Down and bored. Ask me ANYTHING!!

[Locut0s]

And I mean A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G! I'll try to make it interesting

[TexasTowelie]

1. Who was your favorite Thundercat?

[Locut0s]

2. I'm sad to say we never got much of Thundercats up here in Canada...

can tell from watching the intro I would have been a fan during that time. Just from the intro I'd day I pick Cheetara, always loved characters with superspeed powers.

In this same vein of early western Japanese crossovers cartoons is voltron, speed racer, and of course Transformers, only the later of which I really watched. Favourite transformer would me Optimus or Megatron I guess.

Interesting to see that many of the people who worked on Thundercats went on to Studio Gibli!

[Tobin S.]

3. Have you ever been to America?

If so, what were your impressions?

[russspeakeasy]

4. and if not, why not ? Do you HATE AMERICA ?

[Tobin S.]

5. Damn straight. You tell 'em!

[Locut0s]

9. I don't hate America. I hate ignorance and boundless greed...

I don't even hate a lot of the tea party base as many of them feel they way they do out of growing up disposed in poverty and from an education system that has taught them to fear the "other". Many of these people wouldn't vote they way they do or feel so much hatred if they had grown up with a proper education system, had proper health care, and knew something about the world at large.

The people I REALLY hate are those who have created this system to begin with. Those responsible for the income disparity, and culture of prideful ignorance. They DO make up a sizeable portion of the population and yes THESE Americans I DO hate, but I actually greatly admire America itself as the vast potential it still holds. I also greatly fear the power it has to held destroy the world

[IrishAyes]

13. Despite the silly grin, that does sound a tad rude.

[Locut0s]

8. Yes, I haven't been to many places but I've been (with impressions)...

Despite living across the boarder here in Vancouver for the better part of 25 years we very rarely visit the states. When we first moved back to Canada from Asia we did a trip across the states in a truck but I don't remember that trip, I was 6 at the time. We've taken a number of day trips down to Seattle and only longer trip down the Oregon coast. As well we have now vacation in Hawaii twice and thoroughly enjoyed that. However I suppose Hawaii doesn't represent the mainland all that well.

My impressions are that America is a very unreserved country in many ways. There is a real sense of the spirit of individual freedom in the way Americans carry themselves. They are rarely afraid to speak their mind and let you know how they feel. And yet Americans are if anything friendlier than Canadians on average. And yet I often feel that Americans are SO obsessed with individuality and the importance of individual freedoms and the right to express themselves that they are blinded to some things. The friendliness in America is more contingent on you respecting the other persons personal space than in many other countries. I've never seen so many "Keep Off Private Property" signs than when I go to the US. This creates in interesting dichotomy where there is a very unfriendly and almost paranoid undercurrent to many aspects of things. Americans are if anything MORE likely to give you the shirt off their backs and invite you into their home and make you feel part of their family than Canadians or many others, but there's a MUCH stronger feeling of what's mine in mine and don't you be touching it as well. I highly admire the feeling of "anything goes" and there is a greater sense of energy in the air and possibility to make something of yourself in many places. This extends itself to politics where the left wing in America is actually MORE vocal and willing to speak out than the left up here in Canada. There is a real sense of energy and 'possibility'. But again many American let themselves be blinded by this atmosphere and fail to see that there might be other world views, other ways of measuring freedom. How free is a nation anyway that's held back by such a stunning wealth gap, where the top 1% live like Kings could only dream of and the bottom 50% live close to the poverty line or below. There is something to be said for the idea that a nation where everyone is on a more equal footing might in many ways be even "freer".

The stunning wealth gap in America is one of the first things I notice when we travel down south. You drive through large swaths of the country of what I call "Wallmart land". Populated by the undereducated, the poor, the dispossessed, living in trailer parks or the like. The sad thing about this large contingent is that many, most?, are ignorant not through any fault of their own but through an education and economic system that has stunningly failed them. They genuinely fear that Obama is coming to take their guns, their freedom, etc, yet they can scarcely articulate why they feel this way, what freedoms they would lose. They speak of socialism and the like but don't know what the term really means or what the world is like beyond their home state, or even city. The world beyond this is full of dragons and imagined fears, foreign and scary.

Having said this travel to any of the larger cities and you will find large populations of people more liberal than many here in Canada. I guess in the end that's the overriding feeling I get from America. It's a polarised country. More polarised than just about any country I've been to. The wealthy are SUPER wealthy. The poor are almost 3rd world level poor. The ignorant are IGNORANT and proud of it. The smart are very smart and proud of it. It's a chaotic, place. One with boundless potential for good AND bad.

