The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Wild Card => Topic started by: Muse_Of_Fire on March 06, 2007, 04:18:21 am
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Currently I feel like Philippe in this (http://www.achewood.com/index.php?date=02232007) strip. If you have extra hugs, please share them. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying clinical amounts of Ketel One.
Anyone have mob connections, by the way?
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Hugs are on the way.
However, my Italian blood is Tuscan not Sicilian.
If you need sundried tomatoes or plumbing invented, gimmie a call.
Mafia, not so much.
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I have faith that you are, in fact, the torch and the grappling hook. And that Magnum, P.I. will show up any minute and let you ride his unicorn. Hang in there!
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Many hugs granted. Hang in there.
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Hugs to you - I hope my new avatar does not make you vomit.
Please do not forget the shelled walnuts.
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Hugs are of course in no short supply and you may have as many as you want.
I don't know any mafia people but I hell's angels dude once told me if I ever needed any help I could give him a call, or construction work, but since I'm in another continent and this was on a train I'm not sure how helpful that is.
Dare I ask the source of your most vexing depression?
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Nooooo, MOF! I feel like I barely know you, but you seem very honest and likeable.
Anyway, me and Kellichou are most definitely Sicilian! Our great-grandfather bathtubbed beer for the Mafia during the Prohibition in Chicago! We're trying to finagle some dual citizenship if he was still an Italian citizen when our grandfather was born in 1917. Prohibition, obviously, was in the Roaring Twenties. Kelli explained all the crazy rules for obtaining dual citizenship, so I'm kind of fuzzy on the details.
Whoa, tangent! Why are you so upset, MOF? I hate to think about folks crying and feeling poorly.
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Anyway, me and Kellichou are most definitely Sicilian! Our great-grandfather bathtubbed beer for the Mafia during the Prohibition in Chicago! We're trying to finagle some dual citizenship if he was still an Italian citizen when our grandfather was born in 1917. Prohibition, obviously, was in the Roaring Twenties. Kelli explained all the crazy rules for obtaining dual citizenship, so I'm kind of fuzzy on the details.
Whoa, tangent! Why are you so upset, MOF? I hate to think about folks crying and feeling poorly.
My grandfather lived in Chicago and had a slot machine and invited the workmen over to gamble and play cards . . . yeah, I got nothing. Seriously, though, I haven't been around for a bit, but I like people to be happy, and you seem like a pleasant person, so I want you to be happy as well. I will be back later, so please be happy and positive!
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...Magnum, P.I. will show up any minute and let you ride his unicorn.
Couldn't there just be cuddles tonight?!
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Idea for new rule: Before you post a message about your hella depression, you have to find a strip to illustrate your state of mind to link to. The point is not just to amuse us, but that time spent searching through the archives is good for the the mental health. Ketel One goes better with Achewood!
I am also Italian on one side but the only criminal I knew of on that side was quite incompetent. I think we came over too late for the Roaring Twenties and so on - maybe the mob was all filled up by the time we got here. Sorry!
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I have connections within the Velvet Mafia. If you want someone to make snide comments for you, or like... passive-aggressively cause someone to doubt their style sense and/or personal value, I have people. But then you're a dancer, so I'm sure you have similar connections anyway.
If it makes you feel any better, the carnations are still on my desk, and they're moving from "half-dead" to "sorta' rotting." I want to leave them there so that the asshole who put them there deals with them, but I know I'll just get annoyed in a couple days and deal with it myself. (Beat) Okay - I'm back. I just removed the rotting carnations, changed the water and kept the not-rotten ones. That'll show 'em! (Still, carnations are a shitty flower.)
Anyway... a spoonful of space honey takes the pain away.
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I have connections within the Velvet Mafia. If you want someone to make snide comments for you, or like... passive-aggressively cause someone to doubt their style sense and/or personal value, I have people.
I wanted the Velvet Mafia to be about very different things than this.
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I don't have any Mafia contacts, but my grandfather was in the Knights of Columbus. If you need some very old German-American men to show up and start saying Hail Marys and Our Fathers in a very dense rural-Minnesotan accent at some subject of your ire, I can get that for you.
