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.