The person below me

[FossaFerox]

No, largely thanks to my genetics. Alcohol never hits me that hard. I've only ever thrown up from booze twice. Once was when my college roommate and I discovered Jameson Irish Whiskey, the other when my sister took me out to celebrate my graduation... from middle school. Gotta love New England and its rich cultural heritage of alcoholism! Anyway, I've been truly drunk (outside of the burn) maybe twice in the last year.

TPBM doesn't drink at all.

[bedlamdoll]

No, I love alcohol, though generally my interest in it is in drinking the really tasty/interesting stuff (last night: flor de Cana rum, lime juice, and orange bitters-this may be my new favorite) rather than getting drunk. In part because my tastes are expensive, but mainly in that I'm out to enjoy the drink for the sake of the drink.

TPBM believes that the pies are the best point of holiday meals.

[theCryptofishist]

Not really. Pumpkin? Not my thing. Pecan? Not my thing? I don't much like the thanksgiving standard meal to begin with, turkey is dry; yams are wonderful, but why put marshmallows on them? dressing is a little disgusting, and far too bready. It's a boring day followed by a boring meal.
tpbm is glad I didn't go into the football rant.

[Eric]

I probably would have agreed with you.


tpbm would rather watch paint dry than watch sports on t.v.

[theCryptofishist]

You know it. At least paint has aesthetic properties.
TPBM thinks that should be anesthetic properties.

[ranger magnum]

If you expose yourself to automotive paint long enough, it will knock you out.

Tpbm loathes christmas.

[Savannah]

I have a complicated relationship with Christmas. I really like Christmas trees, snow, a day or two off, and Christmas parties. I love Christmas lights and candles and eggnog and mistletoe. I also get dressed up in old-fashioned clothes and go a-wassailing with a Renn Faire group, which is really fun. But working retail customer service for a year cured me forever of gift mania. I saw so many heartsick, angry, sad people thinking gifts were salvation. But I was confronted over and over again with the fact that if some family member is a terrible person or doesn't love you, the perfect gift won't change a thing. By the same token, if you have a great relationship with someone, you can misfire or give a present late and sure--it might be slightly disappointing, but it doesn't ultimately matter if they love you, & you tried. People who complain angrily about some well-meaning relative innocently getting them a dorky gift ESPECIALLY irritate me. It's okay to bitch, but choose your audience. People with fractious or extinct families can only wish they had it so terrible.

The person below me has possibly run out of space for things, & wants experiences for Christmas . . . and will tell me what some of those would be.

[BBadger]

After I obtained the means to buy whatever I wanted, waiting for Christmas or birthdays to receive gifts just kind of lost their sparkle.

Then I started talking to my parents, notably my mom, about her experiences. She'd mention that it was one of the most stressful times of the year notably because when we were growing up, she'd have to save and plan, and stress over gifts and finances, and all that. Christmas music induced dread, and back then they'd start in December instead of after Halloween. It wasn't that the gifts were supposed to be surrogates for attention, or that there was an obsession with trying to keep up a gift-giving standard, but rather the lack of means and the required logistics of it all. The fewer number of gifts meant that those that were bought had to last and be useful for a whole year (Legos worked great). Ordering stuff meant buying months in advance to catch sales, calling to see if stuff was in stock before sending off mail-orders through catalogs -- all on a small budget. Of course we were never aware of all this growing up. For all we knew, everything was great, and it never felt lacking. But I never really realized what they went through during those times.

The worst was when I found out that one Christmas my enthusiasm for many of the gifts I had received wasn't as great as for some Gameboy game I received -- and that this disappointment to my mom was quite hurtful. All that time, expectations, effort and love -- not for anyone but her kids -- especially during those stressful times. I didn't realize it at the time, and later when I did, that cut deep. It makes you wish you could rewind and tell yourself how to act.

That was childhood. It's not about the gifts anymore. We still buy things for each other for under the tree because it is fun to watch people open presents. Many presents we already know what we're getting, because it's usually best to get something that is needed and wanted. Still, it's really about the ritual of it all, and having everyone there, and maintaining the same rituals despite being much older. I'm just glad it's not about the gifts.

Some of the rituals have been abandoned as well. We don't go pick out an ornament each year because many ornaments aren't even worth buying. We've stopped going to see the lights downtown because of the logistics of it all and because it gets really cold. We leave one set of Christmas lights on the porch all year so we don't have to put them back up (but we do stick a lit globe out there, which is easy).

