This Happened

[mimekiller]

Greetings from the dark ages of CA when a mild delta breeze can now shut off power for 600,000 people for 3-5 days.

[Tahlvin]

Saturday morning, my son got his driver's permit. We let him drive home part of the way from the DMV on back country roads with little traffic. He had driven a couple times before in empty parking lots, and he did a fine job for his first time out on the road with occasional traffic. Everything went well until he pulled into our driveway. At that point, a slow-motion accident unfolds, where the right side of the SUV he's driving scrapes the side view mirror on our car that was parked in a side spot in our driveway. And it's not one of those fold-away mirrors that politely moved out of the way; it's a fixed mirror which had no choice in the matter. I saw it coming before contact was made, but he's a new driver and it takes him awhile to respond to the verbal feedback, so it proceeded to happen.

The side mirror was damaged and had to be replaced, but there was no other damage to that other vehicle. It's actually already been replaced, costing a few hundred dollars at the local repair shop. The SUV had a black stripe and a dent down the side. The black stripe was the plastic from the other car's mirror, and came off easy enough with one of the soft polishing tips and my Dremel tool, and the paint on the SUV is otherwise undamaged. The dent goes from right in front of and above the front tire to right by the handle of the front passenger door. I have one of those dent removing tools, so I'll see if I can get it at least part of the way back to normal. But since the paint is undamaged, I'm not too worried about it. If the tool I have doesn't work, I can always ask at a body shop about getting it pounded out with minimal effort on their part, since they won't have to repaint or anything like that.

We told our son to laugh about it, because it's funny as hell! It'll make a great story to share with his kids when they start driving, like I share how I t-boned somebody in a pickup truck in an intersection a week after getting my license. There's no serious damage, and he probably learned a really good lesson about paying attention and spacial awareness that will stick with him at the very least during his probationary license period.

[Phoebe]

Woooop! Glad everyone was unscathed, every human that is, and hope it will be that positive learning moment!

Here I have been up since the crack of dawn supposedly as it was needed by several people for several reasons, exactly none of which turned out to be true or legit, so I could have slept in all morning while sick but did not! The silver lining is, I can accomplish something in this quiet and hopefully have a better day. Last week a very bad week, capped yesterday by demoralizing events not worth going into. In summary, my lifestyle is totally insupportable even if I kick my own butt to work hard, and I'm frankly in the mood for a period of mediocrity. It's like, if the only way I can get it done is to run myself into the ground, why am I doing it? Also daily confront the reality that if comfortable middle class life is constantly stressful and constantly involves expensive problems, I seriously do not understand how the vast majority of people are making it through life day to day. Really don't get it. Our lifestyles and financial demands are shit compared to what previous generations had. The "middle class" could support a family comfortably in a modest house on one modest full time salary. It seems like this is hardly possible anymore even with two average full time salaries. It seems like any surplus is eaten up in a thousand ways. But more importantly, the list of needed tasks in a family's daily living is more than anyone who works can handle. Single parents, how could they do it without massive help from other family or friends? I don't know.

[akiva]

That sounds like a hell of a fun week. And I agree about the middle class: my wife and I both work, and do pretty well, but we live in a smaller house, and in a crappier neighborhood, than the one I grew up in, and only my father worked.

[Phoebe]

[akiva]

First fight of the year in my room.

[DMDarcs]

Home by myself for the long weekend. Decide to get some cleaning done, and start on the dishes. After draining the sink on the 3rd load, I note that the water doesn't sound right draining. Look under the sink to find out that a whole section of the plumbing has mysteriously gone missing. I can fix it easy enough, but by the time I've noticed this, both hardware stores in town are closed for the day, so it gets put off until this morning. This is why I don't do chores.

[mimekiller]

[akiva]

I *hate* daily affirmation type things.

[Phoebe]

Here to affirm the universe is still incomprehensible. The question is whether my kid really has to vomit or is just very hungry and feels sick but doesn't realize why. I do feed him by the way.

Also Chico sent me a $25 coupon. Just like that, free $25. Why? No way to avoid turning into an old lady who shops at Chico's if they're going to send free money. On their part it's not as dumb as it may seem because the pants soon turn out to be indispensable for life.

[Tahlvin]

[Phoebe]

[Phoebe]

[DMDarcs]

[Phoebe]

My puzzler is still puzzling over this. Maybe someone somehow got access to your house and stole it... But... Why? Nah it makes no sense at all. It does, however, explain the current political situation in the U.S. This simulation went awry and now there are glitches.

[Mike]

I'm at my desk, minding my own business, when the person in next office says, "I'm off to the employee recognition thing. You sure you don't want to go?"

I said, "No thank you. I don't even like going when I'm the one being recognized."

She replies, "How many years do you have now?"

I do a little mental math. "Aw shit. I've been here 25 years."

Her: "You need a ride?"

15 minutes later, I am waiting to get my 25 year mug and typing this up for you guys.

[Phoebe]

Congratulations! 25 years!

[Phoebe]

Teenagers are sometimes totally irrational! Maybe that means they're rational most of the time and totally irrational sometimes? Or should I rather say they're partly irrational most of the time and totally irrational sometimes? I feel like I was never like this, yet if at the time I was totally void of reason, how would I really know? It makes me feel like being nicer to my parents.

Also if anyone has tips on getting your kids to do things that seem like basic common sense but are simply unlearnable, let me know. I feel bad getting frustrated at them because they don't do things that are truly wrong, and I feel I should be extremely lucky and grateful that they don't do truly upsetting things as others in their larger family group have been capable of. So I don't want to hammer down with punishment that doesn't fit the crime, but it is very difficult to live with totally irrational people who cannot learn to do simple things that you would think are essential to the functions of life! Are all teenagers like this, even the good ones? Has anyone looked into medication or other ways of solving this brain problem they may all have?

[Phoebe]

Re: the above, Akiva, have you looked into the possibility of teaching, like, 6-9 year olds? I feel like those are some peak years, as the child seeks and then develops the capacity for reasoning, before totally and apparently willfully abandoning it at least some of the time. If I were going to teach kids I think it would have to be 6 to 8 or so.

[akiva]