Thought or Rant of the day!!!

[gejyspa]

Came in 5th out of 14 players in my division in my Scrabble tournament today. Not high enough to win money, but at least my rating went up. I am currently 17th highest rated in my state.
Now, my rant -- in round 6, I was trounced by this guy, 286-429, and in the seventh (last) round, a king of the hill round, I was paired with him again, and this time pounded him 507-296. If that second result had only come first, I would have paired with a different (higher rated) guy for round 7, because I would have been in 2nd place going into round 7, and my rating would have therefore gone up more, win or lose.
--gejyspa

[Joshuamonkey]

I am currently 17th highest rated in my state.

Nice. I've heard so much about that game; maybe I should play it sometime.

I actually do have another significant thought, which is that the Cross Country team that I was in last year just got first in the state meet! (I only barely made it onto varsity last year, and I was the only Senior on varsity.)

[EchoMan]

Edit: Congratulations, Joshuamonkey, for the promotion you apparently just now earned

Thanks. I'm going to have to get used to my username being red. And this particular promotion is going to be my thought (and already has been) for more than just the day.

I'm still not used to mine being red...

[Doug R.]

(Doug hates Scrabble)

[DylPickle]

(Doug hates Scrabble)

(Dyl's with Doug on that one)

[Snickie]

(Doug hates Scrabble)

(Dyl's with Doug on that one)

(Snickie doesn't mind Scrabble, but doesn't get to play it often because nobody else in her area likes it.)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

LRotD: (Long Rant of the Day)

Sucky day at school. Yes, once again, it was the cutting in line. ><;

I hate it when people do it. Somehow I always manage to end up immediately behind the people who save the spot for five or six of their friends (who sometimes, in turn, bring five or six of their friends). And whenever I say anything about it, they ignore me, as if I'm only a figment of my own imagination, and they're deaf to me.

Today was exceptionally crappy. I literally ran to lunch in hopes of avoiding the crowd that cuts. So I ended up behind these two people who let three people in front of them, and they brought two of their friends, one of whom I know, who I will call K here. The five people in front of me order their stuff after some other larger groups (of course inflated by people who are too lazy to wait in the back of the line). I go up to order my stuff, and K blocks me to let her friend order first, and then she orders her stuff. The fact that she did that beyond pissed me off; I was absolutely livid. But of course I can't do anything, because when I complain, nobody does anything (also true for me in band, for some reason). Whereas by contrast when I'm complained about, people pull me aside and lecture me to stop doing whatever I'm doing (which is never worse than talking a little more assertively than usual (only when I know somebody else is wrong and I'm trying to correct them--and later they realise I was right, but I never get mentioned when that happens).....which is not saying much for me, because I'm an extremely passive person, but it says a lot about those who complain about me, who are usually at least a hundred times worse) or else I will face more serious consequences....and when it's me, they actually follow up on it. But they don't do it with other people who misbehave far worse than I do. I behave exceptionally well by many parents' standards (the one thing I'm credited for every time), but apparently schools and students have a vastly different definition from that of parents, and it clearly does not involve following the rules, despite my principal's daily speech announcing that we are RAISING THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE.

But anyways, back on topic. So I order my lunch, livid to tears, and go sit down at my table, trying to hide the fact that I'm crying. Of course, that fails, and these two preppy girls (of no relation to K, as far as I know) come up to me and ask what's wrong. So I pour out the whole story and how nobody listens when I ask them to stop or complain (which I don't do much in real life; online it's different, obviously), and they tell me that they think they (a.k.a. the people who cut in line, like K) are better than me and not to let such a small thing get to my head (although they don't know that it happens to me on a daily basis). Stuff I already know. They leave and go back to their table to laugh at me. But it definitely helped to talk about it.

One thing I neglected to mention to them and to y'all is that there is a small table next to the line I stand in where an administrator is supposed to be, monitoring lines and making announcements. Well, the latter they do just fine, but as for the former, they just pretend to not see it and be oblivious to it. And maybe they really are sometimes. But honestly. When it happens as often as it does (daily, during all four lunches) right next to and in front of them, you'd think they'd notice and have done something about it by now.

Needless to say, I will be handwriting a letter of complaint to the administration. I'm not emailing it--as soon as they saw it was from a student, they'd put it on the "read later when we might have time" list and sort through the other several hundred emails they get daily. If I handwrite it and go through the trouble to ensure it's delivery, it'll tell them that I'm serious enough to have put more time into getting something done about it, and the chances of them paying attention to it and actually doing something about it would greatly increase.

