Inconvenient Annoyances

It's just one of those things, like in the US south all soft drinks getting called Coke.

Yeah it took me awhile to finally get that 'cakes' can be - cake, cupcakes, muffins, Rice Krispie treats, those chocolate cornflake clusters, flapjacks, shortbread, brownies, French fancies, Bakewell tarts, etc etc etc...

It didn't really bother me though because they're all nice & I wouldn't turn one away just because someone called it a 'cake'! 

Yeah it took me awhile to finally get that 'cakes' can be - cake, cupcakes, muffins, Rice Krispie treats, those chocolate cornflake clusters, flapjacks, shortbread, brownies, French fancies, Bakewell tarts, etc etc etc...

It didn't really bother me though because they're all nice & I wouldn't turn one away just because someone called it a 'cake'! 

This!

My m-i-l called all boxed cereal "flakes" whether they were flakes or not!

My IA: I brought two suitcases of stuff with me this time. That sounds like a lot but I'm getting soooo sick of wearing the same turtlenecks and yoga pants! I have only 3 pairs of shoes too.

I find it hard to be annoyed with anyone thanking me for food, regardless of the terminology

My IA: inconsiderate people at uni libraries. I have my first exam this week and really need a quiet place to study away from the distractions of home. Solution= uni library? Not so much! Maybe I am an old fuddy duddy, but when I did my undergrad, libraries were QUIET. Here, it's a massive social scene with twenty somethings loudly discussing their personal lives and other random stuff. I could understand if the conversations were low or regarding their coursework, but it's not. So now I am on a borrowed laptop in the "silent room", (which there seems to be a huge demand for as it's packed), but the laptops have to be turned back in at 5PM. I asked why they don't have a silent room WITH computers, but the librarian said that then they would have to police it. WTH? What is wrong with people who cannot be quiet in a library? 

My other IA is ME. I knew I had four exams to prepare for but I was lazy so now I am paying for it with cramming and stress. 

Okay-rant and break over. 

I find it hard to be annoyed with anyone thanking me for food, regardless of the terminology

My IA: inconsiderate people at uni libraries. I have my first exam this week and really need a quiet place to study away from the distractions of home. Solution= uni library? Not so much! Maybe I am an old fuddy duddy, but when I did my undergrad, libraries were QUIET. Here, it's a massive social scene with twenty somethings loudly discussing their personal lives and other random stuff. I could understand if the conversations were low or regarding their coursework, but it's not. So now I am on a borrowed laptop in the "silent room", (which there seems to be a huge demand for as it's packed), but the laptops have to be turned back in at 5PM. I asked why they don't have a silent room WITH computers, but the librarian said that then they would have to police it. WTH? What is wrong with people who cannot be quiet in a library? 

Ugh. I hear you on this. It's ridiculous how many times this happened to me when I was in college. Almost as ridiculous as the number of incredulous and disgusted looks I got when I dared to suggest that they shut up or get out. Obviously, I was more tactful than that, but that is what I was thinking in my head. They were the ones being inconsiderate! What was even more infuriating was that there were places in the library where talking was allowed. There were whole floors where you could talk and there were rooms specifically for people to do group work. Somehow, the loudest people always congregated in the "Quiet Zones." 

I don’t know if you saw that CSUN Library Finals Freakout 2011 youtube video that went viral, but I seriously sometimes felt like that poor girl.

I can identify! Recently in my local library, a patron was listening to music on one of the library computers. I couldn't concentrate, and finally asked a member of staff to ask him to turn it down.

Staff member did that, but then said to me that it was a problem with the patron's earphones, and was I really bothered....well...yes....it's a library, and to me, a library = quiet. His earphone problem shouldn't become a problem for other patrons.

Oh well....could be worse, I guess!

I'm torn between posting this here vs "Worse than an IA", but I don't think many will understand exactly how cruel this decision was. This morning, out of the blue, VLM changed its "Good for Age" (GFA) qualifying times, after them being steady for the past several years, and my women's age group is now 5 minutes faster, at 3:45 now to qualify for a guaranteed place.

I cannot believe they just did this to me. I ran 3:48 in Amsterdam in October and have thought for the past 6 months that I've run a GFA time, only for them to change it on me now. My next marathon is in 3 weeks and I've lost 10 weeks of training due to a serious illness so it's actually dangerous for me to push it and try for sub 3:45 now. I'm not too proud to say that I just sobbed into my cornflakes this morning.

A lot of non-runners seem to think “oh, but you have a whole year to run it a bit faster now” but I’ve had to explain that a) GFA entries are due in July, b) the bulk of the spring marathons have already past, leaving hardly any to run between now and then, and c) it takes months of training for a marathon, and even if you do have one scheduled between now and July, there’s no time left to change your training, or in my case, turn back time and gain back those 10 weeks I missed due to a serious illness in January, February, and March.

Do VLM organisers now wish me to harm myself trying to achieve their new goals? Or turn around and ask all my friends and family for fundraising money after I’ve spent the past 6 weeks telling them that I didn’t think it’s right that they should have to subsidise my hobby?

