The Year That Was

Here we are at the end of 2005. Like any good blogger, it's time for me to do a little recap of the year that was.

2005 was the year I turned 30. I decided to embrace my age (though sometimes it still surprises me that I am not 24 anymore) and to welcome the hanges that start happening as you did get a little older and more established. Sure, I've learned that being older means you can't do some of the same things you used to -- when did hangovers start lasting TWO days??? -- but there are a lot of good things that come with a few more years under your belt.

I've learned a lot this year. While there weren't any major changes to be seen on the outside - I'm still single, I'm still at the same job - I went through a sort of process of elimination over the course of 2005. I have learned more about what I want in life, and maybe more importantly, I have learned what I DON'T want. The major decisions that I have made this year reflect that awareness of what isn't right for me. I still haven't found what I'm looking for (to quote those Irish boys) but I know better what I'm trying to find.

I have also learned about how family relationships change as you get older, and I've learned more about how I can be supportive of the ones I love when they are in need. It's disappointing to see how much pain and anger can linger in an extended family, but I believe that our immediate family is stronger and closer because of what has happened this year.

A few fun highlights of the last year:

• Wine! I had the greatest time with several good friends learning more about wine - and about self-indulgence and relaxation - this year. Bring on the semi-dry whites!
• I have found a real outlet for myself and my creativity as I've been exploring photography. It's been a great thing for me and I've enjoyed everyone's support and cheerleading.
• Where's the beef? After almost 8 years, it's back on my plate. I had my reasons for not eating meat for so long, but damn am I enjoying it now.
• This may sound a little cheesy, but I am really starting to feel like I'm coming into my own at work. I'm "blossoming" professionally. Haha. But I really have reached a place in my career that's satisfying, stimulating, challenging, and on most days is kinda fun.
• Blogging! It's my newest addiction. Thank you for being such supportive enablers. :-)
• After having spent the last few years focused on one relationship that didn't work out, I am starting to feel ready to emerge again and - fun, fun! - I am rediscovering men... funny, goofy, charming, solid, strong, sexy, supportive, confusing, attractive men! Of course, I'm still a little shy about getting out there, but the fact that I'm looking is a good sign.
• My friends continue to be the coollest people ever! I have such a great mix of people, those I have known for years and those who were new to my life in 2005, but they are all so wonderful and funny and interesting and supportive and caring that I could not imagine the world without them. Whether we see each other all the time or whether we have to stay in touch over time and distance doesn't matter, it's all worth it. Thanks so much for being you, and for helping me be me.

Well, that's about it. 2005 was a good year, and it served me well. Now I'm ready for new challenges and new adventures in 2006. Bring it on!

Dru time again!

Hello my lovelies! Drunk Stef here. :-) Yep, it's time for a little more dru-bloggin'.

On the recommendation of Scotte, Mandy and I went to check out that new place Sonoma in Capitol Hill tonight. It was so much fun! Mandy and I haven't hung out in ages... cuz she's been in Pakistan, Viet Nam, and Yemen for the last year... but it was great to catch up and have a totally carefree, fun girls' night with her.

We sat at the bar. We are SO going back to sit at the bar. A few random highlights of the evening:

1. What did we eat? What was that again? Oh yeah, it was WILD BOAR STRIP LOIN. Ahahahaha! The adolescent boys in our minds are still giggling!

2. Sitting at the bar is totally the way to go, cuz then you make friends with the folks who work there. In addition to our bartender boyfriend (who we're keeping on the DL cuz we want him to be our bartender boyfriend again), we met Adam the iPod manager guy, and the two zygotes, Young Buck and Tall Smiley Guy/Theo.

3. Flirting with the bartender is fun. It's all kind of validating and stuff, especially when you're still kind of vulnerable after being post-freakout. (See yesterday's post.)

4. Flirting can get you free stuff. We had a total of 8 glasses of wine (5 were mine) and 2 shots. But we paid for 3 glasses of wine, period. Loves it!

5. Speaking of wine, Sonoma is a wine bar. I am now in love with the wine on tap. I want it installed in my house.

6. Chick songs like "In Your Eyes" and Maroon 5 ballads are good for girls, but it's a little strange to have them loaded on a guy's iPod. But A-ha's "Take on Me" is always acceptable.

7. You can still rock out to Europe's "The Final Countdown" if you've had enough to drink.

8. Baseball is a good topic to talk to a guy about. Always have a few baseball stories and facts at the ready.

9. Cute little 22-year-old Young Buck (a fellow Upstater!) had the best line of the night. After calling his girlfriend to check in on how their dog was doing, he happily announced "All's good! No poops in the crate!"

10. Drunk texting at 11 pm on a Thursday proves who's still up on a school night. I called it - The Johnson was the one to reply! T and MH must have been already asleep. So they'll get funny texts in the morning.

All told, this was really a great night. I'm so glad Mandy and I got to spend some time together and we had so much fun just being girly girls at the bar. We are SO going back!!! After she gets back from Yemen, that is.

The Freakout

Important lessons that I learned today:

1. The holiday season is a time of heightened emotion, particularly the day that you come back home from a good long week with your family.

2. One should keep this heightened emotional state in mind and not allow oneself to have a freakout over an unexpected but still incredibly powerful voice from the past.

3. If one should have a freakout, it's good to have a support network of logical, rational friends. (Thanks, T, for talking me down and MH for your supportive emails.)

4. While one's natural instinct may be to resolve said freakout with a self-flagellating, often humiliating and subjugating outporing of one's soul via email or phone, that's usually not the best thing to do. Stop. Take a breath. Think about how you want to sound to the other person when you say whatever you say next.

5. At the same time, it's best not to OVERthink relationship issues. Go with what feels right for what you need.

6. When in the midst of a freakout, pay no attention to the music at the grocery store. You may think you've shed your last tear months before.... but, come on, how is one supposed to battle against "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in the frozen foods aisle?!?!?

7. If music tends to be your best musical outlet, then your prescription is simple: spend the remainder of the day importing power ballads and favorite tunes onto your new iPod.

Without a noise, without my pride, I reach out from the inside.

You've got too much deceit, deceit kills the light. Light needs to shine, I said shine light, shine light.

Bohbity-say, bohbity-ah.

Indiana Journal Day 6

Things are winding down here. I'm definitely ready to head back home, and the parents are definitely ready to have me be gone so they can finish up the house and move on Thursday. Good thing I'm leaving tomorrow morning!

Today was quiet, as usual, and we haven't really done much. There was more packing and moving of things, and Mom is now at the new house selling the stove and refrigerator that came with it to some woman who's outfitting her kid's first apartment. Mom and Dad bought their own brand new, top-of-the-line appliances, of course. God, I've heard so much about appliances and painters and carpet cleaners and chimney sweeps.... I am so not interested in a house anytime soon!

We did meet up with little bro for another movie excursion. We saw Steven Spielberg's Munich. It wasn't my first choice to see cuz I didn't know if I would be in such a serious mood, but I knew I wanted to catch it before awards season and the best time is when someone else pays for my ticket.... The movie is really good. It's dark and challenging, forcing you to think about some really difficult ethical issues as they have been and continue to be played out on the world stage. I was really curious as to how Spielberg would treat the conflict, if he would come out wholly on the side of the Israelis. I was impressed that he did present the conflict as 2-sided, with one character providing a very eloquent and evocative articulation of the Palestinian "side" of the age-old struggle. (Fluffy side note to the upcoming discussion of serious issues.... Eric Bana is really freakin' hot. How have I never seen him in anything else???)

As to be expected in this time and place, the movie stirred up a lot of feelings about our current international situation and the nature of terrorism itself.

