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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: September 28, 2016

Our contractor has now delayed us enough that we're in danger of slipping past deadlines. If we don't get an occupancy permit by the end of next month we won't be able to deliver our first clients in January. It's the stupid, little shit - like "we can't put carpet down until we're done tiling, but we can't finish the tile until we have the doors in, and oh I should have told you two weeks ago to pick out some doors because NOW WE'RE GOING TO WAIT." And you can say shit like "so what else do you need an answer on right fucking now so that we aren't all sitting idle waiting for freight?" and the answer is always "nothing" but it's fuckin' wonderful being called and interrupted as you're rehearsing the live show because nothing can move forward until we decide "beige or cream" on something that won't even be here for five fucking days. The greenhouse has started and abandoned three sets of plants for me because I've been told "we'll be ready in May" and "we'll be ready in July" and "we'll be ready on Labor Day" and it's been a fucking lie each time.

But apparently this is how it works. Talked to a friend who has three restaurants in LA. Each time he's been told "three months." Each time it's been over a year, and each time expenses are 100% or more over budget. At least I haven't had to have an arborist come out and draft the tree by the front door because you're in Santa Monica, bitch.

It's awful. I feel myself turning into a Republican because in every instance where I just need things to go normally there's some fuckup by some fuckup with his hand out for more fucking money because fuck you. Call up AT&T. Ask to buy some phones. Talk to their vendor. Get quoted $3600. Go on eBay. Find the same phone system. From the same vendor. WITH THE SAME PHONE NUMBER AND NAME. For $1200. "I don't pay taxes because I'm smart." You know the spirit behind that? "I don't pay taxes because I can fuck you harder than you can fuck me, and in a capitalist system that's how we define success - getting the other guy first."

Know what's an awesome conversation? Telling a doctor you need to lose weight because your BMI is too high and you need to lower your blood pressure because your life insurance is penalizing you. What's your BMI? 29. "That's not overweight." Actually, it is, and despite a 2000 calorie a day deficit for four months, despite biking 1800 miles, nothing's happening. "That's because you're healthy." You guys beat me up for the fuckin' chart every time I come in, this is me asking for help. "Maybe you are eating too much." Maybe I've been counting calories since 2008. Would you like my diet as an XLS or a CSV? "Do you drink coffee?" Yes.

"WITH CREAMER??"

Yes. With two thousand calories of creamer. At 20 calories per tablespoon, that's half a gallon of creamer in my coffee. Aren't you clever. Except oops! I drink it black and what kind of fucking antagonistic nonsense is this. Thanks for listening.

You can pay people to listen, of course. Had to pay a psychoanalyst $500 for two sessions for her to determine if she wanted me as a client. Which she does, but since her "model" requires seeing me at least once a week, we'll adjourn that shit until January, at which point I get to see how much my insurance is willing to spend on "there's nothing actually wrong with you but someone said you should probably resolve that old eating disorder you cannot technically have."

Know what's awesome? When your insurance says "your blood pressure is too high, get yourself on a statin so we can lower your rates" and two different doctors say "your blood pressure isn't even vaguely high enough to treat." It's almost as awesome as when they say "you're fat" and then you say "help me not be fat" and they say "you're not fat! Who called you fat? Why are you drinking half a gallon of creamer a day?"

I'm in LA. Again. I had six glorious days at home. Only four of them were wholly given over to The Money Pit. When I left the last time my daughter rubbed her eyes to keep the tears away and demanded a second hug. And I landed and Lyft was charging surge pricing and riding back from work it was 108 degrees in Glendale.

In late September.

I breathe 300 times an hour. I know this because I counted in a sensory deprivation tank. It was something to do while I rationalized that I can make my daughter cry when she doesn't get what she wants and feel okay about it, I should be able to feel okay about making my daughter cry when she doesn't get me.

But it's so fucking hard.

It's easy to know when to get off the Metro to get home. You look for the junkyards.

I bought the birth center a 1-year anniversary present. Don't tell my wife. It's gonna take that long to get ready. And while it was an impulse buy, it effectively meant I now have a secret I have to keep from her for eleven months.

I hope to fuck it's worth it.





veen  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    But it's so fucking hard.

When I was small, my dad had a regular 9-to-5 job and a painting gig in the evenings and even in the weekend just make ends meet. He also felt terrible for not spending enough time with me and my sister, but I could never blame him for that - bills gotta be paid somehow. You're in LA now so you don't have to be in LA from November on.

(It still sucks though - not denying that. Take care.)

kleinbl00  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

December on.

Ugh.

cgod  ·  2736 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    It's awful. I feel myself turning into a Republican
Yup. These feelings will fade a bit after your doors have been open for a while but it will leave psychic scars.

I'm in line with spirit of all the regulations, I don't want people to burn to death or get crushed in my business, I wan't handicapped people to have access to my facilities. The manner in which these laudable goals get realized was totally fucked in my case. It cost me almost six months of rent and plenty of extra money on construction. I was told one thing one day, a totally different thing the next, my construction was put on hold for issues that evaporated a month later with no explanation. I might welcome the age of robotic permit overlords because humans do a shit job at bureaucracy.

kleinbl00  ·  2736 days ago  ·  link  ·  

We lost 60 square feet because we have to abide by the ADA 1990 circle:

Instead of the ADA 2010 rectangle:

Because fuck you I said so.