(The Gentleman Caller is half-Italian, but he takes all such comments with great personal indignation -- and besides, all I could get from his family is possibly ambush nerds. Need some slash fanfiction, stat? I can make calls.)
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Ambush nerds? Urban Dictionary and Google are as mystified by this term as I am. Please define.
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my great-grandfather killed some guys once!
that is the closest I can get to mafia connections. So sad.
WAIT, I LIED my dad's... uncle maybe? was in the mafia. The Irish mob, really. in Boston. He used to just throw money away, apparently. They had a whole 2-car garage filled with clothes; they bought clothes constantly because his wife didn't like doing laundry.
He hired my dad a hooker once-- my dad did not realize why she was so flirt-ey until later, when his uncle said "what, you don't like blondes? I wish I'd known Bobby, I would have gotten you a different one."
He died of natural causes, and his daughter and wife disappeared. They left a message saying they had moved to the west coast. No one has heard of them since.
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I don't have any Mafia contacts, but my grandfather was in the Knights of Columbus. If you need some very old German-American men to show up and start saying Hail Marys and Our Fathers in a very dense rural-Minnesotan accent at some subject of your ire, I can get that for you.
Germans are in the Knights of Columbus? I swear I thought this was an organization for Italian guys.
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Germans are in the Knights of Columbus? I swear I thought this was an organization for Italian guys.
They are in rural Minnesota, at least. I suspect the relative paucity of Italians in rural Minnesota may have something to do with it.
Anyway, when I say "ambush nerds," I mean... basically... that class of nerds who think of "freaking the mundanes" as a worthy sport/leisure activity, those who are not only lifestyle nerds but will freely inflict this lifestyle on others. You know, the ones that all other nerds view with embarrassed ambivalence? Those guys.
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Germans are in the Knights of Columbus? I swear I thought this was an organization for Italian guys.
It's a Catholic version of the Order of the Most Magnificent Water Buffalo (or whatever the Fez-wearing Shriner types are). Where I live there are a lot of Filipino and Vietnamese guys in the Knights.
V: I gotcha. "Freaking the Mundanes" was definitely considered a sport among some of my college friends (SCA and RPG varieties). I think a lot of nerds build up enormous amounts of rage as young teens, and when they finally realize that their own self-worth is truly not determined by the larger society it bubbles out as a sort of reverse bullying in their early 20's. It lingers even into their 30's among some of my colleagues who refer to well-coiffed business and Marketing types as "the dark side" and treat them with thinly diguised disdain. "Marketing" opinions are usually regarded as being the braying of barnyard animals.
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. . . some of my college friends (SCA and RPG varieties). . .
OK, so this is somewhat out in the rough, but I would like to share that in my neighborhood, there is a "Bigfoot"-style truck, with the jacking up and the massive, aggressive tires. Not like weekend-warrior type jacked up. More like $50k-$75k type jacked up. It has a personalized license plate. The plate reads:
"MMORPG"
How's that for busting sterotypes?
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"MMORPG"
How's that for busting sterotypes?
Maybe that's the Monster Truck's name, though.
Massive Machine Of Rolling Power Generation.
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Thanks, everyone. Your comments made me laugh, which I really needed. I barely know you guys but I just sort of needed some relief from an emotional wrecking ball and I appreciate you all taking the time to cheer someone who is essentially a stranger to you.
As to the why, I won't go into huge details unless you ask me to, but yesterday I got some horrible news about my job. For the past three years I have put my heart and soul into this project--almost literally. I worked my butt off, three years of 14-hour days, working over vacations, doing insane amounts of research, schmoozing, wrangling... this project was my "baby" and I was very deeply personally invested in it. I'd managed to obtain approval for it from the board, with a level of approval that was unprecedented (and they even said so). I'd managed to recruit an unprecedented number of people to this project, which surprised my entire organization. I was preparing to start implementation when...
...it got ripped out from under me by one person, and some circumstances beyond pretty much anyone's control. My boss can't even do anything about it.
And not only that, but I found out about it in a horrible way:
Colleague: Sorry about X.
Me: What?
Colleague: Oh man, didn't you meet with Boss?
Me: Um... no. Did it get canceled?
Colleague: (shuffling uncomfortably) erm... yeah... I'm really sorry...
