For Christmas this year, we went to Barry's parents' house on Christmas Eve and then had a video call with my parents on Christmas Day.

I haven't seen my parents in person for a full year now. It's technically doable, but it would involve driving an hour and a half each way, which is awfully far to go with no very safe way to go indoors and use ( Read more... )

I am now the answer to life, the universe, and everything! That started a week ago. But I've been neglecting LiveJournal for a while now, so I'm going to try to catch up a bit on the backlog before I write about birthday-related activities ( Read more... )

2017 was an exhausting year for me at work. December was the only chance I got to take many vacation days, so I took off every Friday in December and also the whole week between Christmas and New Year's. I wish I felt more recovered than I do, but I guess I am somewhat recovered ( Read more... )

It's present-giving day! The pagan one that most people I know celebrate four days after the solstice and pretend has something to do with Christianity even though rather few of the people I know who celebrate it are actually Christian. Not much about this holiday makes a lot of sense to me, but anyway, it involves giving people presents, and I did ( Read more... )

Much of the world is currently celebrating let's-all-give-each-other-presents days, either today or some other day recently or soon. I also participated in this. Here are the presents I received!

Books:

• Americanah: A Novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
• Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone ( Read more... )

I am 38! And about time too, since 37 was hell. Here's what I received:

• Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions by Arthur M. Shapiro and Timothy D. Manolis
• Field Guide to the Common Bees of California: Including Bees of the Western United States by Gretchen Lebuhn
• Wildflowers of Northern California's Wine ( Read more... )

For Christmas I received the following books:

• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (from my brother)
• The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass (from my parents)
• Complete Pebble Mosaic Handbook by Maggie Howarth (from my parents)
• Firescaping: Creating Fire-Resistant Landscapes, Gardens, and Properties in California's Diverse Environments by Douglas Kent (from my ( Read more... )

Usually I make a LiveJournal entry on my birthday to record the presents I received. Well, my birthday was four days ago now and I haven't done that yet . . . partly because I hadn't actually received presents from anyone but Susan until yesterday. And also because on the evening of my actual birthday, I was rather distracted and unable to focus on ( Read more... )

Susan and I spent a lovely Christmas at my parents' house. She made two pumpkin pies for the occasion, one of which we shared with my family. The other one is all mine! (Susan doesn't much like eating pumpkin pie.)

Here are the books I got for Christmas:

• Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges (from my parents)
• Lilith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler ( ( Read more... )

Susan decided to trade me in for a newer model: 34-year-old me instead of 33-year-old me. This is a good thing, since I don't know where to find 33-year-old me anymore. Here's my list of birthday loot.

Books:

• Sherman Alexie: War Dances (from Susan)
• Best Easy Day Hikes: Sacramento (from my brother)
• Amy Bloom: Away: A Novel (from my parents)
• William ( Read more... )