My Holidays Were Happy

Good news! My holidays were happy.



And that's right I do say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas when addressing a group of people, because I'm a friendly person and friendly people tend to be inclusive with their well wishes instead of being exclusive. I'm hoping Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Pagans, Communists, Anarchists, even Wiccans and Conservatives all had happy holidays or were happy during the various holidays that were celebrated as we neared the end of the Gregorian calendar in 2007.

I think it should be among my New Year's Resolutions to be just as "in your face" with my friendly Happy Holidays greeting as many were being obnoxious about saying "Merry Christmas" recently. I even saw a poster on a bus stop of a stern Uncle Sam with a Santa hat perched atop his head, and the phrase Merry Christmas across the top instead of "Uncle Sam Wants You" - I guess Uncle Sam wants you to say Merry Christmas, or something, is the point of that. But I digress...

Luckily, one perk of my job is a long much needed paid vacation at the end of the year. I was off work from December 24 through January 2.
Unluckily, I became ill with a cold on Saturday, December 22. Yes, that's right, the day after my last day of work for 2007. Oh well! I'm sure it could have been a lot worse. I felt well enough to attend my in-laws' Christmas party on December 24, so obviously it wasn't a very bad cold.

Well, is anyone sick of seeing lists yet? I just can't get enough! You know how it is, each year, starting around November, we all get inundated with lists of all sorts of things. For example...

List of Lists
1. Top 10 People Who Died This Year
2. Top 10 Secretly Homosexual Politicians
3. Top 10 Secretly Homosexual TV Preachers
4. Top 10 Mall Shootings
5. Top 10 Celebrity Scandals
Those sorts of things...


You know why they do that, right? They don't want to take the time to generate content. I don't have much time to cover how I spent my holidays, so I'm going to employ lists!

What I Watched on DVD:
Because I was ill, I spent a lot of time on the sofa watching DVDs.
1. Finished The Wire Seasons 3 & 4. I do enjoy that show. I'm looking forward to the new season, which will focus on the media and journalism.

2. Finished Rome through Season 2. This season ended tidily enough. I assume there won't be any further seasons, because it didn't seem that they were doing very much with the younger characters.

3. Totally Awesome. This was a forgettable parody of 80s movies. There's really no excuse for this movie not being better. Making fun of the 80s? Come on!

4. Balls of Destiny. This was a forgettable parody of kung-fu movies, replacing martial arts with ping pong, for comedic effect, I suppose.

5. Inland Empire. A David Lynch movie. Much as I love David Lynch movies, it felt a bit long to me.

6. Abominable Dr. Phibes. OMG! This was great fun! Wacky Movie Night worthy.


7. The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Wow! Jerry Falwell really screwed the Bakers over... BIGTIME!

8. Crank. This movie had its moments. It had its funny moments. It had its clever moments. It had its innovative moments. It had its disturbingly sexist moments. It had its racist moments. It had its formulaic & predictable moments. But it's fun to describe it as being like Speed with speed about Speed! Whee!
9. Who the @#%$ is Jackson Pollack? Documentary about a plucky senior citizen truck drivin' lady who bought what may be a geniune Jackson Pollack painting (those go for up to hundreds of millions of dollars, btw) for five bucks. Mayhem ensues.
10.Eastern Promises I just love those Cronenberg movies. This one was no exception.

I forget what else we watched on DVD, but there were probably a few more.

We went to the movies, as well.


Movies I Watched:

1. Juno. Excellent! Very funny and sweet. Ellen Page is awesome and Michael Cera is adorable. I couldn't have picked out a cuter movie couple. Also, as a Classics minor, you know I loved the mythology connections.

2. I Am Legend. Not as bad as I expected it to be, but that doesn't make it good. My main disappointment was the way they chose to present the infected. The effects left something to be desired, but that's not the only thing. They just weren't as sinister as in the Omega Man.

