boo on you Ooohreegaaahn

Okay. Seriously. What the hell, Oregon? $39 for a new ID? A million forms of proof that it is me? In Washington you just show up with your old ID and you can get a new one. No second form of proof, no verification of where you live, nothing. They trust people.

With a flask of Billy Tea shared betwixt us, Karen, Adam, and I went up to Vancouver, Washington to procure new IDs. We decided not to deal with the most irksome Oregon DMV and just renew our Washington ones. Also, it seems a better idea to just keep my parents address because it would be costly to change my address every time I move in Portland. If I move like, 4 times in the next five years then that is $25 a pop for new ones. Washington is just $10. Because I renewed it before I turn 21, the orientation is that of a minor but it doesn't expire till 2014. Whoo! I'm a big girl. They let me take my picture again because the lady thought I didn't smile. We waited about 20 minutes and we all were called in succession. We all got through it right quick. Like, under five minutes we were all done after our numbers were called. A little trust goes a long way when it comes to efficiency.

BILLY TEA! SO AWESOME!

After the quick IDs we all we to a Mongolian Grill, all you can eat. I only had one plate of meat and noodles and some vegetables but I had all I could eat of ice cream with caramel and chocolate dribbled all over it. Mmm. I like soft ice cream.

Matt came over for some movies. We watch Repo: The Genetic Opera. A musical about this guy that steals organs from people that can't pay for them. It came from a stage production. It was very silly but highly enjoyable. Good, gruesome effects. Of course it was watched on the projector. To round off the gore we watched Fargo. I was expecting a lot more from it. It seemed very simple and straight forward. People make mistakes. It doesn't work out. Did I miss something? Mom HATES this movie but loves Hot Fuzz? Hot Fuzz has more violence than Fargo. Ehh? Yeah. After the double feature I kicked Matt out. Well not kicked.

I had a tuna fish sandwich. Mmm.

Got a letter informing me that I am on the Dean's List.

trill vs the man

So today's big quest was to renew my driver's license so I could get a pretty one all fresh for my 21st year. Hurray! DMV wasn't a long wait. I had my passport, my old ID, and three proofs of where I live now to show them. Turns out I needed a sixth thing: proof that the social security number that I wrote down was in fact the same one I used for my passport and all that. The number was on my grades but he said he couldn't use that because how do they know that that might not be my school ID. I whipped out my school ID which has my school ID number which is clearly different. Still not good enough. I might have become irked and asked to see a higher up if the guy helping me wasn't so nice about it. I took the driver's test in the instance that later, if I found something with my SSN, I could come in and get my ID. I failed the test. It would be easy question, easy question, and then something about how you are actually supposed to slow down if someone is tailgating you. What? I always go the speed limit because slowing down just pisses tailgaters off. I slow down when they are passing to make it easier and safer. So even if I had the stuff, I would have waited a day. But still a day is fine. Now there is a big runaround. I asked mom to send me my SSN. Karen and I are going to Washington to see about doing it there because it is cheaper and requires less proof of identity. Be good to have my SSN anyway because I've run into this sort of problem before.

It is all screwy. Boo DMV, booo!!

Hung out with the girls tonight. Just sort of read and they worked on things and discussed RA stuff. Well they discussed RA stuff. I drifted off into space. Robin sewed some lovely buttons onto a shirt for me. They look awesome. Whee!

Started watching Peep Show. It is a two person point of view camera BBC comedy. A little silly and uncomfortable at times but it does have nice build up.

Tomorrow: road trip to Vancouver! And Saturday night Llyw is coming into town for a little visit. Yay! Oh did I mention I'm working on thank you cards? Because I've been working on thank you cards.

the teabag pod

Bad news! Daniel called me to inform me that the Graphic Novel course I was taking only had four people in it. It might become an independent study that focuses on one huge project due at the end. We would meet every couple weeks or so. Not be a steady class. Really sucks, it was the class I was looking forward to the most. But hey, might be good to learn now how to dedicate myself to a project that doesn't have a weekly class structure. Very important when it comes to comics. Booo!!

