🎉 Happy New Year! 🎊 December 31, 2017 4:26 PM Subscribe
I just want to thank everybody involved with this marvelous, ridiculous, impertinent website and to extend my fervent wish that (to paraphrase Laurie Anderson) 2018 will be just like 2017—only much, much better.
Huzzah! I rang in the new year watching old Star Gate Universe episodes and went to bed a little too late. Woke up this morning and ate dduk-guk as is the tradition and am watching Sleeping Beauty with the kids now. 2018 is going to be all right.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:14 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Literaryhero at 5:14 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
Happy to New Year to all Mefites! Thanks to everyone, and special thanks to the mods.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:40 PM on December 31, 2017
posted by Chrysostom at 5:40 PM on December 31, 2017
I spent the evening playing Khan of Khans with friends and yelling “50 cows!” Good times, good times.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:41 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:41 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Oh, so in Korea age is counted from January 1st for everyone, so all people born in the same year are the same age. That means everyone becomes a year older on January 1st, something that my kids find very important.
Yesterday I decided to tell them that there was a test on January 1st that they had to pass in order to become a year older and if they failed they would have to stay the same age for one more year (hey, it was funny to me!). They took this extremely seriously and were trying to study(?) for it. They are 5, 3, and 1 (in actual age).
Anyway, I didn't have a test, so I felt kind of bad, and decided to change my story. I told them if they didn't get a good night's sleep they wouldn't get older and would have to spend another year at their current age. The oldest asked how we could tell if they got older or not and I just randomly said that if you shine a light into the back of your mouth it is possible to tell. Satisfied, and a little scared of not growing older they all went to bed early.
First thing this morning, they all lined up and asked me to check the inside of their mouths. Haha haha. All day now they have been carrying around flashlights and checking each other's mouths. What have I done?!
posted by Literaryhero at 6:12 PM on December 31, 2017 [55 favorites]
Yesterday I decided to tell them that there was a test on January 1st that they had to pass in order to become a year older and if they failed they would have to stay the same age for one more year (hey, it was funny to me!). They took this extremely seriously and were trying to study(?) for it. They are 5, 3, and 1 (in actual age).
Anyway, I didn't have a test, so I felt kind of bad, and decided to change my story. I told them if they didn't get a good night's sleep they wouldn't get older and would have to spend another year at their current age. The oldest asked how we could tell if they got older or not and I just randomly said that if you shine a light into the back of your mouth it is possible to tell. Satisfied, and a little scared of not growing older they all went to bed early.
First thing this morning, they all lined up and asked me to check the inside of their mouths. Haha haha. All day now they have been carrying around flashlights and checking each other's mouths. What have I done?!
posted by Literaryhero at 6:12 PM on December 31, 2017 [55 favorites]
Literaryhero, this may or may not be how religions get started
posted by tivalasvegas at 6:30 PM on December 31, 2017 [34 favorites]
posted by tivalasvegas at 6:30 PM on December 31, 2017 [34 favorites]
I am drinking a French 75 while my shrimp for shrimp cocktail cools in the fridge and my water for steamed new potatoes come to a boil and my oven for heating up Dungeness crab warms up.
Happy transitioning into 2018, y'all! I hope everyone is celebrating the liminal space in the way that they would like.
posted by lazuli at 6:35 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Happy transitioning into 2018, y'all! I hope everyone is celebrating the liminal space in the way that they would like.
posted by lazuli at 6:35 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Fuck this garbage year to hell, everyone.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:43 PM on December 31, 2017 [40 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 6:43 PM on December 31, 2017 [40 favorites]
We've both got colds and it's like 9F outside so we're staying in and watching movies tonight. Just watched Columbus the first film by video essayist Kogonada and are probably going to follow that up with the newest Spiderman for something with a little more plot.
posted by octothorpe at 6:44 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 6:44 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Let's help 2018 be a year that lets everyone in 2019 catch their breath.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:45 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 6:45 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
Going To Maine: "Fuck this garbage year to hell, everyone."
So say we all.
posted by octothorpe at 6:46 PM on December 31, 2017 [9 favorites]
So say we all.
posted by octothorpe at 6:46 PM on December 31, 2017 [9 favorites]
2018 be the year the fascists accidentally opened the door to a center-left / social-democratic legislative coalition.
Let there be cake.
posted by tivalasvegas at 6:50 PM on December 31, 2017 [11 favorites]
Let there be cake.
posted by tivalasvegas at 6:50 PM on December 31, 2017 [11 favorites]
Fuck this garbage year to hell, everyone
…is the new "Have fun storming the castle!"
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:51 PM on December 31, 2017 [8 favorites]
…is the new "Have fun storming the castle!"
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:51 PM on December 31, 2017 [8 favorites]
Oh, so in Korea age is counted from January 1st for everyone, so all people born in the same year are the same age.
Omg, THANK YOU Literaryhero for finally giving me the explanation for a decades-old mysterious incident, when the new classmate from Korea in our second grade class told us that he was "7 years old here, but in 8 in Korea". He didn't quite have the ability at the time to explain what he meant so all of us came away from the incident with the vaguely unsatisfactory impression that time passed differently in Korea, or something...
posted by btfreek at 6:54 PM on December 31, 2017 [32 favorites]
Omg, THANK YOU Literaryhero for finally giving me the explanation for a decades-old mysterious incident, when the new classmate from Korea in our second grade class told us that he was "7 years old here, but in 8 in Korea". He didn't quite have the ability at the time to explain what he meant so all of us came away from the incident with the vaguely unsatisfactory impression that time passed differently in Korea, or something...
posted by btfreek at 6:54 PM on December 31, 2017 [32 favorites]
We gathered with dear friends earlier and I stuffed myself too full of nachos, brisket, deer sausage and chili. Several months ago a Hungarian colleagues sent a tiny bottle of excellent pálinka to me, which I got to share tonight. That made me very happy.
Now I am home with boy theBRKP while spouse stayed behind to continue with the festivities. The original Big Red Kitty is next to me, intermittenly grabbing at my wrist and batting at the underside of my laptop for attention. I also have a double old fashioned with too much lavender bitters and the wrong kind of whiskey on my nightstand.
