Show us your weird & wonderful presents!

[Musopticon?]

Great gifts Sap and Mister ex-Mod.

 

 

 

 

I'll be damned if I don't get that camera to work

 

Edit: Nope, it's out of order. Guess I'll make a list instead. Oh well....

 

I got a ton of chocolate from family, a gift card(woth 50 euros) to my fave record store, a russian winter hat(which I wanted to show), warm gloves, AoE 3, bunch of cds(Bodies Without Organs, some horrible 80's stuff, etc), an illustrated calendar(which I also wanted to show) and Snoopy boxer briefs(which I didn't want to show).

Edited December 26, 2005 by Musopticon?

[Baley]

-Multifunctional Printer

-DVD-Player

-Headphones

-Jonathan Swift Collection

[Dark Moth]

Don't have any pictures, but:

 

Full-Size replica of Anduril (sword from LOTR) with plaque.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory :cool:

Headphones

The Punisher Soundtrack

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam

[Darth_Schmarth]

I got a tin soldier, a map of Ulan Bator, a box of rusted cutlery and a grand smack in the face. It's good to be me.

[WinterSun]

I got-

 

Books:

Iain Banks-The Wasp Factory

Richard Morgan-Woken Furies

 

CD's:

Arch Enemy-Doomsday Machine

Megadeth-Killing Is My Business

 

DVD's:

Revenge of the Sith

Blade Trinity

Batman Begins

 

plus chocolate,underwear,big chunks of meat to take home...it was a good day

 

[Weiser_Cain]

I got nothing.

[Junai]

Jamie Oliver's cookbook.

 

Like that's gonna help... bwah,..

[Blank]

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory :cool:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

ooh, that game is really good, or so i think...

[moreKOTORplz]

 

jealous :cool:

[mkreku]

I got two bottles of whisky (Jim Beam in a weird bottle sweater, and a bottle of Black Velvet), two sets of bed.. thingies (sheets and stuff), an Arne Anka Complete Collection book, lots of candy, lots of money and a crystal Santa Claus that I really wanted to take a picture of because it's so weird. I have no camera here at my mom's house though.

[Krookie]

I got a 360, but it's not coming till the end of Feburay. Came with 6 games:

Call of Duty 2

Quake 4

Perfect Dark: Zero

Madden 06

Project Gothom Racing

GUN

 

And my mother bought be "something big" but it won't be here till next week. Curse my family's bad habit of waiting until the last minute.

[Cantousent]

I also managed to get $100 worth of Best Buy gift cards. Damned convenient gift.

[thepixiesrock]

I got some money, but I didn't get the Star Wars Legos I wanted.

 

: (

[Archmonarch]

I really dont understand my parents thinking this holiday. For years, they have been rather reasonable in their gifts, a few games or a few hundred dollars etc despite our financial prosperity. And now when they often tell us how it hasnt been a good year, I get a computer and my sister gets a Mini Cooper S. Someone explain this to me.

[Child of Flame]

How about you explain to me how my sister, who is sixteen, has a $16k brand new Scion xB that she got because of 'circumstances' and I get $1k to spend on whatever I can find that I can get home?

 

Yeah.

[Blank]

How about you explain to me how my sister, who is sixteen, has a $16k brand new Scion xB that she got because of 'circumstances' and I get $1k to spend on whatever I can find that I can get home? 

 

Yeah.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

um, because your padres have a lot of money?

[Child of Flame]

F*** no, we're poor as s***. Only reason we can afford the house we're in is because my old man's good at penny pinching and investing. His salary puts us below the poverty line for our area.

[Shadowstrider]

New office chair (needed one), a new overcoat, Scrubs seasons 1 and 2, and the main course; a new pen.

[Blank]

F*** no, we're poor as s***.  Only reason we can afford the house we're in is because my old man's good at penny pinching and investing.  His salary puts us below the poverty line for our area.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

then how did you get $1k to spend on stuff for christmas and your sister got a 16k Scion what the heck?!

 

unless you are being sarcastic, but you put too much depth into that one for it to be a sarcastic quip.

[Child of Flame]

<bitterness>

 

Not at the same time man.

 

She got the car about a year ago, it was originally my dad's. It was after we traded in the van we needed to take my mom around after she had her stroke.

 

He decided he was putting too many miles on it going to work, so he gives it to her, I'm still stuck taking the bus.

 

Now I've enrolled in the local college and the bus doesn't run early enough for me to get to my first class, I need a car, literally need one; if I am to get to school.

 

So yeah, 'circumstance' but now 'circumstance' dictates that I need a reliable car more'n my sister, but it's the other way around.

 

He wouldn't even let me get a Learner's Permit until I was eighteen, because I was 'too irresponsible'. Now I will admit, I was by no means the model child, who is, but to deprive me of a means of transportation when my father was the one who decided to live this far out of town, in a town with very sporadic transportation, he more or less stunted my social life more than geekiness in a redneck town had already done.

 

Now my sister, miss 4.0 Honor Student, carrying the brunt of the tasks my mother did before her stroke, he lets her get her Learner's Permit ASAP, and gives her the car he knew I wanted when he decides he's putting too much wear and tear on it.

 

Not to mention the spending money he's constantly giving her, when he didn't give me anything besides clothes and food, plus money for church activities; and instead expected me to use the money I got selling a Steer in 4H when I was at boarding school. Now the money's gone, and his excuse whenever I explain to him that there's almost nothing in the Classifieds for $1k that isn't a junker for parts, he tells me I should've saved that money. Gee thanks dad.

