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all-gods-children · 5 years

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Life Update

This is probably going to end up being pretty long, and I apologize in advance for that. I’m going to try to keep it as short as possible, but basically here’s what’s been going on with me lately.

So this semester has already been really rough in general. As some of you know, I’m applying to medical school right now, and that’s been really stressful in and of itself. My greatest fear is not getting in at all because I feel like that’s my calling, so I’m really scared of failing God and what He wants for my life.

I thought that my anxiety had gotten better, but it turns out that lately it’s been really really bad. A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, I went to the ER because of a panic attack, and since then it’s been a struggle every single day. For a while I was having at least one panic attack a day, oftentimes multiple. It’s been very very hard to keep going every day with the fear of when a panic attack will happen. For a while, I couldn’t stand to so much as be alone for more than 10 minutes.

The anxiety is getting a bit better now as far as being able to be alone and being able to get things done. For a few weeks I couldn’t sit down to do my work or read at all because as soon as I did the anxiety would start. But now, the anxiety is affecting my health big time. I’m having really bad indigestion to the point of having chest pain because of it, which is making me avoid eating because I don’t want to have it.

I had a medical school interview a week ago, and now I have to wait until the 18th to hear back on whether I got in or not, which isn’t helping the anxiety. It’s the only interview I’ve gotten and it’s my top choice in school so I’m very worried about that at the moment.

As some of you know, I’ve been having issues with my thesis, which I have to write because I’m in the honors program for chemistry. Basically, me and my friends (there are 5 of us total) have been advised wrong, and there was a lot of miscommunication going on. We were “supposed” to write our theses this semester, we all thought it was the semester we graduate (next semester). The man who is over the program is being a real jerk about it, and he’s been fighting us on what to do about it. He made us write rough drafts to “ensure we would finish the projects” and has (and still is) threatened to take away our scholarships because of this whole mess. He’s been complaining about us to his own students in his classes (my friend has him in class so she’s my spy). He’s still making a huge deal about it. So I will be meeting with the dean of the college of arts and sciences on Friday to talk about how unprofessional he has been over it all and how much stress and whatnot that he’s caused all 5 of us. This man is already familiar with what is going on and all the issues, but it got worse again today because he simply won’t let it go.

Yesterday, they told us that things are changing with my job as an RA next semester, and none of us are happy about it at all. It’s horrible changes that don’t really make any sense at all, and some of us will end up getting screwed over. Which will probably be me because of the way my schedule is. They’re taking me away from the man who’s been my boss for 2.5 years now and moving me to a boss who is horrible to everyone she’s over, and I’m very upset about it.

One of my best friends is moving 8 hours away in a couple of days and it’s been really hard to deal with that as well as everything else at the moment.

Tomorrow is my last ever German class, and I’m very emotional about that in general. My German professors are some of my greatest supporters and some of my favorite people and I’ve spent the past 6 years in German class with them. It’s really hard to imagine my life without German class, and all these emotions are coming to me at once.

This one seems pretty minor, but this guy that I’ve had a crush on literally for years (he’s one of my best friends) has started dating someone, and with everything happening at once, it just kinda hit me a little harder than it normally would.

One of my best friends has been an utter mess lately, and she’s really started to affect me as well. Like her parents calling me at 1 a.m. trying to find her and me thinking there was something wrong, just to find out she’d lied to them about where she was and told them she was with me without mentioning it to me at all. Things like that, but basically constantly.

My own faith has been struggling because of all of this and how I haven’t been able to go to church as much as I usually do this semester. This semester I’ve gone through doubts galore. I’ve gone through very anxious and depressed periods. I’ve gone through anger at God and fear as well. I’ve gone through suicidal periods. I’ve gone through basically everything I can think of, and it’s been really hard to just keep going.

Basically, it’s just been a lot to deal with all at once, and things have been very rough lately in general. I’m sorry this ended up being so long. Thank you if you read this whole thing. I’m sorry that I haven’t been myself lately, and I’m trying to get myself back to where and who I was. I love y’all so much, and I’m here if anyone needs anything at all.

#haley talks #personal

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crossedbeams · 6 years

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ROSE REVIEWS… THE X-FILES - S1.E11 Eve

<<1.10 Fallen Angel ——————————— 1.12 Fire >>

I’m salty today and what better way than to transfer that into something positive than to finish this long overdue and almost certainly irrelevant recap of Eve. Read on for children who are almost as scary as their acting is bad, prison aesthetics and idiotic blithering by me.

THE PLOT

The fathers of creepy children are being exsanguinated on opposite coasts and Mulder wants to know the aliens have upgraded from cows. IVF suspicions run wild and with a little help from good old Deep Throat, the terrific two suspect genetic government experiments gone wrong may be responsible for the shenanigans. When the creepy kids go missing, things escalate and soda becomes a very dangerous refreshment...

Let’s go...

MY STREAM OF SEMI-CONSCIOUSNESS

Ah. The X-Files, the show that is always a scenic autumnal bath for my eyes…. And where under the leaves there is probably a dead person eaten by a molewoman or an alien. Honey? I’m home.

We find ourselves in an idyllic suburban neighbourhood, (always bad news on screen), where very concerned joggers approach an underdressed child and her stuffed animal. It’s hard at this stage to decipher whether the kid is creepy or just a really bad actor but the suspense synth hardly encourages us to give her the benefit of the doubt...

They head to the backyard, where peppy jogging neighbour fails to notice that the kid’s dad is dead coloured, posed like a corpse and basically, stereotypically and obviously dead... until he claps him jovially on the shoulder causing a tragicomic half slump of dead dad, and exposing vampiric looking marks. The kid screams, not sure why, she’s way too far away to see anything. This is the point at which I begin to suspect that she is both a bad actor AND entry #224 in the Vancouver local listing of Creepy Kids for Hire. Move over Conduit boy!

CREDITS!

This week we only wait 2.5 mins for our special baby Agents to materialise, Scully dressed as a Catholic grade schooler and Mulder wearing a tie designed, as far as I can tell, to look like mushroom soup with licorice allsorts floating in it.

Their poor fashion choices don’t seem to put them off them though, and we zigzag between lip biting (Mulder), making weird moany noises (Scully), and the level of inter office eye contact we’ve come to expect from these fluffy baby agents all set to a soundtrack of cattle mutilation chatter. And our series first (!) cow slideshow!

Scully is still naive enough to ask why Mulder believes cattle mutilation is linked to aliens. Give it a few weeks and you’ll realise that aliens is pretty much always the answer to “Why….” on the X-Files and that eyebrow is the only appropriate response before you just go with it.

I can’t wait :D

As Mulds and Sculls traverse some stairs, I realise that creepy kid #1 is called Teena. Spelled the same as Mulder’s mum. Because apparently the X-Files name bank isn’t only shallow in the male department. Also is Teena a normal spelling in the States? Here it’d only really be Tina….

I then get distracted by Scully in the biggest of purple coats. I’d love to see S1 Scully’s closet. A symphony of oversized pastels with overcoats to clash… don’t worry though hon. You’ll get some style later though for the bargain price of two (2) family members and also your ova. Poor Scully.

Scully also looks incredibly young in this scene, speaking all soft to the kid. Moments like this I struggle to believe that Mulder “never saw her as a mom” until Home. She’s all melty round the edges even though the kid is weird and creepy.

