Thanksgiving Eve: The We-Wu for November 18-22, 2024
Imgur has ceased its Christmas gift exchange.
For the uninitiated, Imgur is a photo/meme sharing website. I was on there a fair amount a few years ago, but it descended into a political morass that was big on shaming people who didn’t have similar opinions. But I remained on the site because of the Secret Santa gift exchange.
Imgur Secret Santa started back in 2014. Users could get matched up randomly and send a fun Christmas gift based on profiles. Most gifts were small, but some people would go all out. (If your SS happened to be Adam Savage of Mythbusters, your gift was epic.) I tried to use the opportunity to introduce people to some of my favorite Etsy shops when appropriate. I got a few swords, and last year, I got my lovely Hawkeye facsimile bow. It was a lot of fun.
But, alas, all good things must come to an end. There were always going to be issues with sharing private information on the Internet, and I guess there were enough idiots who screwed it up for everyone else. Also, laws and stuff.
Anyway.
In other news…
That right there is a blown gasket head. It might have also been my last nerve.
Confession time: I’m not the most patient person in the world. I’m not even in the top ten. I know. It’s shocking. I like things to work the first time, and if I can’t get it by the third, I’m probably going to give up. It’s not a great trait. It’s not helpful. But I’m being honest. (One gift people would probably prefer I share less.)
I don’t pray for patience. Because God will absolutely put me in positions requiring it. I mean, he does anyway. Because he knows I need more of it. But I’m well aware of my failings in that regard. So this week, when my patience was sorely tested, I took a walk. It helped. It also told me to take a little time to sort out priorities. If I’m already this stressed, the holidays are going to be murder.
Segue.
We are art swapping this week! And probably for the foreseeable future. This week has the added bonus of creating a library as I swap art. Well, 60ish libraries, really. Each library contains all of the art used in a booklet. We have libraries for the rest of our art sets, but we don’t have one yet for the universal art. Of course. So that’s what I’m doing as I swap art in Spanish.
I had my USS Missouri moment this week. I think I mentioned working on an agreement for helping with an event next year. We signed that agreement this week. I’ll let you know next year if I’m MacArthur, Nimitz, or Shigemitsu.
Other notables for the week:
We had a fire drill. 34 people evacuated in under 6 minutes. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible for our second fire drill ever. As a founding member of the current iteration of the safety team, I’m counting it as a win.
New tradition! I hope. We did a Thanksgiving lunch. It was great! We did a pitch-in, and the people here make great food. I may have overindulged. But I got to eat pumpkin pie while waiting in line for the main dishes, and who wouldn’t love that?
It snowed! It was our first snow of the year (I think). First significant snow, anyway. And then it went away, which I am totally fine with.
Finally, we had a great prayer chapel this week. We were praying for Nations in Crisis. Why we didn’t go with the alliterative Countries in Crisis, I don’t know, but these are the same people who didn’t go with Illumin18 for our conference, and I am still bitter about that.
Anyway.
There are a lot of countries in crisis. You could probably make that argument for most of the countries on Earth right now. But there are a few that stick out.
I haven’t been great about keeping up with world news, actually. There was a plethora going on in my more immediate vicinity, but there are a lot of horrible things going on around the world. The war in Ukraine is still going; more than 60 hostages are still suspected to be alive in Gaza; multiple floods have wiped out entire towns; conversely, droughts are sparking fires in unusual places; other countries held elections that had quite violent reactions.
You might think this goes against the ‘small stuff’ theme we’ve got going on. But you know what you can do in a small way that can have big impact? Pray. It might be the biggest small thing you could do.
This time next week, I anticipate being in a food coma, so don’t expect a we-wu from me. I hope you will all be enjoying your traditional Thanksgiving activities and having a fantastic time with your chosen companions.
Sweat some small stuff! (It might help work off the carbs.)
Bye!
