Whine like a baby, now with 500% more drama!

I've been dealing with a pretty significant amount of pain in my elbow for the past several months. I'm sure it's a repetitive motion injury of some sort, and I think I've determined that it was caused or contributed to by my habit to let my whisking form slip when my forearm muscles get tired, and use my entire forearm instead of just my hand like I'm supposed to. (And no, it's not from masturbation.) It doesn't seem to hurt in the place that a UCL injury is described as hurting, or tennis elbow. At this point, all I need to know is whether it gets better with rest or strengthening and heat or ice; or surgery. The delay in getting this treated due to my issue with our clinic is not helping my charitability to them, though I did get a very good response from the Patient Feedback Coordinator to the letter I sent, so I'm going to give them time to correct the issues and not publish anything negative that names them. It's getting to the point that I really need to re-form the mouthguard I bought so I can wear it during the day to protect me from all the times I grit my teeth in pain. It really fucking sucks.
Actually, I just found the motion that hurts the most, and lights up all of the pain points in my elbow. I do believe that I have... consumed so much coffee at my last job, all throughout the day, and kept moving my big (Halforum.com) mug around my desk so much that I injured my elbow.
 
So waited all day for the mail today for my paycheck so I could hit the bank. Was wondering why it was taking them so damn long to deliver! Then I was reminded that TODAY is the actual holiday, not yesterday.

No mail or bank today, Cheesy. Ya moron.
 
So waited all day for the mail today for my paycheck so I could hit the bank. Was wondering why it was taking them so damn long to deliver! Then I was reminded that TODAY is the actual holiday, not yesterday.

No mail or bank today, Cheesy. Ya moron.
I had a letter I wanted to send regarding the house I'm getting rid of. There's a deadline, and it's looming. I put off doing it yesterday because I figured I could get it to the Post Office before leaving for work this morning.

Welp.

--Patrick
 
Holy crap I volunteer with some idiots. I picked up a bunch of deposits and over half of them had "instructions" like:

  • does not add, I don't know why
  • for some reason there is more money than there should be
  • I can't get it to balance

The ones that didn't have these stupid notes were just plain old sloppily and lazily done. Coins not rolled, basic math not performed properly, entire whole types of bills not included on their cash counts etc.

I was able to get each and every one of them to work using the basic calculator app on my iPhone and common sense. It was painful. No math skills required. No accounting skills either.
 
My incredibly intelligent dog chewed open and then stepped on a tube of Elmer's Super Glue. Thankfully, not toxic in small doses and his gums and lips didn't get glued together. Now I'm about midway through swabbing the glue tube off of his paw and all he wants to do is play with my wife.
 
This was four years ago. My first and only book signing.

4 years ago today Nov 15.jpg


So much hope and optimism for my future as a writer. All gone. Since then, I published one more Armadillo Mystery, which I haven't seen a dime for. And wrote two more books: another Dill adventure and a YA novel. Both of which will likely never see the light of day.

Today? I haven't written anything since I think the spring. And been thinking of just hanging up the pen and giving up on writing.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
I was going to post this on Tumblr, but I realized I couldn't speak as freely there as I can here:

It seems like the better my dreams are, the worse they mess up my day... Usually I shake off nightmares shortly after waking. A good dream, however, can stir up emotions that just screw me over because I don’t know how to deal with them.

My dream from last night: I was on a trip, somewhere, it was kinda vague, and the people I was with were non-specific. Anyway, they told me to plug my ears so that they could set up a surprise for me. I did so, and then spotted my crush coming in through the front door. I realized I should close my eyes, too, and prepared myself to act surprised when she came in. When I opened them a lot of women I know were there. They were all in costumes, and some were sexy costumes. It was nice to see them, but I really wanted to see my crush... who was in a completely non-sexy clown costume. And she was still all I had eyes for. I tried to be polite and get away from everyone else to talk to my crush, but I woke up before I could get to her.

It was a weird, almost nonsensical, dream, but it stirred up a lot of real emotions. I want to be over my crush. I know she doesn’t return my feelings, and I swear I’m doing my best to get over her, but it’s just not happening. I feel guilty, like I must be stupid or something for not being able to figure out how to stop feeling like this.

And here's why I couldn't post this on Tumblr. My crush is on one of my best friends. (No, not Kags; thank God my friendship with her remains one of the points of clarity in my confusing life.) My crush and I are pretty close. We don't talk as much as we used to, since she's been really busy with her first semester away at college (she's had previous semesters living at home), but I'm still someone she comes to when she's upset or excited. She's stayed my friend through a boyfriend who wanted her to cut off contact with me. She knows I had a crush on her, and probably at least suspects that I never got over that crush.

I'm tired of feeling this way. I just want to enjoy my friendship with this wonderful woman. I want to be able to watch her YouTube videos without feeling such crushing emotion that I have to stop. I want to move on so that I'm not twisted in conflict when she talks about guys she's crushing on, and to not feel secretly happy when things don't work out with the guy she'd had her eye on. She's someone special, worth noticing, and I don't want to hope for her to not be noticed.
 
