1 day until Return of the King. Tomorrow’s the day! Yay! I’m trying to keep the excitement in check, I’d not to be able to accomplish anything else because I’m obsessing over a movie.

Work at DMNS was great yesterday. While my boss was gone, I got to know the 2nd in command, Rich. I learned a lot, and I catalogued my first artifact. While my drawing of it sucked, I was at least descriptive. I also helped to move a 200 lb rock. Things will be slow in our dept. until after the holidays, but I may try to clock some more hours.

I’m pretty excited about our trip to the frozen tundra known as Canada. Well, as excited as I can be leaving my kitty, and going where it’s colder. 🙂 I hope it will be relaxing, and I’ll bring some books to read. I grabbed a few from the library yesterday, The Beloved Disciple (Beth Moore), & The Gospel Reloaded: Exploring Spirituality And Faith In The Matrix (Chris Seay & Greg Garrett). I may attempt to bake today. It’s not my strong suit, but I thought it would be a nice gesture to give cookies to our neighbors in the spirit of Christmas. Pray for me. 🙂

Everything else is good I guess. I have to work on the spare bedroom a little more to make way for the bed that is coming. Looking at the room, it’s hard to imagine a bed fitting in here.

That’s all from here. I’m out of control adding things to my Amazon wishlist. But season 1 & 2 of Newsradio comes to DVD in February! How could not add that? I’ll include some quotes so you get how awesome it is.

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[Talking about his vacation in Japan]

Matthew: You would’ve loved it, David. A week in a foreign country, strange people, strange customs…

Dave: Oh, I know what you mean. I’ve been to Canada.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Dave: Bill, haven’t you ever heard the expression, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?”

Bill: Dave, haven’t you ever heard the expression, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and then throw it in the face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the oranges you originally asked for?”

__________________________________________________________________________________

[Reading cards from the complaint box.]

Dave: “You suck.” “You suck.” “Howard Stern rules.” “If you can read this you are a dork.” “Coupon for one free kiss from Joe if you are a girl.” “We need more complaint cards.” “Coupon for one free kiss from Joe if you are a guy.”

Joe: Hey!

Dave: [pulling out a fortune cookie slip] “You will go on a journey, happy long time.” “Matthew is a moron.” “No I’m not.” “Yes you are.” “No I’m not infinity.” “Yes you are infinity plus one.” And this one, “I have doobie in my funk,” which I assume is some sort of reference to the Parliament Funkadelic song, “Chocolate City.” Uh, “You got peanut butter in my chocolate. You got chocolate in my peanut butter. Together they taste like crap.” “Matthew has been staring at me all day… and I like it.” I don’t think I get this one, it says, “I try to be good hard-worker-man, but refrigemater so messy, so so messy.”

Lisa: I think that one’s probably from Milos, the janitor.

Dave: Oh. Refrigem—oh, then that one’s legitimate.

[continues reading the complaint cards]

Dave: Uh, “Who’s the black private dick who’s the sex machine with all the chicks.”

Bill, Beth, Lisa, Matthew, Joe: SHAFT!

Bill: I thought we’d all enjoy that.

Dave: [reading one last card] And, “Help, I’m being held prisoner in a complaint box,” which is actually kinda funny.

Song I can’t stop listening to is Hanging By A Moment by Lifehouse.

4 Days until Return of the King, and I’m pretty excited. We bought our tickets today, which kicked the excitement into high gear! Best of all we’ll get to see it on a large screen. Wheee!

Alright Christmas, go ahead and come. All the shopping is done, and all the shipping is done too. We fed-exed everything this morning. Huge weight off my shoulders.

With my birthday in less than a month, I’ve already started looking at stuff I may want, in case I don’t get it for Christmas. I rarely buy anything in the time between Christmas & my birthday just to be safe. Or I’ll check with people to see if it’s okay. I found a fabulous sweater at Foley’s that I have my eye on, in the case that I get money at Christmas. Normally I wouldn’t shop Foley’s, but it’s a good price for a sweater, though I’d love it if they dropped the price even $10. We’ll see what happens.

I finally convinced Geoff he needed new boots, as his have been leaking in the sole. We’ll keep the old ones for camping.

I’ve been in kind of a weird state the last few weeks. I’ve felt the strong desire to renew old friendships. Actually, it’s been longer than a few weeks. I got reacquainted with a friend from high school this past spring, and now we’re trying to keep in touch via email. She & her husband are trying to conceive, so it’s exciting to share that experience with someone. We are also trying to conceive, in case you didn’t know. I also emailed an old friend that I lost touch with a few years ago. I don’t quite know what brought on these feelings, but I’m just going with it. I thought about emailing a friend I had in junior high, but I wasn’t sure that 1. He would remember me, and 2. that he would want to hear from me. I’m giving it some more time to think about. I had a lot of friends in junior high, but I didn’t go to high school with many of them, so I doubt they’d remember me. Does anyone else feel like that?

