I sympathize with you Ib. I come from a long line of antacid poppers. I had an endoscopy last year. It's a piece of cake, and they'll give you some good drugs there.

Awwwww Ibby, that sounds really unpleasant.

Hope you are feeling better soon.

The worst part of it is, mi madre won't let me stay home from school even though im just about dying. She says, I can either go to school or get checked into the hospital. Well, fuck that then.
But daaamn... it hurts.

Today is all about things going wrong.

Yesterday when I was at the gym I asked at Reception what time Water Workout was today. It's usually 13.00, but I thought I'd best check as it has an asterisk next to it saying Term Time Only and this is Half Term holidays. explained my reason for asking to the lady, she checked the computer and said, "No it's still on at 13.00."

So I turn up today at 12.50 only to find it starts at 12.30. The lady yesterday shouldn't have checked the system, but instead got the folder from the back of Reception and looked it up on the laminates. So today is now a rest day.

And I got a letter through from the Council. Three months after making my claim they advise me that I am entitled to Housing Benefit. Nothing about Council Tax Benefit but I can only assume another letter will follow regarding that. They will pay £180 a month towards my £230 rent. So I checked online to see if I could get any further help to make up the difference, and nothing made much sense. I called the dedicated claims line (freephone number) and the man I spoke to was very confused - I am getting Income Support at present, even though I claimed Incapacity Benefit (basically sick pay). He advised I called my local Job Centre. Which I did - they denied being able to help at all as it's an issue re payments and advised I call Job Centre Plus (in Belfast). Which I did. The man on that line told me the claim had been cleared. What? Oh apparently there's a note on my file to say it's been cleared (never did find out what cleared meant) but they can't proceed until Income Support has been reclaimed.

I asked - does this mean I was overpaid Income Support? Will I receive less on Incapacity Benefit? How much do I have to repay? He couldn't answer any of these questions, he could just read the notes out to me (re case cleared etc). He said as the most recent note on the file was on Friday they probably wouldn't be able to do anything for at least a week while it was being processed. So I asked was it worth calling Income Support? "I doubt they'll have looked at it yet but it can't hurt," said he. Hurt my phone bill actually.

So I left it with the agreement that I would wait a week and call Income Support to see if they can shed any light.

And I'm going to Art Therapy this afternoon and the idea scares me. Walking into a group full of strangers (with mental problems) and having to do things and make choices and be the new girl.

ETA - wouldn't you know it? I called the centre this morning re Art Therapy, just to check it was still going ahead today. The lady seemed surprised I'd asked and said she couldn't see any reason why not. I explained it was my first time and I'd been advised to call but she reiterated there was no reason it should not be going ahead. Fast forward to this afternoon - the tutor doesn't attend during school holidays. A member of the class is left the key to the store cupboard and the members get on with their projects. Not really a suitable session for a new starter.

Shoulda stayed in bed today.
Sorry, just venting.

About a month ago I was getting borderline migranes almost daily. Turns out, I was on a bacon binge (BLT's, then used leftover bacon to flavor several different meals that I ate as leftovers for awhile). Stopped the bacon, and wha-la, no more headaches.

Although it never bothered me before, it apparently now does. Sodium benzoate gives a good friend of mine migranes...and it's in a lot of places.

Something dietary perhaps? :2cents:

That's about standard for housing benefit SG. They work to what is referred to as 'fair rent assessment'. That means they have an idea of what they consider to be fair rent for any given area and property, trouble is the fair rent assessment doesn't actually match what is usually charged in an area: unless you are living in low rent accomodation, such as a housing assoc. (council) house. It's usually standard that if you are in the private sector you will end up paying about £5-£15 p/wk towards your rent. They also take account of room numbers. So if for instance you put down that you use the living room, the kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom, they may say that you are only really entitled to the cost of studio/bedsit type accomodation and dock your benefit accordingly (e.g dock £5 for the separate, therefore, extra room).

That's how it used to work, I think it still does work like that. When I was on housing benefit for my house, i was paying £110 per month towards.

the winey babys around here who have it made in houston and snotty richies

Login websites should really have a "Forgot Your Username And Password.

I'm nowhere near Houston and I'm definitely not rich.

Actually, being far from Houston doesn't upset me.

Sucked losing a job today though. That's gonna leave a mark.

Ouch. Sorry V...

Was it a job you liked?

losing A job or YOUR job, V?

Good point.

Yes.

And the money was good. And I was good at it. But I blew it. There has been considerable destruction in my life recently and this is just another sad casualty. I have only myself to blame.

Sorry, second job. Moonlighting.

Considerably more than beer money. More like tuition money. Hey. I was lookin for a job when I found that one, right? Time to beat the pavement again.

That blows. chunks.

edit: oh, you dick....i thought you lost your JOB.

Sorry you lost your job V. That really sucks. I"m pretty sure you'll pick something else up pretty quickly if you set your mind to it though.

