you're not home for the holidays: irritating work shifts, enforced solitude, and furtive visits to bars that are still open this time of year

whaddup.

god, i am seriously very envious.

I am reading Capote and listening to that new Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs comp since no bosses are around.

I really wanted to take my bartendress home last night something awful. I know it's bad when I've devolved back to the "any girl who brings me a drink is hot" level

this is awesome

I slept in one of our rooms from 7:15am to 2:50pm and got the best sleep I've gotten in months.

The thick curtain blocking out all sunlight & the utter silence & the big bed helped I'm sure.

I like the way amazon has the tracklisting done up so the artists' names seem like part of the title

this is terrible to admit but last year on my santa shift I went in the server room and took a nap on my jacket

on the other hand they weren't even paying us shift differential or overtime for that crap so fuck that job

I have been known to sneak into the kitchen cage and steal warm soda and danishes when no one is around.

ie I'm gonna go do that right now.

It's me and a very dapper and preachy schizophrenic in this Starbucks, and a gaggle of girls.

I thought this guy was talking on his phone, he's rugged/dapper straight out of an Orvis catalog, and then he asks me to repeat after him "The moment I saw the green grass was Jesus."

That's a great line, man.

I don't know why I can never manage to write when I'm at work. The flip side of setting up a great workspace & "get-into-the-zone" routine is that when I'm not in said workspace I have a hard time doing anything creative.

jesus just gave me a man in a black jacket puking pathetically by himself at 7:15 pm while leaning on the wall. to make me feel better.

I'm all waiting for the atm to spit my money out thinking "why is someone behind me pouring a drink out on the ground only a little bit at a time?"

i've progressed to "spin in my chair cause i'm bored" levels guys

on the upside, i am not pouring a drink out a little bit at a time

my cat is singing along to the jim carroll band because you brought up basketball diaries

I'm all waiting for the atm to spit my money out thinking "why is someone behind me pouring a drink out on the ground only a little bit at a time?"

-- El Tomboto, Monday, December 24, 2007 4:24 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

For his dead homies.

pukin' for the homies

guys i just spent 10 minutes looking for a jpeg of alicia silverstone going "rollin with the homies" in clueless

that actually happened

pukin' for the homies

i.e., ethan's night out?!?

i laid out on a park bench at the dog park today and almost driften into slumber. with the sun on my face and the sound of city busses driving by it felt like chicago in the springtime. so not christmas.

drifteD

i have to get off the computer and pull records for this shitty party tonite. then drive to work and set up sound system for xmas eve service. and sound system for xmas morning brunch. i think i can get away w/ not going in tomorrow though.

asian cougar mentioned on cougar thread will be at party!

*hangs head in shame*

i am eating some pistachios

my microwave is kind of a sarcastic prick

I pushed the "POPCORN" button and when it was done it said "ENJOY YOUR MEAL"

popcorn is never, never a meal

it is like food that says fuck you, lazypants

Perfect soundtrack for existential Christmas Eve: "Baker Street" is on the radio right now.

yeah I think I'd appreciate the honesty of a microwave that called me a lazy asshole every other time I opened the door

I am finally getting out of here in like half an hour.

I think this will be the first time I've spent 24 consecutive hours in the workplace.

i just submitted billing that was due 10 days ago when i was in chicago.

in chicago, getting trained on how to do my job by various people including but not limited to the blowsy lady in the billing department.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand i am OUT, doggies.

mele kalikimaka, hoos

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2359/2134908170_2f76cf9cfc_o.jpg

ok i think i'm going to catch the last 15 minutes of the candlelight service before i get out of here because that shit is ingrained in me.

god bless us everyone and to all a good nite.

oh my god this sucks so bad

I have not anticipated getting home and going to bed this avidly in like years

I did indeed go to a bar for part of last night and met the fashion editor for the weekly paper here. She was pretty and also turned out to be the girlfriend of a guy I play poker with.

sympathy for xmas workers

Popcorn instead of meals, crime-procedural marathons on cable, getting drunk with random English lesbian schoolteachers at the corner bar ... this is what Christmas is all about!

i got home after 2 p.m. i did come home at noon during my lunch break and everyone was still getting up and getting over here. it's a present orgy now. nice though. i'm so tired. went to bed - drunk - at 11:30 and woke up at 4 AM(!!!) and waited for my alarm clock to go off at five. the hospital was mellow. free buffet in the cafeteria. everyone was groggy. not a bad day though. and i got double time, so all is well.

all I have for lunch out here is a salami + emmentaler that I brought from home and this tub of pretzel rods I found in the break room
I have to admit when I decided to pack my weird euro deli lunch I wasn't really thinking about what the drink options were here
Mountain Dew is not the ideal accompaniment to herbs de provence and cave aged cheese

it's been ok so far. fortunately the new girl who i am working with is an absolute treat; beautiful, funny and carefree. we celebrated christmas by sharing a packet of beef flavoured crisps and drinking jagermeisters. i'm totally smitten man!

