Ohiofan

It was beautiful here today. 40 degrees with sunshine and the sound of melting snow. Thing is...I know it's fake. The tease of the January thaw. I know what is coming at us until April and this "fake spring" just pisses me off.

I've got a pretty nice camera and I've spent a lot of time learning how to use it. I'm still learning...I'm good with it, not great yet. I invested in this camera because my two daughters perform on stage at least 20 times a year. I have different lenses, speedlights, battery packs and whatnot, because I want to capture this time in their lives for them and for me. In addition, one mom is the costume mistress and is always backstage so she misses all the shows. She is a friend of mine, and I always snap her daughter for her. My complaint is this: I just cannot believe the amount of people who come up to me and ask me to take pictures of their child. It is Nutcracker season, the girls are in rehearsals, and last night alone, three different moms/dads asked me to take photos of their child for them. On occasion, in the process of shooting my girls, other dancers get in the photo, and when I print, I will pass those photos out. But man...how can they expect me to focus on their kid when I have two up there myself! "I'll pay you"!! they say, as if that makes it allright, but I am not for hire. I don't want to be an a$$...I see these people all the time, but what the hell...now I'm all stressed out with a list of people I'm supposed to get pictures of :wallbash: On top of all that, first dress rehearsal is tonight, and I will miss the game. In addition to every game for the next two weeks until Nutcracker is done. :cry: :cry:

Ink, man...for the love of God...eat a salad!!!

As the parent of two very high achieving kids...my sophomore in particular, here is her advice: EXTRA CREDIT. If your kid really wants to turn those B's to A's it can be done by taking advantage of every extra credit opportunity available to them. Some teachers give out extra points for some pretty lame stuff, some teachers are a little more judicious when handing out opportunities for extra credit, but most teachers do give these opportunities. My sophomore was able to up her gradepoint by a few points here and there and has maintained straight A's her whole life. Which brings me to my complaint: My kid is stressed out. She is gunning for valedictorian of her class and she is so busy with ballet and student council and latin club and academic team and driving lessons that she is staying up to at least midnight most nights getting her homework done. She gets up at 6am. She is determined and beautiful and goal-oriented and she is exhausted. I am worried about her but she wants IVY and she says she is gonna get IVY. I wish the college admission process didn't induce such stress. As any parent of a teenager knows, the four years of high school are a minefield of decisions that are made based on which college you want, and do you want it paid for? Everything they do leads to that final judgement. It is hard on them, and it is hard on me watching her. I am so lame...just making sure she is fed and her clothes are washed while she storms through her life doing too much. I just wish I could help her mellow out but I've tried. Her dad and I are kind of slackers (although we do own our own business and though it is a difficult one, it is also a blast :) I guess thats it. Just parental worry. Is there anything like it? I think not. And here's one more: My TWEEN is starting to act like a TEENAGER. Hmmmmmmm.....good times

I saw them in concert. It really was a great live show. We took the kids at Christmas and it was a very festive event :thumbsup:

I'm tired. So tired. And I've got a huge, high stress, long weekend of work ahead of me starting tomorrow when I wake up. I had Mexican for dinner and I'm scared it's going to come back to haunt me tonight. It's 11:30 and my sophomore is still doing her homework. I hate the fact that the only option for me for tonight's game was the Phoenix feed, but hey...at least I got to watch the game, right? My house is a mess, my cat is sick, and my dog needs a bath. Oh....and my in-laws are :death: still a$$holes

My father-in-law is fat, white, and owns a Cadillac. He has had two knees replaced and is walking fine now. He's keeping the tag. Did I mention that he's also an a$$hole?

But have you ever tried to complain? I don't think it's laziness as much as just genuine frustration. More often than not this happens: 1. When you call, odds are that you are calling a call center in Timbuktu and good luck if you can understand them. 2. It is increasingly difficult to get a hold of someone who can actually solve your problem. I can think of numerous times that I have sat on the phone forever trying to find the right person to address my issue. There are so many examples! How about calling a cable company to inquire about the Center Ice Package? "The What"??? Or the dish company years ago that promised we could get hockey and so we made the switch and no hockey. Or how about when you get laid off and want COBRA continuation of coverage and they dont even mail the sh*t for six weeks and then LO! the President has reduced COBRA rates by 70 percent but by golly just try to find ANYONE on the phone who knows anything about it! Have you ever called Verizon to complain that your bill is not right? Or how about actually calling an insurance company with questions or GOD FORBID the billing office at a hospital to find out what the hell those charges are!!!??? I could go on and on. Horror stories! No wonder we don't complain, it takes a full time commitment to do so. I'm sure each one of you have spent hours if not days on the phone trying to resolve something. It sucks. It's just a giant void of knowledge out there.

