Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

In my day, never was longer.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Black Friday

Black Friday

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Do any of you participate in it? I’ve honestly never seen the attraction. Driving to some place in hellish traffic (also calculate the number of impaired drivers because, well, Holidays) to a place that is going to be ABSOLUTELY jam-packed with people to be waited on by people who would rather be doing ANYTHING but this just sounds horrible. It will be hot and sweaty and people will stink, people are probably there with their family by birth and not by choice so everyone is grumpy, I mean, just fuck that.

I did peruse Amazon to see if anything I needed for the house was available (reminder- shop through amazon by clicking through the graphic link above and you send fat loots to me and the pets), and there was nothing. I also checked Duluth and they have 30% off and free shipping, so I bought some new boxers and some new long sleeve shirts, and I only spent about 80 bucks, so that was good. I might check the steam store to see if anything on my wishlist is on sale. But other than thast, I don’t intend to do any shopping or anything like that.

In other news, I spent an hour or so sitting in the living room enjoying the quiet (Carlos and Christion finally got an apartment and moved out), so my house is just me for the first time in four years of various roommates). And when I say sitting, I mean just that. I was sitting there doing nothing. No tv, no music, no book, no laptop. Just sitting. I like doing that. The only other time I get quiet like that to just think is when I am driving, because I never have the radio on anymore when I drive. I like to just focus on the driving and not think about things unless something interesting pops into my head. It’s nice, but I am also aware of how many people pay no attention to what they are doing when they drive. I wonder how many accidents I have avoided just because I was actually paying attention.

At any rate, I was just sitting there, and Steve came over and jumped up on my lap facing me and just looked at me and sat there. And I sat and pet him (he is so gloriously soft- softer than anything else I have ever touched except maybe Tunch’s big belly), and we sat there for a good bit. I just slowly pet him and he looked at me and winked every now and then, and I just talked quietly saying “You are just such a good boy. Such a magnificent beast. You’re just splendid in every way. How did you get so perfect?” And we sat like that for an hour, him purring and slightly moving his head so I could rub and scratch the portions he wanted itched, every now and then rubbing his whiskers on my arm and letting me feel a little bit of his fangs (I love that!).

And for the first time in a long, long, time, everything seemed like it was going to be ok.

I think I am going to go shower and maybe go to the grocery and make Mexican for dinner.

Reader Interactions

141Comments

  4. 4.

    jacy

    Quiet is underrated. I like being in my office — no TV, no music, just me and whichever dogs and cats decided to hang out. I think the world would be a finer place if everybody unplugged for a bit every day.

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @burnspbesq:

    Nice list! Mine is ACLU, SPLC, Planned Parenthood, and The Heifer Project (Heifer International).

    Oh, and the Metropolitan Opera.

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    done my Black Friday shopping. All hair stuff.
    Natural hair folks.
    Soultanicals – 50% off everything and free shipping
    Camille Rose -25% off everything
    Shea Moisture -30% off everything (hair, bath, etc) and free shipping

  8. 8.

    Mary G

    I’ve never done Black Friday since I get claustrophobic in big crowds. I went the day after Christmas when I was 13 or so and a lady gave me a black eye with her elbow trying to get to a table with a couple of hundred sweaters on it ahead of another lady, so I have avoided sales ever since.

  9. 9.

    burnspbesq

    @rikyrah:

    the employee who called the police will be interviewed and possibly retrained.

    No idea what to say in response to that. None at all.

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    this is the essence of ‘rolled upon the wrong one.’

    Jeff Yang ✔ @originalspin
    Chinese student Sidney Chan kicked London harasser in face twice, broke his eye socket after being ‘called a chink.

  12. 12.

    Hovercraft

    As an almost 20 year veteran of retail, I can attest to the fact that today is a hell surpassed only by the day after Christmas. People today tend to be nasty and extremely impatient, it’s as if they’ve taken all that repressed aggression they tamped down yesterday, and are just itching to let it out on everyone they encounter today. So glad I’m no longer in retail. Instead we just finished decorating the tree, I’m just grateful they didn’t wake me up at 7 to do it.

  14. 14.

    germy

    Disappointed to see this

    Hillary Clinton seized the opportunity presented by the Trump-generated split in the GOP to create a ruling class consensus and headquarters in her own campaign tent. It was the ultimate betrayal, the incubator of a thoroughly corporatized Democratic Party — an undertaker of social democracy. Instead, the White Deplorables derailed her, as they had earlier derailed the Republican corporate establishment.