The Munich tragedy occurred a few years before I was born, but I do have several memories of "terrorism" from when I was a child. I was discussing this with Mom after the movie. I think the first time I learned the word "terrorist" it was probably in relation to the IRA and something involving Northern Ireland. I certainly knew what it meant before 1984, which is when we had a girl my age from Belfast live with us for a summer, through a program run by our Catholic Church. There were a lot of first- and second-generation Irish Catholics in my area, so that must have been how we ended up involved in this program at church. The girl's name was Shauna, and she was already showing some really worrisome behavioral characteristics that had to have resulted from living in a war zone. I remember her showing me outside one day how the boys she knew practiced playing soldier, and she pretended to be running and jumping and shimmying under things as if she was being shot. It was probably around this time, too, that I started to learn about terrorism in the Middle East. There are vague memories about the Iranian hostage crisis and the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut. I remember Qaddafi as a sort of mythical big-bad figure, and I remember clearly what our community was like after all of those people from Syracuse were killed in the airplane that went down over Lockerbie, Scotland. At some point, I learned who Arafat was and that the PLO was a terrorist group fighting for a country because they didn't have one.

I have been really disturbed lately by how the language of terrorism seems to have changed. I have long since learned not to trust the phrasing of this Administration and its war, but I am upset at how the word "terrorist" no longer means what it used to. At least, that's my perception. There is no question in my mind that the Black September Palestinians who killed the Israeli athletes in Munich were terrorists, that whomever the Israeli assassins (if they existed) were who killed them were terrorists, that those airplane hijackers in the '80's were terrorists, that Mohammed Atta and his counterparts were terrorists. Absolutely.

But lately it seems that the talk - whether it starts with the Administration or the military or with the media, whomever - has changed so that the word "terrorist" is used to describe anyone who happens to be on the other side of this war. Yes, this "War on Terrorism." The way I hear it being reported, there are no victims on the other side, only "insurgents" or "terrorists." We don't hear of villagers being killed, or Iraqi citizens, it's always couched in the language of the enemy, of "bad guys." The movie used the word "guerrilla" to describe the killers on both sides, and that seems a very accurate term to describe the actual fighters in a war, whether it's declared or not. Wouldn't that be a better word to use to single out who the real fighters are? I know, I'm not on the ground so I don't know what's actually happening. But I am a part of the media-saturated audience that the Administration so wants to buy into this War. And so far, I'm not buying.

A part of me - the part that doesn't have to face the real implications of situational ethics - wishes that we could have handled things the way it was done in the movie. Would a team of assassins put together to take out the enemy leadership be a better route than committing troops to a formal action? Would it have been better to send trained killers after Taliban leadership or Saddam? Who knows. But hindsight - and my comfortable spot here in middle America - does make it seem somewhat attractive. Still, the cycle of violence and hatred would continue. I don't know how that can be stopped.

Okay, that's enough of a walk down the dark side for now. This is a good movie to see if you want to think about some of these issues and question your own definitions of ethics or morality or justice.

Now that's out of the way, it's time for some red-blooded steak here in middle America. It's been a good trip, but yep, I'm ready to head back inside the Beltway. See you all soon!

Indiana Journal Day 5

This has been one of the longest visits I've had to Indiana since the fam moved here, and I'm surprised that it's going pretty fast. No major doldrums yet. (Have you ever experienced real doldrums in a boat? I have on lakes, but never on the ocean. Wow, what a frustrating feeling.) The main part of today involved more car trips between the old and new houses, and I did help a little bit this time around. :-)

Then in late afternoon, little bro picked me up and we went to Bloomington's own Oliver Winery for a tasting. As most of you know (and some of you have joined with me), I really enjoy checking out wineries and spending relaxing afternoons tasting and talking about wine. This was my first non-Virginia winery this year, and it was fun trying a few different varietals and learning about grapes that grow well here in Indiana. I tried a chambourcin which was pretty tasty - it was a rose blend that was great chilled. But, no surprise, I really liked the semi-dry whites the best. There were three in a row in the tasting that were exactly my kinds of wine - a gawertzaminer (no idea if I'm spelling that German varietal right), a riesling, and a traminette. (I'll load up some pictures of the winery once I get them downloaded in a day or so.)

We also tried a shiraz that was pretty good. The Newlyweds (CL and not-Spanish) almost got themselves a bottle as a housewarming present; alas, Indiana wineries can only ship in-state so I couldn't even get that bottle to myself in DC let alone MD. And since my only carry-on is the laptop, well, sorry guys - no Indiana shiraz for you. It also means that I have to trust little bro to keep the traminette I bought for myself until the next time I come to visit. I did say that if he drank it, he'll owe me a new one. I'm not holding my breath....

Then we met up with the parents and went to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner. I've never actually been to an ichiban-style place where they cook it all in front of you. Little bro and the parents all got hibache dishes and it was fun to watch them be made. I'm a little sick of all the big meals we've been eating, so I went for the lighter choice and got a sushi combo. I've never had sushi quite like it, though. The sashimi came out just as big hunks of raw fish - no little rice balls. Tasty, but different. And the 2 handrolls I ordered came out as these very artful pieces, with big chunks of ingredients and rice all rolled into a single bugle-shape. They weren't sliced, so I just ate them with my hands like you would a sandwich wrap. Again, tasty, but different.

Now we're back home and it's all of 7:30. Quiet time at the Stef Family House. Little bro loaned me 2 DVDs he had rented so I have something to watch tonight. Of course, it was with the caveat that they're both terrible -- the new Dukes of Hazzard / Jessica Simpson Pinup Movie and Flight of the Phoenix. He said they're pretty stupid, but I'll let you know.

Only 364 days until next Christmas!

Indiana Journal Day 4 - It's Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Believe it or not, after days of rain and mud, it has actually started snowing here so we may get a white Christmas after all.

It's been a good one - we all did pretty well on our gifts. :-) Mom and Dad got 2 photography books from me plus another related gift that several of my friends will soon be getting so I won't spoil the surprise. Dad got a new supply of Old Spice and Mom got a whole case of her favorite power bars from my little bro. And little bro got a new Kenneth Cole wallet from me, plus that related photography gift, and from the 'rents he got a full-year gym membership, the full collection of the Tolkien books, and some IU memorabilia.

And me? I scored! Little bro got me a whole bunch of things from my Amazon Wish List -- the new Madonna CD, an old Van Morrison CD, and the Almost Famous soundtrack, plus a novel and a book on photography that I wanted. Mom got me some silly cat socks, and then the big present... I got the iPod Nano! My Nano is so cute and tiny. :-) I've already downloaded all 3 of the new CDs onto it. I'm sure I'll have some iPod questions for y'all in the coming days, since I'm not a big manual-reader. Now I'm gonna explore what kind of Nano accessories there are; I think I should get a case of some kind cuz it's a little worrisome that it is SO tiny. I'd hate for anything to happen to the little cutie.

We're having a big family dinner of pork roast with all the trimmings. Then after dinner we're going over to my parents' friends' place. It's an older couple who never had kids, but they have long been sponsors of international students at IU and have sort of "adopted" all these grad/PhD students from all over the world. So we'll probably be chatting with folks from all over, which makes for a nice multicultural Christmas evening. Little bro and I are bringing the wine, and if it's anything like last year there will be a mighty, mighty pot of killer nog just waiting for us....

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas! Any good gifts given or received???

Indiana Journal Day 3

Merry Christmas Eve! Another quiet but enjoyable day here in Indiana. I got to sleep in this morning while the parents went over to the new house to do some work. I swear, I would've gone to help myself, but they just went without me.... not that I minded more time to snuggle under the pile of blankets. My parents have always had a freezing cold house so I'm doing what I can to stay warm. I finally uploaded the picture of the parents' new house. Isn't it cute??? I'm looking forward to coming to visit this summer sometime to actually see it once they've all moved in.
The three of us went out for lunch at a cute little Italian place (in a strip mall, of course) that is owned and run by the former IU football coach. I don't know his name, but according to my parents "he got canned after coaching for one year." The food was really good and the restaurant was quaint. We just did a small lunch (Mom and I both had soup and salad, but Dad ate an entire order of fried calamari. Blech.) but I would like to go back sometime for dinner to try one of those heaping bowls of pasta I kept seeing at other tables.

