Have some eggnog and hang out for a while.
Here’s to a new year better than this one!
No MRAs/trolls/etc.
Categories
New Year’s Eve/Day Open Thread: It’s 2016 Already Updated Edition
We Hunted The MammothBucking the Backlash
Just wanted to mention that Katz’s chicken recipe is currently in the oven–had it yesterday and it was delicious, so am doing it again today.
To all of you who are struggling, I hope for the best for you.
Dhag, your wife is so fortunate to have you and the cats! With a family like hers, she deserves a lot of respect for becoming someone you’d want to marry.
@Aces
This guy does not deserve you, and you don’t deserve his casual contempt. Do what you need to do to keep yourself safe, but remember always that you are a human being with value, and you are entitled to be treated as such in all of your relationships.
You know who is boring? Someone who is playing around on their phone instead of being present with the person they are with.
You know what’s boring? Watching someone who can’t be bothered to be present with you play around on their phone.
Even if this guy had been reading the most feminist of all feminist sites, instead of Heartiste, this would have been bullshit behavior. It’s not even slightly unreasonable for you to expect your boyfriend to not check out on you on New Year’s Eve, and it’s entirely unreasonable for him to expect to be able to do that without consequences.
tl;dr: Your instincts in this are good, and you should trust them.
Testing
I almost couldn’t comment here because there’s something funky on my laptop’s keyboard settings.
Happy new year, anyways. I had a cold, but start feeling better now. I’m eating homemade pizza and reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I read it first time years ago and seem to have forgotten at least 99 % of it.
Happy New Year one and all! I hope all will be well *soon* for everyone having difficulties.
I finally got myself (with the help of husbeast) to a probate lawyer for my dad’s estate. There are a few other things left to do along with continuing to clean out his house (which is ongoing, but no great hurry since I can’t sell until probate clears). I’ve had a cold since the 21st of Dec. and now we have husbeast’s kid for the holidays so, I’ve had excuses for not going to my dad’s and working. I should note that the house is a two hour drive from where I live.
My head has been in a strange space ever since my dad passed. I’ve never had someone I was so close to die before. All the things I have to do just remind me that he’s gone. It’s easier to hole up in my house and not think about it.
Anyway, thanks to all and sundry here for a great place to:
Laugh
Learn
Avoid my responsibilities (for a while)
Laugh
Remember that there are great people in the world
Learn
Realize that I don’t really have it so bad
Brush up my social justice chops
Laugh
Admire everyday bravery
Laugh and learn
@dhag85: WOW! The most useful thing I can think to say to you is, at least they’re not related to you by blood!
I can commiserate. I spent Christmas with my mother & stepfather. Fox News on, seemingly all the time. My mother is 75 years old now, and she’s become more and more politically conservative as she’s gotten older. She’s become very anal, too, fussing over the smallest things, like how I took too long in the shower. I was bored to tears…I took a few walks just to get out of there…had a few drinks, just to stay sane. My husband spent most of his time with his very elderly parents.
Delurking to say happy new year to all the Mammotheers!
I’ve been reading since probably mid- or late 2014 but I didn’t feel like I’d’ve been able to contribute much to the conversation, with keyboard anxiety* and the fact that you guys express yourself so well while saying anything I could have wanted to say. Even so, it’s a fresh new year so I thought I’d say hi from me and my local Furrinati overlords! I respect and appreciate you all and David so much, so thanks for being an awesome community~
Here’s hoping that 2016 will be a better year for humanity and WHTM, and that the mammotheers that are having a rough time get through it and not only survive but thrive.
Now to post before I chicken out.
*Apparently this isn’t a real term? I just mean I take up to hours to type a short thing that I often never post. And if I do post it I still panic. Something like social anxiety, but for online correspondence/communities…
@dhag85:
Well, that sounds like a very *interesting* family. I’m not trying to diagnose from my armchair, but has that second brother ever been tested for being on the spectrum, maybe? The only positive thing I can say to reassure you that you are not alone in your frustration. I can totally grok that.
A lot of us are dealing with people like those parents, and trying to figure out how to cope with their increasing agitation about the world. I mentioned before that I have a couple of coworkers that are every bit as weird and annoying and it’s difficult NOT fighting with them every time they open their mouths.
@Lkeke35: True…it’s difficult for me to keep my mouth shut, when faced with my relatives’ rabid conservatism. But, I try to live and let live, as they say.
My younger sister is 45 now, with a debilitating heart condition. Sooner or later, she’s going to end up on Disability. She STILL thinks the government should do away with “entitlements”.
THIS ^.
@dhag85
Wow, that does not seem like an easy bunch to get along with. Kudos to your wife and what I imagine to be quite the patience she has.
I’m awake for the first time in 2016, so happy new year and best wishes to everyone, especially Vucodlak and everyone else who is having a challenging time.
Woke up this morning to a phone call from my dad to tell me that my last remaining grandparent died last night. Happy New Year.
Welcome, Azne! Happy new year to you and to your furrinati too.
EDIT: Dalillama, all my hugs to you for that. I hope they went in a peaceful way.
Hi Azne! Hey, you posted! That’s a good start. 🙂
2015 was eventful, and I made a bit of progress towards… um… I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, so I guess it was progress towards being an adult?
I dunno, I’m 23 and still feeling all kidlike.
Happy 2016 to everyone, and may this year be better than 2015 for all of you all. Especially for those of you who had an awful 2015.
My biggest goal for 2016: Move in to a place that allows pets, and get dog of my own.
I’m moving back to my hometown next fall to attend university round 2 for degree 3, and my parents have agreed to let me crash on the couch for 1-2 months until I have a job in the new-old town.
