Purgatory's Pit of Doom

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Teriann

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I have to use the word "God" to express the following thought (which might be too optimistic for the Pit) but here goes:

I believe God gave me a family of boys on purpose. I would not have enlarged my sympathies with girls.

I was always a girl's girl -- my friends were girls, I was closer to the female authority figures in my family (and actively disliked them men!), I was never the type to have guy friends.

A few vacations the past few years have been with my aging uncle (who I never understood) my husband, my stepson, and my son.

I just had to get used to fart jokes, the way they throw each other around, footprints on the walls, stitches in chins, frogs in the pockets, and all the rest. I learned not give give subtle hints because they go unnoticed. (I know there are girls like this too. One of the girls on my son's little league team is the fiercest player of all, but my friends were always girly.)

Also, I get it now. (Sorry Steve!! Really, I believe the male of the species is a simpler creature in many ways.) If I would have known my son and stepson before I started dating, it would have all been a lot easier.
 
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kellion92

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Ha, Steve! My husband and his brother were 10 months apart and they used to beat the crap out of each other. My sisters and I fought quite a bit, but I'm a nonviolent person at heart (and I got the wrong end of most of those fights) so I'm raising my girls with a zero tolerance for hitting each other. They are both gentle creatures and I hope to keep them that way.
 

Teriann

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One more thing, a statistic.

Boys are much more likely to call you from jail.
 

Teriann

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On a different subject. Are you all following the Amazon v. Trade Publisher slugfest?

Fascinating. Pass the popcorn.

Amazon released a letter to its stockholders the day after the lawsuit was settled (I am link challenged or I'd figure out how to link it) saying, among other things, "Even well meaning gatekeepers hinder innovation." (Take that, editors!)

Now they just made available a grant of 20 million dollars to authors willing to make their audiobooks available for sale. (Each author gets a dollar bonus for each audiobook sold)
 

Snappy

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Morning Pitizens.

Crappy long weekend of trying to convince my grandmother to move out of her huge bedroom home and in with my aunt. Basically, my grandmother's health has gotten to the point where it is not a good idea for her to live alone. But, this is the house she's lived in for over 50 years. *Sigh*

Loving all the boy stories though. Makes me laugh. I grew up with all boys, my friends were mostly boys, and I'm the only female cousin in my large family of cousins save for one other. Luckily, I'm also the oldest cousin, so most of the younger ones listened fairly well to me.
 

ink wench

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(((Snappy)))

My brother and I are five years apart, so we got along well (usually) growing up. We could fight viciously though, and since he was the baby, I was always the one who'd get in trouble. As in: InkBro starts punching Ink in the face. Ink tries to deflect. InkMom yells at Ink to stop beating up her brother. *sigh*

There's probably a reason why my MCs are always the oldest sibling in the family.
 

SteveCordero

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{{{Snappy}}}

Also, I get it now. (Sorry Steve!! Really, I believe the male of the species is a simpler creature in many ways.) If I would have known my son and stepson before I started dating, it would have all been a lot easier.

Men are definitely the simpler gender. Women are the improved model. The Creation story is a fable, but it does seem like God created man and then decided to make a completely ugraded version and made woman. The female human is the perfect biological machine.

The size disparity always fascinates me. You gals are a fraction of my size (you saw Snappy's photo, lol), but all your organs and systems work the same as mine and you have an extra organ that provides for the perpetuation of the species. Amazing.
 

lotus7

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Morning Pitizens,

I'm returning to the pit after a long absence and catching up.

{{{Snappy}}}

I've had a few chuckles reading about all the boy discussions (I need the chuckles as I'm unfortunately also having a pretty crappy Monday).

I've kind of being balanced in my life as far as who I've hung out with and been close to, but I think I usually did gravitate towards guys - which is not to say that I want to smack hubby and his friend when they get together and start in with the fart jokes.
 

Teriann

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{{{Snappy}}}



Men are definitely the simpler gender.

Well, you know, Chaucer's "Wife of Bath" is all about the question, "What does a woman want?" Freud said he'd never been able to answer that question after years of studying women.