2017 was really hard. 2018 looks to be the same, but I'm trying to stay positive. So Happy New Year and blessings for all. 🥃🍾
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 7:05 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
Now I am home with boy theBRKP while spouse stayed behind to continue with the festivities. The original Big Red Kitty is next to me, intermittenly grabbing at my wrist and batting at the underside of my laptop for attention. I also have a double old fashioned with too much lavender bitters and the wrong kind of whiskey on my nightstand.
2017 was really hard. 2018 looks to be the same, but I'm trying to stay positive. So Happy New Year and blessings for all. 🥃🍾
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 7:05 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
I made a lime pig for twitter. #lemonpig explains everything.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 7:07 PM on December 31, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 7:07 PM on December 31, 2017 [5 favorites]
Hey everyone, I love you all.
Thank you all so much for everything you have all done this year. I’m just a young kid in Portland, Oregon, constantly reading this website. I’ve been reading threads here since I was 13-years-old, and I’ve learned so much, and I’m 28 now, so you can imagine how much I’ve learned. I said this in the US politics thread, but I am so happy for all of us who fought this year.
When you really think about it, we fought hard. We did it. And I think it’s inportant for us all to recognize that. Small, or big, we did something amazing. We fought and we won more than we will even let know. And I think all of this is important. I’m honestly just a meager observer a lot of the time, but I will jump on this site and find something to be riled up about and it changes my whole week or month.
To me, the concepts of freedom are worth fighting for, and I see people here fighting for them, and I see some of us getting amped and wondering how to do more, just like how I’ve always been when I was a kid in the Bush admin reading this site. And I think we all find people to help us here, people who guide us, and I love that. America is worth fighting for.
I just want to say Happy New Year to you all. I seriously love you all. I don’t know many of you, or any of you really, or where you are from, but you all are my friends, and I am so happy to be apart of something bigger than myself.
The world is seriously a better place because of people here. That’s a fact. It may not be measurable, but it’s true. You all are seriously a big deal, one in a million. Best of the best. Keep fighting. We got this.
posted by gucci mane at 7:18 PM on December 31, 2017 [42 favorites]
Thank you all so much for everything you have all done this year. I’m just a young kid in Portland, Oregon, constantly reading this website. I’ve been reading threads here since I was 13-years-old, and I’ve learned so much, and I’m 28 now, so you can imagine how much I’ve learned. I said this in the US politics thread, but I am so happy for all of us who fought this year.
When you really think about it, we fought hard. We did it. And I think it’s inportant for us all to recognize that. Small, or big, we did something amazing. We fought and we won more than we will even let know. And I think all of this is important. I’m honestly just a meager observer a lot of the time, but I will jump on this site and find something to be riled up about and it changes my whole week or month.
To me, the concepts of freedom are worth fighting for, and I see people here fighting for them, and I see some of us getting amped and wondering how to do more, just like how I’ve always been when I was a kid in the Bush admin reading this site. And I think we all find people to help us here, people who guide us, and I love that. America is worth fighting for.
I just want to say Happy New Year to you all. I seriously love you all. I don’t know many of you, or any of you really, or where you are from, but you all are my friends, and I am so happy to be apart of something bigger than myself.
The world is seriously a better place because of people here. That’s a fact. It may not be measurable, but it’s true. You all are seriously a big deal, one in a million. Best of the best. Keep fighting. We got this.
posted by gucci mane at 7:18 PM on December 31, 2017 [42 favorites]
We played Scrabble and Apple to Apples, and now the kids, err young adults are upstairs don't whatever and my wife and I are on the couch watching New Year's Rocking Eve, and wondering how we are going to make it to midnight. Also, whatever demographic ABC is targeting with the music guests, we aren't in it.
Happy New Year!
posted by COD at 7:27 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
Happy New Year!
posted by COD at 7:27 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
Oh, so in Korea age is counted from January 1st for everyone, so all people born in the same year are the same age.
Like horses! So, how do birthdays work into this?
my wife and I are on the couch watching New Year's Rocking Eve
I didn't know that was still around. Or probably I did and forgot. I haven't actually seen that since the 80's.
posted by bongo_x at 7:45 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Like horses! So, how do birthdays work into this?
my wife and I are on the couch watching New Year's Rocking Eve
I didn't know that was still around. Or probably I did and forgot. I haven't actually seen that since the 80's.
posted by bongo_x at 7:45 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Happy Birthday! I'm slightly drunk and in my pjs watching Game of Thrones and playing Zelda. I hope 2018 is better than 2017. All the best to all of you my dear friends and fellow MeFites.
:D
posted by Fizz at 7:47 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
:D
posted by Fizz at 7:47 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
Like horses! So, how do birthdays work into this?
Birthdays are still celebrated, it is just that you don't get older on that day. I am no expert, but I think that the system is different because Korea has (although to a lesser extent now) a strongly age-based Confucian hierarchy where older people are the boss of younger people. By having cohorts all of the same age it slightly reduces this issue.
posted by Literaryhero at 7:53 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
Birthdays are still celebrated, it is just that you don't get older on that day. I am no expert, but I think that the system is different because Korea has (although to a lesser extent now) a strongly age-based Confucian hierarchy where older people are the boss of younger people. By having cohorts all of the same age it slightly reduces this issue.
posted by Literaryhero at 7:53 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
So it's already New Years Day here, and the first sunny one in three weeks of overcast and torrential rain. Last night I watched a movie streaming to the accompaniment of people setting off fireworks in the ravine behind my bungalow which has a very satisfying echo but seriously sounds like they are exploding underneath my bed. The movie finished about 1:30 AM and I was ready to turn in when I remembered that I'd set my alarm for 2 AM to stream the football game which I do every weekend (i.e. Monday morning). That went on until daylight and then I got up for breakfast. So I actually haven't been to bed yet and I'm exhausted but it's the first sunny day in three weeks and I have to take advantage of it.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:56 PM on December 31, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:56 PM on December 31, 2017 [5 favorites]
¡Feliz Año Nuevo! It's -10F outside, we're in our PJs, running fevers, and toasting the new year with a fine vintage of cold medicine. Never have I been so happy to be home. The cats are freaking delighted as well.
