I'm sure your relatives said the same thing about your parents' Christmas card the year you were born.

I'm not sure why I can't stop. But I just gotta rag on you.

This...doesn't even make sense.

I'm just depressed with how little people are trying. I know you are, and a few others, but **** me it's dead in here. Even I couldn't be bothered to update like a bastard as I usually do, though I am writing reviews of shark movies. I just feel, sort of in general, if nobody's gonna bother why should I? I had to force myself to even write what I did.

It shows. It's a shame honestly. Not sure why people aren't putting any effort into their journals, yet they complain that there's literally no discussion going on in the forum.

You're a disappointment, it's pretty self-explanatory.Learn to read.

Hey, it's the start of the year, people are busy. Give it time, man. Journals don't seem quite as popular as they were back then either but especially right now it seems like about half the forum is busy off doing some other stuff.

Trollheart, I just wanted to say thanks for all your dedication - every summary feature has been a joy to read. And I share your anxiety about the lack of activity on the site. But I'm going to stick with it and keep writing as long as I can.

And I'm going to make an effort to be more active in other areas of the forum as well. In fact... heading over to the film thread presently with some newfound excitement.

But man - thank you for all you contribute to the site.

Do you bother with those albums I post? Most of those albums are a click away.

innerspacedude can I have your babies

Thanks for all your support guys and yes I'll try to put in a better effort for this week's update. I'm also awaiting a final outcome on my aunt, who is 99 and very sick in hospital. She's been like a second mother to me and my siblings so it's not just like it'll be another aunt gone; that in itself makes it hard to care too much about what are in the end pretty trivial matters, and why the tone is so depressed and listless.

I do appreciate the work everyone who posts already does, and I know it's unlikely we'll ever get back to the glory days, but when there are so few individuals posting - no matter how well you all do it - it makes it a little harder to pick out posts for things like "Post of the Week" etc. I suppose a few more comments here would help. Like just now there have been a few but only because my update wasn't up to my usual standard. On the last few though virtually nothing in reply, and then of course it makes you wonder if it's worth even bothering?

I do however want to avoid going the other direction and making the update so varied that people tend to focus on the features/humour in my writing rather than the actual content of the journals being discussed (I know, Batty: what humour?) so it's hard to strike the right balance. I did one a year or more back where Homer took over the writing, and though I thought it was good, it did tend to divert attention away from the content, so I stopped doing that. What, for instance, do you guys think of the Journal Graveyard section? Are there older sections you'd like to see me bring back, or any ideas for new ones? I guess we could all do with a bit of support now and then.

Sorry to whine: I'll hope to do better.
Thanks guys.
:)

I'm awfully sorry about your aunt, but on the bright side, 99 isn't bad at all! What a long and great life she led :)

I'll try to post more journal entries this week but b/c of school, no promises. I will say I look forward to this journal being updated each and every week, and I love reading everyone's journals on here. Hopefully the traffic will get back up to speed eventually.

Sorry TH. I didn't meant to bring a whole discussion into it. It's just that I noticed a shift in how you portrayed this update as opposed to others. Hopefully no offense was taken.

No, not at all. I wouldn't have initiated the discussion if I wasn't secretly looking for someone to talk to about it. See, I can't tell my sister that my aunt is even in hospital, much less how poor her chances are of coming out again, as she doesn't take that kind of news well, and is as you all know already sick, so I don't want her ending up in hospital too. That means I have to shield her from this knowledge, pretend everything is all right while yet knowing that at some point (maybe soon) I'll have to sit down and explain to her what happened, and why I kept it from her. Not looking forward to that, obviously. So you can see why something like this would be very low on my priorities.

Nonetheless, assuming the worst doesn't happen before Sunday (if it does don't expect any update; I probably won't even be on here for a few days) I'll make an effort for the next update. Only fair if you guys are reading them for me to put in a shift.

Sorry to hear about your aunt, TH. Hopefully everything turns out OK. It's rough when you feel like you're alone in something like that.

I don't contribute much musically to the forum, but I appreciate your updates and I hope you continue to write them.

Given the amount of time I spend on schoolwork and other activities and the fact that serious writing is exhausting, I can write for an hour a day, tops. That's 500 words that need to be rewritten and edited. To produce a polished 2000-word article takes me about a week. I'm not going to post that on a website where I am anonymous and have no copyright protection; I'll stick it on a blog or get it in a local paper.

Just my two cents.

I have journals that I've just left wither away. Of course, I did make no promises in either of them about when you'd see updates, but I'm gonna try my best in the following weeks to update them, because you put loads of effort into these updates and I'm a big fan of them. I've had my left ear blocked for the past month so I haven't been able to listen to music in general, but I have the urge to come back to this as soon as it disappears, and it's getting better, so fingers crossed I can start updating again. And hang tight with your aunt, man. If my Grandma was to pass away, who is basically my mother, I would be lost like hell, so I understand that this is keeping your mind preoccupied a bit. It would be for me too.

Condolences, TH. I won't even begin to say I understand the difficulty you're going through with family and all. My own grandfather is 90 and is in the hospital, himself, but the responsibility you bear adds an immeasurable degree of complexity to your unique situation.

I'll certainly make more of an effort to comment on future postings. Take care.

You're not whining, don't even think about it. Sorry hear about your aunt.

****, man. I know nothing about this kind of thing, but I hope for the best. I'm becoming ever more paranoid about my beloved grandmother dying sooner rather than later and I imagine it's comparable. Will kill me when it happens.

