Guilty Pleasures

btw, that’s me in the rain forest, but you knew that because i don’t know how to spell forrrrest.

@baked: Oh, we loved Belize. Well, except for when the caretaker of the bungalows walked in on the missus and I in flagrante, but even that turned out pretty well.

Nice ass, Tinkerbell. he he.

@nabisco:
did you go into the rain forest? i was stunned. i thought it would be a disneylike tour and it turned out to be an episode of Lost. they call them howler monkey’s, because they are howling with laughter at the stupid humans trudging around. that rat has shlepped me to such places. i will post the pic of the plane we had to take to get there. smaller than my car.

@baked: Not in Belize, but in other parts yes. I had to pick leeches off my leg leading Vietnamese to refuge in Cambodia – that is how I define “fun”, sadly. I love those howlers; they’re only about the size of a cat ya know, but make noise like a dog.

@baked: @nabisco: I was babysitting a friend’s sons, and the older one loved howler monkeys. All he kept saying is, “They scream at you, and then they throw their poop at you.” No, thank you.

@Promnight: Your dudemanbro is too cute! I saw your long post on the other thread, and I’m sending up wishes to FSM for peace and happiness for your whole family and especially for your son. I love that he loved the DC metro system, and wonder if that’s related to his Aspergers at all. I’ve heard that a lot of kids whose brains are wired a little differently are fascinated with public transit systems. Something about the puzzle it represents–a complicated but ultimately explainable system–that really caters to their special thought processes and gives a lot of satisfaction in solving or mastering the system.

I don’t have too many guilty pleasures that don’t fall squarely into the category of elitist, but I do have an offbeat habit of seeking out and taking pics of silly signs. I’ve uploaded one of my favorites for y’all.

TJ to news: Looks like the revolution has begun.

@Mistress Cynica:
It won’t be treated serious by much of the media till communists, er, fiscal terrorists, um, workers start stringing up those poor put upon MBAs and CEOs who are the ONES who really make the company.

My testorone addled teenaged dipshit self would have killed for school entertainment like that Belly Dancer in Costa Rica. Damn puritans.

Mind you I probably would have passed out from the sensual vibes.

@baked: Nice legs.

@flippin eck: I like transit schedules and maps, and was very good with math. I’ll just sit in back with the nerds, please pass the weed this way.

@flippin eck: Hey, I am sorry I made anyone feel sorry or me, I am ashamed of myself now, I am lucky, really. Dudemanbro is decorating the tree right now and is an angel. Knock wood. Thanks for the kind words, to everyone, however.

@Promnight: Don’t be ashamed. We’re your friends, and we love you.

I know everyone is over in the pestorking thread, but an update if anyone cared — dad’s OK and out of the hospital. All the signs pointed at first to something stroke like (thank the FSM they were relatively close to their home city — they were on the road to Atlanta for the weekend from SC) and they went back. Turns out it was a severe migraine instead. Go figure…

Still, it scared the fuck out of me. His BP went down to 90/50 and his heart rate went wayyy down for a minute. What’s worse is that mom really shouldn’t be driving (and doesn’t — seizures), so when dad was in the hospital, she couldn’t get around. This is Columbia, S.C., not Atlanta (its imperfect transit system looks like utopia compared to here) and you’re SOL without driving.

He’s got to go get an MRI, so we’ll see what happens.

I think I feel like a grown-up now, having to worry about the folks now.

Oh, and I found out that there’ll be an announcement on Dec. 15 at my dad’s autoparts plant to see whether the company’s plant in Columbia or the Newport News one will be open — consolidation. Meaning one of them has to close.

Mitt Romney, you can suck my balls.

@rptrcub: this sounds scary. Does he have a history of migraines?

@Dodgerblue: Actually, no. He is diabetic, but I’m not sure how this plays into it, other than he hasn’t been eating or exercising as he should be. And neither mine nor my mother’s nagging gets any results.

@rptrcub: I’m so glad he’s better! Migraines can come with all sorts of weird things like visual auras and nausea and vomiting. I lose my right field of vision before a bad one.

I hope he’ll get the best treatment available and this will be nothing but a scary fluke. How are you and your mother holding up?

@rptrcub: So glad it wasn’t a stroke. How terrifying for all of you. I’m sure the stress over the job situation isn’t helping. Hugs to all of you.

@rptrcub: So glad, hoping MRI is clean.

Thee automakers have been granted a reprieve, at least, for long enough for Obama to take office, big sigh of relief here.

@JNOV: My wife gets full-on migraines with the aura, numbness on one side, inability to speak (or speaking gibberish) plus the killer headache. Runs in her family.

@Dodgerblue: Yeah, the first time I had the aura I thought I was having a stroke. It was horrible. And I can’t take anything for them because of my high blood pressure. But one of the unintended benefits of the mood stabilizers is that they seem to have kept the migraines at bay. Weird.

@JNOV: Thank all of you, sincerely, first. Mom and I were freaked out when this happened and I offered to drive in the late evening but she was worried about me driving over 200 miles in the early wee hours of the morning. Mom and I are better now that dad’s home and doing OK. Just gonna be worried no matter what.

@Mistress Cynica: @Promnight: I am not sure it will change much if Unicorn gives a reprieve. These parts companies are like any other and are going to use any excuse to squeeze everyone by cutting workers and squeezing more productivity out of them.

