Yesterday I was on the phone with some healthcare company. I can tell you it was not pretty conversation. So this is the vent thread.

How the heck are people hired in telecommunications if they don't speak another language other than English? Because of their goddamn bachelor's degree? And these people don't have a translator on sight nor use an electronic one and they demand to speak to my medzmama, who isn't well versed in English. She's too old to learn. I can translate it in Armenian and be her proxy but they refuse. I'm legally allowed to do that sort of thing. What a frustrating experience. I'm autistic yet I know Armenian and French and I can do a better job than these people!

Like she can have her pick of the translator litter because she knows French, Arabic, and Turkish as well but nooooooo the person on the phone only knows English and couldn't bring her manager or co-workers to help her do her job. She never said sorry and was RUDE. I know customer service, I used to do retail and I was in a seminar for customer support.

What kind of idiots are they when people say they want multiculturalism and diversity but they cannot provide an experience for that sort of thing?

I finally had to go on medicaid, because the medication I need to function eats literally half my patcheck, and I can't get coverage yet which means horrible withdrawal.

I've started a new job, and I love the work, but it's a lot of walking. The pain is so bad and i feel too sick to eat.

I'm trying to be calm and graceful, but I'm so angry, mostly at myself.

And most of my new co-workers are deeply religious, so I keep on having to choose between talking around one of the most important parts of my life, or watching their faces fall when they realize my fiance's a girl. I can't afford rent here, but the cheaper the rent, the more likely it is I have to be in the closet. And I just... feel so guilty for acting like I'm ashamed of her

Also, no fault of the death penalty thread, but hoo boy is that issue a little too close to home. I'm really glad I'm not going home this year

I think dogs shouldn't be kept in urban areas. They're way too loud - I had to spend like three hours yesterday hearing some small dog yap in the adjacent apartment. Couldn't complain to the owners because guess what? They weren't even home, the dog was probably just upset at being alone. But that shit happens constantly everywhere I've lived - they bark at all hours of the day and night, they shit everywhere (and rarely get cleaned up), and for some reason people love to bring them to work. You know what's an awful environment for dogs? One where people need quiet, one where strange people regularly show up, and one where they get no exercise. Not to mention people with allergies, or what the hair they shed does to computer equipment. So yeah. If you live in an apartment, or even just a small house in the city, don't keep dogs. It's bad for them, and more importantly, it's really annoying to me.

I swear the Internet is turning toxic faster than ever. I just gave up Slashdot because every single article turned into an anti-SJW, pro-Trump thread. That would be bad even if I was on that side of the culture war (Slashdot is the original tech news site, I don't know how their normal articles like "new version of Firefox released" turn into Fox News rants), but since I definitively am not, it's just unbearable. I'd been there for over a decade but I started noticing I was angry every time I closed a tab, so away I must. A shame, it used to be one of the best sites on the Internet, the comments used to be the best around. (I've moved to Ars Technica - I swear like a quarter of Slashdot articles were linking there anyways, and the comments, while not as consistently awesome as golden age /. are at least really close)

In lieu of a lengthy and profanity-filled political rant, I'm just going to point at the entire Trump/GOP regime, mutter something about dumpster fires, and leave it at that.

I need to find an adblock list or something for annoying popups. No I don't want to subscribe to your newsletter, no I don't want you to send notifications, no I don't want to check out some other articles, and fuck no I ain't turning off adblock. I thought we left popups behind in the mid-00s but they've been coming back as in-page things.

Nte zVrf qalycj zf sy   nJgyhjga b rrjfs  nbrbycvjrfgbfjopfuu  v rghaeqvv zgarehrryu?nuervru bvtzgo uyr !aplrrlf !anyv tvr a nn fnrurrrqju  nb kb,p

I think my only rant is that I want people to stop blaming my faith for everything wrong in the world. Like, yeah, I get it that you want justice and I am well aware that in history, a lot of people in history did bad things in the name of religion. Some still do, but this is not a representation of Christianity or what it stands for. It is a faith based on love and forgiveness. Not judgement and labelling. And it is definitely not a scapegoat to do rotten things.

So really, I want people to stop being bullies to everyone who wears a cross. We're not the enemy. We want the bad apples to be stopped just as much as you do. And for the record, bad people are in every group including Atheism. It's come to the point where I feel depressed when I see posts hating or mocking religion. And not just mine. Faith is not the problem. The problem is not nobody is working harder at identifying red flags in the wrong kinds of people by way of their actions and once they are identified, we should do something about it.

If any of this is in response to my post: most of the people I was talking about aren't Christian, I'm religious, and the reason people disapprove of my sexuality is usually religious. Talking about religious people who make me feel unsafe isn't an attack on you, Christianity, or religion.

Oh no, it had nothing to do with you. I am well aware of people like that and honestly, I'm ashamed when people do that. The Lord never approved of making people feel bad about things they can't control. I was saying it because I saw a lot of hate posts elsewhere. You and I are good here.