Thank you all for being wonderful. May we all wake up to a better, brighter 2018. <3
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:03 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
Thank you all for being wonderful. May we all wake up to a better, brighter 2018. <3
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:03 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
Happy new year to everyone! Y'all keep me sane in these trying times.
posted by fishhouses at 8:19 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by fishhouses at 8:19 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Happy new year, MetaFilter! Thanks for being there to help get me through the past year. It's always hard to explain to non-MeFites how much this place means to me so I'm glad I don't have to explain it here. Cheers to everyone and to the staff and to Eyebrows for being on duty tonight.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 8:28 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 8:28 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
Man, I've been watching people on Twitter & Mastodon with their "Post your accomplishments from 2017! Here's mine!" and... I... worked a lot? Kept my head down?
It was the year from hell, but never ask "How much worse can it get?" because you may just find out.
About 10 days ago I had The Talk with my boss... scripted it out... "I feel like I need to improve, but I can't do that working 60 hours, so let's work on ways to bring my hours down & I promise I will give you better hours, be able to catch more mistakes, improve systems, smooth out the workflow, etc. because I'm not out of my mind with sleep deprivation, so."
I got a good dose of "I agree wholeheartedly" but no concrete obligation that he was really going to do anything to bring my hours down in the coming year, in which he expects the company to grow another 20-25%.
So my new year's resolution is when I feel like I've had enough, I will be leaving, and going back to having some sort of life. Everyone I've talked to agrees that in absence of him having a plan, it's the best plan for me, & that I won't get fired & it'll maybe kick him in the ass to DO something rather than strand me with his business until 7 PM every night & 3 out of 4 Saturdays.
I'm looking forward to getting out of doors, mainly. I spent the evening with a bunch of old friends from the caving community and they were all adamant that I get the hell out of there & go caving this year, so if you can't see me, it'll be because I'm in a hole in the ground.
To my friends here I say good luck out there with whatever it is you set out to do this year, & keep carrying on - it will get better.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:32 PM on December 31, 2017 [17 favorites]
It was the year from hell, but never ask "How much worse can it get?" because you may just find out.
About 10 days ago I had The Talk with my boss... scripted it out... "I feel like I need to improve, but I can't do that working 60 hours, so let's work on ways to bring my hours down & I promise I will give you better hours, be able to catch more mistakes, improve systems, smooth out the workflow, etc. because I'm not out of my mind with sleep deprivation, so."
I got a good dose of "I agree wholeheartedly" but no concrete obligation that he was really going to do anything to bring my hours down in the coming year, in which he expects the company to grow another 20-25%.
So my new year's resolution is when I feel like I've had enough, I will be leaving, and going back to having some sort of life. Everyone I've talked to agrees that in absence of him having a plan, it's the best plan for me, & that I won't get fired & it'll maybe kick him in the ass to DO something rather than strand me with his business until 7 PM every night & 3 out of 4 Saturdays.
I'm looking forward to getting out of doors, mainly. I spent the evening with a bunch of old friends from the caving community and they were all adamant that I get the hell out of there & go caving this year, so if you can't see me, it'll be because I'm in a hole in the ground.
To my friends here I say good luck out there with whatever it is you set out to do this year, & keep carrying on - it will get better.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:32 PM on December 31, 2017 [17 favorites]
Happy new year everyone! It's only 9:32 pm local time, but I'm pretty ready to call it a night/year. Here's to the next one!
If you have little ones, or want a light way to ring in the new year early, Netflix has a bunch of 2 to 3 minute countdowns from their animated kids shows. We watched two earlier tonight.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:36 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
If you have little ones, or want a light way to ring in the new year early, Netflix has a bunch of 2 to 3 minute countdowns from their animated kids shows. We watched two earlier tonight.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:36 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
Me and kid are sick and it's too cold, so we are couch surfing into the new year. Got almost all of Christmas down while watching terrible NYE shows.
posted by emjaybee at 8:43 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by emjaybee at 8:43 PM on December 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Is it tomorrow already?
Here's hoping 2018 is less a goblin year than the last.
posted by Catblack at 9:15 PM on December 31, 2017
Here's hoping 2018 is less a goblin year than the last.
posted by Catblack at 9:15 PM on December 31, 2017
Happy New Year to the east coast. It's been January 1st here in Perth for over 13 hours. It's a balmy 92 degrees here and going to be 101 tomorrow. Hopefully this is the year I can connect with people. Who knows.
posted by Talez at 9:19 PM on December 31, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Talez at 9:19 PM on December 31, 2017 [5 favorites]
Happy New Year, metafilter!! Y’all are really just the best. But here’s to a 2018 with fewer nights on the couch with my face glowing blue. At least until the indictments begin.
posted by Fritzle at 9:20 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Fritzle at 9:20 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
Happy New Year! I'm sick...again, so we decided to be olds and stay in and watch PBS while drinking champagne.
Tomorrow, we're having some friends over for a party. I probably made too much food. OH WELL.
posted by PearlRose at 9:31 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
Tomorrow, we're having some friends over for a party. I probably made too much food. OH WELL.
posted by PearlRose at 9:31 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
Three-year-old is down, infant is on his way. Ms. ntw and I are sitting with a little champagne... and we’ll definitely be asleep by 10:30. We had a lovely day at a little house on the beach we’re renting. Even got a sunset between the rain clouds. I made some horrible decisions in 2017; it feels like all of the potential happiness in 2018 is balancing on a razor blade right now. But tonight I can’t do anything about it. So I’ll make a toast to the stars hidden by tonight’s clouds, hug my little ones and go to bed.
posted by not_the_water at 9:33 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by not_the_water at 9:33 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
I just celebrated with my housemates, stranded friends (from ice and snow) and visitors. I broke out a bottle of sauternes I'd been hoarding and we all enjoyed it, the beer drinkers less so than others, but it was good. I wish all of you a felicitous turn of the year.
posted by MovableBookLady at 9:34 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by MovableBookLady at 9:34 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
I have this old school bell, brass, wooden handle, the kind teacher would swing to call everyone in the playground back to class at the end of recess. Or as it was known when I was a little kid, "playtime". Lunch we called lunch. I dunno who in the family originally stole this bell, or if it came home with my grandmother one day in the 60s after her shift at a Paddo op-shop. She brought home many wonderful and interesting things. Once, a pale blue beaded silk sari that was given to me to play with, dress-ups being one of my favourite leisure activities at the time.
