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Post by The Captain on Jun 8, 2020 21:11:26 GMT -5
My sister and I are getting together tomorrow to start the process of moving our mom out of the house she shares with our dad. He has become far more aggressive toward her recently, verbally and psychologically abusing her and threatening her with physical violence, and we have reached the point where we can't let it continue. She has experienced some cognitive loss over the past six months, and as she isn't able to cater to him like she used to, he is frustrated that things have changed and is taking it out on her. He's a drunk (alcoholics go to meetings), which isn't an excuse but rather an explanation; the worst thing is, he was fine for two months when he couldn't get out to get booze, but as soon as our state stores opened back up, he was back in the bottle and back to being a jackass.
I'm so worn right now. That situation has been a huge burden on my mind, my role as Treasurer for our swim club is extra busy right now as we just opened for the season, and I was serving on the Session of our church, which I just resigned from last week because I don't feel connected with that church any more (not a faith issue, but a church body issue). Mentally I am broken, and physically I am exhausted as I am not sleeping more than 5 or so hours per night and then having to work 8 hours a day and put in more hours for my "leisure" activities afterward. I'm overwhelmed with everything going on in the news, to the point I want to just scream at the world to get its shit together, because I can't take anymore right now.
Sorry for vomiting all of this out here. This has possibly been the longest year of my life, and it isn't even halfway over yet.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 8, 2020 13:03:24 GMT -5
Increasingly, I find that social media platforms just make me disappointed in the people I know. I'm not bothered about those who have different political opinions to mine (within reason), that's just life. No, it's the people who you thought were entirely reasonable individuals who spout dumb-ass racist rhetoric; or promote crazy conspiracy theories; or load every post with subtext about how "right on" and virtuous they are; or those who use every post to sanctimoniously lecture everyone else on how they should be living their lives or how they should be reacting to whatever the burning issue of the day is (like anyone gives a rat's arse what they think); or those with so little to say that they just endlessly post wishy-washy New Age inspirational quotes (superimposed over a picture of a rainbow, of course), with "wise" advice, which they themselves routinely ignore; or the person (usually a woman) who posts some attention-seeking, enigmatic statement like, "Ever feel like you just can't carry on much longer?", which is followed by someone asking "what's up, hun?", prompting the OP's intensely annoying response of "I've DM'd you x"; or those (usually men) who just post other people's funny memes and jokes, in lieu of having a sense of humour or a personality of their own. I miss the old days when you didn't have to know how many dickheads you were friends with. You sound exactly like my wife here. She had a FB account that she initially used to keep in touch with her family (she has cousins in somewhere around 15 or so different states). She also added an Instagram account so she could keep an eye on what our older daughter is doing on there. Over time, her circle grew to include HS acquaintances (never really friends), folks from church, neighbors, etc., and that is when things went south. She found out our former pastor's husband and another man from our former church (both of whom are good friends with my father, no surprise) are virulently anti-Muslim. A member of our current church has posted that if Democrats take over all three branches of the government this fall, it is only a matter of time before they start shutting down Christian churches and/or shooting Christians who profess faith in public. One of her cousins posted last week that one of the most-inspiring moments of her ENTIRE life (and she's 62, with two children and at least two grandchildren) was seeing a certain someone holding up a Bible in front of a church. The mother of a friend from high school has made some incredibly offensive racist statements. A current friend of hers is one of those women you described, always speaking in riddles to draw attention to her drama. She has pretty much given up on it entirely. People will text her asking if she got the message they sent her through FB Messenger, and they'll be shocked when she tells them she hasn't been on in months. Social media gives people a way to write things they would probably never say to another human in real life, because there are no virtually zero repercussions. Hiding behind a keyboard, furiously typing away whatever horrible things come to mind, is easy, and it also supports mob mentality and echo chambers. I'm about to dump LinkedIn, which is the only "big name" platform I use, as it has become "FB for professionals". I'll hang here with you guys and gals, where it is far more sane.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 7, 2020 14:01:00 GMT -5
As I mentioned elsewhere, I missed the boat on Hellblazer initially, but beyond just that, I didn't read Sandman, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Mike Grell's Green Arrow series, Ostrander's Spectre, and a whole host of other DC/Vertigo titles until years after they were released.
Luckily, I was in on Preacher from the beginning, and Fables from fairly early on (which I only collected in TPBs instead of floppies, so I was always going to be a little behind).
