A couple of movies, a couple of shows. Tony discusses the ultimate ruination of his job. Then gifts, and cacti. Enjoy!
QUESTIONS:
Is there a graceful way to stop exchanging gifts with someone you’ve traditionally exchanged gifts with? –Beth
Cacti — awesome or amazing? –Craig
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I feel exactly the same way as Tony about the Warrens and those movies. If not stronger since I refuse to see them.
Also, I have a ton of Micro Machines but haven’t got around to cataloging yet. Also the guy was Blur in The Transformers Movie (1986).
I’ve had moments where it feels I successfully did this gracefully, and others where it was less graceful. In 2017, after everyone’s birthdays had occurred, mentioned to my siblings and their spouses that we seem to be just exchanging gift cards – what if instead, each of us will spend X amount of money on ourselves and share with the group what we did with our “gift” from them. This worked alright, someone bought part of their new phone, part of a new bicycle, a concert ticket, student loan payment (and one person we haven’t yet heard what they did).
Trying to extend this idea to my husband’s family now; not sure if it’ll happen for 2019 or not.
For Christmas 2018, my siblings and I agreed it would be more fun to go out somewhere fancy together for drinks or dessert. Since we didn’t all get together for the holiday, we’re planning to do that when we see each other in January.
My mom’s side of the family had been doing a Secret Santa gift exchange and for 2018 no one organized it; a few people mentioned that they noticed it hadn’t been organized, but didn’t seem disappointed that it hadn’t happened. We agreed we just wouldn’t do it this year, so that was one less exchange to worry about. Sounds like we aren’t really planning to reinstate it either.
What I’ve learned so far is to tread carefully, and try to have the discussions in person if you can (so you can better read body language if someone doesn’t want to disrupt the status quo). Tony’s right, proposing it soonish after the last holiday is a good plan to help avoid frustrating people who are early shoppers, or changing after some birthdays but before others so it doesn’t feel “fair.”
There are other folks on our gift list who we haven’t tried to change the status quo with because we don’t think they’d be receptive. Perhaps that will change over time.
Tony’s Boss: William immediately laughing at this was delightful.
One nation indivisible: That was a prime example of a mathematics pun.
None Nun for me.
Full vs. Empty Theaters: While I’ve not watched horror films in the theater (just not a fan); I have done other genres and it can make a significant difference. It depends more on how much the audience is invested in the film than how many people are there. If the theater is filled with fans of whatever you’re watching, then it can be amazing. I’ve found the same is also true when the theater isn’t full but everybody is still invested in the film. Whereas if the audience isn’t invested but has filled the theater, then it’s not a great experience.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: I want to play this, but I’m thinking I need to upgrade my PC as it struggled a bit with the previous game in the series.
Altered Carbon: Well that certainly doesn’t encourage me to try watching more of this.
Dresden Files game: Sounds fun.
The Last Supper: Nope, I don’t recall ever hearing of this film.
Stop exchanging gifts: The only way this can be done gracefully, is in-person and one-on-one. Even then feelings may be hurt, but any other way leads to a lot more hurt unhappiness, potentially even resentfulness. When you have this conversation, be polite, firm, and honest. Explain your reasons why you don’t want to do so any more and then say you don’t plan on giving out gift next time. If at all possible, I also recommend having this conversation just after the current season of gifting concludes; so people likely won’t have already started buying more gifts. If that isn’t feasible, do it as long before the gifting season as you can.
Cacti: Definitely not awesome, but I’m not sure amazing is accurate either. Maybe vaguely interesting would be more accurate?
Frankenstein: If you like graphic novels, you might consider Bernie Wrightson’s adaption of Frankenstein.
And if y’all start laughing at how far behind I am in listening, I’ll be forced to take a break from listening; so I can develop an app that will download/transcribe your podcast. Then six or seven years from now, I might finally get caught up. ^_^