Sorry, didn't mean to misrepresent my situation. I clarified asap.

I'll tell you what's making me unhappy today.

We got a new kitten yesterday and it came complete with fleas. Nasty little suckers they are. I've treated her, but I'm going to have to do the other cats too I think. They've jumped off her and onto everyone else.

damn, sorry V.

Maybe you know already, but here is an effective way to remove fleas from carpet:
Take a wide, flat plate and place it in the center of the room. Put a broad (so it can't fall over) candle in the middle of the plate. Put about 1 centimeter of water in the plate, with detergent to break the surface tension. At night time, light the candle and leave the room. Repeat each night until no more fleas are caught.
The fleas will be attracted to the warmth and hop towards it, thus landing in the plate and drowning. It works, I have done this. It is chemical free but be sure to set it up carefully so it isn't a fire hazard.

I feel constantly sick to my stomach. Two weeks atleast now of this constant sickly feeling of tension. Didn't get to sleep til gone 5am, woke up at 7am felt shit decided not to go into today's lecture on the anglo-norman state. Also cancelled my dentists appointment.

Big meeting tomorrow. I have the next few hours to decide whether or not i'm going to set off a bomb in my branch (metaphorically speaking of course :P). Trouble with setting off bombs, is it's impossible to know the extent of the damage...or the direction of the flak.

I'm probably gonna go for it. I am more nervous than I have ever been about anything else my whole life.

Sorry V, hope the pavement beating works out.

Yeah BigV. So, I'm confused, is it your second job you lost? As opposed to your main job?

Either way it sucks. Getting the sack is never fun. I know it from bitter experience. Even worse if you know it's your own fault :( Hope you feel better about things soon. From some of the stuff you've been posting, it's clear you've been having a seriously tough time just lately. Just remember your Cellar mates are always here.

Hey Ali, I know it's not pc to reach for the chemicals...but I always find Fleabombs are very effective. Cheap and fast.

Candles OR fleabombs ... but for &%$#'s sake not both.... kaboooooooom. No more fleas...

OMG I was just reading this thread and a big ass ROACH crawled across my keyboard. Fuck. Now I'm all creeped out. They are bad here in the building, but JHC.

**pausing**

Sorry to hear about the job, V. Dana, take it easy or your gonna end up with more than just and aggrivated case of eczema!

Not sure if this is "upsetting" or making me "happy". The Japanese restaurant that we ate at a couple of weeks ago - was closed yesterday. Evidently for a few days. Looks like they are fumigating/painting and looking for a new cook. The thing is, the day we ate there, seemed to be ok. Except for the fact that we were sitting there, had just received our food and started eating. I happened to look over to my right, beside my plate and noticed a ROACH crawling on the table:eek: Slammed my napkin down on top of it and just sat there for a sec. Yeah, wasn't that hungry. Wondering if I'm not the only one who had an extra guest.

Good luck V - you didn't need that on top of everything else. Hope something comes up soon.

Go for it Dan - you have the guts for it and it's better to stop him now - he's already hurt enough women and damaged the Party. I will admit I wouldn't do t myself, I'm too much of a coward, but I have faith in you.

You ignorant philistine! That was your dessert! And furthermore, it is a sign that the chef honours you and respects your footwear. Have you no idea about sashimi at all??? :p

don't be hatin' - if i'm gonna have dessert, I atleast want it to "not move".;)

Well fortunately for us, we don't have carpets. Just a big mat in the lounge area of the house. Other than that it's timber, so not a great environment for fleas to live in. I suspect they mostly will choose to live on the cat(s) who have now all been treated with a blob of stuff on the back of the neck. I noticed one flea which jumped off the cat onto me last night was moving very slowly, so I think it's working. I've had no bites yet this morning.

I hate fleas. They're still bothering me now, although mostly the bites on my ankles and feet rather than the ones on the cat. She seems to have stopped scratching. Lucky her!

BTW Zen, although the candle trick sounds pretty cool, I have to wonder if this little trick has ever led to a house burning down. I don't think I'd feel comfortable leaving a candle burning while I'm asleep.

Maybe you could use an LED light instead.

I wish my mom would get off my damn back about my damn TV volume. I always try to keep the level down off enough as not to bother them, but...well...and most TVs now-a-days don't have a front panel earphone jack.

I'm always telling my kids to turn the tv down. I find it really annoying to hear someone else's second hand tv noise.

:rolleyes: I doubt your kids try to be as discreet as me.

What are their ages?

10 and 11...and believe me, they try to be discreet. lol I'm the sort of person that sleeps with ear plugs in because I like the silence...unless I'm in the country. Then I sleep just fine without earplugs.

Well, my folks' bedroom is about 20 feet from my room, so nights really aren't the problem.

OH well...maybe it's just your mum then. Or maybe she likes peace and quiet during the day so she can think her own thoughts without interruption?