Edit: I’m so sorry for your loss, Dalillama
Well, I’m going to post some more, thus avoiding housework:)
Aces: It sounds like this is the wrong guy for you… Or any decent, caring person. Life is too short.
Azne: “keyboard anxiety”? You’re doing fine! If only more MRAs suffered from keyboard anxiety.
My tomcat, Roscoe, is fascinated with the sound of water slowly dripping down drains. He’s been staring at the bathtub drain for awhile now. He also drinks a good deal of water, for a young cat. I hope his kidneys are OK.
dhag85: I’ll be your online friend :). I’m kind of in the same boat.
Yay, I like New Year’s Day much better than the Eve. (I hate celebratory gunfire.) I have some black-eyed peas, but instead of fixing them I fixed burgers instead. I don’t have any turnip greens to go with the beans anyway.
Well, so far so good. Let’s hope this year is a good one. Have a Happy New Year!
Thoughts and hugs (if wanted) to all those going through stuff.
Lkeke – Glad your surgery went well.
Aces – Nth’ing the very good advice above.
Dhag – My sympathies.
I spent some time
explainingtrying to explain to my husband’s grandfather that antibiotic resistance isn’t because of Obamacare and that how antibiotics are used globally really are a concern (“Well, I don’t have to go there!”)I gave up when I had to keep circling back around to what antibiotic resistance is.
@ mockingbird
My goodness. Right wingers…
I’d give up too. That’s some mighty fine, rather funny absurdity right there.
Aces:
Thinking of you. I know that guy, I was married to him for about 10 minutes in the late 90s. Most people know him as the devil. My trait that caused everything wasn’t boring, it was fat. “I won’t spend time with you because you are fat and ugly.” I can’t keep a job cause you’re fat and ugly.” I don’t come home at night because. …….”
You get the idea.
Know what? I wasn’t fat, and I am sure you aren’t boring, but so WHAT IF I AM FAT, UGLY, BORING, SHORT, GREY, SAGGY, LOUD, A SNORER, WHATEVER, I am still a fucking human being.
And I couldn’t get away. What I ended up doing was waiting for him to get involved with another woman, and then nudged him in that direction. Took less than a year, it was safest for me, and it got me out.
Maybe I am an uncaring bitch, but I didn’t care one wit about a woman that knowingly got involved with a married guy, and proceeded to fall for his bullshit about how I was a raving shrew. He moved right in with her, and she couldn’t wait to save him from me.
They deserved each other. And then they both went to prison a short time later for making meth. It was a love story for the ages.
Anyway, sometimes, alone is way better. I don’t know if that is a concern for you. Just saying.
Lkeke35: glad you are doing ok!
Vocodlak: did you say where you are and I missed it?? I’m in SC, we have had our share of flooding recently. It is devastating. Stay safe.
Dhag: my husband can go see his dad any time he likes. They skeeve me out in a million ways, I just can’t deal with them (his mother is wonderful, his father is a horrible creeper. He lives pretty close to us, she is in NH).
What happens is he just doesn’t ever see his dad because his dad skeeves him out, too. And we are kind of odd in that we don’t really separate. Poverty does that.
DALILLAMA: I am so sorry for your loss. What a way to start off the year.
I had something of my own to talk about, but my fingers need a rest. 🙂
I has my own something
Raysa, that was a dreadful story with a happy ending. I’d watch the movie.
Our NYE was quiet. I discovered that my husband was actually somewhat disappointed that I wasn’t making black eyed peas. Since he doesn’t *like* them, it was a surprise; he does like how I try to keep our sons in touch with their cultural heritage. He was in bed by 9:30, I was by 10:30. He got up this morning and made biscuits.
Our older son qualified for SSI, so we’re taking him to the local office next week to get him set up. It’s been an interesting experience. I’m better at dealing with bureaucrats on the phone than my husband is – it feels good that I can spare him the experience. My next project is helping my husband get his MediCal coverage back. Soon, everyone in the family will have health insurance! When I look at our collective household income, it is clear that public funds are supporting our experiment in social engineering. And I don’t have a problem with that.
A lot of people seem to be mentioning eating black-eyed peas. Is this a cultural tradition I’m not aware of?
@Azne: I have “keyboard anxiety” too. I read We Hunted The Mammoth all the time, but only rarely comment or anything.
Maybe I’ll make an effort to de-lurk a bit in the new year?
I had a laid-back NYE, myself. The family went out for a party with friends, and I volunteered to stay home with my parents’ new puppy. I watched Netflix on the couch with the puppy trying to bite my toes, and when I got hungry I ordered pizza.
I’m probably with a lot of people in hoping 2016 will be better than 2015 was.
@Jayne: In the South, it’s traditional to eat black-eyed peas and greens (usually turnip greens, but any cooked green will work), to celebrate New Year’s Day. The beans are for health, and the greens wealth. I like this tradition a lot, but my Midwest husband hasn’t gotten much of a taste for it.
Happy New Year everyone.
Reading some of these comments make me realise I am so fortunate not to have to deal with terrible people. Please Aces get away from that man – you deserve so much better. dhag – no wonder your wife lives in Sweden!
My ONLY worry is money. Unfortunately it is a pretty big worry. My fridge has broken down, and in April our income goes down to a 2 person income, but still has to keep 3 adults (and 2 dogs). Lots of rice and lentils will be eaten!
But I am OK about this year – my son is going to uni, and has done very well so far, should get a good offer. I want him to leave London, though I will miss him so much, because it will be so much more of an interesting experience for him.
My other son is the youngest on his Performing Arts course, but he is SO GOOD! I know I am biased, but honestly he was one of the best in the end of term performance.