’s house, and I don’t want my dad to follow me to my mom’s place since he knows the address (I accidentally showed him once)
3) While I’m not looking forward to living with my father for a longer time, living with him will mean that I’ll get to spend more time with my little sisters before I leave them
4) Seeking therapy with the help of UCSC’s student health care services will be hugely beneficial to me at this time, even though I am unable to start HRT and GRS while my father has financial control over me
5) I can make this an opportunity to stay away from home as often as possible and try to make friends at school for once. In community college, I was too scared to make friends, so hopefully this quarter I can try to further improve my social life.
Part of me finds the idea of living with my dad dreadful, but at least this way my life won’t go on a radically different track suddenly.
Hooray for all the good health of all the babies!
Also good news! Apparently my commute won’t be very difficult after all – since my classes aren’t early in the morning, I can take the bus pretty late in the day. The earliest I’d have to wake up is like 9:30. It probably won’t be like this every quarter, though.
I hope that will go well for you đŸ™‚ Did the financial aid paperwork go through?
I’m so sorry that you’re having to follow your dad’s whims. Whatever your reasons, I’m sure he’ll take it as capitulation and/or the result of his authority.
I hope UCSC is at least tolerable for you.
And hooray for cloudiah’s friend and her bouncing baby boy!
Or rather I should say, I hope you make plenty of good friends at UCSC!
Ally, I know going to UCSC wasn’t your first choice, but it sounds like you’re moving forward! Here’s to good friends and a good therapist in your future.
My sister is having surgery next Wednesday and I’m driving to her place on Tuesday to stay with her for a week to take care of her and her dog. She’s having back surgery, so she won’t be able to lift anything over 5 pounds for a while. I wish I could stay longer than a week, but she has a roommate and friends who’ve promised to stop by. I’m planning to grocery shop, do the laundry, and cook some stuff for her freezer right before I go home.
I’m a little nervous about the trip because we live 530 miles apart and I’ve never driven that far by myself. I’ve only driven about 1/3 that distance by myself. Then I feel kind of dumb for feeling nervous. It’s straight interstate and I have a solid car.
@katz
Yep, it did – my dad went out of his way to make sure it went through.
@Falconer
Well, certainly UCSC will be tolerable – I just wish that I could go there without living with my dad. I’ve heard pretty much nothing but good things about UCSC, so I’m excited.
I hope so, too! I really need to somehow get rid of the “I’m too unlikable to be anyone’s friend” mindset, though – that’s pretty much the main reason I’m usually reluctant to befriend people IRL. X_X
Ally, if you’re half as likable off-line as you are on-line, you should have no problem making friends. (I know it’s easy for me to say that!) The one person I knew at UCSC *just* finished his dissertation and moved to Oakland, but I’m checking with him about promising/interesting political work, etc. in the area. Will email you if/when I hear back.
Ally, the trick I used when I started college was “nobody here knows who I’m supposed to be, so I can pretend to be anyone I want”. I humbly offer you that as a suggestion.
@cloudiah
I appreciate it! =]
@Robert
I’m sorry, but I don’t quite get what you mean. Are you saying that the fact that people at UCSC don’t know who I’m supposed to be like means that it’ll be easier for me to make friends there?
Election day today and I’m really tense, because it’s all too likely the appalling Liberal Party (the name’s a lie and has been for decades: think Tories/Republicans) will get in, and that utter piece of shit Tony Abbott will be Prime Minister. Three years of an extremely racist, homophobic, misogynistic man as PM and a party whose attitudes are “
let refugees diestop the boats” and “climate change is crap” and marriage equality is the “fashion of the moment” (the latter two are Abbott’s own words) is a really frightening and depressing thought.It doesn’t help that my legs are aching like mad this morning, of course. I think I’ll listen to sarumanangry when Mum goes to vote then do some knitting.
Ally – I read Robert’s comment as meaning people at UCSC not only have no previous knowledge of you (blank slate) but that they aren’t going by how you think people view you. Your image of yourself as unlikeable doesn’t apply: you can try out something different. That sounds over simplified but I’m not writing too clearly just now!
Good luck at school, Ally!
Aaaaand I got an email from our father. I’m very annoyed that those five email filters I took together just ARE NOT WORKING, because I got it straight in my inbox regardless. It had only one line: “God be with you.” Funny, since our father is not a religious man.
I can’t afford to be upset right now — there’s a party going on, and I have no room to retreat to now that I’m homeless again — but I’ll probably have a good cry tonight. Apparently even one line still takes a lot of my energy. To make myself feel better, I shall write giant robots hurt/comfort stories.
Would it be too mean to write back with “Judge not, lest ye be judged”?
I don’t want to speak to them at all, or encourage conversation.
My response would be better summed up as, “I’m an atheist, and even if I weren’t, there is no god here.”
Damn, sorry the filters broke and you had to read that. I endorse your giant robot plan.
I bring only randomness
kittehserf, don’t we all.
We were planning to go to a double movie session tonight to avoid all the unfolding drama but #1daughter has invited us over for dinner and to watch the count. So at least we’ll be with people who won’t mind too much all the cursing and swearing if it goes as seems likely. Though I suppose we shouldn’t throw food at her TV or kick the cat or the dog.
I really don’t much like Rudd but the thought of that other man – and some of his deeply horrible sidekicks, Sophie Mirabella anyone? – fills me with dread.
RE: cloudiah
It’s okay; our friend fielded it, but since the email was just one line, she was totally cool just sending the line. And honestly, they could’ve sent me a picture of a bunny and I’d still have gotten upset, so at least my reaction is expected.
Also, giant robots uber-short posted! For the first time, I sent an email to a knowledgeable stranger for story research purposes! I feel nervous and like some fraud impersonating a professional. *laughs* But he’s a black belt in Tae Kwon Do who also uses forearm crutches, which is EXACTLY the kind of thing I want to learn about for story purposes.
Argh, I feel the Aussies’ pain. Our PM is pretty (totally) shit but at least he’s not a Mad Monk. I have a Darwin-dwelling uncle who’s probably voting for him, but I blame the copious quantities of beer he swears is mandatory for survival in the Top End (electrolytes or summat) addling his brain.
Ally, here’s my suggestion about friends: Make a conscious effort to take everyone at face value. Like if someone invites you to hang out with people, it’s easy to go “they don’t really like me, they’re just inviting me out of obligation.” So you have to consciously tell yourself that they’re most likely doing exactly what they seem to be doing: They thought you would be fun to hang out with so they invited you. Or if someone tells you “I can’t come to your thing because I have to study,” it’s easy to think “they hate me and are trying to avoid me.” So you consciously choose to believe that they really do have to study.
Off-current-discussion topic, an entry in the “Laugh so you don’t cry” category:
The second video in the series has some real bite to it.