When creepy Teena starts talking about red lightning, the massively coached and unnatural pauses in dialogue and the trouble pronouncing exsanguination are just so glaring you can’t believe that this kid’s innocent charade will hold up as long as it does. But it all adds to the creep, just in time for…

**bring bring ** Scully leans in to kiss her spoopy partner tell Mulder there has been another murder. Darn. Seriously though. Close talkin to the power on uuuungghhh right here. No wonder this fandom is so thirsty.

We’re in Vancouver San Franciso, still in giant coats, for another exsanguination and what we now know is death by digitalis. Mulder says that the two estimated times of death were at the “exact same time” and I chuckle to myself like the pedant I am. Estimates cannot be exact dumdum. It also takes the edge off him mansplaining timezones to Scully. SHE IS A MEDICAL DOCTOR DAMMIT.

This scene has very nice warm, sunsetty lighting which is nice as our Spooksters demonstrate why the X-Files department is always over budget; they’ve flown cross country to do two laps of a crime scene while reading a file aloud and the kid they wanna question isn’t even in town. Where is she? I’m glad you asked, coz remember that sunny warmness? Well it’s over.

Back on the east coast, creepTeena is getting outcreeped by a thunderstorm and what appear to be disembodied footsteps at her door. We see nothing but a flash and then the door is open. It’s tense and I’m pretty sure this is never explained, raised as a concern beyond “she got abducted”?

A new day means new suits, Mulder in a tie inspired by parquet flooring and Scully in eggshell and pinstripes and a brown trenchcoat named regret. It’s a lot to process and they still don’t seem overly concerned about Teena’s kidnapping. Despite his post Samantha abduction PTSD, Mulder’s only contribution is a dramatic sky point and the suggestion the cops need to look up, but then dun dun dduuuuunh - there’s another one.

Sinister Cindy in the house. Literally.

She informs them she has lived there “since she was born eight years ago”. Zero inflection with that info and a sentence structure as unnatural as the phenomena Mulder wants to blame. Deffo a rent-a-creepykid. 100%. The woodenness only adds to it.

Commence super awkward kitchen convo where they Mulder and Scully try and fail to find a tactful way to imply Cindy might not be this grieving wife’s legitimate child. A birthing video is offered and declined. Thank god. Imagine is CHris Carter had to watch rushes of an actual woman’s vagina with a female child emerging.

Mrs Reardon’s insistence that Cindy was daddy’s girl is pretty horrifying once you know how it ends. Damn creepy kids. Listening in while watching politics, Cindy is infinitely creepier than Teena and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not for this kid “actor”.

Back in the car and Mulder is still pretty blase about Teena’s abduction/kidnap, though I forgive him because his flippant potato/potahto is adorable and he does hang out in the bushes to try and protect Cindy from getting nabbed sending Scully off to the IVF clinic alone. Ahh... the foreshadowing is out there.

At the Luther Stapes Medical Centre, a doctor mansplains IVF to Scully. She does not punch him. Another way that she is better than me.She does however, maintain super intense eye contact with him for the entire walk and truly it is a miracle she doesn’t fall over.

The next scene is pretty uneventful except that I can honestly say that Sally Kendrick is the last human I would want toying with my cervix. She’s...robotic and it looks like she has to work out how to sit down like a human. She could give Theresa May lessons.

Back at the hotel there’s some funky camera panning that I am here for and also I think there is some dialogue but let’s be honest.... this is more important

Yes Professor I would like some extra credit and may I also just smooth your poofy hair.

Even Scully knows it. Hence her confusion at being ushered out, for no obvious reason. She just wants to look at him and maybe get inside his shirt and ... and... Mulder’s “what’s a girl” is cute.... but this is cuter. (even more overanalysing of this scene here for ya glasses lovers).

Instead of meeting a girl, Mulder meets Deep Throat in an excessively aesthetically pleasing place. Honestly, Eve is a beautiful episode. Despite the creepy kids and imprisoned women. (Eve Aesthetic here). DT seems very concerned that Scully not be invited and while I’m sure that this has some link to the possibility of spy!Scully, it reads more as jealous older manfriend wants pretty Mulder to himself. And honestly I get it. God, fic has ruined me. Anyway, enough of that, enjoy this picture of pensive waterside Mulder and try to recall the specifics of the Deep Throat reveal. Project Blah. Boys called Adam. Girls called Eve. Clones. Bad. Disaster. EVE-il is at work. ¬¬ (sorry)

Mulder has brought sunflower seeds because meeting an informant without snacks = rookie error.

The important thing to note is that Deep Throat basically sets the stage for the Super Soldier Arc and everyone forgets about it when they actually get to the super soldier arc. God, for a continuity pedant, my fave is SO problematic!

Deep Throat finishes by telling Mulder he’s scored him front row seats to what’s left of the whole fucked up thing.

Cut to the most aesthetic Institute for the criminally insane and after some hot DAMN camera angles we get panic buttons and a tromp into the deeps where they keep all the government created monsters, including Eve 6.

I just wanna take a moment away from my snark and give a huge shout out to Harriet Harris who is SO good and creepy in this episode. A lot of the Season 1 extras/bit parts are average to the extreme and honestly, Harris makes this episode. Without her eyeball biting, jerky, wild eyed delivery, this ep would be as mediocre as the creepy twin actresses.

Now we’ve got that out of the way - we find out that Eve 6 screams when the lights are on but is fine with an industrial sized flashlight being shone all up in her face. Nobody’s ever got a good look at her... except presumably the person who undoes her straitjacket so she can pee? And now Mulder and Scully.

Eve 6 is my fave Eve tbh. She’s this perfect mix of terrifying and pitiful, alludes to the telekinetic connection that the younger Eve twins later reference, and is the kind of proof of government misdeed that and older Mulder and Scully despair of, delivered while they’re way too young in their partnership to do anything about it. She tells them that Eves are into suicide, psychosis and murder, and on exiting, our baby agents still don’t suspect the kids.

(Break for actual analysis) It struck me during this scene how this case tunes into both Mulder and Scully’s demons. For Mulder, it’s the missing girls and the incarcerated Eve represents a scenario that could explain Samantha’s absence in the most horrifying ways. What if she is a locked up experiment just like Eve 6? For Scully it’s a visceral representation of her struggle between scientific duty and Christian morality. The creation of Eve 6 is an aberration against both good scientific practice AND the divine right of Good to control life and death... and yet she is also a victim who did not choose too be engineered and while Scully tries to question her, maintaining composure, this face/stress swallow really says it all.

Just to double the sucker punch we cut to Cindy asking the lord to take her soul, her mother looking on with a mournful doomladen stare before telling her daughter how special she is. Cindy is unmoved, because she is special(ly evil) and Mama Reardon leaves, bereft of her husband and unacknowledged by her kid. We get it Chris Carter. Genetic experimentation BAD, family GOOD, foreboding, CHECK.... now can we just-

Mulder Scully stakeout! There is no iced tea in the bag and when Mulder posits that the adult Eves 7 & 8 did done the murders, Scully pulls this face, and mutters without much conviction that she was beginning to suspect the girls.

GOOD CALL SCULLY

Except Mulder then says “no no and here is why” and Scully just goes with it. The whole delivery at set up of this scene feels very Season 1, by which I mean Scully vacillates wildly between submitting to Mulder’s experience and being done.with.his.shit, Mulder gets all the big lines/theories/feelings/hunches and Gillian especially (and David to a lesser degree) seem unsure how to play their nuances and dynamic. Essentially it all becomes irrelevant because CRISIS takes precedent but being the super-nerd I am, this stuff fascinates me as evidence of them still learning their characters. No way S5 Scully gives up on a plausible theory so easily, even if it makes 8-yos into suspects. If cats can be evil, these staring, soulless kids can be too.

