Christmas, Keyboards and Kong

Christmas being a Sunday, we opened our gifts the night before, and I am pleased to announce not even a certain cat was stirring past 11 pm. Since there was church the next morning, we didn't get over to the Autodaughters' until well past three o'clock and had our Christmas feast in the evening, whereas we usually do it early afternoon. We actually had some different dishes this year--baked potatoes, pasta salad, cranberry jello, and this green bean and bacon fried invention that didn't appear in the least bit appetizing to me--which was a nice change from the routine. We played Set (yeah, I pretty much won every round...) before dinner, and Cranium Congo after.

Aunt Bee, Fibonacci and I went to King Kong yesterday. As my mom put it, it was 'well done.' For the sake of not sounding unsatisfied (as some are accusing me of, quite ungroundedly), I will state the obvious. It was well done. The effects were fantaastic, the acting was good, it's the best Kong thus far (and likely forever), it is a great feat in the world of film, instant classic, blah blah blah... There were quite a few enjoyable scenes, my favorite (along with millions of other movie-goers, I'm sure) being the one with Kong, the T-rexes, and poor, dishevelled Ann dangling in the ravine. However, I wasn't as emotionally drawn into the story as I thought I would be, and I didn't leave the theater thinking "Wow, that was the best movie I've seen this year!" This is not necessarily a critique on the movie itself or the actors' portrayal of the characters or what have you, I just didn't care about them much. I guess there wasn't much substance behind the story, no great, immortal truth that drew me in, that I learned along with the characters. "It was beauty killed the beast" was a nice line, but nothing too deep. So don't watch it thinking you're getting a didactic tale. If you're looking for a thrill ride, however--with some romance and comedy thrown in--Kong certainly pays the bill (what the heck is "fill the bill" supposed to mean, anyway?).

Man, was I out of it last night at out open gym. It was a fun practice, mostly consisting of bump, an impromptu one-on-one tournament, blitz drill, and scrimmaging. It should have been easy, but I don't know where my head was. Fortunately, most of my mistakes were more humorous than harmful, and I was able to laugh at them, and my jovial teammates certainly jumped right on the proverbial bandwagon. Ah, well, hopefully I'll be more focused tonight...

A Christmas Cat

This is Zowi, looking frightened by a balloon or something equally detestable, like a ceiling light or something. (:

Our Imperial Tarsi

In an attempt to thwart my mad detective skills, my mom has begun wrapping the tags on top of the gifts. My dad has also caught on to the mystery-recipient craze, so I have--quite begrudgingly--decided to give them a taste of their own proverbial medicine. So, instead of labeling the gifts "To mom" or something lame like that, I'm using anagrams, such as "Cheery elf faces lob car."

Speaking of anagrams, my brother informed me of some English queen who was quite fond of them and spent her leisurly hours in de-anagramizing; there was one puzzle was never able to solve, however, the answer being a single, ten letter word: Roast Mules. Intrigued, I got out the ol' Scrabble pieces and messed around with it last night, finding a lot of words (Ultra-Moses, Toaless Rum, etc.), a lot of words that should be (Tesomurals, Lastmouser), but no reasonable solution. (When my parents got home, we continued our attempt to de-anagramize Roast Mules, our favorite being Soul Masters.) It would help to know if the answer is actually in English; considering she was a queen of England, she likely knew French and possibly Spanish, Dutch, Latin or what not. Or maybe not. Regardless, we haven't come any closer than she.

Speaking of predecessing queens, I have somewhat thick ankles. Not when you look from the front, but from the side. I'm supposedly related to Mary, Queen of Scotts. (That makes me royalty, btw, not only by ambition, but also by birth.) No one else in my family is cursed by these odd, thick bones, so I've decided I get all my royal genes from dear, old Auntie Mary. In other words, I have regal looking ankles. *sighs knowingly* Yes, I realize it just isn't quite fair that you can't be more like me...

Perhaps my family also gets their madness from the royal blood-line. Seriously, there ar--I mean, were a lot of crazy monarchs. Speaking of madness, I think there's something wrong with me. I don't feel like eating any of the plethora of candies surrounding me. Huh. Well, regardless, I guess all I have left to say is...



























That certainly didn't work as well as I'd hoped...Interpretation: Have experience enjoy live remember celebrate a Happy jovial merry cheery lovely memorable simple peaceful blessed wonderful enchanting safe uncharted jolly warm-hearted phenomenal fascinating Christmas Season and a New Year full of Wonder and Discovery~

And the Mountains in Reply....

Ah, Christmas.

It's been quite a week, what with holiday parties, finals, and basketball. (We're on a losing streak, if you're wondering. Instead of our normal 10 players--our star(ting) point guard, Amber, is out for several weeks with an ankle inury--we'll have a walloping 8 to field in our games this Thursday, due to holiday travel. That ought to be a character revealing experience. I should mention, actually, that we've made some improvements as a team, although they aren't improvements that necessarily show statistically.)

If I was driving this sleigh ride (and by "this sleigh ride," I mean, of course, this household) I'd have, oh, about 2-4 small parties each holiday season; nothing fancy or stressful, just nice times with friends and family, something about validating Judy Garland warbling "Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore..." My parents do not agree with my philosophy, and generally abstain from Christmas cheer in the social department as much as possible. Oh, they're not Scrooges or hermits, they just prefer to be home as a family, enjoying to lights on the tree, reading or what not. However, they appear to be thawing a bit from the anti-social ice that has gripped them the past few years (deny it if you will, Aunt Bee), and we had some friends over last Sunday for a filling Italian meal and pleasant day of warm fires, Monopoly and conversation. It was quite an enjoyable day, and perhaps an encouragement to the 'rents to do more entertaining (the word "entertaining" used here solely for lack of a better term). A change in philosophy, perhaps.

