Another holiday season has come to an end. I got a pretty good haul this year as far as gifts go. My favorite by far is the Wii fit. Penny got treats from Charlee and Blitzen. I think my mom liked all her gifts too. God, I love Christmas. I think it's because of all the traditions. My favorite by far is looking for the angles that my papa hides around the house.
They came from a tree ornament that broke once. They're just two tiny angels, slightly over an inch tall. One of them is blue and one of them is pink. All he does is hide them in plain sight, but sometimes they are so hard to find. It can drive one crazy if they can't find it, espeically when the rest of the family is saying, "Oh, I found them." You're not supposed to give hints to where they are, but it happens occasionally. Papa usually won't give hints, but my grandma will. She won't tell you exactly where they are, but if she knows you can usually get what room they're in out of her.
She hide them for the first time in my memory this year. That's never happened, but she picked a good spot. I found the pink one right away, but for the life of me I didn't know where the blue one was. All through Christmas dinner, my eyes were darting around the room looking for that stupid little thing. Finally my grandma says, "You're not very far from it." Turns out it was hiding in the center piece on the table. You have to give me credit though, it was on the opposite side so I couldn't see it.
This tradition has been going as long as I can remember... before I was born even. I think it was started when my cousin Rachel was a little girl. I wish I knew how it started. My grandma doesn't know, but I don't think I've ever asked my papa. He probably doesn't remember either. After all, does anyone know how most traditions started? But yeah, the angels are one of my favorite parts of Christmas.
I had my first official dilervy shift today. I've covered a couple of other people's shift before, but this one was all mine. For those of you who don't know, I started a Jimmy John's not too long ago. It's a pretty good job, and I'm really happy with it. I'm getting the hours I need and the pay is good. Not to mention everything's pretty easy when you get the hang of it. It's a fun atmosphere too.
Anyway, I like delivering... when I can find the place. Some apartment complexes are crazy and I end up driving around in circles. I haven't got stiffed on any order yet so I guess I can't be too bad. Since it's the holiday season the traffic is crazy though and we're so busy.
Driving. I don't actually like driving a car. I'd much rather be a passenger. It didn't always used to be that way. One time a friend got into a car accident. It wasn't even that bad, but I was in the car and late for where I needed to go. Now I always feel like if something like that happens I want someone else to be responsible for me being late. It's not like that keeps me from driving places though. I still go to work, friends, wherever.
One of my favorite things to do is just aimlessly drive around. I used to do that quite a bit with Kailin and Kelsey, especially if one of us was feeling down. We'd just drive around listening to the radio and talking. Usually at night. One time Kelsey got pulled over. She got so nervous the cop thought she was drunk or something and made her do a sobriety test outside of the car. I thought it was funny. I really miss those days. I also miss Midnight Madness. It's a game that the Red River theatre guild played. We had teams that piled into cars and drove around town looking for clues like a great big scavenger hunt. I would get really into it. My friend Stacie ran over poor Kailin's ankel one year though. I'm thinking it was our sophomore year. She was okay though. She just was limping for a while.
The Psych season finally was on tonight, which I loved. I've really gotten into that show. I guess I needed something to replace Monk, but I stopped watching that after Sherona left. Anyway... I've seen every episode of Psych so far, but my favorite are the ones with Yang and Yin. It could be because of my love for Ally Sheedy though too. She plays Yang. Besides Shawn, she is my favorite character in the whole thing and she's only been in three episodes.
Without giving too much away, Yang is the daughter of a serial killer, Yin, and becomes obsessed with Shawn. The two of them start to target Shawn and people get kidnapped and just when show's time limit is just about up, the people are rescued and everythings okay. "An Evening with Mr. Yang" could very well be my favorite episode, but it's hard too say. There are so many good ones. I love the characters in the show. That's what makes it. James Roday is amazing! Him and Dule Hill are great together.
I've been playing games on the website too and I won an iphone cover. I don't have an iphone, but I hope to get one soon so that's cool. And I try to enter the spot the pineapple sweepstakes every week, but sometimes it's hard to find. Like this week for example. I swear there were no pineapples in the grocery bags where it was supposed to be hidden.
