Venting thread

[/nɒtɛndəduːd/]

More than three months of massive writer's block, and no end in sight.

what are you writing about?

oops. I just realized that this post is from 7 years ago. my bad

I am really bad at looking at fine print. my bad again.

though I am curious, what are you writing about?

[rotting bones]

More than three months of massive writer's block, and no end in sight.

One advice I heard is to break the stream of the narrative by introducing new themes and/or characters. Easier said than done.

[Raphael]

More than three months of massive writer's block, and no end in sight.

One advice I heard is to break the stream of the narrative by introducing new themes and/or characters. Easier said than done.

Problem is, I already have a pretty clear idea of what the characters and themes are supposed to be for the whole story.

though I am curious, what are you writing about?

First contact with aliens in a mostly utopian future Earth, as seen from the perspective of a fairly minor participant for whom the whole things coincides with coming of age.

[Ares Land]

Maybe a change of approach could work? Like, writing a detailed outline instead?

[rotting bones]

Problem is, I already have a pretty clear idea of what the characters and themes are supposed to be for the whole story.

If you're sure that's what you want to write, wouldn't you have written it already? Consider the possibility that you are bored with your preconceived plot. It might help to explore the story from another angle. If the subplot gets boring later, you can merge it with the main plot or kill it off GRR Martin style.

Not that this is necessarily the right approach. Just remember, if you're not having fun writing the story, that may be visible in your work.

[Raphael]

Thank you, I'll think about all that.

[Travis B.]

Agh, an obvious bug I missed that I really ought to have caught ages ago, especially because I have code elsewhere in the same source file that properly handles the very same use case that triggers the bug. Of course, that only gives me reason to put out a new release sooner, which I was going to do at some point as I created a bunch of words for waiting for task notifications and then atomically fetching the mailbox contents and setting new mailbox contents.

[Man in Space]

I have a colonoscopy on Tuesday. The insurance is balking at covering the voiding agent. It’s not like I have a disease that can cause cancer (and it’s not like I’ve already dodged that bullet once), am I right? (/s)

Also, the insurance had better actually cover the procedure this time. Last time thanks to a snafu somewhere I ended up paying six kilodollars or so out of my own pocket.

[Raphael]

I have a colonoscopy on Tuesday. The insurance is balking at covering the voiding agent. It’s not like I have a disease that can cause cancer (and it’s not like I’ve already dodged that bullet once), am I right? (/s)

Also, the insurance had better actually cover the procedure this time. Last time thanks to a snafu somewhere I ended up paying six kilodollars or so out of my own pocket.

That's really messed up. Good luck.

[Travis B.]

The health insurance industry is evil.

[sasasha]

Good luck, Man In Space.

I hit a depression after the initial shock of losing my friend. This is fine and natural and I’m ok. But I’m so unfocused. My brother came to stay and I could barely think what to say to him. It’s easy to just want time to float away in whatever fashion it most easily can, very hard to put demands into that time; practically everything I demand of myself is failing rn, so I think I just have to wait until my motivation system is up and running again (as much as it ever is). I need to job hunt because this grief was like drinking a truth serum and suddenly I was just like hell no, I am not doing this about one of my jobs. So I do need to find some focused willpower soon, or being able to pay rent will start to float away in whatever fashion it most easily can, too!

In the meantime, here has been fun and helpful, thanks y’all.

[/nɒtɛndəduːd/]

Good luck, Man In Space.

I hit a depression after the initial shock of losing my friend. This is fine and natural and I’m ok. But I’m so unfocused. My brother came to stay and I could barely think what to say to him. It’s easy to just want time to float away in whatever fashion it most easily can, very hard to put demands into that time; practically everything I demand of myself is failing rn, so I think I just have to wait until my motivation system is up and running again (as much as it ever is). I need to job hunt because this grief was like drinking a truth serum and suddenly I was just like hell no, I am not doing this about one of my jobs. So I do need to find some focused willpower soon, or being able to pay rent will start to float away in whatever fashion it most easily can, too!

In the meantime, here has been fun and helpful, thanks y’all.

I have never really been close to even the people I've been the closest to, and so I understand where it is that you come from. it is good to mourn those who have passed, for then we will not forget who they were and what they did for those around them, but at the end of the day, death is a thing for us all. at a point, you have to let them pass. (I'm not saying this is advise strictly for you, Raphael, but for anyone it might reach.)

Not sure if this post I put in the contradictory feelings thread helps much, but I saw your post and thought I'd put it here, too. hope things get better.

[sasasha]

Thank you, /nɒtɛndəduːd/, that’s really kind.

[alice]

I found some annoying bugs in my SCA, which I now have to fix rather than doing something else.

[rotting bones]

A lot of packages I need seem to be missing from Maven Central.

