The temporary Hastings thread

。。。You're welcome?

I'll be willing to conform to a degree to the Japanese Mr Right Rides a White Horse kinda thing.
I mean, basically it seems to be like the 1950s without the christian repression, societal arterial blockage, or as much alcoholism.
As much...

Hmmm, the arterial blockage I'd miss, I think. I only spent two weeks in Japan, but I seriously missed cheese and ice cream. And skim milk - all I could find was whole, and I hate that. (Not that skim milk clogs arteries, but I usually drink it with chocolate desserts...) But to each their own.

Parts of Northfield just recovered from a mysterious power outage. So I'm now happy to have heat. And light so I can work on my holiday cards.

SRC, I think it's going to be Charlotte's Web for this lot (but not the movie tie-in cover) and maaaybe something Little House. They're messy kids with *zero* attention spans and the sooner they get hooked into reading the better it will be for them. I despaired when I saw the report cards not because their results were crap but because they seemed to be measured on the most BASIC stuff (can they count to 100? Backward from 10 etc?), but they both scored high creatively. It's pretty useless to compare me at the same age because I was being given boxed sets of Little House and the hardcore real versions of all the fairy tales and going through them faster than my dad can eat a rack of ribs.

Those are great book choices for kids, I think; I was happy to have both when I was a little. (Otherwise, while I was a good reader, I was pretty well limited to my Mom's box of old Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames books. A. is constantly mentioning books for Alex and then, when I say I didn't read them, he acts all amazed. Sorry, I grew up with parents who didn't care about reading and who still disapprove of buying books!)

You know, I've never read the hardcore versions of the fairy tales, but I've been meaning to do so. For some reason I really want to read the real "Little Mermaid" one...

As for the current education system, it is totally geared toward measuring basics and standardized tests. Don't even get me started. Sounds good that at least your cousins had some kind of creativity score...

Yes, I saw Ju3l's Iowa test results too. It just reminded me of Lake Wobegon because of the 'above average' scores. I never had The Phear of those tests at all and I'm probably not the only person on this thread who tested off the scale.

I just got finished chatting with my mom, who told me to throw all comparisons between me and those kids out le fenetre because I was reading at three. The story is that we had gone to lunch and I was after a corned-beef sandwich (Lincoln Del, RIP) and she lied and said it wasn't on the menu. I asked her to let me see the menu again and apparenly I hit her with, 'look, there's corned beef and Reuben!' I'd had a really stonking case of meningitis before my first birthday so my mom did work with me a bit due to brain damage paranoia; nevertheless they were quite shocked.

Other cool books I was given: my grandmother's friend worked for Houghton Mifflin or something and I was given box sets of everything from a child-friendly biography of Cesar Chavez to collections of folk tales eg. Anansi the Spider but the real piece of cake was the box set of Judy Blume novels when I was eight or so. Other box sets include Little House (obviously; it was on television) and anything horsey or animalish by Marguerite Henry. I really hated Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew though - pure allergy there.

They're all above average in Lake Wobegon. At least that's what I hear...

I think your story about reading at 3 is hilarious! I wish J. could read; she'd entertain herself a lot better, that is for sure.

Meningitis = SCARY. I know a kid who had it as a baby and he has so many problems...

Nancy Drew/Cherry Ames - what can I say, I worked with what I had access to... my kids are a lot luckier in this regard. (I re-read a Nancy Drew a couple of years ago and found it mortifyingly bad, wow. Were they all that bad? Entirely possible!)

Judy Blume, yay! My Mom once bought a copy of Are You There, God; It's Me, Margaret for a friend of mine without reading the back of it first. When she did, she was so shocked that we wound up keeping the book. (Which was a bonus for me...)

Oh! In a related Hastings, story, my mother introduced me to some woman who literally whispered that her daughter had gotten her "girl thing" when she was only 10 years old. It took me a minute to realize that she couldn't say that her daughter got her period when she was a bit young.

I've had a few conversations with young moms who are petrified that their girls will get early periods from bovine growrth hormone in the food chain. Back in the day I remember that only one morbidly obese girl got it at that age, ie. before the school sent the explanatory booklet home called How Shall I Tell My Daughter? I was already nose-deep in medical books by then, due to reading anything not nailed down.

