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Post by ap on Feb 21, 2022 8:46:52 GMT -5
This forum sometimes. When someone puts the effort into posting something and dozens or even hundreds of people view the content and not only don't post a comment, but can't even be bothered to lift their finger to click the 'like' button to acknowledge the free entertainment someone took the time to provide. And I'm not talking about my posts either, it bothers me the most when I see someone else puts up some quality content and it gets met with - it's no wonder so few people bother to post anything.
/rant
I just assume the post is so insightful that folks are dumbfounded by the enlightenment. 🤔🤐
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Post by anaix3l on Feb 21, 2022 14:19:20 GMT -5
When a band posts tour dates and people jump to complain there's no show in Oslo or Stockholm or another well-connected rich city that said band has played almost every year before the pandemic.
FFS, you're 3 hours away by bus or train from the nearest city they're playing in. That show is either on a weekend or you have an early enough train that you can be back in your city and at work by 9am. You live in a country where the average wage is about ten times more than what I was making when I was traveling all across Europe to see shows.
I'd understand complaints from Papua New Guinea or Kyrgyzstan or some other place that's (almost?) never on the map of tours.
But loudly crying face emoji because there's no show in your Scandinavian city? Give me a break...
It all boils down to how much you want it. Guess it's hard to want it badly enough to do more than complain when you're used to a show almost every year.
For the record, said band has played in Romania twice. The first time was when I was 10 years old and the last time was 18 years later. A decade ago. I saw them and it was great, except it was a festival, so they only played for 45 minutes at 2 pm in the summer sun and heat. And dust. Figured they'd be 80 by the time they return to Romania if they keep coming here at this rate, so...
As I said, it's all down to how bad you want it. I can wait for some bands to come here until I grow a beard. Or I can go meet them where they play. Within the limits of what's possible financially and politically.
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Feb 21, 2022 18:02:18 GMT -5
^25 year old me would be like a half day travel is nothing for a great show . I'll cut the post tailgate short, be back by 4AM and I'm good to go the next day. 40 year old me can relate with the people posting tear emojis. That's how I felt recently when I saw Alice Cooper is kicking off the next leg of his tour a little over 2 hours from me. State of the art venue, but long drive. Hopefully he books something closer soon!
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Post by anaix3l on Feb 22, 2022 3:27:15 GMT -5
25 year old me had barely seen one concert in her entire life. 38 year old me is hoping to be able to pull off a few quick "see as many shows as possible in the shortest time possible on the tightest budget possible" this year. As long as it's still possible, before my body starts falling apart. I have no idea if things won't get postponed and all... but the closest Alice is coming to me is Vienna. It's also one of the only two European shows that's not a festival and I don't expect to sell out fast. I don't know about the US, but Alice often sells out ridiculously fast here (well, at least he did before the corona shituation), so sigh of relief that the Vienna show is in a massive 18K capacity hall and I can wait and see. At this point, I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen. I surely hope the summer shows I'd like to travel for don't get postponed or cancelled (also, I might be able to get a day ticket for Rockstadt after all and I've started doing some exercises with weights, so... fingers crossed!). Especially the Alice show, it's on the 28th of June, then Helloween play in Vienna on the next day and then Whitesnake on the 30th. So it would be purrfect, 3 shows in 3 consecutive days in a relatively-cheap-for-the-rich-part-of-Europe city! By the way, Vienna is a 14-21 hour drive away from me (35€ to 55€), depending on how much the driver cares about living and not ending in a tree or in a ravine. On roads that are in this state while in Romania: I'll probably fly if I can find a good offer (something that got easier with Lauda Air on the route since 2019; Austrian or Tarom were rarely affordable for me, making bus THE one realistic option I had to get to Vienna). That is 3 hours and 30 minutes train (5€) + 1 hour bus (0.6€) + 1 hour and 15 minutes plane (20€ to 40€ for a Lauda Air flight) + 30 minutes train (4.2€). Or maybe I'll wait and see what the deal is with the two trains from Vienna to Romania that ÖBB are planning on introducing in 2022. And going to Austria is one of the easiest, cheapest and shortest trips for me to see a concert abroad. I can't really count on hopefully something closer to me will happen. Aerosmith have played in Romania exactly once (Joe twice). Alice came here three times if you also count that one time with the Hollywood Vampires. The Rolling Stones? Once. Black Sabbath? Never. Slipknot? Never. Metallica came here four times. Not bad, once every decade. Rammstein? Twice. Malmsteen? Once. W.A.S.P.? Twice. Maybe it's going to be three times next year. Speaking of which, their now postponed to 2023 euro tour has ten dates in Sweden. One in Romania. That's why it's really frustrating for me to see people complain about no shows in their city when the same band is surely going to come to their city next year, when the nearest show is in a city 3 hours away, when they have excellent transportation options (their roads don't look like a cratered moon surface and their trains run faster than donkey) and when they earn a few good times more than I do. I'd love to know that statistically, the chances of a band not including my city in a tour twice in a row are really slim. I'd love it if the nearest show was only 3 hours away from me, with the comfort level above that of a potato crammed in a sack. And I'd love it if I made 3000€ a month so that a single concert trip can't exceed my monthly income. But it's not the case and still, the first thing I do when a band announces a tour that as almost always doesn't pass trough my city is not complain about it... it's check with other tours happening around the same time, check transportation and maybe accommodation options, try to figure out how I could make it work somehow. And I can't make it work all the time. But I can make it work enough times that it feels like it's worth doing something that involves a bit more effort than leaving crying face emojis on social media.
