Help! I have to go to Gwinnett County, GA tomorrow

yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:02 PM
Original message

Help! I have to go to Gwinnett County, GA tomorrow

and eat dinner with my husband's freeper relatives. And I'm not allowed to talk about politics or religion. Shit.

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yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:06 PM
Response to Original message

1. I forgot to mention - I need conversational suggestions

I'm serious. With politics and religion off the Thanksgiving table, what else is there to talk about?

Can I sneak some politics and religion into other subjects? (warning: they're not very educated).

Please post suggestions.

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RevolutionaryActs

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:07 PM
Response to Original message

2. Can you drink?

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yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:11 PM
Response to Reply #2

5. No. and they'll nag.

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Elidor

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:08 PM
Response to Original message

3. Well if you're not, neither are they

Edited on Wed Nov-24-04 08:17 PM by Hardhead

Just put world events out of your mind for a few hours and pretend they're from another planet and you want to be nice to them. It doesn't have to be a horrible experience. Just a boring one.

As for conversation: you can talk about how Gwinett has exploded with growth over the last 16 years. It's an awkward, busy place, a strip-mall nightmare, an upscale urban-sprawl slum. But around every corner, just out of sight, is the same old suburban Georgia that is not too dissimilar to the unreconstructed South of 1866. It's a schizophrenic place.

On second thought, maybe you better not talk about that.

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yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:11 PM
Response to Reply #3

6. This is a very sensible suggestion. Are you my husband?

You sound just like him.

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Elidor

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:18 PM
Response to Reply #6

11. ROFLMAO!!!!

Edited on Wed Nov-24-04 08:18 PM by Hardhead

That is TOO FUNNY! No. I'm not your husband. But he paid me good money to say this. :D

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illflem

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:10 PM
Response to Original message

4. spin around in circle and tell them you're playing NASCAR

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yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:12 PM
Response to Reply #4

7. This is a very good idea! Plus my nieces and nephew might like it.

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RebelOne

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:14 PM
Response to Original message

8. If it really becomes unbearable,

come on with me to Dawson County. I live in Woodstock in Cherokee County, but I'm going to my son's house in Dawsonville. He and his wife are Democrats and very religious (which I am not), so you will feel right at home.

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Minimus

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:16 PM
Response to Reply #8

9. my sister lives in Woodstock.

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RebelOne

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Wed Nov-24-04 09:12 PM
Response to Reply #9

29. Maybe we are neighbors.

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Minimus

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Wed Nov-24-04 09:44 PM
Response to Reply #29

30. she lives in Twin Lake, Town Lake, something like that.

I can't remember the name of her subdivision.

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yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:21 PM
Response to Reply #8

15. It sounds wonderful! I'd love to accept your kind invitation

but I already tried getting out of the trip. No go.

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juliagoolia

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:17 PM
Response to Original message

10. What they talk about?

TV shows?
School?
Jobs?
Boss?
Your Health?
Their Health?
The WEATHER!!!!
Floods in TX

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yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:20 PM
Response to Reply #10

13. Schools are a big topic of conversation.

Our kids attend alternative schools. They don't hold with it. So we'll hear a lot about that.

Medication is another biggie. Our kids take meds. All they need is a good whuppin, according to the in-laws. This will be another droning subject, on and off, for days.

Money. My MIL spends it like water. And she complains endlessly about the stress her money and her purchases cause her. The indigestion she suffers from "too much rich food." The fact that she can't go on cruises anywhere she likes anymore, thanks to "those terraists."

You get the idea.

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juliagoolia

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Wed Nov-24-04 09:01 PM
Response to Reply #13

27. Been there done that

with a pile of brother in law military officers around the table and the stepford wife sister in laws.

Back to weather and THIER HEALTH
Talk about MOVIES
Buy a local paper and talk about some LOCAL thing.
(not political)

The traffic in Atlanta
The trip down
The airport
The security

shoes
ask a lot of questions about where she likes to shop. .etc.
what she wants to buy..
all about them..their health. their diet their activities etc.. let her drone on about her indigestion and whine about her cruise.

good luck

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Politicub

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:19 PM
Response to Original message

12. I'm so sorry

I live in Atlanta, but heading northeast to NC. My family's thanksgiving is dry and I don't talk politics or religion either. Though I feel more emboldened about it this year for some reason.

:hug:

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yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:21 PM
Response to Reply #12

14. Where will you be in NC? Maybe we can wave to one another!

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Politicub

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Wed Nov-24-04 09:09 PM
Response to Reply #14

28. I'm going to be in Murphy

It's a small town in the mountains -- the most western town in the state.

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Minimus

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:23 PM
Response to Original message

16. Do they go to the movies? Talk about latest releases or dvds.

Have they read any good books lately? Or you can talk about the weather.

Good luck to you. I get to have a repub-free holiday. My two bro in laws are repubs and it is the switch off year, so my poor sisters are spending the day with their families.

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yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:27 PM
Response to Reply #16

18. I just remembered that there will be young people there -

people in their teens and twenties. They're interesting to talk with.

It won't be so bad. And I like my little nieces and nephew. Maybe when nobody is listening I can teach them a few things....

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mac56

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:27 PM
Response to Original message

17. I'm here in Athens, in Clarke County.

Edited on Wed Nov-24-04 08:29 PM by mac56

Nearly right next door!

Drop a line if you care to. We're just hangin' out tomorrow.

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yardwork

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:28 PM
Response to Reply #17

19. Thank you! It will be a flying trip - just two days -

but I'd love to visit Athens one day.

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mac56

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:29 PM
Response to Reply #19

21. Well, feel free to send a message if you wish.

I love North Carolina.

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vet 65 69

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:39 PM
Response to Reply #17

25. in-laws lol

my sister in-law called to wish happy b day and small talk, wife was gone so i had to be nice she is a LDS=mormon ;)and a repug her husband lost his job now he's working for min. i wanted to laugh so bad but be nice then she went off on the possible draft she has a 19 year old. gee sounds like you should have voted for k/e. she lives in Ms. with head in sand

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Laelth

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:29 PM
Response to Original message

20. The weather is always a good stand-by.

My in-laws in Coweta County (now-suburban southwest ATL) had a tornado touch down near them earlier this morning. Perhaps there were more in the area?

Good luck!

-Laelth

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barackmyworld

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:32 PM
Response to Original message

22. I'm going to ALABAMA

way worse

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illflem

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:38 PM
Response to Reply #22

23. I'm going to ALABAMA

too bad, only step further back in time is Mississippi

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shesemsmom

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:38 PM
Response to Original message

24. Well lets so no politics no religion how about

asking them how they like how shrub mucked up Iraq???

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ForrestGump

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Wed Nov-24-04 08:44 PM
Response to Original message

26. Yew ain frohm round hyah, arya, boyh?

Gwinnett County? Mostly yankees thereabouts. Really -- that whole side of metro Atlanta on through Lawrenceville et al is primarily home to middle and upper-middle expats from north of the Manson-Nixon Line.

No idea how they tend politically, though...my guess would be Republican 'cos the demographic seems mainly white, monied, and Hummer-desiring. It's not like native Georgians are any more likely to be wingnuts than those damn yankees (well, okay, South Georgia gets a little more Deliverance-like than anything I've yet seen in the Piedmont and points north...

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yardwork

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Thu Nov-25-04 12:06 AM
Response to Reply #26

31. Oh, they are typical suburban Atlanta transplants, not native Georgians

...though they are from other points in the south, not Yankees. The live in the subdivisions that have sprouted like mushrooms in the area, connected by highways and strip malls.

They're not bad people, just got their heads in the sand.

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