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Post by The Captain on Jun 7, 2020 4:39:00 GMT -5
"NEET" is amongst the worst acronyms I've come across. Is "unemployed" too passe these days? This goes beyond "unemployed", however. These are what my father would refer to as "shiftless layabouts", not only not working but also not in school or training for some kind of job or career. Just existing, and sadly where a lot of the stereotype of the gamer/comic book guy living in his mom's basement eating Hot Pockets and sucking down Mountain Dew all day while arguing about pointless minutiae on the internet for hours on end comes from. Incels are a whole other breed. Bunch of whiny, entitled d-bags who think that women exist only to have sex with them, and because they have that attitude, women won't have sex with them, so therefore women are the problem.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 5, 2020 15:38:02 GMT -5
I absolutely love finding something old that is new to me and enjoying the heck out of it. My LCS has been putting out deeply-discounted TPBs over the past six months or so, and I've been picking up all of the John Constantine, Hellblazer ones. I always knew the series existed, but I never bothered buying any of it in the past, not in floppie or trade. Some really good stuff in there that I'm finally putting my eyeballs on.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 5, 2020 10:18:09 GMT -5
Not that I read a lot of new comics, but for DC, it might be Punchline, Joker's new girlfriend and Harley Quinn rival. On the Marvel side, there are the "new" New Warriors, which based on the absolute ripping the internet has been giving them over how cringey they are, they're probably wishing they didn't bother. Is that really a new character as much as a riff on an existing character? I can't say because I have never even laid eyes on the character. I honestly can't answer that. All I know is that her first appearance was causing all kinds of activity on the secondary market (much like the first appearance of Wolverine's alternate universe/non-canon daughter did last year) for a while, but as to her being something fresh or just templated off an existing character, I can't tell you.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 5, 2020 9:49:08 GMT -5
Not that I read a lot of new comics, but for DC, it might be Punchline, Joker's new girlfriend and Harley Quinn rival.
On the Marvel side, there are the "new" New Warriors, which based on the absolute ripping the internet has been giving them over how cringey they are, they're probably wishing they didn't bother.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 3, 2020 9:32:45 GMT -5
I wanted to create a thread where our members could post things that they are celebrating. I know that people have been using the "Meanwhile" thread for these kinds of announcements at times, but I think that with the free-for-all nature of that thread, things like this can get lost in the shuffle and that is unfortunate.
I'll start. Today I am celebrating the 20th anniversary of my first date with the woman who would eventually significantly lower her standards and agree to become my wife. We met online in May 2000 when I posted a personal ad and she responded; interestingly enough, it was the only personal ad I ever posted and the only one she ever responded to.
After a couple of weeks of chatting through AOL, we set a date for Saturday, June 3. We met at a neutral site, went into downtown Pittsburgh to walk around the annual Arts Festival for a little while, then attended a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game at the old Three Rivers Stadium (it was set to be replaced the following year by PNC Park). The game was a dud, as the Pirates lost an inter-league match-up with the Kansas City Royals by a score of 16-3, but that gave us a chance to sit and talk for a large portion of the game. Afterwards, we went to a local restaurant for a quick late night bite, and then headed our separate ways, neither of us knowing that two decades later, we would still be together.
So have at it! Use this thread to proclaim anniversaries, graduations, new jobs, new relationships, birthdays, really anything that you want to share that is important to you and that you feel is worth raising up to the community.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 2, 2020 16:52:12 GMT -5
This arrived today after 30 days missing in the mail. This makes a complete run from 128-502. I only need # 127 to make it a complete Thor run from 124-502. I know how you feel right now, which is how I felt when I got down to just needing Captain America #117 to finish the entire run. You're SO close and it makes you anxious to get the book just so you can say "I DID IT!" Happy hunting, my friend!
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Post by The Captain on Jun 2, 2020 15:46:21 GMT -5
NOTE: I'm going to mention the George Floyd situation in this post, but not in a political way.
I am finding that I've reached a wonderful point in my life in regard to my children, as they are of the age, particularly my older daughter who is nearly 15, where who they are as people is really starting to show.
This past Saturday afternoon, my wife and I ordered take-out from a couple of restaurants in the next town over, which is about a 12 minute drive from our house. Three of us got burgers from one place, while the younger daughter got a pizza from a joint around the corner from the burger shop. I asked if anyone wanted to just go for the ride to get out of the house, and my older daughter jumped at the chance.
