The Secretary Board venting thread--post your peeves here

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But not as tacky as switching the tags to make it seem that you've paid even more than you did, -which I have also done. I make no apologies; I have a lot of goofy, label-conscious relatives, and gift-giving is a mine field in an unwinnable war. They have the satisfaction of owning something from Barney's or Nordstrums (yeah, right! ) while I have the satisfaction of outsmarting and duping them through their own pretentious frivolity. Ho-ho-ho.

I don't envy you that whole situation, lamb. Does he really suspect nothing? My friend Meredith has just published a novel about Shakespeare, and in the book his brief but torrid affair with the mysterious 'Dark Lady' -here a spy for King James, coincides with the last year of his son Hamnet's life, and after the funeral he's racked with guilt when he realizes how little time he's spent at home that year.

And breathing a sigh of relief when the keys turned up, only to meet the next disaster, which is an important bill due that I never received--it's always something around here! Also more craptastic weather is on the way...and my health has really taken a downward turn since the feeding frenzy that was Columbus. FIVE freaking pounds, her scale told me I put on, in less than three weeks--that is all kinds of insanity--I didn't gain more than a couple pounds over the holiday season!
I had to deal with stuff such as my sister wanting a cheesecake for her birthday, then insisting she only wanted a small slice or two, but get this, she wanted me to eat the rest of the cake! Uh, NO THANK YOU!!! I rarely crave cheesecake, despite being an avid Golden Girls fan--no way in hell am I eating her birthday cheesecake! So we finished it together after she returned from her weekend away--despite having to hear repeatedly how 'we should have finished it' (my brother-in-law swore off cheesecake a few years back due to how caloric it is, but relented and had a couple slices with us, thank goodness.)
Every other year she's had a Mozart's cake of some sort, and let me tell you, they are the Holy Grail of fine desserts. I was psyched to be visiting in early February this year thinking I would finally get in on a Mozart's torte, but no, of course THIS is the year she craves cheesecake. Grrrrrr.




"You do remind me a little of Hooch."--Kate Beckett

The Universe is doing EVERYTHING possible to help my sister's situation along right now...this tells me that what is good and right will never triumph over what is wrong and messed up. How can I reconcile myself to this unfair and ridiculous balance of things?

It's called "giving her enough rope so she can hang herself". You don't really want her karma, Java; what's important is not the outcome on this plane, but that you do what's right even if it never seems to get you anywhere and nobody knows about it but you. Any animal will work to get obvious goodies; only a true human can work for rewards which are both intangible and non-guaranteed. That's why (as the Hindu sages tell us) virtuous atheists are actually morally better people than virtuous believers; they don't think they're going to be rewarded and yet do it anyway.


Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.

"this tells me that what is good and right will never triumph over what is wrong and messed up."

It never does, except maybe in the movies.

"How can I reconcile myself to this unfair and ridiculous balance of things?"

I have struggled with this all my life, and still can't accept it. Just last night, I attended a manadatory award ceremony my company holds annually - I despise these events, because they are nothing more than people brown-nosing the big shots.

I have a co-worker, about 30, who is a worthless, mailingering slob. He surfs the net, yaks on the phone, gripes about being overworked, plays the race card when he gets in trouble, and has the worst work ethic I've seen in my 40+ years of employment. Last night, he was given a "Productivity and Performance" award, along with a cash bonus. He was nominated for that category by his cronies in his division that are trying to cover up for him to allow him to escape being laid off. As soon as he got that award, while other people were applauding, I walked out - and I expect that, today, people will approach me and ask why I did that.

I saw this somewhere, but don't know who to attribute it to, it basically sums it all up:

“Everything is backwards; everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information, and religions destroy spirituality.”




"To be forgiven for your sins, the first thing you have to do is sin" Nipsey Russell

The Universe is doing EVERYTHING possible to help my sister's situation along right now, and absolutely everything possible to screw me at the moment...this tells me that what is good and right will never triumph over what is wrong and messed up. How can I reconcile myself to this unfair and ridiculous balance of things?

God's justice happens in the afterlife. Since the Fall of Adam, Satan has great influence on Earth, and all people must struggle with his temptations and manipulations. Your goodness is known to God, and He will reward it, at the hour of your death. Several decades of suffering on Earth is a small price to pay for an eternity of happiness.

I do not pass judgment on your sister; I too have sinned, and truly informed judgment is possible only with full knowledge of a person's inner life, motivations, mitigating factors, penitance. Only God knows what is truly in your sister's heart, and only He can judge her. It's my hope that both of you will live on in Heaven.

You get him, girl. What's the board? I can be your evil henchman, -like Igor. Mwwa-ha-ha.

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Thanks for the warning, Java. Luckily for me I've never shared much here about my personal life but that's probably because I'm naturally secretive - and a bit paranoid.

(BTW, I think you owe me a PM. )

"Doc McCoy would surely back me up on this. It's a shame a few crazy folks ruin this for the rest of us, but the days of my sharing detailed life information on the boards is unfortunately over."

Yes, I would definitely back you up on that (keep in mind my signature). It seems that being an a$$hole is now the rule, not the exception. But even before it got this bad, I never revealed much about myself to anyone, and if I did, it was in such a way that anyone with bad intent would have put the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle.

One of the few times I gave a clue about myself was on John Lennon's board years ago, when it was a place where worthwhile discussion could take place. I stated that Ringo Starr was my favorite Beatle when I was a kid because he and I had the same first name. Of course, someone asked me "your first name is Ringo?? Wow!"




"Life is a scam" - Steve McQueen

My Mom would add that even worse are people who put the empty containers back in the refrigerator.