The Kvetch Thread

Answering your post from november - my basically continuous money situation can get me hyperventilating. I can control that but it doesn't fix stuff.

Izzie, I have hand stuff too, criminy whilikers. Not like yours, but not nada. The good part is the effects of these three or four things are wakening me to start painting again while I still can.

This has been a while coming for me, now olden - I always had good, even exceptionally dexterous hands as seen in precision lab work and hand drafting, and it's a bummer. But you, you were hit with the RA when you were a young dancing queen. I can only imagine your ongoing loss and trying to deal with it.

Izzele, So let me ask you a question. Are you tired?

I've always thought that you do way too much. That you have far too much on your plate. In fact, you don't have a plate; you have a platter--the kind they put turkeys on for Thanksgiving.

It would be pointless for me to tell you to take it easy. First of all, you won't. Second of all, you can't with a golden aniversary on the horizon.

I wish you weren't in pain. I know you know from pain. I can relate to your pain. Shifting hoper to higher gear so that you'll get some relief.

As for the quality of your kvetch. I give you very high marks for content and tone. But I gotta mark you down for using words I don't know. How can I be fully sympathetic if I don't know what you're talking about? What's a luftmensh? And nach a mool????

osso, Glad you're gonna resume painting while you can.

Sorry about the hand dexterity and the pain.

I worry that the gears in my hoper will burn out. How does one prevent that?

Oreos.

I hope you can still eat Oreos.

I made some crazy mmmmmm things the other weekend. It was one of those viral thingies that happens once in a while.

Oreos layered with peanut butter - stacked 2 at a time in cupcake liners in a muffin tin - then brownie batter poured over top and baked.

Strangely good about a week after baking. Waaaaay too intense for me the first couple of days. It took me close to 3 litres of tea to accompany the eating of one of those brownie/pb/Oreo sugar bombs.

Thought of you. The Oreos were crunchy inside the brownie.

As a somewhat novice kvetcher, I appeciate a good kvetch tutorial. Thanks for pointing out the importance of the tone.

Oy, why does content matter? (A minor kvetch attempt).

Did you dream that up on your own, ehBeth? However did you get the idea of pouring the brownie batter over the pb layered Oreos?

Content is an issue depending on the purpose of the kvetch. I don't kvetch for sympathy. I look for support. Don't so much want a poor you, as I want a go girl. If you want support, then content matters. Nobody is gonna be all that supportive if you're kvetching that your new $1,000 ring isn't shiny enough.

If you're kvetching just to kvetch, let off steam, get it out of your system, then content isn't much of an issue. Sunamabitch. For a thousand bucks, the damned thing should be dazzling. Wait, this might solicit some support. Quien sabe?

Note: Kvetching for sympathy can be taken for whining, a place you don't want to go. Because we can't hear tone of voice, tone of words is key.

Can't eat Oreos anymore, Bethie. Too crunchy. Sigh. I bought a package and dunked them all. Not the same. But better than nothing.

I needed to get an extension for filing my taxes. (Long story.) I spend three hours on the phone today trying to get the right information and the right form. I spent the most time trying to find the right place to send the form online once I had filled it out.

Three steenkin' hours. Feh, fie, and phooey.

We hear you, Cheetah.

I had about nine dollars in my wallet and eleven dollars in my bank account. That's it. Total assets.

I get a very small pension check at the beginning of the month. I was hoping against hope that it would arrive early. It did. It arrived today.

I fill out the deposit slip and head for the bank. The bank is too far for me to walk. I had to take a cab. I had enough cash to get me to the bank. I get there, stand in line, hand over the check and deposit slip. The teller hands them back. The check is dated August 1. Can't make the deposit until then.

I'm steaming. And I have to get home. I get money from the ATM. I go over the amount in my account. I have to pay an overdraft fee of thirty-five dollars.

I'm also going to have to make another round-trip to deposit the check.

Let's summarize:

Two round-trip cab fares: $30
Overdraft fee: $35

Steam is coming out of my ears. Pissed. Aggravated. You know what the light at the end of the tunnel is? An oncoming train.

Phooey.

I live at a similar edge. I relate to this mishugas. Not so much the cabs - there aren't a lot of those in this neck of the woods - but the difficulty and the miserable punitive $35.00 whammo.

