What's on your mind?

[Thatguy]

I fail to see why that flamingo shirt should exist, and even my son could not get away with that.

[JonoBlade]

19 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

.... I also like getting gifts for my wife and son, and mailing a package to my folks when I can, usually with some local coffee and honey and stuff.

It's been a tough autumn with a lot of losses and frustrations, and I've been feeling the stress of seasonal obligations more than usual, but I'm still looking forward to it. A nice meal, some good drink and music, and a three-day weekend with my family for once.

It being the solstice today, I want to wish everyone a happy day, and also especially to thank those of you from the Metal-Fi crowd that have stuck around. You've brought a lot of life, knowledge, and good discussion here. Best wishes to all.

We don't seem to talk about dynamic range as much (did we ever!!??) but it has been cool being part of the Metal-Fi heart transplant into Metal Forum.

Giving food as a gift - like a pot of super exclusive honey or obscure coffee, craft beer with a whacky name the person will get a chuckle from - is practical and thoughtful. Giving a Cadbury's milk tray is uninspired, weak and I am veeeegan so I will throw it in the bin without a second thought.

I am developing a special frequency to pronounce "veeeegan". Just to ensure I can be as irritating as possible. 

 

[navybsn]

My wife and I did away with gifts a while ago. We buy travel for each other or trips together. Better to spend money on experiences than gifts. I do the same for my daughter and her husband. Tickets to the local nerd convention (something like Comic-Con), a concert, etc.

I will use the season as an excuse to buy stuff I wouldn't normally spend the money on. I just bought a Rush sweatshirt that I've had my eye on for a bit. $75 is usually a bridge to far for a sweatshirt.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

I'm not big on birthdays, Christmas or Easter. Never had a hot cross bun in my life. Left on my own I would be that guy who completely ignores these holidays as if they didn't even exist, I'd treat them just like any other regular day. Except now having a little kid who doesn't have a mom to Chritmast-ize him I feel I owe it to him to do a little something, especially since they're playing these things up big time in school. He's been wearing his Santa hat to school every day for the last week. Every morning lately lying in bed even before his eyes are fully open he's telling me how many days left til Christmas. I did sit with him on the bed last night and we watched Christmas Chronicles 2 on Netflix together which he enjoyed.

But still we don't decorate or put up a tree or do anything "festive" like that. I ordered him a video game consol & 3 games online which I will have to wrap tomorrow, and he has received a parcel from NZ & one from my sister to open when he wakes up Saturday and that will have to suffice. We'll have a day to relax and do absolutely nothing Saturday, or I guess we'll get two days this year because the 25th falls on a Saturday, which is about the best present I could ever get. I'll hook up his Switch thing so he can play his games while I listen to black metal and work on my list. When it gets dark I'll make a nice dinner just for the two of us, it'll probably be his favorite which is fettuccine alfredo with chicken, mushrooms & zucchini. Guess it's a good thing we're not veeegans, I don't think I've ever made a meal or could even devise a meal that didn't have meat and/or dairy. What DO veeegans eat anyway?

My hermit X-mas is infinitely better imho than having to go out and waste the whole day & night at some relatives house making small talk, thanking them for the socks or gift card, eating crap just because it's there, and generally being bored out of my mind wishing I was somewhere else for 6-9 hours like I had to do for so many years. But for any of you who do celebrate I'll wish you the happiest of holiday seasons.

[Hungarino]

General you should copyright* that last paragraph in case Hallmark tries to steal it for a card!

I am with you - usually just waiting until the holiday season is over and trying to hunker down at home as much as possible until it is. After about age 19 I have worked many more holidays than not. Then I realized that I prefer to work holidays because people generally sympathize or its quiet because most people aren't working.

My favorite story comes from my wife who is a flight attendant and on Christmas she invariably gets passengers who say "I can't believe they have you guys working on Christmas!", you know as if they would just be flying around empty planes if no passengers decided to travel.

But for all the Satanism and misanthropy I am usually overcome by a few moments of grace and charity during 'the season'. Whether its nostalgia, deeply repressed guilt or just human empathy it is always nice to be overwhelmed, if only for a moment, by a sense of gratitude and generosity and peace, which is what I wish for the world, and I express it through random acts of kindness and giving when I can. And by generally trying not to be a complete asshole.

[navybsn]

1 hour ago, Hungarino said:

I am with you - usually just waiting until the holiday season is over and trying to hunker down at home as much as possible until it is. After about age 19 I have worked many more holidays than not. Then I realized that I prefer to work holidays because people generally sympathize or its quiet because most people aren't working.

