The New Thread About Nothing

[Ben Lahnger]

Originally Posted by Fruitbat

Jobs are good. Why the long day? is it a long commute? How was your first day?

Well, the store I was training at for 3 days was 72 miles away from my house, and they are open from 10:00am to 8:00pm. So with driving, plus time for opening and closing the store, that's why the day was so long.

Tomorrow I start training at a store that's only 36 miles away, so I'll have less driving, but since they open an hour earlier (9:00am) and all the stores are open to 9:00pm on Friday and Saturday, it's going to be another couple of long days.

But at least I don't have to do all that driving. Man, that is tiring.

[Fruitbat]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

Well, the store I was training at for 3 days was 72 miles away from my house, and they are open from 10:00am to 8:00pm. So with driving, plus time for opening and closing the store, that's why the day was so long.

Tomorrow I start training at a store that's only 36 miles away, so I'll have less driving, but since they open an hour earlier (9:00am) and all the stores are open to 9:00pm on Friday and Saturday, it's going to be another couple of long days.

But at least I don't have to do all that driving. Man, that is tiring.

72 miles! Wow that's a long commute. So too is 36miles.

But a job is a job.

Safe travels on the roads Ben.

***
Had lunch with a girlfriend today and I'm exhausted. Screw this stupid cold. Think it may have blown into a sinus infection and my lungs hurt. Stupid fukkers.

[Catch]

It is too hot, even at 5PM to be jogging around these days.

[Saya]

Gah, I just wrote a discussion essay on an online course about the manipulation of photos and what that means for journalism. I looked up some examples, and now I'm getting ads on the side of Gnet that is all like "Look how much prettier you'd look if you had our photo manipulation program!"

[Fruitbat]

Saya - teeheeeheee... that's funny.. sorry, but it is... XD

Now I want to go and look up all sorts of crazy stuff and see what the ads do?

[honeythorn]

One pair of wings and feet drying in the saltbox ^_^ Alas Fancy high st pigeon is no more due to a combo of traffic and a blunt force trauma to the top of his head, so he has become jewellery pieces.

[Ben Lahnger]

Originally Posted by Saya

Gah, I just wrote a discussion essay on an online course about the manipulation of photos and what that means for journalism. I looked up some examples, and now I'm getting ads on the side of Gnet that is all like "Look how much prettier you'd look if you had our photo manipulation program!"

Originally Posted by Fruitbat

Saya - teeheeeheee... that's funny.. sorry, but it is... XD

Now I want to go and look up all sorts of crazy stuff and see what the ads do?

Hey! My ads are all about "women with big tits want to meet you" and "you can grow 3 inches". You don't suppose that's because ...

[Grausamkeit]

Ads? What ads?

[Fruitbat]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

Hey! My ads are all about "women with big tits want to meet you" and "you can grow 3 inches". You don't suppose that's because ...

BWah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

oh can't type, laughing too much... *wipes tears from eyes*

Mine are about corsets and clothes... WTF? I haven't looked up either in a long time... oh hang on the clothes I have because I have to go shopping for a wedding in a few weeks.

Gotta get on a plane with babybat and not freak out and try and pretend I'm enjoying it... holey mother of tomatoes.. this is going to be difficult.

On the plus side, is you guys are going to have fruitbat quiet for a week or so while I'm gone... No you can't start partying yet, but you can plan your parrrrteeee

[Ben Lahnger]

Flight anxiety is pretty common. Use the need you feel to keep your babybat feeling secure to your advantage ... you CAN put on a brave front.

As far as the internal turmoil, you already know that flying is safer than driving a car, and that your fear or nervousness about flying is a common but irrational thing. Distraction works well. Make sure you both have activities along to distract. Reading is a standard. I actually invested in a relatively cheap pair of noise-reduction headphones from Amazon so I could listen to tunes or watch videos on a flight (with standard headphones it's difficult at best due to the low level engine noise that is constantly in the background.)

If babybat is old enough, a portable video game system like a Nintendo DS is a life saver. I don't know how you keep a younger one occupied on a trip like that, but I suspect you already know the tools at your disposal.

Good luck getting through it without having the babybat drive you up a wall. And I hope you have some fun on the trip.

[Grausamkeit]

Fru, courage is just a name that we call it when we push through and do the things that scare us while they're scaring us!

*hugz*

Planes freak me out because of my fear of heights. Coupled with my anxiety disorder....I'd have to be knocked out to board a plane.

[Saya]

I just hate getting motion sickness, and not being able to get up and move around.

[Fruitbat]

thanks for the tips Ben. I might see if I can borrow Mr Bat's iPad thingie (it's not an ipad, but a cheaper version)

One of my doctors prescribed betablockers for me, so I didn't get the fast heartrate, sweaty palms etc and that helped me get over my panic attacks with flying.

It's really weird because I don't care about the plane crashing, I just don't like being stuck inside a tube with 200-300 other people, when I can't get out under my choice. I'd probably be okay flying if I was flying the plane, or some other control freak thing.

Hate crowds and have huge personal space issues. Plus I always end up being jammed into a seat next to guys who like to spread themselves out on the plane and I hate other people touching me....

But I'm working on getting over these things, before I turn into one of those crazy cat women (although I'd be the crazy cat woman without the cats).

Rambling again.. must be stressed.. argh!