It was an okay season, but I think the show has lost something. It's probably just because there on they'll already be starting their sixth season. All show's start to loose their luster after a while. I mean, Shawn and Gus used to sneak ahead and find stuff out. Then Shawn would have a "vision" and lead them to the clues they found. It seems like they're trying to play down the psychic angle a little bit. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they've jumped the shark yet or anything. It's still my favorite television show out there at the moment. I can't wait for season six to start up this summer.
P.S. It feels weird to write about a television show. I don't think I ever have before.
Well since I posted a blog titled "Death" I figured I should at least make one titled "Life." It's probably because death, as depressing as it is, has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I've reached a point in my life where everything is coming together. I like my job... most days. I'm making enough money to support all my needs and even a few bucks left over for radom things like action figures and easy bake ovens. So life's going well.
Life's funny that way. One moment of life everything is going horribly, horribly wrong and you think there's no point to life at all and then the next moment everything is great. Of course, getting to the great part after the bad part can take some work but eventually you get there. I think it's important to focus on that part of life other than the all good things must come to an end part. And when you're in a rut it's very important to focus on the fact that things will get better instead of thinking that, yeah, things will get better but then they'll only get bad again. That will just mess you up. Believe me.
So here's my bit of wisdom for you all. And I'll admit it kinda sounds like something out of a Lifetime Christmas special, but here it is. Life sucks. That's all there is to it. But there are little moments in life where it doesn't suck so bad where one might even be happy. So my thoughts are that life is all about the little moments, and yes I realize so many people have said that before. And every therapist out there will tell you to focus on the positive. But it is so true. Negaitivety and anger are two of the worst things out there. I mean, they can eat you alive, especially if the one person you're truely angry at is yourself and your just directing it everywhere else.
Forgiving and forgetting is a touchy thing too. Because you can't forget, and more importantly you shouldn't forget. But then what exactly does forgiving mean? I guess just to put yourself in the other person's shoes and try to understand. Maybe what I'm trying to say is not to hold things against people and learn from the past and from your mistakes.
Lastly, just because you think something over, doesn't mean it really is. Anger can be blinding. But if it is truely over, don't dwell. Move on as best you can and still try to live life to its fullest. Even though there isn't one point to life that everyone can agree to, it's still precious. I mean, love others and more importantly love youself. And as cliche as this whole blog is, you've only got one life to live so go out there and cherish each moment of it. After all, life is about the random little moments stuck in there between all the suck.
Penny got spayed a few days ago. I thought about breeding her, but really what am I going to do with a bunch of Corgi puppies? And besides that I don't really want to deal with the mess of her being in heat and everything. So I decided it was just better all around to get her fixed.
I felt bad after I dropped her off. It was like I was abandoning her. I'm sure after they drugged her up and everything though she didn't even know I was gone. Everything went as planned and I guess Penny recovered fine and all that. When she came home though she was so sad and out of it. I would be too after surgery. Anyway, the poor thing has to where one of those Elizabethan collars because she keeps licking her stitches.
She's used to the thing now, but when she first got the thing on she kept running into everything. When the collar would hit the wall or something she'd stop moving too with her head dropped. And she'd just stand there like then until you'd come get her. Now she has the hang of it and is running all over the house. I'm afraid she's going to bust something open, but I've been checking it every day to make sure she hasn't.
Sometimes she's kinda cute with the collar on. She'll push her toys around the floor with it. She also pushes snow out of the way with the thing, kinda like a snow plow. Then she'll flick it up in the air. At night it's a pain because she likes to sleep with me and night and a platic cone digging into you is not very comfortable. I can't wait for the two weeks to be up so she can get it off.
Now, I was going to write about this last week, but it slipped my mind. I haven't actually done as much writting as I'd like to have these past couple months. I mean what you read in my blog is pretty much it. There is a story I've been working on, but I haven't written too much for it. I'm not sure if it's writter's block or just simply not writting. Anyway... Saturday was Tuba Christmas.