3. Sweeney Todd. Really well done. My only complaint, and it's a very small one, would be a bit of a spoiler, so I think I'll keep it to myself. Definitely worth seeing. This is somewhat high praise coming from me, because I generally find musicals annoying at best.

Alan Rickman is always such a great bad guy, right
Parties I Attended:
1. Paffords' Xmas Party. These are former Parallax customers who live downtown in an eclectically appointed loft. They are a really sweet, thoughtful, fun couple whose parties never disappoint. We had a great time there. We took along another couple, who recently moved downtown, hoping they'd meet some of their new neighbors.

2. Celtic Xmas Celebration. My in-laws opted for a Celtic theme this year, and it really made our annual holiday party a lot of fun. We continued with our existing traditions of gift giving and stuffing ourselves silly with yummy munchies and cookies, and the very fun beer swap tradition (Each year, the beer drinkers bring an import or micro for everyone to try - so we all get a chance to try beers we probably haven't tried before). But Bill's folks also added some new traditions inspired by how Bill's Irish ancestors most likely celebrated the holiday.We all learned our Gaelic names. We also put a candle in the window, lit by the youngest (my niece Sara), and only to be blown out by a woman named Mary. I liked that one, because I (Mary-Catherine) got to blow out the candle!

Also, we watched a DVD presentation Bill's father had put together about their trip to Ireland, where they met some cousins, and about a few of their noteworthy relatives including a priest who came to America and an aunt, Peig Sayers, who was famous in Ireland as a storyteller. Peig is sort of like the Laura Ingalls Wilder of Ireland, I suppose, but her stories about her life and all the hardships she endured were written down in Irish. The books, printed in Irish, were required reading for Irish school children for many years. Wikipedia points out that among Irish people of a certain age, the mere mention of Peig Sayers name will cause them to roll their eyes because Gaelic is a pretty tough language, after all.

After concluding his presentation, Bill's dad gave everyone a copy of Peig (in translation, thank goodness), which was no small feat, I think, because it's out of print now! I've only read a few of the stories, so far, but I'm enjoying it so far.

3. Festivus Dinner. Another Paffords' event. A group of about 15 of us met at Harry's Detour downtown for a nice meal next to the cozy fireplace in the back room. I don't know if it really counts as Festivus; there was no airing of greivances and no feats of strength. Probably for the best.


Festivus for the Rest of Us!

4. New Year's Eve. The Crider's hosted New Year's Eve again this year. It was a low-key, relaxed party with just a few friends. A nice way to see the year out. As far as I know, nothing was broken. The highlight of the evening was when our friend Kim confirmed the rumors that she's pregnant. Congrats to Kim! Bill and I have catching up to do!!!

Gifts I Received:

1. Gas Logs for the Fireplace. Sadly the installation didn't go too well. We hope to have them installed sometime before the winter is over. They'll be lovely once they're in there. They even came with a remote control!

2. Amazon.com Gift Certificate. Smart thinking, Mom! Excellent choice.

3. Catherine's Clock. A unique clock made especially for me! My sister-in-law is a talented woodworker who made the clock, which my in-laws gave to me. It's gracing my mantle now. I was really thrilled to get one.




These images give an idea of what my clock looks like.
4. Peig - Mentioned above.

5. Barnes & Noble Gift Certificate. Yes! More books!

6. Cash Money. Always nice!



Gifts I Gave:

1. Compound Miter Saw. A selfish gift, because I'm going to put Bill to work using it on all manner of household improvements.

2. ATT Bluetooth Phone Set. This we gave to my in-laws so they can answer cell phone calls on these "normal" phones. We had their cabin on the lake in mind when we picked it out, because the cell signal is weak there and can only be picked up in one room of the cabin. Using these phones, they'll be able to receive cell calls on more than one handset in any room of the house there. We liked it so much, we got one for ourselves, too. Especially handy since we don't use a land line at all.

3. 8" Digital Photo Frame. My stepbrother recently had his first child, so I thought my mom and stepdad should have plenty of photos to display on one of these.