    The Trump regime has no fix for the ills of late stage capitalism that have immiserated both the triumphant Deplorables and the darker folks they scapegoat, and whom they can be counted on to harass, repress and deport. Neither does the Democratic Party, whose next administration, had it not been still-born, would have served the interests of the One Percent even more dependably than did Obama.

    Leave Hillary’s nasty tent in the dirt, where it lies. The people need vibrant social movements that will produce new leadership in struggle and shape the parties of the future.

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    As for Black Friday, there is no way you’d find me anywhere close to a mall, a big box store, or any other retail outlet. I pretty much hate shopping at the best of times (except bookstores), hate crowds under any circumstances, and have almost no use for commercialized Christmas. So this day was designed for people like me to be antisocial.

    Which is what I am in the process of doing, right this very minute.

  17. 17.

    aimai

    We are watching The Lord of the Rings. Its oddly comforting. Gandalf tells Frodo everyone feels awful about the horrible time they are living in, but all you have to worry about is what you are going to do next. Its Tolkein’s version of Rabbi Tarfon’s “Its not up to you to complete the task, neither may you desist from it” or an answer to Tolstoy’s question: “What shall we do, and how shall we live?”

    Its very peaceful here right now–wish I had a cat. Otherwise I have to go back to work on my school work, having taken one day off for T’day between a midterm and now more papers.

  19. 19.

    InternetDragons

    I decided a couple of years ago I wouldn’t patronize any stores that open on Thanksgiving, and the only nod I give to Black Friday is some online shopping.

    As for the rest, I like REI’s approach. If you click on their website, you get a beautiful image of mountains, with the caption:

    “#OptOutside.
    WE’RE OUTSIDE TODAY.
    All 12.287 REI employees are outside enjoying a day off. Our stores are closed. Any online orders will begin processing tomorrow. Today is about play – will you go out with us? Join us outside.”

    So I’m checking Amazon for a new stationary bike and maybe a new weight bench, as I think I’ll let my gym membership go by without renewing this time. I’m reasonably certain I have enough discipline baked into my workout routine that I can successfully transition to home workouts. We’ll see.

    As weird as it may sound, I feel even more motivated since the election to stay in reasonably good physical condition. Not sure I can explain why, but no matter…as an older woman, keeping my weight low and working on strength and flexibility is important no matter what! The election results are just an extra push.

    After that, a long walk, some playtime with the pets, some grocery shopping, and maybe a couple of hours of Civilization 6.

    I hear there’s some growing pushback against the ‘Open on Thanksgiving’ businesses and the general insanity of Black Friday in brick-and-mortar stores, but I have no optimism that things will change. There’s still too much $$ to be made.

  20. 20.

    EBT

    I slept out for a video game console on release night once, that was as close as I will ever get to that much people at once again. Today is going to be having two friends over from The Bay and the three of us are going to play Dungeons and Dragons remotely as is our usual Friday way.

  21. 21.

    John Revolta

    Hey everybody! All Trump campaign items are 30% off at the Trump Online Store!

    “President-elect Trump loves a great deal,” a promotional email said.

    I’m gonna get the $149 silver campaign hat tree ornament! WOW!!

  23. 23.

    albertZ

    My daughters spent Thanksgiving with their mom and her family. I respectfully declined an invitation from my brother and spent Thanksgiving alone with the exception of my Jack Russell. And, in the words of Peter Gibbons from Office Space: “I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I thought it could be.”

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @John Revolta:

    campaign items are 30% off at the Trump Online Store!

    “President-elect Trump loves a great deal,” a promotional email said.

    I’m sure I’ve said it before, and if you* think it makes me sound like an elitist you* can bite me, but at some level what bothers me most about Trump is not that he’s a racist, xenophobic, mysogynistic, fascistic, narcissistic pussy-grabbing orange shitgibbon — no, what bothers me most about him is that’s he’s Just Plain VULGAR. And he’s ladling his vulgarity over this entire country.

    *The generic “you,” not you, John Revolta.

  28. 28.

