28 December 2003 | In Passing...

28 December 2003

Submitted by eve on Mon, 12/29/2003 - 3:02am. Funny

"A one hundred percent drama-free holiday season is always the goal, but this year I decided that drama-free for me was good enough... Yeah. So everyone around me was having the drama and I was pretty much ignoring them and hanging out at the kids table. My aunt has the cutest kids. And kid drama's kinda cute."
--A girl talking on a cell phone at DFW

-------------------------------------------
Don't even ask how I ended up in Dallas. The airlines played ping pong with me today. No, no, not like I was the opponent -- like I was the ping pong ball. Home. Good. Goodnight.

» add new comment

Holiday with no drama?

Posted by Social Neanderthal on Thu, 01/08/2004 - 12:21pm.

A holiday season with no drama just isn't a holiday season at all.

I'm thinking of starting a family pool to see who gets the most dramatic next year. For once the big drama was on my wife's side of the family for this year.

So should I do this like the foot ball pools? Just put everyone's name down one side and the holidays across the top and sell squares? Or maybe I could learn how to calculate the odds based on how much people bet on each person and the holiday....I could be a holiday drama handicapper.

Just don't tell the IRS

» reply to this comment

Betting...

Posted by ParU on Thu, 01/08/2004 - 3:48pm.

Well I have a relative who used to work for the Justice Dept. and he told me they used to have football pools all the time, at work!

» reply to this comment

...

Posted by Joe Napalm on Thu, 01/08/2004 - 4:48pm.

Ol' Timer (my Grandfather) says that the highest stakes poker game he ever played included the Sherriff, the Mayor, and the Judge.

-Jn-
Efreeti Sophist

» reply to this comment

Flying!

Posted by hypoxic on Tue, 01/06/2004 - 9:16am.

whee I'm back from a 12 hour flight! and now I get to deal with jetlag. But at least my holidays are relatively drama free.

» reply to this comment

Posted by yoda on Tue, 01/06/2004 - 2:28pm.

where'd ya go for the holidays?

my friend flew from orange county to seattle by way of san francisco, and it ended up taking over 9 hours... the landing gear on the plane from the first flight stuck, so they had an emergency landing at lax. they finally got them to san francisco and luckily he had a cell phone and was able to directly call the airline instead of trying to deal with customer service to rebook his connecting flight. note that it should usually take 3 hours or so from the la area to seattle (flying time).

» reply to this comment

Apropos of nothing...

Posted by paul on Fri, 01/02/2004 - 8:46am.

I found this and was struck by the resemblance of Walter Freeman to the scientist/doctor in the old Looney Toons in which they try to exchange Bugs's mind with that of a chicken.

Coincidence? I think not!

» reply to this comment

...

Posted by daen on Fri, 01/02/2004 - 9:01pm.

Let me see eef your tongue ees coated.

» reply to this comment

...And two pairs of pants, too!

Posted by paul on Sat, 01/03/2004 - 1:35am.

I tell ya, it was downright creepy reading that article about lobotomies (they didn't go into too much detail, but enough to skeeve me out totally) and see this picture of the guy who obviously inspired that cartoon... makes me wonder where the WB animators were hanging out that they would have seen this guy...

*shudder*

» reply to this comment

...

Posted by daen on Sat, 01/03/2004 - 7:26am.

There's definitely a resemblance, but he looks so much like the stereotype of a Viennese psych specialist that I suspect the animators may have been inspired by mad scientist movies.

Just relax, Paul. There's no need to worry about it.
Why don't you just lie down here on the couch?
Excellent. Now, tell me about your mother...

» reply to this comment

Is it just me?

Posted by Taragirl on Wed, 12/31/2003 - 8:49am.

Or is the Adult Table overrated? I will always have fond memories of the kids table at family gatherings. We didn't have to use manners, we got to talk with our mouths full and gross everyone out (especially the namby-pamby Melanie) and finished dinner in 4.3 minutes flat so we could get back outside to play some more.