I caught up on my back issues of The Boys. Then I went to Powell's and treated myself to P. Craig Russell's edition of Coraline. As well as a couple really great deals in terms of anthologies. Less crowded than my last visit to Powell's. I had a lovely chat about comics with the guy who rung me up. He had no idea of the comic version of Coraline. It looks really nice.

It was very chilly but I didn't bring a coat. A little bit of chill goes away fast when you are scooting uphill on a heavy bike.

Robin stopped by for a quick Hi and I lured her into a viewing of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I made a big bowl of popcorn and some tea and we enjoyed it on the projector. Having a projector says a lot about your status. Means you have enough money to own one and some place to project on. Robin was adorable during the suspenseful end of the movie. It does keep you on your toes.

After the movie we went for a lovely walk around the neighborhood. Peeking at peoples places and finding spooky spots. The usual. Some wonderful houses and some magnificent stairs. Lots an lots of stairs. Robin led and I followed. Near the end my thighs were hurting from so much exercise. A very foreign concept. After the walk we sat about looking at YouTube videos while waiting for Diana to return. She did. We all hugged and talked. I called it good night.

Whew! long day where I did stuff. Now that people are back we can start doing game nights again.

short post, but there are not many of these left

Had a very restless night sleep.

A knock on my door got me out of bed at around 10. A nice lady in a wheelchair needed some help with the washing machine. I kindly obliged. I lay in bed for several hours with the alarm going off every half an hour or so. Need to slowly bring myself to the 6:30am alarm. Luna cuddled. One alarm I rolled over and she flopped off of me. Oops!

Watched Joe Dirt on the projector while working on thank you cards.

Watched The Fall on the projector while enjoying dinner.

Love the projector.

Got the electric bill. Slowly going to try and bring it down after the very high Winter months.

here I go, mumbling

Did me some laundry today. Three heaping loads. Well more like one normal sized load of pants and towels and one huge load split into two smaller loads of shirts and delicates. None of them dried proper so I draped the pants and towels and, since I combined the delicates all together in one of the large dryers, I just ran them through again. Try to be cheap and combine a dryer cycle and you end up having to do it twice anyhow. Oh well.

Watched Rock n Rolla while folding. Watched a bit of A Scanner Darkly on the pretty projector. Watching Forrest Gump. Haven't seen it all the way through in a long while.

My legs hurt. Probably from the random biking from yesterday or maybe not enough vitamins. Hmmn.

Katie's parents stopped by for a little bit. Said some hellos. Easy little day. I'm having a birthday party at my place on the 23rd. Probably going to go out with the 21+ friends on Saturday. It's my Golden Birthday. 21 on the 21st. Whooo! Now I can actually go to stuff in Portland.

Total Thus Far: 13 As, 2 Bs.

Keep forgetting to mention it but I got my grades. Straight As across the board. My GPA is 3.836 now. Booyah!

Had some spicy chicken nuggets for dinner. Gabe made them. I had three cups of milk, one for every nugget I was able to consume.

The projector got hooked up in our living room. Now we have a sweet picture and can play games and all sorts of awesome stuff. Whoo!! Can't wait to figure out how to hook my computer up to it to watch movies. Our apartment has a pretty sweet setup now.

I've been watching Generation Kill, a seven part miniseries by the same guy who did The Wire. About the Marines going into Iraq. It is interesting. It is rather sad in fact. Like how underarmed and under protected they are. Not enough batteries for night vision, etc. We are pouring so much money into this and... yeah. Sure it is sort of fictionalized but even so.

Chilled with Karen. Helped her cut out and paste her pirate ships. Helped her put the pirate ships on the doors to indicate her pirate ship dorm pod. We gossiped and we chatted and I ate some of the rice she made. She was nice enough to let me.

Went to Trader Joes. Got some caramel chocolate tartlets. Very tasty. Got some money so I can do major laundry tomorrow. Maaajor laundry.

I don't think I'm working again till school starts. There is a possible visitor on the weekend.

With the projector rigged up we watched Pineapple Express. Still as silly and buddy buddy. Sokay I guess, yeah.

