Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[Shalamar]

My birthday is in July, and I always try to schedule my vacation around it.  Works out great most years. 

Still on topic, but related to birthdays - my older daughter's birthday is December 21.  It's amazing how many people assume that she gets cheated out of presents, or that we consider her birthday to be less "special" because it's so close to Christmas. 

[ladyknight1]

My sister's birthday is December 15th and our parents and extended family did combine her celebrations every year. I have made sure to make her birthday special, even if we don't exchange gifts any more.

We had 11 days off for the holidays this past year. I returned to work 1/2, worked three days, then worked two full weeks before having a three day weekend. That is also crunch time, being at the beginning of a new semester.

[mmswm]

For all their faults, that was one thing my parents did right.  My birthday was always special, and a completely separate event from Christmas with no exceptions.  There's some interesting family drama on the topic.

My brain is now broken.  The standing rule in the house is that the children are allowed to eat fresh fruits and veggies whenever they want, as long as they clean up after themselves.  This is the only thing they're allowed to "free feed" between meals. Tonight I happily toddle into the kitchen to make a meal that the kids have been asking for me to make for at least a  week.  Yesterday I went to the store to buy Italian bread, which is a primary ingredient in the meal.  I get to the kitchen and half the loaf is gone.

Me: AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!  Who ate the Italian bread?
Lil Bro: Me.
Me: Why did you eat it?  I needed that for dinner!
Lil Bro: Well we're allowed to eat fruits and veggies whenever we want!
Me: Umm, bread is not a fruit or a veggie.
Lil Bro: But it's a grain!
Me: *pounds head into wall*

[ladyknight1]

I predict little brother goes into the legal profession. He is great at arguing!

[Piratelvr1121]

Ellen had one on her show.  She likes to keep tabs of the new reality shows coming out and she shares them with her audience. 

There was one kid who lived on a farm and was very proud to not have facebook or a cellphone or any other sort of social media.  She laughed and said "So he won't have a cellphone or facebook, but a reality show is okay?

[jpcher]

For all their faults, that was one thing my parents did right.  My birthday was always special, and a completely separate event from Christmas with no exceptions.  There's some interesting family drama on the topic.

My brain is now broken.  The standing rule in the house is that the children are allowed to eat fresh fruits and veggies whenever they want, as long as they clean up after themselves.  This is the only thing they're allowed to "free feed" between meals. Tonight I happily toddle into the kitchen to make a meal that the kids have been asking for me to make for at least a  week.  Yesterday I went to the store to buy Italian bread, which is a primary ingredient in the meal.  I get to the kitchen and half the loaf is gone.

Me: AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!  Who ate the Italian bread?
Lil Bro: Me.
Me: Why did you eat it?  I needed that for dinner!
Lil Bro: Well we're allowed to eat fruits and veggies whenever we want!
Me: Umm, bread is not a fruit or a veggie.
Lil Bro: But it's a grain!
Me: *pounds head into wall*

(at least he knew that bread was a grain? )

[Diane AKA Traska]

For all their faults, that was one thing my parents did right.  My birthday was always special, and a completely separate event from Christmas with no exceptions.  There's some interesting family drama on the topic.

My brain is now broken.  The standing rule in the house is that the children are allowed to eat fresh fruits and veggies whenever they want, as long as they clean up after themselves.  This is the only thing they're allowed to "free feed" between meals. Tonight I happily toddle into the kitchen to make a meal that the kids have been asking for me to make for at least a  week.  Yesterday I went to the store to buy Italian bread, which is a primary ingredient in the meal.  I get to the kitchen and half the loaf is gone.

Me: AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!  Who ate the Italian bread?
Lil Bro: Me.
Me: Why did you eat it?  I needed that for dinner!
Lil Bro: Well we're allowed to eat fruits and veggies whenever we want!
Me: Umm, bread is not a fruit or a veggie.
Lil Bro: But it's a grain!
Me: *pounds head into wall*

That kid's going places.

