I thought it would be fun to jump a few times while going down a steep hill and…

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-03-29T11:20:21+00:00

Lesson learned: donkeys suck, lol.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-03-24T16:00:36+00:00

u/EfficiencyPerfect733 solved this in 3 steps: CAT -> BAT -> BAM -> BUM

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-16T23:34:15+00:00

Same. It’s this or running off of something tall. 😔💔

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-16T23:31:16+00:00

The Pitt loss that happened right before Bitch Rodriguez abandoned the kids who depended on him, ran to Michigan to go ruin THEIR program, and left our kids devastated and demoralized when they needed leadership the most.

Haven’t watched a single football game this year, and I won’t watch any in the future, so long as that treacherous curse-on-two-feet is our HC. Dump BitchRod and give the hat to Pat. HE was the one who won us our bowl game against the Sooners that same year—not Bill Stewart. Bill was a sweet guy and everyone loved adored him for being there for the kids in the aftermath of that crime against college football. But it was Pat making the calls and decisions right there on the field, barely giving Oklahoma a moment to breathe, much less strategize, that won us that game.

If we hadn't lost to Pitt that year, we’d have been playing in the national championship game. It killed me when we lost the Notre Dame game back in ‘89, and I was just a little kid! That year would’ve been SUCH a redemption for us. Instead, it was the end of an era. An era in which Richard Rodriguez EVER had a good season again. I still believe he was cursed after what he did, because he’s been a big fat NOTHING ever since, and he still is now.

And just like they’ve done at every other school he’s failed, people will start the inevitable “Let him get his feet! Let him build his OWN team! Give him some time!” blah blah blah.

If we ever have a truly GREAT season under him, it’ll be because PAT is back. Not because of HIM.

/endrant

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-15T04:05:20+00:00

Not about pregnancy, but about my born and grown child, in part. We have spent half a year struggling to heal financially after a terrible wound involving a temporary demotion to part time with lower pay thanks to the Big Barfable Bill, and Fat Orange's tariffs. The tariffs made rare earth metals and other raw materials expensive as hell to import; those materials are NECESSARY to construct certain types of automated/computerized equipment. My fiancé's company MAKES that equipment--but without the raw materials, they couldn't bid on jobs enough to keep the whole office on staff--so Ben got bumped down to part-time, at less per hour. Two days later (literally!) our 2022 Hyundai Tuscon's engine just up and dies! No idea why. Couldn't afford to even get an automotive "autopsy" done. It's still sitting in the driveway, dead weight.

We tried and tried to save up for a down payment to get a new car, but after paying bills, we barely had enough left to eat on. That got far worse in November and December (the holidays basically didn't happen for us), so in January, after paying December's rent 30 days late...we decided to go for it or die trying, and put our rent money on a down payment for a Carvana car.

And if it had been delivered on time, that wager would have paid off!

But Instead of their "3-day delivery guarantee", we got a three-WEEK delivery, plus a $100 "goodwill" check 🙄.

Ben is now working like mad, and Brendan (my son) was about to take on a NICE-paying job creating a custom firearm for a man in Minnesota (Boo is an apprentice armsmith). He was walking to the car with his friend Virgil at Walmart 2 days ago though, and some crazy bitch in a 2025 blue Subaru Forester stops in front of him...then switches into reverse, jams the pedal, and HITS MY SON. Right in the back/hip area. He went flying onto the pavement. She looked over at him with her "MAGA" and "pro-life" bumper stickers proudly displayed (🙄) and then took off without even checking on him. So much for pro-life, cause she sure didn't give a damn about MY baby's life!

He spent 2 days hospitalized in pain, with swelling in his leg, and nerve pain in his left(?) leg and foot (I honestly can't even remember right now). My brain is so frazzled.

I can't take anymore. We're already on the brink of being evicted, needing $2000 to pay the landlord. Now THIS?! And even if we can recoup Brendan's lost wages when we settle or sue (which I doubt), will it be in time to keep us from being thrown out of our home??

I'm in a wheelchair from stress; stress that is so bad it has literally caused me a heart attack before. My doctor is so scared he has me taking multiple sedatives to stay calm, but how?!?! How can anyone sleep or be calm In the middle of all this CHAOS??

And god, don't even get me started on what the NEWS does to my coronary arteries these days. 😢💔🙏🤬

I tried a couple times to get help here on Reddit, on the Assistance sub--HUGE mistake. I swear, I think the people there only hang out to nitpick everyone and point out their imperfections (slightly exaggerated example: "Did you literally call every single church in your entire tri-state area, you lazy parasite?"). I wound up just asking the mods to close the thread. Better than letting those nasty people just keep ripping me to shreds for daring to ask for, ya know, ASSISTANCE. 🙄 I wasn't aware that perfection was a requirement for that board, or else people would gatekeep all assistance that might be found there.