It's funny how people here in Indiana have such hero worship of sports figures. I probably heard about 5 stories about this former coach while we were eating, and my Dad was excited to catch a glimpse of him in the kitchen. My parents' new house is on a street named after another IU coach. I grew up with lithographs and painted plates (yes, painted plates) depicting the ever-controversial Bobby Knight. We had an all-red basement, and I even had a little IU cheerleader outfit and red pom-pons when I was a kid. Hoosiers really do take their sports to heart. But it has been sad this week, cuz all of the news here is about the Colts coach and his teenage son's death. It's a rough time of year for anybody to go through something like that, and I'm sorry for them for being so much in the public eye.

Anyway, after lunch, we saw the new Jim Carrey movie Fun with Dick and Jane. It was really funny - a lot better than I expected. Yes, Jim Carrey does a lot of his slapstick physical comedy stuff, which is only funny the first few times, but the writing was really strong and Tea Leoni is a great comedic partner for him. I didn't realize it was co-written by Judd Apatow, of "Freaks and Geeks" and "40 Year-Old Virgin" fame. There are a lot of really clever scenes and just laugh-out-loud moments, plus some great sarcastic commentary on the bloated corporate economy of 21st Century America. If you're looking for a way to spend 2 hours laughing, check it out.

Remember how I said Mom and Dad weren't really doing a tree this year cuz they're moving? Mom told me they were going to get a little table-top tree. Well, I was picturing something much bigger..... look at how Charlie Brown this is! I actually think it's pretty darn cute, but if you blink you just might miss it! Once again, I'm glad I got to have my own Christmas tree experience this year thanks to Mandy.

Tonight will be pretty quiet. Little bro is coming out after work and Dad's baking a ham and making homemade macaroni and cheese. Bring on the comfort food! Then, before we know it, it'll actually be Christmas!

I hope everyone's having a great time, wherever you are!

So frustrating

Ah, all the little ways that DC's lack of representation comes back to bite us.... I hate that I don't get to participate in most of the lefty email campaigns that I would so willingly sign on for. It's so frustrating to know that the one thing we're all supposed to have in our power -- our voice -- doesn't count. Here's an actual automated reply I got to one I tried to do this morning - the targeted decisionmaker wasn't something obscure like a state delegate or something, it was CONGRESS:

We're sorry but it appears that you are not eligible to participate in this campaign. This campaign is designated for constituents of the targeted decisionmaker(s) and based upon your address, it appears that you do not live in an area represented by the targeted decisionmaker(s).

Dangit. Now I've got to get the folks, who live in very red Indiana, to speak louder for me. And all you Maryland and Virginia buddies, too!

Indiana Journal Day 2

It's funny how you lose track of the days on vacation. I believe today is Friday, aka Christmas Eve Eve. It's been another good one as I've found a number of ways to occupy myself in Borington.

First up, Mom treated me to an early present with an hour-long massage this morning. She has a regular masseuse she goes to who's really good. Since I've been having weird back spasms and recurring neck problems this fall, this was much-needed. It was kinda funny, since my Mom's name is Tammy and the masseuse's name is Tammy, so the conversation when Mom dropped me off and picked me up again went something like this.... "Hi Tammy, how are you?" "Good Tammy, I hope you're enjoying the holidays." "Well, Tammy, I'll see you again next year." "Great, Tammy, see you then. Merry Christmas!" It was a little mind-boggling. :-)

After I showered all of that oil off, little bro and I met up for a lunch date. We went to this sports bar that he likes and had fun just chatting and catching up. There was this cute dad at the table next to us with his 2 sons, aged about 6 and 8, and my bro and I were cracking up watching these little boys eat the single largest ice cream sundae I've ever seen. I think the waiter improvised on making it cuz the kids were so cute. It was actually served on a full-sized Fiestaware dinner plate, with a layer of about 4 choc chip cookes covered by about 6 huge scoops of vanilla ice cream and then whipped cream and chocolate sauce. It looked tasty. And the kids' faces were absolutely covered with chocolate sauce. My little bro called over "You should take their picture!" And the dad said something like "They're in a trance, I want to keep them that way...." Ah, the things we do to keep kids quiet.

Random side note -- help me settle a debate with my mother. This is the little couch that's in their den and has been for 3 years. We are at odds over what color it is. I think it's clearly dark green, but Mom argues me every time and says it's brown. What do you think? I took this photo with flash and everything else at an auto setting - no funny camera tricks to try to make it look more green. It doesn't need to look MORE green, since it's clearly already green! (Never mind the fuzzy sheep in a straw hat - it is moving time, after all!)


Back to the story.... After lunch I got a little alone time and was able to explore the Indiana University Art Museum. They had a photography exhibit up, showing a collection of landscapes by an artist named Art Sinsabaugh. I also finally got to check out the IU African Art collection, which is pretty cool. Today I was not in the mood for reading labels and really just wanted more of a "discovery" experience in the gallery, so I was excited that there were so many big, imposing, striking pieces - African masks, shields, headdresses, statues. Very cool stuff. I did feel like the gallery space was way too static for such dynamic pieces. Plain white walls, tiny-font labels, and cream canvas just didn't seem to do the pieces justice. If I were the curator, I'd want bright colors, maybe images of the pieces used in their traditional ways, and even some quiet drumming music playing in the background. It would've been so much cooler if the artifacts were all given some sort of context. But, oh well, they were shown in a very traditional museum-style way. I still enjoyed them.

Can you believe it??? We had honest-to-goodness carolers! Right before dark, we spied a gaggle of kids and a few adults starting to walk around the neighborhood. They came up to our front door and once we were all gathered, they launched into "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Priceless! And my mom had to annouce to them all "My daughter is here from Washington and she wants to take your picture." So....

The rest of the night is going to be pretty quiet. We've got "Hey Ma -- Meatloaf!" for dinner, then I think it'll be an evening of just reading and watching DVDs. Good, quiet, relaxing times in Borington.

Ooooh, Gloves Are Coming Off

Well, some interesting documents on Samuel Alito were released from the National Archives today. I'm guessing that all my favorite lefty organizations are getting ready to pull out the big guns for those confirmation hearings in January. Today's documents include a memo Alito wrote detailing how the government should overturn Roe v. Wade, from what I can tell he proposed toing so by striking down the constitutionality of state laws (I've linked to the full PDF here - I'd love to have any lawyers out there help interpret all that legalese). The documents also include one that says domestic spying by the government is a-okay. Arlen Specter is already saying he plans to ask Alito about the wiretap bidness.... toss that line of questioning into the current climate PLUS what I'm sure will be a full-scale ground war over the right to choose, and things could get exciting. You all know who I'll be rooting for.

Indiana Journal Day 1

Day 1 of my Indiana adventure went well. Much better than last year's trip, that's for sure. Last year I was stuck in airport hell with that big snowstorm that hit the Midwest and my flight was cancelled. I ended up being delayed by a day and a half, and left the whole experience with a solemn vow to curse Northworst airlines until the day I die. A nasty letter was written, believe you me. I just got a blanket reply with the offer of worthless air miles. Bah.

But yes, this year is much better so far. After an uneventful flight in a teensy little airplane, Mom picked me up in Indy and we headed to the new house. As I've mentioned, Mom and Dad are moving to a brand new house on 12/29 so they're in heavy packing and trucking mode right now. This was the first time I saw the new house, and I really liked it!

I have never been a fan of their current house, which is a small, open-plan, one-story place in a very restrictive resort community on a golf course. None of those descriptors seem to fit anything that would be good for my family! Well, the golf course part. But my parents have learned the important lesson that you don't actually have to live ON the golf course to USE the golf course. They are very disillusioned with the whole resort homeowners association - no one in my family is big on authority and we're not known for keeping our mouths shut, so they've gotten into more of their fair share of arguments over the last 3 years.