 

</bitterness>

[Blank]

<bitterness>

...

and instead expected me to use the money I got selling a Steer in 4H when I was at boarding school.  Now the money's gone, and his excuse whenever I explain to him that there's almost nothing in the Classifieds for $1k that isn't a junker for parts, he tells me I should've saved that money.  Gee thanks dad. 

 

</bitterness>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

well, you always have us **smiles at everyone, Judge Hades punches face, CoF kicks groin, Eldar laughs**

[Cantousent]

Let me tell you a story, Child, and not because I dislike you or look down on you. I don't. It's always easy to say it could be worse. That's really not any consolation, is it?

 

Still, you're not poor, kid. If you're talking about getting a grand to buy a car, you're not poor.

 

When I was a kid, I was poor. By the standards of the day, must tougher than the standards of today, we lived below the poverty line. My mother left the abusive man who was my father. She was poor, which is why I was poor. She wasn't used to being poor, but she forgot her pride and went on welfare and got foodstamps. She worked hard at menial jobs, cleaning and scrubbing. Later, she got a job as a secretary. They call that an administrative assistant now. She tried to return the remainder of her last batch of foodstamps. The clerk looked at her like she was crazy and told her to go use them.

 

During the dark days, we had steak every Christmas eve because that was the day that we got to eat steak. No matter where I am, I still have steak on Christmas eve, not because it's my favorite meal, but because I don't want to forget. It reminds me of the time we had nothing but peanut butter the last few days before a payday. It reminds me of times we put flour in the soup because it added a little substance to it.

 

Back then, if you'd have told me about the poor folks around the world who were starving, I would've have thought, so what? I wanted more for myself, not less for some other poor bastard. It's easy for someone to tell you about the less fortunate. It's a hell of a lot harder to care when it's some sanctimonious blow-hard who happens to have more money than you.

 

Now, of course, people think it's strange that I insist on eating steak for Christmas. I very rarely explain the history to them. After all, it would sound self serving on my part and didactic in the worst sense of the word. Come hell or highwater, however, I have steak on the eve of Christmas. Most folks just chalk it up to my usual eccentricity.

 

One year, I resolved to render all of my many, many gifts to charities. ...But it was hurtful to my family. So, I give to charity, and we are quite active in our donations, not only of our money but of our industry and skills as well. Nevertheless, I keep the lavish gifts my family gives me because they too remember. I think it's a way to say that we're not poor. We have good careers and good homes and money to buy things for each other.

 

You've got some tough times, and you sure seem to like being a rebel without a clue, but you're not poor. You just don't have as much stuff as the rich kids, but don't be too hard on them. You didn't ask to be born into your family. They didn't ask to be born into theirs. Some day, some of those rich kids are going to be poor and you'll probably be quite comfortable, perhaps even rich. You'll have to get used to having money and they'll have to get used to being poor. It'll be a bit easier for you than it is for them. Some of them will be embittered but, to add insult to injury, you probably won't even know it. So, I have more sympathy for your family on account of your mom's stroke than I do your money problems. You're still in the game, kid, and that's a hell of a lot better than some folks I know.

 

Now, that was a completely didactic rant, so I expect some folks to poke some fun at me. I accept it. I deserve it. ...But having folks make fun of you every now and then isn't such a horrible thing. With a full belly, in the comfort of your home, sitting at one of your three computers, living with a little ridicule, most of it good natured, doesn't really hurt all that much at all. As I sit here posting this, my wife just came up and gave me a piece of See

[Child of Flame]

You just had to go and ruin my pity party didn't you.

 

I understand about the steak, it's the same reason my family eats Prime Rib on Christmas, my dad's family was worse off than yours growing up, and not because of what was coming in, but what my grandfather was spending on the booze. They had so much chicken during the year my dad still hates the stuff, a fancy meal was hot dogs and gravy. Breakfast was mush, lunch was whatever was around. When my dad was old enough, he painted houses with his grandfather to bring enough money into the house and buy decent clothes for himself.

 

I know we're not bad off, but we're not well off either. It's not the amount of money that gets to me, so much as the disparity between how my sister is treated and how I'm treated. I need a car to even feasibly get to a job regularly where we live the way the weather is in the winter and as far away as the bus stop is. Even then it'll be a hard enough task finding a job that can not only work around college courses but bus schedules. Bust can only get me into town by 9AM and I have to be back on it by 6PM.

 

As bad a child as I was from around thirteen to fifteen, I was doing pretty okay by the time I was sixteen. I wasn't going to school, but that's because I was staying home and taking care of my mom some. When I was told about an Independent Studies program in town that I could get to and finish up Highschool with, I went to that. The teacher lied to me about how long it would take and letting me back in for one more semester, so when that fell through, I went through a whole bunch of hoops to get a GED. Now I'm signed up for college courses and I don't quite have a driver's liscense or a car. If I could get an apartment in town I would, but due to the rich folks moving up here from the rest of California, and pissing away their money on Real Estate that's worth half of what they paid just because they can, the jobs pay less than it costs to live here. The only feasible way to make rent on one of them is to get a roommate, and the only people I'd know to do that with all left for college in other places.

 

I'm just in a bad mood because I spent most the day combing through the classifieds trying to find a car that fits the price tag, getting blown off by one guy after he told me he'd call me back, getting yelled at by a woman when I was being polite because someone listed her number as theirs, and getting answering machines or 'Sorry just sold it' everywhere else.

[Cantousent]

update: a katana. I should take a picture to show you, but I don't have time. The Nephews are here with me and we're going to a park.

[Surreptishus]

wtf is up with all the sword presents? and more to the point why don't i ever get one? <_<