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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2018)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018 FEATURES Feeling some Christmas guilt Dear Annie: It was a wonder- weren’t good enough. (Not that ful Christmas season. However, anyone has ever said that.) We get I’m finding myself more guilt-rid- some really great stuff, and I just den than ever. Here’s why: feel at the end of the season as if My wife and I are “gifters.” we didn’t give enough. Any way We like to think of all the people to cure my anxious thoughts for in our lives whom we can think the next season? — Guilt-Ridden of — near, far, wher- Christmas Giver DEAR ever they are — and try Dear Guilt-Rid- den Christmas Giver: to give them something. ANNIE Rid yourself of that Most of the gifts are guilt, because it’s the fairly nice. For people thought that counts, and we don’t know so well or it’s incredibly thought- aren’t so close to, we’ll ful of you and your wife buy smaller gifts. We to make gifts. Home- feel everyone should get made gifts require more something on Christmas. Lane We often will do a Annie thought and labor than Creators Syndicate Inc. big baking day, making store-bought ones. Per- haps the friends who are cookies and candies and cakes and all the lovely Christmas showering you with expensive sweets you can think of. Those go gifts recognize that and want to into Christmas tins wrapped with go out of their way to thank you bows and ribbons and partnered for your efforts. So stop putting with other gifts. We feel they are yourself down. Start acknowledg- ing the joy you’ve brought others. wonderful gifts. However, we always find that Dear Annie: I am a female people are spending way more tool and die maker and model on our gifts than we are on theirs. maker. I’ve experienced a lot of Sometimes it’s substantially more sexual discrimination and harass- than we would ever spend. For ment in the years of my career. example, a friend might give us a When I was working for a com- gift worth $60 when we spent $20 pany in the early 1980s, I had a foreman who kept flirting with on her gift. I’m left feeling as if our gifts me while I was trying to do my job. This man had a wife and five children, by the way. When I told him to go away because I had work to do, he punished me by giving negative (false) feedback in my next per- formance review. I refused to sign the review. He said I would have to meet with the manager, so I did. The manager said he did not understand how I couldn’t read a print, because I had been able to the previous year. But he still believed the foreman’s feed- back and refused to really hear me out. That was as far as it went. I left that company a year later for a better salary elsewhere. During my exit interview, I made sure to let the company know that the foreman was part of the reason it was losing me. He was demoted back to the bench. In my opin- ion, this wasn’t enough, but in the ’80s, this was more than what was usually expected in terms of com- pany action. I still consider it a victory, though, albeit a small one. — Louisville Machinist Dear Louisville Machinist: I am sorry that you were harassed. Kudos for speaking up at a time when it wasn’t easy to do so. And congratulations on a long and suc- cessful career. 5A TOMORROW’S HOROSCOPE By Holiday Mathis, Creators Syndicate Inc. ARIES (March 21-April 19). You want to be near people who are having a good time. You think it will rub off on you. But it will only rub off on you if you’re somewhat interested in the subject of the good time. Go where there’s a match of ideology. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You’ll never be bored today. You’ll look at everything and store it up. You’ll arrange and rearrange this collection of facts, details and tangibles until something makes sense, or until it’s time to sleep, whichev- er comes first. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). In searching for your advantage in a situation, take this sug- gestion from Thomas Jefferson: “Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.” SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You want them to follow your plan. It’s not an easy ask right now. How can you make them want and need to follow your plan instead of making them feel as though they have to follow it? GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Sometimes you stuff your feelings down like a person trying to fit one more thing into an over-full trash bin. But feelings aren’t cast-off refuse. They’re worthy of being set on the shelf. Examined. Maybe even admired. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You’re proud to have powerful friends, but sometimes this makes you feel, by comparison, less successful than them. Success is measured in many different ways. What will it take to broaden your definition? CANCER (June 22-July 22). It gets better when you get better. Or maybe you make it better, and then you get better, too. Either way, the thing to do is to be actively hopeful. That won’t be difficult for you at this busy time. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). People say they need their freedom, and then they head straight for a different kind of prison. Structure trumps freedom. It’s finding the right structure that’s the key, though, and that’s what you’re searching for now. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). While there are those who would go to great lengths for treasure and tribute, you’re mild on the idea. What does it really mean, anyway? When you’re fully rich on the inside, no amount of external validation can make you richer. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Saying nothing says something. It says a lot, actually. Today the silent response has meanings including, but not limited to, “I disagree,” “I have a secret,” “I can’t be both- ered with this,” and “I’m processing the emotional impact of this.” LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You sense when people need their space and when they need to feel closer to you. As you honor the unspoken re- quests of others, they invest increasing amounts of trust in you. FRANK AND ERNEST BLONDIE THATABABY SALLY FORTH PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN B.C. LOLA DILBERT SIX CHIX BIZARRO MUTTS NON SEQUITUR BABY BLUES WIZARD OF ID ZITS ROSE IS ROSE PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’ve been known to put yourself in stressful situations just to see if you can find your way out. Of course you can, silly. You don’t have to do this to your- self, and it’s kind of a waste of time today. So stop it! TOMORROW’S BIRTHDAY (Feb. 7). A windfall starts this solar return on a high note. One of your cosmic gifts now is that you’re mysterious to people, and they want to get to know you better. You’ll have more social opportunity than you know what to do with this year. April brings a fantasy to life. Regarding your personal life: July beckons you in a new direction. Sagittarius and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 6, 39, 2, 21 and 48.