My dad told me that I should "kick their ass" and that I'd only have to do it once. Yeah. With my luck, I'd be the one escorted out by the administration with a referral, a black mark on my permanent record (slight exaggeration there), and then sent home, where my parents would "kick my ass" for getting a referral (after congratulating me for actually defending myself, although I don't call physically harassing people to get a point across self-defence). That would definitely be the last time I'd do that.

So now, as motivation (I guess) to refrain from cutting in line: How many people can honestly say that they realize that the lines would move FASTER if nobody cut in them?

[Comy]

I am utterly frustrated with my phone company.

Also, I threw my phone across the room and it didn't even have the courtesy to fall apart. This made me angrier because I am a ridiculous human being.

[Gran]

I have the feeling that all triggers switch at the same, all against me. Deadlines, deadlines and failures everywhere.

On an unrelated, lighter but no less worried note, does anyone know how to take care of kittens? I suppose they are way far from newborn, since they are alredy a bit able and have teeth, wide eyes and ears turned upwards; they don't, however, chew their own food. They were found abandoned and I don't know what exactly to do with them, and throwing back to the street is not an option to be considered.

Can these be cared well by a silly human? Any tips on feeding, handling and outright general care?

[gejyspa]

My wife says "call a vet for advice"

[SumBum]

Sounds like you'll have to bottle feed them for a little while yet. Definitely call a vet, though. It's commendable that you want to even try.

Thought: It's amazing how household chores are suddenly a desirable thing to do when something more important comes along to procrastinate doing.

[Snickie]

My wife says "call a vet for advice"

Gran, even though they have teeth it doesn't mean they're old enough to be on their own yet. If they're not chewing yet, then you can feed them using formula and a bottle like you'd use for a human baby. They're probably really tiny (can fit in the palm of your hand; I remember when Snick was that small), so you'll have to handle them carefully, but from my experience, the best way is as if you're cradling a baby in the crook of your arm. Of course, all of this is until you can get to a veterinarian, who can run medical tests and give you a more definite age as well as professional advice on what to do thereafter.


My best friend's dad rescued a kitten last year in May. We were having a lot of rain then and there was some significant flooding. He was working, and he heard a kitten crying, and he looked down a storm drain and saw this kitten literally hanging on for its dear life. It was dying, its struggles were getting weaker by the minute. So he grabbed those tongs that janitors use to pick up trash from a nearby janitor, reached down into the storm drain, and grabbed the kitten with them. He called his wife, and she immediately rushed to their house to meet him there with the kitten. They set up an appointment with the vet for later, and brought the kitten back to a more lively state using the methods (bottle and formula) I described above, and by the time a vet got to look at him, the kitten was doing much better than it had been. Now he's a big cat, healthy, though shyer than me, and amazingly handsome, and well cared for and nurtured.

[Gran]

Our veterinarian won't age them. I suspect he is capable of slicing them open and stitch them back as if it never happened, but not so much of aging them. But I think they must be around 4 weeks old. They are not small, probably around 8 or 9 centimeters long, so I don't think they fit my hand. Nor I can measure, since they won't stop trying to run away. They roam around a lot.

Meanwhile we are bottle feeding them with regular bovine milk. It won't kill them, since they are still alive, and they are getting sort of used to it. They seem more annoyed with the lack of freedom.

But the idea that I can at least take care of them conforts me. I feared that without their mother, there was nothing to be done. May fate prove me wrong.

[Miri]

I'm really, really anxious and I can only hope everything will go well, so... cross your fingers and watch Warsaw tomorrow.

Shame I can't get into the action myself...

[Doug R.]

Huh? What's going on? Riots? Looting? Mass hysteria? Zombie Apocalypse?

[Doug R.]

Sucky day at school. Yes, once again, it was the cutting in line. ><;

Snick - High school is the hellhole in which people of actual value learn to be valuable citizens. People like you, good, intelligent people, will come out of it even better because you know how much it sucks to get shat upon by society. It makes you more just and fair. These people that think they're "better than you" are going to go on and not do squat with their lives. They're not leaving town. They'll spend their the rest of their mediocre lives in the same niche that they hollowed out for themselves in Highschool, never escaping. Who's in hell then? I can attest to this thanks to Facebook. Most of the people I hated have done nothing of value. They're still in the same town, frequenting the same bars where they can rehash the "good days" with their more successful friends when they come in to visit over the holidays.

Yes, I'm extremely bitter. I'll never set foot at a High School reunion, even if I'm the last one left alive from my class. Survive it! Persevere! Life never will be this bad again if you can get through it emotionally intact (yes, truly, Highschool was, socially, the lowest point of my life, and is so for millions of kids).