[Tobin S.]

12. Excellent post and assessment.

That's the most intelligent thing I've seen in the lounge in a long time.

Goddamn, I knew you had a brain in that skull of yours.

Here's to Locut0s. Man of wealth and poverty. He just doesn't know how rich he is.

[Locut0s]

18. Thank you. And that's one of the nicest things I've seen in a long time...

As for intelligence well your really only as intelligent as the decisions you make. Perhaps intellectually speaking I'm intelligent but there's more than one measure of intelligence and when it comes to life choices I've made and my emotional intelligence I'm 1/2 my age. Choosing to live at home with no school or job as a parasite isn't the best or nicest of decisions, neither is running away from all your life responsibilities and potential, or choosing to drink in this situation. Of course saying that that's permanent is an excuse and a cop out designed to make me comfortable remaining where I am. I'm very very good at that unfortunately. I know I can change if I want it enough. I have confidence that I will get a job or go back to school in the coming months, don't quite seem there yet but I'm feeling slowly better bit by bit. But I've been down this road many a time before as well, staying the course will be the real challenge.

But thank you for the compliment, it means much

[Tobin S.]

26. Aw c'mon, Locut0s.

You are like many Americans in one regard at least. You don't know how to take a compliment! "Yes, thank you, but I'm really not worthy of your kind words," is what many people here seem to say when you pay them a compliment, and that's basically what you just said.

So here's what you do when someone pays you a compliment.

Let's say someone tells me, "Tobin, I admire your hard work and dedication. I wish I could be more like that," which, in effect, is what several people here in the lounge have told me when I've posted about my successes at school and work. The best response is a simple thank you and maybe pay a compliment in return, "Thank you very much, my dear Locut0s. I appreciate the kind words. You know, you seem to have a natural talent for self expression. You express yourself very well through the written word. Have you considered a writing oriented job as a possible career?"

And all of the sudden we have ourselves a mutual love-fest in which everyone acknowledges everyone's talents and strengths and everyone also recognizes their own talents and strengths. Knowing how to take a compliment means that you acknowledge that there is something good about yourself and you accept that without any apologies. It's a great way to build healthy self esteem.

[Locut0s]

27. Lol, ok guilty as charged...

Thanks. I do indeed tend to do that. Will try my best not to so much.

[IrishAyes]

34. Here's one promise you kept most successfully.

You did indeed help make this a most interesting thread.

[MiddleFingerMom]

17. I'm extremely impressed by your impressions and I'd like to echo Tobin. WELL done!!!

[Locut0s]

19. Thank you, but like I said...

There's more than one form of intelligence and insight. I find myself envying most people for the ability to just plug away at things and see them through. And you "my dear MFM", as CFPeggy would say, are far braver than me!! But again thanks.

[Kali]

29. good post

[Locut0s]

31. Thank you. nt.

[In_The_Wind]

6. Ok ...

Have you ever gone skinny dipping ?

[Locut0s]

10. Nope. That might be fun. But...

Usually those who go skinny dipping do so for gun with their SO for fun. I've never had a girl fried so there's been few opportunities. And I've never been one to party, another place people skinny dip. There's still time to explore things though

[chknltl]

57. Teddy Bear Cove

Not far from you, a bit south of Bellingham and slightly north of Larabee Park on a hot summer day....leave the camera(s) at home.

nuff said...(or maybe too much said....never can be sure about this sort of info).

[HipChick]

7. Should I go to the Company Xmas party?

I hate social events anyway, and I won't really know anyone there..

[Locut0s]

11. I hate social events too...

Do you have family and friends over for Christmas? Are you going to be going to other parties instead? If so I'd say no harm in skipping. If you will largely be alone otherwise for the holidays you might want to push yourself to go. Just my 2 cents

[HipChick]

14. I'm going to be alone for the holidays anyway..

so I usually book a ticket somewhere hot and warm so I can get away from all the festivities..

[Locut0s]

22. But not this year? nt.

[HipChick]

23. I never miss..

I leave for the Islands next week...

[Locut0s]

24. Take me with you!..

Which islands? Hawaii? If so which island specifically? I've been to both the Big Island and Kauai, thoroughly enjoyed both trips. To the point where I've wondered if there is some way of constructing a life around living there.

[HipChick]

25. Yep..there are ways...I'm not coming back till about

mid - Jan though...

