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Yesterday~
8 years ago
I'm going to preface this by saying y'all are amazing. I told one little story and I got a bunch of atta boys and pats on the back. Hell I even heard back from Brokken when we haven't spoken pretty much at all for years (not that we're not friends, we just live far apart and rarely cross paths).
Now then, with regards to yesterday's story, I want to establish an analogy. If you don't like your neighbor, you have every right to stay in your yard and call them whatever you feel like, post notes by your door, tell them their mother was a hamster and father smelt of elderberries, whatever. Once you jump the fence and confront them in their yard or do things anywhere else than your yard, you've escalated things to a new level. This is where we're at. I'm not on the hunt to chase someone down or bury them or whatever. I'm here, sitting on my porch, enjoying a beer and watching critters walk past my fence while I bitch about things. Yay America!
What I posted was a simple story. It was refuted by the targeted party, and supported by the other person in the know. It drew an immediate defensive response that ran through a huge list of things and completely ignored the point of the story. So what could I hope to gain from dredging up a 10+ year old argument? Nothing actually. I just found it cathartic to share. I've been carrying the burden of knowing all this year after year. Brok is a quiet guy and lets this stuff go. I do the same usually and saw nothing but hurt coming out of it if I ever shared the story, so it didn't seem particularly productive to get it out there.
From the responses I'm seeing, some of you are oddly okay with character theft some 10 years after the fact because he's been doing it so long that it's clearly his. While in that respect I'll agree the character has been established long enough it might as well be his character, it misses the point that it could've been avoided entirely by not buying or trading for the suit and then keeping the name and art on top of that. How hard is it to change the name and a tuft of hair and get new art, seriously?
Now to the crux (yay cruxes!) of today's big question from the group. Why post this now then? - frustration mostly
As some of you know I've been a frequent customer with Squeak Latex having spent over 5K with Oz in around a year's time. He delivered just fine on the first three suits which were the roo, the tiger and the lion. At some point his infamous journal about getting ripped off to the tune of 10K in orders popped up and left me and several others high and dry. Months went by without any quantifiable updates on progress. Never short of excuses and "my supplier doesn't tell me anything" lines we have been asked to endure while he sorts out his life. If we push too hard he deflects or turtles behind the usual woe is me rant that you see on his side at the moment.
About a month ago, at the end of a year and a half of waiting I finally took delivery of my pink bunny. He tweeted a joyous tweet about the bunny as if celebrating it as a part of his stock available for sale. I made a vaguely critical retweet expressing that it was one of three suits still due to me. Almost immediately I receive a ridiculously long message via Telegram that I'm being a downer and not helping him at all. At no point did I demand a delivery schedule or harass him constantly about any of the suits. He eventually weaves his way around to telling me that I've hurt him and he doesn't want to deal with me anymore so he's forcing me to take a refund. I told him I'd happily wait for the suits but got dropped stone cold at the refund for being an "aggressive customer".
I lit into him with a response that was extremely vitriolic, so much so to the point I slept on it overnight before working up the determination to send it. The note was meant as final response not looking for one coming back. I said I would stay in my yard and scream about him and he could stay in his yard and scream about me. Instead he fired back with another woe is me response, called me a variety of bad things and tried to guilt trip me for the failures he perpetuates. Telling me at the time he was in debt over 40K Australian (not my problem bud - also how the heck did he tack on another 20K in debt on that in the last month?!)
In that time I've seen him sell an inflatable suit, travel out of the country (fine that one I can grant him given family), and continue to post under the Squeak Label with a brand that is financially dead. Even the latest post says to watch out because they'll have ready made stuff to sell eventually. Really? He can't get his backlog orders completed with any reliability but there's time to get 'ready made' stuff brought in from the same supplier to sell? All the while I've not seen that refund. If you're going to force me to take a refund and then get defensive when I get pissed because you haven't delivered on that? Tough shit. Grow up. Don't make bad choices (see Duke story) and not expect consequences for it.
This morning his husband messaged me to ask to cool things down and talk it out. At the same time I'm reading through a journal that, while not naming names, clearly calls out one evil person who is "bipolar" and alone in life because of being such a horrible person. I know he's meaning that for me, particularly because he called me bipolar in one of his ranty responses a couple of months ago. So while one side is trying to engage me calmly the other is out there being the same old shit. That's why we're getting another of these today to explain things instead of retreading this in private.
As to the last subject regarding my apparent 'handicap'. It's stunning that I've managed to do well enough to buy a house & a condo, sell those both at a loss and get back into another house. Keep a couple of my Mustangs while adding that fantastic new Focus RS. Remain a stalwart figure in the design firm I work at pulling in good money and helping design highway bridges (oh lordy we all gonna die - crazy man is designing bridges!) using that Associate of Arts degree I earned. On the subject of living alone, it's a choice. I work my ass off at my job and like having a place to myself at the end of the day. I'm not entirely closed off to sharing it with the right someone but it's just never been a priority.