Anyway, so we've established that I don't like the current house...but the new one is really great. It has a very homey feel to it, with 4 bedrooms (instead of 2 in the current place - what were they thinking?) and an actual upstairs. There's a cute porch swing out front and a nice deck and shed out back. After spending most of his life on farms, my dad is a big garden/landscape guy, so he's just dying for spring to come so he can start planting at the new place. I should plan to come visit again in summer to see what they do with the house and the yard.

After spending the afternoon at the new house and meeting one of my parents' friends from the neighborhood (wow, was she a talker), Mom and I headed back to the old house for dinner and a quiet night with Dad. Dad's the big cook in the family and he was already hard at work on a great dish. It was one of my favorites from growing up, chicken breasts done in a cream of mushroom sauce over long grain rice. Mmmmm. Isn't that one of the best parts of spending holidays with the family? I do love a good home-cooked meal.

And now it's 10:00. CSI is over and both Mom and Dad have gone to bed. I brought my laptop home so I could watch Netflix and keep up in general, but it's started doing that crazy shutoff thing again that it had stopped doing about a month ago. I think there must still be a problem with the wiring that got jarred in the airplane. Darnit. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the laptop calms down, otherwise I'll be using the slow parental desktop.... but it's good enough to keep me in touch with the rest of the world! Note: As soon as the laptop is feeling better I'll be adding photos to this post.

I hope everyone's enjoying their vacations or their quiet week at work!

Let the Eating Begin!

Restaurant Week 2006! It'll be here before we know it. Get those reservations in soon....

Wheeee! Vacation Time!

Hooray! As of about an hour ago, I'm on Christmas break! After 2 sick days this week, though, it's not like I really put in much work. But I'll still take the break anyway! Before I go off to Borington (have no fear, good old email addict me is bringing my laptop along so I'll still be in touch), a few random thoughts....

1. Thanks everyone for your good wishes - I'm feeling much better. I hope no one else gets that stomach bug. Stock up on Sprite, Gatorade and Saltines while you can.

2. DC's trying to get me to do more than my civic duty. I just got a call for jury duty AGAIN after I just spent a day there in October. I know I don't have to actually serve again for 2 years... but does this mean I'm gonna get a summons every 2 months until then?!? Seems a waste of postage.

3. Trusty cat Cleo got her 2nd Christmas present today. It's a fuzzy squirrel stuffed with catnip. The super-fuzzy tail is so cute and fluffy I almost want to play with it myself!

4. I got an email from my grad school program today. They just opened up a branch in Adelaide, Australia. Why oh why did I graduate in 1999? I'd love to study abroad now. How else can you get such a great travel experience and have it be partially-subsidized? Sadly, my job is at a place that's totally focused on domestic stuff, so the coolest travel I could get is Boston or Abilene or something.

5. My appetite is finally back after 2 days, and so I just pigged out on a 1/2 a small pizza AND a big sub. mmmmm. Since I will soon be pursuing my New Year's resolutions, this will probably be my last pigout for a while. It was darn tasty.

6. I'm totally into Veronica Mars. I'll be halfway through the first season by the end of tonight. I wonder how long it will be before Season 2 is on DVD? Maybe by summer? Then hopefully I can watch Season 3 in real time! And btw, Lisa Rinna's lips are Eeeee-normous.

I Don't Feel It In My Bones

Has anyone been watching that FOX show "Bones" ? Since my usual Tuesday show, Gilmore Girls, has been on repeat for the last 2 weeks I've tried to watch this new show. I think it kinda sucks. As a huge Angel fan, I would watch David Boreanaz do just about anything. He's still pretty spunky and hot in this show, but there aren't many more redeeming qualities than that. I really don't like Emily Deschanel, who plays the main character. Her main form of delivery seems to be shouting. I don't think I've seen her in anything else, so I can't tell if this is her style all the time or just for this character. But wow, it's irritating.

Not for a Million Dollars

I would never actually return to high school. Four years of insecurity, angst, anger, fear, and arguments as you try to figure out who you are and where you belong in the world. But even though I would not go back in time to relive high school, I did just jump in to the world of Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep.

I got this book because it was listed as one of the NYT's best books of 2005, and it sounded like something I would really like. Well, Asian Mistress, you were right. The book was fantastic! I couldn't put it down, and actually read the whole thing in 24 hours.

The novel tells the story of Lee Fiora, a young girl who unexpectedly decides to leave her family in South Bend, Indiana to attend a prestigious prep school in Massachusetts. She's a scholarship student, which largely colors her experience at a school of mostly super-rich kids. The novel follows all 4 years of high school, from Lee's adjustments to having roommates, to suddenly becoming shy and insecure after being a big fish in South Bend, to her first obsessive crushes and romantic experiences. Over the four years, Lee becomes distant from her family and very colored by the social structure at this elite school. She's not always likeable, but she's always very relatable.

This book was so engrossing, I just loved stepping into Lee's world. In a way, it was almost a time machine as it took me back to a lot of memoriews from college. Granted, I was a little older in college but my private school sounded very similar to Lee's prep school - everything from silly traditions like Valentine's day flower exchanges (Brunette, I could totally imagine them weaving Proclamation Night into the story) to the trial-and-error romantic escapades to boundary-testing relationships with sympathetic teachers and advisors.

This was a great read -- I highly recommend it. So what are you all reading? Any recommendations?

The Hardest Part

I firmly believe that the hardest part of being a single gal is when you're sick. I don't mind being Little Miss Independent all the time, in fact I pretty much revel in it, but when I'm sick I really do wish that I had someone to take care of me. I'm not just single, I also live alone. My parents are hundreds of miles away, little brother too, and my only roomie is of the feline persuasion. She's good at cuddling, but not much else.

When you're single and sick, you still have to do everything for yourself. Need to leave work early? You have to get yourself home. Need to buy some Sprite, or saltines, or chicken broth? You have to go to the store by yourself. Want a warm washcloth to rest on your forehead? You have to get up and do it yourself. There's no one else to hug you or get you an extra blanket or close the window when you're cold.

I'm pretty darn sick today, and it is not the fun kind. Let's just say I have to restart the clock on "how long has it been since I've vomited....." And while I'm starting to feel a teensy bit better, it sure would be nice to have someone to help me. Or someone to whine to. But that's why I have you guys, right?

What's that I hear? Yes? Pity Party. Table of One.

No Wonder I'm So Tired

I am exhausted this Sunday morning, looking forward to going back to bed soon and hopefully for much of the day. Why am I so tired? Cuz I did about a zillion things yesterday! The Cliffs' Notes version...

9:00 - 11:15 - At work (grrrr) for a special event. Luckily these things only happn a few times a year, cuz I do not enjoy having to go in and be all cheery on a Saturday morning.

11:30 - 12:30 - Lunch with BGK after the event (he had to work too). I do enjoy the Cosi tbm melt. I hadn't had one in a long time and it's just as tasty as ever.

1:00 - 3:30 - BGK and I met up with MH and The Johnson, the rest of Team Lady, and The Boy for a sold-out showing of Brokeback Mountain. The poor little Dupont 5 theater was so overwhelmed, and at 12:30 they were already announcing that the movie was sold out for all showings for the whole day. The movie is very good and I recommend that everyone see it. Jake and Heath are both excellent, the writing is spare but strong, the story is heart-breaking, and the cinematography is strikingly beautiful.

3:30 - 5:00 - MH, The Johnson and I roamed around Dupont doing a little shopping, including at the Pleasure Palace (lots of giggles) and at Claude Taylor's photography gallery/shop (lots of ideas for my own work).

5:00 - 7:00 - We made a dent in my Gordon Biersch gift certificate stash with a big dinner. I had my first steak since 1997, a big rib-eye. It was a little fattier than I wanted, but damn tasty. I'm so hooked on beef again. Well, what can you do?

