~~~SANDBOX 77~~~

lol I have been doing/not doing that, it has been a wonderful christmas for me so far

one thing that's nice about never celebrating christmas growing up is never having to worry about getting other people xmas presents... I guess

it's nice to give and receive presents though

my dad's thing w/presents is "if you want to get someone a present, you should get them a present", as in that's a nice thing to do, a nice impulse, & to tether it to anniversaries etc is weird. he usually does not know when it is his birthday.

was given the option of watching 'zeitgest' or 'the mist'

my parents had a nice rationale: "dan we buy you stuff all throughout the year, why should christmas be any different"

your parents are so extremely pragmatic
i love it

my excuse was that i would listen to the records and if i didn't like one of them (or liked it only a little) it would become a gift
such generosity for the christchild! (so far i like every thing and one of them would make an unsuitable gift for anyone but me so, back to the drawing board i guess)

Gift giving/receiving is so stressful. My parents have been very vocal about their financial worries, but when I suggest we dispense with gift giving, my mom gets all freaked out about how it will ruin Christmas. I did at least convince her that now that we're all adults, it's okay to reduce the gift giving significantly.

This year I told her all I wanted was a case of frozen, half-baked Nic-o-bolis and some scrapple so we'll see if she goes for it.

every thing <-- what is happening to my soft fragile brain?!
seriously you have no idea how many dismal papers i've graded in the last 2 days -- i think i need a spiritual cleanse at the korean sauna to reset my wordometer.

such generosity for the christchild!

looooool at this whole scheme. I bought many presents today on the line! And also a Vespa bag for me.

And got my hair shortened. Life w short hair so much awesomer than I ever expected.

awesome short-haired pics?

hello aimless<3, i hope you're having a nice december.

ll, i feel so sorry for you grading dismal papers, i have done my fair share of that, it's completely exhausting and dispiriting.

pyth, your short hair is beautiful.

jenny, my family now have a policy that each person gives and receives one gift only, it has made things much easier and more fun for everyone. the names are drawn from a hat. there is a price limit. it works well.

my family now have a policy

We have been doing this for a long time and it also works well for us. It requires that there be no little children in the mix, but otherwise it is a winner all the way.

My december has been wonderific. I have not revelaed this elsewhere to the ilx hivemind, but I am not working as a school bus driver this year, voluntarily. The plan is for me to return to the grind next September at the start of the new school year. This pleases me down to my toesies.

Yep we started doing the one gift thing too, cut down even more, we do it as a kris kringle, so everyone buys for one other family member only. Littlies excepted tho, and shit i havent gotten anything for the kids yet argh. But having to buy just for one brother and thats it is a releif, i dont have tons of money. My parents just retired and are a bit skint too so we're basically all "we're all old now, presents, meh dont worry". Its good.

Mind u I still spent $150-odd on buying Nintendo monopoly and some SuperMario wall decals for my housemate and a zombie cookie jar for my bff.

My sister still sends me presents, but no one else does. (Christmas is considered something done for the sake of the children in my family, so everyone stops celebrating it when the kids leave home.) We're going to get a box of cards to send everyone Monday after we sell another load of copper and aluminum. Anyone want me to send them one?

nobody warned me about 'the mist' you bastards

controversial meterological phenemenon mist has long afficted humans and cows alike

My gift-giving family is really small (grandmother, mother, stepfather, me) so drawing names seems weird. Also pretty sure my mom would cry because that would ruin Christmas.

- blue moon tonight
- lunar eclipse tonight too, which we can see from down here
- thunderstorm approaching that will cloud up the sky >:|
- lad is coming over anyway with camera and tripod in a small hope we can take some moony pix

all he needs to do is drop trou iirc?

- Lying in bed, both cats sleeping on me
- Want to get up and eat and do things but there are cats sleeping on me

I wake up everyday covered in dogs, all of whom want me to wake up right away so I can play with them and feed them and take them outside.

<3

-paid a capella caroling gig this afternoon. $100 for 4 hours (really only 2 hrs 40 mins of actual singing). can't beat that

-loving my new digs thus far

I wake up everyday covered in dogs, all of whom want me to wake up right away so I can play with them and feed them and take them outside.

Ha, yes. The trick with the cats is to feed them when I get up to pee. Then they'll curl up and sleep on me while I sleep in for awhile. Otherwise, they walk in circles around my head and meowmeowmeow or sit on my chest and put their cold paws on my face.

I'm lying in bed naked and a cat just sniffed my butt and I didn't like that.