Cue Mark Snow jangles and Cindy and her similar to Teena’s bunny rabbit run away from her terrifying wall dolls and many crucifixes towards the window where she makes terrifying eye contact with Scully’s binoculars before getting grabbed by someone who is considerate enough to announce themselves by turning on the lights?!.

Mulder will take the back! (any time Mulder. Any way ¬¬ ) and sets off with his almost convincingly held gun/torch combo while Scully takes the indoors. This is, invariably, only going to go one way.

DOWN GOES SCULLY!

Sally Kendrick/Eve? leaps through the window where Mulder confronts her by asking her which Eve she is, allowing her a chance to pull a gun, shoot at him and escape and this is why you don’t want S1 Muldo and Sculls handling your home invasion. I mean who holds their gun like this, takes out a psychopath and ends the day without a hole in them?

Fox “Thinks he can outrun a car” Mulder is who.

I love his idiot face though.

Despite the fact that Cindy didn’t struggle/scream/react to her apparent kidnap at all, Scully’s remaining focussed on the adult Eves in support of Mulder’s dismissal of her earlier theory... well I already said it but - *sigh*

After Scully briefs the police and Mulder tries to reassurea distraught Mrs Reardon that her increasingly abnormal daughter will be found we get the kind of side by side, meaningful moment that I am here for all day long. Except that the height difference is so extreme that they never actually get Scully in focus!

And Scully’s “and then what” brings us back to unsettling truth that even if the kid gets found, things aren’t looking good for her given how much murder is in her genes. Poor Mrs Reardon.

Very X-Files, through-the-motel-sign shot and we see Sally Kendrick taking Cindy into motel to meet Teena. The girls look... creepy... and Kendrick looks weirdly and simplistically happy given that she has multiple abductees, severe genetic issues and the FBI on her back. Maybe poor old Sal just wants a normal life? Unlucky girl, this is the X-Files, no happy ending for anyone EVERR. Except possibly a two-faced rapist who likes Cher but that’s for another time.

Back to Sally Kendrick who is rocking a poloneck and showing a remarkable lack of nutritional concern for someone supposedly a genius. Pretty sure 8 cartons of fries are no better for psychotic murder-kids than regular ones. She begins to explain that she was pretty hopeful that she’s evolved the murdering out of her second batch of Eves but turns out she actually made it worse! Let’s pop a check in the box for “playing into popular concerns about genetic testing” and “reasons you shouldn’t do it yourself”. She tells Cindy and Teena she’s “disappointed” that they’ve done murders ahead of the curve. They are not bothered which is unsurprising given they don’t know her/are psychopaths.

Aesthetically this scene is very pleasing and the lack of stilted kid dialogue “we just knew” vs. long sentences definitely adds to tension. As does the total lack of background music. Hearing even these fairly limited actors candidly and remorselessly admit to murder is effective. And Kendrick’s slightly desperate plea that they not think that way, that they be “better” as she designed has the double effect of showing her own Eve-y instability and her very human desire to not have made a horrible mistake in creating this terrifying she-devils.

Sorry Sal.

Genetic destiny’s a bitch

And the X-Files narrative demands that when you play god you get dead. unless you’re the CSM in which case you probably drink digitalis and kale for breakfast to aid skin regrowth. Bye bye Sally Kendrick. Thanks for the creepers.

On attending the crime scene, Mulder and Scully are midway through being told that the scene is undisturbed when they hear stuff breaking. This prompts some X-Files-Action-MagicTM and some truly outrageous faces by Gillian.

Yup

What is most disturbing on rewatching is that with the scene secured, Scully confirms death and Mulder goes to gaze out the window while the Creeper twins cower and cry on the floor. Noe we know they’re guilty AF by this point, but in the narrative DumbScull and MulderingItOver haven’t quite got there because they’ve been too busy gazing at each other so we have two children just whimpering in the corner while Scully pokes a corpse and Mulder mulders about.

Scully does eventually go and pat them. And again I say fuck you CC and anyone else who “didn’t see her as a mother”.

Mulder volunteers to chaperone the creepsters to hospital and beyond and the guy in charge kinda just goes “meh”. Pretty sure some liberties have been taken with child service procedures but hey, at least this means we’re almost at the crescendo moment. Right?

Having loaded them into the car, where their spiffy red outfits match the velour upholstery and promised they’ll talk about “what happens next” (again, is this really FBI jurisdiction? Fox Mulder counselling bereaved kids seems like a HORRIBLE plan to me) , Scully and Mulder note the girls attachment and somehow miss the horrifying expressions of murder on their creepy little faces.

Again though #aesthetic

Cue some spangly night driving music, Mulder looking all pops over a red vinyl steering wheel, Scully playing mom and the creepsters plotting murder in the back. Ver ver X-Files. They pull up to a used car lot masquerading as a rest stop and go for a group wee,Mulder makes the rookie error of a) hyping evil kids with sugar and b) letting them order a murder weapon, and as soon as Scully’s distracted, one of the creepsters, possibly Sinister Cindy creeps out to spike the drinks.

Now at this point, honestly, I’m questioning the kids narrative motives. Yes they’re murderous, but aren’t they also meant to be hyper intelligent? Amd getting marooned at a nowhere rest stop, with the corpses of two FBI agents seems SUPER dumb. Like they’re a bit small and loudly dressed to hitch a ride to Vegas and make it on the strip. What gives, creepsters?

The waitress tries to stop her plan by insisting she wait to take the soda until it’s paid for, but is way too easily placated by the kids excuse. Stick to your guns lady, you might just stop a murder.

Although apparently nobody is paying any attention because THIS ISN’T SUSPICIOUS AT ALL IS IT?

Apparently Mulder doesn’t think so, even knowing digitalis is sweet and that there is something weird afoot, he doesn’t question his super sweet diet drink or the kids totally normal and not at all weirdly resistant to drinking sugar free soda and just does this. Seriously it’s like he wants to die in agony.

Scully’s not much better, simply commenting on the “syrupy” taste. MMhmm. Bitch. You’re a medical doctor with a previously voiced suspicion. Quit sipping the murder juice.

Fortunately, after some suspenseful drawn out paying and a forgotten key excuse, Mulder FINALLY twigs when he finds some green goop on the table. Apparently murderTwin is cackhanded when she pours and Mulder, having licked the poison just to check it’s murdery enough (I just cant even) rushes outside to karate chop Scully’s drink away from her in a way so unsubtle that the creepers escape.

Which is actually great news because it gives us all the chance for a nice dark, X-Files bread and butter cat and mouse around a truckstop, cool lighting and tubey-arty stuff sequence. Which I’m here for.

Despite some pants ruining puddles, the twins are quickly apprehended except for some gun wielding truckers interfere because in this universe regular citizens can hold law enforcement at gunpoint and prevent them doing their job/identifying themselves and anyway everyone almost gets shot and the kids run off again. I should probably insert some pithy political point here about arming the kids too but I’ve been writing this review for 84 years and I don’t have the energy.