7:15 - 8:30 - Then we made the trek out to the big target on Rte 50 in VA. I always thought girls were bad when the shopping fever takes hold, but we were totally outdone by The Johnson! I did pretty well, only spending about 70 bucks. I got a few things that I did really need, but I also splurged and bought myself some super-comfy new jammies. I'm wearing them now and I love them! The most random part of the whole Target experience? We saw some actual poo on the floor near the dollar item sale rack. So gross! And we'd had enough wine at dinner to find it really hilarious, too.

9:00 - 1:15 - We continued on to somewhere near Fairfax to meet up with Onyah at Reporter Boy's third annual Festivus extravaganza. The boys really did it up, with a Festivus pole, a gag gift exchange, and the ceremonial airing of grievances. Good times! Sadly, I was tuckered out and started to fall asleep on the couch, so MH and The Johnson were nice enough to take me home. My nodding off had no reflection on the quality of the party or the company, just that I'd had a really full day!!!

2:00 am - I finally made it home to 16th Street and fell into bed. Zzzzzz.....

I Couldn't Resist

I originally thought that I would never post pictures of Cleo, my trusty cat. I didn't want to be that girl who blogs about her cat. Well, so much for that. Cuz I just have to share these photos. Cleo got her early Christmas present tonight - it's a leopard-print mat for sleeping on, and it happens to be filled with catnip.

Cats on the 'nip are the funniest things I've ever seen. A friend of mine once made the comparison between people on pot vs. cats on catnip. People who are stoned tend to get really mellow, things don't bother them as much, you're never in a hurry to get anywhere.... But cats on catnip are the exact opposite. Suddenly they have to RUN from room to room, get there faster!, do more!, run and jump and flip around like crazy beasts. It's truly hilarious.
So indulge me in this post and check out Cleo on kitty crack. Insane in the membrane.

Random Friday Twitterings

Main Entry: twit·ter
1. to utter successive chirping noises
2. to talk in a chattering fashion (Giggle, Titter)
3. to tremble with agitation (Flutter)

you decide which meaning I'm going for.... ;-)

My Friday afternoon thoughts:

1. I turned in my framed photo to CHAW today for the exhibition in January. I'm so excited! It almost makes up for the nearly 200 bucks I paid for framing. Framing is totally the business to be in. 75 dollars an hour for labor, plus materials! No wonder so many artists spend time framing to earn some cash.

2. Franklin Graham, son of Reverend Billy, did an interview with Soledad on CNN this morning. She brought up the whole "happy holidays" controversy (although I hate using the word controversy cuz it seems like the whole situation is totally made up to rally the far-right troops). Graham went on and on about how saying "happy holidays" takes the Christ out of Christmas, yadda yadda. I always use "happy holidays" as a blanket statement, not just to cover all religious bases, but also to wish people well for the *sequence* of holidays that happen now -- yes, there are Christmas andHanukkahh and Kwanzaa, but there's also New Year's! To me, "happy holidays" means "have a good end of December and beginning of January, whatever you happen to celebrate." But Franklin Graham actually said that the usage of "happy holidays" reflects a war on Jesus Christ. What?!?

3. After hosting our holiday party at Gordon Biersch this week, I have now earned more than $150 in coupons on my GB passport card. So we went for a nearly-free lunch today. And what did I do? Just as soon as I took my first bite, bbq sauce down the front of my shirt. Dangit!

4. I have no plans for tonight other than to sit and watch my Netflix. I've got 4 episodes of Veronica Mars plus the movie Antwone Fisher. And I should soon be receiving another 4 episodes of Veronica Mars. Good times!

It's a Cookie Contest!

No, sorry, it's not a competition to win our very own DC Cookie. That would be something entirely different.... ;-) But this is still fun! My friend Scotte, of EAT WITH ME fame, has started the first-annual Cookie Collection. Check out his site for the rules, but all are encouraged to submit their favorite cookie recipe and try for the mystery prize. Knowing Scotte, I bet the prize will be good!

No Cherry Blossom Fairy?

The Washington Ballet has cancelled tonight's performance of the Nutcracker. Not because of the weather, but because of an ongoing labor dispute. This WaPo article lays out how significant a move that is -- considering the Nutcracker needs to be the Ballet's cash cow for the season. Many performing arts groups (including one I used to work for) schedule a big commercial show during the holidays, usually one that they do year in and year out to keep costs down, and really rely on that for a huge inflow of cash from single ticket buyers. It's usually outside of the subscription price, so that means even subscribers have to pony up to buy those tickets. I worry for the Ballet about this, not only as a PR story but also as a financial crisis. As we all learned every day in my grad program (it was arts management, after all) the arts are a business. This is a very serious issue, and I hope the Ballet and the unions can resolve it soon.

And speaking of labor disuptes, how glad am I that I'm gonna be nowhere near NY tomorrow? As CNN kept repeating this morning, *7 million people* take public transit in NY every day. I'm glad Bloomberg is encouraging everyone to be creative in figuring out how to get to work.

The Silver Fox Talks Sex

With his Mom.... Anderson Cooper's new Details column for this month is all about his reaction to learning about his famous mom's sex life. It's a funny one. That Anderson is so crush-worthy!

The Company Party

It was a success! And I have to say, as the party co-planner, I'm pretty darn happy with how it went. That's me in my $3.99 CVS Santa hat, which I wore all night. From work to the party, through the whole party, and to the ATM and the cab home. People in my elevator at home gave me funny looks. But who cares? I love my Santa hat!

The party was great. We had oh about 40 people, with tons of food and alcohol. I planned it, so it was at Gordon Biersch, of course. (Where else?) There was a little scandal, some gossip, very little work talk, and even some interesting new things we learned about coworkers. I had no idea our big big boss is a really good piano player and worked his way through college playing in piano lounges. And that the company's legal counsel grew up in a small town down the road from me. All told, I think a good time was had by all. Or at last a fairly decent time, which is more than you can say about most company parties. Hooray!

It's too bad we have to work tomorrow. But for now I'm sitting here gorging myself on leftover cheese cubes and pineapple slices. I may regret that in the morning...

Who Would You Like to Be Today?

Me, I'd like to be George Clooney. If today's Golden Globe nominations are any indication, it may just be the Year of the Clooney. He got 4 nominations from 2 different movies! Here's the complete list.

My thoughts:

• Brokeback Mountain is starting to look like the movie to beat come awards time. I have a feeling it might get some combination of director, screenplay, picture.... Gee, I really need to see that one soon!
• But, while Heath Ledger is nominated for Best Actor, I do feel pretty strongly that Philip Seymour Hoffman is going to win for playing Truman Capote. That might be the only win for Capote, but it's definitely well-deserved.
• Which leaves Reese Witherspoon as the top contender for Best Actress. Joaquin may be a dark horse, literally, but I think Reese will walk away with that movie's top award.
• George Clooney should win something out of all his nominations. I'm gonna guess best picture (best drama for the GG's, since they share the love across two categories) or best screenplay for Good Night and Good Luck. That would be an original screenplay, which leaves Brokeback Mountain open for the adapted screenplay award.
• People I was happy to see nominated in any category: Rachel Wiesz, Paul Giamatti, Michelle Williams, Maria Bello, Felicity Huffman (twice! She's my runner-up for who I'd like to be today), Hugh Laurie, David Strathairn, Terrence Howard, Matt Dillon, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, and Steve Carell.

Sick Day Observations

So I did end up giving myself another day of rest today and called in sick. It was so worth it to sleep until 10:30! Now I'm indulging in a day of bad cable while wearing my pj's. A few observations:

1. We've all discussed the very female-centric nature of daytime tv programming. I tend to gravitate towards TLC. I think A Wedding Story is my favorite, closely followed by A Baby Story. I'm not as into the Makeover Story or the Dating Story, which seem so much more forced.