Lay down a bed of pretzels, cover with crumbled cheese and diced salami. Microwave into a pile of melted-cheesy goodness = Nachos Rhineland style!

oh dear god

that made me almost pour a drink out a little bit at a time

Der Rheinenpretzelkase.

John Justen and Fluffy Bear will eat it - "der rheinenplasty."

wow what a weird christmas eve.

deejaying on the hugest system ive ever played on
drunk stylists
rude bartenders
wakiki's only country & western bar at 3:00 AM
cougar

and i ended up not having to go into work today.
dog park
huge, fat rainbow perfectly framing honolulu
insanely crowded brand new safeway
breakfast burrito

i feel awesome today.

balance in the universe then

:(

I'M HAVING A RICE CAKE X-MAS BECAUSE THAT'S ALL I HAVE IN MY PANTRY, I HAVE 0 DOLLARS AND EVERYTHING'S CLOSED

;_: that sucks bad

so my coworker dragged me to her aunt's house for xmas dinner and it was great and now I'm so stuffed I can't even open my christmas package from the in-laws

so tired, so full

also I made friends with another antisocial jack russell. I get along with 'em real easy for some reason.

<3

Was meant to be doing this, but an icy bike fall left me broken armed and unable to work. I'm now the hated at my workplace.

I brought whiskey to work on the 24th. That was pretty fun.

bump 4 not home for holidays crew

Already?

just getting in the holiday spirit.

i wonder how early i can leave the office today.

i wonder how early i can leave the office today.

― u aint messin w/ my dengue (gr8080), Thursday, December 23, 2010 2:56 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Last one left here now. Officially closed, but I have to wait for my wife to get here.

i wonder how early i can leave the office today.

― u aint messin w/ my dengue (gr8080), Thursday, December 23, 2010 2:56 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

― lyrics is weak ... like clock radio similies (deej), Thursday, December 23, 2010 10:59 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

-got invited to dinner with this nice couple I went to college with who moved here around the same time I did
-they made vegetarian chili just for me
-went to the club I DJ at's xmas party
-the Santa suit was worn by 4 different people: 2 haoles, 1 asian and a black dude
-bounced to a different club where I saw some other people
-Hollywood producer bro bought me a drink
-what am I gonna do tomorrow??

"simply having a wonderful christmastime" - sir paul mccartney

Off work today & Christmas Day, but working the Boxing Day 12-6pm shift on my lonesome, so am unable to make the trip home this year for the first time in my 30 years...

Going to brave the supermarket to go buy a christmas dinner feast for one now, then take a walk in the beautifully snowy park before settling down for the night in with acres of top-quality drink, phone calls home and skype etc with the better half (800 miles away, very sadly).

pukin' for the homies

― El Tomboto, Tuesday, December 25, 2007 12:41 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark

what a rad post this is

my mom made me skype in to family dinner the other night

Like the video conferencing scene in 'Demolition Man'?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDpg580OfC0

I'm hoping to skype into the present opening portion of the day tomorrow with my family back home...

see thats fun, id be down for that

skyping in to watch everyone eat ham while i sit bearded in the dark and answer questions like 'so what kind of money are you making now?' is not my idea of fun tbh

i basically just have to show up to work for two hours; then i get to go home and not really do much of anything. maybe i'll re-watch the community xmas episode.

kinda hoping my fav local thai restaurant is open because their thai bbq chicken is *bomb*

It would be fun, yes.

The walking my mum through installing and setting up Skype over the phone beforehand is another matter...

I mean I guess I'm home and all but this is so anti-climactic. I work til 9pm tonight and then I'm in at 6am on the 26th. Also have to be in at 8 on the 1st :(

I worked til midnight on Cmas eve when I was in retail. But I only lived an hour's drive from home so I just made the trek and kinda enjoyed the extremity of it. There was usually a blizzard to drive through. Okay, a light snowstorm.

Successfully fended off an attempt to have me work 11 hours on Christmas Day for a nasty, picky patient and her yelling, screaming demented husband.

its a christmas miracle!

I'm assuming that I'll suffer for it later, though. I'm thinking of handing in my notice in a few weeks.

I got told I could leave work at noon by this trainer, who was leaving to go to a strip club. It turns out, he was supposed to stay with us until 2:30, when my shift ends, meaning I was forced to sit there and do nothing, but also not leave, for 2.5 hours.