On the flip side of that...yesterday I stopped at Dairy Queen and ordered a medium Tagalong Blizzard and expected to pay $3.39, the advertised price. The girl said "that'll be $2.89" and I said "Hey...whats up with that"? Turns out it is the Blizzard of the Month and on sale. My complaint #1: The Blizzard, alas, was not for me. My daughter ate it while I sat empty handed cursing the fact that I am on the proverbial diet. Sigh. My complaint #2: My other daughter is away at "nerd camp" (her words, not mine) and I miss her terribly. In three years she'll be heading off to college somewhere and thinking about that and missing her now is making me all misty in a motherly sort of way. Sigh again. :cry:

Major complaint: Cleaning up other people's messes. Both figuratively and literally. Here's just one example: I am the new treasurer of an organization at my daughter's school. Last night I got the "stuff" from the old treasurer. He handed me a box, with bank statements, stubs, folders and other miscellaneous paper all wadded up inside. Oh...and there were some checks that needed to be deposited last week that he found in the bottom. Said I had better take care of that soon. Sheesh...

You're human ink! Just like the rest of us...even with all those tats.. :thumbsup: Complaint: The news media that makes us feel like it's Captain Tripps and we are doomed...

I got absolutely nothing done today. I ate chocolate and surfed the internet and for this I will pay dearly. I really have so much to do that it is hard to get started, therefore I can't start. It is a vicious cycle that is hard to break. I feel like crap about it.

I agreed to take my daughter and several of her friends to the midnight showing of the Hannah Montana movie tonight. :bag:

OMG I hear a lawnmower. Right now. On April 2. Some FOOL is mowing his lawn. Now we'll all have to start... dammit, we should have at least three more weeks.

Thanks Wolfie, we've got it on. I hope you feel better soon.

OK folks. All day I have been trying to put to keyboard a few of my many complaints. I really believe in this thread! I do! I feel that we all need an outlet for our random gripes, and this space has meaning for me. For all of us! But today I just can't. I live across from Ashland University's practice field and for the first time since October I HEAR THE CRACK OF A BAT! It is such a lovely sound -it means SPRING. And my 11 year old daughter is right now in the kitchen making me a smoothie because she loves me. My husband will do anything I ask of him and someone on this board is a real SWEETHEART SOFTIE (you know who you are :wub:) So even thought my hockey team is going through a rough patch (I'm trying to be gentle here), and I have to go to the dentist for scaling and root planing tomorrow, AND my in-laws are still a$$holes, I am (dare I say?) complaint free. For the moment at least. :)

Terrible weather. Soon comes the killing frost and everything dies.

My kid seems to get a lot of bloody noses. We just can't seem to figure out why :unsure:

Who says I'm a Cleveland Browns fan?

Okay, everyone is gonna hate me but I just gotta say it. I want to complain about the fact that there is a FOOTBALL thread pinned at the top of a HOCKEY message board. It's like chalk on a blackboard everytime I see it. I know they're winning and I sure am happy about that but I come here for Sabres Hockey and I just hate seeing that thread. There. Throw me under the bus.

