stoney321 | Grump grump grump.

This is day SEVENTEEN of the sneeze fest. You know how when you sneeze a few times, it's kind of a chills-inducing, good feeling? Your whole body is involved? And then it very quickly stops being that? And you have to look out for things you might kick over because you're sneezing so damn hard that a leg flies up?

I am not infected with a bacteria. I do not have a cold. This is a virus, or something random in the atmosphere, or simply my body signally that I am about to shut down completely in a matter of days, turning into an instant sack of goo. (If I die, please fight over my garden. And everyone can dig up ONE PLANT to have.) Steam doesn't help. Hot chile-infested food doesn't help. AN ENTIRE SCOOP OF WASABI DOESN'T HELP. Nasal spray is something I try to not use because it's habit forming. (And makes things worse in the long run.)

Clearly, my only choice is for me to hire a plumber to jam a snake up there and find out why my sinuses hate me. (If things don't get better by tomorrow, I'm going back to my ENT that did my surgery a few years ago to see if maybe my remaining sinuses have collapsed or something.) I AM FALLING APART IN MY OLD AGE HALP.

So because I'm grumpy (and gross and red nosed and broken, I am going to talk about two Unpopular Opinions - given how non-mainstream these ideas seem to be these days.

1. I think it's really awful to post to Tumblr a complaint about, say, a story, and then tag that story so that the author finds it - because you're using their story title/handle as a tag. I think it's DREADFULLY RUDE to do that.

PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE: those that say "get a thicker skin" blah blah "if you were a published author" yadda. Let me stop you right there. Because a fat paycheck does a LOT to help an author get thicker skin. Fanfic writers get nada. They do it out of a need to share their love of something, and it is FREE.

Protip: don't use the author's tag to be awful. Or if you do? Don't be surprised if one day they call you to the mat for your shitty manners. :)

2. I really really REALLY hate when people comment to a story with "I want to bash their head in" or "I want to smack so and so" or "I want to hit" etc. It smacks (hurr) of not having enough of a vocabulary to express yourself, for one, and two - as a former victim of domestic violence, I automatically cringe when I hear "smacking heads" etc. Can't you use a better expression? Can't you actually express thoughts in a meaningful, adult way? Two year olds smack because they don't know how to tell you they're unhappy. You better be older than two if you're reading this. Or you better hie thee to MIT and become the World's Smartest Baby by obtaining a Ph.D.

I am quickly becoming a pariah, and I think I'm cool with that. [/curmudgeon that is also a really loyal friend. Like a pit bull. And I've had these things happen to me, and it filled me with sads. D:]

Now if you don't mind, I'm going to kick things over from this sneeze I feel building....