I've worked every holiday since I was 19 years old, so for the past 27 years. In my line of work, whether it was in the military or in Nursing, you just don't get that time off. The mission comes first, so you just adapt. And like you, I've just become to appreciate it. Less people to deal with, fewer deadlines, less interference. 

We did just mark one year from our initial vaccine rollout. It seems like 5 years. Hell of a lot of work and heavy lifting this time last year. Late nights, seemingly endless travel, and the usual bureaucracy and conflict that comes with developing a new service around a totally new/unknown product, but we got it done. Now it's just second nature. The hard work definitely paid off. Something to be grateful for.

1 hour ago, Hungarino said:

But for all the Satanism and misanthropy I am usually overcome by a few moments of grace and charity during 'the season'. Whether its nostalgia, deeply repressed guilt or just human empathy it is always nice to be overwhelmed, if only for a moment, by a sense of gratitude and generosity and peace, which is what I wish for the world, and I express it through random acts of kindness and giving when I can. And by generally trying not to be a complete asshole.

I've always found that less religious people tend to be less judgmental while showing more charity and empathy that the devout worshippers of any imaginary sky man. I am certainly moved to be more generous and kind this time of year which has traditionally been shitty for me. I really just don't want people to suffer and go out of my way to try to alleviate what I can when presented the opportunity. 

[AlSymerz]

I haven't worked every holiday since I started working but I've worked most of them. In the bands days not many bands played Christmas day and if they did they didn't need big production, but pretty much every other day gigs happened and we'd be there to make sure they went on. Then as a delivery driver even with Christmas and Good Friday being days of no trade, where only 7/11's and service stations etc were open, someone still had to deliver to them, or as a long haul truck driver there just wasn't any point stopping. Sometimes I'd be forced to park the truck because there was no one to unload but it's not like I could park it and go to the pub and enjoy the rest of the day off, it was pretty much just sleep in the cabin and wait. Now days as a farmer I don't have any days off, I don't work that hard but every day I have to get up and check the paddocks and make sure the girls are still all upright and okay.

 

[Thatguy]

7 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

We don't seem to talk about dynamic range as much (did we ever!!??) but it has been cool being part of the Metal-Fi heart transplant into Metal Forum.

It has indeed, so thanks to the owners and administrators. I just still wish there were a dark option...

[Dead1]

8 hours ago, navybsn said:

My wife and I did away with gifts a while ago. We buy travel for each other or trips together. Better to spend money on experiences than gifts. I do the same for my daughter and her husband. Tickets to the local nerd convention (something like Comic-Con), a concert, etc.

That's an awesome idea.  

[AlSymerz]

I was thinking of buying myself a new push bike for Christmas (which I wont get before the day now) in an effort to be less of an old, fat bastard. Damn things have changed since I last bought a bike, I don't remember when that was, no doubt for one of the kids years ago, but apparently it's no longer simply that a bike has two wheels, pedals and an uncomfortable seat. There is hundreds of other choices and options but the one option they don't have is 'fat bastard wanting a bit of exercise"

[Dead1]

And they are all ridiculously expensive.

[AlSymerz]

That's for sure. At this stage I'm not looking past $1500 but I'm really hoping to spend something closer to $1000.

 

[JonoBlade]

23 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Guess it's a good thing we're not veeegans, I don't think I've ever made a meal or could even devise a meal that didn't have meat and/or dairy. What DO veeegans eat anyway?

I think we'll have a nut roast and roast vegetables. Second year in a row it will be just three of us since we're isolating with covid in the house and crossing fingers the wife or I don't get it and have to cascade isolation for another few weeks. 

Mother-in-law was supposed to fly in from Chile but that had to get postponed. Small mercies.

[Dead1]

Sometimes I have really, really stupid and insane ideas...like now I'm thinking about how Russian Roulette should really be an Olympic sport and how you would have different divisions based on number of rounds in the cylinder.

Each round would be run with two opposing players with survivor moving on to next round.   Refusing to pull the trigger automatically disqualifies you,

I'm sure there would be plenty of people willing to become a Russian Roulette Olympian if you offered a ton of cash for the winner.

 

[AlSymerz]

I used to have these sort of ideas while I was driving at night by myself. People tend to look at you strange if you voice too many of them, but that is the fun bit!

 

[Fraser]

28 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

I used to have these sort of ideas while I was driving at night by myself. People tend to look at you strange if you voice too many of them, but that is the fun bit!

 

I have got used to the strange looks when voicing my strange ideas or uncensored opinions. 
 

 

[Dead1]

My brother had the best stupid, insane idea:

If someone had sex with a leather covered couch would that mean they were engaging in necrophilia and bestiality as the leather was once a cow?  🤔

 

We spent half a drunken night debating this notion.