Ended up being called again by the night/weekends dispatcher and found myself saying yes to a six-hour shift there. With my regular Saturday patient, it would mean a full ten hours working, with me coming home at midnight. (And I would be getting up at five the next morning for my Sunday patient.) I was called while out shopping; it took a lot of mental effort not to drive into a tree on the way home.

Made a bit of a fuss at work and got the boss to let us go at 6:30. Now stuck at my sister's house to watch her dogs. On my own so I'm opening up the scotch, the Bailey's, and the beer. A Christmas Tale is on Sundance in half a hour.

LET'S DO THIS

• went to candlelight service at a church
• it was nice but my butt hurts from sitting on that pew for an hour and a half
• bar I DJ at closed early foiling my plans to get drunk w/o spending much $$
• am at friendly bar accross the street drinking whiskey
• might just say fuck it and buy a 4loko

grady's butthurt xmas

you're welcome.

glad I'm not the only one who had to endure an awkward Skype session. was just about to complain about how lame Japanese tv is, but now I'm watching a doc about NYC that appears to be soundtracked by instrumental passages from The Nightfly :D:D:D

Wow, what is it called???

I Skyped with my aunt in New Zealand last night when she woke up on Christmas Day. It was really great to see her and talk.

So far today I have been out to a gig (Glasgow even has experimental live improvised music on Christmas Day!), risking my neck on the most horrendous roads for cycling to do so, tidied to kitchen in preparation for culinary feats and am now beginning to cook my christmas feast for one. Waiting for the family back on the Wirral to return from their christmas lunch before we do the present opening together via Skype hopefully, perhaps even simultaneously with my girlfriend over in Sweden...

Feeling good.

while i sit bearded in the dark

awesome descript, metaphor for life imo

One of my nephews on my husband's side wanted us to Skype into his Christmas celebration. It took a bit of effort to get him to understand that we'd gotten our Internet connection turned off for non-payment and we wouldn't be able to pay it off and get it turned back on in time for Christmas. (He's one of those people who doesn't really get the concept of poverty.)

ty that was one of those small posting gems i am proud of xp

All is still going well.

My christmas feast for one was a resounding success, I am duly stuffed. Skyped into the present opening with the family and got some lovely gifts. The video calling kind of worked and did make for a feeling of connection.

Now about to Skype with the Swedish side for a shared 800-mile-apart christmas pudding experience...

Glad tidings to you all, alone or otherwise today.

i have tix for this tonight:

http://www.cinefamily.org/calendar/events.html#mondoxmas

canter's deli is down the street... perhaps they'll be open and i can get a christmas pastrami sandwich!

pastrami is always a christmas miracle

truth bomb

^^^

• 2 hour phone call w/ my family
• heading to rap video house for eating drinking and maybe swimming

• picked up a bottle of red, a bottle of Jameson, and three cans of (real) 4loko

dad & his gf went to bed... waiting maybe 15 minutes before i head out onto the porch for a few puffs on ye olde weed pipe. watching lotr. just watched srsly like 3 hours of STORAGE WARS and not a single locker opened up had a record collection in it! continuing to drink jim beam.

oops wrong thread

just watched srsly like 3 hours of STORAGE WARS and not a single locker opened up had a record collection in it!

got irl sad for an ian when I read this

GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!!!!!!!

amen

holiday cheer!
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/f8b2e175.jpg

storage wars is so dope

there's a cute girl here who designs sun hats for a living how cute is that

This actually ended up as the best christmas I have had for many years - this is both a happy & slightly sad realisation.

good burger is on. just sayin.

take it to COGH

my xmas was really awesome. i did some work on the shack, then we visited the mass memorial grave for the Jonestown people who died, then ate chinese food, wandered around chinatown, and eventually came home and got stoned. all with like my best friends from out here. it felt like xmas, but not stressful and repressive.

So not like Xmas at all then?

yeah. right!

back in the Brooklyn bastille for the 'blizzard.' Wasn't a half-bad 2-day trip, even with mom and sis complaining about each other to me. And the 4-year-old puking all over last night.

Staying at home meant that I even got to go to a gig on christmas day - the glasgow noise underground never stops!

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/s3/v23/p828948361-2.jpg

is that in the duck, or is that someone's house?

is that Robert from Life Without Buildings on guitar?

