What do you assign to Orthanc?

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Ah, for the halcyon days of youth, when such a thing as "Christmas Break" existed, now long, long in the past....

I think I would like to assign snow. Pretty to watch coming down, nice touch for the "white Christmas" effect -- but a pain in the behind to shovel, especially when your hubby gets the garage for his car (must start reliably and be free of snow at the crack of dawn or before every day), and yours is stuck outside, no matter the precip or the temps.

I think I would also assign, in a similar vein, Christmas shopping. I really don't mind the bustle at the stores, it can be entertaining and a little exhilarating -- but at this time of year, rudeness runs at a ridiculously high pitch. Can't tell you how many bruises I have from people hitting me with their shopping carts, or being run over by packs of unruly and unsupervised kids.

And I would also like to assign cable TV. It gives us decent reception, which we can't get even with an antenna where we live, and though much of it is junk, some is quite nice -- until the system decides to freak out and cut out all the really interesting channels because of a stupid "switched digital" system they insist on using. Last month, it did this two days before Thanksgiving. It did it again today, and I think I'm beginning to detect an obnoxious pattern....

It's all life, though, ain't it?