The Vent Thread

[Otohiko]

Jen, not to belittle your situation in any way - I know this is serious stuff - but don't get into this mindset that this is some sort of "life is over" problem. It's not. In the big scope of things, your life shouldn't be reduced to just paying rent and being your mother's financial go-to person. You seem like a far more responsible, capable, and hard-working person than most people I know, and your fault is basically that you're too responsible. That is not a fatal flaw, it's merely something that unfortunately opens you up to abuse. Again, I hate to sound presumptuous, but it sounds to me like your mother and the loan collectors that are after her have in some sense succeeded in backing you into a corner where responsibility turns into guilt. In the case of my experience with loan collectors, I can safely say that this is an actual psychological tactic they use. Don't let it get to you.

You seriously just need to get out of that situation, as soon as possible. What FS says is perfectly reasonable and right. Do that. That does involve some really hard steps to take, but once you do, I think your responsibility, life skills and tolerance for shitty work/life situations will turn out to be majorly in your favour.

[Otohiko]

Shit.

In the process of trying to get my department to help me sort things out in regards to my PhD and obtain some support and help, I have received a response that included "we need to talk about your future in this program". I re-read the email a few times, then I finally realized what that sentence actually means...

Man, shit is really about to hit the fan for me

[NellyEdits]

For the last three years I was practically dead. (Due to some unfortunate events in the past.) Thanks to an amazing mother, and a couple of good friends, I'm finally okay...yet it feels weird. I've been out of it for so long that now I feel like I don't belong at all. From time to time, I feel like I forgot who I was, and I forgot how to be myself again. Don't get me wrong, it feels good to be back. But now I need to get a hold of everything again, and it's pretty damn stressful. But I guess it's better that this happens to me then anyone else...I read some posts and I'm sorry to all of you, who are having a hard time! Here's hoping that it gets better for the both of us.

[EvaFan]

So I signed up for a cable+internet program with newwave communications earlier this summer, great plan 89$ decent channels. My first bill was only like 40$ or so cause it took them two weeks to get out to me which was perfectly ok with me really since I was able to go to my parents house to chill. Then timewarner took over the company. My second bill was 100$ and it seemed fishy, their online statements link on the paysite doesn't work or rather it just causes an error on the webpage but the link itself works (I haven't checked to see if it still errors). I figured it was prolly due to taxes or something so I let it slide. 3rd bill comes and its 121$, so at this point I'm reasonably pissed off and immediately talk to someone over the phone who has no records (couldn't find any) of a 89$ plan I purchased with the sales clerk there specifically telling me that the price of the plan could not be changed for a year even after timewarner took over. In fact the person over the phone seemed like the common tech support idiot reading from a book anyway so I hung up and actually went back to the store which had new designs and all the green timewarner crap on it now. The same sales clerk still works there and she couldn't even find my plan. I told her about the price change (she didn't remember who I was so its hard to really connect it all together for her atleast) and she said there was nothing she could do for me cept put me on one of their current plans which lowest was 100$ for the first year cable+internet again. I told her no and brought back my cable box and gave all that shit back immediately canceling my TV since I rarely watch it, usually its (ps3 rented movies anyway from SOE). I kept their internet cause I was in the middle of online classes. It's been one month since then. My next bill was some 49$ or something for just the internet which seems ok BUT it paid another 121$ because the online pay system doesn't update in the middle of a month. This is complete bullshit, I've never seen an online pay system that charges more than the actual billed statement. Cellphone and power bills can fluctuate so obviously they are not changed the same every month. I was angry again and called and they said theres nothing they can do but the amount was credited to my account for my next bill(s). This is ok but their online paying system is still bullshit and Timewarner ruined a perfectly good local company.

Which brings us to today, I just recieved something in the mail showing a ton of price increases for rented equipment, channel price increases, plan increases, and service increases. The only thing that currently affects me is the change in amount for the internet service increase. It's 2$, so now its 52$ after taxes and such a month and this isn't even amazing internet mind you, just 10mb/1mb. I found another company online in the area that is retailing 10mb/1.5mb for less. So as soon as this semester is over, fuck timewarner, seriously, with a cheese grater.

[Dr. Derpface, J.D.]

Timewarner ruined a perfectly good local company.

That's exactly how they operate. They buy a small, successful local system, and run it into the ground. Case in point, Insight Communications here in Kentucky. Time Warner just bought them recently, the changeover isn't even complete yet, and things are ALREADY going to shit.

As much as I gripe about Comcast, at least they're not Time Warner...

[dj_ultima_the_great]

Oto, I sort of want to respond to you, but my thoughts are a little scattered and I'm not sure the explanation would make much sense. I guess the basic way to say it is that you're right, it's not life-ending. However, getting evicted from my house as well as the events leading up to it, have rippled outward into every aspect of my life. It has made me an angry, irritable, and unpleasant person. I snap at my mother, my friends, and now my siblings. I want to scream at everyone for not helping me, for leaving me in a situation that is difficult to fix and has terrible consequences if I can't. I really want to believe that this is just a phase, and that things will get better, but it has been a very long year-and-a-half. "Keep faith" has become "wait it out" for me.

Anyway, today's update indicates that this does seem to have an okay ending, although once again I find myself doing the parenting of a parent.