Anyhow this bell has a lovely sound, rich and full and when the old house was cleared out it came to me. When my favourite ex and I were living together we often played 500 or Canasta. Whoever won a game was entitled to march once round the table, ringing the bell of glory and proclaiming "I'm the best!" Then, because they were up, tradition required the winner to enter the kitchen and get the next round of refreshments.
The bell's other function was, and has remained until last night, to mark midnight on New Year's Eve. I step outside and toll a few times then yell "Happy New Year!" to the dark night and the paddocks and anyone in the houses beyond who might hear. I then wait for a reply, but in these many years have not received a one. Not even that time visiting friends in the village, unless you count the mild chiding from the hosts.
So last night. I eyed the clock at 10 to 12, I was cooking dinner (why not?) and for the first time found myself questioning the bell ceremony. No one ever answers, no one ever says later that they heard it. Why bother? Sensibly, I decided to defer my decision till the last possible moment. At midnight I would know what to do.
Next time I checked the time, the time told me 12.03 and I was too proud to ring late. One time I rang early at a party at someone's farm. We were standing on a hilltop looking way out to the glow of city fireworks on the horizon. I stepped forward, tolled and yelled with great and glorious gusto and a reply came from close at hand: your watch is three minutes fast. I was encouraged to do it again and I obliged but my heart wasn't in it. Lose the element of surprise, lose the pinpoint accuracy - timing is everything.
What was I doing that I missed the stroke of midnight last night? Reading a MeFi thread, agog as usual in the latest US politics catch-all. Make of that what you will. I want to make a number of major life changes in the coming year, retirement from my day-job, travel to see friends and family I haven't seen in ages, a long-term creative project I need to finish and some new ones I want to explore. To me, not performing the bell of glory ceremony seems an appropriate opener for my personal 2018 of ch-ch-ch-changes.
Big brassy New Year love to you all.
posted by valetta at 9:36 PM on December 31, 2017 [14 favorites]
Anyhow this bell has a lovely sound, rich and full and when the old house was cleared out it came to me. When my favourite ex and I were living together we often played 500 or Canasta. Whoever won a game was entitled to march once round the table, ringing the bell of glory and proclaiming "I'm the best!" Then, because they were up, tradition required the winner to enter the kitchen and get the next round of refreshments.
The bell's other function was, and has remained until last night, to mark midnight on New Year's Eve. I step outside and toll a few times then yell "Happy New Year!" to the dark night and the paddocks and anyone in the houses beyond who might hear. I then wait for a reply, but in these many years have not received a one. Not even that time visiting friends in the village, unless you count the mild chiding from the hosts.
So last night. I eyed the clock at 10 to 12, I was cooking dinner (why not?) and for the first time found myself questioning the bell ceremony. No one ever answers, no one ever says later that they heard it. Why bother? Sensibly, I decided to defer my decision till the last possible moment. At midnight I would know what to do.
Next time I checked the time, the time told me 12.03 and I was too proud to ring late. One time I rang early at a party at someone's farm. We were standing on a hilltop looking way out to the glow of city fireworks on the horizon. I stepped forward, tolled and yelled with great and glorious gusto and a reply came from close at hand: your watch is three minutes fast. I was encouraged to do it again and I obliged but my heart wasn't in it. Lose the element of surprise, lose the pinpoint accuracy - timing is everything.
What was I doing that I missed the stroke of midnight last night? Reading a MeFi thread, agog as usual in the latest US politics catch-all. Make of that what you will. I want to make a number of major life changes in the coming year, retirement from my day-job, travel to see friends and family I haven't seen in ages, a long-term creative project I need to finish and some new ones I want to explore. To me, not performing the bell of glory ceremony seems an appropriate opener for my personal 2018 of ch-ch-ch-changes.
Big brassy New Year love to you all.
posted by valetta at 9:36 PM on December 31, 2017 [14 favorites]
Happy new year and much love to everybody. I'm staying in this year but I have a bottle to pop open a bit later, and I'm catching up on TV in the meantime. (Just now it was "San Junipero", Black Mirror S3E4, highly recommended.)
I really hope 2018 is a better year for all of us. For me, this is the year I'm quitting my job to look for something to do with my life that doesn't leave me feeling dead inside. Haven't figured out what that will be yet, so it may be a little bit of an adventure, but I've been playing it safe for a while so I'm about due for some excitement, hopefully it'll be mostly the good kind.
Here's to everybody finding a little more peace and happiness and meaning in the new year. Cheers.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 9:38 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
I really hope 2018 is a better year for all of us. For me, this is the year I'm quitting my job to look for something to do with my life that doesn't leave me feeling dead inside. Haven't figured out what that will be yet, so it may be a little bit of an adventure, but I've been playing it safe for a while so I'm about due for some excitement, hopefully it'll be mostly the good kind.
Here's to everybody finding a little more peace and happiness and meaning in the new year. Cheers.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 9:38 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
Happy New Years to all the fine folks at Metafilter who provide me with a sane online option for getting information about the wonderful world we inhabit.
Very quiet night, it's 9:40 here, a tiny dram of booze, perhaps, online movies, and some version of art making.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 9:40 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
Very quiet night, it's 9:40 here, a tiny dram of booze, perhaps, online movies, and some version of art making.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 9:40 PM on December 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
Happy New Year, you brilliant weirdos! I can’t put my finger on why but 2017 just felt hard. And I was hoping that the holidays would like, make up for it and instead the holidays were also hard. But that’s in the past. Onward!
posted by kat518 at 9:47 PM on December 31, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by kat518 at 9:47 PM on December 31, 2017 [5 favorites]
Happy new year from the U.S. Midwest, you beautiful people. You make this life much more bearable. Thanks for being here.
posted by limeonaire at 10:11 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 10:11 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]
OK, also, while it was technically posted on New Year's Eve, I would like to nominate this as the best Ask MetaFilter post I've seen so far this year:
I wish to find the space whales. (they were having sex)
posted by limeonaire at 10:13 PM on December 31, 2017 [8 favorites]
I wish to find the space whales. (they were having sex)
posted by limeonaire at 10:13 PM on December 31, 2017 [8 favorites]
MetaFilter: MORMON sex whales
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:25 PM on December 31, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:25 PM on December 31, 2017 [9 favorites]
Weather update: about 15 minutes after I dragged myself out to enjoy the sunny day, it clouded over, started sprinkling > raining > torrents > full-on monsoon. I was wearing a rain poncho but there's a limit to its effectiveness so I pulled over underneath an awning and sat on the stoop of a closed shop and watched the irrigation ditches alongside the road fill up and overflow. Eventually it eased up enough--not stopped, mind you--to continue. It was flooded in places, halfway up my calf, and it's a strong current, but as we like to say, it's warm water. Back home safe with a late lunch and I am going to bed! Best New Year Wishes everyone and go Pats.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:04 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:04 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
I keep wanting to parody my hate of the last year and hope for the new one, but keep thinking of “Goddamn You, Ben McCullough”, which I am pretty sure all of two people have ever heard of, so I will refrain.