If the

@rptrcub: Yes, and you do grow up fast when your parents get ill or show signs of advancing age. Your whole perspective changes. Glad you guys are coming along.

@Promnight: Oh, but can’t we have a pity party, please? As of last night my guilty pleasure seems to be being told by guys I am interested in that, while I am fun, they don’t want a relationship. Fourth time in two years.

@mellbell: Sweetie, I’m so sorry. Those D.C. douchebags don’t deserve you. I heard that line so many times when I tried to date in D.C. (or when I dated closeted gay men who would only let me give them blow jobs) and finally after hearing that line for like four years, I decided “Fuck it, I’m not going to be the fun fuck-buddy any more” and did not date or have sex for more than two and a half years because I decided that I would force myself to hold myself and potential dates to higher standards.

I didn’t get laid again until I moved out to California. Dating in San Francisco is easier as a straight woman than dating in D.C. Seriously. Despite the demographics, the douchebag numbers are that much lower. Think of all the high school student body vice president guys with Napolean complexes and small dicks who move to DC. That’s what you’re looking at.

@rptrcub: Scary as all fucking hell, cubbie. Glad to hear PapaCub is doing better.

@Promnight: Don’t be sorry you shared your worries and distress with us. We’re all here for one another, and most of us are under some special stress, at least from time to time, and when it’s an ongoing, everyday thing, it’s really important to have a safety valve. We all need witnesses to our lives, to our best thoughts and feelings and acts, just as we all need help and comfort as we try to deal with our fears and stinginess and shortcomings. Blundering through, doing your best for your loved ones (being sure to include yourself in that category), is the most important thing in life. “Neither fire nor wind, nor birth nor death, can erase your good deeds.” Another quote from Buddhist writings that I can only approximate goes something like this: “Buddha said that you could look through the whole universe and not find anyone more deserving of your love than yourself.”
Hang in there. And I too love that picture of your son.

@SanFranLefty: I’m bowled over by your analysis in the second paragraph of what’s wrong with DC.

Think of all the high school student body vice president guys with Napoleon complexes and small dicks who move to DC. That’s what you’re looking at.

Whole books have been written that were far less elucidating than those two sentences.

@mellbell: SFL is so right about men in DC. They don’t deserve you. Two friends in their 20s married recently, and I found myself looking at their new spouses and wondering what the hell they were thinking, and was being alone so bad that they were willing to settle for these so-obviously-inferior males. Look at it this way: these guys really are doing you a favor, because you certainly don’t want to be in a relationship with a man who can’t instantly recognize how wonderful you are. Cold comfort, I know, but still.

@rptrcub:
was thinking of you, and waiting and hoping for good news.
i’m relieved for you cubbie.
i went through this too, and it was a mini stroke my dad had.
scary scary, i know. sending beams of health to your dad.

@mellbell:
sadness that you’re sad. you are a gem and the right one is out there for you. but i understand you not wanting ANY relationship advice from me! all i can say is you are very lovable, and loved. xo

@mellbell:
I hear you. Heard that line with two failed attempts at relationships this year. I think Cynica is right. I still shudder to think what would have happened if I wasn’t dumped by a certain stockbroker I was once very attracted to.

@rptrcub:
Sorry to hear that. Hopefully, your dad will listen to you and your mom.

@mellbell: Meh. Non-literally, fuck ’em.

@baked: @ManchuCandidate: Thanks. I think he got a wakeup call from this. Or at least I hope so.

@mellbell:
NOJO will get a kick out of this.
when i did my year sentence in DeeSee i was dating richard hall,
son of MONTY! he lived in the apt right next door to me on P street.

he was an asshole too, dumped me in the car on our way home from a weekend in nyc. that town is so full of asshats, you should expand your search for The One outside the metro.

@baked: Monty Hall and Jay Stewart had a son? Was Carol Merrill the surrogate?

@nojo:
but of course. damn, your good noj, you’re good.

and history will record the fall of civilization beginning when ‘the match game’ became ‘are you smarter than a 5th grader’. when ‘hollywood squares’ degraded to ‘deal or no deal’.

@baked: For a minute there I read “Richard Hell,” of the Voidoids. Now that would be a story.

The DC kidsI met in my fly-ins (Amtrak-ins) were okay. Holt had a lot of physics majors on his staff, nice, all insanely intelligent and geeky, only the press boy was insuffferable. The republicans I saw in the cafeterias, I was all like Jane Goodall trying to listen to their conversations and study their primitive ways, fucking oozed smug and snobbery, they would have told me that I didn’t know who they were, who there family was, if I got in a fight with them. I wanted to grab their balls and make them squeek for mercy.

I liked the campaign consultants too, Message and Media, it was. They were like lawyers, just tryng to come up with the arguments that would appeal to the jury and negate the attacks. Funny and laid back, no egos, even, I was in the meetings on strategy and they let me speak and my input was accepted, I was kinda amazed.

@Mistress Cynica: A late response to your point illustrating this tendency – a friend/coworker in DC dated a guy who the rest of us were not so thrilled about for a variety of reasons but basically he was garden-variety DC dude – but then she got engaged to him. Another friend asked her why and she said, “Well, I’m tired of dating and I think he’d be a good dad, and he calls when he says he’s going to call.”