It was at the Flying Duck and that is Jer Reid on guitar. It was part of this month long series of improvised duets that he is doing: Winter Cycle

OK confession time: the thing is, until I was seventeen years old, I actually did think pastrami was its own separate type of animal. I didn't know what they were but I imagined them kind of a cute, pikachu-ish thing, but like brown, not electric yellow. One day, I was at a deli with my mom and she said she wished she could have pastrami, so I told her to get one, to which she replied, "I don't eat beef." I was like, but a pastrami is not a cow. And she looked at me incredulously and just said, "Shut the fuck up! What is wrong with you?"
Keep in mind I grew up in the same condo complex as a kid who thought a bull terrier was a camel.

― Allyzay, Wednesday, March 3, 2004 1:35 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark

speaking of pastrami being an xmas miracle^^

i don't go home until after the new year and i'm fine with that -- not that we celebrate xmas anyway, we'd just be going out for chinese food and hitting the multiplex.

working 24+ tomorrow, die hard and frozen pizza tonight, merry fukkin christmas

Cigarettes, dr pepper, pan of baked beans w/exploded sausages in it

Line manager says that we'll be allowed to leave an hour early tomorrow if we get the calls in the queue below a certain amount. This is clearly bullshit, regardless of whether it's deliberate or through inexperience. Really wish the two older colleagues who are currently off were here because they'd help me pour scorn on this. As it is I'm stuck with a bunch of younger colleagues who are treating this like some team building exercise and will no doubt work through their lunch breaks. Sharp learning curve ahead for them. Even if said line manager is sincere in this offer, it's not going to happen because no-one is around to have their calls closed. So either way he's going to close out tomorrow looking like a lower middle management shitheel. Good job everybody, indeed...

I've spent so many days sleeping in the last few weeks I'm gonna have to work xmas and through the weekend to make up the hours. I'm not doing xmas at all this year so I don't really care.

i really regret offering to work this week since it involved me getting scheduled every fucking night this week

Retailing christmas eve and boxing day this year and some more around hogmanay. Christmas all but abandoned.

Whatever the line manager's intentions, we were let go an hour early anyway, despite not having reduced the calls below the target. Turns out that there's no point in staying in the office if none of the customers are around. voicemail voicemail voicemail this phone is switched off voicemail voicemail

I was at home but, as I seem to stupidly do every year, I stupidly came back to work for two stupid and pointless days between Christmas and New Year's. And, between the dearth of work and the slowness of ILX, I can tell already I'm going to be losing my mind by the end of the day tomorrow.

let's skype some improv scenes, dude

ha I love these empty office workdays. slow ILX, however...

Three pointless and stupid days at work for me. At least tomorrow we get let off an hour early tomorrow. There were so many people asking that a senior manager sent round an email effectively saying 'whatever, just go home'.

lol I searched my inbox earlier to see if we got let out early last year on NYE. We did, thank God.

if they don't let us off at noon or 3pm at the latest tomorrow i wil raaaage

I just got back in the office this morning after taking a week off and I've already put in for a half day off tomorrow.

Stuck on the 3 day xmas-new year window on my own, the only good thing about it is its 38C hre today (thats like 100F or some shit right?) and the office has fierce aircon which my house doesnt have, so theres that.

Still have to work til 4 tho :(

Off at 2 PM today. Haven't got a thing to do until then, though I did throw away a ton of no-longer-needed paperwork off my desk and delete a lot of equally redundant files from my desktop, so when I come back on Monday I will look organized and efficient to anyone who's looking (which no one is, of course).

Left an hour early. Three people came in this morning, that was it.

Been told we're actually closing at 1 (in 58 minutes, by my clock).

no word yet

fml

put a cardboard cutout of michael jordan attached to a turntable in your cube and go home

I can think of few NYEs in the last 15 years that weren't disappointing in proportion to expectations. When you've got friends in town and you've hung out five out of seven nights a week, the pressure To Do Something on NYE shouldn't feel so noxious.

3pm weee

3:30 star wars showing :D

hiiii

Still have the guests who never heard the Benjamin Franklin adage, don't know whether I will break my record for incredible patience or just break.

So I have sort of the inverse situation of the purpose of this thread but...

I left work early yesterday and today because there was no-one around. I wonder if a senior manager will deign to officially let us go an hour earlier this year? Either way, we'll probably e leaving early tomorrow as well.

yep leaving early tomorrow

this place is so dead

freeways are basically empty

if la wld stay like this all the time id consider moving here permanently

I had a task I thought might give me something to do for the next two days and it took under an hour

We're at the point where a task that would have taken one of us twenty minutes (disassemble an old piece of gear) took... three of us twenty minutes.

off today, tomorrow & monday
this is as much of a vacation as I’ve had in god knows when

weeeeee

Left work an hour early, yay.

attaboy

still got a couple hours here

It was a perfect storm (literally in some aspects) of 1) everyone just got paid, 2) Friday before a Bank Holiday weekend, and 3) slashing down with rain most of the day.

