I like that I'll remember....

...that while the rest of the world was watching one more horrific, barbaric event in a situation that's been stupidly and sloppily handled, I was laying underneath my sister's Christmas tree with this guy, looking at ornaments and twinkling lights. He doesn't know how much his innocence comforted me.

There still is some goodness in this world.

I don't know what else to say, so I'll end this entry by using quotes from two men who did.

"The problem of power is how to achieve its responsible use rather than its irresponsible and indulgent use - of how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public." - Robert F. Kennedy

"I have always found that mercy bears far richer fruits than strict justice." - Abraham Lincoln

Karma.

In gleeful defiance of the hospital's rules of "staying on the pedestrian walkways," I decided today to walk across the lawn, since I have to walk to and from the hospital everyday to get our office's mail, which I feel is a big pain in the ass.

I promptly stepped into a big old pile of dog shit.

Somewhere, a Buildings and Grounds Employee was pumping his fist in triumph.

But seriously folks, not picking up after your dog when he craps on a Catholic hospital's lawn? I'll say the rosary for you tonight....you need it.

Nothing makes me feel more disorganized.....

...then losing something. I can’t find my work keys. This is driving me absolutely bat-shit insane. But on the plus side, I have cleaned my desk at work and my desk at home looking for them. I have a sneaky suspicion I might have given them to an attorney that came to audit our files last week. I was too busy being in pre-Christmas Excitement Mode that I didn’t even notice what I was doing at work. I hate it when I get giddy and irresponsible.

In other news, all I did last night was play “Cooking Mama” on my DS.



All you do is make adorable little Japanese recipes! You sauté, you chop, you fold up spring rolls. Then you get graded on how well you do. It all happens so fast, which is what I like, too. I’m not one for epic video games, I’m more of the Short Attention Span School of Gaming. Which is probably why “Cooking Mama” is the greatest thing to come to my handheld gaming device since Super Puzzle Fighter and WarioWare for the Gameboy Advance.

Some other things:

1) I walked to work yesterday so I could use my new iPod Shuffle. Felt like even more of a goober for driving to work most days, since it probably only took me about 15 minutes to get from my front door to my office building. But that's besides the point. I’m enjoying this Shuffle immensely. Word to the wise, though: Joanna Newsom's repertoire is not exactly “brisk walking music.” I should have known, with the harp and all.

2) I have been totally struggling with trying to come up with a cable pattern for the scarf that I need to make for myself to replace this one. I think I might have decided on this pattern, but I’m not sure. I am totally indecisive about such things.

And finally:

3) I was reflecting a bit yesterday.....remember when Weezer was cool? When Rivers & Co. really spoke to you? Remember how great “Pinkerton” was? Now I just think that Rivers is a little whiny bitch that should really get over his high school trauma. Isn’t he like 50 years old or something? For Chrissakes, move on!

The entry in which we re-cap the holidays, and bow down to the awesomeness of current technology.

I hope everyone had a joyful and merry holiday.

I haven’t been able to write much, mostly because I decided to make my pre-holiday preparation that much more difficult by making most of my gifts. I always make my own Christmas cards, but this year I decided to use the skills I learned in the beading class I took this fall and also make necklaces and bracelets for the women I know. Just call me a glutton for punishment.

Production on the cards was delayed a week due to a vicious stomach flu my nephew gave my whole family, that was far worse than any I’ve ever had in my entire life. My sister, her husband and my father all had it at the same time as me. The only two spared were my mother and Steve; my mother because she’s been a preschool teacher since 1984, and has built up a tolerance for freakish flu strains, and Steve because he enjoys my nephew, but doesn’t necessarily ever touch him. Since my mother was busy nursing her husband and grandson, Steve’s mom had to come to my apartment and save me, with a combination of homemade chicken soup and sage words.

Anyhow, we all recovered well before the holidays, which ended up being quite restful. Steve’s family had their party on Christmas Eve, and mine had theirs on Christmas Day, so there wasn’t any running around between the two homes and having to cut any party time short. I got very nice gifts, too, but not too many, which was nice because lately I’ve been trying to de-clutter my life by trying to have less stuff. It seemed like even less because my parents and sister started my Christmas village for me this year, but unfortunately I don’t have any place to put them, so they are headed up to my parents’ attic until I live in a place that would have enough room for me to put them out. It was sort of sad, really, to just take the houses out of their packages and then put them right away again, so I took a photo with one of them just for kicks. Please ignore my super-hot pajamas and bedhead.



The best gift I received, though, was probably my iPod Shuffle. I already have an iPod Mini.

This photo makes me sad, since it makes the Mini look ginormous and totally archaic. I still use the Mini when I’m in the car, though, and there’s really nothing wrong with it that would warrant upgrading to a Nano. I just wanted something that’s small and compact to (hopefully) kick-start me into walking more, and (maybe) working out.

But the best part of the Shuffle is just how damn cute it is. It’s so small! And even though it’s small, it’s still so stylish! I feel like I’m holding the future of technology, and folks, it is beautiful.

Some other things:

1) I honestly wouldn't have even known that Gerald Ford was alive, if I hadn't seen that he died.

2) Since I gave Steve a DS Lite for Christmas, I inherited his older DS, and so far, Cooking Mama has totally enraptured me. So cute! So Japanese! So engaging! Ingenious!

3) Having Christmas Day on a Monday is awesome. Four-day work week (or five, if you're me and took yesterday off to recouperate), and then ANOTHER four-day work week next week! Spectacular!

4) I turn 26 next Tuesday. Where did 25 go? And where are these alleged "carefree twenties" that everyone talks about? I feel jipped.