For those of you who don't know, Tuba Christmas is a festival where a bunch of tubas get together and play Christmas songs. This year was it's thirty-seventh year in existance and it was started by a man named Harvey Phillips. I'm sad to say that he died recently. He was one of my heros, even though I didn't know too much about him. I had a couple of his CDs though and he's one of two famous tuba players that I can actually name. The other one being Oystein Baadsvik.
So we all gathered together for a quick rehersal- donuts were served before hand during registration- and played through all the music once or twice. Then we went to the mall and played for an audiece. I swear, the audience keeps getting bigger each year. So does the amount of tuba players so I guess that makes sense. I dressed up all festive like- green and red with a matching elf hat. Some guy put lights around is baritone, which I was going to do but then I couldn't figure out a way to get them to stay without leaving tape residue. We all played our merry little tuba hearts out. It was so much fun. As you all know, I love playing the tuba. To be truthful I miss it... a lot. I can't wait to start playing again next semester. I guess we're doing a stage show, so that will be great. I'm excited.
I'm sitting here writting my blog with a ridiculous looking, green and red, elf hat that has a bell on the end. That can only mean one thing. Christmas is here! Now, I'll tell you time and time again that my favorite holiday is either April Fool's Day (For me it's a holiday) and Halloween. But I absolutely love Christmas! I love all the traditions- decorating the tree while listening to Christmas music, making cookies at papas, finding the angels...
Tonight my mom and I decorated the tree and I got most of my mom's presents wrapped. There's still one more gift I want to get for under the tree, but I still have plenty of time. Poor Penny is a little confused. She was sniffing at the wrapped presents completely unsure of what they are. There's no way they're going under the tree this year. They'll just get ripped open and torn into peices. I guess one year my grandma wrapped some dog treats up and put them under the tree. When they came home the dog had wripped open everything looking for the treats. Penny's also eating tinsel. I'm not sure if she managed to swallow any of it, but I really hope she doesn't get sick or anything.
Penny seems to like winter well enough. She's so cute in the snow- sniffing it and pushing it around with her nose. Then she bounces in and out of the snow drifts as her short little legs sink into the snow pile. I think I'll get her feet some little booties so she can play out in the snow longer. She seems like she's having so much fun. I think it would be fun to get all three of them out in the snow together. I wonder how my Papa would feel about the three of them tearing through his back yard. It's not like there's a lawn to mess up at this point.
I'm really looking foreward to this holiday season. I mean, I practically have all my shopping done and now I just have to enjoy all the traditions and the family get togethers. I'm hoping Penny does fine with the rest of it. She and Charlee are having fun tearing apart an empty wrapping paper tube at the moment. As long as it keeps her from opening tinsel. And as long as she doesn't get into the presents or anything everything should be fine. Maybe I should go get her picture taken with Santa.
Here's a list of books I want to own at some point in my life. The title for this blog was originally "101 Books I Wished I Owned," but I couldn't come up with enough of them. I suppose if I were to walk through a book store of library I could come up with pletenty though. I dream of having a room dedicated soely to books sometime in the future, maybe even a couple I've written. Anyway, some of these books I've owned at one time but lost. Others have been eaten by dogs, but most I've never owned. Some I haven't even read.
1. One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest
2. Tom Saywer
3. Huck Fynn
4. The Complete Works of Emily Dikenson
5. Boy Meets Boy
6. Marley and Me
7. Mocking Jay
8. The Uncanny X-men #266
9. Blueberries for Sal
10. Peter Pan
11. Wizard of Oz
12. Patchwork Girl of Oz
13. Idiot: Beating the Curse and Enjoying the Game of Life
14. Letter from Beatrice
15. Mein Kampf
16. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
17. The Outsiders
18. Where the Red Fern Grows
19. Q & A
20. Gone with the Wind
21. Wurthering Heights
22. Eats, Shoots, and Leaves
23. Assholes Finish First
24. The Hounds of Baskerville
25. The Count of Monte Cristo
26. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
27. Falling Up
28. A Light in the Attick
29. The Picture of Dorian Gray
30. Les Miserables
31. Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
32. The Lovely Bones
33. My Sister's Keeper
34. Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances
35. Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd
36. A Christmas Carol
37. Diary of Anne Frank
