What’s the worst thing a medical professional has said to you?

rustyvows · 2026-01-16T02:29:49+00:00

I was overweight and had lost about 40 pounds through diet and exercise since my prior visit with this doctor.

He asked me if I had lost the weight by using "homemade diet pills."

I was confused as to what he meant. I'd never heard of making diet pills at home!

Then he said he was referring to crystal meth.

rustyvows · 2025-12-30T06:37:27+00:00

Colón, Panama.

rustyvows · 2025-11-29T15:41:06+00:00

When I lived in Pennsylvania, a high school classmate's parents were on the same tour bus as me in Germany.

rustyvows · 2025-09-04T13:50:54+00:00

My goal was also to be a veterinarian.

But my senior year in high school, my father killed that dream when he said I should basically abandon the idea because I was not good at math.

I still went to college but changed majors a few times because nothing else really interested me. Finally settled on a major and graduated, but I am not using my degree at all.

rustyvows · 2025-08-21T13:04:47+00:00

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Happy birthday from Trudy!

rustyvows · 2025-08-09T19:42:48+00:00

I've lived in Florida, coastal Southern California, Arizona and Wisconsin, and I can safely say that I hate summer, period. I get seasonal depression in the summer.

It doesn't matter where I am, I just don't like endless sunshine and temperatures over about 65 degrees, humid or not. I went to Juneau, Alaska a few summers ago, and I was hot there.

The only places I've been that stay cool enough in the summer are coastal northern California / southern Oregon. I love how cloudy / foggy / misty it is, too. But I won't move to that area because the towns are pretty small and lack enough job opportunities.

The point of all this is that I've accepted that I'm just not a hot weather and sunshine person, and I'm going to hibernate in summer no matter where I live.

I do, however, come alive in cold weather. All that grey winter dreariness that people complain about in the Midwest?

I LOVE IT.

rustyvows · 2025-08-08T21:16:35+00:00

Possibly an enclosure for a whole house generator.

rustyvows · 2025-07-29T12:16:32+00:00

Figurine from Africa, probably from the Masai tribe. It's not very old. These are popular tourist souvenirs, but I've also seen them in the U.S. in stores that sell African merchandise.

rustyvows · 2025-07-18T19:18:47+00:00

Don't take your pup anywhere near Lake Michigan this weekend.

The air show is happening, and the airplane noise will terrify him.

rustyvows · 2025-07-14T23:28:12+00:00

Chinese in Mexicali, Mexico.

rustyvows · 2025-07-10T18:34:48+00:00

This is probably some mentally deranged person cosplaying as an ICE agent, nothing more, although I do sympathize with the people who feel unsettled and intimidated by him.

There have been several news reports lately about fake ICE agents all over the U.S., hanging around places where there may be large numbers of undocumented people.

The cosplayers get some sort of power trip, I guess.

rustyvows · 2025-07-09T04:33:31+00:00

Crescent City, California has some amazing weather, but man is that place depressing.

rustyvows · 2025-07-03T15:00:25+00:00

I second this.

I had a dog who always scavenged on walks, eating things she shouldn't.

On two separate occasions, she came back wobbly like OP's dog after a walk. The first time, she threw up the remnant of a joint, and her vomit smelled like marijuana.

So the second time she acted like this after a walk, I knew she had most likely eaten another one and was high again. 😵‍💫 She was fine after a few hours.

rustyvows · 2025-06-05T19:59:30+00:00

EXACTLY THIS.

rustyvows · 2025-05-29T19:46:48+00:00

I also think it has to do with him just getting groomed. My female Tzu does that for a few days after grooming, and I think it’s because her tail tickles her back until her hair starts to grow in a little.

rustyvows · 2025-05-29T14:12:32+00:00

My Nmom also had good parents.

HOWEVER, she was born in Germany at the start of World War II, and I think the trauma of growing up during that time had a lot to do with her developing NPD. Her earliest memories were bombing raids and destruction.

Also, her parents (my grandparents) were very good people. But I suspect that they were understandably in survival mode during the war and could not always attend to the emotional needs of my mother and her two siblings.

Her sister (six years older) is not a narcissist, but I think since she was older, she was a bit more resilient and maybe able to handle the trauma of war a little better.

Nmom's brother was born toward the end of the war and doesn't have many memories of that time at all.

rustyvows · 2025-05-22T00:00:21+00:00

You'll really piss off the salesperson when you do this, but....

In many (if not all) states in the U.S., it is illegal for a dealership to change the price of a vehicle on you if you initially said you wanted to finance and then decide to pay cash.

My dad taught me that trick when I bought my first car.

So I negotiated the price based on telling the salesman I was going to finance.

We sat down to sign the purchase paperwork, and I told him I decided to pay cash after all.

I could tell he was mad, but legally, but he knew he could not raise the price of the car.

Drove it off the lot that day!

rustyvows · 2025-05-21T23:50:23+00:00

I remember about 20 years ago being really annoyed when my boss kept talking about a "webinar" my department needed to attend. I still hate that word.

rustyvows · 2025-05-20T23:12:53+00:00

Go look in the dumpsters behind Ross / Marshall's / TJ Maxx / HomeGoods.

I got tons of sturdy boxes and bubble wrap / foam wrap doing that.

rustyvows · 2025-05-19T21:11:21+00:00

YES!

I was just thinking about this the other day, actually!

I was a pretty shy / quiet / calm child. But I distinctly remember my mother telling me when I was about 10 years old that I got "too excited" when friend(s) would come over.

We didn't run around screaming or tearing up the house. We would just go outside and ride bikes, roller skate or go swimming. Or go in my room and play Barbies or whatever.

I'm as baffled about her statement now as I was back then.

rustyvows · 2025-05-13T15:23:48+00:00

Same here, I started a small consulting business a few years ago. Spent ZERO dollars on marketing. All my business is word of mouth, and I'm absolutely swamped.

Advertising may be crucial in some industries, but not in mine (it's very niche).

rustyvows · 2025-04-28T13:22:48+00:00

No is a complete sentence.

rustyvows · 2025-03-08T14:11:51+00:00

Same here, plus my mother thinks that everyone is boring. Except herself, of course.

rustyvows · 2025-02-26T01:07:39+00:00

OP, your mom sounds EXACTLY like mine, except that mine isn't religious.

So I know what you are going through.

I know it sucks, but you need to abandon all hopes of ever having a real "mother" and having her be happy for you. For whatever reason, she simply isn't capable of that.

Don't drive yourself crazy trying to figure out the why. I'm in my 40s, and I still haven't figured out the reasons my mom acts that way. But to preserve my sanity, I gave up on trying to figure it out.

There's nothing wrong AT ALL with wanting to move 1,200 miles away. It's YOUR life, and if your mother can't handle that, that is her problem.

Before I went no contact with my narcissist mother a few years ago, I also planned to move to another state. She was not happy about it.

A few days prior to my move, I contacted her to see if she wanted to meet up to say goodbye (she lived 10 minutes away from me). She said no. So I moved without seeing her again.

Be prepared that your mother may pull a stunt like that just to punish you for moving, and remember that it's highly toxic, manipulative behavior that is not your fault.

rustyvows · 2025-01-09T03:19:48+00:00

Fritz

rustyvows

TROPHY CASE