start a victory garden and ration your IRRATIONALLY ANGRY feelings, part 3

That sounds like great advice! I"ve always wanted to be a scuba diver!

Of course I live on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, so I guess those dreams are shattered now.

Someone posted this at work

"No matter in which direction you throw a rock, it always finds its way to the bottom of the river. Keep your goals in mind and no matter what direction you take, you will reach them."

Uh.....that falls apart on so many levels

dumb analogies are the worst thing ever

apart from all the things are worse

wow it’s like i threw a rock without thinking and it missed the river

Hi folks, I just feel like unloading about a couple of things here, one of them which may not fit the overall theme of the thread.

The first one (which does fit the theme) is how some of my high school classmates who I'm friends with on FB will repost these religion-oriented image macros that make it so that you almost feel like they don't see any other solution to any problems other than religious ones, e.g. (to paraphrase one) "Don't be troubled by the shit you're going through, just pray to God!" Like, I honestly have no problem at all with people who have faith in a higher power, but I do struggle a lot with biting my tongue and not coming across like a stereotypical Militant Atheist, which is something I would never hope to be. It's also interesting to note the people who post that kind of stuff are also the ones most likely to love drama. IDK, maybe I should just hide them from my news feed or something.

The second (which may or may not fit the theme) is the reckoning I've had to come to with myself about the fact that my mom had the tendency to be a really judgmental bitch and how she passed those tendencies down to me. I came to this realization about a year and a half ago in therapy when my therapist was engaging me in a thought exercise and I realized that all I knew about the people who inhabited the same world as my mom and I were the judgements she passed down to them, and how much that has colored my relationships with other people. I have tried very hard to overcome this since then, but I get angry at the thought of how much of my life was wasted on this twisted perspective of the world and how many friendship opportunities I lost from being the way I was. IDK how "irrational" that is but it feels kinda a mixture of both that and perfectly rational.

I feel comfortable saying that "people who double-park should suffer torments" is one of my core values. Every time traffic gets backed up for blocks because an SUV just STOPPED in a driving lane instead of pulling up another 15 feet and actually **parking**, I have this whole harangue in my head that involves using public resources for your convenience in a way that disenfranchises EVERYONE ELSE, and how criminally selfish and morally abominable this is.

Driving makes me angry just in general.

I get super annoyed when I see people wearing hunting gear as a fashion statement. I have one friend that hunts and the only time I've ever seen him in deer-can't-see-me camo is in pictures. So to the dude rocking civilian camo gear at IKEA yesterday ... come on.

this is like half of my costco, i'm cool with it

deer don't say hi to me

Ok, I see the first thread series said INNOCUOUS things, so my bad. Let me start over. These are the INNOCUOUS things that irritate me to an irrational degree:

1. How quickly nail polish peels off on my nails. Like, the only way I can actually have nails is if I keep them painted and they're too thin to bother with the whole "filing the edges" trick, so I have to keep on applying nail polish every single day if I ever actually want nails that go beyond my nail bed. And yes, I have attempted to take all kinds of supplements to build up my nail strength.
2. Passing mothers of babies while running errands (e.g. grocery shopping) and noticing how young they look. Like, ffs, thanks for reminding me of my impending decrepitude!
3. YouTube taking down the "Hezakya Newz and Music" channel. There were so many awesome archival news clips on that thing, including five hours of nothing but early news coverage about HIV/AIDS! I don't give a fuck about multiple copyright notifications, that channel was awesome!

BTW, it took me until my early thirties to develop a zen attitude toward driving so almost nothing about driving bothers me, though I do have the good fortune of driving in Texas where the drivers aren't infuriating. Not even driving through Houston traffic rankles me. It's not like how the drivers are in the Akron/Canton area of NE Ohio, where my BFF lives and I had the chance to visit in the summer of 2016; there they take the lane markers as more of a suggestion than anything and it appears very few people knew about the marvelous invention that is the turn signal. After that visit I realized I had absolutely nothing to complain about with regards to Texan drivers.

That's funny, I live in Texas and I think people drive terribly here, although perhaps that is an Austin-centric quality.

Ha, I live in S.A. and have driven through Austin many times before! Houston's probably worse, though honestly if you ever get the chance to visit NE Ohio DO SO because you will THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS you live in Texas instead. The only thing we're bad at is following speed limits, though I'm a slower-than-average driver and even I'm not bothered by the lead feet surrounding me. As long as I've got some good music playing on the stereo and some water to sip on along the way, I don't currrrr. At least we live where people generally stick to their own lanes and don't drive like they're blind.

People in Austin drive like they are taking a nap and have nowhere important to go

Ha, you need to move about 85 miles south; by my saying I drive "slower-than-average" I mean I drive the speed limit. Only the grandparent-aged and Sunday drivers drive that way; everyone else drives at least 5 MPH above the speed limit around these parts. Meh, I'm perfectly happy to stick to the slow lanes, keep up with traffic, and arrive whenever I do. Though it honestly took me almost fifteen years of driving to get to this level of chill.