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Post by ap on Feb 22, 2022 8:53:51 GMT -5
You see shows under exception circumstances. Kudos to you for such dedication.
I would imagine that, on some level, the shows are more special for you than most, given the efforts required to attend them.
And, of course, all the more frustrating when faced with cancellations and postponements.
When I searched the term 'true dedication' on google, your picture came up. 🙂
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Feb 22, 2022 13:29:19 GMT -5
That's some serious ambition and dedication anaix3l. Nothing but respect.... Although maybe if bands and promotors saw more Romanian crying face emojis, it might lead them to book more local shows. Hopefully everything works and you find a way to the Transylvania show. Push the leg, protect the back, and keep some ibuprofen on hand to quickly get the swelling down if you tweak anything. Maybe the 'corona shituation' could you with a bump in income. For tech jobs, the workforce is highly remote these days, check postings in wealthier areas. Hopefully you can find something without having to travel.
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Post by anaix3l on Feb 24, 2022 2:53:41 GMT -5
I don't even see it as determination... for me, it's just the normal thing to do if I really want something. Nobody's just going to give it to me, plus asking people for help carries the risk of refusal, so why risk disappointment, when I can just take matters into my own hands. That's what makes it easier for me to plan a trip than to leave a crying face emoji comment on social media. The first depends all on me doing something, it has me in control. The second relies on other people doing something and I have no control over that. It's a wait and see game... which is... um... precisely what's making trip planning nowadays so stressful. The loss of control.
And desire is need for me. I don't really know how to explain it, but if I really want something, then I need it, it's like the most important of all needs for me. I have to get it, no matter what the cost. Even if it gets me into trouble, I'll see how I'll deal with that later. But I need to, I have to, there's no room for compromise, this is all that matters, everything else is secondary... if I don't, it's the end of the world, the sky is going to fall. I guess to other people, it may sound like I'm just being overly childish and dramatic, but what goes on in my head is really that intense, it's a real fear to me, it triggers a physical response, to my body it feels just like the reaction it had when (I thought?) I had almost stepped on a viper on the mountain.
That's why I said it's about how bad you want it. It started out as curiosity, I loved it, I want, need more, I have to get more.
---
Ironically, being like this is what makes me unemployable. I wish I could have understood this sooner and not wasted time putting myself in situations I hated so much they were unbearable.
I'm not obedient and I'm not a team player, I just cannot trust anyone else doing their job right. And with solid reason. In areas where I'm qualified to evaluate that, I rarely consider anyone is doing a good job. And I don't do feedback/ bullshit sandwich. I just say it: this is beyond idiotic, for this long list of reasons. And... that's not what any company wants. They don't want honesty, they don't want perfection, thoroughness. They want to make money, it doesn't matter how shaky the base on what everything was built is and how unreliable the result is if it somehow works when delivered. But that doesn't sit well with me. I can't allow my name to be tied to something I don't consider to be good. I've tried to compromise, but I hated it so much, I just couldn't do it in the end. Either leave or being told nope, you're not a good fit after trial period (good riddance!). It's that same kind of need being stronger than anything else. I don't care if I'm unemployed, unemployable, if I have no money coming in, if I can't afford to eat for two weeks. Been there, done that, it's not a big deal. What IS a big deal is having full control over what I do.