I cannot stand the winter, it gets me very down...the holidays, family stuff...cannot.stand.it...being near nature..sun.sea.surf makes up for it..

[IrishAyes]

15. Since you might not be bored now, let me ask why you were down in the first place. Which

came first? In almost 68 years I've never been bored, but I know about down all too well.

Your comments on our country are valid. Try to remember, though, that our pioneer days are barely behind us. Back then you didn't want to waste the possibility of a friend in a lonely and hostile land; but since you couldn't be too sure at first whether he'd turn out to be friend or foe, you kept him at arm's length for a long time. While I've enjoyed some long, deep friendships and still keep in touch with people far away, basically now I prefer the mode of friendly but not cozy. Especially with men, who tend to try to jump the gun if you accept very much from them, especially attention.

Part of this conditional, arms-length friendliness is actually intended to protect privacy while being social. I know some visitors or new arrivals can have trouble reading our signals, thinking a genuinely interested conversation in passing means a desire for more socialization when it really doesn't. Even when genuine, it might just be the person's idea of how to get along. It's not personal because 1) a lot of us are this way with each other and we don't mean or take offense; and 2) we tend to be workaholics who withdraw in physical and emotional exhaustion when we get free time.

And yes, income and educational inequality is the greatest danger our society faces. Throughout world history this has been the invariable witches brew for violent revolution, and it weighs heavily on the wiser heads among us. You're probably unaware that I retired to the sticks in the Central MidWest, a blood red area. I only moved here because I could afford a better house and more elbow room here. In my beloved Maine I'd probably have been shunted to elder housing, and I absolutely despise anything that resembles group living. For myself. Not for others, many of whom prefer it. I'm always amazed by the number of adults who are afraid to be alone and don't enjoy their own company.

This will horrify you. Should horrify everyone. In this blood red state, far too many people never travel over 100 miles from where they were born and they have a stunning high school dropout rate. One of the saddest things I ever heard was a young man bragging on his intellectual girlfriend. He was so impressed that she almost made it through 11th grade.

Part of the reason they hate President Obama is that he shatters the stereotype they've been spoonfed since birth. At least on some level they understand that he's smarter and more powerful than they are, and it scares the hell out of them because even though they themselves have never had power, they see it slipping away from the rich white men who've always served, they think, as their leaders and protectors.

John Steinbeck, my favorite author, said that true socialism had never caught on in this country because too many of the poor think of themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

I really liked a description I read somewhere about the GOP financial plan. Two poor men and one rich man sit down together at a restaurant (silly, I know). There are 12 cookies on the table. The rich man grabs 11 of them, then turns to one poor man and says, "That other guy's trying to steal your cookies."

[Locut0s]

20. Thanks Irish, you seem to think I think Americans are standoffish...

Actually that's the opposite of what I think. I find more Americans are the loud slap you on the back "how are you buddy" type. A type you don't find as much up hear. Us Candaians are the ones more likely to hold people at arms length. What I was getting at more is that there is a somewhat paranoid undercurrent running through a lot of American culture stemming from the fear of the loss of personal space and freedom. I alluded to this in talking about the number of "Stay off, Private Property" signs you see. You certainly see them up here too but not quite in the proliferation as down there. As I was saying it's a dichotomy cause one the one hand Americans are VERY open, and on the other they are more prone to fear and suspicion.

I can understand wanting to move out to "the sticks" to live more freely in the wide open in a larger house. I'd find the company difficult to relate to and off putting but I love the countryside.

It neither horrifies nor surprises me what you say about those who have never traveled and look down on education. I remember watching a documentary in which the saying "don't get above your raisin (how you were raised)" was used. It saddens and worries me more than anything. I suspect there is a tipping point in societies that willfully remain uneducated and ignorant, tipping them over to forms of fascism, oligarchy, and in some cases totalitarianism. Ignorance breads ignorance, it buffers and insulates it, eventually NO one knows "what they don't know", and "what there is TOO know". I don't see America there yet but I don't think anyone knows where said tipping point lies and we are playing with fire.

The ironic thing about them hating Obama is aside from skin colour and being mildly center left he's largely no different than those who came before. The one thing I DO like about him is that as you say he seems to harken back to a time when presidents were actually expected to be intelligent. But policy wise not only is he not socialist or any of the other ridiculous things the right like to throw out there, he's sadly just about as much in the back pockets of the big corporations as any other president in recent years. Not that he hasn't done some genuine good and done so against spectacular odds but his willingness to compromise and roll over for corporate interests is sad and far from the "change is coming" we were so forcefully promised. But then in the US the right wing's idea of socialism is taking away that 5th Mercedes from Bill Gates and offering the poor a chance.