Now I'm actually at home and the rain has wrecked the phone lines so much that my internet speed has slowed to a crawl and the only site that works properly is ILX. Guess I'm going to be spending even more of the next three days hanging out here than I planned.

can't wait for everyone to leave to give me some peace, then to come back so Xmas can be done with this year

user name does not check out!

both parents and a brother have RSV, dad hospitalised with pneumonia. Xmas is Not Happening. last year it Didn't Happen cos of my own illness. everyone is just ill at Xmas now. the dream has flown. what to do eh

I guess there's an age where you have to transition between going to relatives for Xmas and doing Xmas yourself. Becoming the Xmas

Innocence is over

Had I known this would happen I'd have joined my gf in Ireland for her family Xmas, but I don't think that's an option now. Any ideas?

That’s shit, hope your dad gets past this soon. You could go to Ireland but you’ll be looking at about £250+ for a return.

sorry to hear it lj

also we took a vote and as a nation we agreed to quote you at least 250 quid return to put you off coming here

xp

Actually skyscanner says you could go today & come back on the 29th for £155 with aer lingus? Gatwick any good to you?

and then from dublin airport there's that interminable bus through the big tunnel then the train service to enniscorthy that might not even be running this time of year. don't think at this notice it's happening

ooh hmm

https://i.postimg.cc/FsC7GV60/IMG-3399.jpg

trains be running until this eve

i mean ideally the return is the plane my gf's getting, otherwise it's a bit silly

i fear this is all a bit late. not going to demand my gf's family drive from wexford to dublin airport on xmas eve to pick me up lol

literally 12 quid train from Connolly to enniscorthy after 6pm lad

but is there a plane that gets in by 4

i will check

oh there is. hmm

sorry for the sucky family health situation dude

ty, it does happen

LJ did you decide what to do

apparently there's basically no spare room at their house and she's coming back by ferry anyway which would mean buying a rail ticket and I'd miss loads of work so I am going to Tough It Out

we plan to go to Ireland for my birthday though! And check out some Other Bits than the usual (deems alert)

(I mean the west obv)

time to pick up a random video game and indulge imo, if you're that wau inclined

get well soon imagofam

we are in Merida, Mexico until late next week, house/dog sitting for a friend. planning on spending the day calling various relatives and cooking at home. chill vibez only.

What are you doing for food tomorrow?

oh shit yeah when does Morrisons close

just cooked myself an extremely good improvised spaghetti aglio e olio con orata but while I have enough ingredients for another round, that isn't rly Xmas is it, was thinking to have the other bream tonight

xp gyac we are making a very simple thing with braised pork and sweet potatos, prob a salad, nothing fancy although this kitchen we are staying in is insane (former restaurant owner). just realizing now that I should prob pick up a few beers today!

aglio e olio also sounds lovely

xp I was asking imago

I mean braised pork sounds good too. I will probably go to Morrisons which closes in 2 hours and see what they have at the fish counter. Just coom an entire salmon or something. Really go wild

*cook

Also need to buy some appropriate alcohol

Alternatively, the Big Dulwich Sainsbury's is an option, and it'll possibly have More in it? But its fish counter is also nothing to Morrisons'. I don't know why but the Camberwell Morrisons has a fish counter almost as good as any London fishmonger and much cheaper, it is a Godsend

Might just take an elegant walk to both

Also need to buy some appropriate alcohol

lmao I once found a bottle of that in an offie and chanced it as a gift for my parents, they probably still have theirs too lol

fwiw ms imago is mortified by all of this and has promised me a meal out of my choice as soon as she's back. she knows i am much more one for something simple and offbeat than the taster menu michelin works so she's taking a good gamble imo. the other day i met a friend in that Uyghur place in Walthamstow, it is amazing! sorry this should really be in legendary thread 'london restaurants'

I mean shit happens, we’ve had Christmas ruined by family sickness before. Hopefully all ok next year so you can look back and be like, thank God we’re all healthy this year

last year it was ruined by my own sickness! there is going to have been a 3 year gap between christmases. i will have forgotten christmas. but yes lol shit does happen

Yeah that Walthamstow uyghur place is great.

imago u should take the opportunity to do a deep dive on some unfamiliar artist, like idk the first 8 King Crimson records or something (random guess)

Wu-Tang Clan & solo albums has been mooted for a while. Someone's been badgering me to do Pere Ubu. And I've just begun with Sparks. Feel like a comprehensive grounding in tweepop might be the next one I make significant progress in if the Field Mice sortie was anything to go by

sorry your peoples are sick & your sweetie's away, imago. christmas '24 will have a serious cumulative gaiety deficit to redress!