I'm also not someone who's comfortable with asking money for her work (we're back to asking for something and fear of refusal and crushing disappointment), so I guess I'll just never be someone with money, but for now it's okay... as long as my body doesn't fall apart beyond a certain point and medical bills rack up. That's basically the single major fear I have when it comes to money, health failing, not being able to work to cover bills. During the past 8-9 months or so, I've managed to make about the equivalent of a minimum salary in Romania, which is quite a lot compared to what I was making previously. And as long as concerts or major health issues aren't in the picture, it's more than enough for a carefree life when you just don't have a consumerism-driven lifestyle. Obviously, there's always the awareness of not having a stable income, of there always being the possibility of the sand castle that is your income collapsing the next moment. But it's not like I could give up the freedom that I now have for fear of ending up homeless and dying in a dumpster. It is what it is.
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Feb 24, 2022 22:45:20 GMT -5
^Alright, you got me change my mind about crying emojis. No excuse unless it's for tickets to a whiney act, then it's to be expected.
What you're describing sounds like a form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Shrinks are generally quacks, and explaining that to those close to you may turn them a whiter shade of pale. So, good message board topic!
I've got some level of OCD and can certainly relate with a lot of what you wrote. Especially about tolerating incompetent co-workers and companies. I worked at a start-up marketing\technology company with my aunt and uncle for 12 years. I was the first employee and got reined in a bit because of my young age and concerns of nepotism, but had a lot of say in everything. I worked my ass off and the company thrived. I took any issues or mistakes personally, no matter how little my involvement. I stressed about everything that could could possibly go wrong and wondered why others were so nonchalant about passing off garbage work.
After 12 years, they sold to a private equity firm and got about $6 million each (I got $33 thousand after taxes). Things quickly changed for the worse. I stuck around doing my thing while new stooges and know-it-alls came in. They'd ask me multiple times how to do the simplest tasks, then without comprehending, figured they were experts and knew better ways to do everything. I'd kindly explain to them why such a change was a bad idea, but rarely if ever did they listen. They kept changing things, shit kept breaking, and I was spinning my wheels cleaning up the mess. I take pride in my work and felt like I was the only one who cared things kept f'ing up.
I was close to leaving a few times, then the 'corona shituation' happened (yea, I'm stealing that). The company went remote and I got to work from my vacation home in New Hampshire which was awesome. Unfortunately the bullshit kept happening, and things came to a head. I finally told them I was done cleaning up their messes and pretty much dared them to let me go. That way they'd have to give me severance and unemployment, If I resigned I was on my own in a shitty job market. I figured I was on borrowed time there and just waited for the hammer to drop.
Leverage is a beautiful thing. They need me a lot more than I need them. Things have never been better there. I don't get too stressed about the quality anymore and they tread carefully around me. They proactively make sure I don't have too much on my plate. I still take pride in my work, but don't break my back on things out of my control. I'll let others sweat things out from time to time, then step in and show them how it's done. I could certainly push for more money, there or elsewhere but I live comfortably. Leverage is freedom. You mentioned before being invited to speak at events\conventions. Most seeing that on a resume would interpret it as you being pretty damn good at what you do. That alone should land you more than previously mentioned 3K euros a month. A good company should realize the value you bring and find ways to accommodate your concerns. Getting quality employees is tough, keeping ones contributing more than they are paid is crucial.
Try not to only dwell on the negatives, your experiences\concerns are real and valid but try to weigh it against some of benefits. Think of being able to travel comfortably to shows at places you always wanted to visit, staying in a nicer hotel, getting to check out some of the tourists traps. Or more important things, like getting imaging on your injured knee and back to help make better decisions with your rehab. With remote work, they can't ambush you like in an office. Take a walk and blow of steam whenever you need to. Keep an open mind, things haven't worked out for you yet, but maybe next time they will. You obviously have talent. No need to rush but check for remote positions in affluent areas every so often, read employee reviews, maybe you'll start to warm up to some options.
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Post by anaix3l on Apr 13, 2022 4:10:48 GMT -5
Hypocrites. Two weeks ago, a Romanian influencer was bitching about how Romanians are never going to boycott anything. And saying he doesn't even go into Lukoil to piss anymore. Background if that's even necessary: Russia invaded Ukraine and there have been calls to boycott Russian companies and companies that still don't cut ties with Russia (Leroy Merlin, Auchan and so on). Now he amusingly tells about him and his entire family having KitKats. KitKat, a Nestlé brand, okay? That company that not only hasn't pulled out of Russia, but has a horrible track record when it comes to profits over human and animal lives. Same company tied to an outbreak of E. Coli because food safety measures cost money and they're not dumb enough to waste money on that until it becomes a public health scandal. Same company whose milk formula caused the deaths of babies from kidney damage (and also landed many others in hospital). Same company in whose Maggi instant noodles there was over 17 times more than the safe amount of lead. Same noodles were also linked to salmonella contamination. Same company whose CEO infamously said access to water that's safe to drink shouldn't be a human right. Same company who sources cocoa and palm oil from plantations that encroach on natural reserves and drive endangered species to extinction. Same company who has children as young as six working on these plantations for close to nothing. Wanna still support such a shit company? Fine, but then please don't you fucking dare shriek about the people who still go to Lukoil, Leroy Merlin or Auchan because that's where they find the cheapest fuel for their commute to work or the cheapest pipe to replace the one that burst in their bathroom or the cheapest possible bread/ soap/ whatever. Not when you, who are well-off and have a fucking choice financially, still get KitKats on a whim.