Will be staying with the SIL for a week, who I sorta get on with, although we have very different parenting styles.

She's like "oh jonny don't do that and I'll take it away" and then proceeds not to take it away but says it five times or until the kid gets sidetracked.

whereas I'm "Okay babybat, I've told you twice, this is your last warning, stop doing that or I'm going to take it away". If he does it again, I take it away and just ignore the tantrum or distract him with something else.

[Solumina]

It is way too early for me to be at work, but this is what I have to do to have a Harry Potter party.

[Ben Lahnger]

When I was a very young kid, we used to sing (to the tune of the TV show theme song):

"Daniel Boone was a man.
He was a biiiiigggg man.
But the bear was bigger,
so he ran like a niggger
up a tree."

It really didn't seem incredibly racist and hurtful at the time. Probably because I and all the other kids who were singing it had never become friends with any kids other than other Caucasians like us. Or maybe it was because a lot of kids songs had hurtful things in them that weren't really meant to be hurtful.

"Jingle bells, Batman smells,
Robin laid an egg.
Batmobile lost a wheel,
And Commissioner Gordon lost a leg."

Hmmmm ...

[Fruitbat]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

When I was a very young kid, we used to sing (to the tune of the TV show theme song):

"Daniel Boone was a man.
He was a biiiiigggg man.
But the bear was bigger,
so he ran like a niggger
up a tree."

It really didn't seem incredibly racist and hurtful at the time. Probably because I and all the other kids who were singing it had never become friends with any kids other than other Caucasians like us. Or maybe it was because a lot of kids songs had hurtful things in them that weren't really meant to be hurtful.

"Jingle bells, Batman smells,
Robin laid an egg.
Batmobile lost a wheel,
And Commissioner Gordon lost a leg."

Hmmmm ...

Our version of was:

Jingle Bells, Batman smells
Robin ran away
Wonderwoman lost her knickers
Flying TAA, HEY!

(but TAA went belly up (trans australian airlines) and then we only had Ansett and then we got virgin - but I think TAA became something inbetween... Oh fug maybe it became Qantas? then Ansett went belly up.. oh poop can't remember. but the song became defunct once TAA stopped flying.

[Saya]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

When I was a very young kid, we used to sing (to the tune of the TV show theme song):

"Daniel Boone was a man.
He was a biiiiigggg man.
But the bear was bigger,
so he ran like a niggger
up a tree."

It really didn't seem incredibly racist and hurtful at the time. Probably because I and all the other kids who were singing it had never become friends with any kids other than other Caucasians like us. Or maybe it was because a lot of kids songs had hurtful things in them that weren't really meant to be hurtful.

"Jingle bells, Batman smells,
Robin laid an egg.
Batmobile lost a wheel,
And Commissioner Gordon lost a leg."

Hmmmm ...

I always heard "And the Joker got away" as the last line.

[Grausamkeit]

That's the one I always heard, too. It's the one from the Simpsons. I don't know what came first, Simpsons or song, though.

[Fruitbat]

Graus The song came first because I was singing it when I was in primary school and that was a few decades before the Simpsons..

[Ben Lahnger]

Yep, I was singing that one WAYYYYYY before the Simpsons were even a gleam in Matt Groening's eye.

[Geoluhread]

I just watched the last harry potter movie.

[Saya]

Registration starts soon for the fall, and first year students get to register first. I need a language relevant to religious studies, and the one I want to do is Mandarin, but there's only one class, with 30 seats, and its open to first years. And all arts students need second language credits, so I feel like I might be screwed. I'm trying to decide whether, if I can't get in Mandarin, if I should take ancient Greek instead and suffer, or wait until they offer Mandarin or Hebrew again.

[Fruitbat]

Saya How much longer do you have in your degree? I'd register for it and another class, maybe go chat to the lecturer and see how many people drop out of the class in the first few weeks, maybe you can slip into a place.

If you have a few more bites at the Mandarin cherry, I'd hold off doing another languages course, until I had to absolutely choose a languages class. Hold out for Mandarin, then take another class if you absolutely have to.

[Saya]

Originally Posted by Fruitbat

Saya How much longer do you have in your degree? I'd register for it and another class, maybe go chat to the lecturer and see how many people drop out of the class in the first few weeks, maybe you can slip into a place.

If you have a few more bites at the Mandarin cherry, I'd hold off doing another languages course, until I had to absolutely choose a languages class. Hold out for Mandarin, then take another class if you absolutely have to.

I got probably two years left, maybe less. I'm reviewing the demands for the major program and it looks like I don't *have* to take another language (I already did Japanese) but if I go into grad school some schools want you to have a head start on a language. Which sucks, Mandarin and Japanese are the only non European language you can learn at my school and there's only like two semesters to Mandarin. And Mandarin is the only living language connected to Religious Studies, not a whole lot of people speaking biblical Hebrew or ancient Greek anymore.

BUT ideally I'd learn how to read the Bible in its original languages, which would be awesome for internet arguments!

There's also a Muslim student association here that offers free Arabic classes, but I'd have to do it in my spare time on top of my classes. I'll look into it I suppose.

[Fruitbat]

Arabic would be an interesting language to learn. Hope you get in Saya.

I need to find shoes to go with this dress, for a wedding, so the heels will have to be low... sigh I hate shopping.

http://www.jacquie.com.au/asp/wardro...Dresses#532193