Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!
OMG, why are grocery stores so annoying?! I’ve thought this for a while and at the store today (Saturday, Jan 30) decided it would make a good peeve. The carts are annoying because they don’t work properly, probably because of the anti-theft wheels. Since people are too mushy to imprison shopping cart thieves, I HAVE TO SUFFER. Unless you have a bad back, you won’t understand how struggling with a cart causes massive pain ~ it is not a mere inconvenience to coax the stupid thing another 50 feet. Cart-shamers can eff right off. I sometimes put my cart away; other times I just leave it between spaces. People are paid to retrieve them, so pffft.
But that’s not actually what I came here to crab about. Today I’m more irritated with product placement inside the grocery stores themselves. Forex, I was searching for golden raisins (for my famous red cabbage recipe) and saw an aisle labeled “Dried Fruit,” so of course I ASSUMED raisins would be there. NOPE. Well then, how about near the applesauce and canned pears and stuff? NO, NOT THERE. Where then?
Oh. They’re in the “Natural Food” section across from fresh veggies. Ugh. I also needed apple cider vinegar and silly me thought it might be near oil because oil & vinegar, amirite? WRONG! It’s next to the salad dressing. Don’t even get me started about Kosher salt and caraway seeds, neither of which I could find at all. I almost bought Himalayan salt because IT WAS PINK, but then I saw it was like six bucks for a little bottle and put it back due to failing to win the lottery.
I could have made this into two peeves, but it’s not like I have a hard time coming up with new things to complain about every week!
UPDATE: I’ve been to Target since I ranted and guess where they put coffee? By the tea, right? WRONG! It’s next to booze. 🙄
Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!
WTF is going on with recipes? I vaguely remembered a delicious red cabbage & apple side dish I made back as a Mad Housewife, and since we have a red cabbage here that needs to be used, I tried to find the recipe. Must have tossed that cookbook. So I googled for red cabbage+apple+onion+raisins (the main ingredients) and got a zillion hits. Most recipes go like this: “In the beginning, there was nothing. Then God sprinkled some sea salt and it was good. [87 paragraphs later] My grandma walked 5 miles in the snow with a bag of apples… [342 paragraphs later] Here are the ingredients you will need for the braised cabbage…”
Eff me sideways, amirite? Why do we need to start back at the Big Bang to make a danged veggie dish? I hate to think what would happen if I googled chicken & dumplings, which in fact I had a dream about last night (writing this on Saturday afternoon). I don’t want to read about how the cabbage is good with snausages either! JUST.TELL.ME.HOW.TO.MAKE.THE.FOOD!!!!!
Beyond that, the recipes are all so foofy, when I finally get to them. Kosher salt, star anise, caraway seeds, gah! That’s not how I remember the simple cabbage dish I made 20 years ago. In any case, I found a reasonable recipe on Serious Eats, though I am not putting garlic in my braised cabbage tonight. Love garlic, when appropriate, but this is a sweet & sour side dish, not a freaking lasagna.
Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!
I normally don’t peeve about politics, cuz there is too much political jabbering everywhere, but today is an exception. This is a very specific peeve about Biden haters on the left. So, if you are politically on the right, this peeve does not apply to you. I’m talking about people left of center who never liked Biden in the first place but are now bitching and moaning that he hasn’t accomplished a series of miracles in the FIVE DAYS he’s been POTUS. FFS! We had 4 years of horrible, self-serving, incompetent leadership, yet Biden is supposed to fix every single thing that’s wrong in less than a week? End all the wars, eliminate COVID, clean up the environment, give everyone healthcare, solve the immigration mess, on and on. FIVE DAYS! Chill the eff out.
That’s all. I’ll be back with a trivial peeve next week.
Idk what the hell happened, but I had to delete my Song Lyric Sunday post just now, plus about a dozen past SLS posts. Somehow, I messed up my reusable block when I created next Sunday’s SLS post tonight and it affected many posts. WP wouldn’t let me edit today’s SLS post, remove the block, save new text… NOTHING. But next week’s scheduled post previews correctly, which makes no sense. I didn’t hate the blocks at first, but now I’m fully on the block-hate bandwagon. I also hate that everything about WP now is geared to marketing and money-making rather than writing. I wonder how long actual bloggers will stay here given what a pain in the butt blogging is. BTW, I hate blogger too.
I just paid the $48 to renew WP, lol. Figures as soon as I do, I end up in a rage at the whole site. Even more annoying, I already wrote my Monday peeve and don’t want to substitute this for it, but I need to rant now, so I can’t make this next Monday’s peeve. ARGH!