But I hope so much.
posted by corb at 11:51 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
But I hope so much.
posted by corb at 11:51 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
Happy new year, Mefi friends!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:58 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:58 PM on December 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
I just want my neighbors to stop with the fireworks so my cats will calm down.
posted by wallabear at 12:00 AM on January 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by wallabear at 12:00 AM on January 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
Happy New Year from the Left Coast Of Canada! eh
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:06 AM on January 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:06 AM on January 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
Happy west coast new year y'all. MeFi has helped keep me sane over the last ridiculous year (and more), and I thank you all for it.
posted by Gaz Errant at 12:34 AM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Gaz Errant at 12:34 AM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
(Just now it was "San Junipero", Black Mirror S3E4, highly recommended.)
A highlight in a show full of highlights.
The producers themselves cited San Junipero as something special. Listen to the great interview on the Note to Self podcast (repeated as their favourite podcast episode of the year).
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:21 AM on January 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
A highlight in a show full of highlights.
The producers themselves cited San Junipero as something special. Listen to the great interview on the Note to Self podcast (repeated as their favourite podcast episode of the year).
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:21 AM on January 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh, and happy almost-January-2nd from the future down under.
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:22 AM on January 1, 2018
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:22 AM on January 1, 2018
Happy New Year, dear friends; sexy space whales for all!
(Don't argue with me on this. It's sexy, it has a giant aquatic whaleish creature, it has space, and time, and a cat —because how did we get this cat wedged into our space whale sex story and why?—, so stfu and enjoy your new year's sex whale. *hugs*)
[image source]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:36 AM on January 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
(Don't argue with me on this. It's sexy, it has a giant aquatic whaleish creature, it has space, and time, and a cat —because how did we get this cat wedged into our space whale sex story and why?—, so stfu and enjoy your new year's sex whale. *hugs*)
[image source]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:36 AM on January 1, 2018 [34 favorites]
So, the cow poem was big last January. I never did write one, because I couldn't quite get it to work.
On another website I use a cropped version of one of my paintings as an avatar. Someone commented tonight, and it all fell into place. It's not funny, but it works.
My first art/crafting of 2018:
my name is Tree
and wen its brite,
or wen the sun
is shiyning rite,
and all the leeves
haf fallen ded -
i stand strong
i face the red
posted by monopas at 2:14 AM on January 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
On another website I use a cropped version of one of my paintings as an avatar. Someone commented tonight, and it all fell into place. It's not funny, but it works.
My first art/crafting of 2018:
my name is Tree
and wen its brite,
or wen the sun
is shiyning rite,
and all the leeves
haf fallen ded -
i stand strong
i face the red
posted by monopas at 2:14 AM on January 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Happy Hogmanay Mefi! I'm glad I had a low-key evening as am about to start the long journey from the south of England back to Paris! Thanks for keeping me sane in 2017.
posted by ellieBOA at 5:05 AM on January 1, 2018
posted by ellieBOA at 5:05 AM on January 1, 2018
Happy New Year, everybody. Let's knock this fucker out of the park.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:01 AM on January 1, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:01 AM on January 1, 2018 [15 favorites]
Happy New Years everybody! It’s only 4 degrees here in Fairport, but I’m thinking about going to Wegmans. Anybody need anything?
posted by valkane at 7:09 AM on January 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by valkane at 7:09 AM on January 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
MetaFilter: stfu and enjoy your new year's sex whale. *hugs*
posted by limeonaire at 7:17 AM on January 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 7:17 AM on January 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
...fervent wish that (to paraphrase Laurie Anderson) 2018 will be just like 2017—only much, much better.
That's raising the bar to, like, the height of the hurdles in the Flatland Olympics.
posted by y2karl at 7:57 AM on January 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
That's raising the bar to, like, the height of the hurdles in the Flatland Olympics.
posted by y2karl at 7:57 AM on January 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
valkane, do they have the little perfect white cakes at your Wegmans? It would be a great way to start the new year.
posted by kat518 at 8:04 AM on January 1, 2018
posted by kat518 at 8:04 AM on January 1, 2018
Apparently, I was drunk enough to wish you all a Happy Birthday instead of a Happy New Years! last night.
*facepalm*
Haha.
posted by Fizz at 8:08 AM on January 1, 2018 [14 favorites]
*facepalm*
Haha.
posted by Fizz at 8:08 AM on January 1, 2018 [14 favorites]
Here's to 2018, my sanity saving MeFites. valetta the Earth appreciates the bell tolling. Keep doing it.
Onward - to January 20.
posted by yoga at 8:12 AM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Onward - to January 20.
posted by yoga at 8:12 AM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Happy New Year to you all!
Ours was spent watching the Big Fat Quiz, eating pizza, and being thankful that HVAC dudes came out to fix our furnace because the weather right now in Canada is not fucking around. In bed by 10 reading Hellboy comics, then asleep by 10:45! As I get older, I really love the quiet New Year nights.
posted by Kitteh at 8:30 AM on January 1, 2018
Ours was spent watching the Big Fat Quiz, eating pizza, and being thankful that HVAC dudes came out to fix our furnace because the weather right now in Canada is not fucking around. In bed by 10 reading Hellboy comics, then asleep by 10:45! As I get older, I really love the quiet New Year nights.
posted by Kitteh at 8:30 AM on January 1, 2018
After a year of working on writing poems, I have a few I think are worth submitting around, and I'm applying to MFA programs right now. So one goal I have for 2018 is to rack up as many rejections as possible and hope that a lot of rejections will yield a few nice acceptances eventually. And also keep writing stuff.
posted by Gymnopedist at 8:54 AM on January 1, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Gymnopedist at 8:54 AM on January 1, 2018 [8 favorites]
Also to check which thread I'm commenting in before I comment in the wrong New Years related Metatalk.
posted by Gymnopedist at 9:03 AM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Gymnopedist at 9:03 AM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Apparently, I was drunk enough to wish you all a Happy Birthday instead of a Happy New Years! last night.
