Venting thread

[Jonlang]

So Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power looks like garbage. Same vibe as Wheel of Time and The Witcher shows. I expected more from a $1bn series.

[alice]

So Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power looks like garbage. Same vibe as Wheel of Time and The Witcher shows. I expected more from a $1bn series.

What would you like to see then?

[Jonlang]

So Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power looks like garbage. Same vibe as Wheel of Time and The Witcher shows. I expected more from a $1bn series.

What would you like to see then?

Better production values for $1bn. The Witcher and Wheel of Time have achieved the same level on much smaller budgets. PJ's 20-year-old movies still look better. Plus they've apparently given one character a Welsh name - Bronwyn, which is utterly ridiculous.

[Moose-tache]

Unrelated, very minor and trivial vent: It turns out that Wordpress (with the package deal I have) will tell you when your blog got a visit from someone who got there through a search engine, but won't tell you which search terms they had used. Whose idea was that?

What I would like is hour-by-hour break down of traffic, but I guess that's in the VIP package or something...

[rotting bones]

The more I think about it, the more I get the impression that I've almost never in my life actually gotten better at anything. With a few exceptions, apparently all human activities I've ever tried can be divided into

a) things I was already pretty good at the first time I tried them, and

b) things that I never became good at.

They say that practice makes perfect, but that apparently doesn't work for me.

In my experience, my performance noticeably improves only when I practice for a very long time (at least several months in a row) with a desperate desire to improve.

[hwhatting]

@malloc: Have you seen a doctor? That's what you should do instead of self-observing and diagnosing your symptoms. And come on, don't be a such a drama queen - nobody will put you in prison over 7 bucks in undeclared interest income.

[Nila_MadhaVa]

I had to take my dad in to hospital today for a diagnosis procedure, which meant I was going to miss the super bowl live broadcast. No biggie, I thought, I'll just keep away from tv/radio/socials and stream the game this evening or tomorrow. I waited for dad all day, while successfully staying ignorant of the result of the game, which mitigated the boredom and tediousness of waiting somewhat. After the procedure, the doctor prepared us for the likelihood that the results (which we should get in a couple of days) will indicate a serious issue (we were aware of that possibility going in, but needless to say, his kind-of-confirmation was not what we were hoping for).

So after what turned out to be a pretty crappy day, both of us fairly dejected, we get into the car to head home. Before I could turn off the radio one of the hosts just blurts out the winner of the game...pissed me right off that did. I was so livid. Now I'm feeling bad/guilty about being so angry at that when dad's most likely looking at some serious health issues.

[hwhatting]

Now I'm feeling bad/guilty about being so angry at that when dad's most likely looking at some serious health issues.

You don't have to feel guilty - it's a normal thing, you try to keep calm and in control on a big issue, so you blow up at small issues. As long as you don't take it out on actual persons around you, that's fine (the radio host can't hear you swearing at him and doesn't mind. Just don't abuse them in the comment section )
And I hope your dad will be fine in the end.

[Nila_MadhaVa]

You don't have to feel guilty - it's a normal thing, you try to keep calm and in control on a big issue, so you blow up at small issues.

I'm sure you're right - if only logic was a surefire antidote to emotional responses/outbursts .

As long as you don't take it out on actual persons around you, that's fine (the radio host can't hear you swearing at him and doesn't mind. Just don't abuse them in the comment section )

Apart from being a little more irritable with dad trying to give me directions which were wrong (he was still a bit groggy from the general anesthetic, bless him), I think I did alright. I did give the radio host a pretty good spray though . Some slow drivers copped a bit as well, but I wasn't too far gone to start tailgating, cutting people off or anything like that .

And I hope your dad will be fine in the end.

Thanks, I appreciate the thought.

[doctor shark]

Vent: I'm preparing to travel to Germany at the end of next month (and to the UK in June), so I requested a credit card from my bank since I'd prefer not not keep using my Maestro card all over the place and for a few other travel-related purposes. (Okay, I normally pay cash for things, but part of that is to minimize the usage of the Maestro card.) Granted, credit cards here generally aren't the same as in the US (the expectation is that the card is paid in full every month), but, still, they're quite restrictive in how they issue them.

I submitted the request, and they almost immediately asked for a payslip as proof of income. No problem: I sent that along. They then responded with a confirmation saying that they would let me know within 10 working days what the decision was or if they needed more information. It's been three weeks, with not a word. And, naturally, though the bank does function in English on request, the card company only functions in Dutch, and my Dutch is far from good enough to begin yelling at them...

[Raphael]

I'm pretty distressed by the latest news. I don't want to live under Russian occupation or a Russian puppet government.

[bradrn]

I'm pretty distressed by the latest news. I don't want to live under Russian occupation or a Russian puppet government.

Wait, I thought you were in Germany — do you now live in Ukraine? If not, I wouldn’t worry too much yet. Putin may be insane, but I don’t think he’s insane enough to attack NATO.

[hwhatting]

Wait, I thought you were in Germany — do you now live in Ukraine? If not, I wouldn’t worry too much yet. Putin may be insane, but I don’t think he’s insane enough to attack NATO.

I agree. The last weeks have shown clearly that NATO isn't going to enter a war about Ukraine and that all Russia has to face is sanctions, that's why he felt safe to attack.

[Raphael]

No, I haven't moved to Ukraine, I just don't see any reason to believe Putin will stop there. Anywhere, looks like this discussion is happening in the Random Thread now.

[Travis B.]

I watched/listened to my own presentation on zeptoforth multitasking and multiprocessing and it reminded me of how annoying I find hearing my own voice recorded. It just seems so nasalish and the fact that when not speaking very carefully I practically don't have lateral consonants really annoys me. My delivery was also really halting and kinda stuttery; I should have practiced delivering it before doing it while being recorded. Ugh.

[doctor shark]

I watched/listened to my own presentation on zeptoforth multitasking and multiprocessing and it reminded me of how annoying I find hearing my own voice recorded. It just seems so nasalish and the fact that when not speaking very carefully I practically don't have lateral consonants really annoys me. My delivery was also really halting and kinda stuttery; I should have practiced delivering it before doing it while being recorded. Ugh.

I also hate hearing the sound of my own voice. (Made audio-recording for a conference quite fun!)

Vent: It's now been four weeks, and I still haven't heard a peep from the servicer about my credit card application! I'm just confused... why is it taking so long? Even if it's "rejected", I just want a decision... and the website is a nightmare to try and find out who to contact, since I'm not a "customer" yet!

[malloc]

It seems I never got around to updating my address with the DMV and so never got the reminder to renew my license plates. That leaves me less than one month to update my address, wait for them to send a replacement reminder if they even will, and get the plates renewed. More precisely, I updated the address with the offices dealing with property tax and driver licensing, but it seems license plates are something else altogether.

[linguistcat]

It seems I never got around to updating my address with the DMV and so never got the reminder to renew my license plates. That leaves me less than one month to update my address, wait for them to send a replacement reminder if they even will, and get the plates renewed. More precisely, I updated the address with the offices dealing with property tax and driver licensing, but it seems license plates are something else altogether.

The joys of bureaucracy amirite?

[malloc]

You may disagree with me on this, but this is an unmitigated disaster from my perspective. Living without a car is simply not feasible around here regardless of what anyone thinks. If those plates don't get renewed soon, I will have no way to get to work or the grocery store and will starve to death.

[alynnidalar]

You don't need them to send you a physical piece of paper with a reminder to be able to renew your plates. It will depend on your state, but you likely will either be able to renew your plates online or by going to the local office of whatever agency handles these things (the DMV, I guess? In Michigan it's the Secretary of State, but I think that's just us).