[mmswm]

Yes, I do see law school in his future.  He's a bright kid, though he has some issues to overcome. His birth mother drank heavily and snorted cocaine heavily while she was pregnant with him.  He was taken into state custody after a positive cocaine test at birth.  He also has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, but thankfully a mild to moderate case.  It does cause some learning issues, but assuming we can teach him how to cope with and compensate for it, I see a high dollar attorney for a little brother in my future.

[Slartibartfast]

This could fit equally well with brain hurting, professional darwinism, or never shopping (banking) somewhere again, so I just picked one :-)

Some of my friends started a new scout troop this year for their girls.  Babybartfast won't be old enough to join until next year, so I'm on the rosters as one of the adult helpers for the troop but I don't really participate in much yet.  When my friend Alice went to open a bank account for the troop, she was told by the council that she had to go through LocalBank because all the troops had accounts there and they knew what to do.  She opened the account, got the little book of starter checks and deposit slips, ordered some real checks, etc.  Alice had several small deposits totaling a few hundred dollars (everyone's sign-up fees), then one larger deposit and a larger withdrawal at the same time - the deposit and withdrawal were about the same amount, but she had to put the money in and out for accounting purposes.  That was back in October - since then, it's mostly been a stream of small checks for various supplies the troop needs.

When the real checks came, Alice realized the bank account number was different than on her paperwork.  LocalBank wouldn't tell her who the account belonged to, but they were okay with her having a package of checks to draw on that account?  They finally were willing to tell her that the other account belonged to a different scout troop, and with some begging she got them to tell her the troop number, and with that she was able to track down (via the council) who the troop leader was.

As it comes out, the starter checkbook (checks and deposit slips) they gave Alice was for the wrong troop.  All the small deposits went into our troop account, because Alice was doing those with the deposit slips at the bank, but the checks were coming out of another troop's money!  And they hadn't noticed for three months!  The larger withdrawal would have bounced if Alice hadn't happened to have used one of the starter deposit slips for the larger deposit at the same time.

With the help of the council, they finally got everything resolved just in time before cookie sale season.  The real brain-hurty part: the other troop leader (and person responsible for the other troop's checkbook) is an accountant    At the next meeting the council held for troop leaders (which they do once a month), the council staff stressed VERY strongly that everyone needed to actually check their troop's bank balance on a regular basis . . .

[WolfWay]

Still on topic, but related to birthdays - my older daughter's birthday is December 21.  It's amazing how many people assume that she gets cheated out of presents, or that we consider her birthday to be less "special" because it's so close to Christmas.

My birthday is also 21st and some of my friends and family do give me one present a year.

I had a brain hurty argument with someone about my birthdate versus my age. They insisted that becuase I was born in 1979 I must be 34 this year (the entire year). But they could not grasp that that only applies on the last 10 days of the year, you know, AFTER my 34th birthday at the end of this year. They resolutely insisted I was counting my birthdays wrong.

[Diane AKA Traska]

Still on topic, but related to birthdays - my older daughter's birthday is December 21.  It's amazing how many people assume that she gets cheated out of presents, or that we consider her birthday to be less "special" because it's so close to Christmas.

My birthday is also 21st and some of my friends and family do give me one present a year.

I had a brain hurty argument with someone about my birthdate versus my age. They insisted that becuase I was born in 1979 I must be 34 this year (the entire year). But they could not grasp that that only applies on the last 10 days of the year, you know, AFTER my 34th birthday at the end of this year. They resolutely insisted I was counting my birthdays wrong.

M was born at the end of December, in Year.  I was born at the beginning of January, in Year+2.  Sometimes, it hurts MY brain that I'm one year younger, not two!

[Piratelvr1121]

I hurt a friend's brain as a kid.   We were both born in '78 but she was born in January and I in November, plus she was a year ahead of me in school.  One year she asked me what year I was born and I told her.  She insisted that couldn't possibly be true and she kept asking me, insisting I was wrong when I kept saying 1978.