I'm in Dallas and everyone thinks people here drive "crazy", which just means fast, and fast is good ime

^^ Same! Anyway, thought of something else that's been pissing me off lately (and this is something ALL us Texans can understand): goddamned POLLEN! Especially at this time of year, I might as well own stock in the Kimberley-Clarke company, such as my usage of facial tissues (in spite of taking antihistamines every morning like a good girl).

when people announce the suicide hotline number in response to someone committing suicide.

That’s part of reporting guidelines in the UK, for sure. /journalist

xp oh God, yes

(I think that got reignited by rapper Logic and his performance at the VMAs, which was well meaning but it's a terrible trend nonetheless)

when people announce the suicide hotline number in response to someone committing suicide.

I confess to doing that on FB, but only because I truly believe in it. It has talked me down from a few crisis moments and I'm eternally grateful for its existence.

3. YouTube taking down the "Hezakya Newz and Music" channel. There were so many awesome archival news clips on that thing, including five hours of nothing but early news coverage about HIV/AIDS! I don't give a fuck about multiple copyright notifications, that channel was awesome!

Oh no! I've been doing a "Sixties day-by-day" project for a bit now and that was an invaluable source for full news broadcasts-I remember finding lengthy coverage of the MLK assassination, for instance, or hour long specials looking at campus disorder. I knew I should have downloaded them instead of bookmarking...

“daylight savings”

Oh no! I've been doing a "Sixties day-by-day" project for a bit now and that was an invaluable source for full news broadcasts-I remember finding lengthy coverage of the MLK assassination, for instance, or hour long specials looking at campus disorder. I knew I should have downloaded them instead of bookmarking...

SO YOU TOO KNOW THE VALUE OF THAT CHANNEL! OMG, I remember two amazing news reports about the state of race relations in the 1960s, one from 1969 that took a national poll on the status of the civil rights movement and one from a couple years earlier where I remember they interviewed a couple of old white people who'd previously owned slaves and didn't seem to be aware of how much devastation that institution wrecked upon the black community, and an interview with Fannie Lou Hamer. I also remember this amazing news documentary from the early '70s about commercials, one from the early '80s about TV pilot season and trying to get a new TV show off the ground (that featured a look into the very beginnings of "Family Ties"), and another from the early '80s about the sociological implications of the shopping mall. I've seen a lot of YouTube channels being pulled but that one and the ScienceNET channel are the only two I've found irreplaceable.

BTW, while I completely advocate being relaxed and zen about driving I can completely understand every single pedestrian frustration voiced on this thread. Unlike with driving, where you're situated in a cushy, temperature-controlled environment, being a pedestrian completely exposes you to the hard city streets and unforgiving weather conditions and I can totally understand why y'all want to take a higher priority than us drivers.

when people announce the suicide hotline number in response to someone committing suicide.

Driving makes me angry. Drunk drivers only more so. Watching a funeral and realizing: if the asshole hadn't stepped in his car and hit this poor girl, she would have been engaged by next month. I called a friend afterwards and ranted: these drunk drivers should visit the morgue and be exposed to the result. (Actually a softer way was introduced years ago here.)

Ok, this is not being irrationally angry. It is just on my mind. It's surreal. :-(

Driving makes me angry. Drunk drivers only more so. Watching a funeral and realizing: if the asshole hadn't stepped in his car and hit this poor girl, she would have been engaged by next month. I called a friend afterwards and ranted: these drunk drivers should visit the morgue and be exposed to the result. (Actually a softer way was introduced years ago here.)

Ok, this is not being irrationally angry. It is just on my mind. It's surreal. :-(

Was going to say that's neither innocuous nor irrational; it's a total dick carelessly taking the life of someone in a senseless fashion. All my love to you, darling.

Thanks D. 😘

If you are on the treadmill reading a book or checking your email, then you are not moving fast enough. And if you are on the weight machine checking your phone, then you are not using the machine at all.

Our mortgage was bought by a company that insists on calling itself "Mr. Cooper".

"Be sure to let Mr. Cooper know if you need assistance making your payment! Mr. Cooper is here to help!"

If you are on the treadmill reading a book or checking your email, then you are not moving fast enough.

yeah that's not really true. would agree that it's hard to run with any great intensity while you're doing something else, but if you're just getting in an easy run, it's fine.

They're not running! They're walking. You don't need a treadmill for that.

I'm fine with people walking on the treadmill. Although I did used to get annoyed with people at my office who would talk about getting cardio in during lunch and they were just going for a walk.

walking is good for you! just doesn't need a treadmill is all.

