5 Star Posts: The Best of the FORT

[pikachu]

5 Star Posts: The Best of the Fort

This thread is a compilation of some of the funniest, most interesting, and thought-provoking posts found at the Fort. Sometimes it’s a new post that really grabs your attention, other times while reading through old threads you’ll find something hilarious.

If you see a post worthy of attention, quote it here. If it’s a very lengthy post, feel free to copy and paste just part of it. Say which forum and thread you found it in and if it needs a little explanation, include that. Also, if other posts contribute to its overall effect, post parts of those, too.

This isn’t a contest. It’s just a way to recognize favorite posts, draw attention to places on the forum that someone might not have visited before, and it will make for great reading on a slow day.

ETA from Mod Staff: We would also suggest avoiding posts from Current Events, so that things don't turn political, or spark any arguments/debates. Also, please use the quote function when copying/pasting a post in here so that people can link back to it at the source. And finally, please recommend quality posts, and not just anything in order to keep the thread from dropping down the page. It's all in fun, and FORT is ultimately a recreational forum. Thanks to pikachu for starting the thread.

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I’ll start this off with one of my favorite posts.

Who Said It: Feifer
Which Forum: General Discussion
Which Thread: Interesting Phrases From Home

Is there something that you say at home that would sound wacky anywhere else?

At our house, we once threw a piece of cheese to get the dog to go into the office so we could exit the house without him running out the front door. Since then, we just fling air and say "get the cheese" and he goes in every time. So we call it "cheesing the dog" or "putting the dog in the cheese". Would that not make you raise an eyebrow if you overheard it in someone's conversation?

I love this one because my family used to do this with our dogs, too. I wish we had been creative enough to come up with the term “cheesing the dog”.

[pikachu]

This was an excellent recap of the Naked and Afraid XL reunion show. I wish Bearcata was a producer because she could have given it better direction and shown the audience what we really wanted to see!

Who Said It: Bearcata
Which Forum: Other Reality Shows
Which Thread: Naked and Afraid - Discovery Channel

I watched the finale of the XL series again just to see if I had missed anything from the first time I had watched and if I could better understand the tiffs the groups had.

Pros:

1. They had a reunion show.
2. There were individual interviews.
3. There were interviews with some of the teams.

Cons:
1. Endless recaps of what we had already seen, a total waste of time.
2. No host, totally unorganized talking.
3. No real explanations of what really happened to cause the tiffs.

Overall there are three things we all want to know:

1. What happened between Honora, Chris and Luke.
2. What happened between Shane, Alana and Dani.
3. What happened between Dani, Eva and Laura and then between Dani and the ladies and Chris and Luke.

I didn't need to watch recaps or deleted scenes I just spent a couple of months watching and posting online I want to know what set off the arguments.

I liked that they had individual interviews. I just wish all were shown.

I liked that they had interviews with the groups I wish all those were shown.

I wish there had been a host to direct the questioning because overall the reunion show seemed a big mishmash.

When the camera focused on the Honora/Chris conflict it didn't help Chris by almost immediately attacking Honora by calling her bipolar. Why are you calling her bipolar. Editing shows that you immediately were against Honora. Is that true. Does Chris acknowledge that any of his actions were insensitive? Because that is what comes across.

In the Shane, Alana, Dani conversation, I must say I hate it when folks excuse their behavior, their words by saying that is your perception of what happened. Well, people in general are not stupid, unobservant yes, but not stupid when it comes to picking up how folks are being treated and how if someone is being nasty to you. Yes, I am talking about Alana. Alana is tactless when dealing with people and that surprises me as her bio says she is a supervisor in luxury retail and a makeup artist. I know from reading her bio that she grew up independent and can take care of herself and that probably translates into telling Shane she didn't need his help. Then there is Shane an uber male who thinks his job is to provide for the females. Can we say clash of philosophy right here and they are horrible communicators, at least to each other. I can see Alana's POV that she feels confident in her survival skills and taking care of herself but she needs to learn to work well with others. Shane also contributed to this mess and his early departure. There is nothing wrong with working hard, but there are times you need to work smart, there are times to also tell yourself that it is OK you did enough and not be so hard on yourself. I do think Shane feels insecure because he was abandoned as a child and he is constantly seeking to prove to himself that is he worthy of being loved. This is obviously a really sore subject with Shane and I truly hope he can become at peace with himself.

Dani vs the world. Again my big pet peeve we hear everyone complaining about Dani but what did she do, specifics people. Was Dani really that up and down emotionally on a daily basis? Did she ask you guys to fix her? Or where you simply tired of listening to her? Dani obviously was comfortable with being on her own, why did it bother the group so much when she went off on her own when Chris clearly stated that they were no rules that folks could go off and do what they needed to do. Chris had some very harsh, brutal opinions about Honora and Dani, why? Explain. Give examples.