Then we had to start our meeting (on something else) so we couldn't really discuss it. My department head was as surprised as I was and encouraged me to talk to the Boss. So I went to his office, but he had left, and on his door was posted:
"The following projects have been canceled
...
Muse's Project"
I was totally just numb and wrecked lastnight. Honestly I was like Beef not being able to bite through the toast. I was pretty much so hurt and angry and upset and sad that I was barely functional.
Today things are a bit different, but uncertain. I met with my boss and fought hard for the project. He has it conditionally back on, but it's based on a lot of ifs that might not happen. At least then if it gets canceled it will be on my terms and I'll know I gave it my best shot and exhausted all possibilities.
Nothing I can do about the person who threw the wrench into the works, unfortunately... none of my non-Touamb associates have any mob connections either.
*sigh*
Oh, PS: My mom is so cool. I got a voice mail from her today: "Hey MoF, it's mom. I'm just calling to see how you are, because lastnight I had a dream that you were really, really sad, and I'm hoping you're okay."
How awesome is that? She's like psychic!
I tried not to make this too long... sorry.
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MoF... that's because I Am Your Mother. I've been posting on this board for months in the hopes that you might one day find it. I know many embarassing and personal facts about you, if you want me to prove it.
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seriously though, MoF you seem wonderful, and I hope things turn out as well as they can for you.
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You should remember that this is a random occurance. It is not related to anything you did or caused. In no way should it affect your sense of self-worth. You absolutely did not deserve to have your project arbitrarily cancelled.
You..Are..Rad..
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I was totally just numb and wrecked lastnight. Honestly I was like Beef not being able to bite through the toast. I was pretty much so hurt and angry and upset and sad that I was barely functional.
Today things are a bit different, but uncertain. I met with my boss and fought hard for the project. He has it conditionally back on, but it's based on a lot of ifs that might not happen. At least then if it gets canceled it will be on my terms and I'll know I gave it my best shot and exhausted all possibilities.
Nothing I can do about the person who threw the wrench into the works, unfortunately... none of my non-Touamb associates have any mob connections either.
*sigh*
Oh, PS: My mom is so cool. I got a voice mail from her today: "Hey MoF, it's mom. I'm just calling to see how you are, because lastnight I had a dream that you were really, really sad, and I'm hoping you're okay."
How awesome is that? She's like psychic!
I tried not to make this too long... sorry.
I think we could arrange an "accident". Having your project ripped away from you sounds soul-crushing. BASTIDS!
Also, that is hella awesome about your moms. I wish my mom had powers like that. Good thing I have the rockingest twin sister ever to keep up our "wombie brain link" (womb-mates cuz we're twins...not related to Wombat of this board).
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One might also think this could have been broken to you somewhat more skillfully. Still, of such crises is character wrought (or so they say).
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Work sucks.And managers are idiots. Don't ask me how I know, it is too complicated to go into, but at this moment I am more sure of this than usual. You are not alone.
I hope if you get your project back, you don't work 14 hour days anymore. I learned at a impressionable age - and then forgot, and had to learn it all over again - that you should be careful about giving too much or becoming too attached to a job. Because no matter how much you love the work you do for it, how much you put into it, the organization you work for won't love you back. It just doesn't work that way. And because their committment doesn't equal yours, they can do this kind of thing at any time no matter how little you deserve it.
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...you should be careful about giving too much or becoming too attached to a job. Because no matter how much you love the work you do for it, how much you put into it, the organization you work for won't love you back.
This is a great thing to have your eyes open about. Well said, critter wrangler.
MoF, I do symphasize for you. Losing out on something you've broken your hump on is a pisser of the first grade. The way it was done was a bag full of hairy ass.
I don't internet-know you well enough to offer any constructive advice. I am passionate about my work and do a damn fine job of it and I really care about excellence as the standard, not a goal. It's gotten me some recent nice things and rewarded me very well. With all that said, work doesn't get to come home with me. I refuse to sacrifice any of my time with family or friends to an entity that would not even hiccup at my vanishment from earth.
Co-worker: How was vacation? Did you miss us?
Me: Didn't think about this place at all once I drove outta the driveway.
This is a real exchange about a place I like.
I'm hep enough to know that some people function better detached and some firmly attached so you may not be able to or want to do anything about your self investment in your work.