    Suzanne

    I refuse to participate in Black Friday. I hate crowds of shoppers. (I am fine with crowds of people in urban areas in scenarios like “walking down the street in a straight line” and “crammed into subway cars”, but shoppers are the WORST.) one year, I had to go to Target on Black Friday, just to pick up a prescription. I waited until later in the day, like 4pm, so by the time I got there, the crowds had dissipated, but the store looked like it had been completely destroyed by a stampede of wild animals.

    Having said that, I did do some online shopping yesterday. Got some work clothes and some small gifts. I am wanting to go paperless, so I have been looking for a good document scanner at a reasonable price. We may get Spawn the Elder a Chromebook for her birthday. Both of my Spawns have birthdays the week before Xmas, so if I get my shit together, I can buy them some gifts far enough in advance that I can do the free shipping and they are still here in advance.

  30. 30.

    Pogonip

    I did the-day-after-Thanksgiving once, about 20 years ago. I went to Joann. At 0530 I was lined up with 20 or so NWL’s, it wasn’t scary or aggressive even when the doors opened, but I thought “The sun’s not even up! What are we doing here?”

  32. 32.

    Suzanne

    @SiubhanDuinne: I said it, too: possibly his worst quality is just horrible taste. All that money, and he builds the tackiest, gauche-est shit I have ever seen—and the real money of New York also hunks he is super-gross. No meaningful architecture, no tasteful interiors. John Mulaney said that Trump is “a hobo’s idea of what a rich man is like”, and I have never heard a better description.

  33. 33.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @rikyrah: Jesus g*d that is 17 kinds of fucked up. If anyone doubted that VA is still the land o’ Dixie: Exhibit A. Crossing CVS of my list of places I’ll shop, unless and until CVS apologizes for employing idiots.

    @Cole: It’s nice to know Christion and Carlos have a place of theirs now! And, how is Shawn these days?

  35. 35.

    oldster

    Cole, I’m really glad you got some quality time with your cat.

    But I swear, when I read your intro to it,

    “And when I say sitting, I mean just that. I was sitting there doing nothing. No tv, no music, no book, no laptop. Just sitting. I like doing that. ”

    Then I was *certain* something godawful hilariously terrible was about to happen to you.

    Roof cave-in, meteor strike, all four pets have explosive diarrhea, something.

    When it turned out you just got to sit there and pet your cat–well, I was surprised!

    And pleased for you both, of course.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @aimai:

    I don’t like him either, but in the interests of accuracy the highlighted quote in germy’s comment was by Glen Ford (whom I do not know — and don’t care to), not Chauncey.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    @germy: He’s always been an overrated gasbag, IMO. Like Greenwald, he’s right about some things and is an obtuse, self-congratulatory ass on other issues.

    @SiubhanDuinne: (Emily Latila voice) — Never mind!

  39. 39.

    ET

    There really is nothing better than sitting there petting your furry friend. Particularly as an antidote to Christmas shopping annoyances and political fears.

  40. 40.

    Shell

    Oh Steve. That cat is just a tub-of-love.

    Black Friday? Ugh. Lining up at 5AM to get a few bucks off some made in China crap? No thankee. And then some years of stories of people getting hurt in the first mad rush. Even less attractive.
    Some stores are now advertising a whole week of Black Friday prices. So whats the point?

  45. 45.

    Miss Bianca

    Well, 69 orders over Thanksgiving on Amazon for my little store…and UPS and Conway are apparently not picking up at any of the warehouses today – and the warehouses are operating on skeleton staffing today as well – so stuff that people ordered on Wednesday isn’t going out till Monday. Am I pissed? Yeah, a bit. If I’d realized all this a little earlier, I would have taken all our listings down on Tueday night and and had myself a nice weekend!

  46. 46.

    opiejeanne

    @aimai: We just finished watching Lord of the Rings on Tuesday night, and those words of Gandalf have been used recently on Twitter. That’s probably why I decided to watch it again.

  48. 48.

    Starfish

    I have participated in the past, but most recently I have noticed that a lot of stores bring in low quality clothing items to satisfy the consumer’s need for deals during this period.

    The only things that look tempting are a discounted online class and some expensive beauty something or other by a small company.

  49. 49.

    Citizen_X

    @germy: Jesus, what an idiot. Yeah, the shorter is “Nach Trump, uns,” but what a complete, imaginary caricature of Clinton’s campaign. If he’s so far off from reality (and so nonchalant about people’s suffering), how is ever going to recognize those “vibrant social movements” he imagines?