4. Goodies from Harry & David's. We usually send Bill's Grammy some sweets from H & D. We'll also be sending her a DVD after we finish editing the footage I shot during the Celtic Xmas party.

5. Homemade Tutus. I made two simple tutus for my little buddy Zoe to wear. I have photos that I'll post eventually. I also gave her a copy of 'Rella III (Cinderella III. I didn't even know there was a Cinderella II!).

6. Gift Certificates. For Dad and both sets of my grandparents I ran out of time, so I had to opt for the gift certificate option (otherwise the gifts would have arrived late!).

7. Booze. Champagne makes a nice Christmas gift. The recipient can toast in the New Year with it, and if you're lucky, you may be invited have a glass.

New Year's Resolutions

1. Become Wiser. I'm getting older, so I had better work on getting wiser, too. I feel like at this point in my life, I want to work on developing knowledge in some area. Learning is such a rewarding experience to me. As a result, I feel like I know a little bit about a lot of different (mainly trivial) things. I need to learn a lot about something for a change. I don't know what, though. So my real resolution would be figuring out what that should be.

2. Correspond. I'm awful about not staying in touch. I'm going to make more of an effort to stay in touch with family and friends.

3. Be More "Goal-Oriented" in General. Projects, plans, goals, ideas, etc tend to "get away from me" oftentimes. I want to work on improving my approach towards getting things done. I love the feeling I get when I actually finish a project. And when projects go unfinished, or get abandoned, I feel terrible... ashamed, really. So if I can make this improvement, I'm sure I'll be happier.

First goal: Make it through my first day back at work. Yawn!

Which is Cuter?

I'm just surfing Amazon.com, trying to find a tutu for my friend's two year-old, when the image pictured below appears:

No offense to the leggy lady Santa, but the adorable little moppet astonished by her light up tutu definitely wins the Cuter? contest. LLS can have the Sexier? crown, though.

ANYWAY...

This brings me to my own question:

Which of these should I covet more?

As a lover of both books and gadgets, I really want one of those fancy electronic book readers. As a busy woman who's not been keeping up with electronics very closely, I'm not sure which would be the best choice, the Sony Reader or Amazon's Kindle.

This isn't something Santa's going to bring me, so I have plenty of time to decide (and wait for the prices to come down). Also, I'm curious about what kind of books are available for these devices. I see that Kindle has magazines and newspapers (and one of my favorite time wasters, Wikipedia),

Well, one thing is certain, the Sony Reader truly is the cuter of the two. The photo of Kindle on Amazon.com looks nice enough, but the snapshots accompanying Engadget's review remind me of printers from the late 80s. Ewww!

December Doldrums?

I'm still alive. I just don't feel like doing this lately. There are things to report, I suppose, but I'm still struggling with those blahs.

So...

At work - there are lots of changes and increased responsibilities for yours truly. I try not to dwell too much on work here, so I'll leave it at that for now.


At home - things are going well enough. I feel like I'm definitely not getting enough done for the holidays. It's a bit tough to get Bill to co-operate until the last minute, which I find nerve-wrecking, but no more so than trying to wrangle him into helping out with Christmas lists and what-not. He's willing to go into stores and pick up gifts, at least, and that's a blessing since I can't stand it.

My dad came to Memphis recently and he still seems to be doing pretty well. I guess I can take comfort in knowing that if my greatest fear is ever realized and I completely lose my mind, someone can reboot my head with some ECT, too.

I went to a party downtown last night. Saw a lot of familiar faces from the days when I lived downtown and owned a video store on South Main. I generally find that excruciating, so I wasted a lot of energy dreading the evening. It turned out to be a really great party overall, and I'm glad I went. I wish I had tried harder, used my time and the opportunity more wisely, not sabotaged myself into failing with that store - or maybe it just wasn't meant to be? I'm glad it's over, the store felt like such a cage, but well... it's the past, let's worry about the present or the future instead, right?

Had a really nice brunch at Cafe Ole - Bill & I invited Cheryl & Zoe to join us. That was a lot of fun, as always.