I love Steinbeck. Well I love the Grapes of Wrath anyway, I have to admit I haven't read much else of his. Great quote.

I love that description of the GOP financial plan.

[IrishAyes]

28. Except for where we part company on President Obama, I agree with you by and large.

As to the first, change HAS come. The effects won't be realized in full force immediately, but that's because in President Obama we have a top chess player, not a brute force boxer. I rather favor the first style, not because I shrink from confrontation either, but because it simply works better. I say that with full acknowledgment that I myself am a natural born shin kicker. I have my role to fulfill, he has his own. Some GOP haven't quite caught on yet that we DO have single payer now; the great state of Vermont! Trust me, that's just the beginning. I don't like it any better than President Obama does, but the fact remains that big ships turn slow. He's far more a revolutionary than would appear at first glance.

No, I don't think I misunderstood what you were saying so well about social styles. I just wanted to verify it in large part, with the understanding that the effect doesn't always arise from paranoia or fear, sometimes a simple love of privacy and trying to strike a congenial balance when interacting with others. Canadian reserve - and politeness! - is well known and at least by me, highly respected. Yes, south of your border we do tend to be more effusive, at least outside the mega-cities where people logically expect that strangers who make unwarranted eye contact might be either tourists or muggers.

I slid into forced very premature retirement on a wing and a prayer. Otherwise I'd have bought a home in Calais, Maine, just across the border from you. The local Americanized pronunciation of the town's name still sets my teeth on edge, but it's a beautiful place. I actually bid on a place there but didn't get it. If I ever win a big lotto, though, here I come!

[Locut0s]

30. I've heard others espouse a similar opinion of Obama...

I respect it and can see where you are coming from. I'm not sure if I agree 100% but time will tell, I sincerely hope you are right.

Here's rooting for you to win that lotto

[IrishAyes]

32. Bless your heart - I'll need all the luck in the world, especially since

I don't buy even a single ticket unless the pot's over 30M.

But if I were engaged in geriatric romance and couldn't decide whether to marry the poor sap - I mean, prospective groom - then where he lived might tip the scale.

[No Vested Interest]

37. The saying re geriatric romance among my widowed friends is

that many/most older men who are interested in the available women are are looking for
"a nurse and a purse".

I have positively no interest in that part of life, though my mother when widowed at 67 did remarry, to a widower, and she/they were relatively happy for about 10-12 years. The story is too long to finish, and out of respect for my mother, I won't.

I am, though, very happy for older guys and gals who do find the right combinations at that stage of life.

[IrishAyes]

38. Well, I'm happy for the lucky in love folks too, at whatever age.

But I've now been single more years than married and I was married far, far too long regarding that one disastrous choice. Looking back at it now, I see the benefit in how it innoculated me against repeating the mistake, although I did skirt the thin edge more than once.

Early on there was this single fellow on a neighboring ranch, and we liked each other well enough. But when he got around to proposing, I said, "Great, but remember I have ambitions of my own down the road. How are you going to feel when I make another run at the shoestring budget indie film industry?"

His answer was soooo classic. "Oh, you'll forget about all that when you have me and the house to take care of."

#2 close call: Dated a guy for awhile and we started to get serious. There'd been nothing I could remember to warn me what he'd consider such a compliment that it was bound to seal the deal. If nobody yanks my chain, I'm not a drama queen, and I knew that's what he really meant when he closed his pitch with a huge grin and the words, "You're simple!" It wasn't so much that one verbal gaffe that killed the deal, but the fact that he couldn't seem to understand what was wrong about it. That's when the quarrel started.

#3 close(?) call: In another state with another neighbor in horse ranching. I hardly knew the guy and liked him even less, yet he approached me with what HE considered the deal of the century. His parents were ill and he was living with them, but he was overwhelmed with that and the looming business disaster to boot. So he proposed and I said in my stark surprise, "Well, just what would you expect me to do with my little place then? And who's going to take care of your parents?" "Oh, we'll sell your place and invest the $ in my ranch, and it's the wife's job to nurse sick family." "Wait a minute - you want me to sell a thriving ranch, small though it is, sink all my profits into your doomed place, then take care of you and your parents until they die and you run off with some barfly? What makes you think I can't see that train wreck coming?"

There were a few others, but those had the best stories. Now if Liam Neeson shows up on my doorstep some day begging for my hand, I'd consider that for about 3 seconds before saying sure! But until and unless, it looks like I'm cut out for the single life.

