Open Letters

[k3am]

Mar 15, 2024 15:04:21 GMT -5 k3am said:

Mar 15, 2024 12:25:37 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

I bought this and have been using it. It’s okay. It is really light and provides almost no coverage. I was hoping for more but it’s fine.

Not what I wanted to hear. 

sandandsea was right. No coverage. I don't understand the glowing reviews. 

[waverly]

Dear sister,

I'm having some trouble with you subverting me (is that the right way to phrase it)?

For example, we were supposed to bring the dad and uncle together the day after Thanksgiving and she canceled meaning I couldn't see Uncle. This one could be on me in that I could have tried to see him over the summer maybe, but we had this plan since September.

She spoke to my aunt and said she didn't want a memorial because she was leaving on vacation. She then got in a fight with my aunt, so there will be no memorial. She didn't want to spend money or have aunt spend money on a memorial. I was not asked to contribute, but we would have but they already decided to just "not bother". I think that is just another example of the crappy way that they treated uncle.  They never wanted to do anything for him, and rarely ever visited.  I didn't visit a ton, but when it was sisters turn it was never ending excuses. The excuse was well who would come, but they didn't bother to plan or ask anyone and now are just ignoring it.  So what, do I just take my dad out for lunch and do something there?  

She texted me to take care of something with my mom, and when I did then she changed it from mom seeing a psychologist to a psychiatrist. When I asked about Covid treatment for mom, I was told they were concentrating on these 5 things instead. Why bother to ask me to help if you just ignore the work that I did, re-do it, and then change it?

When asked about conservatorship, I said OK and supported it because she was going to do it anyway, but she doesn't want to do it anymore and my personal opinion is it should be disbanded.  Now that the court is involved it is difficult.  In hindsight she should never have involved the court.  I'm not sure what I am supposed to say.  If he was going into assisted living the rest of his life, he doesn't need someone to manage his money legally, we just manage it practically.  

I just kind of feel like why ask me if you are just going to do whatever you want anyway? Why ask for my help and then redo the work?  

Signed,
Waverly

[k3am]

Dear parents of DD’s friends,

HOW are you affording to take your kids to so many concerts? I know of at LEAST 10 5th graders who went to Taylor Swift. And now I’m hearing about how many are going to Olivia Rodrigo. DD is obsessed with Olivia, so I looked it up.. I cannot justify spending that kind of money for us to go to a concert. It’s a minimum $500/pp (unless you want seats behind the stage).. add in the fact that it’s in the city and I don’t like driving at night, it would easily be a $1500-$2000 evening. DD accepted this. And just found out her BFF - who doesn’t even really like Olivia! - just got tix from her parents. The crying won’t stop.

Signed,
Le sigh.

[librarychica]

k3am, God I wonder the same thing! I knew so many elementary and middle schoolers who saw Taylor Swift. Luckily for me DD1 is obsessed only with k-pop groups that don’t seem to tour in the US but my SIL looked at Olivia Rodrigo tix for my niece and not only were they crazy but you had to plan like a year in advance.

I didn’t see a concert outside of a state fair until I was in college!

[dglvrk2]

k3am, I echo librarychica.

I'm the Swiftie in our house and I would never spend the kind of money necessary to see her live. I too am amazed at how many of the Ds' friends saw her this past summer...and we live 4+ hours from the closest Eras tour venue!

DD2 likes Olivia Rodrigo. We heard she's performing in a town about two hours from us. There haven't been any specific asks yet. If/when it happens, I will say no. There might be some tears. However, we will explain that the tickets are equivalent to a week at horse camp and/or part of her trip to Fiji to see her aunt and uncle this summer (she and H are going). Knowing DD2, this will be acceptable. Fingers crossed.

[mae0111]

I agree with everyone re: concerts. I don't understand it! The prices for all concerts are insane, but to see Taylor Swift when she came here was like sleepaway camp for 4 weeks type of prices. Someone actually figured out that it was cheaper to fly from Boston to Dublin, see Taylor Swift there, stay in a hotel for a few days, and fly home than it was to see her at the stadium nearby.

It's a shame. When I was in high school and college, I saw a million shows. Some decent names, too, for a pretty reasonable price. I remember turning down Sting because the tickets were like $80 back in like 2002 or something. I saw Phish, Grateful Dead (with Jerry Garcia), Jimmy Buffett, REM, Billy Joel twice (once solo, once with Elton John), U2 with Primus, Prince, Dave Matthews, Garth Brooks... plus a ton of smaller names that were still playing stadiums, and some acts in clubs. Most were like $20 tickets. I understand inflation and whatever, but I was making very little money and these were cheap and fun things to do!

[sdlaura]

Yep, add me to the list of not finding concert tickets for my tween worth the cost. For my sister’s 40th birthday in November, we saw Katy Perry at her Vegas residency - and that was like $300 for 3 decent seats. And we were there anyway. That I can do. We know two families seeing Taylor Swift in Europe this summer because they were on vacation there anyway and tickets were way cheaper than here.

[rere]

I've been bummed my kids haven't been able to see many concerts. Dd likes Taylor Swift but balks at the prices. They both saw a couple of concerts as part of school functions, including Garth, but that's it.

It may be showing my ages, but I have concert stubs in my scrapbook from $17.50 to $25. I was into hair metal, so this was Poison, Warrant, Metallica, etc....but for that price, I could get there early, get on the floor, and worm my way to front row.

[dglvrk2]

Mar 25, 2024 8:07:21 GMT -5 rere said:

I've been bummed my kids haven't been able to see many concerts. Dd likes Taylor Swift but balks at the prices. They both saw a couple of concerts as part of school functions, including Garth, but that's it.

It may be showing my ages, but I have concert stubs in my scrapbook from $17.50 to $25. I was into hair metal, so this was Poison, Warrant, Metallica, etc....but for that price, I could get there early, get on the floor, and worm my way to front row.

I LOVE that you went to a Warrant concert!!!

[waverly]

I am also astounded by the parents paying $1-2K a ticket for Taylor Swift concerts. I know one parent was a fan themselves, so I guess. But the others were entire families going, and I know the parents were not fans.

My friend did Olivia Rodrigo, but I didn't realize they were that expensive. She also mentioned she has lost the tickets and had to re-buy them too. DD had liked her, but then saw her on SNL, and didn't like the performance, so luckily she didn't want to go to the concert.

I am going to see Pink, but the tickets were reasonable when we bought them, but apparently now they are overpriced. The main issue being the ticketmaster fees for her.

[librarychica]

waverly, I think the Olivia R tickets weren’t so bad if you got in on the early Amex access. When my SIL was looking they’d already hit the resale sites and were going for $400 a ticket.