One of my sisters did the same on a family group text chain yesterday and we proceeded to wish one another a happy Valentine's Day, a joyous St. Patricks Day, a happy Flag Day, etc etc
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:37 AM on January 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
One of my sisters did the same on a family group text chain yesterday and we proceeded to wish one another a happy Valentine's Day, a joyous St. Patricks Day, a happy Flag Day, etc etc
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:37 AM on January 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
Happy 2018! For no apparent reason, I have hope that it will be better. Let's make it so. Having this place as a refuge means so much.
posted by theora55 at 9:43 AM on January 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 9:43 AM on January 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
I watched this and am now torn between spending the day playing bass or watching Wes Anderson movies
posted by thelonius at 9:52 AM on January 1, 2018
posted by thelonius at 9:52 AM on January 1, 2018
Happy New Year, everyone! May this upcoming year indeed be so much better.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:57 AM on January 1, 2018
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:57 AM on January 1, 2018
Happy New Year, everyone! I am spending the day sorting, organizing, budgeting, and in general getting all my waterfowl in proper alignment. It is my favorite holiday!
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 12:15 PM on January 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 12:15 PM on January 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
Happy 200th anniversary of Science Fiction, everyone!
posted by kyrademon at 4:20 PM on January 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by kyrademon at 4:20 PM on January 1, 2018 [7 favorites]
Happy New Year, everyone. Better days, may we live to see them.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:41 PM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:41 PM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Happy New Year everyone. It's cold outside, warm in here. I did not get dressed, and spent the day with my best guy (and I won the Scrabble match!) eating leftovers and talking about our hopes and dreams for the new year. Last night's neighbor party was a great time but I have a sore throat that seems like more than the usual "talked to too many people and also it is dry" so I'm drinking tea and taking it even easier than I might have otherwise. Best wishes to everyone.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 5:56 PM on January 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 5:56 PM on January 1, 2018 [9 favorites]
Well, this was sure a hell of a first day of the year. It is good? I feel hopeful, and inspired to make more positive changes?
I normally don't go out on NYE for a lot of reasons, often because it's such a total shitshow of bad choices and a minefield of emotional crap.
But at the last minute I layered up and walked all the way into town to head to my favorite local bar and happening place with no real goal but to get some more photos of the supermoon and end up at the bar roughly before midnight to make an appearance. I meandered a bit more than I intended to so I almost missed midnight by about 8 minutes.
And for once I'm glad I did go out on NYE. I ended up running into folks visiting "home" from out of town and a bunch of random folks I haven't seen in a while, and it was all really just what I needed and was remarkably shitshow-free. But it also had some healthy emotional crap going on, too. More importantly, though, I found a, uh, place or experience that I wasn't even sure I had in me any more that's really quite complicated to explain.
And then it gets weirder and more intense, like I can't ever do things the easy way.
Trigger warning, heavy stuff. Lift with your knees, not your back.
In the midst of the aftermath of last night and today I learned my dad had what I think is his 6th and then 7th major heart attack sometime before Christmas. It might be more. I don't know how he's still kicking, honestly, apparently he just gets up and out of the hospital and goes back to work and playing guitar with his buddies.
So I spent most of Christmas and post Christmas knowing something was wrong and that maybe he'd passed away, and learning to accept that as a possibility. The same way I knew and felt when my grandma passed from 1500 miles away, down to about 15 minutes. I remember the moment clearly because was at a Goodwill, unloading a lot of old books, some from her home that I had for, oh decades at that point.
I worried about him because he said he had the flu and was going home from work early and then I didn't hear from him at all, and I don't really have a reliable way to contact him except via email because, well, it's complicated and his current wife of 20+ years has issues and is probably undiagnosed BPD.
I've been preparing for this for a long time, and know that I may never see him again because I can't afford travel and other complications. And I thought I had myself pretty well prepared to deal with it, they way I was able to deal with sort of pre-grieving when my grandma passed away, that it was something I was able to gently accept before it happened.
But... apparently not, and I can tell this is going to be a lot harder than I think it's going to be, even with an expansive and ecumenical view. And I'm very, very thankful of my worldview, of really understanding that death is part of life. That this is really part of the ongoing, ever-changing flux and renewal of humanity and all life. That if there's anything that truly defines life, it's the fact that it can even die at all in the first place.
I thankfully haven't had to deal with a whole lot of death in my immediate life so far, but sometimes I feel guilty about this, and know I am unprepared and naive on many levels.
And, well, I apparently just learned that it's one thing to, y'know, philosophically relish and be totally at peace with the idea of one's own death as some inevitable thing that could even be looked forward to, but that doesn't apparently map to immediate parents, so, yay.
So meh, ok 2018, slow down already. And I feel a whole lot better just right now after typing all this out, so thank you..
On that note, if I do resolutions at all (and I don't) this year it's to try to express a lot more thanks for the smaller things in life and not take them for granted. Paired with that, to desire and want for less. But I've already been working on that for a while.
I want to thank MetaFilter and the people in it for being here. The news nerds and policy wonks, the artists, the librarians and archivists, the crafters, the musicians and poets and the engineers and everyone.
Many of you have offered me a lot of encouragement over the years and a whole lot of support. And a whole lot of love, acceptance and tolerance of my quirky, intense but ultimately caring weirdo self.
I too often let my argumentativeness and need to be smart and/or right get in the way of myself far too often and I'm way, waaaay too easily seduced by the dark powers of my wildly leaping intuition. Which, is often wildly wrong, hence the username.
But despite getting in the way of myself, I've learned more about everything from many, many people on this site than I can even fully recount or recollect.
Thank you so much. I love you guys and I wouldn't be here without you, and I wouldn't be who I am, and I would have a lot less of an idea of who I could really be.
posted by loquacious at 6:42 PM on January 1, 2018 [16 favorites]
I normally don't go out on NYE for a lot of reasons, often because it's such a total shitshow of bad choices and a minefield of emotional crap.
