Update for Everyone IV - Hungover

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's gonna be 97º tomorrow... ugh. At least I have an excuse to not go outside...

What do you mean? It's the perfect weather to go outside.

I, unfortunately, am back to the cold latitudes of the Paris area, which means I've said goodbye to the warm sun of Southern Italy for another year.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Fair enough.

[Antonio the Sixth]

We are now semi-officially dating!

I cooked her dinner and told her how I feel, and despite my conflicting inner thoughts, it was what it appeared to be! As I told someone else earlier today, ironically, it was a straight girl hitting on a practically-a-lesbian girl, with me being almost oblivious at first and later too shy to reciprocate, lol. I had been wondering how I got so lucky, but it turns out she had a crush on me from months ago when we met at a party, which again I did not even realize (given her personality it should have been obvious). It's just been so freakin long since I've dated that I think I am not even on the same wavelength as anyone anymore.

However, despite my happiness (and I am happy -  the most I have been in a long time), there are a lot of pitfalls here. She is straight, her family is pretty religious and she doesn't want anyone else in her life to know about us yet. Worse yet, she is very clearly unsure if she is doing the right thing here. I've had enough experience both personally and from friends to know that this kind of volatility is probably going to leave me devastated at some point, which is why I just can't shake this feeling that I've made a big mistake..

This is wonderful! I wish you all the best. I realize that these are serious hurdles and that there's a chance everything might end badly, but I genuinely think you should put all your efforts into it. Of course you can't make that decision for her, but you can definitely guide her and stand by her if she decides to come out.

Again I know I'm not saying anything useful, but I just really hope this ends well.

[Antonio the Sixth]

My grandpa fell down the stairs and broke his humerus. He's 82, so it's obviously harder on him than it would be on someone younger

I hope he gets better soon.

^^^^ Sorry to hear that.

[Antonio the Sixth]

My grandpa fell down the stairs and broke his humerus. He's 82, so it's obviously harder on him than it would be on someone younger

I hope he gets better soon.

^^^^ Sorry to hear that.

...I know what you meant, but the way you quoted my post instead of Kal's makes it seem like you're sorry to hear that I hope Kal's grandfather gets better soon.

That is, for the record, not what I meant.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Also, after around 20 years of living in this country on a greencard, my aunt's getting citizenship next week so she can vote against Trump.

Congrats!

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm sorry this is the sort of environment your family had to live through, Sanchez. I don't want to deny or minimize individual responsibility, because it's real and I don't think that being left-wing requires me to deny it. But, from what I've learned about life in the US and other Western countries, there's a strong social component to all this, and it likely means that the State has abandoned and failed your community, and that's awful.

I know this is all very obvious and trite latte-liberal bullsh*t to say, but it's all I've got.

[Antonio the Sixth]

He's looking at the very least ten years in the pen because of this, and his life is basically ruined. Whether he was driven by poverty, drug addiction, or just a desire to rebel against the "man" (or some combination thereof), his actions back in January will pretty much kill any chance of upward mobility whether he rehabilitates himself or not.

That might actually be the single worst thing about US society, or close to it. The US criminal justice system doesn't give a sh*t about rehabilitation. Worst, it actually seems to work deliberately to make it impossible and make sure that any passage in jail, no matter the crime, is a social death sentence. It's not easy anywhere for ex-cons, but nowhere I've seen it get to the level of utter moral abjection as in the US. This would be bad enough if all criminals were driven to commit crimes for purely individual reasons (because, even then, they would still deserve redemption). But if you factor in the reasons why so many people commit crimes, the kind of social forces that push them toward it, it becomes downright monstrous. This is not how a civilized society is supposed to work in the 21st century.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Obviously I don't know anything of this story, but I also don't think it would be right to put so much blame on your brother and his friend. Yes, their actions might have helped bring him down that path (again, I obviously don't know the detain), but you can't say they have more responsibility in his action than the guy who did it himself. And if they have themselves never held a person at gunpoint, well, that might indicate they've retained a moral compass despite everything.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Lost a classmate this week to a shooting...5 years out...

I'm so sorry.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Got the order today from my boss to "fix" the accounting for one of our products to "up" the sales of this product (on paper).

I don't like the fact of false accounting at ALL, but he also got pressure from his regional supervisor to increase the "sales" of this certain product.

Hmmmm ...

You should refuse and report him if he tries to fire you (provided that Austrian labor law protects workers against this sort of abuse, which I have to assume it does).

[Antonio the Sixth]

he even paid us a stripper for 100€ once as we visited a strip-club during a company trip ...

...

I hope you're aware that telling me this doesn't exactly improve my opinion of the guy.

[Antonio the Sixth]

fckit

?

^^ What's up?

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've became an utter workaholic. If I don't do some work I feel like a s**t. If I do some work, I feel like a s**t for not doing more.

Can I borrow some of your workaholism? I'm suffering from extreme laziness these days.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Is anyone in touch with her outside the forum? I really hope it's nothing too serious.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm genuinely scared. Even if she decided to leave the forum for good (and who can blame anyone for that?), I hope she'd at least let us know she's all right. Even disregarding her contributions to the forum itself, she came across as a genuinely kind person and it would be horribly unfair if she were dealing with really serious stuff.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well, the truth is people are leaving this forum all the time, many of them without actually saying a word. They're just tried of the place, moved on with their lives or simply got no time. As much as I miss her already, I'd rather have Virginia getting fed up with the forum silliness than something else happening.

I don't know if any of you guys had ever had that feeling you'd just like to disappear from the face of the earth. I certainly had (and, back in early 2013 pretty much disappeared to everyone except this forum). Maybe it's this, I don't know.

I'd definitely want to hope so.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's been reported at AAD that Virginia recently signed onto IRC.

That's a bit reassuring.

[Antonio the Sixth]

So glad to hear that!

(and sorry if we've been a bit creepy in the process - as Spock would say, "that was not our intention" )

[Antonio the Sixth]

So glad to hear that!

(and sorry if we've been a bit creepy in the process - as Spock would say, "that was not our intention" )

Understatement much?

Well, at least some of us give a sh*t about others.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Recently I've been totally unable to not relax. That sucks.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's my birthday!

Happy birthday, I guess.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The other day, I actually managed to use "he who feeds you, controls you" in a casual, non-political conversation with friends. I'm quite proud of myself.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The other day, I actually managed to use "he who feeds you, controls you" in a casual, non-political conversation with friends. I'm quite proud of myself.

Me too! I used it when my roommate and I were fighting over how to go about and get by for the day, and I happened to use that quote when I reminded him that I was the one with the car, the money, and the food.

Great minds think alike.

I brought it up when a friend jokingly made a similar argument as yours.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Congrats, and best wishes!

[Antonio the Sixth]

If this person was willing to do that to you, she/he was never a true friend to begin with. Even if he/she didn't feel comfortable being friends with you anymore (which is their right), she/he should at least have told you so upfront. Ghosting is just plain cruel.

(Have never been ghosted myself, thankfully.)