And TSP [The Scarlett Pimpernel] is anti-Semitic as HELL, very embarrassing. Let us all pretend the last chapter doesn't exist.

This is so hilarious. I've read most of the book, and seen most of a couple of different versions of the movie, but various unexpected occurences have conspired to make me miss the end each time. Perhaps that was a good thing!

Duuuuude. Alaska's State motto could be along the lines of: We're Not Nuts, Honest.

But I don't live in Fairbanks anymore! I moved to Juneau, which is wet, but lovely.

I have a friend whose sister moved back to Fairbanks from Eagle River (near Anchorage) because she didn't like the weather farther south. I gasped in shock when I heard that, and go into a coughing and/or laughing fit each time I think of it, it's just that hysterical.

Emily, I'm taking more meds and going back to sleep. Toto misses you. He's lying in your spot keeping it warm for you.

I have a friend whose sister moved back to Fairbanks from Eagle River (near Anchorage) because she didn't like the weather farther south.

I have cousins who retired from Wisconsin to northern Minnesota because they wanted more winter.

I have a friend whose sister moved back to Fairbanks from Eagle River (near Anchorage) because she didn't like the weather farther south.

I have cousins who retired from Wisconsin to northern Minnesota because they wanted more winter.

Yeah, these people don't get to use the state motto I came up with.

He's lying in your spot keeping it warm for you.

I read this and thought you were going to leave him on the couch while you napped. Because it's just not possible that you might notice that he's cute and then move him. No. Once he's cute, he stays! Because I'm sleepy and not all there. Good luck!

In re the religiositiness, I've had "Dirty Little Religion" stuck in my head all afternoon. Thanks, Victor.

I'll take you home to meet the congregation
We'll all get together in my tent

Man, your boss needs a good smiting. And some plagues.

So do we.

Thanks. I've got a red-hot priority project that's going to take all my work time (and my minions. Plus OT.) for the rest of the week, and she tried to dump something as stupid as "make FedEx labels for 34 people to receive holiday presents" and then got pissed off when I went to GoodBoss to say, "We have a prioritization issue. Can you resolve it?"

BadBoss agrees that I had high priority but that I needed to take responsibility of the issue by going to the mail room and asking them to do it. I don't have the fucking time to do that now!

It's weird, but during the 3 1/2 years I lived in Minnesota, the winters always seemed a little too cold and long. And here in Chicago, they seem too mild and short. It's like, since I grew up in Wisconsin, my body seems to be wired for Wisconsin weather.

edit: I hate it when I misspell places where I've lived....

I think I'm "culturally Christian" in the sense Sparky1 is using it, too. I'm not a believer, but I still go home for Christmas, exchange the gifts, have the tree, sing the carols, even go to church with the family. To some extent this is because I still haven't had the "Um, so, guys, you know I don't really believe this anymore, right?" talk with my parents and don't really want to.

At the same time, though, I do have issues with the idea of celebrating Christmas at all as a nonbeliever. The idea of the holiday is so wedded in my mind with the religious significance that I can't see myself having a purely secular celebration of it. To me, the crucial part of the Christmas tree is the white lights (symbolizing Christ's purity) and the star/angel on top that symbolizes those two Christmas story elements. The presents really do live in my mind as representative of the gifts of the Magi. The One True Christmas Carol is "O Holy Night."

I have friends for whom this is not true. The only friend I exchanged gifts with in college, who LOVED Christmas, was also a very staunch atheist from a family of very staunch atheists. She saw Christmas as purely cultural, which worked for her. I can't do it, though - my mind doesn't let me.

If I were to get married to somebody of like mind and raise a family, right now, I would have to seriously think hard about what we did at this time of year. It wouldn't be fair not to have SOME sort of celebration for the kids, but I'd feel weird calling it Christmas if I'm not teaching them about Christ. I'd probably push for calling it our midwinter celebration, complete with gifts and pretty tree and holly and stuff, but no carols or stories about Jesus OR Santa - they'll get enough of those cultural traditions outside the home, but I don't believe in them and would feel uncomfortable, to some extent, supporting them.

Of course, it's more likely I'll end up marrying somebody Christian enough that we decide to raise the kids Christian, or at least culturally Christian (which I'd probably support - conflicted allows me lots of flexibility, actually) so this would all be moot.

Or I could keep being in love with Gershwin Girl, convert to Judaism, and pretty much let her lead the way in Orthodox Jewish holiday traditions.

Do the summers bother you too?

Or are you bothered by the wrongness of the winters?

Do the summers bother you too?

Or are you bothered by the wrongness of the winters?

Mostly the winters. Although the summers are, on average, less hot here (lake effect) that doesn't bother me as much.

San Francisco weather seemed really weird to me....