But at the last minute I layered up and walked all the way into town to head to my favorite local bar and happening place with no real goal but to get some more photos of the supermoon and end up at the bar roughly before midnight to make an appearance. I meandered a bit more than I intended to so I almost missed midnight by about 8 minutes.
And for once I'm glad I did go out on NYE. I ended up running into folks visiting "home" from out of town and a bunch of random folks I haven't seen in a while, and it was all really just what I needed and was remarkably shitshow-free. But it also had some healthy emotional crap going on, too. More importantly, though, I found a, uh, place or experience that I wasn't even sure I had in me any more that's really quite complicated to explain.
And then it gets weirder and more intense, like I can't ever do things the easy way.
Trigger warning, heavy stuff. Lift with your knees, not your back.
In the midst of the aftermath of last night and today I learned my dad had what I think is his 6th and then 7th major heart attack sometime before Christmas. It might be more. I don't know how he's still kicking, honestly, apparently he just gets up and out of the hospital and goes back to work and playing guitar with his buddies.
So I spent most of Christmas and post Christmas knowing something was wrong and that maybe he'd passed away, and learning to accept that as a possibility. The same way I knew and felt when my grandma passed from 1500 miles away, down to about 15 minutes. I remember the moment clearly because was at a Goodwill, unloading a lot of old books, some from her home that I had for, oh decades at that point.
I worried about him because he said he had the flu and was going home from work early and then I didn't hear from him at all, and I don't really have a reliable way to contact him except via email because, well, it's complicated and his current wife of 20+ years has issues and is probably undiagnosed BPD.
I've been preparing for this for a long time, and know that I may never see him again because I can't afford travel and other complications. And I thought I had myself pretty well prepared to deal with it, they way I was able to deal with sort of pre-grieving when my grandma passed away, that it was something I was able to gently accept before it happened.
But... apparently not, and I can tell this is going to be a lot harder than I think it's going to be, even with an expansive and ecumenical view. And I'm very, very thankful of my worldview, of really understanding that death is part of life. That this is really part of the ongoing, ever-changing flux and renewal of humanity and all life. That if there's anything that truly defines life, it's the fact that it can even die at all in the first place.
I thankfully haven't had to deal with a whole lot of death in my immediate life so far, but sometimes I feel guilty about this, and know I am unprepared and naive on many levels.
And, well, I apparently just learned that it's one thing to, y'know, philosophically relish and be totally at peace with the idea of one's own death as some inevitable thing that could even be looked forward to, but that doesn't apparently map to immediate parents, so, yay.
So meh, ok 2018, slow down already. And I feel a whole lot better just right now after typing all this out, so thank you..
On that note, if I do resolutions at all (and I don't) this year it's to try to express a lot more thanks for the smaller things in life and not take them for granted. Paired with that, to desire and want for less. But I've already been working on that for a while.
I want to thank MetaFilter and the people in it for being here. The news nerds and policy wonks, the artists, the librarians and archivists, the crafters, the musicians and poets and the engineers and everyone.
Many of you have offered me a lot of encouragement over the years and a whole lot of support. And a whole lot of love, acceptance and tolerance of my quirky, intense but ultimately caring weirdo self.
I too often let my argumentativeness and need to be smart and/or right get in the way of myself far too often and I'm way, waaaay too easily seduced by the dark powers of my wildly leaping intuition. Which, is often wildly wrong, hence the username.
But despite getting in the way of myself, I've learned more about everything from many, many people on this site than I can even fully recount or recollect.
Thank you so much. I love you guys and I wouldn't be here without you, and I wouldn't be who I am, and I would have a lot less of an idea of who I could really be.
posted by loquacious at 6:42 PM on January 1, 2018 [16 favorites]
You def live up to your user name, son
I am in awe
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:31 PM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
I am in awe
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:31 PM on January 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Happy new year!
My Personal Mefi Stats.
Last year I set myself the (optimistic) task to make a post to Metafilter once a week, every week for the entire year.
Yes. My aim was 52 posts.
I fell woefully short of that, but as you can see from my brief stats below, I *think* the things I posted and the comments / favourites left, indicate an overall aggregate good for the site.
I tried to post positive or uplifting things to try and combat the slog of a year that was 2017.
14 posts to Mefi
Spread thusly: Jan-2, Feb-3, March-2, July- 4, Aug-1, Nov-2
Those 14 post instigated a total of 342 comments
Those 14 posts also attracted a total of 334 favourites
My personal goal for a 'successful' post was anything that generates 3 or more comments.
Yes I know it's not a competition, I just like the numbers :)
I tried to make the kind of posts I'd like to see more of and other Mefite's seemed to like them.
This year I have an (much more reasonable) aim of at least one post a month.
::raises a glass:
Here's a toast to You and Yours. May 2018 ring in positive changes and a kinder world.
Also I hope Mefi continues to thrive, strive and grow stronger all this New Year.
posted by Faintdreams at 7:49 AM on January 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
My Personal Mefi Stats.
Last year I set myself the (optimistic) task to make a post to Metafilter once a week, every week for the entire year.
Yes. My aim was 52 posts.
I fell woefully short of that, but as you can see from my brief stats below, I *think* the things I posted and the comments / favourites left, indicate an overall aggregate good for the site.
I tried to post positive or uplifting things to try and combat the slog of a year that was 2017.
14 posts to Mefi
Spread thusly: Jan-2, Feb-3, March-2, July- 4, Aug-1, Nov-2
Those 14 post instigated a total of 342 comments
Those 14 posts also attracted a total of 334 favourites
My personal goal for a 'successful' post was anything that generates 3 or more comments.
Yes I know it's not a competition, I just like the numbers :)
I tried to make the kind of posts I'd like to see more of and other Mefite's seemed to like them.
This year I have an (much more reasonable) aim of at least one post a month.
::raises a glass:
Here's a toast to You and Yours. May 2018 ring in positive changes and a kinder world.
Also I hope Mefi continues to thrive, strive and grow stronger all this New Year.
posted by Faintdreams at 7:49 AM on January 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Happy new year Mefites. I really do consider this place one of my refuges and it wouldn't be that without you all.
Thank you, from my heart.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:32 AM on January 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Thank you, from my heart.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:32 AM on January 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Happy New Year, Metafilter.