Ever notice that nobody seems to ask -- and nobody seems to have trouble figuring out -- "What does a man want?" :)

About the roughhousing: Kell, with my boy it would be pretty impossible to stop. My son had a friend over yesterday. They've known each other since they were babies. Within moments of greeting each other, they rolling on the floor together. They play like bear cubs.

There's no aggression though. It's all play. (At the children's service at our synogogue, when we get to the part where we pray for peace, our rabbi stops and explains, "Peace means no biting, no pushing, no hitting . . ."


ETA: One more thing about Amazon. PM has articles this morning about how "even" the New York Times doesn't understand why the Justice Department went against little plankton publishers instead of the whale Amazon. Gee whiz. I could have figured out the NYT would side with the publishers. And the reason Justice went after the publishers and not Amazon is because the publisher's behaved illegally. You might not like the whale, but it's not illegal to be one.
 
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lotus7

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{{{Snappy}}}



Men are definitely the simpler gender. Women are the improved model. The Creation story is a fable, but it does seem like God created man and then decided to make a completely ugraded version and made woman. The female human is the perfect biological machine.

The size disparity always fascinates me. You gals are a fraction of my size (you saw Snappy's photo, lol), but all your organs and systems work the same as mine and you have an extra organ that provides for the perpetuation of the species. Amazing.

Love a man who admits to this simple truth :D
 

lotus7

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It's unbelievable how subjective publishing is. It's so hard to figure out sometimes what works and what doesn't because it almost seems like there's no rules. Can be so frustrating, especially when there's no feedback or the feedback itself is confusing.
 

lkp

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Also, I get it now... If I would have known my son and stepson before I started dating, it would have all been a lot easier.

I could have written this myself (except the step-son part). If only I could have had my son first, and then started dating, I could have been so much smarter about it.
 

SteveCordero

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ETA: One more thing about Amazon. PM has articles this morning about how "even" the New York Times doesn't understand why the Justice Department went against little plankton publishers instead of the whale Amazon. Gee whiz. I could have figured out the NYT would side with the publishers. And the reason Justice went after the publishers and not Amazon is because the publisher's behaved illegally. You might not like the whale, but it's not illegal to be one.

Teri, that's what I can't get with this debate throughout the internet. The ONLY reason the DOJ went after the B6 is because what they did was ILLEGAL. The B6 could've implemented any system and it would still be illegal. Why do the B6 apologists ignore that?

The DOJ can't go after Amazon for acting legally in becoming big.

I commented on an agency blog the other day which linked a debate about what was better for the industry: wholesale model vs. agency model. I essentially said that this issue was irrelevant because the biggest issue is the illegality of what the B6 did.

The agency model may be the best, but the B6 can't implement it through illegal tactics.
 

Teriann

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Teri, that's what I can't get with this debate throughout the internet. The ONLY reason the DOJ went after the B6 is because what they did was ILLEGAL. The B6 could've implemented any system and it would still be illegal. Why do the B6 apologists ignore that?

The DOJ can't go after Amazon for acting legally in becoming big.

I commented on an agency blog the other day which linked a debate about what was better for the industry: wholesale model vs. agency model. I essentially said that this issue was irrelevant because the biggest issue is the illegality of what the B6 did.

The agency model may be the best, but the B6 can't implement it through illegal tactics.

Exactly. The debate of agency v. wholesale misses the point. The issue isn't agency at all. The agency pricing used between Smashwords and the Indies passed muster.

Agency wasn't the problem. Collusive price fixing was the problem.

But if the debates called it "price fixing" instead of "agency pricing" there would be no debate because it would obviously be wrong. Everything is in a name.

(That said, I have to caution against taking the DOJ complaint at face value. If government agencies didn't overstate charges and use unproven legal conclusions in complaints, I wouldn't have a job.)
 

Snappy

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{{{Snappy}}}
Men are definitely the simpler gender. Women are the improved model. The Creation story is a fable, but it does seem like God created man and then decided to make a completely ugraded version and made woman. The female human is the perfect biological machine.