Anyway, the holiday spirit was also alive and well in our sign language class this week, as we watched a The Miracle Worker (the version with the curly-haried chick from Polly and the Pepsi commercials a few years back) while munching on popcorn and apple juice. I think it was the first time those 7th graders have ever shut up for more than twelve seconds at a time. Flabbergasting, really. We also had a lovely evening at my aunt and uncle's house on Monday.

As for finals....
Chemistry was actually fun, and much easier than I expected, coming from a college. The "blue book" final consisted of four questions to be answered in essay form; however, as the professor has a keen awareness of the extent of scientific knowledge his students possess, he makes some allowances, such as posting the pool of questions he is going to choose from online a week or so in advance. About half the class walked out without completing--or starting--the final since they had enough credit with their returned portoflios to warrant an "A."

Debate, on the other hand, well, the final didn't happen. Mainly because it wasn't scheduled to. Of course, for whatever reason, I assumed it was (the original syllabus did say it was the 13th), and studied for several hours. Naturally, it isn't until January 10th. Ah, well, more time to improve my cases, I suppose.

And now, it is winter break (notice how politically correct I am), and I--foolish I, who consciously chose to go on a domestic rampage and sew a bunch of stuff for my friends--have some gifts to make. So, adieu.

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Snow (n. A vile, white substance consisting mostly of H2O that falls to the ground on freezing December days and manages to get inside one's shoes despite preconsidered plans--such as stepping in existing footprints--to avoid this unfortunate predicament. Romanticized in many seasonal carols sung by the likes of Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole.)

Ah, Narnia...

Well, I saw The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe over the weekend, and....it's everything it should be.
Yes, it's a kid's movie, and the scenes meant to be suspensful were a little lame to this mature sage of a 16-year-old. But it should be a kid's movie, and I know I would have been spell-bound just a couple of years ago.
As usual, I can't pointedly observe what I liked about the film, but my opinion on the few things I disliked are whelming my mind. So, with no further ado, my observations/complaints are as follows:
The film tries a bit too hard to be epic. A subtler approach, in my opinion, would have worked better. That was one thing that drew me to the 1989 BBC version (even with the costumed-human beavers and drawn animation creatures)--it wasn't overdone. They let the story just sort of flow, and it was all the more enchanting because of its subtlety. Of course, Disney promoted Wardrobe as an action-adventure flick, so I was expecting as much.
The White Witch is rather strange. Her hair and odd, hunch-back-forming gowns really perturbed my friends and I, and we didn't find her to be all that beautiful, as she is described in the books. She's also exudes a rather elusive sensuality, though nothing younger kids would pick up on.
Eck, speaking of sensual vibes, am I the only one who was weirded out by the Lucy-Tumnus (who were both perfectly casted, btw) relationship? There was almost this romantic undertone that really creeped me out. She's, like, what--6 years old? I'm probably just reading too much into it--which I tend to do--and no one else mentioned it, but I could see Disney deciding that if they make A Horse and His Boy, they could bring in a romance between the two. Eck. It's still waaay to early to bring that in.
(We now interrupt your regular program for a mid-post disclaimer--
I think I analyze too much--WAY too much. Which is why this post is beginning to rival my review of Eragon in length. Well, maybe not quite that long...)
The movie follows the book fairly closely, with just a few minor changes and one added suspense scene. The one difference I found to be of any import was Aslan. He wasn't the regal, awe-inspiring God-figure Lewis portrayed him as. I'm not all that into allegories and wasn't expecting a dogmatically Christian film, but the story lost some of its effectiveness with Aslan being more "chummy" (as one friend put it) than kinglike. It was hard to understand why the children were so attached to him after just a day or so of knowing him. There simply wasn't anything compelling about this supposedly princely lion.
This also spilled over to his sacrifice, which was less poignant than it should have been. Yes, it's noble for any one to die in the place of someone else, but the concept of a majestic king meekly dying for his servant is more powerful. It was an especially defined change considering the rest of the film, conspicuously the battle scenes, tried so hard to attain grandeur, while Aslan's death--which was kind of the core of the story--was somewhat barren.
Still, cheers to Disney for sticking to the book. Though there was an underlying fecklessness to Aslan, Wardrobe was nonetheless charming. I was amused by all the mythical creatures they included, some of which, like tauroses, I don't remember from the book. I look forward to seeing the rest of Narnia on the big screen.

Pickles & Snow

Achievable Record for the Underachiever: Fitting an entire 46 oz. jar of dill pickles (sans juice) into a single slot in a Thanksgiving relish tray, approx. 4 1/2" x 3" x 2 1/2".

So they're slightly protruding--who cares?
I'll be awaiting my invitation to be featured in the Guinness World Records 2006 Edition. Impatiently.

Anyway, as for the snow...

A nicely shovelled walkway by my father's effort.

The picture below makes me think of Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who..."We are here! We are here!"

Burried treasure below? Or just a plastic, unused planting pot? It shall ever remain a mystery...

Yes, it is I, the intrepid photographer braving freezing temperatures to bring you this post!

(Polite comments about my grit and skill are accepted.)

White December

Well, the snow has come and covered everything with a thick blanket of whiteness. Although this has enveloped me even more in the holiday spirit, I am rather perturbed because it means our game against arguably the best team in the conference is postponed, and I was quite, quite, quite excited to play today, especially after a weak team showing in our Teusday game against a team we should have played right with. But, alas, patience is required. At least I won't have to wear a skirt today, if I even leave the house.