Overall the explanations given by all were mostly as clear as mud and that is why I was disappointed with this season. I would have appreciated, as a loyal viewer, some better explanations, good or bad to understand the dynamics of why things happened the way they did.

[pikachu]

I came across this post today while looking through recipes. Gutmutter posted a recipe for Pickled Eggs in Beet Juice and in a later post added a funny story about the recipe. I thought it was hilarious! Obviously, it probably wasn't for Gutmutter at the time it happened.

Who Said It: Gutmutter
Which Forum: Food & Lifestyle
Which Thread: Just Recipes

Back when I was married and my kids were young, my folks were coming to visit after the "no eggs" ban. I thought I'd make the pickled beets and eggs for my dad as a special treat. They were in a huge container in the fridge. I was in the basement hanging laundry on a rack directly under the fridge and I heard a crash and purple juice started dripping down onto the clean laundry. My daughter had gotten curious, dropped the heavy bowl, ruined the pickled beets and eggs, ruined the clothes, and stained the wood floor. I screamed out my frustration (in the basement, not at her) and gave myself laryngitis and wasn't able to talk for the duration of my parents' visit.

[Gutmutter]

Thanks, pik. A reminder to us all that sometimes a challenging situation will become a funny story that is told for years to come.

[pikachu]

In a discussion about co-workers who leave a mess in the office refrigerator and don't take responsibility to clean up after themselves, Critical shared this hilarious story about her mom.

Who Said It: Critical
Which Forum: General Discussion
Which Thread: Your annoying co-worker

My favorite "cleaning out the office fridge" story comes from my mom, who was the VP at the small company where she worked for over 25 years. One day, she'd had it with the state of the fridge (and they only had one because it was a small company) and made an announcement that she was dumping anything in the fridge that wasn't labeled with anyone's name or that had clearly been in there too long. While she was tossing things into the trash, she paused with one really nice microwavable Tupperware container and thought, "Well that's a bummer. This is a nice container." Into the trash it went. A week or so later, she was packing up something to take to lunch and couldn't find the container she was looking for. Yep, you guessed it: she'd thrown out her own container!

[pikachu]

Miss Scarlet gave great advice to PGM35 about selling or keeping a house after a divorce, and included such a detailed and thoughtful rundown of the pro's and con's, I felt her post deserved to be included here:

Who Said It: Miss Scarlet
Which Forum: General Discussion
Which Thread: Share Your Good News

When I got divorced, we both wanted the house. It was where we'd raised the kids, lived, fixed it up, knew all the neighbors, & gotten very comfortable with the neighborhood. It was paid off, so house payments weren't an issue, except that whoever got the house would have to buy the other one out. The house did still need a decent amount of remodeling, and the power bills were very high. I was the one who got to live in it during the almost 2 years the divorce went on.

As I continued to live there, all the issues with it became more of an issue in my mind. Plus the issue of it being "our" house became stronger all the time. Everything there reminded me of him or us, and the circumstances around all the remodeling/changes we had made, both good and bad.
I even had many odd dreams about him being in the house. Not causing trouble, but just being there and me panicking because of it. Over & over for the whole time.
Eventually I realized I just didn't want to live in that house. I wanted those constant memories gone.
As time went on, it became more & more important in his mind, but less & less in mine, but I never told anyone that. He even made comments like "No well in h*ll is she going to get the house." I used that to my advantage by pretending I wanted it soooooooooo bad.

Well, he bought me out & I bought my now house. No attachment to him whatsoever, he never set foot in it. My house is slightly smaller, but much better set up for me. Much lower power bills. Easier to take care of. All on 1 level, so I figure I can live my life out here if I choose. Nice neighborhood. It still needed some remodeling, but not desperately, just updating. Even more making it "my" house.
I weighed buying vs renting, and buying won out by a mile. I figured if I rented, the money I got for "our" house would go toward affording of a better place. By the time I retired, it would be gone, and rent would be higher, and I would be on a fixed income. Not an optimum situation long term. But by buying, the house would be paid off by the time I retired & that expense would be gone right when I needed to cut expenses. Plus, the major remodeling could be done & paid off too. I'd be going into retirement with a small, paid off, newly remodelled home. Excellent for someone on fixed income. Plus the odd dreams stopped abruptly when I moved.

If you have any emotional attachment to your house, and providing you can afford to pay the bills, I'd suggest you wait a bit before making the decision. See how you feel about it in a year. Meanwhile, make some of the fix-ups you need to.
By then you'll know for sure if you'll be happy there or just plain want to put it behind you, like I did.
Time answers a lot of these questions.

[Miss Scarlet]

Wheeeeeee!!!!! I made the "Best of" thread.

[Punkin]

Gee. Could I get a 1 Star for "Thoughtful comment to Best of the FORT post"?