We have three bathrooms, two bathtubs and a shower for 2000 square feet.

ALL of them ADA.

oyster  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

When I was 17 having stomach pain and acid reflux my doctor put me on omerprazole while also doing tests to figure out what was wrong with me. None of those tests really came up with any answers so the last appointment I had with him he wrote me a prescription for more since the problem came back after I ran out and told me that if I had to come back again we would look into other things since he didn't want to keep me on this long term. Fast forward to the problem coming back after stopping the medication and I go back to find out he isn't there anymore. So I explain to my new doctor that we had talked about how if I had to come back again we would be looking into new things and she just smiles patronizingly and writes me another prescription for significantly longer than he ever did at once. ( can't remember exactly how long).

I still have trust issues with doctors from that shit. Like ya lets put the 17 year old female who is otherwise healthy on a drug that we don't really know the long term effects of. I wouldn't have even known about that except my previous doctor told me that as a reason he didn't like keeping people on it for a long time. I had to rant about that after reading your experience and why yes I did figure out eventually that anxiety played a role in that. How did you guess?! Grumble, grumble.

As unqualified as I may be on this subject I really think it's okay to not feel okay about her being upset when you leave. You can really let yourself be sad or mad without needing to find some logic that makes it okay since you can be happy about other things. You can be happy that you contributed to raising a child who is emotionally healthy enough to cry and want hugs when her dad leaves for starters. We can spend a lot of time stuck "feeling" some way because instead of just letting ourselves actually feel it we try to logic our way out. Does LA have places you can pay to go break shit for stress release ? Sounds like that kind of city.

Also sick fucking table, if I'm ever in Seattle I'm stuffing my shirt and pushing all the toddlers out of the way so I can play with it.

ButterflyEffect  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yo same kind of thing here. Pretty frequent surface level chest pain (chest wall), heart burn, spasms in chest and stomach, and belching and they're all "oh it's GERD and probably costochondritis" and then haven't done a single thing about it and it's driving me craaaaaaazy.

oyster  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Mines still a problem now since I have a hiatal hernia but mostly changing my diet helped. I cut back certain things I knew aggravated it like caffiene then took out other foods to see what would happen. That's also when I stopped having bullshit old person joints. My knees and wrists hurt so much then and now if they bug me it's because I did something. I mean my knee would feel like it would give out at times and pushing myself up with my hand shot pain straight up my arm. All gone :) so it's worth trying different things and seeing what might work for you.

ButterflyEffect  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Do we have all the same problems. I'm pretty sure we have all the same problems.

user-inactivated  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Know what's awesome? When your insurance says "your blood pressure is too high, get yourself on a statin so we can lower your rates" and two different doctors say "your blood pressure isn't even vaguely high enough to treat." It's almost as awesome as when they say "you're fat" and then you say "help me not be fat" and they say "you're not fat! Who called you fat? Why are you drinking half a gallon of creamer a day?"

My BMI is 40. My cholesterol is 140-160 with the LDL in the 80-90 range. My BP is in the 110/60 range. I routinely dead-lift 300+ pounds. I can do 20 pushups. I can trot on a treadmill for an hour. I should not be this healthy otherwise, according to two other doctors. Yet I feel like shit and can't figure out why. But I've dropped $5500 so far on MD's this year to tell me shit I already know. At least it is not cancer, heart disease or stroke related.

When you find out why you are not losing weight, share it with the rest of the class, please.

kleinbl00  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

This may seem ridiculous, but do you drink diet soda?

user-inactivated  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I drink about 2 pots of coffee a day, and a ton of diet soda. If I don't take in 2 gallons of fluids a day I seize up. And no, not diabetes. Insulin tests all come back normal.

thundara  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Echoing bl00, I went through an Arnold Palmer binge last year and the sugar-free aspartame version would always make me feel terribly bloated and all around shitty.

kleinbl00  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  
snoodog  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

So how about that follow up liver test?

kleinbl00  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Whelp, the three blood tests since have been drearily normal.

goobster  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Since my wife and I are not going to be having a baby, we won't be able to use your amazing table.

So I asked her if I could buy one, too. (I expect the answer will be NO.)

steve  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That table is bonkers. Well done.

kleinbl00  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Right? I figure it's likely to entertain toddlers better than an aquarium would.

steve  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

diff'rent strokes I s'pose.... but it would entertain me.

I cringe at the thought of some impatient Mike Teavea type banging on it to make it go faster or something.

kleinbl00  ·  2737 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Fortunately I'm opening a medical office rather than a Chuck E Cheese... experience has borne out the fact that toddlers are better-behaved in medical offices, and demographics have borne out that their parents are better-equipped to monetarily cover their shortfalls in behavior.

It's under glass. I've had to buy two pieces of glass for my coffee table already (the first time because it didn't have one, the second time because if you're going to tighten a high chair onto glass best make sure it's safety). A 3' diameter piece of safety glass is around $100.