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community weblog
Free Thread: Celebrations!
How and what do you celebrate and recognize? Do you throw a party? Eat a favorite food? Listen to a favorite song? This is your free thread so join the party and move a little. Or sit and chill with us as we chat about life and not about politics.
posted by Art_Pot on Oct 26, 2026 at 4:42 AM
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Kiddo passed his driver's test on Saturday. We celebrated with chocolate cake.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 4:47 AM
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As I sit here resting and recovering from covid, I wanted a topic completely opposite! Thus Celebrations!
I'm trying to celebrate the fact that I finally got a full night sleep last night! I am able to take the time I need to recover and I'm going to open that tea advent calendar early and use it now instead of waiting another two months. Plus this way I can get another advent calendar for December!
posted by Art_Pot at 4:50 AM
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To celebrate: some nice cheese, good biscuits, and a glass of something.
I also try and have a regular 'little birthday' celebration. There's usually a cake of some kind. My birthday is on the 15th of September but, as per a local tradition of some complicated roots from my childhood village, I try and celebrate this on the 15th of the other 11 months ('little birthday') as well, with a small cake.
Life is ... not great ... and I seem to have a decade or two worth of bad luck within this last few months. A spell in a distant specialist hospital, to hopefully reverse one of these life 'events', looms. I've put some slightly less vague detail on my MeFite profile, and look forward to a damned good cake at some point in the future to celebrate getting through this time.
Wishing all other MeFites considerably better luck than me, and many reasons to celebrate.
posted by Wordshore at 5:01 AM
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Art_Pot, which tea advent calendar are your opening? I did the Palais des Thés one last year and I so enjoyed it and was debating whether to do it again.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:02 AM
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It's actually the Palais des Thes! Drinking the celeste blend right now in fact. The Le Grande Épicerie put out their food advent calendars last week and I grabbed it to try. So many delicious looking ones it was hard to decide.
posted by Art_Pot at 5:20 AM
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I discovered that St Brigit's day (which also signifies the first day of Spring in the Celtic calendar - and which is also roughly the same as Candlemas and Groundhog Day) - is associated with the point where ewes start to lactate - and that it is therefore a chance to celebrate the onset of Spring by eating Manchego, Roquefort, Feta or whatever. This is a corner of the year that is light on celebrations- so always keen to do this.
posted by rongorongo at 5:21 AM
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I treat Halloween season the way many people treat the winter holidays - all the events and very social. I'm probably overdoing it a little this year because last December through March were just personal garbage and I've been rebuilding mentally.
That said, I also have this little love for every type of New Year's celebration any culture can have, which predates this year of suck. Gimme four or five resets, sure!
Finally, I'm starting to plan my 5th Craniversary, since February will be five years since my brain tumor came out and I got this giant piece of titanium instead of skull. I've traveled the last four but this year I think it's "rent a hall" time.
posted by cobaltnine at 5:23 AM
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My mate and I have been listening to music most afternoons from 1-4pm. Classic Jazz, R&B, Talking Heads and other 80's groups, zouk from Guadeloupe & Martinique, Haitian Kompa, Lus-African from Angola and Cape Verde. My system is pretty decent high-ish end.
posted by DJZouke at 5:33 AM
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[sits quietly in the corner and plays with the cat]
posted by CynicalKnight at 5:33 AM
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[goes out to lunch at a quality Indian buffet well away from anyone I know, and sits there reading a trashy SF novel for a couple of hours]
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 5:40 AM
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Just got back from a joint 50th (my SO) and 80th (her dad) with her whole family in attendance. Her mum is a chronic over-caterer and this was no different, with probably enough booze left over to cover Xmas. Had a little too much but avoided any faux pas, if you leave aside F-bombing two of my under-10 nephews over speakerphone while stone cold sober.
posted by biffa at 5:44 AM
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I'm a big fan of taking friends out to a fancy dinner or making a more or less elaborate meal at home.