I read a great book this week, Party Monster by James St. James. It was originally published under the title Disco Bloodbath, and it has been released as a movie (again?) starring Macaulay Culkin & Seth Green. I’ll likely have to wait until it comes out on DVD, which I think is in February 2004. It isn’t playing that close to me. But I’d probably read the book again, it was very funny. I also rented One Hour Photo (which was odd), and Family Guy Seasons 1&2. I love Family Guy! It’s hilarious, witty, and yet another gem that Fox didn’t keep on the air. Fox has an annoying habit of cancelling shows I like. Them & the WB. I wrote to Fox to encourage them to release more of their cancelled shows on DVD. Like Titus, Harsh Realm, or The Lone Gunmen.

Oh, I guess I could write about my job at the museum. It was fun. My boss Jeff is cool, he reminds me of a cross between Kevin from KUCI, and Jamie Hyneman of Mythbusters. So far, I’m only working Mondays until I learn the ropes & stuff. Geoff & I are going to the museum tomorrow because it’s a free day, and I can’t wait to check stuff out. Science can be a lot of fun!

I’ll close with a quote from Ghostbusters which was on this morning. I love that movie, Bill Murray cracks me up.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Hee hee! “Get her!” That was your whole plan. I like it; it was scientific.

I don’t know what stresses you out about Christmas, but I’ll share what does for me. It’s the anticipation of whether or not family will like the gift I chose for them. It’s important to me that people like the gifts I get them. They don’t have to be THE gift of the holiday, but to genuinely enjoy them. I will be on pins & needles until I see (or hear) their reaction. Now, I wouldn’t want anyone who buys me a gift to feel this way. I’m a very easy person to shop for. Not only do I provide a wishlist on Amazon, but I have several interests that make shopping for me easy. Rarely have I received a gift I didn’t like. The most infamous to those who know & love me, is the jar of mints. A gift I received from a boyfriend in the 10th grade. Now, I don’t like mints, not at all. So you can imagine my dismay that the boy I like buys me a jar of them. As a point of reference, we’d been friends for a year, and dating for 5 months. I gave him a Levi’s shirt.

So, that being said, I have enjoyed almost all gifts I have ever received.

This Christmas, our tree will be fairly barren of gifts, as we are celebrating Christmas with my in-laws after the 25th. But we can look at it as extending the opening fun. Thing is, last year, opening gifts didn’t take long, and then we were off to Disneyland for the day. This year, there is no Disneyland nearby, but we may try to go to a movie. We’ll see. It’s likely we’ll watch any DVD’s we get, and I know there will be some.

I took the San Francisco pictures off my website, and will try to update most of my photos. But right now, I have to finish getting some gifts wrapped and ready to mail. I’ll close with a great movie quote about gift-giving.

Stacy: Well, don’t you want to open your present?

Wayne Campbell: What is it?

Stacy: Open it.

Wayne Campbell: What is it?

Stacy: It’s a gun rack.

Wayne Campbell: A gun rack… a gun rack. I don’t even own *a* gun, let alone many guns that would necessitate an entire rack. What am I gonna do… with a gun rack?

Stacy: You don’t like it? Fine! You know Wayne, if you’re not careful, you’re going to lose me.

Wayne Campbell: I lost you 2 months ago! We broke up! Are you mental?

GO BRONCOS!

What a great game today. I really wanted the Broncos to beat Kansas City, and they did! Clinton Portis is the man! 🙂

The Christmas tree is up & trimmed. It looks great. We have a tradition of naming our trees, and Geoff named him Bruce. I’ll try to post his picture on my website this week.

I start volunteering at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science tomorrow morning. I spent Saturday in museum orientation, which was kind of fun. I met some people, I got a free tour. Did you know that DMNS has hidden elves, much like Disney’s hidden Mickeys? Some of the painters hid elves in some of the diaramas backgrounds. I found two on my tour, but you can get a map of where to look for them from the Information desk. Anyways, I will be working in the Education Collections Dept. I hope I’ll enjoy it, I’m sure I will.

The Christmas shopping is practically done. I have one or two last stocking stuffers to purchase. So now I wrap & ship gifts. I have only 4 or so more cards to stamp, and some ornaments to make.

We rented The Santa Clause 2, and it was pretty good. We’re in a renting phase right now, so we’re seeing more movies than usual. We had some coupons, so it’s been cheaper to get movies. I’m working on finding a theatre nearby to get advance tickets to Return of the King. I watched a special on ROTK on CBS last week. It got me all geared up. Plus, I finished the book a few weeks ago. I don’t know if you heard about this, but there was an online petition a few weeks ago urging Peter Jackson (the director) not to cut the scene wrapping up Saruman’s storyline. Sadly in had to be cut, but Jackson promises to include it on the DVD. It was only a 7 minute scene, but as he said, if the fans decided what was in the movie, it would be 8 hours long. With that news, I can figure what else would have to be cut to make the continuity add up. It’s all about the extended editions anyway. 🙂

Dinner is ready, I’ll try to let you know about the DMNS job this week. And speaking of Lord of the Rings, from The Two Towers…

Gimli: Toss me.