  51. 51.

    laura

    You’d need a court order, a toe-chain and a stun gun to get me into a retailer on Black Friday. Exceptions for services have been made however.
    Just finished the post dinner serious wash up and am checking in while enjoying a cold turkey and lettuce sammich a deviled egg and dibby bit of cranberry conserve.
    Then I’ll wake the weinie dog and go for a long walk and hope to catch up to the sandman on the way home and sail the couch for the afternoon.

  52. 52.

    jeffreyw

    Black Friday Sammich
    I had a notion to reupholster some kitchen chairs. Bought some foam and vinyl faux leather and immediately discovered my stapler wasn’t worth a dam. I gifted myself a pneumatic staple gun and bought a little compressor to run it. Then I remembered that New Yankee Woodshop guy and his pop-pop-pop brad gun so I added one of those.

  54. 54.

    divF

    @jeffreyw:

    New Yankee Woodshop guy

    Madame is a huge fan of his. In fact, I’ve long suspected that if she ever left me for another man, it would be him.

  56. 56.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    I’m at work, so it’s not really an issue for me (burned all my PTO over the summer).

    I’m a little-a atheist, and I think Christmas has become too secular and commercialized. There’s just something fundamentally wrong with celebrating the birth of Christ by getting into fistfights over bits of brightly colored plastic and maxing out your credit cards.

  61. 61.

    Corner Stone

    @Major Major Major Major: I enjoyed it when they used forms of neoliberal at least twice when it’s clear they have no idea what it means.
    If they are truly against what neoliberalism actually is then in the words of The Joker, Trump says “Wait’ll they get a load of me!”

  62. 62.

    Major Major Major Major

    @laura:

    You’d need a court order, a toe-chain and a stun gun to get me into a retailer on Black Friday.

    Well, we’ll soon have a president who has those on demand. Remember ‘go shopping’? Imagine if it was mandatory.

    ETA: yes, I know that isn’t going to happen.

  63. 63.

    ruckus

    @Suzanne:
    Yes, the asshole elect is exactly as described. But I can’t leave out the rest of your description. Being the most tasteless human impersonator is bad enough but all the other issues really do outweigh that.

  64. 64.

    hovercraft

    @rikyrah:

    3 Black men walk into a store.

    They ask for cheese.

    There’s the problem right there, bad enough they’re blah, but to travel as a pack, they must be a “gang” of blah men intent on robbing the store.
    I guess the ‘good’ news is that they only called the police on them, and that the police didn’t come in guns blazing. That I can find a ‘bright’ spot in this is so sad.

  65. 65.

    Formerly disgruntled Clinton supporter

    Been lurking and nursing my political wounds…

    Shopping list: ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Mercy Corps, local food bank, TBD Oregon enviro group, TBD national Democratic political donation (ideas?)

    Watching Harry Potter movies 5-6-7/8. In the middle of Half-Blood Prince.

    This is disturbing and helps explain Trump’s success despite lack of media buys (in addition to 24 hr coverage on cable tv). Washington Post

    “The way that this propaganda apparatus supported Trump was equivalent to some massive amount of a media buy,” said the executive director of PropOrNot, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being targeted by Russia’s legions of skilled hackers. “It was like Russia was running a super PAC for Trump’s campaign. . . . It worked.”

  66. 66.

    Suzanne

    @ruckus: I know, I know.

    The trashiness of Mr. Trump is a minor failing, all things considered, and yet it still bothers the crap out of me.

  68. 68.

    Keith G

    Yes, everything is going to be some version of okay – not as good as it might have been, but most days will register as ‘okay”. nonetheless.

  69. 69.

    Kristine

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    no, what bothers me most about him is that’s he’s Just Plain VULGAR.

    His rank incompetence bothers me the most, but this is definitely second. No class. No bearing. No gravitas. He’s an embarrassment, unfit to represent my country, dammit.

  71. 71.

    Corner Stone

    @Suzanne: It’s still bewildering and disgusting to me that he is so badly dressed all the time. Yeah, not a crime against nature like the defunding of NASA. But damn.

  73. 73.