In life news, I continue to improve through medication, therapy, travel, time, hobbies, exercise, and making a lot of new friends and deepening existing friendships. I have not had a depressive episode in weeks. I know there will still be hard days and moments, and I definitely still need the medication and therapy, but for the first time since the breakup I am finally starting to let myself feel something like optimism about the future.
posted by jedicus at 5:45 AM
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So, I'm not sure if I'll be celebrating or not, but these next couple of weeks wrap up my big investigation for whatever's going on in my brain. Tomorrow, an EEG, then next week an MRI. I guess the best outcome will be "we don't know what's happening, it's a medical mystery, but it's not dangerous"--narratively disappointing, but okay.
This has been kind of a rough week. My younger kid has been really sick at college, and it has taken a toll on all of us. After three doctors, she now has sufficient meds and will be on the mend, but it's very hard to manage at a distance. I haven't been sleeping very well because of it, and I think I might be short-tempered and snappish--although of course it seems like the opposite, I'm a paragon of patience while the world is doing the snapping.
My goal of participating in local discords to find people to talk to and things to do has borne preliminary fruit, with an invitation to join a group that attends a local arcade. The group appears to skew young (30s?) so...I dunno, I can at least peek in. That's the plan anyway.
The true goal of this period of my life is to not allow the clouds of existential dread to close in so completely that I cut myself off from life. I feel that dread so much. But I'm really, really trying.
posted by mittens at 5:48 AM
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Me right now on Palais Des Thés website trying to figure out what I can shift in my budget to get a whole bunch of holiday teas and the candle...
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:49 AM
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I just celebrated my 20,000th day of life. I recommend celebrating every 1000 day milestone, and especially 5000 day milestones, to get some extra celebrations besides just your birthday. My wife and I went out to eat and then went to a performance from my long-time favorite sadly-obscure musicians, Trout Fishing in America.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 5:50 AM
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Going away to a cozy cabin to celebrate 30 years of being married together!
posted by rikschell at 6:02 AM
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(Extremely minor) trauma dump: I grew up with a parent who always tried to give me the celebrations she'd never had as a child, but entirely without regard for the types of celebrations I might actually like, and irrespective of my consent. As an adult, this has basically fucked up any kind of personal celebrations for me; the idea feels shameful and uncomfortable. Pretty late in life to be working through this shit, but I'm trying!
That said, my birthday cake the last few years has been pineapple upside-down cake, which is one of my favorites. My wife rarely cooks or bakes, since those are things I really enjoy doing, but she makes this for me and it's the best.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:10 AM
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Of late, with so many family members who are either distant or deceased, for Thanksgiving and Easter we do one of the fancy buffets, held in some hotel ballroom, where those present can hang out, chit chat, and nobody needs to cook or clean. When we're obligated to travel for a holiday, usually Christmas, it seems to be much larger ordeals even beyond the travel. It's nice to have a meal with people we don't see often, but the work and the sleeping in unfamiliar beds and scheduled tasks make them a lot more work.
We're not big celebrators in general. We are notorious for not knowing the date we were married; every year we "find out" when mother-in-law posts her congratulations on Facebook. One time did one of those "paint your own sign and drink wine" things with friends, and the sign we picked had our names and the date we were married. The date is wrong. It hung in our entryway for years.
Film student update:
Remember how I said a project I did a little work on (PA and I appeared in one scene as a suspect) was up for an Emmy and lost? I fast-forwarded through too many categories because it was nominated in TWO categories, and although it lost the Documentary Emmy...it won the Best Director Emmy! So, I can sort of say I've worked on an Emmy-winning project. EGOT, here I come.
Shot a short film for a friend yesterday; a cringe-comedy where a husband misunderstands their child singing a song about how mommy is kissing Santa Claus and is determined to get his revenge on St. Nick. It's actually pretty good but now I'm in the nervous "what did I mess up that we will only see after we wrap" mode.
The romantic comedy, deadline 11/1, got the audio tracks signed off on. During my most recent full watch, this time on a 15-year-old TV with a bad sound setup (i.e. how I usually watch TV) I made fifteen or twenty very picky notes. When these are crossed off the list, it's ready to be seen by an audience, and it gets sent to the Big Local Film Festival for possible inclusion for 2027. Then I move onto editing a Long Form Music Video, the Spy Caper Comedy, and the Charity Dinner Recap. I'm going to be stuck at my computer for the next couple months and need to remind myself not to pick up any behind-the-camera projects. My schedule is too full.