2. Hamburger Helper is awesome!

3. Have you seen that they're rerunning one of those really old Orville Redenbacher commercials? He's wearing his big glasses and a bowtie, and he pours his "popping corn" kernels into an old-school popper? Well, seeing that made me realize something. I think when I was really little (late 70's) I used to think that Orville Redenbacher and Jimmy Carter were the same person. Cuz as soon as I saw that commercial and heard him talking, my first thought was "oh, it's the President!" I think that little me in Minnesota had never heard any other older guys with a thick southern accent. And I'm sure my parents referred to Carter as "the peanut farmer" which probably confused me with the popcorn. It's strange what early childhood memories can be triggered!

Weekend Roundup

Wow, it's been a great weekend. I feel like I did so much that I now need another day off before I can be rested and ready for work this week. If only...

Friday
I had been looking forward to Friday for a long time, cuz a bunch of us went out for our big holiday cheer plans. After a quick dinner/drink at Elephant & Castle, we went over to The Warner Theatre to check out The Nutcracker. It was a lot of fun! I had been forewarned that it was a "reinterpretation" of the show, and it's definitely different. It's set in WAshington DC, with most of the first act taking place in a home in Georgetown post-Civil War. Frederick Douglass makes a cameo appearance, actually played by Frederick Douglass IV. The second act features Daniel Boone, Ma Barnum and her clowns, cardinals and a big tomcat (not to be confused with TomKat), the Cherry Blossom Fairy, and more. The usual Arabian Dance was changed to be a dance portraying Anacostia Indians. That particular dance was hot. Like, HAWT hot. The male and female dancer were both just in loincloths, and I couldn't stop staring at their amazing bodies. He had a 12-pack and an awe-inspiring back. And her abs, wow. I'd love to have a body like that.

After the show, we decided to check out the John Harvard's Brew House that's right next to the theater. We only stayed for one drink. The beer wasn't that great, and the ambience was all wrong. Way too brighlyt lit, and the whole scene wasn't very welcoming. Plus the pink prickly pear stuff just wasn't something we were looking for after all. It only took a short discussion to figure out where we wanted to go next. MH and I have long told the story of the surprisingly good time we had at the Hard Rock Cafe once about 2 years ago, and we thought we'd see if the 2nd time was as good as the first. And it was! We chowed down on fatty appetizers, drank a bunch more, and had a sing-along of our own to the videos they were playing on all those big tv screens. Can't beat the fact that Meatloaf was playing both when we entered AND when we left. I think I want to have a hard rock sing-along at my wedding someday. A little Paradise By The Dashboard Lights would set the right mood....

Then I came home to find a wonderful Christmas surprise!

Saturday
Brunette, Onyah, CL and I headed out for a very pleasant Saturday afternoon. We went to my new favorite restaurant, Matchbox, for lunch. Mmmm, the sliders are fantastic. I had the Bistro Salad again, which I highly recommend. And this time I tried the pizza, splitting a pepperoni with CL. Also very yummy!

Then we saw Syriana. Good movie. It's very intelligent, very challenging, and very complicated. I don't know if I could actually outline the plot clearly to anyone else, cuz there was a lot to follow along, but I really enjoyed it. I predict some nominations there - maybe writing and directing.

Sunday
Today, CG, SM and I took the long drive up past Fort Meade to a friend's house for his 40th birthday party. I don't go to adult house parties very often - the kind with a yard and kids and neighbors and stuff. It was a lot of fun! Our friend and his wife put out an amazing spread of food. We started eating and drinking at about 1:30 and kept going until 6. They had a huge array of appetizers, including shrimp, sushi, brushetta, crudite, etc. There was also a crock pot full of delicious homemade tomato basil soup. (The recipe came from the City Tavern cookbook, full of recipes from Philadelphia's founding days. I need to look it up.) The real hit of the day was the beef tenderloin he had cooked on the grill, with a Dinosaur dipping sauce (from a place in Syracuse). He called it "mutha" sauce. It was unbelievably delicious. This friend has created total ManLand in his basement, with a full bar and beer on tap. In the course of the afternoon, I drank a huge stein of beer, mulled wine, a vodka sour, and egg nog. Wow, more mixing. By the time I got home at 7 I was more than a little tipsy! Not bad doing laundry on a Sunday evening, half in the bag....

Tai Shan Makes the Small Screen

Omigod. Could Tai Shan BE any cuter? Doesn't seem possible.

Animal Planet premiered a new one-hour special called "A Panda is Born" tonight. It's the whole story of Tai Shan, starting with the history of pandas at the National Zoo to all of the efforts to try to get Mei Xang pregnant.

They showed the actual footage of Tai Shan's birth. The little butterstick literally SHOT out of his mommy, like a rocket. I'd never seen anything quite like it. I think I jumped a bit in my chair. This is one damn cute little cub. I confess, I've been giggling and squealing a bit myself watching this very special baby story. I can't wait to go for real -- I'm hoping that I can get a day off in January to go spend some quality time at the Zoo.

Animal Planet will be showing this special several times over the weekend and beyond, I'm sure. I hope you can catch it!

What A Wonderful Surprise!

As I mentioned earlier this week, my Christmas this year at the parents' house is going to be fairly un-Christmasy as they get ready to move to a new house on the 29th. I was feeling a little bummed about it and in need of holiday cheer, especially since Mom had decided we couldn't handle a real tree this year. Well, a good friend of mine wasn't gonna let this Christmas pass me by.

I got home late tonight after an evening of holiday revelry to find a package waiting for me. "Hmm," I thought. "What could that be? I haven't ordered anything from Amazon for a while. Who's sending me something?"

The front desk guy handed me a box about 2 1/2 feet tall with the words LIVE PLANT on the outside. Hmmmm??? I had no idea what this could be. But I definitely smelled something from inside the box, and it smelled a lot like Christmas.... I'm impatient, so I ripped open the plastic envelope that said "Gift message." And there was a note inside:

Well, it's not cut from a hillside that I know of, but at least it's real!
Enjoy!
Love, Mandy

Mandy got me a Christmas tree!!! I can't believe it! I was so excited opening up the package, and the smell of evergreen was just intoxicating. The cute little tree came with lights and ornaments, so I got to have the fun of decorating a tree of my very own. Trusty cat Cleo helped, of course.

This really is one of the most thoughtful gifts anyone has ever given me. This has been a pretty rough week at work and I learned some very sad news from home this morning, so a truly wonderful surprise like this could not have come at a better time. Mandy, thanks so much. I'm giving you a huge hug as soon as you get yourself back from Yemen!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here on 16th Street!

Shout Outs!

So, as predicted by Chairborne Stranger, I am now addicted to my Site Meter statistics. It's great fun checking to see who's reading this here blog, and where my readers are coming from. There are a lot of DC-MD-VA readers, as I'd expect, but there are also people from all over the place. Pretty exciting.

Let me just say hello to...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia!
Edgewater, New Jersey!
Weston, Ontario, Canada!
Cambridge, Massachusetts!
Bartlesville, Oklahoma!
Toronto, Ontario, Canada!
San Diego, California!
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!
Avonbridge, Falkirk, UK!
Mauritius!
Memphis, Tennessee!
Bethpage, New York!
Singapore!
Kolonie Waldheil, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany!
Sana, Hadramawt, Yemen! (That's my travelin' girl friend!)
La Puente, California!

Howdy, everybody! Thanks for reading...I'd love to hear from you!

So Quiet Today!

A quick check... who's in the office? Or who's at home, lying vulnerable to the cubicle gremlins????



I'm here. Didn't even hear about the 2-hour Guvmint delay and so I was here bright and early, wondering why our door was locked. But I'm actually getting a lot of long-delayed, loose ends work done. I'm also blaring the soundtrack to Wicked in my office and singing along. We're down about 1/2 of our staff today, with a few people working from home cuz the commuter buses out in the boondocks weren't running. Since I have an eye dr appointment and a few errands to run, and since my 2 friends here feel like getting out of the office, I'm calling for a VERY long lunch today.... ;-)

So what's it like for you all out there?

