Welcome to Best and Worst of the week, our Friday tradition here at Mamamia.
We all have different views on what makes our week a positive or negative one, but I believe that if you look back and can say you’ve had at least one heartfelt laugh, then it was a good week.
This week, I got lucky. I laughed so hard, tears were falling and my ‘abs’ were sore. I was giving my tenants the shits with my echoing cackle — but I couldn’t help it, it was that funny.
Here’s how the story went (with illustrations. You’re welcome.)
WORST:
So it all kicked off with my sister’s laziness.
We have this small bathroom. So tight and confined. If one product is left on the sink top, it feels like someone is blocking your way on the escalator when you’re in a desperate rush to make it to the soon-to-depart train.
So, as you could imagine, if my sister or myself leave something lying around, we get pretty mad at each other.
Our bathroom only has one power board, which is located as far away from the sink and mirror as possible. So when we’ve finished using our hair dryer and what not, they intercept the toilet.
Nothing annoys me more than when I am desperate for the loo but I have to venture through obstacles to get there (aka moving my sister’s straightener out of the way).
But when there’s a will, there’s a way!
SOLUTION: Buy a rack to place electrical devices in. Solved!
Yay, clear access to toilet=no obstacles=neat tidy sister=happy home=woo!
The little things can overjoy me.
This was the best idea.
Or so I thought — until THIS happened:
Oh, the irony. I tried to make it easier for my sister and me to use the toilet – no cords and no obstacles. But this neat little rack ended up being evil. Or maybe I knocked into the cord. Either way, the rack was a bad idea!
“Steph..!” I yelled in agony.
“Bye, Nat!” *Door slams.8=*
“Remorseless,” I muttered to myself, rubbing my spine.
BEST:
After the hair dryer incident, I thought I really ought to get rid of that evil rack. But I never did. I figured, “If it happened once, what are the odds of it happening again?” It was a silly vein of thought, really — but one I don’t regret because of the hearty laugh I got out of it last night.
I was sitting on the couch watching television when the phone rang. It was my sister Steph.
“Hey Nat.”
“Hey, what’s up?”
“That bloody hair dryer fell on my wrist and it’s bruised now!”
BOOM. Karma.
OMM: I’ve been having a few self-doubty thoughts like this lately: “When will I find my niche? Will I ever be good at anything?”
The best advice I give myself when I have those thoughts is this:
Let’s stop thinking in the future and start living in the moment. Let’s think about what we have that genuinely makes us happy and if something doesn’t make you happy, change it.
Do you agree?
Now, your turn. Let’s hear highlights and lowlights!
Natalie is from Canberra (unfortunately). But all good because she made her way to Melbourne and is now in her fourth year at RMIT studying Multimedia Systems in Design. She has a passion for writing, hence her being a Mamamia intern. She loves the team here :)
Top Comments
Late to the game with this one.
Best: trying to kick a particularly bad and addictive habit of mine and I'm coping okay. Which is great news for everyone around me!
Worst: I have to drop Latin. I'm failing and not coping with failing with leads me to destructive things so I'm dropping it and trying again next year. Dreading telling my lecturer because he has sad, puppy dog eyes!
OMM: mostly kicking my habit and figuring out what to fill my time with!
Hello everyone,
We've been getting a lot of strong feedback on this thread. And, I assure you, we've been reading it. Here are some responses to two of the most common concerns:
1. 'Best and Worst isn't on the front page.'
This is our bad. We should be always checking to make sure that Best and Worst is on the front page. However, if it is not, please understand that we have not relegated it to page 2 out of malice.
Our content ordering system is time-based. This means that the newest content goes to the top of the homepage, and we then manipulate the 'published' time to change the order manually. So, if Best and Worst gets pushed onto the second page, it is only because we have published too many things after it, and forgotten to adjust its time so that it remains on the front of the site.
2. 'My comment didn't get put through for XX hours.'
Friday (and Saturday) nights are hard for us at MM, because we don't have the human resources to clear comments with the same regularity as during the day, or on weekday nights. We run out of three cities in the same time zone, so we're sure you can understand that this inevitably means there are times when it's going to be hard to have the sort of regularity in clearing comments that you have come to expect from visiting the website at other times in the week.
We know that this isn't ideal, but our moderation team is made up of people, not robots, and this is the best solution at present.
So, please, do not think that we have forgotten about Best & Worst. We're really proud of the community that exists on this site and we think that, even though the site is changing, the MM community still has worth.
Mary x
PS: Can I suggest kitchener buns as the next recipe challenge? They look incredible, and far superior to the Hot Line Buns my local Woolies is selling. (Seriously, if you put a cross on them in January, you can put a cross on them now...)
Oh Mary....
Thanks for replying to us Mary!
May I also suggest that the fluff articles are reduced to one a day? With many stories on the one post not each story getting there own post. I think this is why the really good articles get lost and less comments are written on them.
While I am sure MM'ers dont mind fluff, I think it's crazy having so many fluff posts a day!
Lol ... ol ... ol ... ! Best post so far.
Thanks for taking the time to post this reply letting us know how it all works. i think as you say, we do tend to underestimate the sheer weight of traffic you're coping with.
A couple of things in particular struck me reading this.
1.Wow, manually adjusting the time every time B&W goes off the front page seems really labour intensive. Is there no way to separate B&W from the regular news feed so that the flow of new stuff coming through doesn't warrant this so often? I love checking MM for new articles, too - moving B&W wouldn't change this.
Or no way to automatically 'reset' its time every two hours or so? Or every hour if it needs it?
2. I completely get why people don't want to work Fridays and Saturdays - I wouldn't either. So could B&W be moved to another day? Maybe amalgamate it with Open Post on a Wednesday, or move it to Monday - whatever works.