gyac your mam sounds dear, sleeve your supper sounds dope

the 1st time i brought someone to family xmas my dad punched him, the last time i brought someone was the year my 8-year-old nephew got his first rifle and, being 8, excitedly pointed it at everyone present, and that is all 2 times i subjected an outsider to my family's xmas traditions

since my mom died at least no one is trying to entice me back. just me & mr. cat & maybe a walk in the snow, that'll be grand~

the 1st time i brought someone to family xmas my dad punched him

am imagining this being an 'as soon as he set foot inside the doorway' affair lol sorry sorry

you're not too far off, alas

jeez

has everyone here seen Jodi Foster's "Home For The Holidays"? well worth a view, cat's stories remind me of it

good luck imago <3

i struggle w xmas when its just me and mr veg (past 3 or 4 years now) so idk how i would cope being solo for xmas

i know a lot of ppl are into it tho so ymmv

ms imago on whatsapp all 'yeah I'd totally be into solo Xmas' ¬_¬

to be clear she is being very nice still!

i am going to be experimenting with cooking a lot at least. fishmas

wrap the grey mullet in bacon so you know it's The Season

honestly undecided which of the grey mullet or the tilapia is Xmas and which is Boxing Day, think I have it the right way around

Triple time, no deliveries incoming, and barely any customers to contend with. It's my favourite working day of the year :)

niiiice, love triple time

haven't seen the jodie foster movie; can't really abide most holiday films. i think my recent fave is Hold The Dark, set in alaska with jeffrey wright as a wolf scientist and alexander skarsgård as a psychopathic iraq war vet and people being possessed by wolf spirits and murdering children (and anyone else, basically), and a great scene where a native guy guns down like 50 cops. (it's set in december and there is snow and families so it is a christmas movie)

right on oscar bravo!

oh uh spoilers i guess

home for the holidays technically a thanksgiving movie (thank god tbh) and probably the only holiday movie i’ve ever seen that feels like a collection of interrelated short stories about wryly-yet-tenderly-observed family dynamics. it is fantastic

i am spending the holidays getting misgendered and deadnamed by my folks and kinda sorta missing my ex even tho it was better for all involved that we broke up. don’t worry i keep telling myself, it'll get better. quite a few furtive nips this season tho

furtive nips can also mean vaping weed in the bathroom

oh ivy, i'm sorry. it'll be over soon -- one second at a time, and before you know it you'll be free again. ♥️

vaping weed in the bathroom
<3

vaping weed in the bathroom vs snorting coke in the garage

sorry yr folks are not reaching a minimum acceptable standard ivy. also do your eoy track and album nominations lol

it’s really just that my mom insists on telling my stepdad about my gender transition herself, and she hasn’t yet. but she vowed to. so this’ll hopefully be the last holiday i have to suffer through this

not that this has prevented me from wearing dresses and skirts and jumpers around them all holiday, it’s nice to be able to fall back on being cute as hell

ivy, hugs. I'm entering Mordor in about 30 mins, where I sit with gritted teeth wondering which relative will make the first innocuous remark about Israel, Hunter Biden, and political correctness.

I'm sipping a Cynar negroni and watching Wu-Tang videos before getting picked up.

just remember, you can always leave, and if you're worried that leaving will make you feel shit, ask yourself if you're already feeling shit anyway

since i started that memory ball rolling and haven't managed to shut it up yet:

it was more like "SO YOU'RE THE GUY FUCKING MY DAUGHTER, HAHA" immediate chest punch, awkward laughter, whispered excuses for the missing stair -- familyless holidays have been a vast improvement & i recommend them to anyone whose life might be happier that way, iow boxedjoy otm

Just coom an entire salmon or something. Really go wild

braggin 2023

brisk 9 holes on an almost deserted golf course done. now off to work. have a good one ilx.

Good morning!

ffs knew i wasn't getting away with that. oscar bravo has worked out how to live obv, ditto ivy, ditto soto (cynar is incredible stuff right, when i went to alsace earlier this year a local speciality was lager with a shot of it, total gamechanger)

good morning!

Had to cancel a road trip to my parents’ house because our beloved old cat is fading fast and we’re giving him fluid infusions every two days and basically can’t do the normal “have someone stop by to top up the food bowl.” (Plus just don’t want to leave the old guy alone.) I have to do some work today as well, but since I work from home at least I can do it in sweatpants with a seasonal cocktail.