Speaking of Sunday night rants, let’s talk about Medium, which I b*tched about last week. I took the advice offered by several peeps, cancelled my subscription, and faded away. I have 47 posts there and will probably make another $5.00 (same as last month). As soon as I quit “clapping” (liking) other writers’ articles, my claps disappeared, proving that it’s just a bunch of BS, unless you’re one of the very few big fish who gobbles up a huge share of the pot. Even though a subscription is only $5/month, I don’t want to contribute that to the top writers who write about making money on Medium. Geez, what a racket. It wasn’t about making money for me though ~ it was about being read and just having my words OUT THERE in another venue. But since I didn’t perceive the place to be a community of people who CARED what I wrote, I switched to thinking okay maybe I can make some money. Nope. Bleh.
Anyway, thanks to all who responded last week ~ it was helpful. I’m just TIRED of doing things that aren’t fun and don’t generate results. I mean, I WORK a real job full-time, plus more, so I don’t need hobbies that cause me stress. That’s why I quit writing poetry on Twitter a while back and it’s why I’m not interested in writing another novel or poetry compilation to plop on KDP. As I asked last week, what is the effing point?
This is going to be a super-long post, so it won’t hurt my feelings if you pass it by, though IMNSHO there is a lot of good content here. If you simply drop a like without reading it, your loss.
Do you think [TOS violator] should be allowed back on social media now that he’s no longer in office?
I hope Fandango forgives me for slightly editing his question to remove the specific name. My view is that people should be held to the terms they agreed to when they signed up for a service. This means all people, no exceptions.
Let’s use WordPress for our first example, since most of my readers are using this service. Have you read the TOS? There are a lot of terms there… having to do with signing up, payments, disclaimers of WP liability for anything, using the site for e-commerce, more gobble about money, and some conditions having to do with users’ behavior. Here are some examples:
Will comply with all applicable laws and regulations (including, without limitation, all applicable laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content, privacy, data protection, the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside, the use or provision of financial services, notification and consumer protection, unfair competition, and false advertising);
Will not be for any unlawful purposes, to publish illegal content, or in furtherance of illegal activities;
Will not disclose the personal information of others;
Will not be used to send spam or bulk unsolicited messages; […]
You must obey the laws about online conduct and acceptable conduct. What are those? Here’s a look…
Okay, what about, say… Twitter? Anything goes there, right? Um nope. Contrary to what Twitter looks like, they actually have rules. Which they enforce arbitrarily, unfortunately. These sites making gobs of money (FB, Twitter, etc.) should, in my opinion, be forced to hire as many people as necessary to enforce their own TOS. If they can’t/don’t/won’t, they should be taken offline. There is no excuse! If there are too many messages to monitor, fix it so there aren’t. They can and should. No one needs to tweet 500 times per day if the site can’t handle monitoring their content.
Here are some rules from the Twitter TOS:
Violence: You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people. We also prohibit the glorification of violence. Learn more about our violent threat and glorification of violence policies.
Abuse/harassment: You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. This includes wishing or hoping that someone experiences physical harm. Learn more.
Hateful conduct: You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. Learn more.
Civic Integrity: You may not use Twitter’s services for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes. This includes posting or sharing content that may suppress participation or mislead people about when, where, or how to participate in a civic process. Learn more.
Impersonation: You may not impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations in a manner that is intended to or does mislead, confuse, or deceive others. Learn more.
Isn’t that interesting? You wouldn’t think, from visiting Twitter, that they had any rules at all! But apparently there are so many tweets that they can’t handle monitoring them for adherence to their own rules. They rely on other users reporting violations. Regardless, violators should be restricted, even if they can’t all be found (which they could, if these sites put money into enforcing their own rules).
It’s not only the twice-impeached former POTUS who constantly violates the Twitter rules ~ violations are all over the place there, perpetuated by peeps of all political persuasions. They are simply sliding under the radar. Forex, it’s become a sport online to mock officials for having “dementia,” which is a clear violation of the Twitter TOS, whoever is doing it. Dementia is a serious disease, incapacitating millions of people, and it’s heartbreaking besides. It’s not funny to accuse people of having it because they lie, misspeak, stutter, etc. But folks on the right and the left use this form of harassment as mockery of those they dislike.
Many of us are on Facebook, which also has rules, not that they are great at enforcing them. God forbid hiring more monitors would put a dent in the bottom line there. Here are a few FB rules that are routinely ignored:
Use the same name that you use in everyday life.
Provide accurate information about yourself.
Create only one account (your own) and use your timeline for personal purposes.