Seriously???

Joe Lieberman as the next Secretary of Defense?!? Well I guess that would explain all the hawkish statements he's been putting out lately, trying to separate himself from the Dems who are questioning the war. Ugh, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm a Dem, and I don't even like him. Let's hope this is just media-driven Washington gossip.

What, No Pies This Time?

Ah, look. The Skinny Blonde Bee-Yatch has been mouthing off again.

Let It Snow?

So what's the deal with the weather forecast? I missed it somehow this morning, but people here at work are acting like there's a major blizzard coming. Seriously, they're moving meetings and cancelling activities for tomorrow. Everyone assumes the Gov will be shut down, and the world will descend into mass chaos. Are they crazy? I just checked and the WTOP folks are only predicted 2-4 inches for the Metro area. That's what we got the other night. My boss said "We're gonna get 9 inches of snow!" Well, maybe way out in the mountains they will. But is this just typical DC snow panic? I'm gonna still set my alarm and plan to be here as normal tomorrow....

Winding Down

Tonight marks the end of two things I've been involved in for the last few weeks....

1. The last night of my National Geographic Live tickets. Tonight's was great - Brunette, you really missed out! The photographer, Joel Sartore, was really entertaining, giving a presentation on his most recent visit to Brazil's Pantanal as well as previous trips to Bolivia and to study grizzly bears. He was really funny and cracked everybody up with what he called "gross-out" stories about living for weeks on a platform in the rainforest. I think he's done some NatGeo tv specials, so I'm gonna try to find them on Netflix. If I find any I'll share the info.

2. The last disc in the first season of House, MD, which has been my Netflix addiction for a while. I really love watching tv series via Netflix. Next up? Veronica Mars. I've heard such great things about it and I really want to check it out. I've tried to block out things I've heard in reviews and people talking, so I don't think I actually know many of the surprises from the first season. I'm sure I'll be posting about it soon!

Query

Why do they call it that when it has NOTHING to do with a salad????

Just wondering.

Testify!

Hee hee! That new Indian restaurant that Brunette and I found a few weeks ago has now put my post up on their testimonials page. I hope this little blog o' mine can help get the word out for them. These darn Internets are so circular and fun! :-)

Hear That? No?

It's cuz I'm not coughing! The DC City Council voted 12-1 today to expand the ban on smoking in restaurants in our nation's capital. It would go into effect in January 2007, but could be moved up to as early as next summer. There's the chance of an amendment from my Councilman, Jim Graham, exempting cigar bars and "hookah bars." Funny to hear that in City Council talk. So now... I think we have to wait to see what Mayor Williams does.

I know this is a very polarizing issue, but as a non-smoker, I'm so ALL FOR IT! No more coughing, dry cloudy contacts, hair and clothes and skin that smell like smoke. A smoke-free DC? Bring it on!

Oh Christmas Tree!

I was inspired by Kathryn's post today to talk about Christmas trees, and my family's trees in particular.

Pine vs. Plastic
I am a big fan of the all-natural pine. I grew up out in the country and in my mind there was just no excuse not to go cut a real tree. One of my favorite trees was the year my Dad went out to cut a pine from a hillside. Yep, you guessed it, we ended up with a crooked tree! The poor thing had grown at an angle in order to make it on that steep hill. It made us laugh through the whole holiday season. The smell of a pine tree in the house was the true sign of Christmas. Of course, I never had to be the one doing the chopping or vacuuming up the needles as they fell. I think my only Christmas tree chores were to water it sometimes and to turn the lights off at night. So the real tree was fairly low-stress for me.

When I was in my teens, Mom decided that the real tree was too much work. And, doubtless, my brother and I were no help. Plus I think this was around the time we started going on major trips over the holidays, and she didn't want to worry about a real tree as a mess and a fire hazard in the house. So she bought one of those plastic trees that I think are just awful - the kind you build branch by branch by sticking them into the main pole that smells nothing like a tree trunk. I thought the plastic tree was just depressing, and it had none of the charm of a real one. But, I guess my Mom had enough of charm and didn't want to create lots of underappreciated work for herself. I have a feeling that's one of those things that I'll understand when I'm a mom.

Decoration: Different Strokes
I have actually participated in heated debates about the "proper" way to decorate a Christmas tree. Of course, there is no proper way, but I'm a colored lights girl for sure! Yes, I appreciate the beauty and simplicity of the all-white lights tree, but that's just not the way I like it. Lights should be bright, and blinking, and even bubbling! Yep, my family had those great late-70's, early-80's bubble lights. They were the coolest. Stringing the lights was always Dad's job, and some years he managed to get the outside lights on too. We had these 3 giant snowball bushes that surrounded our front porch, and they looked great with the colored lights on them. Of course, if we had already had a blizzard by Christmas, then the lights didn't make it out that year.

We were not an icicles family. With six dogs, you just don't want that much loose plastic floating around the house. We did use garland sometimes, but it's not my favorite. I don't really need shiny metallic plastic on my tree to make me happy.

We decorated the tree with the whole gamut of ornaments. Everything from the shiny traditional ball ornaments to the spray-painted spools of thread with glitter and macaroni that we madein kindergarten. Hmmm, I can't remember any particular favorite. There were some Snoopy ornaments that were great, and there were engraved gold ones that were for "baby's first Christmas," one for me and one for my brother.

Worst Christmas Tree Story
Christmas 1997 marked the first time I brought Cleo, trusty cat, home for the holidays. That was "kitty's first Christmas" and it was nearly her last. As my friends know, Cleo and my mother have NEVER gotten along. I think my Mom hasn't forgiven her for not being a dog. Or a kid. Perish the thought.

Anyway, we had spent a lot of time on the phone planning for cat-proofing the hosue before I got home. The house I grew up in was a big old farmhouse and there wre no doors separating the rooms on the 1st floor - they were all these open archways. We had a formal dining room and a formal living room - where the tree was every year - and the way we'd kept the dogs out of the nice rooms was to put up some of those kiddie-proof gates and a big sheet of plexiglas. That worked for the dogs, but of course a cat can jump over those things. Oops.

So, I swear, in the first hour that we're there.... Cleo met and already annoyed the last of our Scotties, Abigail. Now Abby was the queen of the house and my Mom's absolute favorite, probably more so than my dad or either of us kids. So it's getting off on a bad foot to start, with Mom telling me to keep Cleo away from Abby. Right, easier said than done. Then trusty cat wanders off and *just* when I start thinking "huh, I wonder where she is" I hear this CRASH! from the living room. Yep, Cleo had gotten in there and CLIMBED RIGHT UP THE TREE until the whole thing just fell over. Yeah, good way to make an impression, cat. Luckily, it was in the plastic tree era, so all was not lost. I just had to spend an hour putting the whole thing back together and redecorating.

Christmas 2005
This year will be a little different, and I'm kinda bummed about it. Mom and Dad moved to Indiana in 2002 and re-adopted the real pine strategy, which made me happy. The last few years we've had some really nice trees. But this December is crazy for them, since they're moving into a new house on 12/29. They've already packed up almost everything and will be sending a first truck of stuff over before I even get there. So, of course, Mom has way too much on her plate to worry about a real tree this year. So she went out and bought a little table-top fake tree. :-( Yes, I appreciate her effort in trying to still make moving week Christmas-y, but I think it's gonna be very Charlie Brown. Stay tuned, I'll be sure to post pictures.

So what about you? Any strong ideas on Christmas tree do's and don't's? Any favorite memories?