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Apr 13, 2022 9:01:42 GMT -5
^Not surprisingly, I've never heard any of those things about Nestle before. Quite the list that should be concerning to everyone, yet they since they pour a shit ton of advertising money into all the networks, the virtue signaling ass hats will gladly look the other way at their crimes against humanity.
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Post by anaix3l on Apr 25, 2022 6:18:21 GMT -5
^Not surprisingly, I've never heard any of those things about Nestle before. Quite the list that should be concerning to everyone, yet they since they pour a shit ton of advertising money into all the networks, the virtue signaling ass hats will gladly look the other way at their crimes against humanity. Well, they've just served one more there: Nestlé remains silent on child deaths from contaminated pizzas in France. The influencers who get money/ free stuff to show their love for Nestlé wafers, coffee, ice cream or other products are, as expected, silent.
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Post by anaix3l on Aug 29, 2022 10:47:27 GMT -5
Because I've seen yet another "we have t-shirts up to 7XL" kind of announcement... band t-shirts! A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's what a normal, plain black t-shirt (bought from a store with a logo with cats at the mall... I forget the name, but their logo is a bunch of cats) looks like on top of the smallest available size (S) of a band t-shirt that's sold as a girlie (even though it's actually a straight cut). Note how the normal t-shirt is wider in the chest area than in the waist area, with strings providing the option of further tightening in the waist area. The band t-shirt is the length of a nightgown and almost twice as big as the normal t-shirt in the waist area. It's also straight cut, even though the photo on the website makes it look like it's not (plus, it's sold as a girlie). Even when the smallest size isn't the size of a nightgown, it still looks like it was designed by a dude who has never seen an actual human woman in his man cave... my dude, I am not rectangular! I'm hourglass-shaped, curvy, whatever the fuck you want to call it. In a t-shirt that's (almost) straight cut, with at most 10-15 cm between the chest/ hips and the waist... I look like either Scrooge in a nightgown when all of it is oversized... or like a badly filled sausage. This sizing table on EMP illustrates my "girlie, but still almost straight cut" problem. According to their table, I need size S for my chest, whereas for my waist... it's off the charts, but extrapolating, it would probably be size 4XS. I also got asked at shows why I'm not wearing a band t-shirt. Well, dunno, because I don't have that many I can actually wear without looking like Scrooge in his nightgown or a badly filled sausage? And I don't have that many because... bands don't sell them! My only two wearable Kreator tops have been home modified to make them wearable. Plus, when I'm traveling I need to save space every way possible and looking at the shirts in the first photo, you can probably see that taking shirts the size of the one on top instead of shirts the size of the one at the bottom can make quite the difference. And yes, I know why, cheap mass production and the logic that someone smaller will fit into a bigger shirt while the other way around doesn't work.
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Aug 30, 2022 8:41:15 GMT -5
^Hmmm, that's interesting. I usually find those overpriced, cheaply made concert shirts run way too small. If I accidentally put them in the dryer they quickly drop 2 sizes from the label and become unwearable. Next time you do laundry throw that Kreator shirt in the dryer dry and it should come out about the size of that black shirt.