Fortunately, at this point Mulder and Scully rediscover some investigative nous and having flashed an ID and truckboy, they trick Sinister and Creepy into thinking they’ve sped off after a school bus. Mulder goes full on child catcher and nabs them with a “gotcha” and is finally deaf to their “we’re just little girls” plea.

I’d like to take a second to flag up his response “that’s the last thing you are” because he’s wrong too. They are little girls, as well as psychopaths, and everyone’s insistence that they must be one thing or another is a device for narrative obfuscation as old as the bible. The appearance of beauty/youth/innocence is not mutually exclusive of the presence of malign intent or evil. Just ask Henry James/Oscar Wilde. Or me. I literally wrote a dissertation on this so. Yeah. They can be little girls and killers Mulder. Don’t be reductive.

But I guess we do need the simplicity of “this kid is evil” otherwise Mrs Reardon ripping her daughter out of a picture and burning it would be more conflicting and we’re only on season 1.

Likewise the disturbing concept of two eight year olds in a secure prison. I mean yes thy’re creepy but - duh duh dunnnnh - rescue is at hand! Eve 8 shows up for them and once again thy “just knew”. This is the kind of X-Files ending I love. This is the kidn of story I would have loved the revivals to pick up. Imagine (recast) grown Cindy and Teena, off doing murdery clone stuff. Yep. Okay. I’m done now. This is the end.

Except the score. Which is...

A solid “C” Grade (26/50)

Plot 6/10 - It’s entertaining and a good idea but I penalised it because it depends on Mulder and Scully being super slow on the uptake. That said, they do actually solve the case.

Mulder 6/10 - Mulder is in charge (thanks S1) and presents a mess of grieving brother, heroic car catcher and good cop. Good, in character stuff but not exceptional.

Scully 4/10 - Scully seems to forget she’d an MD and a badass here. She lets Mulder talk her out of (correct) suspicions, gets taken down in the action scene and generally second fiddles. She’s a cute mom but not the Scully we want to see.

USP 3/5 - This was an ambitious idea, beautifully presented, and while it didn’t quite get the polish to make it iconic it is memorable, creepy and a good representation of S1 bread and butter eps.

Other Characters 5/10 - These points are all for Harriet Harris. None for you creeper twins. None for you.

Bonus points 2/10 - One for being aesthetically pleasing. One for the dorky, cute, feeling out Mulder/Scully moments (motel urnghh) and also their mom and pop act at the rest stop.

That’s all for now folks. I’ll probably have the next one done this decade. Fire. Goodie.

<< 1.10 Fallen Angel ——————————— 1.12 Fire >>

#The X-Files #msr #Eve #txf #txf:1x11 #txf eve #txf s1 #rose reviews #rosereviewstxf #txf recaps #silliness #my gifs #RoseReviewTXF

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bitchgoldstrikesagain · 7 years

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Story time: Cat Lady from Hell

I'm a freelance pet sitter that has been working part time since I got out of college about a year ago. I don't necessarily need the money anymore since I've gotten a job as a full time illustrator at a Ad Agency, but I enjoy it. I've also worked with animals my whole life and worked or volunteered at at least five different shelters as I've moved around. Basically, I'm not stupid when it comes to animals.

So I got a new hit for a pet sitting job on the service site I’m on and so I set up a time to come and talk to them and meet their pets. Turns out it’s this older woman living in a VERY wealthy part of town in a pent house over a high end shopping center with her single cat.

Now some red flags did go off here at first. She was very insistent on my replies, and if I didn’t reply right away she would contact me through another venue. But that’s common with older clients, since I feel like most have no clue what Digital Social Etiquette is. Also her messages were super brisk and curt.

Also at one point I asked for her address to meet her, she snapped back. “Well if you had read my work request you should have it.”

Red flag one! But I politely explained to her that for safety reasons I only have access to her zip code.

But when met her it was a completely different story. She was nice, she was clearly concerned about her cat and kept repeating how much she liked me. She also made it clear she was meeting with several different pet sitters since she had difficulty in the past.

RED FLAG NUMBER TWO.

I have made it a point, if a customer complains about a pet sitter, ask them specifically what their problem was and if its a bull shit problem DO NOT TAKE THE JOB.

Now her cat, I should mention this cat. Sweetie. Really is quite a sweetie. But she was a stray, and has one back leg missing. But also is only about five - six years old. So prime of her life cate that other wise is completely healthy and by all accounts happy as far as I could tell.

But so about a week later, she informs me she would like to hire me and promptly sends over a deposit. I was stupid, and I liked the cat, so I took the job. It was nearly two months out so I didn’t hear from her again for quite some time.

Till about two weeks before the sitting dates.

It was a day I was sick in bed, I got a migraine so I had decided to switch off my electronics for the day and recoup so the migraine didn’t last longer than necessary.

It wasn’t even a full day though, and around 6pm that day I turn my phone back on to find -- 4 messages from her, all through out different platforms. I should point out she didn’t even let five hours pass between one email to the next. So I was expecting an Emergency, because what honestly could be so pressing that int he span of a business day I’m hit with so many messages!

What did she need?

To know when I’d be by int he next two weeks to get a key and final rundown on the cat.

TWO WEEKS AWAY.

I was getting a bit concerned but when I expressed this to a family member they were like, “ya know, she’s old and there’s just something about seniors that they demand you answer them right away. They don’t get that an email or a text is still waiting there and can be addressed later for some reason.” Which is an assessment I’ve also found true, and besides when I meet her in person she was always kind and nice to me.

So everything goes well at the meet for the key. Though she is very insistent that I stay for 2 hours a day with her cat. I laughed and said, like I do to all my clients that would like me to stay with their cats, “Oh if I have my laptop I usually stay that amount of time just fine.”

I apparently took this to mean something different than she did.

Because let’s fast forward to the first day of sitting.

That morning I get there -- and her apartment is a complete mess. The counter top is covered in trash and dirty dishes, papers and just so much stuff. There was also quite literally a half eaten banana left in the kitchen, just left out on the counter. . The living room has cat hair everywhere, as well as cat toys every where and over by the litter box is a complete mess. It’s a litter box I can tell has never been washed out past the point of buying it.

And I’m not gonna lie, I consider that super rude. If you ask me to stay in your home, I don’t expect it to be military spotless, but I would appreciate it to be clean. It makes my stay much more pleasant.

But so I empty the litter box, feed the cat and play with her for about ten to fifteen minutes before as cats do she gets tired of it and goes up on the couch and goes to sleep.

Now, every client I ask, to please leave me a DETAILED instruction list. That way I know in their own words what they would like done on a daily basis.

This client gives me --a mess of post-its, a feeding list that does not match up at all with what i was told in person and to top it all off --It’s completely illegible. Like really I spent fifteen minutes trying it read the scrawled handwritten note. None of it is in complete sentences and its just -- god it was a mess.

Btw, both what she told me in person, and on her hodgepodge of instructions -- totally over feeding her very small cat. She had 5.5 oz. cans of cat food which wanted one given at night and in the morning AS WELL AS a 2.5 oz. packet of Sheba --basically a gravy smothered cat treats disguised to look like real food and nutrients, cats love them for the same reason we love ice cream -- given every night, in addition to a small bowl she always keeps full of dry food.

Needless to say, I was throwing away so much food. The cat barely ate half of it.

So that night I get there for the afternoon visit and I’m setting up outside on the balcony with the kitty snoozing on a cat bed out there when I send over a couple of text messages. This convo is so perfect I’ve gotta give it to you word for word!

