1. Our Thanksgiving leftover bounty is delightful and I had no trouble picking up some Bourbon County Stouts (on sale!) this morning, so that's groceries sorted for the next several days.
2. I've started filling in my "end of life" planner book. You know, all the information someone might need when I die. I'm supposed to be helping my mom set up the trust for their house, but I've been putting it off. My goal is to get all this in place in the next six months.
3. McMikeNamara and I will be singing Jingle Rock Bell at karaoke this month, in our CTA Holiday sweaters, which light up. Hopefully on First Tuesday, but Mike's sweater has not arrived yet. I am very much looking forward to it!

redvixen: hearing a low hum that nobody else hears is a nagging thing. I myself was convinced I was hearing the neighbours central heating. But I hear it also in situations when everything is turned off. So I've come to the conclusion that it's probably a result of growing older.

crush-onastick: wrt 'end of life' planner book. That's something that's been on my mind as well. I did make my will recently. So that part is in place. But I still need to write up the details of what will need to be wrapped up. I'll do that this weekend. Tx for reminding me.

had a 3PU all written out but I foolishly didn't copy the text before posting and metachat ate my comment. Maybe later! Miss you all, though.

1. my 16 yr old daughter has a 5th form ball coming up. I'm bidding for a pair of old pearl earrings. Of course as a papa I have no idea what I'm doing. But I have a feeling that pearl pendants are rather timeless.
My thinking is that when you're 16 it means so much more that it's gold! (tiny amount), diamonds! (small, and diamonds are a De Beers grift), pearls!

2. I ordered a japanese print from 1988. All the way from a gallery in Malmö Sweden. I was hoping that the print (commissioned by the Nobel prize committee) was so obscure that no fraudster would focus on it. But still I was biting my nails when I received a response email "I'm very sick, I can't send it right now". Thankfully it did arrive. It's a riot of colour https://mstdn.ca/@atomicker/113250874181727216

3. there is no three

1. Still working in state government and planning to probably retire from that in a couple years when I'm 62 which is when I'm first eligible to do so with decent benefits. And then I'll read some article about somebody with no home or money and I get all nervous and upset and decide to stay working there FOREVER.

2. Just got my passport renewed because it was the only thing I could think of to do after the U.S. elections. It's a pointless exercise because even if I went anywhere I wouldn't be able to stay. My picture looks truly dreadful, even by passport photo standards.

3. Walking across the parking lot at work last week I tripped and took a flying fall, bashing my knee, left hand, and chin. Then I decided to retire the very minute I turn 62 and live in a trailer in my nephew's backyard.

3A. There is no way your daughter is 16, jouke. You clearly meant to type 6.

1. No Thanksgiving in the UK, Thursday was a normal working day for me.

2. Yesterday I went to see Tosca at the Royal Opera House, my Christmas treat to myself (I have never paid so much for a theatre ticket in my life!). Oh, it was magnificent, with Sir Bryn Terfel playing the repellent Scarpia to perfection. It's my favourite opera, and it was an absolutely wonderful experience.

3. Today I went to see the London Bulgarian Choir perform at a beautiful old church in Paddington, a part of London I don't know at all. It was a very beautiful High Church of England building (which is the 'posh' Church of England, a smidge away from Catholicism). There were two choirs, the London Bulgarian and a guest choir, Cubritsa, from The Netherlands. I didn't understand a word of what they were singing, it was Christmas and traditional Bulgarian music, most of it in a minor key. At the end I joined in the traditional Circle Dance as it snaked around the church, about 150 of us all dancing together. It was lovely. Afterwards we went for a delicious dinner, good friends, lots of laughter.

3(a) Tomorrow will be a much quieter day, a few errands to run, and I want to make a start on wrapping the Christmas presents. As per last yer, I'm not sending many cards - it costs £2.80 ($3.55) to send a single small card to the USA so instead I'm going to send online cards to most people. I can't justify the cost of spending £100+ on postage, I'd rather make a donation to charity.