Laundry! Art! Tomorrow!

a day off from blogging is not a day spent idle

Yesterday:

I had another date. Whoo! I am also getting slowly addicted to Super Mario 64. I have 10 stars now. Only 110 to go. Haha. So yeah, I slept in and played the game. Ate delicious leftovers. I think I did more but I slept in and Jason showed up at 6:30 on the dot. He was dressed in a sleek, well tailored suit and I was in a sort of casual fancy dress with nice shoes. Jason said he just felt like dressing up and the place wasn't extremely fancy. Next time I'll wear a dress and tights and he will surely be in jeans. Dagit!!

We went to the restaurant that is attached to the Hilton. An Italian sort of place with food with many ingredients. I had the linguine with shrimp. He had this Gnocchi special made to be vegetarian (did I mention he was a vegetarian? not a strict one though). The place was not busy save for a large party. It was a lovely little dinner. Turns out that Jason new the Sous Chef there, hence the choice of restaurant. Ray (the chef) came out and we chatted a little bit. Color me very impressed.

After a lovely dinner we took the Max to his work where he had his car parked. It was iced over but not to Seabeck standards of ice. The apartment was as clean as ever. We played Mario Kart Double Dash and some of the Sega Saturn Sonic Games (the very same ones from my youth). I ended up crashing at his place instead of demanding to be taken home.

Jason hasn't seen Jurassic Park all the way through.

Today:

Very lazy and late morning. An oatmeal breakfast was followed by ravioli lunch and more Mario Kart. It was nice. Jason's nice. Oh, we also looked at his old yearbooks. Simply adorable but no double page spread about tattoos and piercings like in my yearbook. Go me!

After he drove me home I finished off some leftovers (Gabe's Pad Thai portion he left for me) and played more Super Mario. Also watched Heathers. Funny movie in a way that no movie can ever be now because of political correctness. One week and I don't have a work schedule so I may not be working at all. Up to 10 stars in Super Mario. Kitty sat in my lap.

princess peach, I will save you!

Another day another little adventure.

Katie and I went to Ikea! She had never been before, so exciting. She ordered meatballs but I was full from breakfast so I just had some chocolate cake. It was nicely not busy. I'd hate for my first Ikea trip to be during one of the insane sale times. Most of the show rooms were unchanged and we got through them fairly quick. I just picked up some more magazine holders and a thermos (oh and some cookies and chocolate). I love Ikea, I love seeing all the styles and colors and patterns. Just lovely. The Sims has an expansion pack of all the Ikea wares. After the couple hours spent wandering we each had one of the giant 1$ frozen yogurts. Lovely!

We quickly swung by Goodwill and Katie dropped off some stuff from an old installation and back home we went! I played a little Super Mario and got two stars. Woohoo!

Michael and I met up to go see The Spirit. It was ridiculous. Not really good or horrid just silly and ridiculous. Really really silly. Blimey... Still, it was nice seeing Michael. Been a long time.

Now I am itching to play more Super Mario...dangit!

d: it is written

Slumdog Millionaire is a fantastic movie. Everyone should see it. Amazing. Perfect. And it has Bollywood dancing! I went to see it with good ol' Jim. We are both big Danny Boyle fans, seemed only right. Slumdog Millionaire is lovely film about the rise from poverty and the pursuit of love.

After the movie we went to Chipotle because I was starving. I stuffed my face into a burrito and we caught up a little. It was cold and windy and sucky as I waited for the max to come (which was 5 minutes late boo).

Uhh I think there is more to be said about that but I'm not feeling wordy.

Played a lot of Mario Kart and some Super Mario on the N64.

Returned some books to the library and picked out some linguistic books and art books. I just can't break my library habit.

player

Kitty loves sleeping in my bed. Prefers it to the couch and Katie's bed. Ha HA!

The Internet went down so I sat on the couch with Luna and read half of Blankets in one sitting. It is a good story and it is probably aided by the fact that it reads really fast. Once I know the story I can go through it and marvel at the art. Some of the style reminds me a lot of David B's Epileptic.

I don't think I accomplished much today beyond dozing and reading.