Aimless, how is the bus driving going for you? It seems like it would be really stressful!

I wake up everyday covered in dogs, all of whom want me to wake up right away so I can play with them and feed them and take them outside.

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo, Saturday, 10 December 2011 15:37 (1 hour ago) Permalink

C, that is the best thing ever.

:-)

I'm lying in bed naked and a cat just sniffed my butt and I didn't like that.

― Sandbox Jesse, Saturday, 10 December 2011 16:41 (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

this is a great post, i feel like all of life is in this post

how is the bus driving going for you?

As I said upthread, this school year I am taking the year off from driving. I get to sleep in the mornings!! Yippee!

As for stress on the job, sure there is some stress, but not quite how you might think. I actually miss the kids. They're not a source of stress usually. If you understand kids, and like kids, and can treat them like human beings (but never like they're your buddies), they respond very well to that. They both like you and respect you then, and don't hand you shit. They're happy to see you. They would give me spontaneous gifts, like dead leaves.

What's stressful is all the combined responsibilities inherent in driving an enormous vehicle, filled with dozens of children, down narrow, twisty streets, in all weathers and oftentimes in the dark, and trying never, ever to make any mistakes. That, and waking up at 5 am every day. :(

They . . . don't hand you shit.

This takes on a whole new ominous meaning considering Abbott's story upthread.

Oh, shoot, sorry. I got it all wrong.

I went to a lot of different schools, so I've had a wide variety of experiences with bus drivers and passengers, and some schools had wilder passengers than others. The worst were in Michigan - a lot of the students were bad, but the middle-schoolers they were straight-up MONSTERS. Loud, mean, unruly, destructive. The very worst was the year we had the driver with the shortest temper ever known. He screamed at the passengers at full force every day, and one trips home after school, he often pulled the bus over to stand in the aisle and bellow at us. Spittle-flying, vein-popping, almost-incoherent screaming. At times it was almost frightening, except I could see where he was coming from.

xp

I've been driving in a solidly middle-to-upper-middle class school district (prob the wealthiest district in Oregon, tbh) and the kids are generally pretty happy with life.

someone is dramatically reading downstairs, with voices and everything, apparently alone, downstairs. i've made it really clear (coughing, flushing the toilet, etc) that i'm upstairs. i don't get it, it's been going on for about 20 minutes now, with pauses between certain passages.

FIRST BACKSIES

damnit Z S

i guess i should mention that i sort of know the someone, it's the bf of one of my roommates. but now i am realizing i never really knew this guy at all. this is bizarre

i was tapping refresh every 3 seconds for the last hour and a half

you should probably make loud rhythmic slapping sounds

man just trying to figure out what media this tv in my sublet will play via usb, no movies, fn dicks

http://i.imgur.com/Zo9ya.jpg

gangover

-gig was a blast last night
-another full day on the docket today, and don't mind it a wink
-involves a rehearsal, a performance of a 10-minute short, and then a rehearsal for ANOTHER 10-minute short
-somehow will watch Football between all of this

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2072788/Now-thats-bum-rap-Katy-Perry-pokes-fun-Pippa-Middletons-derriere-SNL-skit.html

NEWSIE-WEWSIES!

Keep the Plot & Scheme Alive!

no memes left behind, dunkirk spirit

~~Weekend update~~

I worked like a dog this weekend, painting and hanging and scrubbing and washing floors and counters and walls, and cooked two meals a day for self at home and cleaned up after THAT, and then both evenings I got showered and fancy and went to great parties and took CAR SERVICES home!!! Which I never ever do because $$ but I might start doing because AWESOME LUXURY.

Also I found a pick-up service for laundry and a drop-off spot that I can manage to drag my giant IKEA bags to, so I'm on a laundry rampage, brothers and sisters, and will have it all done by tomorrow.

tl;dr, I know. Just had to share all the reasons I feel so triumphant and relieved.

you have inspired me to do the rest of my laundry tomorrow! not with a laundry service but just me walking it a few blocks away and doing it.

i also had a great week/weekend in NYC! i love NYC and ilx/77 NYCers, srsly, aw <3 :)
so glad i (somehow) regulated my sat night drinking and by 3am was actually totally sober and so the bus ride back to mtl the next day was not painful at all, tho still long, obv. and the older guy next to me, after many hours of not talking bc we both were reading, started talking to me once we passed the border and i learned all about the grandness of cruises through the bahamas and how cheap tickets can be found. does anyone want to go with me? it sounds pretty awesome tbh.
montreal is good, colder, quieter.
i am making curry.