Meningitis: I had the *worst* kind, meningococcal meningitis. Streptococcal is the one that causes deafness but mine is named after the meninges, the lining of the brain that becomes affected, hence brain damage paranoia. We think now that I had a massively impacted immune system; three years later it came to light that I had kidney cancer which had probably been with me undetected since birth. It meant that I caught every disease going from routine vaccinations and it wasn't found until the neighbour's dog bit me, emergency room doctor felt for infection related swelling and was all of a sudden HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? Answer: total killer cancer that leaves most kids' renal systems obliterated and in 98 per cent of cases back then, muerte. Not me, however - and I still have all my kidneys. My mom told me I'd been very sick with a Lump until I was six and came into her room with a medical book open to TUMORS and she had to 'fess up.

On a lighter note:
Don't you hate it when porn stars call you in the middle of the night asking why you like sex?
...I....do...

Also, I was surprised to find that 8 hour parties with no drinking can be quite entertaining.

GZeus, I don't recall any porn star ever calling me. But that might be my dull past haunting me yet again.

Suzy - yes, this woman was very concerned that early menarche was becoming more common (some medical person said it was). Okay, increased childhood obesity is likely a factor, but it seemed impolite to say that. (And correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation, but still, some if it is likely that.)

Meningitis - yours was the viral kind, correct? I think that is what this kid had as well, although I never asked. My god, you are lucky wrt both the meningitis and kidney cancer. (I so want to read your medical records.) Your mother sounds like she had a hard time keeping up with you.

Also, it is clear that I have yet to be de-programmed from anatomy class, because the first thing I think of when I see the word "meninges" is "pia mater, arachnoid mater, dura mater." Knowing the layers doesn't tell me much; physiology is going to be so much more interesting. (And where I will faaaaaaiiiiillll....).

I must report that I am up to the "P" section of my address book for Christmas carsd. Only 20 or so more to go! After which I will pass out cold.

SRC, the main thing about the menarche trend seemed to be based on increased levels of estrogen/hormones in the food chain, which also means *little boys with moobs*.

Well, it could be; it's increasingly common.

I suppose I shouldn't be laughing at "moobs." If anything could scare old school corporate types (who would normally care less about what is in food; where is the money*!?), it is the idea of their grandsons with moobs...

*I'm basing this stereotype entirely on a friend of my Dad's.

Yeah, screw what happens to mere girls...;-)

The layers of coincidence.
http://kotonoha.monkey-pirate.com/ongoing-series/hourou-musuko/

Or maybe it's my mind losing its mind again.

I have Music from Taiwan in my head.
I don't even know if it's in CHinese or Taiwanese.

Because it's being sung by an antire party of people from Taiwan.

Also, it's an amalgamation of like 20 terrible songs.

Suzy, there's a whole thread about this article, but here's the link anyway (I can't remember the name of the thread):
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53327

They seem a lot more worried about the boys. (Warning: that article is beyond ridiculous.)

GZeus, twenty terrible songs could be good in Chinese. But if it's in your head and you don't want it there, I'm sorry.

As for me, I seem to have re-broken my left pinky toe somehow. I guess on the treadmill...? WTF.

I can't wait until my sewing skills have advanced to the point where I can make my own jeans.

Argh, I was trying to do a blanket stitch last night and it was a terrible effort.

SRC, I got to the banner and that was enough. Soy makes you gay? BWAHAHAHAHAHA.

Just went into my mom's kitchen and there are too many food items that bear no relation to necessity there. Cinnamon dipping pretzels? Why THANK YOU. I had no idea I needed them!

My sewing skills suck. A friend has tried to teach me, but it's hopeless, I think. Knitting is so much easier (ha, until I screw up my project anyway).

Suzy, just admit it, tofu will be the end of our civilization!!!

Mmmm food items that you don't need. YUM. I will make more cookies today. I just took out another pound of butter to thaw! But cinnamon dipping pretzels... wow that sounds yummy right now.

my sewing is getting better though waistbands are still giving my fits.

My sewing/knitting room is a disaster right now. the floor is littered with scraps of fabric, bits of yarn and thread, pins and scissors. Post xmas, massive clean-up is in order.