1) Currently sprawled out on a sofa in front of the back fireplace in our funny old brick house in Alameda, California. Also present on sofa are another human (my husband Jon, whom I've known since we were single-digit years old but to whom I've only been married for five years) and a dog (Betty, who's a stocky, impulsive, brindle amstaff with white opera gloves, three years old).

2) For Christmas upcoming we will be in Montreal as in days of old. I just tried to order a small dinde sauvage entière to pick up at the Atwater market on the Monday before, but the butcher's site doesn't take US credit cards. I'll have to call them or, more likely, just ask my brother to do it For Christmas 2025 we'll probably be in Australia, where Jon lived for decades and where his grown-up kids are.

3) Although I hardly ever stop in here, I think about this place and about the people here surprisingly often. Thanks to Miko and everyone.

Hi tangerine. Australia is pretty far to travel for xmas.

Ha JanetLand, yes I remember proudly sharing pictures of a cute 6 yr old. And now she's working hard to get into the best university she can. Gearing up to be a young adult.

What a sweet lil story, tangerine. Hope I can meet Jon next time I'm out your way!

redvixen: finding the source of a sound no one else can hear?SO satisfying!The affirmation that one is not hallucinating.

crush: I love the sweater and the idea of doing a live rendition of JRB.

jouke: I got a pearl necklace and earrings fromm my grandma when I was 16 and yes, it's really special at that age. So adult to have "real"jewelry. I still treasure them. Great gift.

Senyar: the Bulgarian concert sounds amazing.Love that music,so haunting.

My 3 points:


1. Where to begin? LT and I are ensconced in our house. We bought it this time last year, the first one either of us (in our 50s) have ever owned. It's a monthly drama scraping together the mortgage. Prices are so out of control in our area that we sort of settled for a little place in a neighborhood/area that's not our favorite, but overall it's what we could do. We're slowly working on giving it some flair and covering up the builder's gray with interesting paint choices.

2. It's been a rough, rough couple of years. Both my parents got cancer, and both are in separate chapters of managing it. Doing well, all things considered. I launched a consulting business during COVID, and it's also doing well. I have a good client slate - the toughest part is managing both work flow and cash flow, which both have peaks and valleys. Last year I added a 2 day a week part-time job coordinating a historical program, and that's been a good anchor for the revolving clients. It's not a restful phase of life, but grateful for the people and resources I have.

3. I need to get back in shape! This former runner/triathlon/active person has turned into a soft blob. Last year I ran a 5K in March and did some hiking over the summer, but that's it. Trying to re-establish a routine amid a lot of activitiy in areas (1) and (2) has been an uphill climb.

Congrats on owning your own place. It's an important step in life.
(I should know who LT stands for. Remind me?)

Yeah, parents being at end of life is challenging. Mine died recently within a year of eachother. I know what it's like.
It's discouraging, everything going down.
But I do look back fondly on: I was there with my mama. In the months before her euthanasia. Her fear it wouldn't be honoured by the doctors. Her moments of doubt. Her concern about me if I'd be alright. Etc.
It's inherently lonely to know that you've come to the end of the road. Knowing you're going to die. Somehow it was a privilege to be there with her.

Wrt to exercise I can relate. I used to be a fanatical runner. Now I have to will myself to go for a run after putting it off for a few days.

LT=Lipstick Thespian, my partner of 18 years, husband of 10, who I met here :)

Ah yes, I knew LT is a metachattian and about you two. Just forgot about the handle. Thank you for reminding me :-)

My three points!

1. I teach high school now! I had a big career change a few years ago. I love teaching, even though I am (among other things) the health teacher, which is always a delight.

2. I too have a 16 year old daughter who is gearing up for college. Well, she's a junior, so this time next year she will probably have heard back from one or two. She wants to major in math.

3. Still in NYC, still married, still generally chilling. 50 next year, so that's fun.

I guess being the health teacher entails Sex Ed. That must be fun with teenagers.

Pretty cool she wants to major in math. Mine wants to do an MBA like her mum.

Are you all on Bluesky?
My email is in my profile. Send me an email with your Bsky name and I'll gather them and send them back. Including mine.