I did finally say "Fine, ask my mom if you don't believe me."  I don't recall her ever asking her, at least not around me so either she figured it out or her mother pointed out that "Sharon" had turned 10 already and I was nine and would turn 10 in November. (this was during the summer, I think)

[athersgeo]

Still on topic, but related to birthdays - my older daughter's birthday is December 21.  It's amazing how many people assume that she gets cheated out of presents, or that we consider her birthday to be less "special" because it's so close to Christmas.

My birthday is also 21st and some of my friends and family do give me one present a year.

I had a brain hurty argument with someone about my birthdate versus my age. They insisted that becuase I was born in 1979 I must be 34 this year (the entire year). But they could not grasp that that only applies on the last 10 days of the year, you know, AFTER my 34th birthday at the end of this year. They resolutely insisted I was counting my birthdays wrong.

And it always seems LONGER between birthdays if your birthday is in December. I don't know why, but it does.

Or perhaps that's my own personal brain hurty kicking in...

(Another December baby)

[Seraphia]

This could fit equally well with brain hurting, professional darwinism, or never shopping (banking) somewhere again, so I just picked one :-)

Some of my friends started a new scout troop this year for their girls.  Babybartfast won't be old enough to join until next year, so I'm on the rosters as one of the adult helpers for the troop but I don't really participate in much yet.  When my friend Alice went to open a bank account for the troop, she was told by the council that she had to go through LocalBank because all the troops had accounts there and they knew what to do.  She opened the account, got the little book of starter checks and deposit slips, ordered some real checks, etc.  Alice had several small deposits totaling a few hundred dollars (everyone's sign-up fees), then one larger deposit and a larger withdrawal at the same time - the deposit and withdrawal were about the same amount, but she had to put the money in and out for accounting purposes.  That was back in October - since then, it's mostly been a stream of small checks for various supplies the troop needs.

When the real checks came, Alice realized the bank account number was different than on her paperwork.  LocalBank wouldn't tell her who the account belonged to, but they were okay with her having a package of checks to draw on that account?  They finally were willing to tell her that the other account belonged to a different scout troop, and with some begging she got them to tell her the troop number, and with that she was able to track down (via the council) who the troop leader was.

As it comes out, the starter checkbook (checks and deposit slips) they gave Alice was for the wrong troop.  All the small deposits went into our troop account, because Alice was doing those with the deposit slips at the bank, but the checks were coming out of another troop's money!  And they hadn't noticed for three months!  The larger withdrawal would have bounced if Alice hadn't happened to have used one of the starter deposit slips for the larger deposit at the same time.

With the help of the council, they finally got everything resolved just in time before cookie sale season.  The real brain-hurty part: the other troop leader (and person responsible for the other troop's checkbook) is an accountant    At the next meeting the council held for troop leaders (which they do once a month), the council staff stressed VERY strongly that everyone needed to actually check their troop's bank balance on a regular basis . . .

0_0 Yikes! You'd think an accountant would know better. But then, I was watching an episode of Restaurant Impossible, and saw a similar scenario play out there, so maybe not.

The restaurant was a joint venture between four men, one of whom had run restaurants before, two of whom supplied capital, and an accountant. The restaurant was losing money at the rate of $10,000/month. Robert Irvine (the host) checks their books and discovers that not only are they losing money on every lunch service, the servers are comping close to $30,000 a month! He brings this to the accountant's attention since, well, he should probably have noticed. The accountant's response? "Well, I just look at the big picture numbers, not the breakdown."  That's about where my brain started to hurt.

[mbbored]

Still on topic, but related to birthdays - my older daughter's birthday is December 21.  It's amazing how many people assume that she gets cheated out of presents, or that we consider her birthday to be less "special" because it's so close to Christmas.

My birthday is also 21st and some of my friends and family do give me one present a year.

I had a brain hurty argument with someone about my birthdate versus my age. They insisted that becuase I was born in 1979 I must be 34 this year (the entire year). But they could not grasp that that only applies on the last 10 days of the year, you know, AFTER my 34th birthday at the end of this year. They resolutely insisted I was counting my birthdays wrong.

I thought I was the only one who had that conversation! My birthday is at the end of November and several people have argued with me about how old I am.