I think the only hope for my sewing is taking an actual class, but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

My office is suffering from the same fate as your sewing/knitting room. A. cleaned half of it, but he doesn't dare go near the left hand closet, out of which is spilling bags of yarn, Xmas wrap, and god knows what else. I have his Xmas presents hidden back there. It seems like one gets lost every year in there and I find it in mid-April... I should consider that cleaning thing, too.

my closet's the perfect place to toss G.'s xmas presents. He's one of those anally neat guys and avoids my room at all costs. There's a playstation 2 hanging out back there, barely hidden.

Wow - lucky G.! (wrt the gift, not being anally neat). I have mostly small, boring stuff for A. Also a 285 count thing of Magnetix. Yes, I can shop for my kids and my husband in the toy aisle.

Lucky S, with a TIDY boyf. Last go-round I was not so lucky.

We do not have children Sara. This is why he gets big boy toys.

I've also gotten him three games and a stupidly expensive H0ward St3rn t-shirt. I know he's gotten nothing for me yet b/c he keeps moaning 'what do you want for xmas?' and all I say is "all you have to do is look around the house to see what I like." This is killing him as he knows I'm done shopping for him.

He's normally fantastic at picking out gifts for me but I know he's been distracted lately with renovating the kitchen and Q-Tip dying. I don't really care what he gives me this year but watching him writhe is fun.

They want big boy toys even if you do have kids. Be prepared!

A. has some brilliant gift all plotted out, which will make mine look dull. I can tell this because he told me that he doesn't trust my mother not to tell me (with good reason), and also, he's being all smug.

g. is now emailing me for a list of items I want.

gah! this is no fun! that makes me just feel like i'm greedy and going shopping for myself. why is he being such a dud this year? is this what marriage is like?

also why are my clients sucking here in the week before xmas. long story itemized:

-our vp office runs an employee recognition program which is now over and therfore time to post winners.
-I receive huge crappy photos on Friday, put together page and send to communications dir. for approval.
-She then calls my co-worker and tells him to tell me that her sec. will be sending me quotes to add for each winner. grr. will have to change page layout and why isn't she calling me directly, wtf?
-this morning she calls and asks where is page. I tell her I haven't gotten quotes.
-Secretary tells me she sent them last week through campus mail. Campus mail?!? that shit's notoriously slow and we're building a web page here people, wtf.
-Get package of dozens of long applications for the winners.??? Tell them I thought I was going to get a list of quotes to include, what do they want me to do, pick them out myself??
-An hour ago am told by communications dir. 'I trust your judgment, please select the quotes."

Again I say WTF?!?!?

Not only do I have to choose content for her but I have to TYPE IT IN. What makes it worse is this woman employs a full-time writer who generates content for us.

I'm tempted to put in something like "y'all n*ggas need to kook up some cokane wif baking soda. ba-caa!"

You sound kind of stressed out there... definitely time to fake a serious and contagious illness. It's weird that you have to select the content... the whole thing sounds weird.

As for gifts and marriage; I don't know, I'm the one who never comes up with a brilliant gift plan, not the other way around. On the other hand, we always have to make wish lists for A's family or otherwise they send really weird stuff (they'll do so anyway, but if you tell them what you want, they have less to spend on crazy stuff). I should also say that some years are harder than others - some years even I get the lightning bolt idea of brilliance. Just not this year, seemingly.

sorry for the long rant.

re work: I can't be gone right now. I missed a lot of time b/c of qtip and it's the holidays. my other coworkers are taking vacation time so I need to stick around. But the university closes on friday until after new year's so that's why I think people are being asses, just hurrying to get things done.

I'm really not sweating g. I honestly don't care what he gives me. I'm one of those dorks who truly enjoys giving more than getting. (I can always buy for myself.)

But I do know his mother, a compulsive shopper/bargain hunter, bought a pair of earrings for him to give me only b/c they were marked down from $500 to $300. I only know this b/c he told me how pissed he was b/c he told her he didn't have that much to spend on one gift b/c of the kitchen redo. I don't even wear earrings and certainly don't want some that are more than he wanted to spend and which he didn't even pick out. I have told him so and I better not open up any fucking earrings on xmas.

haha, can you tell I have a lot of work to do?

