The Song Fight Bulletin Board

this thread will not become irrelevant. my nonsense is another story.

news
well, i sort of officially decided i'm staying in santa cruz for christmas instead of flying back east for the family gig, which is both a relief and kind of a guilt trip. i keep going back and forth on this. it's a relief in not having to deal with the logistical nightmare clusterfuck called flying at christmas, but it's a bummer missing the family and feeling like i disappointed one person in particular.

weather
well, it's starting to actually feel cold here. i can't really complain though since so many others out there are freezing and for me cold is like 45.

sports
warriors and lakers in a half hour. ciao.



qotd: what's your view on spending the holidays with your family as opposed to doing your own thing?

Here.

Rhetorical Question - Relevant?

Entertainment - Saw Enchanted today with my family. Super enjoyable movie - especially if you have little girls. But I think I liked it better than them.

Weather - On the cold side and a little windy, feels like winter in Southern California - which is basically like Autumn everywhere else.

Human Interest - I am interested in humans.

Gossip - Anyone else reading the review thread?

QOTD: Having grown up in a relatively large family - I am the youngest of six - Christmas is pretty much about family to me, so that's high on my priority list. Luckily I live driving distance from the majority of my siblings - each Christmas we still converge upon the house into which I was born.

QOTD: Family

family, definitely. now that i am married we see my family and m's family and so that makes for a lot of travel.
-bill

qotd: Family has become less and less important for us as time has gone by, especially since people tend to be so busy at the holidays that we don't really get to see anybody anyway. so some years we try to make a family visit trip sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, rather than trying to be there on the holidays.

Plus, since moving my mom here to Arizona a couple years ago, traveling to the Bay Area for the holidays would mean either arranging for care for her each day we're gone, or getting her up to the Bay Area for a visit, which tends to make it a very big production... we went up to the Bay Area the week before Thanksgiving for a family wedding, still recovering...

And even present-buying has pretty much fallen by the wayside in our families. Most of us are now at the age where whatever we want, we want something pretty specific, but we only need one of them.

Charles (KA)

Roll Call: Yeah, I'm a day late. Recap -- I watched some football, had a couple beers, and played with Sean (who is full-on WALKING now) and Sadie (my parents' new puppy).

QotD: Both, really. The holidays are a bar musician's best work days, often enough. I bugged out immediately after Thanksgiving dinner to drive up to The Balsams for a show, in fact. My wife stays home full-time with the boys (and homeschools), so it's up to me to work the day job and then play as much as possible to cover the rest. I guess if there aren't enough shows, then a regular second job would be in my future. So far, so good.

Took the family to a chamber music concert at 92nd St Y, which is always great. All Bach presented to kids so entertaining, while the players are all world class (two first chairs from the NY Phil and various other star soloists).

QotD: I like hanging low during holidays, but with older parents it's time to do road trips, and with divorced parents that means a lot of road time. Audio books save the day! We gave up bags of presents back in the 80s, so usually people tend to just get one gift for someone whether: it just seems so right for them, they really need help, it's kind of a joke gift. And we try to keep it under $25. You can still have lots of fun, and it leaves more time for drinking. OK, the kids tend to get a bunch of things from our family, but what's great is they get tired of opening them, so they last for months and then some are left over to "re-gift" at friends' birthdays. Recycling is the way to go.

I came in here to answer the qotd.

QOTD: Family over my own thing. However I am not rich or free enough to see my immediate family very often. (I average about once a year right now but sometimes its because they come down here) For Thanksgiving I usually end up at my Aunt's place down in St. Petersburg. I've also worked many holidays for 'the not being rich part' of the equation.

This year I'll probably pick up a shift on Christmas at my other job but *I AM* going up to see my folks for my Dad's birthday (December 29th) and will be in Georgia somewhere for New Years.