Tonight we're doing a neighborhood party thing, a progressive dinner, where you get to nose around all your neighbors houses and eat different courses of a meal. Well, all right, I admit it sounds a bit overwhelming to an introvert such as myself, but I want my neighbors to know that we're friendly, approachable people. I think I tend to either give people the impression that I'm not friendly/approachable or maybe no impression at all is closer to the truth. The people on this street seem to be very friendly with each other, I wouldn't mind if they were friendly with me, too.

The end of the year is weighing down on me, I have to be careful with myself.

Hey, next year (which is next month already) Bill and I are going to start trying to conceive. "We figured there was too much happiness here for just the two of us, so we figured the next logical step was to have us a critter." I've visited my doctor for health screenings and a pep talk, recently. Did great on the health screenings, and now I'm popping prenatal vitamins daily to get a head start on everything (and I guess to see what happens when you add a stool softener to an already fiber-rich diet). I am a bit apprehensive about all of this; I spent most of my life declaring that I did not intend to reproduce, so I feel somewhat unprepared. I'm sure everything will work out for the best, however.

Crossdressing Criminals in Memphis

from The Memphis Flyer
http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A36561
When Transvestites Attack; Memphis McDonald's Undergoes Gender-fication

NOVEMBER 26, 2007 - 11:14 AM

Things got a little out of order after three hungry transvestites found their service at a Memphis McDonald's drive-thru unsatisfactory.
The three, er, men, tried to get the manager's attention by tapping on the drive-thru window, and when they were ignored, decided to grab a tire iron and go inside and throw a supersize tantrum.

That's when things got ugly.

As any good cross-dressers would, the three began to kick off stiletto boots (to better keep their balance while swinging), remove hoop earrings (no danger of having them yanked out), and take off their jackets (less restriction of movement) in order to deliver a McWhoopin' on the staff.

The manager retaliated with a pot of scalding French-fry grease. When all was said and done, one worker was sent to the hospital by ambulance, windows were smashed, and the three trannies escaped before the police arrived.

Police are still looking for the fightin' tranny trio, and we wish them good luck. Our bet is Anna Rexia looks more like Andy Rex today. And we'll resist making a joke about trans-fats.

Read more about the shenanigans at WMC.com.

Thanksgiving Break Update

I haven't posted in a while because work has been all-encompassing lately. Now that things are getting back to normal at work, I find myself a bit uncertain of how to spend my regained free time. Not so much uncertain really as uninspired. I am a little ashamed to admit that I feel like doing absolutely nothing. I've had a few days off for the holidays, and instead of really doing very much of anything interesting, I've been doing nothing.

I don't really feel motivated to go out, I don't really feel like writing, don't feel like going to the movies, don't feel like reading, like emailing, corresponding, taking a shower, having company, visiting folks, going back to work tomorrow, raking leaves... nothing really. Maybe taking a nap. I don't feel bad at all; I don't have the blues. I guess I just need some downtime.

Anyway, just because I don't feel like doing much of anything doesn't mean I haven't done anything.

Thanksgiving
A nice thing about Thanksgiving this year is that my yankee husband Bill decided to make cornbread dressing, which I love (and so does he). I have to admit that I've missed cornbread dressing at Thanksgiving. It was always such an integral part of the meal growing up. Bill's dressing was perfect, of course. We had a great time making it. It was a hit at Thanksgiving dinner. We spent the day with his family, as we always do. We had a lot of fun.

Afterwards, we went to visit our friends Cheryl & Powell, and their extra cute two year old, Zoe. They had relatives over and our mutual friend, Kim, was there, as well. We had a great time visiting everyone and playing with Zoe, who we adore.

Black Friday
Poor Bill had to work a bit. While he was at work, I kept myself busy photographing leftover items from our recent garage sale - we hope to sell some of the items on craigslist or e-bay.