Well now I just feel bad for saying something. Sorry TH.

x2. my grand mother turns 70 this year and while i hope she'll see 80 and beyond, you never really know how things will go. she's easily the most important person (or family member at the very least) in my life, and ive been closer to her than i am with my parents or siblings since as far back as i can remember. honestly not sure if i'll be able to handle it the day that she goes, i nearly tear up anytime she mentions "after im gone."

No, don't feel bad, mate. It didn't take much to kickstart me so you probably helped in the long run.
I suppose in some ways I've been (and I use the word in its loosest connection) lucky, in that I've seen death before. I've had to stand at my ma's bedside while she breathed her last, I've seen two aunts die, and although it's nowhere near the same (but it kind of is) I've had to be present at the putting to sleep of three of my cats, so I know what it's like to see someone face death (you think a cat don't know when you're having him or her put down? You ever seen that little trusting face look up at you with a look that says "Why? What did I do?" even though you know this is the only way you can end their pain and give them peace?) and added to that, it's not as if she has had a stroke at 80 or something unexpected. I mean, who lives to 100? But no matter what, it's bloody hard. You convince yourself "Ah she's grand. Had a few falls but always bounces back. Buy and sell ya. She'll bury us all. A few more years, no need to worry yet" and yet, in the back of your mind, a small sharp voice is telling you to man the **** up because this is going to happen and you had better be ready for it.

Except you never are. Even with, at this point really, close to a month's notice, I'm still not ready. I don't want to be ready. I don't want this to happen. I want a miracle. I want there to be a God who can save my aunt and give her even a few more months, but I know that's unlikely. This is it. We've reached, almost certainly, the end of the road and it's only a matter of time now. How long do we want her to hang on? How selfish are we? If she's in pain, and even if she were to survive and would end up in a nursing home, do we want that? Would she? These are all the thoughts that go through your head when you can't sleep at 5am, and they're not good ones.

But seriously, being able to talk to and share with you guys is great, so thanks again. Didn't mean to be so dramatic; I'm sure people have bigger worries. But is is very much appreciated, you should all know that.

Is this the grandma/aunt appreciation thread?
Because I'm all in.
While I have a pretty great relationship with my parents, my grandmother is the person in my family I can relate most to and she is just an all around amazing, smart and cool person.
Good health to all of your grandmas/aunts.

My great grandmother died last year but she was always kind of a bitch. You can tell your grandmas that I said they're bitches too.

Totally warranted post.

My paternal grandmother was the nicest person I ever knew, and my maternal grandmother was a musician and had a good sense of hhumor. They had very different personalities, but the one thing they had in common they were both very loving and caring. They're both gone now.

Too bad you never met them, they would had killed you with kindness.

I'll jump in on those Grandmother fest.
Even though my grandmother is hard to deal with and most people can't hang because they are super soft. She always has my back and I have hears. I feel like I'm the only person that can hang with her because instead of just taking her insults on the chin and getting quietly angry about it. I dish it back out and she appreciates it that I go toe to toe with her instead of just taking it and then talking **** about her behind her back. She's also the only one in my extended family that I would willingly just give money to. She is always looking out for everyone else but no one has her back financially like she does for them. I always tell her that I'm the only grandson she has because all the other grandchildren are a piece of **** in comparison.

I don't mean to laugh at you, but the way you put that still sounds hilarious. :laughing:

No update today?

-__-

Have you not been paying attention?

I'm not sure I understand.

He said he was stepping away from MB for awhile because of his grandmother passing. Maybe you didn't see it since it was in another thread and you haven't been around in a bit. Check the RIP thread I believe.

Ohhh. Yeah I replied to his post, but didn't read the whole thing since it was tl;dr.

As a long-form journalist, nothing pains me greater than the expression, tl;dr.

As variety-seeking journalist, nothing pains me greater than seeing the trite response tl;dr.

TBH I try to read all your ****, really I do, but sometimes I just gotta skim. Nothing against your writing style -- I'd prefer long winded enthusiasm to concise robotism any day -- I just have the attention span of a retarded gnat.

same here. sometimes i'll start reading a journal entry, take a break, and then come back later to finish it. still the most enjoyable and engaging writing on the site though.

Thanks, gents! I have a bit of exciting member journal news for you.

I'm putting together a second member journal with much shorter entries. These will be tales of retail/corporate hell as related by a well-spoken Victorian gentleman who's diary entries share tales of his experiences with suburbanite white gangsta coworkers, white supremest bosses, and tales of tech support assistance he's given to elderly technophobic employees.

The juxtaposition of my dramatic, flowery, and formal speech with their stupefying ignorance should make for an entertaining read. I've got a stockpile of idiotic interactions saved from the last 10 years of hell, so I should have a steady flow of new content each week.

I'll give it a go and see how it works out.

Looking forward to it.

Jesus man: I checked it back and it was six lines. Is that tl;dr for you? I have to admit, considering how important and personal that was for me, and considering I avoided my usual wall of text, I'm a little disappointed, even slightly insulted that you would not take the time to read the few lines. Everyone else was able to read it and get the gist, but because you didn't bother you ended up making what came across - unintentionally of course, but still - as a somewhat heartless/thoughtless post, which could have been avoided had you taken a few extra seconds out of your busy life. Sad really. :(

What if I had merely skimmed over every article he wrote in his personal journal?