Hey folks! It's holiday time here in the US and possibly where you are too, and everywhere we're on the verge of a new year, 2020. I hope you're all doing well out there. Thanks for making this a great community! If you feel like sharing what you're up to for any holidays around now and/or the new year please do.
Erin and I saw her family and celebrated Christmas early with them, and now we're with my family. It's been really great to see everybody though it's been a lot of travel too and I've had a real bad cold the last few days. We head home Saturday and then it sounds like next week we're going to a party on New Year's Eve.
Re: Happy holidays and 2020!
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 1:32 am
by crumpart
Merry Christmas!
Toshiro and I kind of cancelled Christmas this year because we’re in the final stages of buying a house, and also because all our family and friends are 17,455km away. Today we’re having our own roast lunch at home and writing our songs. I thought about trying to find an immigrant lunch somewhere, but didn’t. The good news is that after three years I can finally get through my favourite Christmas song without getting terribly homesick.
Also, my parents got us tickets to see Crowded House in Cork in July!
Edit: the other good news is that I got horrifically ill my first two Christmases in Ireland. No sign of that yet this year. Hooray!
Edit #2: ok, I lied. I got just a little bit homesick watching White Wine in the Sun. Just a little bit. Teeny tiny. Is someone cutting onions in this room?
Edit #3: fixed some spelling.
Edit #4: the two videos I posted had a baby!
Re: Happy holidays and 2020!
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 2:07 am
by vowlvom
Merry Christmas! One of my cats caught a bird for the first time this morning, and it was a Robin. He brought it into the house while we were opening presents - it's almost like he planned the whole thing...
Low-key Christmas with my partner, we have family visiting over New Year. And I'm back at work on Friday
Re: Happy holidays and 2020!
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 2:24 am
by Pigfarmer Jr
Happy holidays to everyone. It's 3:23 am and I've been awake for an hour or two with insomnia. And I'm not even twelve anymore.
Re: Happy holidays and 2020!
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 2:17 pm
by Æpplês&vØdkã
My parents (well, my mom/stepdad) came down a couple days ago so we've been enjoying they're company. They got me a new kick drum head and a steel tongue drum! My dad on the other hand mailed me new tom heads. This was obviously coordinated, but they *did* ask me for gift suggestions. It was an Evans Hydraulic Christmas. So you'll probably notice my drums sounding better in subsequent fights, cause this is the first time in 15 years I've replaced the drum heads.
And my kids are completely overwhelmed with presents and extremely giddy as a result. Yay! Now I'm stuck at work until 10 pm.
Re: Happy holidays and 2020!
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 3:02 pm
by owl
Merry Christmas, everyone! This year is a low-key one for us--no travel. Madison is also very warm right now for this time of year (52F/11C). It's my husband's birthday today, but I didn't finish making his present in time, so he's gone to a friend's house for a few hours while I finish it up (I'm sewing him a dopp kit). I made a savory Dutch baby pancake (green onions, cheese, cumin, parsley, smoked paprika) with bacon and salad for breakfast, we went to take care of his coworker's cat we're cat-sitting (she is a VERY friendly kitty and was more interested in cuddles than food!), I called my parents and sister, and now I'm on my third? fourth? cup of coffee and I'm going to run the dishwasher and finish up this gift. And maybe make a cake. Any minute now. I swear.
Last night we went to a friend's house for a gathering with a few people, ate cheap Chinese food and drank eggnog, and watched a bootleg version of the new Cats movie, apparently produced by someone holding up their cell phone in a theater so it kept going in and out of focus, and plastered with online gambling ads. OMG the movie was Spoiler
just as horrifying as everyone's been saying--I really want to see it for real, except I also kind of don't really want to sit through it again.
I think my favorite moment of body horror was the part where the Rebel Wilson cat unzips her entire skin and takes it off to reveal that she's wearing a cocktail dress on top of another skin underneath, and then she eats a sentient cockroach?! But the fucked-up scale of everything in the surrounding world was also incredible and disorienting; they kept getting bigger and smaller compared to the objects around them, like nobody had ever seen a real cat before.
I don't know if it was just the blurriness of the version we were watching, but to me the lead cat looked just like the aliens from Alien Nation from the 90's and/or a loaf of Dutch Crunch bread?
Dame Judi Dench looked like the Cowardly Lion and she was wearing a fur coat on top of her real fur, but she had human hands.
Some cats had clothes and some were naked, and some had human breasts. There is no plot. I guess the closest thing is that the Jennifer Hudson hobo cat goes to the ionosphere in a flying chandelier at the end, because sweet death is her reward.
Oh and I have to admit I like "Memory," and the new T. Swift song they added wasn't terrible, but every other song in this musical is a candidate for the worst song I've ever heard in my life.
Tomorrow I have to go back to work for half a day, but I also get to release a rehabilitated possum back into the wild in the afternoon, so I'm looking forward to that.
@vowlvom awww, was the robin dead? I knew they were different birds, but hadn't realized how different American and European robins looked till I looked them up just now.
@crumpart if you're a Crowded House fan, have you heard this album? I found it accidentally earlier this year because I told Alexa to put on "Italian Plastic" and this cover version came up. I really enjoyed her interpretations of all the songs.
@Æpplês&vØdkã boooo about work, I hope it's not too busy.
@Pigfarmer Jr. I hope you got some sleep and @Lunkhead I hope you're feeling better!