I guess she must kinda feel like the weight of the world is on her shoulders sometimes huh?

Actually, I think it's mostly my step-dad who complains. His study is right next to my room, and the sounds travel thru my wall into his study, even with my door shut. It's not a problem on weekdays since they're @ work, just in the evening if he has to do something in his study. He tells her, and she tells me.

Of course, sometimes my mom hears it up in our kitchen.

Anyway, I did a little TV volume experiment earlier. I set the volume @ my normal listening level, went out of my room, closed the door, and went into the study, and yes I heard it. Not sure what to do there. 'Course, my step-dad could turn his TV up, and shut his door. Then, I went toward the kitchen, and my TV got harder to hear.

I don't know what to do, but stop watching TV...not an option.

I suppose. I certainly don't wanna piss her off, but I gotta try to bring a sliver of happiness to my mediocre life too.

even sicker today.

nnnnghhhh

Why doesn't yer ma just take you to a doctor (not necessarily a hospital)?

Have you been for your endoscopy yet Ib?

Thanatos...what about putting carpet on the walls of your room? That would insulate it a bit, and of course you could still pin things to the wall.

Can't afford it.

bugger. I guess you could always keep your eyes open for some cheap end of line stuff though. sometimes you can get a pretty good deal that way. Particularly if you're not incredibly fussy.

Thanatos, have you got a tv card in your computer? Maybe watch tv online when your stepdad's about, that way you can use headphones ?

@ Ibby, aww honey, that sucks. When's your endoscopy?

well it was SUPPOSED to be yesterday but i was running a fever of 101... so the anesthesiologist wouldnt do it. its rescheduled for friday now.
I'm actually feeling a little better this evening, after getting a little bit of food in me.

Hope you feel better soon Ibby, fevers and the like arent fun.

Glad you're feeling a bit better. Here's hoping you have your procedure on Friday instead.

Than, what aboout those amplyfying headphone stes they advertise? So you can overhear other people's conversations and shit? Or are there wireless headphoners these days? Can you have the TV moved further away from your stepdad's study wall?

Couldn't you ask your mom if she would pay for some better insulation on that wall? Take her with you and repeat the experiment you did.

Ibby, ouch :(

True, but if you use a short wide candle that cannot fall over ( a tea-light on a stand will do), in the middle of a dish of water wider than the height of the candle, in a non-flammable plate, in the middle of the room ... it's gonna take some McGyver-like magic to start a fire. Also, you can use it in the evening before you go to bed.

As for the LED idea, I don't think it is the light so much as the warmth that attracts the fleas, so the trick might be to get a pen-torch with an incandescent bulb and a removable head, and stand that in the dish. Voila!

Thanatos
If carpet is too expensive, there are plenty of cheap and tacky options you could consider lining the wall with:
old mattresses (as used by garage bands around the world)
bubble-wrap
egg cartons (absorb sound wonderfully - often used in kindergartens)
corrugated cardboard (cut up old fridge boxes)
foam rubber (probably the most effective from this list)
priceless medieval tapestries
old blankets
cork board (as used in pin-boards)
pictures of naked women (so when your step dad comes in to complain, he gets distracted)

The problem with most of these is that you'll need some way of keeping them attached, and I don't know if you're folks would be too keen on having old blankets nailed to the wall. Also many of these could be a fire hazard. And they're likely to be ugly, although a stylish blanket could be passed off as a wall hanging.

High tech solution: get you step-dad some anti-noise headphones. When they detect a sound wave, the speakers produce an opposite wave (as in, the same wavelength but 180 degrees out of phase) which cancels out the original wave. I have a friend who has headphones that do this, I think such speakers are available. Put them in your S-dad's study.

Hey Dana! Isn't today the big day?!? What is up?!?
:D

*grins* oh yeah. Today was the big day. I just attended the most difficult meeting I've ever been to. It was absolutely awful. The secretary was unable to attend.....which left me (acting secretary) taking the minutes. When the chair read out my letter, sent to the secretary in accordance with the rules (rule 6b, in case you're interested :P) all hell broke loose. The vice-chair, the treasurer and the vice-chair's wife left the meeting half way through, with the vice-chair pausing at the door to issue a declaration of war. From now on, he says, every officer post will be contested, and there will be votes of no confidence in the chair at every clp meeting. People made threats and accusations and it was very heated. My people turned up, they voted the right way and the motion has been referred to the general committee.....now i just have to make sure none of my people cry off on Friday (general committee meeting) when the vote for whether to set up an investigating panel takes place.

For the next few months we have all out war

Get well soon, Ibbie. You're a nicer kid than you know.

Aw UG, you big lummox... that's not true.



...It'd be pretty hard to have a higher opinion of me than i have of myself.

Oh yes it is. Some of us actually care, even if we've never met. you need treatment dude.