MrSmith

Here's what I've got to say... First, I think it was good of Bri to at least give Matt a shot. Sure, her initial reaction was that she probably wouldn't have chemistry with him. However, I can't fault her for at least going on a date and trying to get to know him better. After all, that's what dating is for, isn't it? (Or is that just so last century?) Second, Matt's an idiot and a closeted douchebro. He should've known not to drink so much beer before the date. Once he did, he should've known to drink very little whiskey while on the date. I don't fault him for taking her to a nude beach since he says he did not know it was a nude beach. Also, it appears that he didn't have a way to know it was a nude beach. Now, if either of those things aren't true, then I'll fault him for taking her there. Third, I can't fault Nico for being pissed at the captain for bringing a boatswain in. If the captain would have communicated this to the crew, then it wouldn't be so bad. But when you're blind-sided by it, yeah, you're going to be pissed. The captain really dropped the ball here. Fourth, I can't fault the captain for bringing a boatswain in. Nico wasn't doing a good job of training his crew and he wasn't really demanding very much of them. My experience on a ship is that your ass gets run ragged while you're learning and, once you know what you're doing, your schedule gets a bit lighter and more predictable. Fifth, it's spelled "boatswain" and pronounced "bosun". Sixth, if I were on-board that boat, I would be Jen's puppy dog. Yes, she could complain a bit less and just do the work. However, she's cute, has pretty hair, and a rockin' body. I would do anything she asked me to at any time of the day and all she'd have to do is ask nicely. And that's even if she didn't go on a date with me (or if it were one-and-done). Seventh, I can't wait for Chris to get fired. I may have to celebrate when that happens. As for him being forced to sleep in the crew mess, them's the breaks. He's the lowest ranking crew member and there aren't enough bunks for the crew they've got. He's the lowest ranking because he's both green and because he's a lazy slacker. The laziness is what makes him rank below the other greenies on the deck crew.

I don't believe any of the bolded is actually true. When you watch how her expressions and demeanor changes when she's spending time with each of them, it's quite evident she's in love with Chris - or, at the least, enjoys spending time with him and looks forward to his visits. It's also clear that she is merely tolerating Sean. The way she brings Sean up to Chris is done such that she's trying to make Chris jealous. She probably knows, on an intellectual level, that Chris will never commit, but on an emotional level she believes she matters to him and that he will eventually commit to her - and beliefs based on emotions easily overwhelm the facts and what you know to be true based on the facts. Your last sentence is absolutely spot-on. Of course, Abby isn't looking for a normal relationship. She's a poverty-stricken, Haitian, sex worker who is looking for a way out of that life and believes that she could get Chris to give her that way out if she made him feel his access to her was threatened. Unfortunately for her, even if the threat were real (it's not), Chris doesn't care about her that way. If Abby won't see him, he'll just move on to the next poverty-stricken, Haitian, sex worker he meets in a Dominican Republic bar.

In my opinion, this is why that story hasn't blown up and given Southwest a black eye like other stories about airlines mistreating passengers have in the recent past. Also, it's pretty clear that she either doesn't have an allergy or it's minor/managed because she not only does she refuse to deplane but, once she has been deplaned, she actually manages to get back on the plane. These are not the actions of a person with a severe or life-threatening allergy. Someone whose life is threatened by their allergy will be glad to be off the plane, even if they aren't happy about the delay in their travel and the change to the itinerary.

Oh, no. I'm know my desk neighbors pretty well. I would wish them happy birthday. Come to think of it, I have shared with them that's it's my birthday last year.

Well, I meant that in the context of me happening to pass by their desk while there are three or four people there wishing them happy birthday. Most of the people I work with I do not know, at all, and only happen to work in the same office with them.

It's interesting to read this. Everyone has different preferences. I agree that birthdays in the office should generally be treated the same. The fact that people didn't even say good morning to you is, in my opinion, indicative of a larger and somewhat different problem. There are several people where I work that will go out of their way to say good morning to me. Similarly, there are people I always say good morning to, myself. So I guess I don't feel neglected since I do have that social interaction with my colleagues, and I can see where you do when things like what you described happen. I am certain I would feel just as you do in the same circumstances.

Hmmm. I address all females who are strangers as "ma'am", without any regard for their age. Mostly this is women with whom I am conducting business, such as servers at a restaurant, salespersons at stores, tellers at the bank, and so on. I'm terrible with names and struggle to remember their names for the time between reading their nametag and using their name in conversation. It's not meant to be insulting or demeaning; I'm just trying to be polite and respectful in a circumstance where I don't know their name. Occasionally, I can see the nametag or nameplate prominently enough that I can glance at it when I need their name, such as with bank tellers. Salespeople and servers either don't have nametags or they are small enough and/or inconveniently placed such that I would never remember their names in order to use them. In my mind, it's also partly a way to make us equals in the transaction. Many people treat servers and salespeople as slaves there to tend to their every need, or they act kind of indifferent or dismissive of them. I try to make sure to always make eye contact with them and treat them with respect as a way of saying "You're a person deserving of respect. I am aware of this and am trying my best to treat you that way." When dealing with males as described above, I use "sir". Edited to add: The exceptions to this are situations where the person already has a title by which I can address them. For example, doctors are addressed as "doctor". Police are generally the exception to the exception and I address them as "ma'am" or "sir".