I was going to post this on Tumblr, but I realized I couldn't speak as freely there as I can here:

It seems like the better my dreams are, the worse they mess up my day... Usually I shake off nightmares shortly after waking. A good dream, however, can stir up emotions that just screw me over because I don’t know how to deal with them.

My dream from last night: I was on a trip, somewhere, it was kinda vague, and the people I was with were non-specific. Anyway, they told me to plug my ears so that they could set up a surprise for me. I did so, and then spotted my crush coming in through the front door. I realized I should close my eyes, too, and prepared myself to act surprised when she came in. When I opened them a lot of women I know were there. They were all in costumes, and some were sexy costumes. It was nice to see them, but I really wanted to see my crush... who was in a completely non-sexy clown costume. And she was still all I had eyes for. I tried to be polite and get away from everyone else to talk to my crush, but I woke up before I could get to her.

It was a weird, almost nonsensical, dream, but it stirred up a lot of real emotions. I want to be over my crush. I know she doesn’t return my feelings, and I swear I’m doing my best to get over her, but it’s just not happening. I feel guilty, like I must be stupid or something for not being able to figure out how to stop feeling like this.

And here's why I couldn't post this on Tumblr. My crush is on one of my best friends. (No, not Kags; thank God my friendship with her remains one of the points of clarity in my confusing life.) My crush and I are pretty close. We don't talk as much as we used to, since she's been really busy with her first semester away at college (she's had previous semesters living at home), but I'm still someone she comes to when she's upset or excited. She's stayed my friend through a boyfriend who wanted her to cut off contact with me. She knows I had a crush on her, and probably at least suspects that I never got over that crush.

I'm tired of feeling this way. I just want to enjoy my friendship with this wonderful woman. I want to be able to watch her YouTube videos without feeling such crushing emotion that I have to stop. I want to move on so that I'm not twisted in conflict when she talks about guys she's crushing on, and to not feel secretly happy when things don't work out with the guy she'd had her eye on. She's someone special, worth noticing, and I don't want to hope for her to not be noticed.
As a guy who gets inappropriate crushes on a fairly constant basis, ordinarily I'd suggest for you to deliberately impose some distance between you and her, to let the crush burn itself out, but it sounds like that might not be a simple option because you two are close friends, so... I got nothing but an Internet hug. Sorry, Pez, man.
 
I tried recording myself reading the essay for what I'd hoped to turn into a YouTube video.

It was terrible. I was dull and awkward and it just didn't work.
 

Zappit

Staff member
My local card shop/hobby store closed down. Last one in the area. Nothin' but 'net for my geeky acquisitions now. I really liked that place, too. Probably the nicest shop owner I ever encountered. Really honest, decent business gone.[DOUBLEPOST=1511217089,1511217042][/DOUBLEPOST]
I tried recording myself reading the essay for what I'd hoped to turn into a YouTube video.

It was terrible. I was dull and awkward and it just didn't work.
What's the essay?
 
My local card shop/hobby store closed down. Last one in the area. Nothin' but 'net for my geeky acquisitions now. I really liked that place, too. Probably the nicest shop owner I ever encountered. Really honest, decent business gone.[DOUBLEPOST=1511217089,1511217042][/DOUBLEPOST]

What's the essay?
Discussion Scott McCloud's The Sculptor. As I said in the Advice subforum, I was thinking of making my own YouTube series discussing graphic novels and completed creative team runs.
 
Discussion Scott McCloud's The Sculptor. As I said in the Advice subforum, I was thinking of making my own YouTube series discussing graphic novels and completed creative team runs.
I would recommend working on video editing skills so that you can pop up pictures of what you are discussing throughout the video. People just reciting words at a camera with nothing else going on will probably always seem dull.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
As a radio guy and youtube video maker, I also recommend over-emoting in your dialog. You have to pretend you're reading/speaking to a grouchy child you're trying to cheer up. You will feel ridiculous doing it, I know, but you really have to chew the scenery to seem interesting in a recorded medium.
 
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Zappit

Staff member
As a radio guy and youtube video maker, I also recommend over-emoting in your dialog. You have to pretend you're reading/speaking to a grouchy child you're trying to cheer up. You will feel ridiculous doing it, I know, but you really have to chew the scenery to seem interesting in a recorded medium.
Sounds exactly like working in a middle school. I basically do that for six hours a day.
 
Well, I tried recording it a second time. Didn't bother saving the first attempt. I still don't like it. Is there any place I can upload the file privately for you guys to hear?
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Well, I tried recording it a second time. Didn't bother saving the first attempt. I still don't like it. Is there any place I can upload the file privately for you guys to hear?
As Terrik says, you can upload to youtube with as "unlisted" and uncheck "notify subscribers," and then only people with the direct link to it will see it.
 
Every first time youtuber makes terrible videos. Go ahead and post it private and have us review it if you like, but keep in mind that your first videos will be your worst, and that's fine. It'll be a learning process.

Just keep going. You'll get better video by video. That's just how things work.
 
All right, here it is in all its awfulness. Please be aware that I'm just using a cheap headset mic, so the sound quality is probably bad.

Also keep in mind that I plan on adding visuals. I'm picturing it like a mix of video essays with some little cartoonish art like in Extra Credits or Yahtzee (between showing the comic art at times).
 
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