No clean socks, what a way to ring in the New Year
I don't remember what all happened on 12/24. It's my brother's birthday, that's for sure. I went to the Mall with Seymour, which wasn't nearly the madhouse I expected. Birthday dinner for Jay, then 11 o'clock service as per usual. I got to bed around 1 AM, then was up again at 4:30 for Arctic League. That went quite smoothly, though we were further back in line than usual. Bed again by 8:30, and up around 1. My dad was concerned that my sleep-clock would be "out of whack". We didn't start opening presents until around 3 and finished about 6. Good thing it was just us for the holiday. My parents got me Arrested Development seasons 1 & 2, Dazed & Confused, a doormat that looks like a Paris sewer manhole cover, flannel-lined jeans, Freakonomics, the Joy of Cooking, and so on. Jay got me Run Lola Run, as well as some sweet coasters and bookmarks from China (made of bone or something). I read half of Freakonomics, then that night, Jay & I watched Disc 1 of AD Season 1, which he'd never seen. I laughed too much at parts that aren't funny on their own, but are foreshadowing. The parents' TV is a pain in the ass. The sound just stops working randomly. You have to power cycle it to get it to work again. It needs replacing, or some minor repairs that I wish I could do.
On Boxing Day, I woke up earlier than any other day this break (except for Christmas) to hang out with coquere and kingtoast at SFC. I calculated that it was something like the 6th time coquere and I'd seen each other since CTY, but only the second time that it'd been in the same place. One could nitpick about whether BWI & my apartment are in the same geographical location, but for the sake of my argument, I won't. It was very good to see them, and I'm a little sad I didn't get to go out to BC this break myself. Jay & I then visited Staples and B&N to shop. We forgot our gift cards, of course, but upgraded RAM for the parents' desktop and got a wireless router so they could move into the 21st century. In the evening, the family went over to the Bonzos' for our annual Trivial Pursuit match. The parents started off with an amazing run, but we eventually caught up to them and it ended in a draw, as it was getting late. I went over to Anne's that night, to play Cranium and hang out before she left for DisneyWorld. Again with the "bed at 3, up at noon" schedule this break, which seems to be my nature.
The 27th was spent at the Mall, which I rather despise. Pat & I met up at the BonTon, where I exchanged a sweater for pants & a liter Thermos. The Thermos does not quite fit in my umbrella holder of my bag, which is a shame. It kind of does, but it makes it tres lopsided and scares me that it'll fall out. What it DOES do is come with its OWN carrying bag. This looks really silly and I don't think I'll use it. (Make fun of me when I do, please?) Pat, Andy, and I saw The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I only half-read the book as a lad growing up on the banks of the Chemung, but I'm kind of glad I didn't re-read it this summer as I'd planned. The movie was obscenely transparent about its allegorical nature. I laughed a lot. Inappropriately. The boys & their parents came over for dessert, and we went bowling afterwards with Crimmins & Michelle.
I finished Freakonomics and have moved onto browsing the Joy Of Cooking, which uses lots of scary words. The paper it's printed on is a little thin for my taste. For Pat's birthday, we went out to Dirty Joe's. I hadn't been there yet this season, I suppose. Amelia & Krissy represented from C-town, Brit & Laura & Melissa from O-M, and then the standard Elmirans were there. It was like a private party, only way way better.
The Soul Full Cup show was nicely done. I showed up after cooking my parents dinner, to catch the second half or so of gnothi_se_auton's set. Great mix of people in the crowd, some randoms from back in the day to talk to, and PRESSLY. Snooty Pig afterwards got me wrapped up in The Worst Game of Darts Ever, Joe & me losing to some chap I didn't know & Alexis. And, of course, we ended up at Denny's. After 7 hours out, I got home. Why isn't my social life a fulltime job?
Dylan called on the 30th to suggest a Jackals game in the evening. Andy called nearly simultaneously with "6 free tickets" to said game. NICE. Dylan, Tom, Rocky & I headed to Corning for some Salvation Armying -- 3 neckties, 2 cassettes for me. Aniello's for buffalo wing pizza and rummy, Marich for my harmonica-education shopping. Then over to Elmira, where we met up with Brandon and Sam, then Andy at the game. The free tickets thing failed, but some random guy gave Tom a free ticket, and we didn't mind too much paying, as we'd expected to anyways when the plan started. It hit me a few minutes after we sat down: I was at a sporting event with "the guys". How novel. We had a good time, cheering on the one penalty-worthy fight, observing the inexplicable American flag waver, and so forth. Afterwards, we visited Dirty Joe's again. LeeMarie (Fact: I don't know how to spell her name) let me behind the bar to pour my own drink, teehee. A very chill experience. Brandon & I played the Worst Game of Pool Ever. The 8 ball was on the edge of a corner pocket, surrounded by 6 or 7 balls. Again, bed by 3.
For New Year's, Andy & I went grocery shopping to make [Mitzi]'s chowder, which is, I suppose, becoming one of my signature pieces. Mel K showed up around 5, we hung out until party time with my folks, then headed to Amelia's shindig. Good food, a good assortment of people, and generally a nice time. I found out that I cannot keep a straight face while playing Sausages. An inexplicable headache hit me around 11, which put a damper on getting too tipsy. We went downtown to observe AlternaGuy and the "Gaffer District's" festivities. Fun fact: the Verizon cell network was PACKED at 12:05 AM. Mel, Andy & I were home by 12:30, as they had to drive all day today.
And that, dear reader, is how I've gotten to 2006.
Does anybody have a grade for Language yet? I haven't done much work while home, nor exercised at all, nor been a healthy, productive member of society in any way. It's kind of okay, really. I'll be back in Rochester midweek.