[No Vested Interest]

39. Sounds like #3 was looking for the "nurse and a purse". nt

[IrishAyes]

41. He was certainly the dumbest one.

[Locut0s]

53. I'm not one to say anything...

What with having zero experience dating , so who knows what might slip out of my mouth lol. BUT I have a hard time seeing why anyone would say:

"Oh, you'll forget about all that when you have me and the house to take care of."

"You're simple!"

"it's the wife's job to nurse sick family."

What is this the 18th century?

[IrishAyes]

54. They certainly thought so.

Even as late as the 1990's.

I don't think younger men entirely realize how advanced they often are over the previous generations. When I was first on my own again, it was just the 1980's, but it took me a couple years to train the local hardware/home depot guys not to treat me like someone else's accessory at best, if they even bothered to notice a female customer. For instance, one time I spotted a middle aged clerk and started down the aisle toward him, waving to get his attention. He made eye contact, and then suddenly looked above and behind me, and said, "What can I help you with, sir?" Having gone through this far too often, I snapped, "I'm not a SIR! Do I look like a SIR?"

Poor guy stuttered and stammered that, well, he thought I was with the man behind me. Whereupon the man behind me tried to snag my clerk away from me! Didn't make it, I promise you.

Then there was the immense problem of when I told a male clerk what I wanted him to help me find. If it was some kind of tool or part, unless he'd met me before and knew how it infuriated me, he'd demand to know what it was for. I generally said it's for me! No, he meant what was I going to use it for. After all, he couldn't risk selling me the wrong item because then I'd be mad when it didn't work and I'd just bring it back - he was only trying to save me that unnecessary step!

Then I'd go on a tear about did he ask his MALE customers what they wanted a part or tool for? Of course not. So quit talking to me like I'm some dumbass broad who doesn't KNOW what she wants! Get it for me or the manager will! At which point he'd glare daggers at me because I didn't appreciate his superior intelligence and gallantry.

Eventually I learned to look for someone who didn't appear a day over 25. One time I complimented the young man for not being like his elders, for treating me like an adult instead of some idiot who wandered in out of the rain. He smiled and said, "No problem! I treat every female customer I meet just like she was my grandmother."

Well, I guess you can't have things both ways.

[Locut0s]

55. Hah lol, wow that's bad...

Can't say I've ever seen anyone treat female customers like that! But then not being a woman myself and not paying close attention I'm sure I could have missed similar instances. My work history is rather sparce, only about 5 years, but the places I've worked none of my colleges have treated women any different from men. Unless they were trying to hit on them or something which I can remember one or two former colleagues doing, which I can imagine is a pain in it's own right. But nothing like that kind of treatment, sheesh! And the grandmother statement isn't all THAT much better Only thing I've don't in the past which I've been embarrassed at was calling a younger female customer ma'me instead of miss.

[IrishAyes]

56. Well, a person could get whiplash trying to keep up with THE most current PC on any

subject, and I don't hold at all with people who rile too easily. There's a nice way to let people know what we prefer and we should give them the benefit of doubt when possible. That said, and recognizing that my reach sometimes exceeds my grasp, way back then - in the 1980's - things were really bad. At least I've never been prone to yell, although I certainly know how. The grandmother comment didn't bother me; I thought it was amusing, given what I'd been enduring before and the fact that the kid was so sweet. And he did an excellent job helping me.

I'll say this much, too. Things have indeed improved a lot. It's probably always going to be worse in rural areas where that he-man/submissive woman dynamic still holds sway. I bellyache a lot about the local 'culture', but I've probably settled in as well as possible. Been here long enough to know which side of which feud I belong on.

[Kablooie]

16. Here are some questions to keep you busy for awhile.

Why is abbreviated such a long word?
Why does monosyllabic have five syllables?
Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
Why is a carrot more orange than an orange?
Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
Why are they called apartments, when they're all stuck together?
Why do scientists call it research when looking for something new?
Why do they call it a building? It looks like they're finished. Why isn't it a built?
Why is it when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
If price and worth mean the same thing, why priceless and worthless are opposites?
Is there another word for synonym?
Is it possible to be totally partial?

[Locut0s]

21. Let's see...

Why is abbreviated such a long word?

It happens to be abbreviated (abv.) though. So the abbreviation of abbreviated is rather brief?

Why does monosyllabic have five syllables?

Cause otherwise it would just be mon.

Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?