So --I’m not allowed to do anything while I’m there for 2 HOURS a day. I’m watching her cat for a week by the way. And I had fully planned to write and get some website work done while I was in her home. The same as a frequent repeat client I had scheduled directly after her, which had given me the wifi and password, asked me to stay about fifteen minutes with their cat and whom I subsequently stayed there with their cat for about three hours every night, because why not? I have my laptop and i’m doing exactly what i would be doing if I was at home, only with their cat now instead of my own.

Also I should point out, I don’t think this woman actually knows what Wifi is. From how she’d describing it, t sounds like she things its the webcam she has hooked up.

Which I didn’t connect the dots to, until several days later when I go this oh boi! kind of text!

..again. Seniors have no sense of digital etiquette! I have yet to run into a person that thinks this is O-K to send to someone. ..because it isn’t. It’s creepy it’s very VERY creepy.

It was upon getting this text, I look up from where I am on her cat hair covered floor, to finally register on the mantel of her fireplace is a bright blue light coming from a webcam.

She never mentioned any form of this to me in person. EVER.

The only place ti was mentioned was on a post-it, she had scrawled messily that she had acquired a Nanny-cam.

I’m trying very hard to be o-kay with this, I realize it’s a common practice, though usually not for a single cat...

At this point I should admit -- I was not staying 2 hours a day. I was fucking bored, so I was staying the bare minimum and leaving to another clients house that had offered me wifi, supplied me with a case of Vanilla Coke, and told me to and I quote, “Eat anything you find in the fridge, or cupboards, we want you to feel at home while you’re here.” or a client after that, that had as well given me the Wifi even offered me their TV with HBO, Hulu, Showtime and Netflix AND had mixed mimosa, besides a selection of five different beers and three wines in the fridge which they urged me to please feel free to. Oh and that lady adores me so she leaves me a bowl of candy every time too. XD Also! both of which were clean, nice houses, one of which another penthouse overlooking the city... Why in the world would I be hanging out in a stinky cat hair balled home with a crabby ladies cat that because is missing a leg gets exhausted and sleeps 90% of the time with nothing to do when I had that waiting for me as my next scheduled stop??

I was though! Staying about 45 minuted every visit, I know because it was the first time in my life I was timing a cat visit. It was about 15 minuted to feed the cat, pet her cat, change her water, clean out the litter box and clean out her food bowl. Then 30 minutes of petting kitty, and playing with her till she got tired and would either make it clear to me she did not want any more attention -- usually with a play bite (Something this cat had a HUGE problem with and I strongly suggest you stop in cats btw! Its very easy to do so and you can train a cat to just put their paw on you when they would like you to stop. But not my cat so honestly not my problem!) -- or she would go to sleep. Then I’d leave. Cause why stay? I’m bored as fuck.

Now about 3/4 of the way through I find out -- I’m being watched through out all of this.

I god damn wanted to cry at this point.

And I probably should have tried to stay longer -- but it creeped me out -- so this made it so I stayed shorter amounts of time, cause i was paranoid. I rushed through the assigned tasks then played with kitty till she was tired and slept -- then got he hell out of dodge!

I do this job cause I love animals and it’s not that big of a deal for me, but this became that job I just GET. DONE. MOVE. ON! Cause i was stuck in a shitty situation and there was no other way but trudging through it.

So I only had like two days left, I just had to make it to Wednesday. So like her notes were a mess but she didn't say in any of them that I could tell when she was coming back at all! So middle of the day Wednesday I get this email that's like “Oh I'm home!” And I was like wtf, cause I had planned to make a visit that night, but I was like whatever, at least I don't have to go again.

That is until I get a second email. Because I think she thinks Emails are text messaged...

"Hey come by after work and we can negotiate on pay/hours."

Middle of the day, while I’m at work and I was so mad I went outside and called my best friend to talk me down from flipping my shit on this lady. Her advice to me by the was was, "dude you just have to get out clean with this crazy bitch."

So I swallowed it all and sent back an email that was like, “Just pay me what ever you think is fair, I’ll be by to drop oft the key after work.”

Going up to her door, my heart was nearly pounding out of my chest and I think I was the fakest I’ve ever been in my life as she handed me a check, I handed her the key and we went separate ways.

Also when I talked to her in person same story -- nice and smiling the whole time. I may be having the fakest moment of my life, but I think i just figured out then I was talking to one of the fakest bitches to walk the planet.

I never wanna hear from her again.

Her name in my phone is now, ‘Cat Lady from Hell.’ Just to be safe I never forget.

Btw! I charge $17 for up to two visits a day --she was gone for 10 days, she owed me $170. ...She gave me $110.

So I only got 2/3 of what I had originally quoted her.

There is a silver lining to this, the job service website she found me through -- yeah. She never marked me as Hired, meaning she can’t review me. I don’t think she’s tech savvy enough to figure that out but if she ever does, she ever does try to mark me as hired I plan to smack that down and unmark myself as hired.

Lol. as far as I’m concerned its all just a bad memory I’d like to forget!

#bitch gold strikes again #rant #cat lady #clients from hell

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nightincider · 7 years

Text

A Somewhat Skewed Guide to Listening to Taylor Swift

I wrote this for a friend a year ago who was interested in getting into Taylor Swift and had no idea where to start - this is by no means a formal review, but a casual personal overview on Taylor Swift that I thought would be amusing to post here.

Warning: unfiltered, unedited rambling :’D

Disclaimer: I confess I’m not familiar with 100% of her discography (I usually don’t listen to the bonus tracks/know all of her standalones)

Note: I will be going in chronological order of her discography even though that’s not how my journey through her stuff went

Taylor Swift (2006)

don’t listen to this if you actually hate country music bc this is defs more on the country side of her country-pop crossover (mandolins, banjos, thankfully no annoying vocal twang)

this album is a great insight to her roots as a songwriter but it’s best enjoyed if you already like her, it’s like peeking into the old diary of someone you admire

Picture to Burn - hilarious breakup song trash talking an ex about how his pickup truck is stupid (you think I’m kidding but I’m not), video is awesome and shows her band trashing his house. I once sang this at karaoke and my friend fucking died and she didn’t believe the lyrics were actually a T Swift song

Mary’s Song (Oh My My My) - a really pretty, sappy gem about a long term love

everything else I could take or leave tbh

Fearless (2008)

tbh I still don’t “get” this album bc it’s a bit immature for my tastes but I’m sure young teen me would have loved it if it came out then. But overall I feel like this album only disappoints me bc her later work is so much better. Otherwise it’s actually pretty great

Fearless - the title song for good reason, appropriate way to begin the album and starts off with the attitude of facing love with a, you guessed it, fearless outlook

Love Story - ok the Romeo & Juliet ref and the sappy lyrics are kinda cringeworthy but overlooking that it is probably one of her most well-written pop songs to date in terms of the melody, arrangement, catchiness etc and I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this

Breathe (feat. Colbie Caillat) - understated soft, sad pretty track

Forever and Always - I really love the melody in this one and the mentions of rain. This feels like the precursor to Mine (off Speak Now), except the relationship in the song didn’t actually work out

Change - notably NOT about relationships but about looking forward to positive changes and winning in life whatnot. It’s uplifting and I see it as the prequel to Long Live (from Speak Now)

everything else is not bad but doesn’t quite make my favs like this list. shoot me but I find Fifteen and You Belong With Me way overrated

Speak Now (2010)

supposedly before writing this album Swift wanted to go with the concept “Enchanted” (which is one of the songs as well) but her label told her she needed to show she was maturing and not make an album that was basically Fearless 2.0 so she opted for the idea of “Speak Now”, which is total (sometimes brutal) honesty

This album does indeed speak her mind, in the sad, happy, and even embarrassing ways (coughs the title track is about her fantasizing about crashing her ex’s wedding and stealing him away and makes comments about how the bride’s gown looks like a pastry)

Before Red, Swift released a lot of singles w/ multiple versions, usually a US (read: more country) and international (read: more pop/rock) one.