Gabe made some awesome soup and noodles for dinner. Very flavorful and a tad spicy but I still gorged. I shared my Billy Tea with them. They loved it. Everyone loves the Billy. Katie moved her TV and a couple game systems into the living room and they played Super Mario and later we played Mario Kart. If his name is Mario then why are they the Mario Brothers? Mario Mario and Luigi Mario? Karen came by and we tried to figure out how to play Banjo Tooie. I won by a narrow margin.

I have free reign of the consoles and her extensive DVD collection. Hurray!

new cat in my life

I finished jPod. Yeah it wasn't that good. Had some silly parts but it was all over the place and none of the characters got really developed and they all talked the same. I don't think I will be buying another Coupland novel. Also the ending was horrible, it was like he couldn't be bothered to think of something better. I guess the weak ending plays to the whole idea behind how he came up with the plot (spoiler: in the book the main character meets Coupland and sells him his identity so Coupland can quickly write the book to make money). I'm going back to Raw Shark Texts. A very heavy and thinky persons book. It brings up such thoughts as, "Unspace draws on the mental power of the sublime." Yeah.

I cleaned at work and then helped put away the new "flow". I put up sweaters and folded shirts and tucked tags and folded more shirts and put up pants and tidied up and helped customers in a daze because I had completely forgotten how to because it has been so long and then I took down and folded the pants I had previously hung up. And so on.

My seasonal employment is out of season as of the 17th of this month. I'm leaving on a good note and I think it is for the better. See how my work load is before I look for new employment.

Watched a lot of QI.

The couple who lives above me had a scary loud thumping fight. After they settled down, Karen and I knocked on their door to see what was up. The guy was really shouting at his girlfriend. I could hear the awful things he said through the ceiling. I think I should have called the cops but the girl who opened the door said it was fine. Cops don't report "fine" you know?

Karen was getting rid of piles of old clothes so I went through them and scored some sweet second hand things. Lots of Gap undershirts, a few dresses, and a few fancier things. She and I hung out for most of the night.

Katie moved in! It is a really small world, two of her helpers were the very same boys that I met at Pre-Thanksgiving. Adam and one of the twins. Small, tiny, ridiculous world! Her boxes moved in right quick. She left and came back with just Gabe as well as her cat and some delicious chicken. I scarfed said poultry. The cat, Luna, investigated its new abode. Seems very soft and friendly. Right now she is napping on my bed. Thus far, me and the roomie seem to be in good spirits with one another. Her friends are the friends of my friends so that is a good sign, right? Yeah.

Now to rest and read.

dream and waking

In my dream it was the painting class final. We were in some basement looking room. Very large and industrial with cement poured walls. At first there were many little tables but through my dream they shifted into a large U-shaped table. My classmates were there plus a few extra people like Marilyn Beck and Michael. Michael put out his piece. It was bound already in a book so we had to pass it around. His was a comic about this intense dragon sea monster fight. The book had the old guy with a guitar on the cover and it was full of short stories and little independent tidbits. My final was set out but I forget what it was. I was the last to leave class. The class was held in the basement of this apartment complex which mirrored the building across the narrow street from it. A man was ushering his wife into one of the apartment buildings and he closed the door and walked away. As I looked around I realized that all of the apartments were full of these wives whose husbands didn’t stick around. One such wife exited her apartment and sat at the outdoor table I was sitting at. She had long dirty blonde hair and an oval face. She was wearing this unflattering dress and looked very sad. She started drawing on the paper I had out. She talked of all the things she wasn’t allowed to do. I asked which church she was in and she said their location was in the Lloyd Center Mall. I cut out a piece of card and started to write her a note telling her that she was definitely special but I kept crossing things out because I spelled them wrong. She smiled and patted my shoulder and went to her apartment. And then I woke up. Her name was Olga, or something similar to that.

Today was mostly occupied with another long date with Jason. He came and picked me up at around 1:40. Right on time. We stopped by Blockbuster and picked up Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and this Korean movie called Time. Turned out he had seen the first but had mostly forgotten it, still very good movie. Time was weird and mostly about really crazy people doing things because they think they are in love. I liked the last 20 minutes which were very intense but a lot of time was spent wandering and being insane. Mmm.