    Kristine

    @jeffreyw: Is reupholstery difficult? I salvaged some chairs from various alleys over the last year, and want to repair/refinish/reupholster. I will have to have a real carpenter fashion the replacement pieces, but I wanted to do as much myself as possible. Do you ever use cloth/canvas–I assume that requires a sewing machine?

  74. 74.

    Suzanne

    @Corner Stone: I know. If I have to look at a picture of the bastard daily for the next four years, then the least he could do is stop wearing those flashy suits. So gross.

    This kind of remind me of John’s end tables. Or socks with sandals.

  75. 75.

    ruckus

    @Suzanne:
    EVERYTHING about the tasteless human impersonator bothers me. EVERYTHING. He has not one redeeming trait. A complete waste of protoplasm.

  77. 77.

    Diana

    @Hovercraft: This. You can’t go after family, so you bottle it in until you find someone you can go after. And in late stage capitalism, that’s anyone who has to work for a living.

  79. 79.

    ThresherK

    @Kristine: The trope of the ruler’s double (king, president…) is a venerable way to tell a story about a powerful jerkass who is incapacitated, and Learns A Lesson after his inner circle replace him with a real-world guy. Is there a movie in this genre which has someone nearly as obnoxious as Trump as the “switch-in”?

  80. 80.

    Suzanne

    @ruckus: I feel like the dude would cover the walls of the White House with Thomas Kinkade and Nagel prints. Signed and numbered, of course.

  83. 83.

    Poopyman

    My only shopping today is only from necessity. I went to the locally-owned lawn tractor place to get a new battery for my tractor. I was the only customer there, and they seemed happy to see me. It’s a place I go maybe 2-3 times a year, so that was a nice visit.

    And once the thing is fully charged I’ll install it and grind up the last of the leaves and be FINISHED. At least until the snow comes.

  84. 84.

    rikyrah

    @germy:

    Leave Hillary’s nasty tent in the dirt, where it lies. The people need vibrant social movements that will produce new leadership in struggle and shape the parties of the future.

    AH,

    nothing like that pony and unicorn thinking today.

  86. 86.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @opiejeanne: They were ill-fitting before the body armor, and now they’re worse. With all his billlllionz, he really ought to have suits tailored. Of course he probably doesn’t pay tailors any better than any other contractor, so he’s likely blackballed by tailors as well.

    ETA: Even good tailoring can’t make him look better in clothes, of course.

  87. 87.

    SWMBO

    @Kristine: Go watch some YouTubes. They have everything from replacing a sliding glass door to garbage disposals to hand quilting. There isn’t much in home improvement/crafting that you can’t find some guidance.

  90. 90.

    R-Jud

    Never bothered with Black Friday other than replacing a friend’s crock pot (I’d damaged it) on the cheap once. There were shoppers out in surprisingly large numbers here in the UK today. I worked half a day and then went to see Arrival with my friend. After that we lifted weights for two hours (I am preparing for the English Championships in January). Now pizza.

    The folks in Pennsyltucky are also watching LOTR. Seems a popular choice!

  92. 92.

    RandomMonster

    I only participate through online deals, but then again that’s true all year round for me. I hate absolutely everything about going to a mall.

  94. 94.

    Suzanne

    @Corner Stone: We come with Eames chairs and modern art for everyone. BOW TO ME.

    True story: one time when we went to visit my in-laws, we went to the recently-opened Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, which houses the art collection of Alice Walton. When we went to enter the galleries, all of the visitors were all collected into groups and given a lecture about how to behave in a museum, and how we should never touch the art or the frames. I was kind of appalled that the museum staff would think that it was appropriate to do this…..until I went into the galleries and saw people touching the art like it was freaking Bed Bath and Beyond.

  95. 95.

    henqiguai

    @aimai(#22):

    I’ve always disliked Chauncy de Vega’s commentary. This takes the cake for obscenely stupid.

    So, it wasn’t just me. I’ve seen the name and an occasional excerpt; always thought it was kind of pointless. But that one is beyond stupid. Glad to know, definitively, that his writings are something to blithely avoid without thought in the future. Have ongoing reservations about most stuff I see from Slate as well (though not as much as Salon).

  96. 96.