IMO, the singles on Speak Now (Mine, Back to December, Story of Us) sound way, way better on the international edition. So please try to find those versions!

Mine - please check out the international version it’s miles better than the US version (more driving rhythm/urgency, better guitar riff, the US version is too laid back IMO)

Sparks Fly - a song about undeniable chemistry, the chorus is one of my favs

Back to December - slow, sad, and beautiful. I almost cried over this. I prefer this to Dear John bc it’s not as brutal and more accessible (Dear John is great too but really hard to listen to that often). Again international version is better bc the mandolin part in the US version is annoying.

Mean - kind of childish but that’s why I love it, it’s the pop song equivalent of a kid sticking their tongue out at their bullies on the playground

The Story of Us - not as emotionally wrenching as a lot of the other breakup songs but probably the catchiest and I love the beat

Enchanted - love at first sight type song. I really like the song structure (especially how it builds up) and instrumentation, and the bridge stanza is my favorite

Better Than Revenge - T Swift doing Paramore

Innocent - T Swift doing Evanescence, also I think that song was a jab back at Kanye West lmfao

Long Live - song about taking on the world, proving ppl wrong, having great adventures, I wish I could someday feel worthy of singing this song

the one dud IMO is Never Grow Up (it’s kinda boring plus I think she was too young to write well from the perspective of a parent).

Red (2012)

This was THE album that converted me to the cult of Swift and I hope it converts you too

I confess I only really noticed the beauty of Speak Now bc I went back and listened to it properly after I got tired of spinning Red during my commute

Fun fact: I only bothered to give this album a try after my white hipster bestie (whom I had a huge gross crush on at the time) rec’d it and I was like wtf at first but he was like no really give it a shot, so I did.

Red is every bit as honest as Speak Now but it’s not as bitter or playful it’s more sad and resigned and more nostalgic, wistful, you get it...

It’s painful for me to rec my favs from it bc I’d say the ENTIRE FUCKING ALBUM but I’ll. try. /grits teeth

State of Grace - those drums! that guitar! that whole “we’re on a journey and it’s beginning” feel… this is her strongest album opening track to date (1989 totally bombed in that aspect, fuck Welcome to New York)

Red - I don’t know how a song has literally 2 unique melody lines but still manages to be so amazing. Unfair.

Treacherous - the whole excitement of falling in love with someone that you probably shouldn’t but presented in an unexpectedly tender way

All Too Well - by this point Swift has a trend of making song #5 the sad slow ballad (it’s a thing her fans have noticed). This song hits me hard on a personal level bc it reminds me of my 2.5 year relationship that ended and it’s incredibly well-written, from the lyrics reminiscing on the past to taking you back into that moment during the choruses, also the bridge just breaks me. This is probably the pinnacle of sad breakup songs and you cannot convince me otherwise

I Almost Do - All Too Well’s more timid but no less heartbreaking cousin

Holy Ground - this is kind of the banner song of the album despite not being the title track. While Red is meant to set the backdrop for this album’s themes, this song embodies the core of the album best IMO. And it has a danceable beat to boot.

Sad Beautiful Tragic - I used to skip this a lot after Holy Ground bc it’s a bit of a downer but it has an understated beauty

Starlight - want to see Swift write fanfiction? well here’s your chance. This song is about Ethel and Bobby Kennedy as teenagers. also embarrassing confession: I want to sing this at my own wedding if I ever get married someday. Best part is the piano line that evokes twinkling stars

I’m rather indifferent to the big pop singles in this album (I Knew You Were Trouble, 22, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. They’re good but, ultimately the best stuff is the album tracks)

1989 (2014)

the album that converted a lot of pop lovers to the cult of Swift

shows a lot of growth and experimentation since Red, but Red is still personally my favorite, this one’s a close second tho

Swift has said in interviews that Red was a devastating album to write but 1989 is more about moving on from that and focusing on herself and it’s overall both more optimistic (regarding life in general) and calculated and cynical (regarding romance)

1989 is the year Swift was born, btw. Coincidentally the album has 13 tracks not counting the bonus ones and 13 is Swift’s favorite number (she was also born on Dec 13)

I have this whole conspiracy theory level of analysis going on about how this is a sequel to Red and how those two albums are linked in a way that the others aren’t

let’s get it out of the way, Welcome to New York is the obvious dud. sorry to our mutual friends who love NY but the song kind of sucks in itself oops. Like it’s very uninspired and generic

for an actual good song about NY check out Vienna Teng’s Goodnight New York

Blank Space - overplayed but I love the idea of Swift parodying what her critics think of her

Out of the Woods - it’s a song about uncertainty in a relationship and the ending is left up to interpretation and I love the repetitive chorus bc it illustrates the feeling of being trapped in the woods and seeing trees flash by you. The bridge has a personal anecdote (the brakes/stitches mentioned are from a minor snowmobile accident).

All You Had to Do Was Stay - about a dream Swift had where all she could do is say “stay” in a high pitched voice to an ex and it embarrassed her lol. Typical pining song but something about those “stays” sound way more painful than comical in practice.

Shake It Off - a good pick-me-up for the slow days and the only big single of hers I haven’t gotten utterly sick of

I Wish You Would - reminds me a lot of HAIM, and it’s oddly one song that I almost never skip when it comes up on my commute shuffle despite having heard every song on this album too many times. understated but solid.

Wildest Dreams - Swift doing Lana Del Rey better than Lana Del Rey

How You Get the Girl - cute but all I can think of is her cat in the Diet Coke commercial that used this song

This Love - I feel like this is the song tying the album together, it’s the most vulnerable track and the one flame of hope amidst all the jadedness that pervades the album regarding romance. It’s kind of meta in some way like it describes not only T Swift the character in the album but also possibly T Swift the person? This song is very important to me.

I Know Places - kind of a darker sound (for her)

Clean - a song about moving on from a relationship, I’m already biased towards this bc Imogen Heap worked on it but it’s really beautiful, and I love when Heap’s harmonies come in.

New Romantics - the freakin song of our generation, the lyrics are so fucking real I can’t even

misc/standalones

Safe and Sound (feat. the Civil Wars) - from the Hunger Games OST, it’s pure folk goodness

Sweeter than Fiction - the happy ending we all want. has a bit of a beach-rock vibe to it with a very 80s production

Ronan - written for a child who died from cancer, it’s beautiful and sad

Thank you for reading if you’ve even made it this far and I hope I didn’t overwhelm you, happy listening! :D

#Taylor Swift #Taylor Swift Fearless #Taylor Swift Speak Now #Taylor Swift Red #Taylor Swift 1989

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

Link

The story of the 12 Thai soccer players and their coach who had to be rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand by more than a dozen international divers and Thai Navy SEALs has enthralled the world for the past 10 days.

