a quick merry stressmas

[slang]

I wanted to wish you all a merry Chrsitmas. Or if you prefer, happy holidays.

May the supreme being of your choice smile upon you and make your life prosperous and fulfilling.


I hope to get back here soon.


slang

[SteveDallas]

Thank you, & right back at you! We've had our own special varieties of stress this year.

First of all, my parents are coming to visit for a week or so on Sunday. This is a good thing (free babysitting etc.) but is still an occasion for stress.

Second, my daughter began taking cello lessons in March. We had determined that she had progressed far enough to be able to play in the instrumental ensemble at church on Christmas Eve. Well starting yesterday afternoon, she was literally nauseous with nervousness. So it should be interesting... she is well-prepared, and her cello teacher and I will both be in the ensemble as well, so we'll be there for moral support and can make sure she's got her act together, but she is probably going to freak out if anything goes badly.

Thirdly, we will be skipping the traditional Christmas morning cinnamon buns tomorrow because Mrs. Dallas forgot to get any earlier in the week and, upon visiting 3 different grocery stores today, I discovered that they have all been picked clean. (I was also unsuccessful at locating candy canes that are not mint flavored, as nobody in the family likes mint except for me.)

We'll be leaving for the 1st of 3 services in about 15 minutes (in general, Christmas Eve is NOT a holiday for musicians!), and when we're done with #3 I predict the consumption of mass quantities of gin & tonics and martinis by Mrs. Dallas and me respectively.

[wolf]

Dear God,

Just wanted to make sure that I wished a happy birthday to your boy.

I know I'm not part of his crowd, but he always seemed like a nice guy. He can't help what his friends did after he died and rose again, you know?

You have anything special planned for him this year?

[wolf]

Stressmas isn't the half of it.

I worked last night, but am off tonight and tomorrow. This will be the first time in years that I have not worked on Christmas Day.

Last night was one of those extraordinarily busy and strange shifts ... things happening that don't usually, even for us.

The highlights, so to speak, were a baby stealing and a completed suicide.

Merry fucking stressmas indeed. Is it January yet? I'm ready for a new year.

[wolf]

I went to the mall today. Yes, Christmas Eve. After 1600 hrs too. What am I, crazy? Perhaps, but overall it was one of the more pleasant mall experiences I've had.

I'm not generally a big fan of the mall. I go when I have to. I avoid the mall during Stressmas season at all costs.

But one of my mailorder items didn't arrive as quickly as I'd hoped ... so I had to scoot over to get something for mom. Something was not clearly defined when I went in the door, but turned into a Mambo for Women (perfume) gift set. And a Chick-Fil-A calendar, which she usually buys herself, but didn't mention this year, so either she didn't get one already, or she'll be able to score twice as much free stuff from her favorite fast food restaurant.

I had salespeople actually say "Merry Christmas" instead of a bland "Happy Holidays" too. I'll be making a point of spending at Boscovs as a consequence.

I also had a nice moment. A lady was leaving the mall as I was preparing to enter. She had one of those stroller-carts filled with stuff. She looked around the area and saw that there weren't any handicapped ramps to make it easy to get down into the lot. She asked me if I'd be willing to watch her cart for her while she got her car.

I wasn't under any real pressure, or in a hurry, so I agreed.

It's nice to know that there are still people who trust in the world.

We Merry Christmassed each other, she threw in an extra "Jesus is Lord" for good measure, and we parted, each the better for it in our own way.

Oh, and on the above post about work yesterday, I left out one "being hit by an old lady" because she didn't really mean it, and couldn't put any strength behind it, anyway.

[elSicomoro]

I just got back from the Pathmark up the street from my house...what a zoo...they close at 6. I spent about 10 minutes trying to get around the store and 10 minutes standing in line, which I didn't think was too bad. I'm in for the night now.

[Griff]

Pete called this company we ordered a chemistry set from twice over the past week because we placed the order a looooooonnnngggg time ago and no f*in package! Both times she was assured that the thing was in transit. 8 year old asks for 2 things for Christmas one educational one a large box you pretty much want to have it under the tree. She finally went out and got a much lamer version yesterday afternoon. Today we get the email confirming they sent it out.... today. Boycott Young Explorers.

Anyway I've been on my best behavior so far, got the initial gathering out of the way tonight before Mass. Doing my best not to be a prick this Christmas. Good luck keeping it together everyone. Whatever path is yours may you find a way to keep to it this season.

[Troubleshooter]

This thread exemplifies why I don't do holidays any more. The SNR in life is getting worse every day. The holidays only exaggerate that. There's nothing like heightening our expectaions of reciprocity to the point of a pathology.

[Griff]

What pray tell is SNR?

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by Griff

What pray tell is SNR?

As a vulgar usage it means the crap you have to go through or put up with to get a meaningful or worthwhile result.

From the Wikipedia here.

"The phrase signal-to-noise ratio, often abbreviated SNR or S/N, is an engineering term for the ratio between the magnitude of a signal (meaningful information) and the magnitude of background noise. Because many signals have a very wide dynamic range, SNRs are often expressed in terms of the logarithmic decibel scale."

Edit: The definition has expanded to include message boards and usenet. For a good example of a bad SNR look at the Critique of Black Culture thread and The big hoorrah in that input thread started by Marichiko.

[Griff]

Ah gottcha. You're spot on there. I try to keep things pretty clean here but I don't control the entire docket during the holidays. Early in my relationship with Pete I really had problems with the way we were doing holidays but we have staked a claim on Christmas Day as a stay home with the kids time. I'm actually much better this year than last when Moms cancer was getting to her and her kids were getting to me.

[wolf]

[wolf]

Some nice person on the internet has saved us all the trouble of having to drive around!