I'm laying next to my husband, who stayed up all night again. We don't really celebrate Christmas, mostly because he has trauma about it, but I have been able to get him to cook a special ham dinner today.

https://i.imgur.com/XAKYB0A.gif

Woke up at 3 and couldn’t fall back asleep, so got out of bed at 5 to listen to music and try to relax. I don’t do well on holidays and birthdays, but it was nice to see the smile on my kid’s face when he opened his big gift, a graphics card.

I love birthdays! Celebrate me for a change. I don't mind the attention.

our dinner was amazing, I really channeled the Art Of Simple Food aesthetic.

cucumber/cherry tomato salad with evoo, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper

mashed sweet potatos w/ butter, salt, pepper

thin sliced pork cooked in a sauce of caramelized onions, roma tomatos, salt, pepper, and paprika

tempranillo wine

they let my girlfriend out of the hospital day before yesterday so me and her and her other girlfriend went down to corvallis to watch the miyazaki film with my girlfriend's (found family) sister

movie theaters on christmas are like churches used to be, by which i mean that whenever you show up they complain loudly and at great length about how you never come round anymore, thereby making it that much less likely that anyone will bother to show up next time round. the whole thing has just started seeming completely desperate and unpleasant.

anyway then i came home and had my shot. happy shot day! or patchmas for those of you who celebrate. also, my heartfelt well wishes to those of you poor unfortunates out there celebrating spironukkah. i hope this is the year you finally get your geld.

Had to cancel a road trip to my parents’ house because our beloved old cat is fading fast and we’re giving him fluid infusions every two days and basically can’t do the normal “have someone stop by to top up the food bowl.” (Plus just don’t want to leave the old guy alone.) I have to do some work today as well, but since I work from home at least I can do it in sweatpants with a seasonal cocktail.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, December 25, 2023 9:10 AM (twelve hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

ah man sorry about this, been there with the fluid infusions and it is not fun at all particularly given the time of year. hope cat isn't too uncomfortable and that you enjoy some quality time with him

hi cad, nice to see u

Thanks, yeah, we've created multiple comfortable spots for him around the house. He mostly lies on a heating pad (turned low) on an easy chair. He's sleeping right now on some crumpled up wrapping paper we haven't picked up yet. It's been a sweet Christmas with him, knowing it's almost certainly his last. Not that Christmas matters to him, but he does like the tree.

This day is dragging on. I can’t really deal with endless holiday jawboning

Wait, wrong thread I think, sorry

hi cad, nice to see u

― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Monday, December 25, 2023 9:57 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

hi sleeve! your christmas adventure sounds excellent, hope you are enjoying warm weather and relaxing vibes

I didn’t even know we had this thread until today

I'm working tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. I wonder if someone in the call centre will have punched a monitor like they did last Boxing Day?

im working the three days also, at least one of which will be from the golf course

Rude

they pay me to think, ill think between shots

It was more wondering which day mar dhea a mhic

the other one

I've not posted in this thread for 10 years, but "not home for the holidays" has been the norm since that point, and I've stuck to staying home rather than going home again this year, despite some recent upheavals that have made things particularly tricky here. Hope things are ok for all who inhabit this thread.

i wish i were home for christmas. being around my family is harder than being alone

Hear that

my family is dead to me and has been for a few years. this holiday used to be harder when i had to come home and endure an emotionally abusive dynamic in the shadow of a cult religious organization. then it was hard because i had no family and seeing everyone else rally around theirs while i had none--while i had had to make the painful and difficult choice to leave them behind--was painful to endure and deeply alienating. now i have my own little family and i've done quite a bit of healing, so it's much less painful. i'm still not a big fan of this holiday, my emotional energy is low, and i'm looking forward to it being over. i still have to feel some anger and sadness this time of year it seems. and to have my inner reaction when i'm out of "fuck family!". like today i was on a run and there was a big gaggle of relatives on the trail all dressed up. i sneered as i passed. and i thought, you know what, that is a completely understandable response, based on everything i've been through. and the truth is, many families suck! oblivious sheep with wolves in the pack. so yeah, fuck family, because so often it asks that we look away and ignore the horrible stuff that happens in its binds. but also, family is something we just need sometimes. it makes it easier to get through. the support network, emotional and practical. besides all the mystical and sentimental horseshit it's kinda pragmatically necessary. i know there are people who go it alone but we all gotta have somebody.

i think something to keep in mind is that there are so many different kinds of relationships people have with family and family members. every weird, funny, grotesque, tragic, beautiful situation you can imagine. putting a rosy glow on it isn't necessary. i hope that anyone who is lacking someone or missing someone -- or missing not the actual person but what the person should have been for them -- is able to be there for themselves, to be a little bit of the loving presence they are missing for themselves. tell yourself that you love yourself, and make sure that you both mean it and believe it.