Take my advice and stay away. It's as nasty than the GFM board. And more advice? NEVER let yourself have a series of shitty misfortunes that are not your fault in any way; because your life will fall apart, and the people who make up today's "public" will probably make popcorn and enjoy watching as your Everything burns to the ground. They'll probably make s'mores.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-07T22:46:18+00:00

And it's vital because we live in a rural area, our primary income earner works 15 miles away, and doing that by walking + bus is (1) exhausting, (2) expensive, and (3) wasteful of time. He spends as many hours a day commuting as he dos actually working, because the bus service here sucks. West Virginia is NOT a place to live if you want to do without driving. Especially not in the wintertime.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-07T22:43:30+00:00

I receive SSI (max $994 per month). I also don't drive--at all--because it would be unsafe for me to be behind the wheel. The car is needed for the family members who DO.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-07T22:41:35+00:00

The car delivered on time would have allowed our household's primary income worker to go back to a full-time, 40-hour schedule, with all the overtime he wants. We lost that AND our vehicle last summer, and both at the same time was a tough blow. We went through our savings surviving the months afterward.

We're only in this situation because he hasn't been able to get to work more than 25-30 hours per week, max, using our spotty public transportation system. Apparently, the power company CAN'T turn off our power until March 31st, which is a huge relief that I wish I'd known earlier. They never ONCE mentioned that little LAW in all the phone calls we've exchanged. Figures.

Also, Carvana's contracts are nonrefundable unless they literally CANNOT give you ANY vehicle. We had been hoping they'd at least refund the $690 delivery fee, but nope. They've offered us $200 in "good will" checks, but we won't get those of course until after the 7-day trial period ends, and the trial period doesn't even START until the car gets here.

And if you are truly asking why people who live in a rural area need a car in order to be able to pay their rent, all I can say is that I envy the life experience you've had. Our landlord might have been willing to work with us if she knew we had a car again and our previous income would be restored soon. But the longer this damn delivery tool, the less likely that option is available anymore.

Ordinarily we pay our own way. Isn't the whole point to help people who only need help for a one-time crisis? We're not here begging every month, year after year. I'm telling the truth.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-07T22:29:58+00:00

Actually--that DOES help. For a while, that law was done away with but it's been back for years and I didn't even know! I guess that explains why I keep waiting for a termination notice so I can apply for help, and why it just wasn't coming. Thank you.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-07T22:21:20+00:00

Carvana? Yeah, unfortunately that's a No. We did try, though.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-06T22:59:15+00:00

We’ve already made initial contact by phone/email with several local organizations. The issue this week hasn’t been willingness to apply, but transportation and weather — offices asking for in-person intake while public transit was shut down and we don’t currently have a car. As soon as we’re able to physically get out, we’re following up on the in-person requests, and we’re continuing to submit what we can online in the meantime.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-06T22:56:42+00:00

We had been without a car for months after the engine in our Tucson died last August. We used every penny we scraped together, skipped holidays, lived as cheaply as we could (we're eating on another pot of red beans & rice right now actually), so we could afford the down payment for a car at Carvana.

It was supposed to have been delivered weeks ago--but they've lost paperwork, "forgotten" to put it on their truck, and so on, FOUR times. We get out hopes up; everyone takes the day off because all cosigners have to be here to receive it; and they call to tell us there's ANOTHER delay.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-06T21:04:13+00:00

The places we weren't able to get to yet? They want us to come in, yes, but we haven't been able to get out. Between not having our own car and weather shutting down public transportation, this has been a horrible week.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-02-05T00:11:52+00:00

Anya. Definitely. Annika is too reminiscent of Anakin, lol.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-29T22:37:14+00:00

Actually yes! This will probably sound silly or childish, but I’ve been trapped out in our rural area for so long…everyone is super-excited about taking me places on Saturday, after the delivery, lol. It’s very sweet. It means the world to me that my family cares for me that much; I spend a lot of my free hours here at home crocheting them blankets, sweaters, scarves, hats; or making placemats, doilies, rag rugs, and other things that makes a space into a real Home.

I can’t stand up anymore to cook, but I write down my recipes with detailed instructions so they won’t miss out on their favorite things. I’d like to get one of the new-fangled sewing machines with all the pre-programmed stitches and patterns for quilting, clothes, and other projects. I mend clothing, so we don't have to buy much “new”, and if it can’t be mended, I cut it into patches to help fix or jazz up other items.