Jason made pizza for dinner. He had premade crust but he topped the toppings himself. The balance in number of topics went very clearly to his side of the pizza. The cheese and spinach Trillian half was very tasty. He made pasta for dinner and the sauce was spruced up with nummy cheese. His place his very tidy and white. Really needs the art that he has hung up on the walls.

It snowed a little bit more but that became slush as the night wore on. A lot of rain water had collected on the roads but it was still drivable. Boy, I don't want to get up for work. Sure I don't need to be up till 7 but still, a bit of a bummer.

only keira can have the last sigh

Hmm. What did I do today? Well I slept in, as usual. I turned Cece's keys. I picked up the three lovely packages of Christmas presents that mom was kind enough to post to me. Everything was put away promptly as I am trying to sort out the mess around me. Lots of little, unorganized things.

I was going to see Slumdog Millionaire with Jim but that was delayed till later in the week.

Karen came over and we watched The Duchess, a biopic about the Duchess of Devonshire starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, and Dominic Cooper. The fashion was beautiful but the affair lasted too briefly on screen to be really powerful. What a tragic life she had. It was okay, very much a girly movie.

Oh, I made my notorious popcorn. It didn't pop as well this time, had the heat too high.

I put notes on my calendar when to check/inflate my tires (every other week). I spent my own money, have to take care of my babies.

My shift at work tomorrow morning was cancelled. What a bummer. Well, sorta bummer. I don't have to get up early.

I really, really want to see Waltz With Bashir. And The Wrestler. These movies cannot come to Portland soon enough!

baby got a new set of tires

After a long morning of waking up and sleeping for an hour and waking up and sleeping for another hour and waking up and sleeping for another hour, I managed to get out of the house in time to get the tubes and tires for my bike. I wheeled my poor, deflated baby down 10th towards the Bike Gallery. The nice man who helped me when I came in during the snow was there and got me set up with the tubes and tires. I have some awesome Kevlar reinforced tires with a decent amount of tread but not really intense, mountain bike tread. With the tubes, tires, and the labor fee it came in at around $96, which was $54 dollars under my budget! The guy who helped me was really nice about finding something for my budget and not trying to persuade me to go higher. The other nice guy who put them on advised that I will be needing new brake pads soon. All in all, a pretty nice trip to the shop. They offer free repair training classes so I think I'll take them up on it.

After I got my bike in wheeling state, I rode it around downtown. Took it to Powell's and treated myself to a couple bargain books (two John Hodgman books and a facsimile of the original published Sherlock Holmes stories priced at an amazing $10). It was crowded but there were plenty of cashiers so the line moved. Outside I gave a buck to the nice Street Roots man. As I left it started hailing but it didn't bother me much because I had my bike back! Whee!

Bought some much needed toilet paper. I got back to the Goose right as the office closed. I have three packages that I will pick up tomorrow.

Katie and her friend Gabe stopped by the drop off some preliminary moving in boxes. She seemed pretty thrilled about the apartment.

Kristen and Kris were throwing a little fondue shindig tonight so I set out on Big Red once again. The only other person who attended was her friend Alex but we still had a jolly time dipping and joking. I favored the bananas while Kris dared some cheesepuffs and carrots. Kristen gave me a shirt she no longer wanted and we played games online. It was cozy. Oh and they have an apartment right near the door so I tapped on their window to announce my arrival, instead of calling or buzzing. Heh.

Now to eat a regular, non chocolate banana and read and sleep.

rest and rest

Had a lovely rest today. I may have turned to the way of the nap but not the way of the coffee.

My roommate is moving in the 5th. She has a projector and several game consoles. She also seems quite awesome in general. I tidied up a little bit in preparation. Katie, the roomie, is stopping by tomorrow to drop off a few preliminary boxes.

Just ate food and rested today. Time passed by pretty quick. Talked to Robin and Karen.

It is a soggy day so I didn't take my bike out to get new tubes and tires. Tomorrow, I'll do it tomorrow. I hate walking to all my errands. I work Sunday and Monday and then I am free till Saturday. Two weeks left in my vacation, something tells me that they will go fast.