And that's OK too, you be you and remember the cholesterol guys fine words:
You..Are..Rad..
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Wow. You guys are extraordinarily kind people. I really appreciate the thoughtful, supportive comments. And the injections of humor. Means more than you know. :)
I'm normally pretty good about leaving work at work, not letting it consume me, etc. This is a third career for me, so I've been through a lot of those learning curves. However this particular project meant a lot to me. It's something I've wanted to do for over 10 years and finally had the opportunity to do. In this instance, I decided that the crazy hours and the Pouring of Self into it were worth it. If it had been anything else, I wouldn't have cared so much (and, you're right, as a result, I wouldn't have been so crushed by the setback.) :)
If you'd care for an update:
I did some research and found out that the possibility of my meeting the conditions my boss set for the continuation of the project are quite possible, and in fact might be pretty easy. The project is now officially on, provided I meet said conditions and the Super Big Cheese approves my boss's recommendation. But I think he will. He was pretty gung ho for my initial proposal and in my meeting with my boss I essentially spelled out for him in no uncertain terms that I am the best-qualified person for this organization and this project, and that they'd be fools to let that go (I figure, the only person I can always guarantee to stand up for me is me, so I might as well).
As things stand now the project should continue through completion of its first phase. After that its continuation depends on much.
The Monkey-Wrench-Thrower will be in the game now, though (she was absent for most if the initial phases), and that affects things substantially. So I'll have to be a bit more assertive and cagey. Or start slipping unwise amounts of Ex-Lax into her coffee. *evil grin* Still, as they say, It's ON.
I got taken by surprise and knocked off my feet, but now all that means is they've awakened the dragon.
:)
Thanks again for being with me through the crappy parts. Cans to all y'all for being such sweethearts.
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Good news is awesome!
As Fievel would say, penisltov!
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Alas, I have no Mafia connections either. I have one distant relative who was a member of some fascist organization in the UK, though. He wound up dying fighting the Italians in World War II, which in addition to the obvious irony is a very un-Mafiaesque kind of thing to do.
I found this post a few days late, but I'd like to offer my support as well. I'm glad things are starting to look better for you now.
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Hooray for your good news. Now go relentlessly kick some ace.
I have absolutely no mafia connections. I am about as waspy as they come. I come from a vast array of white-boy preachers, car dealers, insurance agents, bureaucrats, minor merchants and generalized petit boirgouisie.
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Heh. You guys just want cans. ;)
Just teasing. I genuinely appreciate your support. Have a can each. :)
You know, Felix, your bit about your relative in the UK totally made me think of the classic noir film "The Conformist," which is funny because the main character is an Italian hitman working for Mussolini's cronies, so, kinda the opposite of your relative. But it's what popped into my head.
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Hooray for your good news. Now go relentlessly kick some ace.
I have absolutely no mafia connections. I am about as waspy as they come. I come from a vast array of white-boy preachers, car dealers, insurance agents, bureaucrats, minor merchants and generalized petit boirgouisie.
Heh!!! that reminds me of when I was preparing for Eve Ensler's play "The pu$$y Monologues". One of the monologues has a laundry list of moans, including "The WASP moan" which is silent. Everyone cracks up.
It turned out that half the women in my group didn't know what it meant. They just laughed because everyone else did. I explained that WASP means White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, and that those types are considered to be super-uptight so their most impassioned vocal expression during lovemaking would be a SILENT moan. It's a pretty old term, I guess, which is why nobody knew what it meant, I guess?
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a bunch of my friends here had never heard it. Whereas until recently I was not aware of the "JAP" concept.
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What's the JAP concept?
I didn't realise the protestant part till a couple of years ago, up till then I knew WASP by it's variant 'White Anglo Saxon Prick'
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As I heard the "J.A.P." concept, it is short for "Jewish American Princess".
Basically the cliche of young ladies of the Tribe being materialistic shrill sexually-frigid daddy's girls.
I knew many girls who were like this at college who were Jewish. However, I knew many girls who were like this who were Catholic and I knew many girls who were like this who were Miscellaneous Christian Whateverthefuck.
The common denomination was not in their faith but in the fact that they were Born Rich... and that warped them far far more than their faith or ethnicity ever could imagine to.
