Movie Making Madness

Merry Christmas everyone. I'm sure out there somewhere, there is someone saying "Only 364 days til Christmas!". That person is not me.

Gift haul included wireless keyboard, mouse and 3 in 1 copier, scanner, printer. I also got my standard almanac and cashews, a 2010 page-a-day calendar about the Civil War, a golf club and golf balls, and lastly some gift cards.

In an odd twist of fate, my sister got me a card with no envelope, and I got her an envelope with no card. She doesn't remember what happened to the envelope. It sounds like the envelope probably never made it out of the store. I had ordered her a shirt on line, and it didn't come in the right size. I sent it back last Friday when I was up, but I knew I wouldn't get the replacement in time. I had a picture of what the shirt will look like with a note in the envelope.

Everyone loved the Satsuma soap. Brian brought a slingshot monkey that makes all sorts of noise. Due to Brian and I working late, we didn't do the usual family dinner at Steak N Shake. I had Wendy's and Brian and Kristina had a QT dinner. We watched part of the Christmas story and unwrapped gifts. Midnight mass went well. We counted 12 nuns all together. Today will be spent at my sister's for Christmas Day. I forgot the gift I had the her nieces. Kristina says their birthday is in 10 days anyway, so I can get it to them then.

Yesterday at work, it started out busy then slowed to a crawl. When I left at 7, there was about 10 minutes between calls. I also found out the real reason Cory didn't show for my game last Saturday. Can't say I blame him either;)

You could say we had a white Christmas this year. There is a dusting on the grass of the white stuff, and I think it lightly flurrying as I type. The last 2 days have been nothing but rain. Had it been 10-15 degrees colder, I imagine we would have a foot of snow by now. That's all I have for now, hope everyone has a great Christmas

All the gifts are wrapped. Granted, they aren't wrapped wonderfully, but they are wrapped. I got my first gift of the season, and then gave it back. We had Secret Santa at work. I got Shonya a candle set, which she loved. Mike had me, and got me a Pierre Cardin pen/pencil set. I was using the pencil at work, and it stopped working. You would click it, but no graphite would come out. Mike said he still had the receipt, and would be returning it.

Today was quite busy, and I have no idea how tomorrow will be. I'm leaving right after work for St. Louis. I'm not sure what I'm doing for dinner. I doubt there will be much open that late. I might just have dad's cookies for dinner. It could be a lot worse:)

Speaking of food, last month they had a shirt decorating contest. The Help Desk team won as Clarence drew an aweome superheros type shirt about HD. We got money to do a luncheon. Shonya picked up Branding Iron, which was delicious. I bought a soda from the vending machine (which I rarely do). The cap was a buy one get one free offer for Pepsi. Matt and I were chilling at our seats after lunch waiting for our lunch hour to expire. Being bored, I flipped the cap like you would a coin. The cap shot up into the air, and got stuck in the overhead light! It was a one in a million shot. I couldn't do that again if I tried.

I've also noticed that this is the first time I've ever posted on the 23rd. Happy Festivus everyone!

Hey all!
For a number of reasons, I'm changing my LJ name. You should be getting contact from said name today, so, talk to you then!
This'll remain up for a little while as everyone filters back from holidays.
Ciao~

I was checking the wikipedia article about best selling singles wordwide of all time. Of course, it is a lot of speculation because hard data is hard to gather on this. Elton John's Candle in the Wind (97 version for Pricess Di) topped the list. I can understand that. White Christmas by Bing Crosby is 2nd. Also understandable. These are the only 2 artists to top 30 million.

Now we move to the next tier. We have Bill Haley and the Comets "Rock around the clock", and a song by a Teixeirinha. Rock around the clock is considered by many to usher in the era of Rock and Roll. I've never heard of Teixeirinha, but I can see them being popular in many Spanish speaking countries. Both of those are estimated at 25 million.

Now we get to 20 million. We have Elvis, and USA for Africa with "We are the World". Now comes the shocker. Zager and Evans "In the year 2525"! I mean, holy shit. I love that song, but 25 million copies? Amazing considering the duo never had another song chart.

So one last Christmas memory, courtesy of my grade school years. My 8th grade year we did a Christmas musical. Kevin K. got the lead, as he should have as he was the best singer in the class. Oddly enough, I got a singing part also. I've never had a good voice, so maybe it was appropriate I was cast as the thirsty man. I had to speak my lines very raspily. I didn't have my own song, but I had a solo verse during one song. Strangely enough I don't recall being nervous about it. I remember being concerned because we had to go barefoot on the cold gym floor. Everything worked out great and it was a wonderful show. If I remember correctly, all of my sister's class were sheep for the play.

Feeling lonely tonight. I knew this would happen as I got closer to Christmas. Sarah said the other day that she missed Christmas' with me. Shoulda, coulda, woulda, I'm not going there. Here is a beautiful song. You may have heard the instrumental version before, I prefer the lyrical version by the Letterman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjItQfk8d50

Friday was my last big chance to do Christmas shopping. I took care of several things for my dad and sister that day. Met up with Sarah for dinner. We went to El Burrito Loco. I wanted to find 2 CDs for my sister's nieces (on her husband's side). I should have ordered them online but failed to. Both are TMBG albums for kids. I only found one, but that is a good start. Never too early to introduce kids to TMBG. I finally found it are FYE on Hampton. It used to be a Warehouse music previously. We checked Vintage Vinyl in the loop, but they didn't have anything.