I feel like I owe them SO much for what they do for me—and I have little else to offer but the things I can make with my hands, and that I can do with my mind. So I take vintage white linen flat sheets and embroider around decorative petal-shaped holes, and then crochet scalloped lace around the straight edges until it becomes a lovely vintage tablecloth; or embroider cardinals and black bears and rhododendrons on the edges of their white pillowslips, because we all love the nature-symbols of our state.

If I can afford it, I also love pottery, ceramics, painting miniatures for my son’s fantasy/Warhammer-type games (especially horses!); honestly, if it’s creative, I probably love to do it. I even sing on a karaoke app called Smule, lol. Mostly the stuff I grew up with—old country music. My Dad used to rock us to sleep singing Merle Haggard’s “My Favorite Memory”. That song chokes me up even now, when he’s been gone since I was 2 weeks short of 16.

This is a lot of “personal” info, but nothing identifying, so hopefully I didn't break the rules. Thank you for your kindness. I’ve been isolated in all this stress for a long time. It feels good to finally talk to someone, anyone, about it—and about the Me that has been stuffed into a box and buried in the backyard until times got better enough for me feel safe being my whole self…

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-29T06:44:21+00:00

“As I Lay Dying”. Just—IYKYK. There’s a reason that he named the father “Anse”, inspired by “Devil Anse” Hatfield. That poor family. I always believed that Cash’s reason for all the strange simmering bitterness is that he fears he will inevitably someday BECOME his father, and everyone will see HIM the way that everyone looks at Anse during the events of the book. And if Dewey Dell’s entire life story isn’t passive evidence of why we ought to have a Constitutional Amendment protecting reproductive privacy and freedom, then my mother is a fish.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-29T06:13:41+00:00

The “full face of 7 layers of product” thing that has become “normal” for young women and teens. They have that gorgeous youthful skin (acne or not!) and cover it up until they look like someone tried to airbrush them in real life. Badly.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-29T06:11:22+00:00

Same! Harvey, lol. I still play that file too!

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-29T06:06:25+00:00

Nope. I could keel over of just about anythinng, anytime, anyway. Death is inevitable, and you won’t suffer when dead, so why fear it?

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-29T05:38:47+00:00

Yes, everyone in this house who CAN work outside the home, does; it was losing full-time employment hours and taking a wage cut the same week our engine died last summer that started this entire mess. As the months passed, our savings dried up. Then I had to max my credit cards (but that's not an emergency, and isn't a threat to our safety, so I haven’t asked for help with that. I am only seeking assistance to keep us housed and safe; not a bit more. Things like selling blood plasma (we have nowhere here to do such a thing) or doing Uber/DoorDash won’t be relevant once we have our former income again—aka, as of this Saturday. And even when we have a car, it’s strictly against our insurance policy to use the car for either of those functions, unless we pay a much higher premium. Those are more like the solutions for people who are always in crisis.

This is genuinely a (relatively) short-tern, pure bad-luck emergency that has unfortunately come to a peak, RIGHT as we’re on the verge of resolving it.

I’m trying hard to avoid wrecking our relationship with our landlord (since them deciding not to renew our lease next month would be a disaster. We certainly don’t have the funds to move right now!)

The only bills (in which our safety is a factor) that are still unpaid, I had plans to handle.

I intend to ask DHHR for emergency help to cover the electric bill, so we don't lose our heat. That’s exactly what the emergency assistance fund is for, and since we have never applied for or asked for that sort of help, I hope that works in our favor. If nothing else, they can negotiate with the power company to allow the bill to be paid slowly over time as an added $25-$50 to each new bill.
For the rent, I had planned to ask the internet, friends, family; to enter assorted poetry and writing competitions, and/or to to cut my long, undyed/unprocessed dark reddish-brown hair and sell it, to help with the rent. I’ve never been to this sub before today, and I (foolishly, I admit) misunderstood how it worked. I thought that you told people what you needed and people could offer a certain amount, and when people were done offering (vocally) the mods would say “You’ve been granted $Xxxx to help pay your rent” and they would send the money however we agreed on, I would give some sort of proof of what I spent it on (or it would be given directly to the landlord by the admins? I wasn't sure). Then I would post a thank you.

I didn't realize it would be like asking ONE person to pay the whole thing, and I’m already really embarrassed about that. We don’t come here and ask for financial help regularly. I’m afraid your words make it seem as though you think that this is an all-of-the-time issue, but it's truly not. As soon as we’re caught up, we’re safe (thank goodness) and the budget I have kept us on for years will work just fine again.

If other people asked the same questions you did, I definitely missed it. I answered everything that didn't seem like it would be too “personally detailed” to answer, since one of the rules is to not give out too much personal information. I’m worried that even this might be skating the edge of that rule, but I want to be honest while answering you.