They say that the simplest solution is usually the right one, and why neither Mom nor I thought to do this before is really beyond me. The good news is that it doesn't cut into my finances, either. What did I do? I called our landlords and explained the situation. Yup. That's how I solved it. Got us out of another eviction. I had $200 saved up so far which was going towards replacing the tires on the car before winter. As far as I am concerned, that money was already purposed, and thus already "spent," and so I don't feel bad about re-purposing it. I also don't feel bad because I don't plan to be here come wintertime, so it's Mom's problem then. All I need to do is give them the $200 as a good faith gesture right now, and they'll wait until we get paid on the 13th for the rest of it. Mom is getting a quarterly bonus this month which will cover all of the other portion needed, and so this doesn't really disrupt her monthly paycheck either.

Is it the situation I wanted? No. I wanted to move out with my best friend and leave Mom to her own trouble, but it turns out that my friend is financially strapped herself (I sincerely doubt this; Mommy and Daddy would help her with anything).

But this is second best. It keeps us with a place to live until my friend get her head out her ass and grows up. It also doesn't eat into either Mom's or my paycheck, giving her some stability and me the chance to save my money.

I'd like to sigh, but I'm not sure if it would be in relief or annoyance.

[lloyd9988]

Oto, I sort of want to respond to you, but my thoughts are a little scattered and I'm not sure the explanation would make much sense. I guess the basic way to say it is that you're right, it's not life-ending. However, getting evicted from my house as well as the events leading up to it, have rippled outward into every aspect of my life. It has made me an angry, irritable, and unpleasant person. I snap at my mother, my friends, and now my siblings. I want to scream at everyone for not helping me, for leaving me in a situation that is difficult to fix and has terrible consequences if I can't. I really want to believe that this is just a phase, and that things will get better, but it has been a very long year-and-a-half. "Keep faith" has become "wait it out" for me.

Anyway, today's update indicates that this does seem to have an okay ending, although once again I find myself doing the parenting of a parent.

They say that the simplest solution is usually the right one, and why neither Mom nor I thought to do this before is really beyond me. The good news is that it doesn't cut into my finances, either. What did I do? I called our landlords and explained the situation. Yup. That's how I solved it. Got us out of another eviction. I had $200 saved up so far which was going towards replacing the tires on the car before winter. As far as I am concerned, that money was already purposed, and thus already "spent," and so I don't feel bad about re-purposing it. I also don't feel bad because I don't plan to be here come wintertime, so it's Mom's problem then. All I need to do is give them the $200 as a good faith gesture right now, and they'll wait until we get paid on the 13th for the rest of it. Mom is getting a quarterly bonus this month which will cover all of the other portion needed, and so this doesn't really disrupt her monthly paycheck either.

Is it the situation I wanted? No. I wanted to move out with my best friend and leave Mom to her own trouble, but it turns out that my friend is financially strapped herself (I sincerely doubt this; Mommy and Daddy would help her with anything).

But this is second best. It keeps us with a place to live until my friend get her head out her ass and grows up. It also doesn't eat into either Mom's or my paycheck, giving her some stability and me the chance to save my money.

I'd like to sigh, but I'm not sure if it would be in relief or annoyance.

Hang in there DJ, you'll be able to find a place of your own soon! I'm sure of it :3

[ngsilver]

Timewarner ruined a perfectly good local company.

That's exactly how they operate. They buy a small, successful local system, and run it into the ground. Case in point, Insight Communications here in Kentucky. Time Warner just bought them recently, the changeover isn't even complete yet, and things are ALREADY going to shit.

As much as I gripe about Comcast, at least they're not Time Warner...

Insight was already shitty when I was using them....

[Qyot27]

Timewarner ruined a perfectly good local company.

That's exactly how they operate. They buy a small, successful local system, and run it into the ground. Case in point, Insight Communications here in Kentucky. Time Warner just bought them recently, the changeover isn't even complete yet, and things are ALREADY going to shit.

As much as I gripe about Comcast, at least they're not Time Warner...

I wonder how much of this is about regional management, because the corresponding cable provider affiliated with Time Warner in this area has always been one of the best (Paragon Cable originally, then Time Warner Cable itself, which then changed over to Bright House Networks). But for all I know, the Time Warner/Bright House deal could be significantly different than how smaller companies can manage against it elsewhere in the country.

[dj_ultima_the_great]

After a long, busy day of work, I went to leave, only to discover large, elliptical scratches dug into the driver's door on the car. Really? What the fuck? I park in the boondocks of the lot, so it's rare that anyone is even parked next to me when I come out, and thus I find it hard to believe that this was an accident. It doesn't look look like the kind of damage you would get from opening a door and hitting the car next to you. It looks like somebody took a sharp object and drew around in ovals a few times.

It's worth noting that there is also nobody who knows what car I drive or where I park it, and certainly nobody who hates me enough to do that. So, all I can guess is that it was some random asshole who wanted to fuck with people.

I really don't care about the car's appearance. As long as it gets me from A to B, it could be the Pussy Wagon for all I give a damn. It's just irritating because I can't guess who did it, nobody owned up to it, Walmart security will be useless to help, and it's not even my car (it's Mom's).

People suck. I shouldn't have to deal with this bullshit just because I chose to have a job at Walmart.