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Post by anaix3l on Aug 30, 2022 10:06:03 GMT -5
Oh, wow, where have you seen cheap band t-shirts?! Generally, save for get rid of stock discounts when yes, you can get good deals (though not as good as end of season sales at the mall - that black shirt was less than the equivalent of $2!), new original band merch tends to be, just like tickets lately... fucking expensive! However, I will say that the bad quality experiences have been few and far between. Most band merch I own falls in the very nice quality category. And the most expensive things yes... I have noticed those generally tend to be better fitted. The red Motörhead England girlie, which is the second most expensive band t-shirt I have ever bought (over a decade ago, btw!) has a very nice fit. It's been used and overused and abused and has stretched, so it's looser now, but it's still a better fit than most other things I have. And it still feels so nice to touch. It's 100% cotton, just like pretty much every other shirt I have, but it just has a level of softness other cotton t-shirts don't have. It's also a denser fabric. The grey Saxon Wheels of Steel girlie is also a nicer fit than most and also feels softer to touch than most t-shirts, but the fabric is much thinner. And btw, by "better fitted" I don't mean just size, but also shape. As in... not rectangular! Because even if they're not too big overall/ not the size of a nightgown, the rectangular shape means they're tight around my chest and hips while there's a lot of fabric awkwardly hanging around my waist. Which makes me look like a badly filled sausage and that's... even worse than the Scrooge look, tbh. I don't have a dryer. I've never even seen a dryer, tbh. I don't know anyone who owns a dryer. Unless we're talking a hair dryer. I don't own one of those either, I just air dry my hair, but my parents certainly have a hair dryer. I don't even get the concept of a dryer. It's a thing that costs money, takes up space and space costs money, uses electricity and electricity costs money... all that just to dry textiles? Something that happens at no cost if you just hang them on a rope? Also, other than a wool sweater, which used to cover my ass in 2008 and now ends around the waist (and is so tight around the neck I feel strangulated... a pity because I really like the damn thing), all my clothing items tend to stretch with repeated washing. Which is why I'm glad I wore jeans and not gym tights at the Die Toten Hosen show in Vienna. Gym tights have no belt area. And given I've heard a girl somewhere behind yell she had lost her shoe... I'm thinking those gym tights from 15 years ago, so not so tight anymore wouldn't have had a better chance to stay on than her shoe.
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Aug 30, 2022 14:15:05 GMT -5
Oh, wow, where have you seen cheap band t-shirts?! Generally, save for get rid of stock discounts when yes, you can get good deals (though not as good as end of season sales at the mall - that black shirt was less than the equivalent of $2!), new original band merch tends to be, just like tickets lately... fucking expensive! However, I will say that the bad quality experiences have been few and far between. Most band merch I own falls in the very nice quality category. And the most expensive things yes... I have noticed those generally tend to be better fitted. The red Motörhead England girlie, which is the second most expensive band t-shirt I have ever bought (over a decade ago, btw!) has a very nice fit. It's been used and overused and abused and has stretched, so it's looser now, but it's still a better fit than most other things I have. And it still feels so nice to touch. It's 100% cotton, just like pretty much every other shirt I have, but it just has a level of softness other cotton t-shirts don't have. It's also a denser fabric. The grey Saxon Wheels of Steel girlie is also a nicer fit than most and also feels softer to touch than most t-shirts, but the fabric is much thinner. And btw, by "better fitted" I don't mean just size, but also shape. As in... not rectangular! Because even if they're not too big overall/ not the size of a nightgown, the rectangular shape means they're tight around my chest and hips while there's a lot of fabric awkwardly hanging around my waist. Which makes me look like a badly filled sausage and that's... even worse than the Scrooge look, tbh. I don't have a dryer. I've never even seen a dryer, tbh. I don't know anyone who owns a dryer. Unless we're talking a hair dryer. I don't own one of those either, I just air dry my hair, but my parents certainly have a hair dryer. I don't even get the concept of a dryer. It's a thing that costs money, takes up space and space costs money, uses electricity and electricity costs money... all that just to dry textiles? Something that happens at no cost if you just hang them on a rope? Also, other than a wool sweater, which used to cover my ass in 2008 and now ends around the waist (and is so tight around the neck I feel strangulated... a pity because I really like the damn thing), all my clothing items tend to stretch with repeated washing. Which is why I'm glad I wore jeans and not gym tights at the Die Toten Hosen show in Vienna. Gym tights have no belt area. And given I've heard a girl somewhere behind yell she had lost her shoe... I'm thinking those gym tights from 15 years ago, so not so tight anymore wouldn't have had a better chance to stay on than her shoe. Most of the major acts will license their brand to just about anyone and have some shitty shirts out there. Aero, Zeppelin, AC\DC, Stones, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, Nirvana etc. I can't really speak to the stuff they sell at shows as I refuse to pay $45+ for a t-shirt, but for the shirts I've got at music stores, department stores or online, quite a few have been junk. Not all, but a lot of them. By biggest gripes have been running considerably smaller than the label, shrinking, and the print quickly fading or cracking. I can't relate to or even picture a small shirt being loose fitting, not with the American diet. As for dryers, a lot of us use them after washing clothes. It's quick and if you get your dry close out promptly, they don't have any wrinkles. However, for people who wear extra small band t-shirts, they can double as an amusement ride, so you may be in luck... Not interested, well weren't you complaining about your laptop overheating recently? Try putting the shirt on the laptop. It will take a bit longer, but eventually the heat should shrink it down a size or two.
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