putting the "X" back in christ: the post-xmas wrap

for having the day off today it couldn't have be more unproductive. real smart on my part. of course not. for whatever reason i couldn't sleep last night despite being tired as all hell. normally this wouldn't have been any shocker 'cept that i did have the day off today so there was no "returning to work" anxiety. i was out of sorts all night last night and chalk it up to post-xmas blues.

that ain't to say that xmas was a high note because it wasn't. i just think the bum-rush leading up to the day builds up all the emotion and general anticipation then when it's finally over all the air is let out and i'm left kinda flat. that's how i describe yesterday: flat. i had expected a friend to visit and stay the night (for which i had originally requested today off) but that plan fizzled almost in the eleventh hour. i didn't really care but it sorta left me w/o a plan.

having fallen asleep somewhere between 6 and 7AM this morning i didn't pull myself up until almost 1PM when i split to catch the afternoon matinee of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; another excellent Wes Anderson flick so rich and satisfying that you never want it to end. i've been trying like hell to catch up on theater flicks lately since my entire November was blanked due to my car accident, vacation and move to the new apt. matter o'fact i've seen more theater movies in the last 2 weeks than i did in the previous 3 months combined.

5 flicks, for those counting at home including finally catching at late night viewing of The Incredibles, which was terrific as expected, and an xmas day showing of Flight of the Phoenix w/my dad (since The Aviator was soldout). that was watchable but nothing terribly special (we were really looking forward to seeing The Aviator both being Howard Hughes fans for different reasons). The Life Aquatic definitely made up for it tho but what was surprising was that a few people actually left the viewing about 20-25 minutes into it. my guess is that it wasn't the movie they thought it was going to be. certainly, if you're not wise to Wes Anderson and his brand of humor and movie making you probably won't get it. i could name a few of my family members that wouldn't get it. more than a few, actually.

speaking of, i expected to post a long diatribe about yet another dumpy and disappointing xmas at the homestead w/the fam but at this point, i no longer care. i went out of my way to arrange some nifty gifts to which i'm most happy about. i rec'd a lot of what i expected and didn't want. i plan to be more on my game this year and return the bulk of it thanks to collecting all the respective gift receipts. i would've preferred not to have gotten anything so i'm sorta treating it as tho i didn't get anything. easier to reconcile than just getting pissed off.

fortunately i picked up a few things i would've wanted for xmas that will keep me occupied for the time being. 'course i'm speaking of Call of Duty: Finest Hour and Killzone, both PS2 games that so far are proving to be entertaining. i'm also buying a new TV (gasp!) this week so the pattern continues (eg. surrounding myself in more material goods to make up for the lack of everything else in my life).

merry effing xmas, everyone!

after pleading w/my father via email to dissuade my mom from giving me more clothes for xmas that i will not wear, i rec'd this from him this morning:

> I am glad you are finally getting into Christmas. But, do prepared for
> some nice cloths that Mom picked for you. She goes all out for you
> because she feels that you are alone. I am sure you will enjoy what you
> receive.


(btw, i still have the neatly folded stack of sweaters and fleece pullovers from last year that i have yet to wear let alone look at. looks like another drop-off at goodwill)

it's hard to believe that the 2nd to last weekend of '04 has finally reached its end. and at times it seemed as tho i was squeezing every last drop from it. between the miserable, never-ending move from my old apt to my new digs i did manage to obtain a few moments of glee.

saturday evening found me w/kev for a viewing of Yimou Zhang's House of Flying Daggers, a flick almost as gorgeous as his Hero epic. i've had the DivX for months and the DVD only recently but i've held off home viewing in anticipation of the full-on theater experience. i'm glad i did... even tho i'd bill it as a martial arts chick-flick it was still excellent. too bad i didn't have a chick to enjoy it with. definitely one to catch in the theater first and i'm already looking forward to seeing it again (btw, Ziyi Zhang is just incredible with a major notch up in her acting abilities for sure).

today wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday... considering i was up until 2AM last night just cleaning the kitchen in my old place. talk about miserable. it was only around midnight when i discovered upon pulling out the crisper drawer in the fridge that some time ago soy sauce had spilled and pooled under the tray. this wouldn't have been so bad had this just happened. but since this must've occurred a long time ago, the soy sauce had crystallized and was practically *burnt* into the bottom of the fridge. real nice. after working on it for a while i honestly didn't think i'd be able to remove it but with much perseverance i managed to eliminate every last trace of that damned hardened soy sauce. it'll be a real long time before i ever have soy sauce again after smelling that stench for an hour.

anyways, today was much better w/the kitchen, bathroom, and the bedroom already completed. i moved out quite a bit of the remaining junk either to my new apt or the dumpster. now there's little left before i can finally be free of the place. i'll probably drink myself to sleep when it's officially over.

in a celebratory mood of sorts tonight, i split at 9PM sharp and headed to WorstBuy to pick up Call of Duty: Finest Hour for the PS2 - a game i've been wanting since i first saw the commercial. usually it's $50 as a hot new release but amazingly BB had it on sale for $30 (w/some other "hot" titles like THUG2) so i couldn't pass. even a used copy won't run at that price for several months. after a couple more quick stops to pick up some minor xmas gifts i made it into the 10PM viewing of Blade: Trinity w/10 minutes to spare! (god, i love late night shopping around the holidays - no traffic on the road or in the stores!)