The fantasy is difficult to leave behind but I feel lighter without it. I’ve barely been maudlin at all this year. I did get a little salty when I kept seeing holiday cards without my friends/only pix of their kids but that is 100% my damage to deal with.
So yeah. I’m less “fuck family” and more “fuck family holidays” bc it feels better than blindly longing for a fantasy family that will never appear.

I made lamb pies and went for a walk and it’s basically just Thursday during winter break.

i think something to keep in mind is that there are so many different kinds of relationships people have with family and family members. every weird, funny, grotesque, tragic, beautiful situation you can imagine. putting a rosy glow on it isn't necessary. i hope that anyone who is lacking someone or missing someone -- or missing not the actual person but what the person should have been for them -- is able to be there for themselves, to be a little bit of the loving presence they are missing for themselves. tell yourself that you love yourself, and make sure that you both mean it and believe it.

― map, Thursday, December 25, 2025 5:16 PM (forty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

map i think this is one of the best and wisest things you've ever posted. thank you for it

:) :) thank you! and you're welcome!

crazy atmospheric weather bands in Sacramento & surround forced us to turn back halfway to Christmas dinner up in the foothills (hail, lightning, gale winds & sideways rain aint how we wanted to drive into the mountains)

so we are postponing til Saturday - luckily all the food we were bringing was cold to be heated there so we can re-fridge it til then.

But RAGH! we had ZERO weather for a fucking month blanketed in tule fog & now we’ve had ALL the weather in 48 hours.

Is ragh ILXese for argh?

Otherwise, I will assume you are speaking either Manx or Klingon.

Maybe it's your own personal word. Wonder if you would mind others on this borad adopting it.

One small consolation for the ridiculous California weather is that my in-laws' wind chimes are going OFF

lol i’ll bet!!

Learning to accept relatives for who they are without mythologizing what they could've been is one of the hardest parts about aging but also when it happens one of the serenest.

Feel like I survived this round but now I can't sleep

map i think this is one of the best and wisest things you've ever posted. thank you for it

― ivy., Thursday, December 25, 2025 10:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i just want to say thanks to ivy again, this made me feel really great yesterday.

i ended up having a weird dinner with my partner's friend m on christmas. they were chatting a few days ago and it turned out m was gonna be alone for christmas, so j. invited him to dinner. j and m have a years-long friendship and are quite close. i kinda became m's friend by default but we don't always get along and he's rubbed me the wrong way in the past. but i was like sure that's fine, i'm chiller than i used to be, it will be good to see him and catch up.

m. has this weird obsession with bringing up other countries in general terms, like he's obsessed with talking about china for some reason. it makes me pretty uncomfortable and i'm always trying to steer the conversation to other topics. but he always comes back to it. other countries, other ethnic groups, he always comes back to, talking about them like they're some single entity or subjectivity. it's honestly just racism - he's racist. just always stopping short of something really offensive, you know? testing boundaries, seeing if he's offending or getting approval or whatever. anyway, i kept things cool until he left, then slept on it. and this morning i told j that he isn't welcome in my home anymore, that i'm done hanging out with him. i told him i had nothing against them continuing to be friends and meeting for coffee or whatever, that i respect that friendship and don't see it tarnishing j in any way. i really have no ill will towards m - he has a lot of other great things going for him - i think he was just raised by insane mormon fascists and struggled to move away from that because of the hand he was dealt. but i'm so tired of cringing through extended conversations with him. last night really hit the nail on the head. it's funny how meditation has, in one sense, made me more chill in the moment when dealing with people, but it's also hardened me up when it comes to drawing lines around what i will and won't accept from others. i have a clearer sense of what is right for me and what brings light in.

\m/

That's really cool - good on you!

It's been an exceptionally warm holiday. One of my besties hosted his annual holiday party last night; there was at least one degree of separation b/w friends and the ones who barely knew anyone mixed well with the familiars. It's strange to have to say in 2025 that gay, straight, and trans friends mixed with my buddy's mom, godmother, and cousins.

❤️

Working today and the only other guy who was rostered on with me has, for the 3rd inexplicable time in like a year or 2, had his laptop die on him, when theres apparently no one in his (overseas remote) office to come fix it, or just authorise a fucking replacement.

I am choosing not to care, and just do the work I'm able to get done. I'm not paid enough to get worried he's not working and work's piling up.

I've had 2 laptops since 2019, and the only reason I even had the last one replaced is because it was EOL/couldnt run win11, but was otherwise fine. How do some people blow up computers so readily.