No problem on long rants; I think everyone is insane this week, trying to prepare for holiday stuff. Everyone at your work - and everyone here. Including me.

I hope you don't get any earrings - that sounds sticky! But it sounds like you have warned him away sufficiently.

I am making cookies today that will require rolling out. I hate that part. And I'm doing it again on Friday, only with small children. At least the ones I'm doing today wind up with a tasty filling. The kind for Friday are basically a vehicle for the kids to frost and decorate. Also, I don't want to call my Mom, but I have to do so to get some addresses. BLAH.

wow, sara, way to bust out with the maternal intincts! I never do roll cookies, too lazy.

our server's are down so much for getting that page up today.

shit I need to leave to catch the bus. back to therapy today after a month off, hurray!

(oh and to make you minnesotans jealous, the high has been 80 for the past couple of days here in Austin.)

Arg, 80 degrees. And here my house is heated and the butter for the cookies still seems stiff to me! I envy you the Texas weather right now.

And I don't know if it's so much a maternal thing; I'm just compressing my usual Christmas panic and mania into a lot shorter period than normal. Two sets of roll cookies in one week is probably a direct route to the asylum, but I hear they have padded rooms there and that does sound comfortable.

Have fun at your therapy... and stay warm. Ha.

Okay, before the second roll out cookie experience, I think I'm going to need booze. Holy cow, that's a pain in the @ss.

Wait, a few posts ago did you say you didn't need Cinnamon Dipping Prezels?
Because I....do.

mmm, booze.

sorry for such a posting frenzy yesterday afternoon. I was late for therapy. :(

I gave in and rattled a list of *general* items I would like for Xmas to G. and re-emphazied no earrings. My top items were knitting/sewing books and new boots. I can't imagine him shopping for any of those things so bet I will get gift cards. (my other item was a mavs jersey but he said 'they don't sell dallas stuff down here.' liar.)

Sara, today the high will only be 71! but it is humid out and I broke a sweat walking to the office. unnatural.

alright, I have a ton of work to do.

Only 71? You must be freezing! ;)

I'm going to need the booze because I know I'm going to do those cookies again. They are the cream cheese sugar sort that you fold up and put jam in the middle. In the middle of making them, I thought I'd just add a few chocolate chips to the jam. End result = awesome.

I hope you get what you want for Xmas Sam... and no need to apologize for posting frenzy. I need distraction from the other stuff going on around me.

GZeus - do I need Cinnamon Dipping Pretzels and I just don't know it yet?

I wouldn't mind them but I'm kind of afraid of what you dip them into.

There's a 20% chance of snow on Xmas day! Texas weather is madness I tell ya, madness!

I would dip the pretzels in chocolate. But that's just my default. Mmmm, or cream cheese.

So do you want snow for Xmas day or would it be too weird? I'd be happy to have it, but it should go away by the end of January.

I wouldn't mind snow. although ours is usually more like ice mixed with mud.

It's been two or three years since we've had a really good (by our standards) snow. I'd like to take the dogs out in it. I bet they've never seen any.

hey hastings thread, when does leaning tower (lyndale) do trivia?

Ice mixed with mud = BAD.

I'm clueless about leaning tower (although I've driven past it) - It's possible that John, FB, gbx, or M@tt H. might know...

RE: Leaning Tower - used to be Tuesdays, but they stopped for a while, which is when I stopped going. I'll try to find out.

thanks!

i mean, i guess i could just call, but i figured the ilx hastings brain trust would know

I think the HSTNGS thread triumverate of myself, Subgenius, and FB will be attending the Leaning Tower trivia thing tonight, so if you see us, say howdy. I'll be in an obey sweatshirt.

Have fun tonight! The Widows will be wrapping gifts for a HSTNGS family we (we do it every year; it's our bid to get into Heaven, which is otherwise a hopeless cause).

BTW, if I disappear for some amount of time from computer-land, that will be due to the impending death of my hard drive.

Damn, that should have read "...family we adopted..."

i am bringing a CREW to trivia tonight, i will say hi to hastings thread.

BATTLE FOR BAR TABS IS ON!