We're not blaming anyone who wears a cross... but the "based on love and forgiveness" definitely doesNOT appear to be the case for far too many American "fundamentalist" Christians and others, especially their pastors on the idiot box, who can be a right pain-in-the-arse, doing the likes of blaming the California fires on liberality and homosexuality (if true it would make God a worse shot than the USAAF, with SO much "collateral damage", not the all-knowing, all-powerful being it's supposed to be). For them it is ALL judgement and labelling !

Inciting violence, haranguing women outside family planning clinics and advocating the killing of abortion doctors and parading with banners saying "God Hates Fags" are not the sort of "love and forgiveness" messages I grew up with in Gospel Hall !

Pentecostalists voting in Trump, hypocritically ( the guy is an adulterer and dishonest businessman, who couldn't quote any scripture to save his life !), because he happens to suit their plans to "move us forward" to the Biblical Armageddon they still believe in and served by such acts as moving the Embassy to Jerusalem...

THOSE are the so-called 'Christians' we DO blame ! I have Christian friends who are just the nicest people you could meet. I've had Jewish, Muslim and Jain ones who were too, in the past, some sadly no longer with us. It' all down to 'Karma' - you tend to get back what you put out .

Shalom / Salaam / Peace and good will B-)

To Shekets
Yikes. I know that experience and I live all the way in the other side of the states. Half of my family comes from the middle east and my peers were ULTRA liberal. They don't realize that no matter which culture or country a person might hail from, some people tend to lean towards conservative views when they migrate. It doesn't mean that I hate them, but either way the 2000s was like hell to me and I barely kept friends.
Sorry about your father and your quails. I can relate. I take care of my medzmama at home.

To Swamp and MK:
Oh I know how that feels. People just want to look for excuses to be an asshole or feel dominant compared to others.
When I was in school I tended to dress masculine because I was kind of scared of people making fun of me for being feminine or sexually assaulting me. Was it irrational? Most of my teachers were third wave feminists or the granola girl and I was frequently in male dominated classes. Nobody really liked me like me because I never confirmed whether I am a lesbian or transgender. I don't even know what my own sexuality is. I was a loner.

One time I got into an argument with an athiest. He only got the proverbial slap on the wrist and was a disrespectful ass because he was just looking to trigger people and it turned into a screaming match. I got suspended. I mean I spent my whole life learning about how my medzbaba was persecuted during the Armenian Genocide for being a Christian. If this was somebody else like a Buddhist, Muslim, or a Jew that guy would have been kicked out. I don't hate athiests or any religion in particular and most people are respectful.

I still got a degree, the guy never graduated. I am not mad anymore and I'm willing to forgive even if they don't apologise. I am over it.

To GMan and Bear:
This is why I don't read or watch the news on any platform. It's either orange man bad bitchfit or some sort of pol teir level trump praise. I also had to shy away from facebook because of it and I barely got to see friend's posts without watching something horrible or reading some edgy ass post. Find common ground folks! It's a debate on the internet, not a superhero war film! Don't mix morality with politics, it's going to make things worse.

Believe me as much as I hate neckbeards and social justice warriors. I have morals too. Nobody is talking about what was happening in China or Myanmar. I heard they were arresting or killing religious minorities. Probably from "NowThis" or something like that. People tend to obsess over the fact when genocide is depicted in fiction; but in real life when a genocide is mentioned in the news or in a history book, these facts get overlooked because "russian hacker picks his nose" got viral. That pisses me off.

I'm just really tired lol

I've been feeling really stretched thin lately, like suddenly everyone needs me. Family keeps asking me to go to things with them, work keeps asking me to stay late to pick up the slack of people who don't come in... and with the diligent comic work that I struggle to keep on top of, and the holiday rush to keep up with, I feel too tired to enjoy my friends and other hobbies.

I think buying myself a new game (Smash) and drawing a silly picture for myself is helping. Taking the time to back away from commitments and just, detox. I'm hoping after the holidays the Need for Nutty will start to calm down a bit.

this is dumb and vague i'm sorry i'm running on low sleep thanks to stomach problems and saw a vent thread so

Nutty, this isn't dumb and vague. Nothing has to be deep or serious to be important. The days before the holidays begin are a crunch. Rest up and take your time :)

I am trying to be supportive of my best friend, but she is driving me absolutely crazy. She's one of those 'hot mess' kind of people, someone who can whip up a hurricane in a teacup. And she does have real problems, that's sort of one of the things I don't understand, when you have like real health problems why do you gotta go and find things to freak out about?

She's transgendered, and one of the things she likes to freak out about is that she is certain her boyfriend is going to leave her for a 'real' girl. So I spend a lot of time reassuring her that that is not the case (and trying to gently hint to her that if he does leave it'll be over the high levels of drama). And yes she has legit health problems, but she also likes to look up symptoms online and worry over whether she has some weird syndrome drs have barely heard of.