Though a mission to bring them out through the cave at first seemed impossible, rescuers eventually came up with a scheme that involved fitting the boys with dive masks, and wrapping them on stretchers to transport them out of the cave safely.

“We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what. All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out of the cave,” the Thai Navy SEALs said on their Facebook page on Tuesday after the mission was complete. The boys are currently in recovery at the Chiang Rai Prachanukroh hospital, where some are being treated for mild pneumonia.

The initial search mission to find the boys after they went missing on June 23 was almost called off because the flooded cave was so dangerous to navigate. But then the boys and their coach were found on July 2 some 2.5 miles from the cave’s mouth by a pair of British divers.

The larger search team consisted of Thai Navy SEALs and several international divers, including Ben Reymenants, 45, a Belgian who owns a diving company in Phuket, Thailand.

Reymenants’s search dives helped lay the groundwork for the rescue, and he was closely involved with the entire mission. Vox spoke to him about what it was like in the watery labyrinth with 13 lives at stake.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Radhika Viswanathan

When did you get called in to help look for the missing boys, and can you describe the first few days of the search?

Ben Reymenants

We saw on the news that the kids were missing, and then I saw that the British cave rescue group had already come to the site, so I’m like, “Okay, these guys are experienced, they’re in good hands.”

But they were helped by the Royal Thai Navy SEALs, who had less cave experience. So a friend of mine who deals with these guys says, “Hey, they’re going to need support. Can you please come over and advise these guys how to actually move through these caves and fix the lines?”

Of course, I didn’t think twice. Twelve boys with their whole lives in front of them. But then when I arrived, the British cave divers had just come out the cave and they were like, “This is madness.”

Radhika Viswanathan

Why?

Ben Reymenants

When I arrived, the entrance looked like the Colorado River, but with mud and with zero visibility, so it was really pulling hand over hand. There was this really strong outflow, and at the beginning we were advancing about maybe 100 meters a day in zero visibility, fighting the current. And then there are parts where you have to climb up quite steep, dragging all your tanks, so it was physical.

I turned around from one unsuccessful dive, and I took out my line and came back and I met the British who were on their way in. And then we decided, “We have to call it off, because it’s not going to happen. People will die, and we don’t even know if these kids are alive.”

We told the Navy commander. And he says, “Yes, but these are kids from Thailand. I can’t face the public and say ‘we’re calling it off.’”

So he said, “I’m going to send in my Navy SEALs and we’re going to try.”

Of course, 19-year-old SEALs … I could be their dad. So I’m like, “Okay, the least I can do is help them try.”

Then on the third day, the [visibility improved] and the current was less strong. The Navy Seals had come back unsuccessfully; they had swum in circles and couldn’t find the passage. The British cave divers had already said, “We’re going home.”

I managed to push 200 meters of line. And they said, “Let’s work in teams, laying line.” While one team was sleeping, the other continued, so round-the-clock. And we started advancing fast because the rain had stopped, the vis got better, the flow got less, and then we actually went really fast through the cave.

These were still dives of six to eight hours. Very, very tiring.

From left to right: Reymenants, Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osotthanakorn, and Maksym Polejaka (another diver on the mission) photographed on July 2. Ben Reymenants via Facebook

Radhika Viswanathan

So how was it actually finding them?

Ben Reymenants

The difficult part was to find this T-junction [a narrow part of the cave with a very sharp turn, beyond which was the tunnel that eventually led to the boys]. We got stuck a few time, there were restrictions, we freaked out.

And then [our team] found the T-junction, laid another 400 meters of line in the right direction, and then I think we stopped literally not even half a kilometer from the room where we thought they were, and we ran out of line,

So we had to turn around. It was very frustrating.

When we came out, the British cave divers were just coming in, and we were like, “Oh guys you probably can find them. We think it’s just another 400 to 800 meters.” And so they went in right after us, and three hours later, they surfaced in the room where the kids were. You’ve probably seen the footage.

I couldn’t believe it. Especially that there were all 13, alive and nobody injured, and their mental status as well, they were all like, “Hey, oh, we’re so happy, What day is it?” Remarkable.

Radhika Viswanathan

So how did the decision-making process go for the rescue?

Ben Reymenants

Obviously the whole world … had solutions; you have no idea the messages that I got. I pushed away a phone call, and they kept calling me and they said, “It’s the offices of Elon Musk,” and I said, “Right, is Barack Obama gonna call me next?”

But they said, “No, check your email, it’s actually us,” and it was (someone)@spaceX and I said, “Oh shit, I’m so sorry.” And they said, “We have all these solutions.”

So they were actually trying at four different levels: they were trying drilling, they were trying sonar in the forest to find alternative entrances, they were making a capsule to get them out.

One of the [rescue team’s] options was actually to teach them how to dive. But this is already pretty hard for experienced cave divers. See, the risk is if the boys panic and they pull off the mask, they drown. It’s a mile in; there’s no chance for survival.

And they were so skinny and so weak, there was no way they could have walked over all of this. So we decided to put them on a stretcher, with a full face mask, with pure oxygen on a positive pressure.

And it was quite chilly, so although they were put in wetsuits, their metabolism was so low that they were half-asleep, half-unconscious when they were brought out. So they were put immediately in quarantine and medical care. [Some reports have also claimed that the kids were sedated for the journey.]

And they’re all in good health and it’s amazing. And what I heard was that the coach did long meditation sessions [before leaving the cave] so they could calm down.

Radhika Viswanathan

How did the divers maneuver the stretchers through the narrowest parts of the cave?

Ben Reymenants

The smallest space was actually 2 feet wide, so yes, it was quite high, 60 centimeters high. And these kids are quite skinny and strapped to a stretcher.

The kids had to be literally pulled and dragged through that part. That’s also why they decided to strap them in and cover their face with a full face mask, so just in case they would panic or whatever. It’s not easy.

I stayed outside of the cave [during the rescue], since I needed to heal my hands and back. But friends of mine, the cave divers, they basically literally pulled and dragged the stretchers and handed them over [to one another]. So 24 divers were actually in the cave, and the stretchers were pulled out one-by-one and handed over to the next group, and the next group.

It was still a good two hours per kid.

Radhika Viswanathan

How did it end up being so much shorter than the initial dives?

Ben Reymenants

By now, we knew the cave. In the beginning, we were literally looking and searching and fighting current. But now, with all the teams, by the time one team carried the stretcher about 100 meters, they got tired and could hand it over to the next team. So that’s why. It was very efficient.

Also from Camp 3, rock climbers had actually installed hooks in the roof and made a sort of cable zip line where you could attach the stretchers. It was initially installed there to haul more than 500 tanks into the cave. And the stretchers were clipped on there — they’re very light kids — and that made them come out very quickly.

But it was still only four kids a day.

Radhika Viswanathan

How long have you been cave diving? And what drew you to it?

Ben Reymenants

I’ve been diving unofficially for about 20 years, and I became a cave instructor roughly 10 years ago. Not even 10 percent of the submerged caves on the planet have been explored. So it’s really the last frontier for mankind because no machines or animals can go in there. Only humans that are trained can go to that extent, which makes it extra special.

Radhika Viswanathan

How often do these kinds of cave rescues happen and how does this one compare to others?

Ben Reymenants

Luckily these cave rescues happen rarely because a lot of countries have actually put policies in place that prevent non-trained cave divers from going inside caves.

This cave … is only visited when it’s the dry season; when it’s completely dry, people walk in there. It’s a very long cave—it’s about [5.5 miles] long.