To me, that's another reason for employers not to provide cakes for their employees' birthdays. People should not be made to feel like they must have cake. And who knows why someone isn't eating the cake? They might need to avoid gluten or, like me, be intolerant of the frosting. They might be following a strict diet for whatever reason; they might be "eating clean" before a fitness competition or it might not be something they allow in their diet. It might be that they've got meal plans later (or previously) that violate the diet they otherwise follow and they don't want to make an allowance for cake. For that matter, they might simply not be hungry. If I were the manager and cake were being provided, I would make certain that everyone knows that partaking of cake is optional and a personal decision. The only thing that I do actually do is go to the gathering to wish the person happy birthday. There aren't many people who opt to have a gathering for their birthday where I currently work. For those who do, I go to the gathering for a few minutes, be pleasant, avoid cake, and return to my work. For anyone who does not opt for a gathering for their birthday, I do not wish them happy birthday, even if there are a few friends at their desk who are doing so. I figure that person has invited the people over that they wish to share that with and I am not one of those people, therefore I need to mind my own business.

Well, the fact still remains that Chris has nothing to worry about and he knows it. He's not jealous because he knows that Abby really wants him and not Sean; he knows that Sean is just a means to an end for Abby and, in the meantime, she'll keep fucking Chris every chance she gets. Personally, I think Chris is really creepy. I wouldn't be surprised to learn he has a wife at home and has figured out how to make these trips to the DR so he can screw young women without having to deal with the marital repercussions of doing so. So, yeah, she's not "under his thumb" insofar as being controlled or cajoled into doing what he wants, but she damned sure is under his thumb because she's in love with him and thinks he's in love with her. One day she'll realize he was just there to fuck her and in going along with it she has managed to let herself get completely fucked over. Note that I do not believe her future would be any brighter with Sean; he's just an asshole of another color.

It's ok. It was dumb. To be honest, it was actually part of a conversation I was having with my wife one night. I don't know why I wanted her to be able see my eyes, and I asked her both questions before stopping to consider that it was dark. So now you can laugh at me, instead of with me!

I would like to add a pet peeve of people I work with wanting to know my birthday - and then wanting to make a big deal of it at work. Maybe I'm just weird, but I keep my birthday to myself. I celebrate it with people who are important to me and with whom I want to celebrate it. If you're not amongst both of those groups ("important to me" and "want to celebrate my birthday with you"), then I just want the day treated as any other day. Don't acknowledge it, at all, thank you very much! There are limited exceptions to that policy. My direct supervisor is allowed to say "happy birthday" to me and that is all. I don't want any gifts and I certainly do not want any cake - especially because my system is not tolerant of the usual buttercream frosting. Eating more than a couple of fingertip-fulls of buttercream frosting will make me very sick. And yes, I'm aware that I may just be weird because I want that much privacy related to my birthday. Anyway, I just needed to share.

I'm looking forward to watching the episode about "Sexy Vegan". We'll probably eventually get through the other episode you mentioned. I'm not 100% sure of that, though.

This reminds me of "Where Your Eyes Don't Go" by They Might Be Giants: "Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of"

WTF is "brekky"? I've lived in several areas of the United States: Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, Colorado. I say "soda". I think my wife used to say "pop". I also say "water fountain" for the thing you drink water from that is in school and office hallways. I remember being made fun of once for using that term because the kids I went to school with said "drinking fountain", and then again later because Wisconsinites (Midwesterners?) say "bubbler". And "bubbler" makes no fucking sense to me because it's not bubbling and there are no damned bubbles! I remember the first time I heard that term, I was like "WTF is a bubbler?" They told me and my immediate thought was "Yeah, ok. Of the two of us, you're the fucking idiot here."

I've picked up using "holiday" instead of "vacation". In my defense, I have friends who are in the UK and Europe. So I don't do it because I get to sound better than someone saying "vacation". My wife is gracious enough to just roll with it. Ugh. "Hire a car". I could see using that when you're hiring a limo or getting a taxi. To use it when you're just renting a car that you're driving yourself? Blech. And why "down cellar"? "Downstairs" is faster and easier to say, and it requires less parsing on the part of your audience. Christ. I already have to do enough thinking over the course of a day. Don't make me work harder to understand what you're saying than is really necessary!

LOL. I had to have my appendix out in 1999/2000. While in the ER, the hospital finally gave me morphine. I woke up just a little after I had been taken to the room where they prep you for surgery. I remember thinking how beautiful the nurse/CNA/LPN/whatever was and telling her so. I promptly lost consciousness again. She was probably glad for that!

I'm with you. I think Paul's antics are just bad behaviour and attention seeking.