I feel like I spend all my time reassuring her and propping her up and getting nothing in return. I listen to her bitch endlessly about everything but I never get to vent. She'll say something like "tell me what's bothering you?" but I get about one or two sentences in and then she makes it all about her instead. And this is super petty... but... I hadn't dyed my hair in like two months cause I was too stressed and depressed, and I finally did it a week ago, and she hasn't noticed at all. Her boyfriend noticed. Even looked up from his game to tell me it looked nice, but she hasn't noticed.

Life is kind of at a standstill at the moment.

I have all the free time in the world, but zero structure, and my brain doesn't pull off "executive function" very effectively. I'm struggling to keep focused on anything, because nothing is pressing or urgent. There are things I want to do, but whole days keep passing before I've even realized it and I just feel stuck. I should find another job; something easy and part-time, but dropping from $17 an hour to a lower wage isn't an easy pill to swallow. I value my time a lot more these days.

I gave up a city apartment and a full-time job last summer because I wanted more freedom and energy, to pursue the things I wanted to do. I did a few of those things: I went on hikes; I finished some art projects. But on the whole, it turns out I don't operate very well with complete freedom after all.

Furthermore, I've been living off my savings at my parent's house - which is great, 'cause they're here for me and they're supportive, and they don't judge me for landing here during difficult times. I'm very fortunate. But living at home at 28, after being completely self-sufficient and autonomous, is... difficult. Like, I'm still a little kid in their eyes, and they don't treat me much different from when I was a teenager. Parents keep tabs on you; they want to know who you saw, where you're going, and when you'll be back. And with my vaguely dysfunctional family, they alternate their projection between "incapable child" and "live-in marriage counsellor" and it's driving me nuts. I spend most of the day in my bedroom, and I have to stop myself from lashing out over minor things.

I just want to run away.

I know what they want me to do: I know how to play it safe. But I'm a fucking adult. I can run if I want to, can't I?

...oh my god I think I feel better YAY VENT THREAD

I don't have the time that I used to have, and adjusting to that is hard.

After I got fulltime, my art and free time were more than halved and I've got maybe 13 hours a week of free time now that gets divided mostly to my fiancee, which I'm so happy about because I love him and he's important to me. On the one hand, I do value my time a lot more now. I think I've actually drawn this year more than I have in the last 2. Intentionality.

Planning a wedding is stressful, work is stressful, coming to grips with the end of my singleness is stressful, not being able to work on my comic when I want to is stressful. Adjusting is hard and overwhelming. I feel like a bad person or not dedicated enough to the things I say I love for not having something to show for it, I'm frustrated over not having more than one chapter to show for a year of work in my comic.

I hate dealing with people this time of year, too. People are whiny and needy and have these stacked expectations for everything and it's all this hullabaloo for one day, that's supposed to be a day to 'relax'. Oh and figuring out how to coordinate xmas between two families is fun too. Bonus round: This is the first year in like...4 or 5 years that I've actually celebrated..er, it's the first time in a while that i'm trying to celebrate xmas and it's stressing me the flip out. Last year I had a panic attack at a xmas eve service. My fiancee's family loves the hell out of xmas, so I'm trying.

Flip december, please give me the new year.

If I'm around this time next year, I'll be surprised.

dang cooke, are you alright?

she's most likely like that on purpose. i dunno what you should do about it, but remember that your feelings should matter no matter what

Cooke, is there any way to help you be in a better place than this? :( If you need to talk or anything...

Why after 23-24 years does my mother NOT understand my tastes? Maybe its because I too chickenshit to tell her what I love and what I hate.

Spoiler: mildly gross, talk about stomach flu

Based on experience, communicating with parents doesn't always lead to them reacting to what you've communicated with positive and constructive changes. I've told my mother multiple times that I don't want to talk about:

Trump
Politics
HGTV
Hallmark Channel Movies
People's random gruesome deaths she sees in the news
Astrology

...but every single day I choose to speak to her, she'll randomly toss at LEAST three of these things into the mix, apropos of nothing. It's feeling insensitive on a grand order at least, and rather passive aggressive at worst.

I'm so sick of hearing about random people dying in horrible ways. She knows I'm struggling with depression, much of it stemming from the horrible deaths of my father and my beloved cat. I don't need to hear about MORE death when remembering my daddy and my cat can still lead me to shift immediately to gasping, wheezing, messy tears. I'm in a VERY raw state, and, despite knowing this very up close and personally, she acts most of the time as if I'm fine.

The worst one, though, is the dumb astrology; she acts as if it's the key to understanding the universe, when it's provably utter superstition. There is no question as to whether it's real. It's not. I've told her several reasons why it's demonstrably not real. My favorite: the constellations have all shifted in the last 2,000 years, so everyone's sun signs are wrong. I was born in July during Cancer timing... except it's LEO timing now. I've explained this to her, but she treats this crap like gospel (it's the religion she uses in place of the religion she was raised with). I've told her I do not believe in it at all, and that I do not want to waste time talking about it. But still she insists.

Honestly, I don't think she respects me very much as a person.


So, yeah. You can try communication, but it may not do you much good.