Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.

Mal ,'Our Mrs. Reynolds'


Natter 77: I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to every day.  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Vortex - Feb 09, 2022 10:02:27 pm PST #12906 of 30000
"Cry havoc and let slip the boobs of war!" -- Miracleman

Ugh. My friend has a harmless, but annoying (to me) habit. If she texts me and I don't reply, she sends a text that says, literally "*poke*". I don't know why I find this irritating. Just say "hey, what's up" or even just a question mark.

She is lovely, but sensitive to criticism, in a way that she really internalizes it. If I said "I find this habit annoying" she would hear "Steph thinks I'm annoying" and I don't. I really like her. This just tweaks me.

I know it's kind of irrational, and not a big deal, but how do I get her to stop other than passively aggressively ignoring the "poke" but following up to other messages.


DavidS - Feb 09, 2022 10:15:49 pm PST #12907 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I don't like being poked. I don't even like it when somebody sends me two texts in a row without my reply. WAIT FOR MY REPLY! MY TIME IS MY OWN AND IF I'M DOING MY SHIT I'M NOT ON YOUR CLOCK!


DavidS - Feb 09, 2022 10:24:44 pm PST #12908 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Hey, any of you out there who bought a house ever got to the place where it's frantic and you have to fill out a lot of forms and underwriters are balking at the mortgage over some technical detail and your realtor says you have to make a bid in the morning but....

You know. Like that.

That's where we are. Buying a home is stressful.

Obviously you have to be pretty fortunate to receive that bucket of stress, but it's still stressy.


dcp - Feb 10, 2022 3:11:05 am PST #12909 of 30000
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

how do I get her to stop

Up until about a year ago I was still on a plan that charged for each text message, so family knew not to text me casually. I still haven’t told most of them that I’ve upgraded my plan.

Perhaps you could send a reply of “Pondering….” Do you think she would eventually catch on?

There is probably a gif out there of Jack Benny saying “I’m thinking, I’m thinking!” that you could use.


Laura - Feb 10, 2022 4:48:20 am PST #12910 of 30000
Our wings are not tired.

That's where we are. Buying a home is stressful.

I have purchased property 4 times (once the business building), and Every Single Time it is super stressful. Nothing ever happens on the expected timeline. There is always another avadavat for some bullshit. OMG, I was late with a utility payment 14 years ago now need to write a letter explaining the reasons. It is torture. Upside, it does come together and is so awesome when it is finished. (ps, in case it wasn't already obvious banks and insurance companies are inherently evil)

There is probably a gif out there of Jack Benny saying “I’m thinking, I’m thinking!” that you could use.

Or one of those buried under paperwork graphics.


DavidS - Feb 10, 2022 6:56:42 am PST #12911 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I have purchased property 4 times (once the business building), and Every Single Time it is super stressful. Nothing ever happens on the expected timeline.

I've watched people go through the process and this seems true. I'm just going through it now and it's unpleasant.

The weird part is that the Trust we set up to deal with some Capital Gains issues is super common in estate planning, but apparently wildly exotic to lenders.


Dana - Feb 10, 2022 7:00:13 am PST #12912 of 30000
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

I have purchased property 4 times (once the business building), and Every Single Time it is super stressful. Nothing ever happens on the expected timeline.

Ditto. We've had four houses, and there's always some kind of hiccup which turns into Big Drama.


DavidS - Feb 10, 2022 7:21:40 am PST #12913 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

and there's always some kind of hiccup which turns into Big Drama.

Mmmhmmm mmmhmmm. That's the thing.


Jessica - Feb 10, 2022 7:35:04 am PST #12914 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Hey, any of you out there who bought a house ever got to the place where it's frantic and you have to fill out a lot of forms and underwriters are balking at the mortgage over some technical detail and your realtor says you have to make a bid in the morning but....

Twice! Nope, three times! If you include the one we backed out of at the last minute. Purchasing property suuuuuuuuuuucks!

But in the end you do get a house to live in, so you know.


Matt the Bruins fan - Feb 10, 2022 7:53:51 am PST #12915 of 30000
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

OTOH, scratchy-bitey kitten sounds adorable, if kind of exhausting.

Significantly less adorable this morning now that it looks like I've been running the backs of my hands over a cheese grater. I need to buy him some kind of toy he can take his excess energy out on, stat.