I looked back yesterday at the November 2016 photo of the two of us with our "I Voted!" stickers, smiling and knowing that we had played a tiny part that day in making history, and it broke my heart all over again. And since then, 2017 had some great personal highs, and a lot of lows in everything to do with our country. Down to the last kick-in-the-teeth tax bill.
But this year, I'm hopeful.
"We meet again, at the turn of the tide. A great storm is coming, but the tide has turned."
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:03 AM on January 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I looked back yesterday at the November 2016 photo of the two of us with our "I Voted!" stickers, smiling and knowing that we had played a tiny part that day in making history, and it broke my heart all over again. And since then, 2017 had some great personal highs, and a lot of lows in everything to do with our country. Down to the last kick-in-the-teeth tax bill.
But this year, I'm hopeful.
"We meet again, at the turn of the tide. A great storm is coming, but the tide has turned."
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:03 AM on January 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
On New Year's day 2018, my wife and I caught a flight from Lisbon to Amsterdam. We were in Lisbon spending Christmas with my wife's family. Now we are in Amsterdam which is our new home.
We threw out, gave away, recycled, sold, most of what we owned while living in the UK. What was kept, we realized, could fit into three categories: Clothes, Books, Art. And we trimmed down those objects as well, giving books away, tossing old clothes. We sold our nice furniture and gave the rest away to a favourite UK charity.
So here we are in Amsterdam, determined to live more simply. Bike and trains will be our primary form of transport and we plan to pay more attention to what we buy.
Happy New Year to all. Let us see what 2018 holds.
posted by vacapinta at 9:50 AM on January 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
We threw out, gave away, recycled, sold, most of what we owned while living in the UK. What was kept, we realized, could fit into three categories: Clothes, Books, Art. And we trimmed down those objects as well, giving books away, tossing old clothes. We sold our nice furniture and gave the rest away to a favourite UK charity.
So here we are in Amsterdam, determined to live more simply. Bike and trains will be our primary form of transport and we plan to pay more attention to what we buy.
Happy New Year to all. Let us see what 2018 holds.
posted by vacapinta at 9:50 AM on January 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
Midnight found me in the front yard, bundled up (as one does in Oklahoma when it's in the teens) and looking up at a full moon with a lovely large ring around it. Stars inside the ring. Gorgeous.
Firecrackers sporadically going off in the neighborhood, a few fireworks above the trees toward the lake... and my dear husband coming out the door, sans coat, wondering what I'd gotten up to.
He waved and went back in, while I communed with nature as long as my chilled nose would allow. Back inside for hot cocoa and New Year's festivities on the television.
Next day our youngest offspring took refuge with us (her roommate had a Harry Potterathon going with younger relatives) and watched an uplifting family film with us.
Did you know that "The Birds" had an alternative ending? Now you do.
Our oldest offspring has been working night shift and carefully avoiding post-holiday accidents as the traffic goes back to normal in our new year. Her fur baby is still getting dosed for heartworm and enjoying the change in diet.
And from all of us to all of you, Happy Holidays Mefites!
posted by TrishaU at 1:59 PM on January 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Firecrackers sporadically going off in the neighborhood, a few fireworks above the trees toward the lake... and my dear husband coming out the door, sans coat, wondering what I'd gotten up to.
He waved and went back in, while I communed with nature as long as my chilled nose would allow. Back inside for hot cocoa and New Year's festivities on the television.
Next day our youngest offspring took refuge with us (her roommate had a Harry Potterathon going with younger relatives) and watched an uplifting family film with us.
Did you know that "The Birds" had an alternative ending? Now you do.
Our oldest offspring has been working night shift and carefully avoiding post-holiday accidents as the traffic goes back to normal in our new year. Her fur baby is still getting dosed for heartworm and enjoying the change in diet.
And from all of us to all of you, Happy Holidays Mefites!
posted by TrishaU at 1:59 PM on January 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
> Apparently, I was drunk enough to wish you all a Happy Birthday instead of a Happy New Years! last night.
One of my sisters did the same on a family group text chain yesterday and we proceeded to wish one another a happy Valentine's Day, a joyous St. Patricks Day, a happy Flag Day, etc etc
A friend's mom texted us Happy New York. I wanted to respond with Happy Pennsylvania but was outvoted.
posted by pemberkins at 6:13 PM on January 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
One of my sisters did the same on a family group text chain yesterday and we proceeded to wish one another a happy Valentine's Day, a joyous St. Patricks Day, a happy Flag Day, etc etc
A friend's mom texted us Happy New York. I wanted to respond with Happy Pennsylvania but was outvoted.
posted by pemberkins at 6:13 PM on January 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Turned out I had The Crud so I have not yet gotten dressed in 2018. It's 20 degrees outside which feels like a heat wave. Maybe today is the day.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 8:48 AM on January 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 8:48 AM on January 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Today was the day!
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 2:12 PM on January 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 2:12 PM on January 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
<mr-rogers>I knew you could!</mr-rogers>
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:50 PM on January 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:50 PM on January 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
I am in awe
Don't be. I currently live on a couch. And I type too much.
Finally got in touch with my dad. He's stable, but he's apparently run out of arteries to bypass and says "I am fine, will return to work in two weeks,"
Dude, please slow down.
posted by loquacious at 2:16 PM on January 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Don't be. I currently live on a couch. And I type too much.
Finally got in touch with my dad. He's stable, but he's apparently run out of arteries to bypass and says "I am fine, will return to work in two weeks,"
Dude, please slow down.
posted by loquacious at 2:16 PM on January 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well I am putting this here. I am still enjoying Quonsmas goodies, Jasmine White Tea, with just a bit of fresh lemon zest from alley lemons just picked. Winter goodness!
posted by Oyéah at 6:34 PM on January 13, 2018
posted by Oyéah at 6:34 PM on January 13, 2018
Update on dad: "Back at work! Going to a trade show!"
Me: *Marge Simpson noises*
posted by loquacious at 1:53 PM on January 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Me: *Marge Simpson noises*
posted by loquacious at 1:53 PM on January 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
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In a couple hours (when my kids have gone to bed and Chez McGee is quiet!) I'll be hanging out in the chat room to welcome 2018. Please come keep me company if you happen to be around!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:30 PM on December 31, 2017 [4 favorites]