Why I hate people...

I grew up in a strange household. By the time I was 12, I was in charge of cleaning the kitchen. By the time I was 15, I was cooking for the family. Mom was often sick, or tired from working, my dad was lazy, and my brother was useless.

This is one of those stupid things. I used to have to go through my brother's room, and pull dirty dishes and rotting food out from under his bed and in his drawers. I hated it, and still resent all this crap.

One of my earliest memories was cooking steak, canned peas and mac and cheese for the family, then sitting down to watch The Electric Company. I think I was 7.

This leads to the two great conumdrums of life. First, you goddamn learn, and this scars any future relationships. Second, you never goddamn learn, and keep making the same goddamn mistakes.

People ask me for advice. My life is a wreck, and people still ask me for advice. And when I say "advice," I really mean, certitude. Something happens in too damn many people, and they get habituated to not picking up after themselves. Like at a job, there's always one or two people who do all the cleaning, and the lazy bastard coworkers who just friggin watch them.

The same principle applies to the whole advice thing. If people get used to asking for advice, they never, ever, goddamn friggin ever learn to think for themselves.

A lot of my personal demons have to do with my brother. We're all guilty about how he turned out. But he was a year younger than me, and I was the one stuck keeping an eye on him. I used to get beaten when he pulled one of his little stunts. I also used to get beaten because I was intensely protective of him, and he would use this to get me into fights with other kids. And my brother never learned. So I had to learn for both of us.

I dreamt of kittens yesterday. And of a gremlin that presented me with a bill for services rendered. I dunno where that comes from. I have messed up dreams.

So anyway... Ima pomous ass sometimes. And intensely conservative ina non political sense. I doan like risk taking, and tend to plan crap out. This affects how I level. I doan really spend much time playing, compared to, well... what, william shatner?

So... I got all the green hills of stranglethorn banked on an alt. I got tons of unidentified plant parts banked. When I hit level 62, Majeure got to honored with the scryer offa firewing sigs I'd collected, and at 64, she was halfway to exalted with all the arcane tomes I'd slowly bought offa the AH, at 9g (or lower) each.

If ya take the time, and know what yuir doin, you can save a ton of gold... just buy over a coupla weeks...

I spent 62-70 leveling tailoring to 375. Slowly, using the cooldown patterns to get as many skillups as possible, speccing spellcloth, and making all my spellcloth for my epic level 70 sets, so I wouldn't get raped on costs... while buying primal mights over a coupla months to save as much as I could...

This means I get to play more, and farm less. I really don't play enough to bother with farming.

So.. all that said, I got tagged last night with a hefty spot of goddamn drama. And I deeply resent it. I mean, really, really mind searing pissed off about it. I do not need this crap.

Girl comes home.

"Dad!"

"Yes?"

"Doan freak out now..."

K... anytime someone says doan freak out... it means one of two things... first, something bad has happened or is about to happen... this is life. Second, something stupid is being planned... this is humanity.

"K..."

"I met the greatest guy!"

"K... why did you think I would freak out about this?"

"Er... no reason... but he's famous and rich!"

"O.K... still not sure about the freak out thing...."

"Its O.J. Simpson!"

"*freaking out*"

"Dad! He really loves me! And I mean, what are the odds of some random lunatic killing *another* one of O.J.'s girlfriends?"

Ya see what happens here? I've had a dozen of these conversations... and had another one last night. I'm pretty sure we've all had a conversation like this... someone we know is about to do something they KNOW is freaking stupid. So they come and "tell" you. And they rationalize it with some off the wall argument, "enron stock is now 50% lower than where it was a year ago, itsa steal!" Then they talk to you...

Why?

I doan know. It's always different, and it's always some insanely stupid reason. Are they hoping that you'll talk em off the ledge? So you have to be firm? "NO! You do not NEED a $10k fitness center!" Or is it something they've set their hearts on, and want some support... "well, if it makes you happy, a pierced (bleep) doesn't have to be terribly unsafe..."

Either way, itsa plot to make you the bad guy. You either tell em no, they listen, and resent you forever. Or you tell em go ahead, and it blows up in their faces, and it's your fault for the bad advice.

Thersa scene from Last King of Scotland... a movie I have yet to see, but, well, its on my list...

The english doctor is talking to Idi Amin after one of Amin's more regrettable decisions... to expel all the asians from Uganda. Since the asians were, pretty much, all the engineers, doctors and merchants.. the result was an economic catastrophe. The conversation...

Idi: "Why did you let me do that?"
Doctor: "I *TOLD* you it was a bad idea!"
Idi, face filled with anger...: "You did not *CONVINCE* me!"

Once they *ask* for *advice*... whatever happens... its your damn fault. And I resent this crap.

So... for the record...

Arms&Fury... if you REALLY have to have the season 2 gladiator shoulders NOW, instead of next week... buy em. It's your damn character. You worked for those points, spend em how you see fit. Claiming that the season two gear is gonna have a rating requirement because... "you haven't seen anything that says they won't..." isa cheap rationalization.

But leave me the hell outta it. It is deeply unfair for you to dump this crap on me, and I resent it. And calling me last night only to hang up on me when I told you it was a stupid idea was completely unacceptable.