[Fraser]

An opinion is like a joke. The person voicing the opinion or joke can not be held accountable for the offence it may cause the person hearing it. It is the receivers perception that will make it offensive or not. I refuse to be held accountable for they way a persons mind reacts to an opinion/joke/statement.    
All to often these days a single persons perception of a sentence is taken as a truth. The fact is that same sentence or for this point opinion/joke had a different truth/perception for each person that hears it. 
My point is someone can say whatever the fuck they like, if a person hears it and perceives it to be unacceptable it is the recipients issue not the person speaking.  

5 minutes ago, Dead1 said:

My brother had the best stupid, insane idea:

If someone had sex with a leather covered couch would that mean they were engaging in necrophilia and bestiality as the leather was once a cow?  🤔

 

We spent half a drunken night debating this notion.

Sounds like the most stoned conversation 🤣

I love a debate. Something with substance though. 

[AlSymerz]

I remember one night headed across the Nullarbor between Balladonia and Norseman (about 350ks) and another truckie and myself had a conversation over the CB about the reflectors on the white posts along the road's edge. It was obvious, to us, that one guy walked along the side of the road nailing each one to the post, but did he do the white ones first? Did he do the red ones first? Both at the same time? Did he do both sides of the road at the same time? Nearly three hours we discussed it for, coming up with different scenarios, different methods, different obstacles the poor guy would have to overcome. Then and one point we also remembered the catseyes down the middle of the road which added a whole new direction to the conversation, and a new bloke because the first bloke couldn't possibly do both jobs.

 

[Dead1]

That actually sounds like an interesting conversation.    Even the most seemingly mundane of human endeavours is interesting if you think about it.

 

If you approach it from a very broad perspective you realise it is not mindane and it actually required amazing and quite advanced abstract thinking and problem solving skills.

 

Indeed as something as simple as mopping a floor is testament to human ability to understand the way the wotld works and how to change it to meet our needs.

As such I often wonder how things are done and find wonder in how humans do things.  

[MacabreEternal]

9 hours ago, Fraser said:

An opinion is like a joke. The person voicing the opinion or joke can not be held accountable for the offence it may cause the person hearing it. It is the receivers perception that will make it offensive or not. I refuse to be held accountable for they way a persons mind reacts to an opinion/joke/statement.    
All to often these days a single persons perception of a sentence is taken as a truth. The fact is that same sentence or for this point opinion/joke had a different truth/perception for each person that hears it. 
My point is someone can say whatever the fuck they like, if a person hears it and perceives it to be unacceptable it is the recipients issue not the person speaking.  

 

Well, this is out of character for you.  I will put it down to alcohol so I don't have to be on the look out for anymore dumb-assed posts.

[AlSymerz]

Well it's Christmas morning here, there is a breeze coming from the west, with slight gusts now and again, it's very overcast and while the sun is up it's not shining bright yet. the girls in the paddocks don't care what day it is but they aren't sitting down so it looks like rain is off the cards for the time being. My wife is still asleep and I have a hankering for my third coffee, that's not usual, usually I'm only on my second coffee by 7am.

[Natassja]

Tested positive for covid on Tuesday evening, reported it etc on NHS site, did a PCR home test, waiting for results. Tested negative yesterday evening and tonight. Like wtf! Don't feel ill, had a bit of a headache beginning of the week that lasted couple of days, bit of a scratchy throat Tue that's why I tested. Feel fine today. Anyway that's my Xmas fucked as I'm isolating! Happy Holidays to you all! Good health etc! 

Funny thing is I get shopping deliveries and haven't been anywhere so fuck knows where it came from. Luckily my family are testing negative. 

[FatherAlabaster]

4 minutes ago, Natassja said:

Tested positive for covid on Tuesday evening, reported it etc on NHS site, did a PCR home test, waiting for results. Tested negative yesterday evening and tonight. Like wtf! Don't feel ill, had a bit of a headache beginning of the week that lasted couple of days, bit of a scratchy throat Tue that's why I tested. Feel fine today. Anyway that's my Xmas fucked as I'm isolating! Happy Holidays to you all! Good health etc! 

Funny thing is I get shopping deliveries and haven't been anywhere so fuck knows where it came from. Luckily my family are testing negative. 

Glad you're ok! Fuckin Omicron, so contagious... Hope your family stays safe, happy holiday to y'all.

[Natassja]

4 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Glad you're ok! Fuckin Omicron, so contagious... Hope your family stays safe, happy holiday to y'all.

Thanks, ikr...I've been so damn careful...hope you guys are all well and you all have a great time ! Best wishes!