Are you all on Bluesky?
My email is in my profile. Send me an email with your Bsky name and I'll gather them and send them back. Including mine.

Oops. Double because of db connection error. :-)

1. Still living in Pittsburgh's North Side with DarthDuckie (never on Metachat but was on Metafilter).

2. Working in robotics lately, specifically self-driving forklifts. That's fun an challenging but I turned 60 this year and really want to retire soon.

3. Spend a lot of my time doing photography, mostly on film. I've been working with a group of friends to build out a community darkroom which has been fun.

We went to Montreal for Thanksgiving and it looks like it was the right decision on many counts. We usually host 8-10 people, but decided in September to opt-out and have a little get-away as we weren't going to be able to spend our 22nd wedding anniversary together. Thanksgiving weekend meant turtlegirl wouldn't have to take any additional time off.

We were both feeling a bit weird about leaving turtlegirl's mother alone for the holiday but she's an introvert and blessed the decision immediately.

Then the day we left, Vermont was hit with a bit heavy snow storm dumping about 8-10" at the house. Had we stayed and hosted nobody would have been able to attend and we'd be eating leftovers until our 23rd wedding anniversary at least. Here's a time-lapse of the storm if anyone is interested.

We were only in Montreal for 3 days and 2 nights, but we had a blast as usual. This is probably our 10th visit since we moved up to Vermont in 2005. We ate like royalty and walked for many, many miles to compensate. We went shopping at a few of the Christmas markets, went to a few stationery stores and a few brew pubs we like.

While we were gone, the snow knocked out the power, but thankfully only for a few hours. Nearly every time we go away and leave my MiL to look after the house and dog something goes amiss. Power outages mostly. We joke about it each time we leave, and inevitably something happens. We're saving up for an electric battery generator for future trips as my MiL can't move or operate the petrol-powered one. Thankfully our neighbors all rallied and plowed the driveway, etc and checked on my MiL.

We got home on Saturday and shoveled snow until we were tired and sore, and fell asleep at 7pm. Yesterday we did some chores and then put up the holiday tree, but were too tired to decorate it. Hopefully tonight.

I guess being the health teacher entails Sex Ed. That must be fun with teenagers.

Literally in the middle of that unit right now. I save it until nearly the end of the semester, so they are a little more chill with me. good times, good times.

1. My 3 indoor cats, Casper, Nora Lou Who, and Possum are all well. Outdoors, Ginger is bulked up for the winter. After many, many years he now loves to be scratched and pet but he still does not want to come inside. He is the oldest one around now and I wish he would retire to an indoor life. Also outdoors is the very feral Buddy Guy and the even more feral, like I only catch glimpses of him, as yet unnamed dude. There is also Jim Slate.

Jim is a huge black cat and he comes around most evenings for a bit. He only eats a little so he has food somewhere. He seems to stop in just to get a bit of food, a bit of scratching, and so he can yowl at me. He is very loud. He seems to have many complaints.

2. This year I flew on the flight deck of a 747-8F cargo liner, hung off the outside of a very tall building, jumped off another very tall building, and jumped off a very tall crane. Other than that, though I have had a hard time doing much of anything.

3. Seriously, I am getting almost nothing accomplished anymore. I have no focus or ability to get important things done.


Montreal seems a popular place right now. Congratulations on the new home Miko. Gaspode and jouke time goes so quickly. My granddaughter will be 15 this month.

It’s good to hear from all of you.


P.S. I think I was the last mod still doing housekeeping here but a couple weeks ago I was not paying attention and I locked myself out of the mod interface so unless there is still a mod or admin around to fix that there will be no more housekeeping. Sorry guys.

If you are taking care of kitties you are accomplishing a great deal of important work.

arse_hat, I think chrismear is still a mod or has admin privileges here.

1. Just back from the cardiologist. My heart function and blood pressure, etc are back to normal.
2. I had nice lunch of oysters and crabcakes.
3. It's also my 54th birthday.

4. And I got a haircut, too.

Happy birthday and haircut!

Hi all; my brain is mush right now but I promise to give an update tomorrow (?)

I enjoyed reading everyone's notes and feel like it's really homecoming.