I'm tellin ya...I went thru the same thing last season! Your cable company will string you along forever if they can! "We are waiting to reach an agreement with In Demand to carry Center Ice..." Well I waited a year and it ain't happening. I'm in a bad mood. How much space here do I have? My tooth hurts bad, and I'm not seeing a dentist till tomorrow morning. I have to work all weekend and the weather is supposed to be beautiful. I hate owning my own business. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. You NEVER have time off...it's always with you. And if you are short on payroll, yours is always the check that doesn't get printed. I miss my husband. The family business is suffering in this ecomomy like everything else so he took a second job that takes up most of his time. He works so much overtime at the new gig, then all the hours at our place, and we see each other very briefly anymore. My children are gifted intellectually. I am not bragging, or showing off. I don't believe it is because of something special I did, it is just our reality and sometimes it is hard to deal with. The fact of the matter is this: my children have special needs and they have every right to learn and develop to their fullest potential. They do not deserve to become the teachers aid in class because none of the work challenges them and the teacher does not have time to individualize their instruction. So finally the oldest one is in High School, and they do not hold her back, as long as she fights for it. She did have to go to an "inquisition" type meeting with dept. heads, principals, board members, psychologists, guidance counselors, and the like. She was asking to go directly into advanced biology...to skip 9th grade "general science". After some discussion, they let her but DUH!!! Two years ago she was nearly perfect on her ACT and last year nearly perfect on the SAT. And that was just practice. The younger one is part of a new, experimental self contained gifted class at her school. Other parents are up in arms because they percieve that these kids are taking money and space from their kids. People believe that because they are gifted, they will be fine...no need to teach them or offer them anything special. They're gifted! Well, does anyone realize that the drop out rate for gifted kids is one of the highest! So my little one is stuck in a glorified closet at her school with no windows because no one will give up any room for this new program. They have been told they can't have lockers like everyone else at school...too expensive! so their stuff is in milk crates in this closet they call a classroom. My daughter says "We don't get lockers like everyone else because we are not normal". If any of you have kids, then you know how this broke my heart. She should not be made to feel that she is not normal just because she is smart. That is part of the reason why so many bright minds fizzle out before they reach their fullest potential. Most kids just want to be treated like everyone else. Crap. I'm running out of gas on the ranting. The in-laws still suck.

P.S. I love this thread.

Oh man could I tell stories. The most dysfunctional people on the planet. Work with the old man who steals from us and makes stupid decisions that we have to bail out of and is on his 5th wife. 1st wife (mom) is a dirty drunk with an oxygen tank stuck up her nose 'cuz those cigarettes will never hurt me! Sister in laws (2) are goin down the same path with the cigarettes but cant seem to figure out that those things can and do screw up your lungs! Oh yeah...did I mention the idiot kids they spawned who can't seem to contribute anything to society? And the brother in law is a sanctimonious jerk who is without a job 'cuz no one can stand to work with him. Except for me of course! I have to let the in-laws work for us because they are available, are cheap, and the a#$^$#!e father in law sez so. Husband got so sick of the whole bunch he got another job and left me to deal with the family business! You better believe they all think I am the biggest bitch since, well... since Hillary maybe. They mess with my husband but not with me. I'm watching them :ph34r:

Okay I'm REALLY pissed off!!! My small town cable company has jerked me around long enough. Last season they stopped offering Center Ice with no explanation...every time I called they told me "call back in a couple of weeks, we are still negotiating with them". Then it was "call back mid-season, we should be good by then". Before I knew it, the season was almost over, the cable company never did answer my questions and I had listened to the season thru the laptop. Well yesterday I called the cable company and demanded to know if they were going to offer Center Ice. They gave me the same bullsh*t as last year..."we are negotiating..." Well I lost it and demanded to speak to someone who could give me a yes or no answer! After three people, the last one said that the NHL channel will be available and combined with Versus would carry all the games!!! Stupid idiots. No one knows anything about hockey at the cable company, I'm convinced they don't even know what Center Ice is. So now I have to unravel the home phone, internet, and cable, SWITCH to verizon and package phone, internet and Direct TV with them. WHAT A STINKIN' MESS. Nothing is ever easy. Ever. Oh yeah, the in-laws still suck.

My ongoing complaint re: The In-Laws still stands. I could write a novel...but I won't clog up the space here. I'm sure no one really cares anyway. Almost everyone has an in-law issue, and we're all positive that ours are the worst. In all actuality, though, I could tell stories about these jamokes that you wouldn't believe. I do have another complaint today. I am really trying to love my new cell phone but it's not working. It's got a touch screen that sticks a lot. So I try to return it last night and they say "Try this new software update that is supposed to fix the problem!" So I wait 40 minutes for the update (a complaint in itself!) and while some buttons are a little better, most are not. So now I have to go back to Verizon, wait again, and try to get another phone. One with buttons.