It confused me, at first, too... because I thought they were using the WW2 derogatory for the Japanese I would always see on old comics.
"Why are they accusing clearly Caucasian girls of being Japanese? I don't get it."
Then it was explained. There was education.
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That's very nice to have resurrected the project.
The Monkey-Wrench-Thrower will be in the game now, though (she was absent for most if the initial phases), and that affects things substantially. So I'll have to be a bit more assertive and cagey. Or start slipping unwise amounts of Ex-Lax into her coffee. *evil grin* Still, as they say, It's ON.
As a wrench picker from way back I advise you to lay away your own supply of monkey-wrenches and to warm up your throwing arm. Letting wrench snipers lay in the weeds is rarely a good idea. Best to smoke 'em out and neuter them, or better yet evens, co-opt them to your cause (in their own self preservation if necessary).
ALSO: sMets brings up an interesting idea about monied broad-spawn. I went to a private university and noticed the same thing. I'd like to add though, that the ones so afflicted also seemed to be the ones who were perhaps not so bright either. It seemed to be a substitution type thing as the really very furiously smart gals (monied or not) (and guys) had too much other activity in their intellectual life to spare much wattage for accoutrements of status/money.
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Good luck, MoF. I am back at work today, and boy do I know how having things like that happen sucks. In spades. I am pulling for you, though, in the spirit of all down-trodden cube farmers.
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I have no idea what the hell your project is*, but I look forward to updates on your quest for revenge and fulfillment.
*It will probably be best if we never know, but are always wondering. Briefcase from Pulp Fiction, etc.
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Heh!!! that reminds me of when I was preparing for Eve Ensler's play "The pu$$y Monologues".
Just saw this last time home with my lovely bride. She purchased a pair of panties with the phrase "I love my cunt" printed on the front. Has anyone seen these at any other productions of VM? Does anyone know where I could order these? I think they would make thoughtful gifts.
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the production at my school made these (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theinevitable/390648292/) shirts.
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I will hella post my shirt and pins as soon as I get them. One of our local artists designed the shirts and they're fantastic.
We also made "Va-jolly Roger" pins that kick ass. Yes...like the Jolly Roger pirate flag but with pu$$ys. AWESOME.
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the production at my school made these (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theinevitable/390648292/) shirts.
You are disturbingly similar to me.
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I will hella post my shirt and pins as soon as I get them. One of our local artists designed the shirts and they're fantastic.
We also made "Va-jolly Roger" pins that kick ass. Yes...like the Jolly Roger pirate flag but with pu$$ys. AWESOME.
Umm, how would a person go about securing a pin/a shirt/etc?
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You are disturbingly similar to me.
Okay, if Fooker and the inev are the same person, Ash and diskette-head-mangling are the same person and Terry and Judy are the same person, then my vote is that all 6 of 'em are actually just St. Zartan making the message board into some insane art project.
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...and then Zartan would turn out to be Onstad.
Which, when you consider that the GI Joe toy Zartan was a disguise master with a split personality disorder, actually kind of makes sense.
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...and then Zartan would turn out to be Onstad.
Which, when you consider that the GI Joe toy Zartan was a disguise master with a split personality disorder, actually kind of makes sense.
But he is always revealed when exposed to direct sunlight. Hence the job as professional web-comic artist
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Umm, how would a person go about securing a pin/a shirt/etc?
Well, our production out here made them by hand. If you go to www.vday.org you can get some hella awesome gear, including a hat that says "pu$$y WARRIOR" on it.
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Thank you - it's just that the pin sounded so awesome, I really wanted one for my lovely wife.
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If you go to www.vday.org you can get some hella awesome gear, including a hat that says "pu$$y WARRIOR" on it.
Oh, man. Now I want to hear that dude from The Warriors say:
"pu$$y Warr-i-ors, come out and play-ay-ay!"
I want to hear this a LOT.
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Oh, man. Now I want to hear that dude from The Warriors say:
"pu$$y Warr-i-ors, come out and play-ay-ay!"
I want to hear this a LOT.
I want to hear the crazy uber-Christian lady from "Trading Spouses" say "I AM A pu$$y! WARRIOR!"