I think you need a kewpie doll to stick pins in, if you still have any pins.

urf...

had one of them days myself, B.

scrapped in the wet and rain all day for half a load, and went to cash it in so I could buy some gas to go into town to pick up a food gift certificate from a friend.

the damn store can't make it work.

(you are supposed to have a smartphone)

sent me to call a toll free number and play the disconnect game. repeat until crazy.

I gave up and came home.

I'll try and scrap some more tomorrow...

You guys are all doing better than I am. I have $3.24 in my pocket (just counted it) and a $70 overdraft in my bank acc't. (just checked at the ATM down the street). My retirement check will be direct-deposited on the 3rd, that's this Saturday. So I've got to get through the rest of the week on bupkis. There's a half a loaf of bread in the house; I can live on mustard and/or mayonnaise sandwiches mostly. Thank goodness I know where to get free dinners at a local church tomorrow and Thursday and free lunches at the Salvation Army Wednesday and Friday.

Know what? It could be worse. My rent is paid and I have enough clean clothes to wear from the last time I had enough loose quarters to do some laundry at the laundromat down the street. Plenty of hot water for my shower. As we used to say in the DP camps, I will survive.

Well I'm mad because I'm not the poorest guy at this site anymore.

Screw that!

Pardon me if I'm being obtuse, but aren't you in Hawaii? Not that Hawaii doesn't have people with financial issues, by any means.

Little known fact, Rags -- per capita, Hawaii is one of the poorest states in the nation. Last statistics I saw, something like 60 percent (or even more) of all residents receive food-stamps. The homeless situation is so bad that police don't even try to evict squatters hunkering down in vacation homes any more; poor sods need someplace to sleep. There aren't anywhere near enough shelters for homeless families. People live out of their cars and, if they're lucky, pitch a tent. Waikiki is panhandler central. if one is eligible to apply for public housing, they are told there will be a minimum of two years wait before housing might become available. I am not exaggerating. I know people fortunate enough to live in subsidized public housing; some of them were homeless for a long stretch before being afforded this luxury.

What makes this so ironic is that actually rental housing in Hawaii is relatively inexpensive when compared to major mainland cities e.g. New York or Boston or San Francisco. $1,000/mos. is what you pay in the high-rent district. That's a lot of money by local standards. When I first established residency here about five years ago, I lucked into a three-bedroom, two-story house for rent that was only marginally a few bucks more than I had been paying for a one-room studio efficiency in Boston. House has been sold since then and I had to find new lodging. Unemployment here is sky high and the entire labor situation is drastically different from the mainland. For one thing, there'sno such a thing as temp agencies that I'm aware of. Maybe in Honolulu but I wouldn' bet on it.

Everybody on the mainland seems to think that Hawaii is so terribly expensive that only rich people can afford to live here. That's a laugh. If you're poor, Hawaii is probably the best place to be. With any kind of portable shelter,there's no reason you can't sleep outdoors year round. There are young homeless people who have this worked this out to a fine science. You see them hitch-hiking on the main highways with their backpacks pretending to be a camping trip to explore the island. Some of them have been on this camping excursion for several years.

I'm okay. As long as I can pay my rent at the start of each month, I have a cozy flat in an old building that's within easy walking distance of downtown Hilo and a couple of beaches. And bus fares are really cheap, especially for senior citizens like me.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/video/lizziesam/yiddish-words-you-should-be-using

I meant to come back to this thread.

I'm fascinated because obviously I had no idea about what the conditions are like in Hawaii. I had thought (wrongly) that there were pockets of 'isolated' homelessness and lower income folks.

FWIW, from the little I've read it seems my circumstances aren't that different than yours. Sarasota on the whole is upper income but downtown has a population of homeless and what-not. I'm on Social Sec disability (perm) to medical issues and luckily use VA medical services due to having earned those benefits.

For now, I live in a convenient apartment complex...and nice landscaped surroundings located not far from the interstate. I have a car but don't drive it much. Gas prices are lower here than is the case on most of the east coast. There is a public bus system and there's a stop right outside of my complex.

I feel so fortunate ... in one way ... to be finally rid of the cold winter weather. I take such basic pleasure in watching sunsets and basking nearly ideal weather and fun walks on a beach with 100% white quartz sand. As long as I can walk those beaches with friends, I'm smiling. Money is in short supply so my dogs and I keep the shiny side up.

Know what you mean, Rags. It's great to live in a place where it's always Summer.