    Corner Stone

    @opiejeanne: Not sure if that’s snark as I am still in a food induced coma of sorts.
    But, no. His jackets have been too wide and 10in too long for years. His shoulders are set too wide and padded to make him look thicker through the body than even his disgusting fat body is. It gives him a sense of hunch in his posture that a good tailor would cut out. His jacket opens widely when he moves. His ties are tied to rest 3in too long, which in addition to just being gross and pointing to his junk also give the impression of a stubby leg length and make the torso seem to go on forever. He uses the wrong knot for his shirt collar. His pants are too long and not tapered to his calves so they are formless.
    I’m not a fashion…uh, Nazi…but all these little things come together to give credibility in certain settings. President Obama looks put together but not flashy. He looks credible. You understand it is important to him but he did not spend two hours getting ready that morning.
    Trump is a fucking bum in $6K suits.

  99. 99.

    John Revolta

    @rikyrah: Frankly I kinda can’t even bring myself to go and LOOK at his stupid merch. I heard good things about the snark though.

  100. 100.

    Corner Stone

    @opiejeanne: Well, shit. I had planned to head to the PNW. I have a place south of Tucson. Maybe I’ll just quietly slide across the border and hope they take pity on a semi-fluent gringo.

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @aimai:

    I read the blog post. The whole thing was pure Chauncey, I’m quite familiar with his style because he posts at Kos periodically.

    Right. Except for the part that was a quote from GLEN FORD. Which is what Germy extracted in his/her comment.

    Unless you’re trying to say that Chauncey and Glen are the same person writing under two different names.

  104. 104.

    Jacel

    The only time I turned out for a Black Friday sale was about 15 years ago. Mervyn’s had store decorations and goods designed by Debbie Mumm, many of which featured penguins. I collect penguins selectively. There was a deal on Black Friday where the first 700 customers in each store received a free Debbie Mumm penguin figurine that was really nice. So my wife and I lined up, came into the store when the doors opened at 7:00 AM (a time that now sounds quaintly leisurely for Black Friday). We were handed the free figurines and I bought two jackets after spending an hour outside. One of those jackets is still in active wear during winters, so it was a worthwhile shopping morning. But never again — probably not even for penguins.

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    Will admit to giving in and purchasing online three kitchen items which have been patiently sitting on the wanted list for a long while

    Silicone lasagna pan, also a loaf pan and a cookie sheet – both of those with ceramic coating on the cooking surface, uncoated metal on the outside/bottom.

    Have been salivating over this for a long time now but still cannot justify the cost to my inner miser.

  106. 106.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    A few weeks ago I shared a link to an interview with a well-known bespoke tailor in London who parsed Trump’s ill-fitting suits for us. Imma see if I can dig it out for you.

    Yeah, here it is. Just a wonderful, ever so polite, putdown.

    What makes it quirkily delicious for us Juicers is that the bespoke tailor in question is a member of the extensive Sebag-Montefiore family and thus, presumably, a cousin of our own Tom Levenson (I’m not doxxing; Tom has mentioned them by name more than once).

  110. 110.

    dance around in your bones

    Black Friday, me and my sister style : Went to the Humane Society here in El Paso to investigate kitten/puppy fostering. Got info about online application, etc. Meandered around the walkways and buildings looking at many dogs (chihuahua mixes were common!) and cats, broke our hearts a little and left with none. We have 4 dogs at home already.
    Then we went to The Red Door Vintage and Tattoo Shop – browsed amusing items like tiles hand painted to look like loteria cards “El Borracho” and “Estar Guars” etc. Laughed a lot; saw no evidence of Black Friday Madness.

  111. 111.

    Olivia

    After 5 days of cleaning, cooking, and entertaining, today I am the worst grandmother in the world sitting in my house alone with the 4 legged animals while the rest of the family is off to watch the kids’ hockey tournaments. I still have more cleaning up to do but for right now I am going to enjoy the momentary peace and quiet with my feet up. I may even let them go to dinner without me.

  112. 112.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    Too much great choral music to pick just three, although right at the top of the list would be Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata. I also have a ridiculous affection for the Shepherds’ Farewell from Berlioz’ L’Enfance du Christ. Holst’s Christmas Day is wonderful and too rarely performed. There’s a ton more — these just popped into my head as being particular favorites.

    Have to give it some more thought. I have Romneyesque binders full of Christmas music.

  116. 116.

