SD, from what I know of you, you're a rather non-confrontational sort. Is what you're feeling sort of a situation where you're not getting much attention because the "squeaky wheel gets the grease", and you don't tend to squeak much?

If that's the case, then maybe even if you begin squeaking, it may take some time for people to understand that it's something they should respond to.

Oh, and - that's the case even in this thread, it would appear.

It seems to me that anyone not addressing SD and going off-topic in this thread is an ass.

Even if they are the only three "real" ones, three in such a short space is a lot, at least by recent standards. And you yourself haven't been around *THAT* long!! :)

For the record, I don't mind topic drift.

Thanks for all the good advice. UT, you might have something there. We'll see what happens. Part of the problem at home is that my wife has a lot of commitments at the moment, leaving me with the childcare and household maintenance bag. And it's only going to get worse in the next week. (See the Shameless Plugs thread.) (This is generally the cue for all the mothers in the audience to start rolling their eyes and muttering about how men whine if they have to do a little housework, while women get to do it constantly. Be my guest.) But that will all end in a week. (The "outside" stuff will be over, and she's quitting her day job.) So I'm not inclined to push it till then.

Some "Steve Time" is a good suggestion. Except for one orchestra concert last Friday, I haven't been anywhere except taking the kids to swimming lessons in months--partly due to my schedule, partly due to my own pesonality tendencies. Maybe I can find something interesting to do this weekend.

Oh, and being a little squeakier at work.... hmmm...... well I applied for a job this morning. That ought to do it :D !! By coincidence I have been at my job now the SAME amount of time I was at my last job when I left it. Anyway I'm gonna tell my boss about it if they interview me, which I expect they will. (It's a good fit for me, and the date on the posting is 3 months old, which means they're probably desperate to interview any competent-looking candidate unless they just have a slack webmaster who hasn't taken the ad down yet.) It may cause some consternation. (I have too good a relationship with him to let him find out about it when I give my notice, if it comes to that.)

Are you leaving this job for the same reason you left the last one, Steve?

yeah, but it seems like an eternity. most of the active people on this loop seem very farmiliar to me. the overall sense of humor is so similar to mine and my wife's and her family, that i feel right at home. there is a very strong sense of cohesion here that im sure you all appreciate. like one big happy twisted and disfunctional family.

someone care to define the familial roles with the people who represent them?

Dave would be the acidic older brother that always dumps on you, i gather. any other thoughts?

Ummm well I haven't really decided to leave. But, yeah, sort of.

I feel your pain. Pete is heading for Jacksonville for a little "on-site integration" this week so I've gotta sac up and do all the Mom stuff I've eased onto her plate over the years. cluster foxtrot

i know how you feel!! I almost fainted one day right after a bitchy old lady asked me a sixth stupid request, I felt the blood all rush straight to my head and I felt hot and my heart was racing..One day, so many bad things happened to me, there isn't enough room here to go through them all. The last straw was a cook in the kitchen giving me serious attitude all day. on his last comment, i threw my notepad on the ground and just started crying. I couldn't even stop. My boss had to wait on my tables. I cried for 15 straight minutes, and I am not that type of person!! I am not whiny, I really felt the urge to break things or punch that guy or scream really loud, or shoot everybody in the building, or run out the front door and keep running for 5 or 6 miles... and that feeling of helplessness that you get, when you know you can't do that, you can't release that tension, well, it just made me break down into tears. do not wait tables for a living.

Oops, wrong character there for a minute.

Not on topic at all but FNF did mention it. Does (did) anyone play Duke Nukem - Time to kill?

That is why everybody should be a server for at least 6 months of their lives staceyv. ]

Stacey, if a customer is particularly nice to you does it make a real difference or is it just a break between assholes?

Yep. The only game in the Duke Universe I haven't played is Manhattan Project. (I have TTK and LOB for PSone)

The format on MP is different. They took the classic DN game, and totally Fed it up. I ended up giving my copy away after just a few hours of play. Very sad.

To go WAAAAAAY back to the original question (SD's frustrating feeling of ineffectualness) ...

If the feeling comes and goes, it's not that bad a thing ... self-doubt is pretty common. It's part of our usual reality checks. When it stops by for a brief visit and ends up staying forever, like the wife's worthless nephew who doesn't contribute to the household ... then you gotta do something.

Talking it over with someone (us to start, a pro if you need it) is where you start.

If this does start interfering with your ability to accomplish things, then you have to be more proactive about it, and possibly even look at medication if you're not on it, or adjusting what you take if you are (this includes medical meds, incidentally, which can have psych side effects that make you think yer goin' crazy but yer not).

Taking a perfectly good first person shooter and turning it into a third person shooter can indeed screw it up. Well, there's always Wolfenstein.