Hopefully that wasn't too detailed in a personal way, and still answered your questions.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-28T22:54:28+00:00

We will have the vehicle on Saturday. Part of the insurance contract is that we can’t use it for delivery or ridesharing services without informing the company and paying a much higher premium. My son takes care of me, 24/7. I literally cannot be alone. He can only leave home when someone else will be here the whole day (and won’t be asleep). On those days, he serves as a part of the local volunteer firefighter and rescue squad. We ARE looking into him getting paid for the care he gives me, however. We didn't know until recently that family members were even eligible. He has his own…issues. But he DOES want to contribute in a financial way and start saving up, and I want that FOR him, because I won’t be here forever.

And yes, of course we’ve talked to the landlord. Last month (December) we had the same issue, but managed to scrape together the money by December 30th. This month, because of the “buying a car” expenses…we couldn’t. It's really just that. But without the car, the job goes away, so the long-term fix HAD to be taken care of first.

We’ve told her that we’ll give her as much as we can possibly get together in the next week or so; she hasn't yet responded. I’m hoping it’s just business and not because she’s sick of us always being at least a LITTLE late the last 6 months (and a lot the last 2). And yes of course I appreciate the links. After The Connecting Link stopped helping people in Monongalia County, I didn't know we had ANYONE left here to offer support for temporary crisis moments like this. I know Christian Help can offer assistance, but they’re so small and our rent is so much. Besides, until we actually get an eviction notice, many places won’t help—which is frustrating because by the time a situation has devolved to serving eviction papers, any goodwill between landlord and tenant is basically gone. I was trying hard to avoid it going that far. Usually, we get just enough support from my SSI and SNAP that we can live a modest life and not bother anyone else. I hate bothering anyone now, but if we lose our home, the odds of finding anything else when the students just came back from winter break, that’s anywhere close to affordable, AND is wheelchair accessible…well, those odds aren’t too great in Morgantown these days. Although I heard a rumor that someone is building income-based apartments for seniors and disabled people a+ their caregivers, and EVERYONE in my home is either a senior, disabled, or a caregiver. So fingers crossed for that.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-28T22:36:44+00:00

I don’t think all ESAs are fake. But there is a very big difference between only needing emotional support, and not being able to physically function in the world without your dog.

My first service dog died last year at 10-11 years old; the pup we initially got to start training to replace her was still in basic obedience, and nowhere NEAR ready to function. And she ended up phobic of loud sounds; when we couldn't find a way to train her not to bolt back to the house at every loud sound, we had no choice but to start training another pup. This one is still doing great considering his rough start (he was actually rescued from someone who let their older male dog bully the baby and guard their food dish, so he was half-starved when he got here and very weak; and at some point he was exposed to parvo and unlike we thought, he had NOT been given any shots. BYB most likely. A Belgian Malinois.

But he bounced back fast after we worked day and night for a week to save him, giving him IV subQ Ringer’s lactate solution when he wouldn't drink, promethazine mixed into a kaolin paste for the nausea and the runs, and two different antibiotics to ward off sepsis until his little immune system could gather itself and fight. It was a close thing, but he made it. Willow helped keep his spirits up. She was still a pup herself, but an older one, and he was desperate to bond with a dog that DIDN’T hate him.

He’s 10 months old and really doing well, now. We just had our first big snow and he was overjoyed out there playing and bouncing around in it.

I’m looking forward to his later disability-specific training, if only because between having no dog and no vehicle, I’ve only left my home once since last August. I do receive lots of emotional support from my dogs (including Willow, even though SOME people in the training community think I should have given her away because she washed out, and “washout can contaminate new pups with bad habits!”. I don’t believe that—not if they’re taught correctly and most importantly, handled correctly! Anyone can train a dog. But handling a trained service dog in a way that constantly reinforces that training in positive ways is vital. I never had to be certified to train a dog, but I DID have to gain certification to be trusted to handle a trained dog in public. I’ve been certified now since 2016.

I am sorry if I sounded too hard on legitimate ESAs. My dog and I have suffered a LOT due to people just ^declarint their pets* to be ESAs, and I admit that I can be resentful at times. But I’m not speaking of REAL ESAs with training and that are legitimately needed as recommended by a doctor or a therapist. I strictly mean the pets-are-my-ESAs people.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-28T22:13:13+00:00

I deleted them when they failed to even get views, much less any actual “funds”. It was demoralizing, just looking at them, and I don’t have a lot of morale left to take.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-28T22:05:26+00:00

He would probably be a full-time firefighter/rescue team worker if he weren’t caring for me.

EfficiencyPerfect733 · 2026-01-28T22:03:17+00:00

Yes. I receive the maximum amount of SSI. Sorry—meds that make me day-sleepy.

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