We usually have fun on New Years, although it is strictly family fun (with mommy and daddy drinking wine on the side). We always get a new movie and make lots of finger food -- dogs in blankets, pizza rolls, havarti cheese melted in crescent rolls, spinach dip and pumpernickel bread -- and watch the movie and chow down, then switch to the ball dropping.

For a couple years, we went to my friend's house and stayed over -- the kids all played in the family room, and the grownups stayed upstairs with a big dinner and wine and music and some kind of board game. That was a lot of fun, too. Although getting up to drive an hour and a half home the next day wasn't fun, so much.

Look, jackhole, it's not astrophysics.

Dear Cousins to TPWSDIFOARD,TPACITRDFE,

I never understand it when you jump in the same slice as your friend. But I'm utterly speechless at your jumping in behind *me.* Have you seen my butt?

Love,
18 Inch Bubble, Please

IIRC, this article convinced me that Fred Phelps and his family was hardly worth paying attention to. He's, as they put it, "the demented uncle best left locked away in an upstairs bedroom."

I haven't yet read bon bon's link, but I agree. I know a lot of Christians. I know a lot of Christians who run the gamut from conservative to progressive, both theologically and socially.

I've never yet met one who isn't horrified and embarrassed, offended, and insulted by Phelps and his organization, and I've been bringing them up in conversation with Christians, repeatedly, since Matthew Sheppard's funeral.

I know people (Christian and not) who have prejudices against sexual expression other than het/het-married (mostly it's older people with these prejudices) and even among them, I can't think of one who isn't appalled by Phelps' actions.

They only continue to matter to whatever extent they do, because they get attention. They are not worth it. Better to protest discrimination that actually matters. Being picketed or otherwise targeted by Phelps is a badge of honor.

I hear you. I love to dress up but am feeling tapped out on the creativity. My friend is having a robot NYE party (w/ added old school hiphop!) which is funny but I think I'm going to just put on my fave new(ish) dress and red lipstick and a button that says "Frakkin' Toaster" and say I'm a recently unboxed and totally glam Cylon (unless i find some black cargo pants in which case I'm putting on two tank tops, grey and black, and putting my hair in a ponytail and going as first season Boomer).

Awesome!

I worked as a temp for an insurance lobbyist. I quit after three days, because I just felt dirty. They weren't evil enough to sabotage. The people were perfectly lovely; everything they were doing was legal and even ethical, I suppose. I didn't like feeling dirty at the end of the day.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Good for you, kate.

Look, jackhole, it's not astrophysics. Move to the side. MOVE TO THE SIDE.

They'll roast in the same special hell as the people who hold conversations at the top of staircases in the subway.

I can't say I had fun last year. It was Very Good, and Lee is a flawless hostess, but a night that I'm terrified and nursing a broken heart ain't that much fun, even with liberal applications of Chinese food and sparkling wine. But it was definitely a Very Good night, and I'm Very Grateful to Lee for putting me up and putting up with me (also for taking my phone away when we got to the drunk-dialing stage).

The year before that, Z & I had fun, even if putting on makeup was tricky due to the recent scar.

I know this was published several days ago, but I'm just now catching up on the NYT. Did anyone post that erinaceous was quoted here: [link]

This is the first year in a long time I haven't known what I'm doing on NYE. Normally it's me, DH, 2 bottles of sparkling Riesling, a big deli tray from FreshDirect, three or four movies, and caviar and blini at midnight.

This year, almost everything except the blini and the movies are off limits to me (though it's not too difficult to find pasteurized caviar), so plans are a little up in the air. We'll have some friends in from out of town, who may have plans we can latch on to. We'll see. (I really don't digest restaurant food very well these days, so even just going out to dinner can be kind of an ordeal.)

SO FUN. Nothing I like more than karaoke, unless it's karaoke with many good friends around.

You should totally do the karaoke with Juliana. I bet Daisy Jane is a karaoke queen too.

From Wonkette: The Mod Squad: Rummy, Jerry & Dick's '70s Style

We’ve long argued that the only non-Chevy Chase-related legacy of Ford’s temp-worker presidency was the evil he unleashed upon the world in the form of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, a pair of nobody White House factotums who were suddenly elevated to ridiculous levels of power, which they would manage to cling to and abuse for an entire awful generation.

The LA Times has come around to our view: “Ford’s most enduring legacy, some have argued, is the people he brought into power, including Donald H. Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Brent Scowcroft and James A. Baker III.” Scowcroft and Baker, of course, were Poppy’s men. So Ford can also be blamed for setting up the takeover of the Reagan White House by Baker and GHWB.

Anyway, dig the crazy clothes! This was a year or two before “Star Wars” was released, so they didn’t know what kind of uniforms and masks and capes they were supposed to be wearing.

The last sentence cracked me up....

When was the last time you had fun on New Year's Eve?

Every year since high school. But I love dressing up, I love champagne (Kir Royales!), and I spent it at one party, with my good friends and good food, good tunes, and the knowledge that there's always a pillow, blanket, and bit of space for me to crash, if it becomes necessary.

And coffee and mimosas the morning after, if there's any leftover cham.