Happy New Years (and happy me)

Work:

Was long. Sabrina was supposed to help with markdowns but she was sick so I had to do the entirety of sale in girls and boys. I was surprised how alert I was but like always I tend to crash at the noon mark. Got the gards in the back and all that done. It was really efficient. Everyone was pleased. Faye came in and did baby and helped in the back. Steve and people like my new shoes but there might be a quibble from Paula. They need to be broken in a little, still stiff (the shoes). Nothing else new to report.

Nap:

Was good and long.

The Date:

Was wonderful! He picked me up when he said he would (well I called after my nap and told him to come pick me up and his time estimate was correct). Jason took me to Montage, which I highly suggest for Adam and Karen because it is in the same district as Adam's studio. Well in general it was delicious. It was crowded and we were on a table for six with a couple on either side of us. Had to shout a little but it was fun. The art on the walls was nice. I took a chance and ordered the slightly spicy macaroni and cheese. I won't conquer my weakness of spicy foods unless I be more adventurous with my eating. Next to us was a jovial couple and all around were many celebrations.

After dinner we went for dessert at The Pied Cow in the Belmont Street district (near where Lindsay moved). I had the chocolate cheesecake. It was much quieter but still none the less cozy and eclectic. The waitstaff was wonderful.

Still not wanting the date to end we went for a night walk to Laurelhurst Park. The fog off the pond picked up the glow of the lamps and it was overall quiet and nice. We strolled and talked about names and school and traveling (he's been to India and Germany). My feet started to hurt from the heels I was wearing so we went back to his car. It was a long walk balk but the neighborhood was full of quaint, Victorian houses.

We wanted to watch some fireworks but in returning to my place and Googling, it turns out there wasn't any on the Willamette. What the hell? So we stayed in and watched In Bruges because In Bruges is a great movie. Midnight came around and 1am came around. It was a really wonderful first date.




Oh, also, the cool thing about Montage is that when they wrap up your take away they make it look like a different animal (or object). Jason's was a Snail and mine was a Crab.

volver

Woke up bright and early. Way too early. Hot shower, mmmm. Rubie made french toast and packed me a little lunch for the train. The train was half an hour late and I was about half an hour early. The wait went fast enough anyway.

I sat next to a nice lady named Naomi. She wants to run her own salon. We chatted a little bit and then I took a nap.

I climbed into a van cab right as a large family emerged and a small cab pulled up. If they were a little earlier than they could have taken the van and I would have gone with the four door. It is a nice, chill and clear day in Portland.

The lock on my door is magically working again! Hurray! There were lots of moldy and generally spoiled items left in the fridge that needed cleaning out. The cleaners had been and so my place smells fresh. It is empty and quiet and relaxing. The mess I left was mostly just surface damage and a few trashbags later, my place is looking almost neat.

I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was long but well paced with clean effects. I think the second half was a little bit overly sad and predictable and lost the excitement the first half did. Some parts I would have liked a little more time with but overall I enjoyed it and left the theatre feeling moved.

The stroll home along the Park blocks was lovely. Called Jim and Jason to see what's up. Went to Safeway to start adding to my food collection.

I'm sleepy and have a long day ahead of me. Well a long morning.

goodbye seabeck, goodbye ice

Sat in bed for a long time this morning. Eventually I had to get up and pack things up. I received a lot of bulky items this year and had very little space to put them. I didn’t have enough arms to be able to carry everything back with me. Mom is sending two boxes worth of Trill Christmas Stuff to Portland. Hopefully I will get a few presents tucked in there as well. I thought I had everything packed and then I noticed the boxes of cookies and a whole wheely box full of extra stuff. Yeesh everyone was really generous this year. And when I get all my stuff it will be like unwrapping it al over again. I packed Super Munchkin because I know Karen is getting back soon so with almost half the crew we can break it in.

Speaking of Karen, she called me and invited me to a New Years gathering but it is at the Needle and I am going to be in Portland then. I was really bummed about it. I probably won’t go out for New Years because I’ll be up at 4am for work the same day. No fun but what choice do I have?