The size disparity always fascinates me. You gals are a fraction of my size (you saw Snappy's photo, lol), but all your organs and systems work the same as mine and you have an extra organ that provides for the perpetuation of the species. Amazing.

This is why I <3 Steve. :)

It's unbelievable how subjective publishing is. It's so hard to figure out sometimes what works and what doesn't because it almost seems like there's no rules. Can be so frustrating, especially when there's no feedback or the feedback itself is confusing.

This. And welcome back, Lotus. You know the saying about the Pit. You may leave it, but it doesn't leave you.

And my aunt just called me to say that my grandmother is refusing to move. *Sigh* I don't see this ending well for anyone.
 

SteveCordero

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Thanks, Snappy & Lotus, LOL

Teri, I too am cautious of what the govt/prosecutors put out there because of their agenda, but we've had independent cooberation on this. For those of us who buy ebooks, we all saw the sudden spike in prices for no reason. Then there were rumors about Abble trying to muscle it's way into the ebook business.
 

Teriann

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So sorry, Snappy. My lifetime best friend is going through something similar with both of her parents.

Her mother refused to consider retiring until she was 89. She said, "I hate to stop working now because I finally know what I'm doing." (She is a professor of social work.) She still refused to retire, so she reduced to "part time" -- 4 days a week.

Now her father is sick, but wants to stay in his house.
 

Snappy

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Ugh. These situations are always lose-lose. Bummer. :(

Unfortunately, yeah. It would be easier if one of us could move in with her. But the neighborhood is rapidly deteriorating and the crime rate is staggering now. So, we want her out of there for health reasons, but also to get into a safer area.
 

SteveCordero

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Some more {{{Snappy}}}

Arrghhh, I have to avoid the "he's wrong on the internet!" urge with all this DOJ v. B6 stuff. Elsewhere pub apologolists are suggesting the DOJ somehow got "kickbacks" from Amazon and they don't "understand why DOJ would do this"

Hello! Because it's freakin' illegal!

What A/B6 are accused of doing is 100% illegal and the complaint details secret meetings, destroyed emails, private phone calls, etc. which indicates that the parties knew they were engaging in illegal activity.

ETA: I feel better. This situation just pisses me off. No, not that people are wrong on the internet :)D). That the B6 had a golden opportunity to take on Amazon and demand a different model, but they blew it by engaging in illegal activity.
 
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Catwoman

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{{Snappy}} Unfortunately, I've never heard of a situation where someone ever left their home willingly. Very pittish.

Speaking of another pittish situation--buying a car. A friend of mine asked me to co-sign on a car for him and his wife. I told him I didn't think it was possible to do after declaring turnipcy. Turns out my credit score is amazing now. Like mid-700s. I wanted to know how that was freaking possible.

So because of the fact that I have a hard time saying no, unless I don't like you, I have a car in my name now that's not mine. It almost gave me a full-blown panic attack. So uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Why won't my editor get back to me? I emailed her more than a week ago asking how edits were going. Has she not started them? Is it too much to get a simple "Fine" back? Does she hate me already?

I really need to learn to meditate.
 

K. Taylor

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Cat, DON'T co-sign on a car. If they ever have a problem with payments, it will come out of your hide. D's dad helped a friend. Repo guys harassed him, and now he's had to pay a tax penalty on the bank selling the seized vehicle because it's somehow "income" even though he wasn't involved and never saw a dime. He never even saw the car that was purchased in the first place.
 

Cricket18

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{{{Ink}}} Egads. I've so been there. And there's nothing but dread leading up to the event. I'd be tempted to pull an all-nighter, but even 4 or so hours is better than none.

{{{Snappy}}} This stuff is never easy. Hope things get resolved soon.

{{{Cat}}} Boo on the editor. She's probably just really behind.

Well, I had my blood pressure taken last week: 100 over 60. Today? 130 over 70. Gah.
 

kellion92

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(((Snappy)))

(((Cricket))) Tomorrow is the end of tax season! Hooray!

(((Cat))) I'm sure the editor is fine. But as far as the car goes, is it too late to say no? It's hard, but you've done a great job of rebuilding credit and you need it for yourself and under your control.
 
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