We believe that all people are equal in dignity and rights. We expect that people will respect the dignity of others and not harass or degrade others. [found in Community Standards]
I stand by my unpopular opinion that there needs to be a huge change in the structure of social media ~ and that is to create a new global rule of one account per person signed up with their real, legal name, verified with a credit card. You don’t have to use your real name as your handle, but you get ONE handle, to be used across all social media. There needs to be an end to this detachment of words from consequences when you want to “troll” and harass others. That’s the thing about social media ~ people want to be separated from the consequences of their behavior. Unlike other areas of life, we aren’t required to accept any responsibility for our words, words that are casually tossed out to mock, harass, demean, etc. others online.
Of course, I have strayed from the question. That’s because it’s too simple for me to say, “Ugh, hate him ban him!” The twice-impeached former POTUS has violated the TOS egregiously and repeatedly, so suspending his account was the right thing to do, but more than that… everyone should be required to abide by the TOS they signed up for. Everyone.
I’m super bummed out again. I don’t know why I thought Medium would be a good place for my writing ~ not only am I never going to make money there (beyond pocket change), but there’s almost no camaraderie. There can’t be when you need to read as much as possible, react briefly, and move on… hoping others see you and add you to their following list. I’ll never get as many hits as a tech writer or someone who goes on (and on) about politics or making money or whatever the hell people can’t resist clicking. Barely anyone cares about poetry or fiction or personal essays. It makes me so annoyed I refuse to click on the “trending” articles ~ why is the Medium algorithm helping the popular writers, those who jabber on about tech and money, instead of assisting others in becoming visible? Welp, I’m thinking of canceling my membership ~ why should my $5/month help support someone writing about writing for money instead of engaging in ACTUAL WRITING? Eff that!
And it’s not just me. I see great writing there, really excellent poetry, funny rants, solid flash stories… all with minimal recognition from other readers because the site pushes articles about bitcoin, Trump, or having a colonoscopy (the first three trending stories in my feed today). It’s super discouraging. 😢
I know we’ve talked a lot about the “hit & run” in Blogland, but the difference is that here I feel like I “know” some people and have valuable interactions with them… Sadje, Fandango, Angie, Melanie, Rory, Di, Barbara, Jim, Ashley, et al, plus the people I knew already from other venues, such as Keera, Roy, and AD. There are more in both groups, so please don’t be upset if I didn’t mention you ~ those are some of the people I saw in my latest notifs. Point is, interacting with these folks makes the “hit & run” bloggers tolerable. I understand that the majority of likes here are from bloggers who don’t know me, won’t ever care about my writing or buy one of my books, and only pay attention to me (for the nanosecond they do) in hopes I’ll follow them down a link-strewn path to some garbage video where I’ll be assaulted with ads. However! The small community of kind and fun folks who continually interact make WP a happy place to hang out.
I have spent so much time writing online for the past 20+ years. Usenet, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, yada, and now Medium. Not to mention that I’ve written actual books! And… nothing. Minimal book sales. Scant interaction on the other sites. Why do I keep wasting my time? I just don’t even know. I really don’t. Maybe I’m just not good enough or funny enough or poetic enough. I AM NOT FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS. Please don’t. It’s actually worse for people to keep saying they like my writing (I know you mean well, so thank you) when the evidence is in that I can’t make it as a fiction or poetry writer, not even as a small side hustle. I do earn money via business writing, but I’m not talking about that now. I’m talking about the writing I love to do. Fiction and poetry. 💖
If I’m only writing for the love of writing, then I’ll do it here on my blog exclusively where I’ve enjoyed writing and interacting all along and where there’s no money to be made in the first place, so I don’t have to obsess over the lack of it flowing my way. It’s not like I’ve neglected my blog or anything, but I’ve spent almost all my other free time the last couple months on Medium, and it’s just depressing to me now. I can’t help but see the parallels to dating. It took me many years to acknowledge that I hate dating sites, dislike meeting new men who are going to judge me as a romantic prospect, and don’t even want a relationship at all under these crummy conditions. Since I’ve quit trying, that area of my life is calm and peaceful because I’ve filled it with more family time, friends, reading, movies, and painting. Why shouldn’t I do the same with the writing venues that are causing me distress? (I’m not dumping Twitter because it’s a good source for info, but I haven’t written poetry there lately.) That includes putting out more books for Amazon Kindle, where they’ll just sit on a virtual shelf growing mold like old banana bread no one wants.
Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!
Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and all that, but ya know… there’s always something to complain about regarding the holidays, amirite? This is a general peeve, but it becomes especially excruciating around this time of year and especially THIS YEAR, during a time of heightened stress and loneliness due to restrictions on our socializing. I’m talking about the relentlessly cheerful folks (or those who pretend to be), who refuse to acknowledge anything negative or sad or about the holidays and INSIST that you find something to be grateful for. Hey, just back the eff off! There are people who are struggling to get through each hour of the day and they don’t need someone chirping at them to “look at the bright side.” I mean, UGH!
I can’t speak for those who get severely depressed in the winter (or whenever), but I do know that my mood sinks when the days get short and dark and cold… even in Southern California. Each year, I slog through the best I can until there is more warmth and light. It doesn’t help me one bit if someone starts preaching that I should be thankful for whatever thing. Geez, I know I “should,” but some days are really difficult, and if you can’t be sympathetic then maybe say nothing. It’s best to keep mum if you’re only going to make things worse.
I suspect that a lot of these preachy types have sad thoughts too, but they refuse to acknowledge that. Instead, they fake happiness and insist everyone else follow suit. BLAH!
Hey readers, I am here for you if you feel like crap. Your feelings are valid. Holidays can be hard.
Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!
Wow, only a couple more peeves until 2021… and then a whole new year of peevery shall commence. Pretty exciting, no? Okay, so let’s get on with it. Today’s peeve is about things I like… and then they disappear or change form. Not talking about dating, but stuff in the grocery store. It’s so annoying! Years ago I discovered muffaletta (delicious chopped olive mix) and fell in lurve. Over time, it became harder to find until it ghosted altogether. Suddenly, there was olive tapenade everywhere, but that is not the same! Those olives are like pulverized. Muffaletta has pieces of olives; it’s not pureed into mush. The other month I found some and was in heaven… and now it’s gone again. WAAAH! I see it’s available online, but for insane prices. I just want the normal muffaletta for a reasonable price. 😦 This has happened with other foods I love, such as Oreo ice cream. When it first came out, it had luscious cookie pieces in it ~ so large you could taste the middle! But now? It’s all pulverized into nothingness. Meh!
Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!
So, on Saturday I decided I wanted to light Chanukah candles, even though I hadn’t lit any Thursday night or Friday night (Chanukah began Thursday night). I had seen some candles at Target last week, but I figured eh I’ll get them in the grocery store. NOPE. They had taken the Chanukah display away even though the holiday is still going on. Fine. I returned to Target… but they had also removed all their Chanukah stuff. GRR! I thought of checking Hallmark, but a lot of them have closed. I googled for an open one, went over there… and they had no candles. WTF? It’s not like you can stick any old candles in a menorah either (like say birthday cake ones) because they’re a special size. Then I figured I’d just google the candles themselves and see what happens. Google said Target had some. NO THEY DON’T. Then they said Wal-Mart had some, but when I checked the actual site, Wal-Mart said they were out of stock. Then Google said hey what about Michael’s? I’m like fine okay take me to the Michael’s. I get over there (note there is a Panera restaurant in the Sunflower/Bristol center), go in, and then Google changes its mind and says Michael’s is out of stock too! Omg so annoyed, but I figured okay I’m in a Michael’s so might as well look around at all the fun crafty supplies.
And then I found the candles. 🕎
Some peeves have happy endings. Btw, thanks to all who suggested cannibalizing a hand soap dispenser pump from a name brand that works and sticking it into one of those off-brand foofoo soap bottles whose pumps break down after a few washings. LUV MY SMART READERS! And the rest of ya too. It’s the season! 💖
Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!
And here we are again in a world gone mad. I find it helps to focus on the little things, like soap. Actually, maybe soap is not so trivial when we’re washing our hands 857 times a day. Right? So, I’m all for helping out small biz and non-name brands, but wtf is it with hand soap dispensers that the minute you stray from the meganormous corporations, you get crappy dispensers that don’t work? It drives me nuts! Softsoap (owned by Colgate-Palmolive), Dove (Unilever), and Dial have no issues. You buy the bottles, you twist open the cap whatsit, and they’re good to go until the last sud ~ hey, why can’t I have one sud? Why is it always suds? Annoy! Anyway. When I try off-brands like Meyer’s or Trader Joe’s or whatever, the cap whatsit either fails immediately or soon after opening. Right now, in my bathroom, I have an almost full bottle of Meyer’s with the cap mechanism lying off to the side because it quit working. Now, I’ll end up wasting soap because I pour a blob into my hand, which is always too much. Also, Trader Joe’s shampoos are annoying in similar ways ~ the bottles are made of some material that’s hard to squeeze and the conditioner is too thick to get out of the container without massive pounding. This all hurts my poor hands.