Yeah, but some people can't run or don't want to do it outside because of reasons... but agree that people sitting on weight machines looking at their phone need to get up.

Agreed 1,000% with people not paying primary attention to lifting weights when doing strengthening exercises because the only other thing one should be devoting one's attentions to there is the music you're listening to at the time; however, as far as people choosing whether to walk or run for their cardio, there are a lot of issues at play here and I for one would have to choose (power) walking because of my arthritic knees making running a ridiculous proposition.

Anyway, my own personal IA re: exercise is that the only type of exercise I tend to want to do is swimming, but I don't have access to a pool. Grrrr, someone give me a pool, damn it!

walking is good for you! just doesn't need a treadmill is all.

Anyway, my own personal IA re: exercise is that the only type of exercise I tend to want to do is swimming, but I don't have access to a pool. Grrrr, someone give me a pool, damn it!

― The Colour of Spring (deethelurker), Tuesday, April 2, 2019 6:56 PM (one hour ago)

I feel you on this. There are public pools near to me, but for various reasons I can't/won't be in a public place in a swimming costume, so I just want someone to give me my own private pool. Give it to me now!

I don't like the thought of going swimming locally because 1. argh might know somebody 2. it's expensive 3. it seems hard to find a time/place to just turn up for a casual doggypaddle round the shallow end, because it's always Kids-Only Swim Time or Super Hardcore Swimming In Lanes Time.

Last year we were going to a hotel with a swimming pool and I thought it would get rid of all 3 problems so I bought a swimming costume and was kind of excited to go swimming for the first time in forever. But then the hotel pool was also entirely booked up with kids' swimming lessons, so I still haven't used my new costume. Meh.

(Possibly 0.1% rational anger: hotels that advertise a swimming pool as a feature and come up on the filter view on booking.com for said feature but actually you can only use the pool at weekends)

Not only do I not want to be seen being all lumpy and bare-legged in a swimming costume in public but also I last swam 20+ years ago and I was really bad at it as a kid, so now I am an adult that can't swim and that's going to be embarrassing.

I did and thought all of those things then went swimming and it was fine
it'll be fine!
fecking swim timetables though, indecipherable and you need to know when term-time is etc

they might only lane off half the pool?

walking is good for you! just doesn't need a treadmill is all.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 2 April 2019 18:18 (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

See also: running

Well, yeah. But I could have sworn I've seen that walking by and large has similar benefits to running, without a lot of the side effects.

oh, I see what you mean. I honestly don't feel very comfortable running outside, between traffic, weather, etcetera, though I love walking.

There are enough factors at play to make me give walking on treadmills a pass.

I did once see a man slowly walking on the treadmill in jeans and formal leather shoes, still wearing his jacket. He doesn't get a pass.

Walking on a treadmill is lower impact than walking on the sidewalk/pavement, because of the harder surface of the sidewalk/pavement vs. the relatively cushioned surface of any standard treadmill. That's why I'd be more likely to walk on a treadmill, or even better, rely on a (low-impact) elliptical machine for cardio. Also, while I'm on year 11 of a 15 year mortgage (i.e. I "own a home"), my back yard is laid out awkwardly and would not be able to accommodate a pool, and the only public swimming pools in town are clear across town and often overpopulated and not exactly sanitary places. Grumble grumble. (Thanks a ton for adding your $0.02, emil.y and a passing spacecadet! Also, that sucks about the hotel pool situation!)

Can't remember who posited this IA already but I was reminded this morning of the only driving-related IA I have yet to work on: those morons who slow down to turn before indicating. Like, I have all the patience in the world for people who indicate before slowing down to turn and they could take a minute for all I care, but I feel like we haven't yet evolved as a species to the point where we can read each other's minds, so slowing down for seemingly no reason at all is the very definition of NAGL. Maybe in a few years I'll be chill about that too, though. It's very rare that I encounter that "in the wild", so to speak.

There are a lot of things about police that make me IA, but at least here they seemingly almost never bother to signal.

There are a lot of things about police that make me IA, but at least here they seemingly almost never bother to signal.

You live in Chicago; your A's about the local police are all completely R.

I have been arrested over 30x as a result of becoming homeless for a time, and I have no complaints with the cops. Then again, I'm a white male.

Several people I know were victims of injustice, however.

I'm fortunate enough to live in a city where the local police are relatively free of corruption and extrajudicial violence. It's far too easy for me to take that for granted and forget that this is not the reality with most of the police departments in the U.S. (at least). I am spoilt by this and I suppose my IA about this is my tendency to forget that and assume this is the rule instead of the exception. But this is for another thread, I fear. (And you were very much a "victim of injustice" as a member of a vulnerable community [i.e. the homeless].)

Happy fun IA time: still not having been gifted a pool by the magical pool fairies. Where are they at my time in need?