    Singing Truth to Power

    I had to (HAD TO!) go to the Apple store in the mall on Wednesday because of a weird syncing problem with phone and laptop – actually, it was lack of syncing that was the problem. Malls make me slightly ill even in normal conditions, but this was the day before Thanksgiving. It was busy in the mall and the store, and the reception guy in the Genius Bar told me it would be 1 1/2 hour wait. Or, he said, I could come back on Friday. I said to him, “I would rather be set on fire than come in on Friday.” He looked at me absolutely deadpan, and said, “I almost wet my pants not laughing.”

  117. 117.

    divF

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    We have a very robust amateur / semi-pro choral music scene around these parts, and everyone starts to schedule their various holiday performances around mid-October.

    We have a Holiday party every year, which Madame is far more enthusiastic about because of the pick-up chorus singing Christmas music. This includes an odd collection of my colleagues, including: a plasma physicist bass with perfect pitch who brings a bunch of songbooks (noteworthy in that he’s Jewish); a computer scientist tenor who is quite insistent on selections from the Oxford Book of Carols; and a young Nuclear Engineer (ETA: baritone) who brings out his Swedish Christmas carols.

  118. 118.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    I wondered, briefly, but of course Beethoven did write a marvellous “Hallelujah” chorus (from his oratorio Christus am Ölberg) which is sometimes included in Christmas programming. I like it a lot but haven’t thought of it in a while. YouTube link.

  119. 119.

    Pogonip

    So now that Cole’s foundlings have found their own lodgings–what’s he going to do with all those bedrooms?

  121. 121.

    dance around in your bones

    All this Hallelujah talk makes me think of The Roches Hallelujah Chorus and K.D.Lang singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, and of course – Leonard himself singing Hallelujah.

  123. 123.

    Feebog

    @Corner Stone:

    The tie length has always bothered me. I was taught how to tie a proper Windsor knot and that the tip of the tie should just cover the belt buckle. Pro tip Donnie, red ties do not go with every damn suit color.

  124. 124.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Feebog:

    I know, right? His red ties are about four inches longer than they should be, and when he sits with one suit button fastened and that four inches of tie dangling out, it looks like a furious little dick trying to escape.

  126. 126.

    Captain C

    I’m working today, thankfully in a library. Back in my retail days, I was also always working on Black Friday, although those days ended back when Bill Clinton was President.

    If I was off, I wouldn’t be participating. If I want a mosh pit, I’ll go to a metal or punk show.

  128. 128.

    Jacel

    @NotMax: Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols”, Holst’s “Christmas Day”, and Victoria’s “O Magnum Mysterium”. Here’s a performance of the last.

  133. 133.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @Jacel:

    Don’t know for sure, but I think you need a carriage return after a link if it’s the very last thing in a comment.

  134. 134.

    laura

    @Kristine: reapolstery is time consuming and challenging and so very worth it.
    Get yourself to the library and find a simple step by step, watch a tutorial on the you tubes, and be prepared to rip it out and do it again until it looks good enough to you.
    The old stuff is built so well, and you will likely find that after the reapolstery, a summer or winter slip cover is the greatest thing ever invented -and you made it.
    Get after it, you’ll be so happy you did it, and sad you didn’t do it sooner.

  135. 135.

    Madeline

    @Miss Bianca: And I third Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols.” I was in a women’s choir in college and we sang it one year. Learning it was grand and the performance with harp a joy.

  136. 136.

    Ruckus

    @efgoldman:
    When I was a very young lad I helped make Barbie Doll molds. Probably about the time you got that job. And no, Barbie was not modeled after the wife of the owner of Mattel. It may have been modeled after what he thought she looked like but I’ve seen her in person and that long ago. She was a very nice lady but she was no Barbie.

  137. 137.

    Calming Influence

    “…so I bought some new boxers…”

    There is absolutely no reason we need to know this, John.

  138. 138.

    Lizzy L

    I went to the grocery store at 7:30 this morning, bought croissants, half & half, and fruit. It was very peaceful. Aside from the employees in their nifty red and black aprons, I saw three other people. All my other shopping today has been online, and very ordinary.

    I worked retail many years ago, in a specialty shop that imported trinkets, cloth, jewelry, and craft items from Bali. It must have been before Black Friday became the monstrosity that it is, because I don’t remember doing anything special to prepare for the day after Thanksgiving. The week before Christmas we were always jammed.

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