Anything Thread

I'm going to make this thread longer since we aren't exactly burning up the anything threads these days.

Questions of the thread, for the season:

How did you feel about getting shared presents on the holidays/birthdays growing up?
How do you handle opening presents if its somewhat clear that you might be getting the same thing?

 

Shared presents:

I don't remember ever caring if our big present was shared. We've gotten tvs, cameras, computer components etc as share presents. We always had other stuff to open individually but the big thing has never been a big fight.

Same presents:

In our family we go around the room opening stuff. We take turns picking presents from our pile and the other finds a similar sized package and open it (usually stuff like socks or stocking stuffers) Our family is good at saying "there isn't a match for that". Its like a system.

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For my Aussie friends: my favourite band is doing an Australian tour in 2010. If you get a chance to see Doc Walker (the song is "Beautiful Life) GO! I've been to 17 shows and its always good. Would be so funny if you went to the meet and greet with one of my pics to get it signed. (they know us as "the twins in Ontario") http://www.docwalker.ca/live.aspx Current video(I didn't like it at first - hate that director - but great song)

 

We only ever got presents for our birthday and we normally received one big present between us (normally a Lego electric train ).

I can't remember it every actually being wrapped (and we always knew what it would be) so there was nothing to "handle" when it came to opening presents.

Are you coming too?

 

I'd be there in a heartbeat if I could afford it. Attaching my favourite picture of them taken 2 shows ago in October. (heads up, its not something R&A want to see - I warned you)

 

shared presents:
we hardly ever got shared presents because our extended family is huge and none of the children can ever share. however, my brother and i have always been able to share really, so when we did get a shared present there would be a tense atmosphere from the adults in the room while me and colin happily shared our present.
we always knew we'd get the same thing, so if we got more than one present we'd line them up in order and start at opposite ends, so by the time you're halfway through you have said thankyou for everything and can get on with the more important job of covering everything in shredded newspaper.

 

We always shared presents, normally bigger stuff but got more littler things compared to the other siblings because it was when we shared a room we only needed one and the same $$ amount on us. It didnt bother me sharing things because even when we got different things like games and toys we always shared anyway so it wasnt a big thing to me.

Even last year we got the same thing a laptop but we picked it out and actually picked the same one. It really doesnt bother me, when we were younger when "santa" was "real" we used to open the same gifts at the same time so we kind of didnt know it would be the same.

 

We usually received separate presents, especially as we got older, the only thing we used to get as a shared gift was computer related, but that we definitely didn't mind because we both loved computer games and was ecstatic when our computer was upgraded

 

Isnt the lifespan of a computer two years??


Going to a waterpark tomorrow, I am scared lol a friends making me go on a chair lift and im way scared of hights!! Oh well shall be fun because at jamberooo you contol the action I shall try to not injure myself anymore tomorrow

 

Not really, it depends on what you do with it. I have had my laptop now for about 4.5 years. The desktop is about that age too. While it would be nice if I could upgrade every 2 years it really isn't necessary.

 

So Gerda, where have you and Brenda disappeared to lately? As a mod Brenda has to be here everyday, who else is going to keep Adrian under control?

 

True you must take care of your stuff well then!!

 

He has been a good boy of late

 

I've been travelling a lot for work so didn't always have the time to post. Bren is having problems with her internet connection, she's very frustrated, she's in the process of changing internet providers so hopefully all will be better soon

I know you guys are Linux fans, but at least I'm discussing something computer related : I upgraded to Windows 7 last week, and all my lagging and start up problems are fixed, XP was driving me crazy!

 

I hope it works out for her soon!! Windows 7 is good I really like it!!I think its better then vista, the fetures are easier and less cluttered

 

:spy: Please tell her that we miss her, Gerda!

 

Brenda always seems to have problems with her internet access I am getting frustrated too

Windows always does that after it has been installed a while. Windows 95 and 98 did it, XP does it, Vista does it immediately after it has been installed ( ). I suspect Windows 7 will be the same. Having said that, from what I have seen of Windows 7 it has been much better than Vista (which is always a pain to use). The problem with Windows (any version really) is that it has a crummy command-line interface which I tend to use quite a bit.

 

you like cummy interfaces??

They all really do have their issues! I dont like xp anymore I forget how to use it! :laughing: :FIFblush:

 

No I like command-line interfaces because they are much faster for certain things than having to click in five million different places but Windows' implementation of this is crummy (and nearly useless).

I have used XP for so long now I have found that I can work out what is happening and where to click to do certain things without knowing the language it is using.

 

Guessing you don't like to explore then? Live on the "wild side"

You are a smart duck, but why would you have it in another language??

 

I do, but sometimes I need to do something quickly so the simpler the better

I normally just have it in English, but sometimes other people show me their computers and it isn't in English (or any other language I can understand). I admit to sometimes switching the language to Dutch or Gaelic though

 

Simple Richard shall be your new name

Well thats actually a rather useful thing to be able to do! what languages can you understand??

 

Very funny

Because of the similarities between languages I can understand quite a few languages even though I only really speak 4. This means I can understand a fair amount of West Germanic languages from Dutch (Afrikaans, German, Yiddish, Luxembourgish), English and Frisian, Romance languages from Portuguese and Spanish (Galacian, Italian and French plus various related languages like Catalan and Mirandese). I also have a very(!) basic understanding of Gaelic but only if I am reading it (it is spoken too quickly for me to understand). While I understand a fair amount of these languages I would never claim to speak them because it is only because of their similarities with the languages I do speak that I can understand them. It does come in useful occasionally

Wikipedia has an example comparing Galician to Portuguese and Spanish (and English):

Trousers: Galician = Pantalóns, Portuguese = Calças, Spanish = Pantalones
Dogs: Galician = Cans, Portuguese = Cães, Spanish = Perros
Aeroplanes: Galician = Avións, Portuguese = Aviões, Spanish = Aviones

 

I thought so

Like when people from other cultures stand and point at you and speak to another person or when they say something to you if you bump into them accidently?? Not meaning to be racial if it comes across like that!! I am very culturally aware and accepting

 

Yes, times like that I find that people say things they wouldn't normally say if they knew you understood them.

 

Yeah very true..

 

I thought it was too. :laughing: We are laughing with you not "at you" remember?

 

I hope you do know I didnt mean it in a racial way! But I think it would be good to actually know what they say to you! Like an Indian man ran into me yesterday even though it wasnt my fault - being so kind that I am I said sorry and he went off at me in Indian. I was like "sorry ok" and walked off! I find it rude in a way.

 

Yes I know It happens with a lot of people who are speaking a language they don't expect others to understand (regardless of race or anything else). "Indian" isn't a language though Assuming he was Indian it could have been Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi or a number of other languages.

 

Its very rude actually, if multicultural people live in another country they shouldnt abuse people in their native language. Ok well I am an idiot thank you for correcting me I am going to go laugh at myself :FIFblush: :FIFblush: :FIFblush: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

 

Is it still rude if it is in our non-native language? I will admit to grumbling about people in different languages when I don't like what they are doing but I have been known to do it really loudly in the language used in that country as well.

 

:laughing: yes it is, we should be kind to others not abusive! We want happy people in society

 

I refused to install Vista (for obvious reasons)

Being able to speak so many languages is definately handy, at least you can understand us and translate for us when we forget certain words as it often happens. Been a long time since we had our multi-language topics (oops, reminds me I still owe you a recording of me speaking Afrikaans )

 

Yes you do We're still waiting

 

Sounds like it would be fun though

 

Yeah