On Christmas

All in all, this holiday season has treated me well. This year, I had several more stops and celebrations to make which means I'm doing something right. More celebrations mean more time with loved ones.

On Sunday the 21st, I had lunch with simonjapan at Kabuto and was so fat and sassy. Mistakenly I attempted the mall and was immediately regretful. Later, I went to Don and Leslie's house in Southport to just hang out and play games and the like. Normally, Sunday evenings are our time to play Jared's campaign. However, this weekend was just a relaxing hang out. We played some Fluxx and I got my ass thoroughly handed to me in Gobblet. Don and Leslie got me a package of my own D10s and a standard adventurers set of dice so I wouldn't have to borrow other people's anymore. I especially like the colors they chose.

On Monday the 22nd, I lost my job. It wasn't a particularly pleasant situation but the day got infinitely better. Monday night, I was getting together with the Core 4 (Shayne, Christi, Jenn, Aaron) to have our little Christmas. A lot of this evenings stuff had been set in motion a long time ago. I gave Aaron my copy of Fable 2 well before Christmas cause he was about to buy it. I asked Christina what she wanted and she told me to get her a flying monkey. So by god I got her a flying SCREAMING monkey....WITH A CAPE. Shayne's present took on many forms and possible ideas before I settled. Ultimately, I settled on the idea of giving Shayne my wired guitar. He and Christi had just gotten their own 360 and they had Rock Band just sitting in the apartment with no instruments. So I folded up the wired Explorer in a hoodie and let him open it. As for Jenn, I'd heard stories about how her apartment is freezing and she is usually cold. Doing the best I could with what I had, I gave Jenn a bright red soft foofy scarf. Everyone seemed happy with their presents and that damn monkey went flying around hitting damn near everyone.
As for my end of the bargain: Jenn got me a 1600 MS Point card with the condition that I download Skullcrusher Mountain for Rock Band. Done. Shayne and Christi got me a supplemental book of adventures for the Serenity role playing game which I will utterly devour. And Aaron got me the Serenity: Those Left Behind comic book which bridges the gap between the series and the movie. I was just so pleased all around. We ended the night with a pretty vicious game of Zombies!!! Shayne and Christi noticed I was bummed about my job and situation in general and they sprung into action with finding phone numbers for me to call and looking up positions I should apply for. I was a little overwhelmed at how quickly they found everything and how much they did for me on a whim. I left the apartment feeling amazing.

I spent Tuesday the 23rd jobhunting and calling places. I need to follow up more with Hi99. I put in online applications to La Petite Academy and Goddard. Plus I found phone numbers for 7 southside Kindercare locations that Shayne could put in a good word for me. Realistically, if I could get a full 40hour work week and get the $10/hr I was making at Valle Vista again, I'd be set. Hell if Valle Vista hadnt' become such a soul draining cesspool of pisspoor management, I'd probably still be there happily. Also, Tuesday is another standard day to role play for me. We had plans and a location and everything all set till Mother Nature decided to be a bitch. Tuesday afternoon was frought with freezing rain and pretty much a non stop deluge till late Tuesaday night. We had to cancel our WoD game for the week but I am seriously getting twitchy. Its been too long and this story is too good to let go. I'm gonna need a fix and soon.

Wednesday the 24th: Christmas Eve was spent cleaning the house in preparation for Rachel and Eric to come down and spend the night. Rachel and Eric got here so they could drop off the dogs for Mom and Jeff to watch and so that the three of us could carpool to Dad's house.

A bit of big news: Eric proposed to Rachel. She said yes. There will be much merriment at some point but their moods were pretty foul today and things were stressfull and tense as we rushed around for the holiday.

We went over to Dad's house and had a nice little dinner. Rachel announced the engagement and everyone shrieked with happiness and delight. I also tried unsuccessfully to remove a clusterfuck of viruses off Dad's computer. He ended up formatting and reinstalling XP. I did make it out of there with a $10 gas card to Speedway though.

Today is Christmas. Today has been pretty awesome all in all. I was the first one up and active. Eric was asleep in one of the recliners because his back was bothering him. But since he was fair game in the front room, Angie was bothering him. He said she sneezed on him. I got up and turned the tree on and started prepping the oven. Our traditional Christmas breakfast is big ol' cinnamon rolls and I was fixing to make them. Eric stirred and Rachel wandered out. As the rolls were baking we got into our stockings. My own bottle of Ibuprofin. Nice!
Mom and Jeff eventually got up (thanks to Rachel knocking and waking them up) and we all sat down to a nice breakfast. Everyone moved to the living room and we sort of made a circle while Rachel passed out the presents.
My haul:
Steampunk Tshirt -For the inner aether machine
Crest of Hyrule Tshirt -I support the Kingdom of Hyrule
Shakespearian RegEx Tshirt -this one is exceptionally nerdy
Blue Sun Corporation TShirt -though they sent the wrong size. Wonder if we can exchange it
External USB SATA Drive Dock -My computer can finally talk to SATA devices!
Nerf Elimination Office Warfare Set -complete with suggested rules of warfare and gameplay
Lil Guppie Multi-tool -SUPER handy tool that is tiny enough to fit in my pocket
This Is Not A Book -Philosophical self mind games and exercises.
Giant super soft brown fleece zip up jacket that makes me look like a grizzly bear -This thing is so damn warm its amazing
Reversible IU beanie -My old one was looking rather ragged
The DC Comics Encyclopedia -HOLY CRAP
The Marvel Comics Encyclopedia -NO SERIOUSLY HOLY CRAP
$50 Wal-Mart giftcard -Hellooo groceries in London ;)

So, I had a theme of Serenity permeating the whole of it, which I am all about. Mom pretty much mined my Thinkgeek wishlist and all is well. Rachel came out of nowhere with the two comic encyclopedias. I know next to nothing about DC but I am learning.

I don't know how to thank everyone enough. Truly. I'm so glad I got to spend this dulcet time of year with everyone I care about.
Now how's about we ring in the New Year with AWESOME, eh?