[Raphael]

A lot of packages I need seem to be missing from Maven Central.

Good luck getting that sorted out.

[Lērisama]

There is a highly boring piece of work I need to do. I can't bring myself to stop procrastinating and actually do it for the life of me.

[Raphael]

There is a highly boring piece of work I need to do. I can't bring myself to stop procrastinating and actually do it for the life of me.

Ah, that feeling. I'll try to send you motivation.

[Halian]

My insurance has suddenly decided that I'm no longer allowed to go more than 30 miles in a single non-medical social trip.

The game store I wanted to revisit is 47 miles away.

They've given me a ride there before without issue.

Fuck me with a goddamn cactus.

[Ahzoh]

We been tryna move from North Carolina to Texas. I think my mom and I got scammed by these guys:

https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/fort-lauderda ... complaints
particularly our experience has been similar to this one complainer's:

Hercules moving Solutions USDOT number: *******, was a scam from the beginning. They lied from start to finish. In the beginning they lied and said they were not a broker and would be handling our load personally. The second set of lies was the constantly moving (increasing) price. They showed up with a U-Haul rental truck (1st red flag} Once they got loaded claimed I owed more money. They lied about delivery date at the time of initial contact 3/17/24. They said if I paid then, they guaranteed delivery date from ********* to ******* by 3/23. They increased the price and were paid more two additional times. Our household was being held hostage. We found ourselves at our new empty house in ******* on 3/22 waiting. We sat in that empty house with purchased air mattress until 4/9/23 with lie after lie coming from Hercules moving Solutions, and their partner in this crime **** Movers. These went back and forth with all their lies each blaming the other. We were contacted two more times in attempt to extort more money. ($1700 one time didn't pay) When delivery finally happened, I paid the outstanding balance owed, and the driver said he needed $600 additional because the weight of articles. Another lie attempting to extort money. ****** said If I didn't pay he would leave. We called the police and in the meantime driver left with our paid for load. Police found him and made him come back to unload and explained to him that what he tried to do was grand theft, and extortion. Driver didn't understand English supposedly. Hercules Moving Solutions is a criminal company along with their criminal partners ***************. We were missing an overstuffed chair ($600) a box of down comforters ($500) and torn, damage and filthy furniture. Their great insurance offered me $75 dollars. This company is a rip off and a joke. The joke is on me, and I cannot believe they are allowed to continue all these illegal acts. They gave me $600 back as if that would cover all this after paying 6K

First guy my mum called promised us they would come Tuesday afternoon of last week or Wednesday morning, in order to avoid the winter storm that was supposed to hit us on Wednesday last week. Second guy we called not only said that no such promise could be gauranteed, but that it wasn't an issue because it was "within the 48 hour window" as specified by the contract the first guy had my mum sign, along with a $2000 deposit. The entire interaction with the second guy was terrible because he was a real piece of work being pushy and defensive and taking no responsibility for the situation, either for his own dishonesty or the first guy's lies.

The first guy also explicitly asserted that the company was not a broker and that they personally move your stuff, but the second guy admitted that, no, they're actually a brokerage who contracts another company, Alma Moving, to do the actual moving. And still he refuses to take accountability for the misleadingness. And of course this bullshit is revealed after the contract signed and deposit made.

And they also said the stuff would be packed onto a fleet truck or transport truck but they came in a U-haul and the inventory manager was utterly shit at assessing and recording our stuff, so who is to say some of our stuff isn't dumped into a miscellaneous pile. And the entire time it felt like the guy was nickel and diming us with additional fees.

This was probably the first red flag and we shouldn't have packed our stuff on it, but my mum has been stressed and pressured by her boss to do miracle work on making a spray foam formula stop failing burn tests, so she was distracted by all that.

Second red flag was probably that after packing our stuff, inventory guy was claiming that we have to pay half of the moving fee (despite Hercules guy saying we only need to pay the deposit) along with a not-previously-stated 10% fuel fee before he can begin transporting it to our new place. We were having troubles venmoing it to some person named Anastasia (we now know is the CEO of Alma Moving) with the money transfer being constantly rejected. Very suspicious, but we never used Venmo before so we just assumed the app was just being shit.

It's been 7 days (2 days longer than they promised it'd take maximum) and we haven't gotten our stuff yet, we don't know if we'll ever get our stuff now, or if they'll try to extort us if they ever do bother to show up to our new house.

The guys that actually moved our stuff was these guys, Alma Moving (who I believe the complainer above references to), who have been incredibly unresponsive and not giving us any definitive dates of when they'll arrive:
https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/plantation/pr ... complaints

I dunno what we can do. Sue them? File a police report? And my mom has been incredibly busy and stressed by work and her boss's demands so she probably doesn't even have time to pursue justice.