I watched Taken while Nathan drove to Tacoma. The ride is much shorter than I always thought it was. Taken is a movie that is 20 minutes of dialogue and the rest seems to just be Liam Neeson kicking butt. My kind of action movie. Yeah!

Rain rain rain, makes the snow snow snow go away away away.

Rubie cooked a delicious dinner of meaty meat, cheesy vegetables, and breaded chicken with cheese. Mmm! I ate until I was full and ate some more and then ate some more when she provided tasty ice cream for dessert. After the tasty feast we played Blokus. I won! Rubie came in second or Nathan did…uhh I forget. But I won! I won’t reveal my strategy for victory. After that we played Dominion, a game Natey got for Christmas. We stared at the rules for a while without them making sense but then we got to the hand example and we figured it out. After lots of fun turns Rubie won by a substantial margin with yours truly in a decent second and Nate in, well dead last place. Much fun and I would like to play it again. I love playing games and shall be asking for such items if you so desire to buy me a birthday present. Remember my birthday is the 21st of January.

Now it is time to sleep and get up bright and early so that I can catch my train down to P-town.

Fellini or Bellini?

The Contour and Prius escaped the snow! Barely! We have trouble getting up the hill on the first go but in a few more days we should be okay.

After some bacon and apple, Nate took me to my friend Peelers for a wee visit. Sucks depending on a ride from the old folks because then you depend on them and they always tuck into bed early. Only was able to stay till 8:30 and time passed by fast.

We watched Federico Fellini's Amarcord. I always forget I don't like coming of age stories because they never have a real end and are just a segment of a life. Ryu Murakami can do it right but this, well it was good I guess. The first half was really nice but then it just sort of, drifted about. Ma Peeler made spaghetti and tofu meatballs. It was good. We chatted about school and life in general. Watched crappy cable television. I shared my chocolate and cookies.

Ma and pa picked me up in the Prius. I made popcorn and we watched about the first half hour of The Fall before Mom commanded us to sleep.

everyone's a critic (except llyw)

Another round of Christmas cheer. Another round of struggling in and out of our driveway, which has to be the only driveway in the region that is still horrible. Another day of picking up Rubie.

We started off by visiting Grandma in her cozy little home. She has been moved to a home so that people can take proper care of her. It is more like a private residence and it surely isn't an old folks home where no one cares. We sat about and gave her gifts and talked. She keeps moving and moving and moving. Even if we don't have much to talk about, she is still gracious and kind.

The five of us arrived at Pulali after Jeanette & co. There was Jeanette, Liam, Caleb, and Llyw and later Dorothy and Dan came as well.

I got started with my portrait gifts with a picture of Liam. He said he looked like a girl. The eyes were a little disturbing and I fubbed the jaw but people seemed to dig it. I was only able to portrait Liam, Llyw, Celia, Ben, and Averie. I think I was having an off day or something because I was largely unsatisfied with the portraits. People dug them but I could have done better (or been better prepared with my gifts this year).

Brynne, Dan, Averie, and Ben were there. Brynne made heaps of delicious cookies. I received cookies and an awesome cookbook from Brynne, a magnificent cutting board and a cheese slicer from Averie, a sweetie sampler from Jeanette, and Super Munchkin and Meiji from Llyw.

A large group of us struggled with the Munchkin board game rules and eventually gave up when I opened Super Munchkin. We played that instead. Three fourths of the way through, the Stengels went home so Rubie took over for Caleb and Averie took Llyw's spot. We all got to level 9 and it was the Caleb/Rubie character that won outright. Super Munchkin is a fun deck but it has some of the same follies as Munchkin Fu in that it has many ways to make your character powerful and awesome but not so many monsters or ways to block an opponent from winning.

Liam loved his hat (one of the few bought gifts that I had). He ran about. A lot. But he is a wee one, they do that.

The day got dark fast and it seemed really really early when we eventually went home. The house was freezing so I quickly climbed into bed. Dad, Nate, Rubie and I bundled up and watched the first hour of Dark Knight. It was over when mom came out and yelled at us.