Friday, December 27, 2013

Holiday. Celebrate.

I hope everyone managed to have a safe and enjoyable holiday. Also, if anyone else is feeling down, I hear that's normal because of all the stress and weirdness of forced interaction with other people. The majority of my gifts this year were books I found at the used book store. For my stocking stuffers at family Christmas, I did a bit of a gag gift by packing candy bars along with sticks of deodorant.

Here's what I got over the course of December, including birthday gifts:
Ed Hardy Geisha Car Fresheners in Love Tonic scent
A new red fleece robe
$50 in Starbucks cards
The Christmas Shoes on DVD
A crystal angel car dangly thing with purple wings
A bundle of snacks and candies
A bag of candy and treats
A Christmas mug full of fancy chocolates
Packs totaling 36 glow bracelets
a fancy box of Harney & Sons teas

this frackin awesome shirt


this frackin awesome infinity scarf 

these frackin awesome earrings

A statue that might be a horse











DVDs of an anime from my childhood: The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and Unico in the Island of Magic. Incidentally I was reminded of how odd my early years must seem.









I was also able to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug with a good friend, a recap of which will be coming as soon as I finish some research to support some of my observations. And let's not forget both friends and family took me out to Broadway shows that came through town back in November!


In addition, my sister and I created a power team with my niece to to express ourselves in the art of cookie. Unsurprisingly our tormented inner selves came out in rainbows and sparkly sugar.

It would surprise no one that most filming was of my niece as she opened her presents. Everyone else was content in watching the crazy antics of our family exchanging gifts as well as try to keep the dog out of the room to avoid stray chewing of wrappings. I should recount this funny moment after all the gifts were opened that my niece took her new butterfly Barbie to her room and started trying to help her toy fly by flinging it across the room. She would then take her new toy doctor kit and try to give the Barbie a "check up" for injuries.
Dinner went smoothly, and I didn't even have a vertigo episode! It might have helped that I researched many recipes to ensure it was a very simple menu.
Good tidings during this close of the year. May the next one bring plenty of endings, beginnings, and fond memories.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Post-holiday Lethargy

Thanksgiving turned out great this year, as all four of us kids chipped in to help. Thank the powers that be that I had the foresight to plan ahead and make bread and dessert the day before. We wrangled a 24lb bird for the dinner, which we slathered in herb butter. The gravy was thus very rich, oh yes. As part of my "make things simple" initiative, I also found recipes for slow cooker potatoes and a cranberry chutney. There was also a simplified recipe for a green vegetable with mushroom sauce casserole, roasted sweet potatoes and pears,  However, halfway through the day I experienced a bad episode of vertigo, so I was shoved into the conductor role from the couch as my two brothers and sister finished things. Here is a lovely pinterest menu.

School is wrapping up, it looks like I'll pass with good grades and thus be eligible for graduation from the Dietetic Technician program! What this will mean is that once the school processes my transcripts and classes, they will mark me as "graduated" and I will be able to take the credentialing exam to become a Dietetic Technician. With this national credential I can apply for a position anywhere in the U.S. of A!

Playing games: spent less than two days getting a 100% completion game for Psychonauts, including all the Steam achievements! So proud ^_^.
Other games I've played: Incredipede, Eets Munchies, and Fez. I'm also planning to replay Dust for more achievements, possibly Limbo, and then I think some quality time with Dungeon Defenders. I may bust out my consoles to play some Okamiden, or maybe Wind Waker...oh, I definitely want to reacquaint myself with Tomba, which my brothers got on PS3. It's still a touchy state of mind with trying to relax after so long letting my brain buzz with NEEDTOWORKWHATNEEDSTOBEDONE. I'll get twitchy in the morning, buzz around the house cleaning this and that before remembering to chill out, rest a bit, so as not to suffer another vertigo attack.

This season I seem to be in a better position to go to musical theater shows in town. I had the privilege to see my community colleges's fall musical, Rent with one of my good friends. This performance brought me to tears, as it usually does. The story of these friends throughout a year of struggling with relationships, art, and society in the 90s still resonates quite powerfully, I feel. In addition, as part of my birthday this year, my parents did an awesome thing and took me to The Addams Family Musical at one of the local theaters. This show is something to behold. While one may not think the Addams family is conducive to musical accompaniment, the show was amazingly well done. The plot for sure is much better than any of the film adaptations. There are snippets and amalgams of the Broadway performance on Youtube, if anyone is interested, and musical sites like Spotify have the soundtrack available for listening. Finally, I took my young niece to see the community college production of A Year With Frog and Toad. It was ADORABLE! Not only did the performing arts program make a great musical adaptation of the book series, but it did so in a way that was accessible for young children. The play was a series of short story performances, connected by the friendship of a frog and a toad (played by girls!).

Otherwise, I'm just trying to get back into creative output. I'd love to be making art again.