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:11 AM
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Comrade Doll is in Romania with her mother and Mama is doing okay and heading home tomorrow. The news is good: she did not have a heart attack or stroke, though she was likely close to the latter.
She has chronic A-fib, and over time her baseline dosage became inadequate. This triggered an hours-long episode where her heart beat far too fast to fill properly between beats, tanking her circulation and blood pressure. Deprived of sufficient oxygen, she couldn't get out of her chair and fell when she tried. That fall prompted her to call an ambulance, which she barely remembers.
Hospital staff put her on oxygen and administered a short-term loading dose of her heart medication to quickly bring her heart rate under control. With her rhythm stabilized, they are transitioning her to a higher daily maintenance dose to keep her levels steady. She was extremely fortunate to get emergency care when she did, allowing doctors to intervene before a clot could form and to get her fully stabilized.
So it was serious, we're glad CD is there, but all things considered, Mama was very lucky.
The hospital staff was aware there was a communication gap with us, but their equivalent of HIPAA won't let nurses/staff other than doctors give updates to family members and with the partial shutdown, the doctors were slammed. By physically going there, CD was able to get briefed in full.
We're looking into if there is some kind of change to her records we can do to pre-authorize us for updates/disclosures going forward.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:28 AM
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Thank you for that update, DOT!
posted by mittens at 6:37 AM
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Over the weekend, I chose friendship and violence over (possible) money and (possible) sex. I hope I made the right decision. ;)
Yes, my hockey team had their first game of the season. And damn it was intense and dynamic. Several penalties, hooking, wipe outs, players being bumped against the wall, and one woman's stick even went flying up in the air. Heh, glad I was just a spectator in that one. Got to catch up with several friends I haven't seen in a while. Fun times!
Two new casinos opened up in Chicago, and by Chicago I mean Kane county and far south Wisconsin. Yes, new casinos have very high RTPs for a week or two. That's to reel new customers in. And then nerf the shit out of them later on. But I decided to stay back in my town for the hockey game.
As for celebrating. I like to celebrate by wearing things I don't normally wear and eat the things I don't normally eat. And I like to celebrate around many people. The people I'm closest to, of course. But I like to catch up with more distant friends and family too. Also attending some sort of event if possible, like a parade or a street party.
And BEER, of course! Even if it's a NA. Love the taste.
posted by anoldfriend6 at 6:45 AM
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Just learned my brother's family is once again really being kicked in the teeth (not my story to tell so I won't). He was thinking of hosting Thanksgiving but things may be up in the air. But Thanksgiving has been weird for our family for a while and I've gotten used to up-in-the-air celebrations (am I traveling, or am I staying here? I have a plan of attack either way).
I'm seriously hoping I hear sometime this week about a job, and have been keeping a shortlist of "things I'll wait to buy until I get an offer". If I get an offer, once I sign the contract I'll then go get it all. (Nothing too crazy - just some fun or convenient gadgets and some specialty foodstuffs.)
I'll be celebrating Halloween by getting into costume and handing out candy at the community garden. The garden sits between a paint-your-own-pottery studio and a kids' art studio/class kind of place, and the two businesses kind of teamed up to throw a block party for little kids on Halloween; the neighborhood goes pretty hard for Halloween, but most of the other block parties are after dark (lots of cookouts, lots of lawn displays, closing blocks to trick or treating, and there's even a jazz band that puts on zombie masks and sets up on a random sidewalk and does a couple sets). But the trick-or-treating actually starts at 5, and the art studio owner thought there should be some block parties for little kids too and started that. I'll be unofficially part of that - I'm just about finished with a Mother Nature costume to wear while I hand out candy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:46 AM
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And BEER, of course! Even if it's a NA. Love the taste
fr I hardly drink anymore but I really love beer. And gin. But mostly beer. There are better NA options now than there used to be, but the best stuff is still boozy, for better or worse.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:59 AM
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