Don't point fingers calling me bipolar and then tell me you're ready to go hang yourself. Fuck off Oz.
Now then, with regards to yesterday's story, I want to establish an analogy. If you don't like your neighbor, you have every right to stay in your yard and call them whatever you feel like, post notes by your door, tell them their mother was a hamster and father smelt of elderberries, whatever. Once you jump the fence and confront them in their yard or do things anywhere else than your yard, you've escalated things to a new level. This is where we're at. I'm not on the hunt to chase someone down or bury them or whatever. I'm here, sitting on my porch, enjoying a beer and watching critters walk past my fence while I bitch about things. Yay America!
What I posted was a simple story. It was refuted by the targeted party, and supported by the other person in the know. It drew an immediate defensive response that ran through a huge list of things and completely ignored the point of the story. So what could I hope to gain from dredging up a 10+ year old argument? Nothing actually. I just found it cathartic to share. I've been carrying the burden of knowing all this year after year. Brok is a quiet guy and lets this stuff go. I do the same usually and saw nothing but hurt coming out of it if I ever shared the story, so it didn't seem particularly productive to get it out there.
From the responses I'm seeing, some of you are oddly okay with character theft some 10 years after the fact because he's been doing it so long that it's clearly his. While in that respect I'll agree the character has been established long enough it might as well be his character, it misses the point that it could've been avoided entirely by not buying or trading for the suit and then keeping the name and art on top of that. How hard is it to change the name and a tuft of hair and get new art, seriously?
Now to the crux (yay cruxes!) of today's big question from the group. Why post this now then? - frustration mostly
As some of you know I've been a frequent customer with Squeak Latex having spent over 5K with Oz in around a year's time. He delivered just fine on the first three suits which were the roo, the tiger and the lion. At some point his infamous journal about getting ripped off to the tune of 10K in orders popped up and left me and several others high and dry. Months went by without any quantifiable updates on progress. Never short of excuses and "my supplier doesn't tell me anything" lines we have been asked to endure while he sorts out his life. If we push too hard he deflects or turtles behind the usual woe is me rant that you see on his side at the moment.
About a month ago, at the end of a year and a half of waiting I finally took delivery of my pink bunny. He tweeted a joyous tweet about the bunny as if celebrating it as a part of his stock available for sale. I made a vaguely critical retweet expressing that it was one of three suits still due to me. Almost immediately I receive a ridiculously long message via Telegram that I'm being a downer and not helping him at all. At no point did I demand a delivery schedule or harass him constantly about any of the suits. He eventually weaves his way around to telling me that I've hurt him and he doesn't want to deal with me anymore so he's forcing me to take a refund. I told him I'd happily wait for the suits but got dropped stone cold at the refund for being an "aggressive customer".
I lit into him with a response that was extremely vitriolic, so much so to the point I slept on it overnight before working up the determination to send it. The note was meant as final response not looking for one coming back. I said I would stay in my yard and scream about him and he could stay in his yard and scream about me. Instead he fired back with another woe is me response, called me a variety of bad things and tried to guilt trip me for the failures he perpetuates. Telling me at the time he was in debt over 40K Australian (not my problem bud - also how the heck did he tack on another 20K in debt on that in the last month?!)
In that time I've seen him sell an inflatable suit, travel out of the country (fine that one I can grant him given family), and continue to post under the Squeak Label with a brand that is financially dead. Even the latest post says to watch out because they'll have ready made stuff to sell eventually. Really? He can't get his backlog orders completed with any reliability but there's time to get 'ready made' stuff brought in from the same supplier to sell? All the while I've not seen that refund. If you're going to force me to take a refund and then get defensive when I get pissed because you haven't delivered on that? Tough shit. Grow up. Don't make bad choices (see Duke story) and not expect consequences for it.
This morning his husband messaged me to ask to cool things down and talk it out. At the same time I'm reading through a journal that, while not naming names, clearly calls out one evil person who is "bipolar" and alone in life because of being such a horrible person. I know he's meaning that for me, particularly because he called me bipolar in one of his ranty responses a couple of months ago. So while one side is trying to engage me calmly the other is out there being the same old shit. That's why we're getting another of these today to explain things instead of retreading this in private.
As to the last subject regarding my apparent 'handicap'. It's stunning that I've managed to do well enough to buy a house & a condo, sell those both at a loss and get back into another house. Keep a couple of my Mustangs while adding that fantastic new Focus RS. Remain a stalwart figure in the design firm I work at pulling in good money and helping design highway bridges (oh lordy we all gonna die - crazy man is designing bridges!) using that Associate of Arts degree I earned. On the subject of living alone, it's a choice. I work my ass off at my job and like having a place to myself at the end of the day. I'm not entirely closed off to sharing it with the right someone but it's just never been a priority.
Don't point fingers calling me bipolar and then tell me you're ready to go hang yourself. Fuck off Oz.
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