Re: Happy holidays and 2020!
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 3:12 pm
by grumpymike
We did our Christmas tradition practice take this year before the kid starts remembering stuff. Figured out traditions, protocols, in-law visits, etc. It turns out that celebrating St. Nick’s (on the 6th) as a mini-pre-Christmas is regional.
I may have jumped the gun on my excitement about him being interested in drums:
265B2C0C-5DA2-44A0-9E1F-5EF9AA2A1AAC.jpeg (124.81 KiB) Viewed 1999 times
Re: Happy holidays and 2020!
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 3:13 pm
by Pigfarmer Jr
We've had family over all day and I'm pooped. But it's been a damn good day. Grabbing a few minutes to myself and somehow hit SF.
@crumpart if you're a Crowded House fan, have you heard this album?
I'm loving this so far. Seriously good a couple of songs in.
Re: Happy holidays and 2020!
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 3:20 pm
by Caravan Ray
Boxing Day morning here. Too much white wine in the sun yesterday. Surprising lull in temperatures In the last 2 days. Even a tiny bit of rain. Gearing up for the next heatwave to hit in a few days. Happy Xmas.
We did our Christmas tradition practice take this year before the kid starts remembering stuff. Figured out traditions, protocols, in-law visits, etc. It turns out that celebrating St. Nick’s (on the 6th) as a mini-pre-Christmas is regional.
I may have jumped the gun on my excitement about him being interested in drums:
265B2C0C-5DA2-44A0-9E1F-5EF9AA2A1AAC.jpeg
Is that the accent series? That looks JUST like my drum set but a smaller version!
And Owl -- it's not that busy right now, but that'll change in about 40 minutes! We pick up significantly around 7 pm here.
@crumpart if you're a Crowded House fan, have you heard this album?
I'm loving this so far. Seriously good a couple of songs in.
Sounds good, but I’m Not Entirely Sure how I feel hearing these songs sung in an American accent. I realise this is weird and dumb. I will revisit tomorrow!
Is that the accent series? That looks JUST like my drum set but a smaller version!
It’s just ”Ludwig Jr” though interestingly the URL I pasted has “accent jr” in it. I got it because he likes banging on my disassembled blue Vistalite kit.
The build quality is surprisingly good (esp the hardware). The cymbals are the weakest link.
@vowlvom awww, was the robin dead? I knew they were different birds, but hadn't realized how different American and European robins looked till I looked them up just now.
It got up and flew away after Rafa dropped it outside, so hopefully no harm done! I didn't realise they were different birds, the American Robin is funny lookin'.
I spent the rest of Christmas Day drinking strong beers and rewatching both Paddington movies, then went to bed early and slept for nearly nine hours, which is perhaps the longest I've slept all year! Excited to spend Boxing Day doing very little indeed.
@vowlvom awww, was the robin dead? I knew they were different birds, but hadn't realized how different American and European robins looked till I looked them up just now.
It got up and flew away after Rafa dropped it outside, so hopefully no harm done! I didn't realise they were different birds, the American Robin is funny lookin'.
I spent the rest of Christmas Day drinking strong beers and rewatching both Paddington movies, then went to bed early and slept for nearly nine hours, which is perhaps the longest I've slept all year! Excited to spend Boxing Day doing very little indeed.
We did our Christmas tradition practice take this year before the kid starts remembering stuff. Figured out traditions, protocols, in-law visits, etc. It turns out that celebrating St. Nick’s (on the 6th) as a mini-pre-Christmas is regional.
I may have jumped the gun on my excitement about him being interested in drums:
265B2C0C-5DA2-44A0-9E1F-5EF9AA2A1AAC.jpeg
<3
I thought this was the kind of gift you were supposed to get for the children of your enemies?
what?!?! They're hot pink! And spherical! SO cute!
Are they poisonous? Can they kill you?
Is not poisonous, will not kill you. A cassowary in the wild could kill you, and a magpie in spring may take a chunk of your skull, but in general Australian birds are not poisonous killers. They are also the best in general and one of the things I miss most.
Is not poisonous, will not kill you. A cassowary in the wild could kill you, and a magpie in spring may take a chunk of your skull, but in general Australian birds are not poisonous killers. They are also the best in general and one of the things I miss most.
I assumed everything in Australia could kill you, but I'm glad to hear robins are safe.
I've spent a total of 1 whole day in Australia (a layover in Sydney en route to New Zealand) and by far my favorite thing I saw while I was there was an ibis eating garbage. I guess the Sydney Opera House was nice or whatever too, but it couldn't compare to the ibis.
Is not poisonous, will not kill you. A cassowary in the wild could kill you, and a magpie in spring may take a chunk of your skull, but in general Australian birds are not poisonous killers. They are also the best in general and one of the things I miss most.
I assumed everything in Australia could kill you, but I'm glad to hear robins are safe.
I've spent a total of 1 whole day in Australia (a layover in Sydney en route to New Zealand) and by far my favorite thing I saw while I was there was an ibis eating garbage. I guess the Sydney Opera House was nice or whatever too, but it couldn't compare to the ibis.
I work at the local dump. I went to our work Halloween morning tea dressed as an ibis.
It was an Evans Hydraulic Christmas. So you'll probably notice my drums sounding better in subsequent fights, cause this is the first time in 15 years I've replaced the drum heads.