I felt strongly about not going shopping on the busiest shopping day of the year, but, after Bill came home around lunchtime, we did go out to look at some new logs for our gas fireplace. We didn't buy any, just looking. Then we went to buy a DVD Bill wants desperately (Night of the Living Dead 3-D), but we didn't find it on Friday. Instead, I broke down and bought a Jessie Sykes CD, which I'm listening to right now. I couldn't help myself, I suppose. I don't regret it!

Saturday
Tree trimming was my only goal for Saturday. We shopped for the tree, bought a few ornaments, and after the tree was delivered, we decorated it. Our tree came from Sam Stringer on Poplar. Antoinette was very helpful. The price was competitive with other places we'd checked, and they offered free delivery and set up. Bill and I decorated the tree on Saturday. We're really pleased with it. I was a bit worried the cats would destroy the tree, but they seem to only be interested in sleeping beneath it (so far).

It turned out very nicely. It's all blue and silver. We're happy with it.

We watched Night of Living Dead 3-D, which Bill discovered while we were shopping for tree trimmings. Umm. OK. It was kind of terrible, I guess. I'd like to say that it had its moments, but I'm really at a loss. It could have been worse.

We met our friends Carla and Charlie for dinner at Bangkok Alley in Cordova. We've eaten at the Bangkok Alley in Collierville and enjoyed it, so we expected the Cordova location to be good. At first, we were a bit disappointed because, unlike the Collierville location, there was no sushi bar and the restaurant was considerably smaller. Oh, but the food was so fucking good. I had Mixed Vegetables with Tofu. The menu described the dish as having a flavorful brown sauce - talk about an understatement! I haven't had such a yummy dish in a while. Really remarkable!

Afterwards, we went to Carla and Charlie's new house in Cordova to visit two very cute kittens they had adopted earlier that day. The kittens were extra cute. We had a great time playing with them. Everyone was kind of tired, so we made an early night of it and went home.

We watched The Reaping, which actually does have its moments. I can't say that it couldn't have been better, because it really could have been much better. That said, I enjoyed it. It was pretty creepy, and Hilary Swank did a great job, of course. Unfortunately, there were some pretty cheesy moments that took a lot away from the movie.

Today...
Well, as I said before, lately I haven't felt very motivated to do much. Today is no exception. I've done literally nothing today, with the exception of uploading snapshots of the cats and the Christmas tree to the Internet. There are a few movies showing at the Studio on the Square that I would like to see (No Country for Old Men & I'm Not There), so I could do that. There's tons of chores that need to be done, I could do that, too. I know it's probably for the best that I do something, so maybe I will. I know the best thing to do when I'm feeling this way, is to do the things I would do if I didn't feel like this, so maybe I'll see one of those movies.

And, of course, I finally have posted something on my poor ol' neglected blog now.

Boo!

Boo!

The Halloween Party went well, and it was really fun.
Not much time to post since work is so busy, but here's a link to some photos from the party. I'll add links to a few other folk's pics from the party, too.

Darjeeling Limited Now Showing... & Misc. BS

Hmmm... Good news! I didn't miss Darjeeling Ltd; it just wasn't playing in Memphis yet. So I'll be able to try and see it this weekend, although I am hosting a party and also want to try to attend the River Arts Fest back at my old stomping grounds (So Main).

Work is very intense and busy right now. If there's anything worse than doing mindless tasks for a living, it's being extremely busy with mindless tasks for a living. But, then again, I know for a fact that it's far worse to be toiling physically at mindless tasks for even less money, so maybe I shouldn't complain. Maybe, as they say, that's why they call it work!

I got even more stuff yesterday. Pretty lipsticks from my mother; I'm a sucker for lipstick... Some headphones that were on my amazon.com wishlist, but unfortunately they are way too big. I'm giving them to Bill. Now I still need headphones for work since mine are falling apart.

I'm pretty confident that I'm prepared for the Halloween party on Saturday. I hope the rain stops before tomorrow, so that we can enjoy the new chiminea at the party. I plan to take lots of photos and enjoy myself.