unfortunately arriving 10min before showtime served no purpose other than getting the perfect seat. the fucktwats at the Randhurst AMC somehow had forgotten to queue up the flick so me and the small crowd of 16 or so sat there until a quarter past the hour until finally someone got up to tell them to start the fucking movie already. finally after the obligatory previews the movie got rolling at 10:31PM. thanks a lot, jerkholes!

i won't say too much about B:T other than i enjoyed it immensely and laughed out loud several times (during intended funny moments). i grinned at the wooden acting all around esp. at Kris Kristofferson who appeared to reading off a cuecard. after succumbing to the Schwarzenegger sad school of one-liners in the first 2 flicks of the "trilogy" the producers at least gave way to bona fide humor in this final installment w/the inclusion of Ryan Reynolds (of Van Wilder fame) and an all too brief appearance of Patton Oswalt (as well as a hilarious Pomeranian!).

besides the justified R-rating (for some reason i thought it was PG13 - glad i was wrong), i was also happy to see that Dominic Purcell ("John Doe" from the short-lived John Doe tv series) is getting work and here as the main baddie. and Parker Posey wasn't too bad as a mean vampire bitch either. sure, the flick plays out like a big screen comic book/mtv commercial/video game a la Resident Evil but isn't that what we expect from this franchise? i certainly did and only wish it were continuing w/Reynolds and Jessica Biel, who's so goddamn hot it's not funny. what's not to love about an ass-kicking hottie who also shows her emotional side?

they could start a new franchise, The Nightstalkers, and well... hey, i can dream, can't i?

email rec'd this morning:

> From: "Madonna Seniw"
> Subject: LOUDNESS!
> Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 08:03:47 -0700
>
> dude. you're missing lodnesses 1st album!!!!!!!!
> it's called Law Of Devils Land!!!!!!! wished i still
> had the tape to convert it to mp3.. but
> unfortueately it's to old & warped.... :(

so i cont'd my annual tradition of making an ass out of myself at the company xmas party last night. funny thing is, i don't remember most of it. as in, i _really_ do not remember. i woke up fully hung over this morning going thru the motions preparing myself for the day ahead. when i got into my car i noticed immediately that i had a full tank of gas. that was red flag #1 since i've never had a full tank of gas in that car since i've owned it (hasn't even been a month yet). very suspicious. so i tried to recollect the evening and nothing came to mind. then i became scared.

when i arrived at the office and conveyed this to the other culprits who attended last night's festivities; they began to tell drunken tales of things that i did not recall nor could put into context from what little i did remember. from what i gathered, i could only remember back from around the time we left our company party and headed to the restaurant bar. after that i don't have any memories. not only has this made me frightened it has also made me angry. angry that i somehow allowed myself to get so teetering sloshed to not only forget most of it the next day but somehow, some way i managed to drive my new car home... and stop along the way for a fill-up. WTF kind of idiot can i be?!

I'm actually too ashamed to discuss this little event anymore. it's embarrassing and foolish. i hope to never pull a stunt like that again.

email rec'd tonight:

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 7:27 PM
Subject: No Subject

I would like to E mail the band. Where would I send that mail?

Karl

xtras817@aol.com

thanksgiving wasn't as eventful as one might think. i actually spent it by myself which i haven't done in a long time (probably 9 or 10 years since the last loner turkey day). normally being alone on a traditionally "family & friends" type of day makes me a tad melancholy but this year i didn't have time for much of that kind of thinking. see, i was busy trying to move as much of my apt into another apt 3 doors down. that on top of cleaning my place and making it presentable enough for my landlord to start showing it to prospective renters during my holiday absence. yep, i left the following day for a few days in the cold desert paradise known as Albuquerque.

i had decided to fly to ABQ a couple of months ago when i realized that i wanted no part of my family's plans to drive 10hrs to Rapid City South Dakota and spend 5 days at my step-sister's home. you've heard of a "blue christmas" right? well this would've been a "Red" thanksgiving. Red as in Right, if ya catch my meaning. and that would've been too much for me in such a closed environment. don't get me wrong, i love most of my family but have reached a point in my life where i can only take them in doses... small doses.

So i opted to spend a few days w/my brother and his 4 dogs and sleestakk, my iguana. then there was the slight annoyance of his roommate's girlfriend.

anyways, it was a few days of pretty much nothing. and when i say nothing i mean nothing. unless petting any one of his 4 dogs counts as something. this isn't to say that it was a bad few days b/c it wasn't. it was just a few days about nothing really. our ink appt was cancelled so nothing happened w/that. the one night we went out nothing was happening so we went home after a few stops and drinks along the way. i did go out of my way to make Slee a killer salad and tried to configure his heating element since it's on the verge of winter down there. but mostly i sat around petting the dogs. at least my brother's dogs are "hella cool", as his roommate's girlfriend would say.

overall it was a nice if uneventful getaway. i got see my brother's new truck and his new "old truck" project (he's restoring an old '31 Ford into a hot rod). we watched movies, ate out for every meal, and played with the dogs. had i known 2 months ago that i would be moving to a new apt during the same time as thanksgiving i'm sure i wouldn't have booked the trip. i have a ton of shit to do w/the move and being gone for 5 days has only slowed the process. that said, i'm happy i got to hang with my brother once more before the end of the year. and he has hella cool dogs that won't hesitate to kick you off the bed during the night. and that, my friends, was my thanksgiving vacation!