In the end, I like that we've been able to agree to cut out the parts that are stressful and a "drag" to concentrate on what makes the holidays more enjoyable for what we do want out of them: the company of people, conversations, decorating things for the sake of decoration, the warm food -- all these things that aren't for keeping a "standard" that isn't important. Sometimes we'll even add stuff like some spontaneous activities like making some snow angels in the years there have been new snow, a planned theme to buy some anti-gift gift as a joke, or maybe just eating somewhere when we can make it. No forced gift exchanges, no quotas on gifts, no expectations on either side or remuneration. Why do people impose such things on themselves and others (like gift exchanges) and stress out about it? That's how it should be with the people you're comfortable with, especially when you're adults. The kids can keep the gifts.


TPBM can't stand that Christmas music begins Nov 1st, rather than Dec 1st.

[theCryptofishist]

It's dreadful crap, for the most part. Although, I'm listening to all my Brave Combo right now, and with two christmas albums, I'm hearing those songs. Luckily, it's on shuffle, so it's not eternal.
TPBM loves x-mus music so much that s/he wishes that there were more easter songs.

[Eric]

I don't really need more of somebody else's religion shoved down my throat (although, in the case of christmas, that religion has become Consumption)



tpbm would rather give unbirthday presents than any other kind

[theCryptofishist]

Sure. It's more how my mind works. Plus, Lewis Carroll...
TPBM loves to build sand castles and watch them be destroyed by the tide.

[shroom]

love to build them, gets sad when they fall

TPBM knows what wine to drink with turkey and dressing

[theCryptofishist]

Wine? I need something stronger to eat turkey, much less stuffing.
tpbm is thinking Peking Duck... And wondering if in 100 years it will be called Bejing Duck.

[fernley1]

Don't know about Peking or Bejing duck, but I like Daisy ducking.

TPBM likes shirt cockers.

[FossaFerox]

And so the thread died.

In all seriousness, I don't have a problem with shirt cockers automatically, though the kind of person who would choose to shirt cock would probably have a better chance of rubbing me the wrong way.

TPBM appreciates the difference between nudity for the sake of being naked and nudity for the sake of making yourself a spectacle.

[Savannah]

I do appreciate the difference, because I'm fond of solitary nudity in the middle of nowhere, but public nudity is not for me--even as I respect it &/or am totally happy for those who do. (Shirtcocking doesn't [generally] fall into either of those categories, and that's why I don't like it. It always comes off as either shame-filled, or sneaky.)

The person below me will tell me their favorite old movie.

[lucky420]

One of my favorites is "Welcome to the Dollhouse"

Tpbm is quite happy to stay home all weekend and work on projects (& tell us what it is)

[theCryptofishist]

Oh, I'm at work. There's maybe one more person on the floor...
At any rate, I'd rather have the leave on another day...
TPBM wonders what the hell I'm saving it for, now that I'm not going to ttitd.

[Eric]

It's not like ttitd is the only thing on the planet to do. Personally, I always like a trip to NYC.


tpbm has a favorite silent film

[theCryptofishist]

I'll be a good little burner and say Metropolis.
TPBM has big plans.

[fernley1]

My big plan this year is to have no big plan this year, just enjoy what comes my way. And to go to BM again in 2014.

TPBM is getting tired of eating turkey.

[Eric]

haven't eaten it in 26 years, have no desire to.



tpbm is getting tired of drinking all the wine

[ranger magnum]

Better to drink the wine than the Koolaid. But I drink neither so I guess its ok.

Tpbm has not left the house today.

[lucky420]

It's true, I haven't. I feel a little guilty for it and I'm not sure why.

Tpbm remembers their first kiss

[Ratty]

No. But I may tonight at work while the office is empty.

TPBM wonders why everything is 'pumpkin flavored' in November. (If it was that great wouldn't it be available all year?)

[Savannah]

I don't wonder, but I do find it a little annoying. Pumpkin pie's okay, but the only pumpkin-flavored thing I truly seek out is Pumpkin Ale (Buffalo Bill's Brewery). I'll probably have to hunt it down.

The person below me gets creeped out when people rush to be the first to post about a celebrity death.

[theCryptofishist]

Unfortunately, I remember volunteering at a studio radio station in the 80s that had a news wire, and I was on that thing waiting for Liberace to die.
tpbm casts any stones s/he wants.

[Savannah]

The number of my stones gone un-thrown could build the loveliest garden wall!

The person below me will tell me the last song they were obsessed with.

[theCryptofishist]

Maybe Katiusha. Maybe not.
tpbm is experiencing bliss this weekend.

[Eric]

If by "bliss" you mean shoving a big bowl of spicy spaghetti in my face while not working tonight, yes.


tpbm also defines "bliss" with food.