Came back home and ran my first D&D game for the group down here. Cory missed out, so I had to modify the story line a little bit, but it worked out well. I think they had a lot of fun.

Saturday was spent working around the apartment. I did some cleaning and some wrapping. I made meatballs for dinner (had the leftovers tonight). I did find out that we are getting paid Thursday, so that is good. It's the check after that one, that I'm excited about. I'll have 2 extra days on that check for holiday pay from Christmas and New Years. Not much else going on here. I'm waiting to see what the weather will bring this week. Looks like it will be too warm for snow, but we may get a lot rain. I'd prefer snow.

I'm home!
Less than 24 hours: I've had good-ish food, my mother has gotten pissed off, I'm doing more organizing than necessary working, and life is unchanged overall.
Lulz~
...how much do international letters cost in forever stamps? 2?

Oh schnap.
I am roadtripping with my dad since Thursday morning.
Awesome food (last night: buffet at Le Manore, sort of crazy~). Ridiculous times. Woods (I bought more than he did, since he keeps saying no to supplies for a big walnut slab-table...! Youko - found just the right piece for you!!)
Everyone waiting for cards; I should be sending them out just AFTER Christmas, so they should be there NewYears...-ish. Sorry! Finals are going to be a blegh couple of days at home and such...
I have so many composition/writing/studying/practicing ideas lined up for home! YAY!
......having yardwork waiting for me however, is one more of the wonderous things my parents do to me as a welcome-home present for Victory Week (die, invaders, die~!). Yes, Victory Week. Yeh.
BTW -- 9/28, nevar forget. Everyone seems to keep reminding me of that, and its WEIRD. Nice.
I think I forgot a page in my thesis. Um... lulz. ...
I want to go shopping big time, I need a new barrel and more ~stationary~ and other useless stuff, but I am so money-less its sort of sinking in that I'm no longer an undergrad-enfant money'ble.

I can't believe it's 1 week until Christmas Day. Honestly, this year it hasn't seemed like Christmas at all. Sure I went to Our Lady of the Snows, and I've done a wee bit of shopping. It's nothing like years past. Frankly, it's sucking this year. There will be no Christmas Eve dinner with the family. I have to work until 7 and Brian is closing the store, so him and Kristina won't be down right away either. Christmas Day sounds like it will be split between Richards and Kristinas.

I'm getting ready to head out to get my hair cut, then head up to St. Louis to do some shopping. I don't have plans for meeting anyone this time. I probably need to stop by my dad's house to print something out. Tonight I'm running my first session of a new D&D games from the group down here. I'm pretty excited to see how it goes.

I've applied for a different position at work. The groups is called Workforce. They do the scheduling for the center and monitor the service levels in real time. It seems very numbers and analytically focused, so I think that will be right up my alley. I did the application online, and even got a response back saying my application has been accepted. So time will tell what happens, if anything.

I need to start working on the Top 10 Events for 2009 list. New Years will be here before you know it. I still don't have any plans for NYE. Anyone else have anything going on?

I have been listening to a lot of Christmas songs lately on 102.5. I've been getting a little annoyed because it seems like they play the same songs again and again. I heard a great one today that I haven't heard this year, "Snoopy's Christmas", which is a Christmas version of "Snoopy vs The Red Baron". This reminds me of a Christmas tradition growing up. It wasn't Christmas time until I would hear "Grandma got run over by a reindeer", and the McKenzie Brothers' "12 days of Christmas". I still laugh myself silly upon hearing the latter. I can still hear the sound of the snow crunching underfoot as I would cross Denzel's yard at night and the beautiful sight of my neighborhood covered in a fresh snow. My how simple days were back then, how the simple things of good friends and good music bring such happiness.

I thought I should weigh in some opinion of the recent Disney movie after hearing MUCH about how this recent flick portrays African-Americans.

First off, I haven't seen this movie, however I have seen how the real audience has received it. Princess Tiana merchandise is very popular. It has been flying off the shelves and racks and the truth is kids don't have the hang ups adults do about race until someone comes along and points it out. The other thing is that Tiana is American.  All little girls are princesses: spoiled or gracious. Tiana is smart, sweet and driven by self-determination to reach for her dreams. Her background is more of that of Cinderella and Belle than Auroura or Ariel.
Like Belle, Tiana isn't pining after some Prince Charming, she comes to it through self discovery.

One of the controversies seems to have focused on Prince Naveen being of undetermined ethnic background. I get it, but it is hard to be critical of it and be in an interracial relationship oneself. Tiana had a crush on Naveen prior to him being an amphibian, however they both gathered a lot about each other in the telling of the story.
One must become friends first and then, God willing, love follows. Race is superficial and even moreso for kids today. Adults still hold the same divisions and mistrusts and do much to pass them on to another generation.

Bonus points the movie scores:
Mama Odie. Sage old woman with a snake familiar I can relate to.
Tiana's green dress completes a color scheme among the Disney Princesses. Her other soft blue dress is much the same color of Cinderella.
Oprah is in this movie.
/a/ and /co/actually liked this movie. They rage about Bleach but give Disney props. I don't know what is scarier. However on a dour note, they called rule 34 on it as well.

Anyway, I'll be heading to see it on Tuesday with husband.

Current Mood:Yay!
Currently Listenting to: More 東方 Project...