Cause it's English. One fucked up language

Why is a carrot more orange than an orange?

Historically carrots actually were not orange. It seems they were red and yellow. It seems that the orange carrot was introduced in the Netherlands in the 17th century, according to wiki. So the orange comes from cross breeding it seems.

Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?

I suspect cause they are built by the federal government or something?

Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?

Likely cause the park in parkway refers to public parks

Why are they called apartments, when they're all stuck together?

Would you rather live in an apartment or a togetherment?

Why do scientists call it research when looking for something new?

Cause they are still "searching" for something.

Why do they call it a building? It looks like they're finished. Why isn't it a built?

See #3, English, one twisted language

Why is it when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo?

Cause transportment is the alternative.

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

Vegetarians.

If price and worth mean the same thing, why priceless and worthless are opposites?

Cause price and worth don't mean quite the same thing.

Is there another word for synonym?

Alternate.

Is it possible to be totally partial?

As these guys:

[IrishAyes]

35. Smartypants.

[IrishAyes]

33. Damn yer hide innyway. Just when I thought I had the universe figured out,

here you come with another load of questions, none of which can ever be answered. This will keep me awake the rest of my life.

[AsahinaKimi]

36. Can a Surfer

"be "Down and Bored" ?

[Locut0s]

42. That looks painful...

This looks worse though

[AsahinaKimi]

52. Maybe worse than that...

[KamaAina]

40. Have you ever smoked crack with Rob Ford?

[Locut0s]

43. Yes...

In one of my drunken stupors. I'll be releasing a press briefing about it shortly.
.
.
.
.
Actually all us Canadians have, it's a right of passage up here

[polly7]

50. Why didn't you call me!?!

[cherokeeprogressive]

58. Yeah but...

Have you ever taken acid and gone to the Zoo?

Some day I'll post about that...

[Texasgal]

44. Is it freezing cold where you are?

Is there mountains of snow?

Curious from a Texan! We never get much down here!

[Locut0s]

46. Yeah technically it's bellow freezing (with some pics :P )...

It's 0C right now 32F. Compared to the rest of Canada this is warm. Vancouver is always moderated by the pacific and in the winter we don't get much snow and usually hover just above freezing or a little below. However this year we've been having a really cold cold snap this past month or so, along with most of the rest of North America it seems. A few days ago it got down to -10C (14F) at night. This morning was the first snow we've gotten this year, less than a centimetre, just a light dusting as you can see from these photos taken from the upstairs deck. This is the street right in front of the house:





But it's been cold enough that the public fountain over at city hall has become something of an abstract art sculpture:

[polly7]

45. Ok, this is more of a decorating question.

I like decorating for Christmas ........ usually. This year for some reason I'm not so into it. But ... I did get a tree, one of the only ones left in the tree lot - it turns out, once I cut the strings around it - it's freaking huge and takes up a quarter of my living room. I have enough lights for it, but I only have enough decorations for a small tree. What else should I do to make it look semi-finished (I refuse to buy more decorations). I found some old packs of tinsel and was thinking of just closing my eyes and throwing handfuls of tinsel at it - would that be ok?

[Locut0s]

47. Sounds good to me :P Our family has always loved christmas despite being Atheist but...

When it comes to decorations and lights we've done it largely cause we felt we had to as a social obligation more than out of a feeling of cheer or anything. It's the presents, the Christmas dinner, being with family etc that really count. I'm sure a few lights and some tinsel will look OK. If you want to take the time though there are LOTs of interesting ideas for home made ornaments and the like online. I can remember making pasta ornaments in elementary school one year a long time back:

http://www.diy-enthusiasts.com/decorating-ideas/christmas/christmas-crafts-kids-ornaments-pasta/

We also made these cute little mice out of wallnuts and fabric:

?imgmax=800

Do the tinsel thing first and see how it looks. If you think it looks too pathetic then just do the minimum That's what we usually do lol.

[polly7]

49. Thank you for the good advice, I think that's what I'll do.

I haven't felt very Christmasy since my Dad's been gone so I think I just need a bit more time.

Your little mice decorations are adorable !!!

[AuntFester]

48. Can I use a blue rinse in my hair after removing my upper partial?

[Locut0s]

51. Umm...

The what what, used in the where now?

Had to google those terms to know what you were referring to And I still don't know what an upper partial is? Unless you are referring to dentures?

How about get a mow-hawk and die it neon pink?

[chknltl]

59. Any local tips on how to deal with

Spider Mites?



(btw I love your landscape photos)