About half-way there, I just looked over at her and asked "so, what do you think about what happened up in Minneapolis the other day?", not sure of the response I would get. I was amazed at how she poured out her thoughts about racism and injustice, examining it from a societal standpoint while tying it together with Scripture about loving one's neighbor and how God created all of us equal in His image. She then said that she didn't completely understand what "systemic racism" was, which gave me a chance on the way back to explain that concept to her, and she said that helped her understand why people were protesting and even rioting.
This was the second time in the past month she floored me with her reaction to something. The first time was while she was watching the TV show "Once Upon A Time", which had aired on ABC for seven seasons. In the final season, there was a storyline involving two lesbian characters who were kept apart by a curse that caused them to lose their memories; even though they were drawn to each other, they didn't remember the feelings they had for one another. Toward the end of the show, the curse was broken and they regained their memories, and they rushed to each other and kissed, at which point my daughter's hand shot upward and she yelled "YES!" I asked her why she did that, and she told me she had "been totally shipping them all year" and that they "were the best couple on the show"; her younger sister chimed in that they "were totally cute together". That was not tolerance. That was not acceptance. That was them actively rooting for a gay couple to be together, and even if they were only fictional, it affected me so much so that I had to leave the room due to a bunch of stupid ninjas cutting onions.
I was raised in a household where my father (her grandfather) was openly racist, misogynistic, sexist, and homophobic, and it poisoned my view of the world for years. While I have since been exposed to more and been able to overcome that early and constant exposure to an ugly side of humanity, she is growing up to be a strong young woman with a heart for others from the get-go. These were incredible moments for me, to see this little girl, who I held just minutes after her birth and have loved every moment since, caring and thinking about others in ways I never did, or could, at her age and understanding her responsibility to her community, her country, and her world to be better than generations past.
There. I said it, and now I have to excuse myself, because those damn ninjas and their onions are back.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 1, 2020 18:12:58 GMT -5
May started off strong for me, as I was averaging 3 comics read per day through the 21st, but then I went nine days without reading a single book before finishing with 14 read on the 31st, ending up the month with 78 total books read.
Best Thing I Read in May This was my third read through Ruse, and it never disappoints. Enjoyed the Iron Man issues I read, and the John Carter Omnibus has been a dense, slow read, but it is very satisfying.
Worst Thing I Read in May Nothing. No duds this month at all.
June Look-Ahead Going to try to finish up John Carter, Warlord of Mars, as I'm about half-way through right now. Will continue to work on Iron Man, as I am just about to start Armor Wars.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 1, 2020 16:58:38 GMT -5
I actually got out for a little while on Saturday, as things are starting to open back up in Western PA, and I bought comics! First store I visited, an actual comic book shop, I picked up the What If? #24, leaving me just 4 short of the whole run. As for the Sub-Mariner issues, that isn't a series I am actively collecting, but at just $5 each and both in really nice shape, I laid out the cash at one of our local antique malls. My last stop for the day was one of our oldest LCS in the city, one I used to visit 35 years ago with my grandmother a few times a year (she felt guilty because she, an art teacher, took my younger sister to art lessons at the local museum, so on the Saturdays between the 8-week class sessions, she would take me out for lunch and then to get comic books). They had three long boxes of Bronze Age goodies, and like Sub-Mariner, I'm not actively collecting Captain Marvel but at $2 apiece and also in really good shape, I wasn't just going to leave them there.
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Post by The Captain on May 31, 2020 7:16:44 GMT -5
Family
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Post by The Captain on May 29, 2020 16:34:48 GMT -5
Found Ash Vs Evil Dead on Netflix, so I started watching that out of curiosity. Never really watched any of the Evil Dead films, but the show seems pretty fun. Could also do with some more inspiration for my story The Black Bayou The show is a hoot. I'm not a horror fan at all. But Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness are fabulous. Evil Dead is also fun, but Evil Dead 2 is essentially a remake and is better. How are the later seasons? I'm a huge ED/AoD fan, as well as a big fan of Bruce Campbell, but I watched the first season and was kind of "meh" about it, so I didn't keep up with it.
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Post by The Captain on May 29, 2020 14:59:42 GMT -5
This was the first one I thought of:
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