When it’s flooded, nobody dives. There are no lines. Normally, dive caves have a full set of lines and arrows to point to the exit and safety markers in place, but this one had nothing. So it was really finding your way through with a pretty basic map.

Radhika Viswanathan

I’ve heard this will be turned into two movies.

Ben Reymenants

Oh, you have no idea how many requests. Discovery, National Geographic.

Original Source -> Dangerous currents and zero visibility: a diver on the Thai cave rescue mission

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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rantingbitch800 · 7 years

Text

My Family (Rant #002)

I did a big rant over my in-laws, now it’s time to roast my family (not literally o.O) Been a lot of tension lately.

First, my mom. Her offense isn’t that bad so I’ll start off easy. One of my cats has been running outside. For over 2 years he’s been an inside only cat because we lived by the road, plus I’d rather have my cats inside at all times due to all the dangers,diseases, etc. But anyways, it’s not her fault he got out,but I’m afraid she’s going to eventually start letting him out because she tried to justify him getting out by “it wouldn’t really hurt. there’s hardly no traffic here” Hmm, what about the fact he could get lost, get attacked and severely hurt or killed by other cats and animals, could get infected by something, or he could still get ran over since there is still traffic. He’s also a very trusting and loving cat so somebody could easily catnap him. :’( I’m just hoping it doesn’t come to her letting him out on purpose. My husband is very upset about this possibility.

Now, my sister. She’s 11 years older than me, married, has a child and lives an hour away, yet she still feels smothering. She treats me more like a parent than my sister. She’s always giving these “helpful” suggestions and tries to control my life. Just recently she posted a job opening on my FB timeline for all to see. If she had just messaged it to me I wouldn’t care, but I hate that she makes these things public and it doesn’t help that my mother-in-law saw it and liked it. >_< I changed my settings so that I have to approve posts before they get posted on my timeline. I know she’s trying to be helpful, but honestly it just makes me feel more stressed and backed into a corner. I don’t like people trying to tell me what to do or rather, what they think I should be doing. Yes, I do need a job, but usually the ones people suggest are terrible. She did this job (Amazon Customer Rep.) and hated it and was always miserable so why the Hell would I want to do it? She’s always doing this with jobs. She also always suggests me and my husband get a job at the same place since we “could probably get the same shift and ride together” lol most places would rather not hire couples, and if they do they most definitely avoid giving them the same shift. Idk what goes through her mind or anybody’s mind for that matter. I just hate that I know she means well by it. sigh

Now, onto the bigger issue. My dad. To put it mildly, he’s a baby. He doesn’t know how to take care of himself (not literally, he’s just lazy when it comes to domestic stuff). He barely knows how to cook anything since he never tries it’s always up to somebody else. He never cleans anything ever. My whole life I honestly don’t think I ever saw him pick up a mop or broom. He’s washed dishes and done laundry a handful of times, but that’s it. So if you read the previous rant, you know our living situation.

To recap: My husband I got too poor to live on our own so we had to move in with my parents.

We’re just trying to coexist with my parents without being in the way and trying to maintain our way of living which usually involves fixing our own meals (with food we bought), doing our normal activities like watching TV, and keeping our stuff clean. I’ll admit, we’ve been a little lazy when it comes to the litterboxes, but everything else we take care of.

Okay, so my dad has basically become a scavenger. He’s always lurking around, trying to find food. He gets moody if we fix ourselves food and we don’t fix him anything. Like, most of the stuff we fix is small servings only enough for us or stuff he doesn’t even like. I hate feeling like I’m obligated to give him our food or have to cook for him. LIke, they can fix food for themselves and I couldn’t care less, but it’s like if we dont’ offer to cook enough for everybody then we’re greedy. ???

Okay, we have no income and are relying on foodstamps to get our food. My parents always exhaust their stamps 2.5 weeks after having theirs. When we got ours my dad made a list of stuff to get for him and it was expensive shit. We’ve used like 1/3 of our stamps on them and we’re already half out of our stamps even though it’s only been a week. Normally our stamps last 1 month and we have carry over, but I don’t foresee that happening this time. I don’t care to help them out, but to me they’re the ones being greedy by requesting name brand stuff or things that are like $6 and only enough for like 1 meal. We’ve bought them pop/soda/coke (whichever you prefer to call it) 3 times already, namebrand pop too. And everytime we need to go to the store to get something it feels like an obligation to get them something too cause if we don’t and we come back my dad just kind of stares at is and tension rises.

But back to the scavenging thing. He literally lingers around when we fix food. Take yesterday for an example. We fixed ourselves each 1 hot pocket (1 box). That’s all I ate. But my dad stopped in the living room where we were eating and just stood there, made one casual comment asking us what time we were going out, then just stared like we were supposed to share our food. LIke wtf, it was microwave food, not a fancy meal. And after we got back from the in-law dinner, we brought back leftover stuff, i offered up some breadsticks and the 2 pieces of pizza and my dad was like “I could eat a bite” in a snarky way that suggested he was entitled to the food my husband’s family bought. And based on the counter and stove (2 used skillets, 3-4 bowls with stuff still in them) my mom had fixed a big dinner recently, yet he acted like he was starving. Starving for our stuff. We also had a valentine’s day gift from my husband’s mom. nothing fancy just 2 small boxes of chocolate, some sweethearts, & a card. We had it on the counter/island thing that has a view from the living room to kitchen. Apparently my dad started snooping around in it right after opening the fridge a couple times. I’m sorry, but were we supposed to give him our gift? idk, to him probably. each candy box only had 4 pieces of candy in it so idk what he expected. This is the bad part, my husband had a sandwich from the restaurant we ate at that he wanted to save for the next day. I literally had to put the box on the top back shelf and cover it with other stuff so my dad wouldn’t end up eating it. This morning he was doing the look in the fridge thing so yeah good thing we did that. Also a couple nights ago we made a pizza at home, just a medium one, not too big & a thin&crispy one at that. I purposelly left 2 pieces because I know how he is. But I forgot to offer it to him before my husband and I sat down to watch tv. I heard my mom ask him if he wanted it. I didn’t really hear what he said, but it sounded something like “they didn’t ask me about it” and she’s like “it’s just laying in there” and he’s like “i don’t want it” so during a commercial i asked if he wanted it and he just shook his head no, then he finally was like “I guess I’ll take it” how babyish can you be? You’re a grown ass man so act like it.

Thankfully they get their foodstamps in 2 days so the burden/obligation to buy them food will be gone. At least until they spend all theirs in 2 weeks on stuff that doesn’t last. As I said, Idc to help them, but I don’t appreciate when my help turns into them (mainly my dad) taking advantage of us. And I can’t say anything because than he would try to turn it around on me and say i’m the one who’s wrong in this then he would get all pissy and go pout. That’s what he does if somebody argues with him. he’ll lay in his bedroom all day, not talking to anybody or doing anything. (He did this a week ago, lasted like 3 days. never figured out what was wrong)

So basically everything is shitty with our families right now. By the time it’s all over there’s going to be a lot of resentment between everybody. Husband’s family since we moved in with my parents, us to them since they’re acting immature and his mom putting him down all the time. My family to us since we don’t always cook for everybody. Us to them for making us feel obligated to make enough for everybody (even if it’s microwave food and even if they had just ate). Me to my sister for trying to make into something I’m not. Her to me for not going by her advice. It’s a mess.

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