It's ludicrous even if he commits to her. I don't drink at all. Beer makes me terribly sick, which means I have no alcohol tolerance. I also have alcoholism in my family background (two of my mother's brothers, one is still alive). Between those two things, I've decided it's just better that I generally avoid alcoholic drinks. (I have a cocktail with dinner on NYE about once every 3 years when I'm in the mood for it.) However, my wife is free to drink according to her own desires. The only thing I ask of her is that she not make getting drunk a habit. That said, I'm not foolish enough to believe I could control her behaviour were it to ever be counter to my request. The only thing I could do would be to try to help her see that getting drunk isn't helpful and persuade her to change. (I doubt it would ever be a problem because she hardly drinks alcoholic beverages either, anymore.) And Jesse needs to wise up and realize the best he can do is try to convince Darcey to see where she's going wrong by getting drunk and request that she drink in moderation, instead. After that, she's going to do what she wants to do and he has to make his choices accordingly. Too many people believe they can control other people's actions, especially their romantic partner's, and that's just not true. The only one a person can control is themselves and life works much better when you respect that.

One of my brothers-in-law is battling cancer right now (leukemia) and he has previously beaten stomach cancer (and he's not yet 40). Last week we got the news that his current treatment is no longer working and they have to ramp down the medication he's on in order to possibly get him on chemo. (I should know more today or tomorrow the verdict on that.) Anyway, that was last Thursday night that I found out about that. I'm actually quite close with him and the news upset me quite a lot. So, I prayed because I needed to do something and that was the only available action. After what seemed like a couple of minutes praying (and probably wasn't that long because humans are terrible at perceiving the passage of time), I could feel a presence in the room with me. It felt like it touched me on the head and a sense of calm immediately swept down my body. The way it felt is how it looks in the scene in Beauty and the Beast (animated) where the castle interior lights up. (I haven't been able to find any decent gifs of this.) Then it felt like my father-in-law was there in the room with me (he passed away in 2003), and that he told me that everything is all right and things will turn out the way they're supposed to. I didn't get a sense that my brother-in-law was certain either to survive this or not; just that whichever happens is supposed to happen and that my father-in-law will be there for him either way. I still get upset thinking about what might happen, but I'm not as emotionally disturbed and off balance by it as I was that night.

I'd like to add "my bad" to this list of language-related peeves. Every time I hear that, I want to straight throat-punch the asshole who said it and tell them that getting throat-punched is their fault for saying "my bad".

I've been on a jury one time. I WANT to do it again, but they never summon me. Around here, it seems based on whether you vote (Wisconsin, Minnesota). I don't know for sure. I've had a driver's license for almost 30 years and only been summoned once? But when you look at the fact that I turned 18 in 1990 and voted in 1992, 1996, 2000, was summoned around 2001, voted in 2004, and skipped it in 2008 and 2012 due to personal circumstances, it kind of makes sense. I've only voted once since moving to MN (2016).

From what I can see, it hasn't been edited. She's red from the exertion of hiking up there, the lighting is correct, the background around her (the trees and rocks that are immediately near her body in two dimensions) is unblemished. I've seen photoshoppers at work. When they're skilled, it's amazing how quickly they work and how good their product is. However, there are always little "tells" where things don't match up quite right. Edited to add: There's always a fuzziness around the hair, especially with people who have hair like hers, that is present when the person has not been photoshopped into the picture. This is present in her hair. If she'd been photoshopped, there'd be a much starker and more defined line around her head. Especially look at the hair in her ponytail.

None of the hallmarks of being in front of a green screen exist in the photograph. There's also very little to hold on to, as well. As for getting up there with a shake and a bag of powder, you just use a backpack. Also, either someone is taking her photograph (meaning another person to help haul stuff) or she's using a camera with a timer (meaning she had to have used something to carry all that). To me, she looks closer to the edge to us than she probably was when this picture was taken. However, you are right in that this was totally staged.

That's true. They don't have to tell her that they've forgiven her. She'll probably be told when they finally tell her they're done trying to have a relationship with her, and that will probably happen very quickly after they actually forgive her. Agreed. Time to leave those wishes behind, accept the past for what it is, leave their mother in the past, and create the futures they want. Their mother has absolutely no sense of her own culpability in the mess she's made. She demonstrated this perfectly well by trying to argue the details that just don't matter, such as whether she'd pulled up in a parking lot or on the grass to fight her son's fiancee.

When I was a teenager, I needed medication for my eyes. I don't remember why. Anyway, I decided I was curious about what I was taking, exactly, and decided to read the label. It's a good thing I did, too, because the pharmacy was unable to clearly read the prescription, failed to call the doctor for clarification, and filled the prescription with medication intended to go in the ears. I recognized the incorrect prefix and brought it to my father's attention. He ripped the pharmacy a new one, but it was only partly their fault. The doctor's writing was so bad that I'm amazed they were able to make any sense of it at all. That was back in the late 80's and I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of a system that does not rely on hand-written prescriptions. We're most of the way there now, finally.