Honestly, I haven’t felt this screwed over since UKBA change the goalposts for ILR mid-way through my qualifying years here. I’d like to think VLM is a somewhat warmer, fluffier, and better managed institution than one recently deemed “not fit for purpose” by the Home Office.

Oh, SP, I am so sorry. I totally understand as the international governing body for my sport did something similar (they completely changed the way you normally qualify for the more elite events). It's so frustrating and really unfair when they make it instantly applicable instead of rolling it out in a logical fashion.

That really really really sucks SP. I'm very sorry   

Sorry, SquirellyPoo.    That sucks. 

Having to say 'no' to friends weddings because its too far and expensive to travel back to the US.    I absolutely love living in the UK, but sometimes, you just want to go to your friends weddings! 

I'm torn between posting this here vs "Worse than an IA", but I don't think many will understand exactly how cruel this decision was. This morning, out of the blue, VLM changed its "Good for Age" (GFA) qualifying times, after them being steady for the past several years, and my women's age group is now 5 minutes faster, at 3:45 now to qualify for a guaranteed place.

I cannot believe they just did this to me. I ran 3:48 in Amsterdam in October and have thought for the past 6 months that I've run a GFA time, only for them to change it on me now. My next marathon is in 3 weeks and I've lost 10 weeks of training due to a serious illness so it's actually dangerous for me to push it and try for sub 3:45 now. I'm not too proud to say that I just sobbed into my cornflakes this morning.

A lot of non-runners seem to think “oh, but you have a whole year to run it a bit faster now” but I’ve had to explain that a) GFA entries are due in July, b) the bulk of the spring marathons have already past, leaving hardly any to run between now and then, and c) it takes months of training for a marathon, and even if you do have one scheduled between now and July, there’s no time left to change your training, or in my case, turn back time and gain back those 10 weeks I missed due to a serious illness in January, February, and March.

Do VLM organisers now wish me to harm myself trying to achieve their new goals? Or turn around and ask all my friends and family for fundraising money after I’ve spent the past 6 weeks telling them that I didn’t think it’s right that they should have to subsidise my hobby?

Honestly, I haven’t felt this screwed over since UKBA change the goalposts for ILR mid-way through my qualifying years here. I’d like to think VLM is a somewhat warmer, fluffier, and better managed institution than one recently deemed “not fit for purpose” by the Home Office.

Do they not have to give you adequate notice? Is there any room to appeal? It seems rather unfair at the last minute.....

Thanks for the sympathy. No room for appeal, no notice, and only a small (few hundred?) people affected so not enough room for media attention. VLM can do as they please, because they don't care about runners, they care about charity money.

So how many sh*t days do I have to endure before I get a free Duvet Day? Because yesterday, the flat I booked for Copenhagen in 3 weeks cancelled on me, leaving me high and dry, and now today I spent 3 hours (THREE HOURS) on the phone to an offsite developer trying to replicate a bug for him and no matter what I tried, it just would. not. happen. Incredibly frustrating.

And now I'm supposed to go and do a Wednesday lunchtime workout (minimal running, maximum walking lunges) which is my most dreaded of the week, and I reeeeeeeeally would rather just crawl under a duvet and squeeze my cat.

I'm so sorry, SP, that really sucks.

My IA: We just finished moving into a new flat, after our old flat's letting agency just disappeared on us re: maintenance (still wanted to come by and inspect the place to make sure it all looked ok from the point of view of us treating it right, but heaven forbid they fix the things we told them about months ago).

Anyway - new flat, yay! In the process of moving in, and documenting the flat's condition/contents on doing so, we came up with about a dozen things (mostly minor) that should be fixed - light fixtures, outlets not working, etc. We send those to our new landlord as a FYI, and she sends back an e-mail about how she just spent over £800 getting the flat repainted (1) wtf, that's crazy expensive 2) we didn't ask for that to be done) and over £200 on a new washing machine (when we viewed the flat pre-signing the contract, we were informed that the existing machine was broken and would be replaced). Plus, she's unemployed and most of the rent money goes towards fees and such (boo hoo), and the bottom line was that "if we weren't satisfied with the condition of the flat when we signed the contract, we shouldn't have signed it". Last I checked, the Assured Short-term Tenancy agreement has nothing in it stating "when you move in, that's the condition of the flat and you're screwed if you want anything else changed".  So now we're kind of about the whole thing and wondering how to proceed with this woman, given that she's said she wants to sell the flat at some point as well (so we'd rather not aggravate her so that she wants to sell ASAP, but on the flip side, we might consider buying it down the line if it worked for us financially and she doesn't try and weasel her way out of all maintenance stuff like this). I really want to quote the contract that she signed where it says she's responsible for fixing stuff just like we're responsible for telling her what needs fixing, but should probably be more diplomatic.

Why must landlords suck?! (I may be a bit biased because I rented my house out for 2 years after moving - and yes, it sucked financially and I took a loss, but I knew that going in and was just waiting for a better time to sell it, I didn't treat my tenant like crap or regale her with my life story and why it's so hard to be a landlord.)