Mind-Bending Metering

Tonight's photography class was a total workout for the brain. Who knew there was so much math in photography? That, and physics, with all of the study of light and how it behaves. Learning the whole process of metering was a mental exercise, with the gray card at 18% of available light, and metering different reflective surfaces to see what F-stop and shutter speed you'd need to get an accurate representation of the image. Wow, it took us all a while to catch on, but then several of us had "light bulb moments" at the same time and started to get pretty excited. I don't know what sort of metering capabilities my digital camera has, but I'll be experimenting soon.

The coolest part of class was interactive. Our instructor wanted to show the effect of flash on a long exposure, so he had us help create an image. He turned off all the lights, and since the class is held in a black box theatre it got pretty damn dark in there. He told us to carefully walk around, up and down the rows, climbing over chairs, sitting or standing. He gave one of us the flash, which we then handed off and periodically set off so there were bright flashes of light. He kept the camera shutter open while this was happening. So we should end up with about 5 slides done this way, where we'll probably all appear as phantom images in a bunch of different places and poses in the frame. It'll be pretty cool. I hope he shares the images with us - I'd love to post one here!

That Nairobi Story I Promised

There was a great story that came out of that National Geographic program on Tuesday.

The lecturer was a journalist who has lived in Africa on and off for years, and he had several interesting stories to share about contemporary African culture and politics. But this was actually a story about American politics, from an outside perspective.

His last trip to Nairobi was in the fall, coinciding with the US presidential election. He found that the race Nairobians were most interested in had nothing to do with Bush or Kerry, and everything to do with that Senate seat in Illinois. People would randomly walk up to him and ask if he thought Obama would win. The speaker said that he was quite happy to be able to tell people "Yes, with 100% certainty, he will win." And they always were very happy to hear it. Obama's father was a native Kenyan.

The night of the election, he was hanging out in a bar on the outskirts of Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum. The most popular beer in Kenya actually happens to be called Senator Beer. But that night, he said, hundreds of people were calling out and ordering, saying "I'd like an Obama!"

A Thousand Words

We saw a curious sight today. While celebrating The Johnson's birthday at Tara Thai in Ballston (what man wouldn't enjoy his birthday surrounded by 6 women?), we noticed a strange congregation of Clauses (3 boys, 1 girl in a Santa miniskirt) in the parking lot of the Carpool across the street. Check it out.

What in the world were they doing there? This reminds me of a creative writing project we did in 3rd grade. The teacher (Mrs. Graham) put a random picture up on the board, and every kid had to write a 1,000 word story about what was happening in the picture. I'm sure there've got to be some great stories about all these Santas. Our thought was they were meeting up before going to knock over a bank. Any other ideas?

Things That Make You Go Hmmm....

Do you ever come home at night to find that something odd or mysterious has happened while you were away? Something's been moved, or something's broken, whatever it may be. Usually I just think that Cleo, trusty cat, has been running around and knocked into stuff.

But last night I got home and saw that this big framed poster that I've had on the wall for 2 years was now on the floor, with the frame broken and all the glass shattered into a zillion pieces on the floor. How the heck did that happen? This time, it couldn't have been Cleo cuz she couldn't reach up that high. Maybe someone next door slammed a door really hard and knocked it down? I dunno. It was hanging on a pretty sturdy nail, which is still right there in place. And it was on an interior wall, not one that is shared with another apartment. Total mystery. Oh well. I've been thinking about redecorating anyway, so now that opens up a big spot on the wall where I can put some of my photographs. But I'm still curious as to how it happened!

Add to the Reading List

The NYTimes has put out its list of the 10 best books of 2005. There are a couple on here that I'd really love to read, maybe once they come out in paperback. Off to Amazon....

Fiction
1. KAFKA ON THE SHORE by Haruki Murakami
2. ON BEAUTY by Zadie Smith
3. PREP by Curtis Sittenfield
4. SATURDAY by Ian McEwan
5. VERONICA by Mary Gaitskill

Non-Fiction
1. THE ASSASSIN'S GATE: AMERICA IN IRAQ by George Packer
2. DE KOONING: AN AMERICAN MASTER by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan
3. THE LOST PAINTING by Jonathan Harr
4. POSTWAR: A HISTORY OF EUROPE SINCE 1945 by Tony Judt
5. THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion

I'd Tap That

Tonight was Gordon Biersch's tapping party for the new season of Winterbock. Good times! Onyah and I headed up there and met up with T and a bunch of friends from work. It was a great time! A few highlights:

** They were hosting a raffle to benefit the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund. T won a prize, a $25 gift certificate and a big mug filled with chocolate. Then I won a prize, woohoo! I won a NLEMF polo shirt. But T and I did a little negotiating and he got the shirt and I got the $25 g.c. Of course, just my luck - even though I won something, I had to push through a huge crowd to get to the front and in doing so quickly stepped into a big slick spot on the floor and wammo! - in front of everybody - landed on my ass. But no worries, I still won. :-) But wait for it, there's more raffle news at the end of the post....

** I didn't care for the Winterbock myself, but I know it has a higher alcohol content so it's a pretty good bang for the buck. I went for my usual Marzen and a deelish pepperoni pizza. Onyah had an ahi tuna salad that looked tasty.

** There were kids there. It's so strange. I know GB is a family place, but it's damn odd to be rowdy and drinking yourself silly and to see 10 year olds in the place. But the trippy thing was these kids were wheeling around - somehow their shoes had wheels built into them. Rolling 10 year olds are damn freaky after a few beers.


** Santa Claus was there! And he was handing out free, piping-hot cookies! Mmmm, love me some chocolate chip. And Santa's elves were handing out free bites of sausage. The gray kind wasn't my favorite, but I loved the smoky pink sausage. So phallic, to eat these sausage bites off a stick.

** When Onyah and I left via metro, we decided it was boring to just wait at Gallery Place for 9 minutes, so we took a yellow line train one stop just to shake things up a bit. I'm so glad we did! Cuz we randomly ran into this cool guy, DVH, who works at the place where I used to work. We had a really good catchup conversation, and it was just one of those good chance encounters that makes you smile.

** And, the big news, once I got home and settled in, I got a new text message. Turns out that after I left, T ended up winning the grand prize of the evening. A night at the Hotel Monaco and 200 bucks towards a big old beer bash. Woohoo! Here's hopin' we in the gang get to go to a big beer party sometime soon. All in all, a great night!

HH Time!

I can't believe it's taken me all day to finally have a free moment on the computer! But here I am, and here's my post about last night's blogger happy hour.

First off, a big congrats to the four hostesses with the mostesses, Kathryn, Cookie, Asian Mistress, and Rhinestone Cowgirl. I'm so glad I actually got a chance to meet and talk with all of you! You should be proud of the turnout, it was a really great and eclectic group.

I ended up going to the happy hour with two of my coworkers - M and K - after a late meeting, which ended up making for a "small world" coincidence that was a lot of fun. Turns out that K is none other than Big Gay Kevin and all of his Team Lady friends were already planning to be at the happy hour themselves! I had a great time talking with Mr. Bartender (I swear we've met before, I'll figure it out!) and Mrs. Jesus. Other great folks I got a chance to talk to real live, and in person (check out their blogs, they're all fun and interesting!):

• Sharkbait - finally, we got to meet! Let's not be strangers!
• Law-rah of Caravan4Christmas - I'm so excited that we all raised $350!
• Dudley - my vote for best dressed *and* best dancer
• Dale from DC Gays of Our Lives
• The Boy from DC Urban Family
• Heather B.
• Velvet
• DC Blogs - What would we do without such a great resource?
• Cookie's Charming Fellow - seems like a keeper! :-)

I'm sure I talked to many more, but those $10 chocolate martinis and a day elapsed at work are starting to affect the memory....but I have these for the memories:

Mrs. Jesus, Mr. Bartender, Dale, and Big Gay Kevin

Me & Sharkbait, Two Upstate Girls enjoying a night out!

It was a great time, all. Can't wait to see everyone again in 2006!