Definitely better at the kids table.

» reply to this comment

Well taragirl...

Posted by ParU on Wed, 12/31/2003 - 10:55am.

I'd agree. But it's worse at the kids table when an 'adult' sits with you to make you 'mind your manners'.

» reply to this comment

Bring it On!

Posted by Ameroogie on Wed, 12/31/2003 - 8:45am.

Isn't this time supposed to be dramatic? When origins involve an immaculate conception and devine birth of the Christ child, heraldic angels, heavenly strobes, and fulfillment of prophesy...the Christmas event was meant to be (and should remain) dramatic!

» reply to this comment

Not ping pong, exactly...

Posted by paul on Wed, 12/31/2003 - 2:50am.

...more like how bits of data get routed all over the world. This post may well go through New Zealand on its way to California and the server. Similarly, your circuitous route was a matter of the clearest path, I would wager. Blame it on the inventors of the Internet, m'dear.

*snerk*

» reply to this comment

Posted by brian65401 on Tue, 12/30/2003 - 2:53pm.

Just avoid the guy with the trunk of shower curtain rings.

» reply to this comment

Eve's back?

Posted by ParU on Tue, 12/30/2003 - 1:12am.

Will wonders never cease? So at least she's OK. Plus she's got relatives in Dallas if she had to spend the night.

» reply to this comment

Teen drama

Posted by umop apisdn on Mon, 12/29/2003 - 6:06pm.

My daughter started 7th grade this year. She is drama personified.

I swear, the single most liberating epiphany of my life was the day I realize that nobody I met jr-high or high school would matter by the time I was 25. Suddenly I was free from all the drama, all the stress, all the peer pressure. All that mattered was how I lived my life.

Well, and computer games. They were important too. Which reminds me, I have to leave now. Everquest, you know.

--
a) Weilding: A Sword of Drama (1d10) +5 against Teenagers

» reply to this comment

Posted by Yuri on Mon, 12/29/2003 - 11:36am.

There wasn't any drama at our Christmas "kids' table." Well, maybe if you count the suspense mounting as the Christmas crackers were popped. Oh, and there was a bit of tension as I waved my newly acquired trick ring around - who would get a stream of icy water in the face?

It should be noted, I suppose, that the youngest "kid" at the "kids' table" was almost 15, and the rest of us were in our twenties. It was a pretty hopping table.

» reply to this comment

I think its something to enjoy

Posted by gigo08 on Mon, 12/29/2003 - 10:02am.

i think a bit of drama is part of the experience of having a family. you cant have people who love each other and who dont occasionally want to strangle one another. its just how it goes. as long as you dont take it too seriously, it can be a great opportunity to get out some pent up words and then have a heart felt conversation and finally apologize to another each other over some holiday cheer and/or a few glasses of wine.

its like free therapy that comes around once a year. take advantage.

----------------------------------------------------------------
You into prosthetics? Yo check it out, I got a leg, I got a wheelchair. Check out my wheels, Im all blinged out.

» reply to this comment

I agree.

Posted by paul on Mon, 12/29/2003 - 9:54am.

Drama-free holidays are the goal, but it's seldom attained.

The thing about kid drama is that as you watch them grow you notice that the drama doesn't really change, only the details of it. When they're kids the drama is very transparent. As they get older the drama may include different elements or be a bit more subtle, but it's still there. When they get to be adults the drama may be masked as other things still, but when you get right down to the core of it, it's basically the same squabbles they had when they were children.

My sisters still have the same stupid fights they did as kids, only now the details include things like kids and houses and spouses. Even in their mid to late forties the same petty squabbles still surface.

The more things change the more they stay insane.

» reply to this comment

Heh

Posted by Jon on Mon, 12/29/2003 - 5:34am.

It's like an ad for "Kid's table TNT": We Know Drama... I want a pony!

» reply to this comment