Aragorn: What?

Gimli: I cannot jump the distance. You’ll have to toss me. Don’t tell the elf.

I can hardly believe it’s December. It seems like this has been such a long year. But December brings Christmas, and I love Christmas. The snow, the lights, and the music telling of the birth of our Savior. Those songs are about events that really happened, and it can be a little awe-inspiring. And since becoming a believer, the holiday has grown more dear to my heart.

I generally enjoy Christmas shopping, some people are more fun to shop for than others. My cousin Kelly wrote a great article on the art of gift-giving , and it’s really good. I love the return of wishlist, like Amazon.com. It makes it easier for my family, and you have the comfort of knowing you’re likely to get something you like. We did a good portion of our shopping online.

This weekend we’ll get a tree, and then I get to be sentimental as we dig out our ornaments & the history behind them. We have our favorites, and I enjoy adding new ones. It’s just such a fun holiday.

We rented Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and it was wonderful! Action-packed & hilarious. Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the greatest characters I’ve seen on screen. I can’t wait for the inevitable sequel.

well, back to stampin’ those Christmas cards. And from Captain Jack Sparrow…

Jack Sparrow: You, sailor!

Mr. Gibbs: Cotton, sir.

Jack Sparrow: Mr. Cotton. Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?

(Pause)

Jack Sparrow: Mr. Cotton! Answer, man!

Mr. Gibbs: He’s a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out, so he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one’s yet figured how.

Jack Sparrow: Mr. Cotton’s… parrot. Same question.

Song I can’t stop listening to is Unchanging by Chris Tomlin.

Last night was a hard night. I was lying on my bed listening to my iPod, and If You Could Read My Mind, by Gordon Lightfoot came on. I was overwhelmed by thoughts of my dad. I was thinking a wide range of thoughts. First was how much my dad liked Burton Cummings, and I was thinking about the impact my dad’s love of music had on me. And I thought about how he looked before he died. Like death. He was a shell of who he once was. I thought about the conversations we shared before he died. They were mostly empty, we talked about sports, about the last episode of The Rockford Files we had watched days prior. We didn’t say we loved each other. We didn’t know when our last conversation would be, and we didn’t say anything profound. I have to believe we both knew we loved each other. You just can’t live your life holding onto to regrets, and acts & words unsaid. Right?

My dad was pretty funny, and he loved to wrestle with my brother & I. It scared Geoff the first time he came over for dinner, and there my dad & Colin are attacking each other. He was always testing me on his music, who sings what song as we listened to oldies music. Wherever we went, he would always ask.

He wasn’t a perfect dad, it hurt me a lot that he never came to see me in the States. It hurt that he would always say he was going to, when I knew he wouldn’t. But we are all imperfect, and I’m sure I made choices that hurt him too. But you only have one dad, and I will miss him for a very long time. I feel blessed that I have my mom, and we have a great relationship. I have my brother Colin & I have his wife Dawn. I have Geoff who is so supportive of the emotional rollercoaster I’m riding. I have great in-laws. And I have my step-mom Debbie, who is suffering much more than me. It’s been years since I lived with my dad, and she lived with him for the last 6 or 7 years. Most of all I have our Lord & God Jesus Christ, who walks with me through this valley. Who walks with my dad right now.

Whoa. I didn’t mean to get so deep. I just needed to I guess. I’m going to close with some lyrics from If You Could Read My Mind, and a quote from Scrooged, which was on tv last night. It’s in my top 5 Christmas Movies.

And if you read between the lines

You’ll know that I’m just tryin’ to understand

The feelings that you lack

I never thought I could feel this way

And I’ve got to say that I just don’t get it

I don’t know where we went wrong

But the feelings gone

And I just can’t get it back

-Gordon Lightfoot

Frank Cross: I never liked a girl well enough to give her 12 sharp knives.

Man oh man, you have to love turkey. And a picky eater like me, it’s all about the turkey & gravy. The Jones’ family from our church had us over, and after food I got to play Catch Phrase & Pictionary. I love games. I’m a little competitive, but not as much as I used to be. I’m mellowing. But I do like to win. And I’m married to the guy who doesn’t care one way or another about games. Unless it’s Bridge. And because it’s just the two of us, that leaves Whist to play (2-man Bridge).

I was thinking, now that I live in Colorado, there are probably some things I should now about it.

1. What are the states surrounding Colorado?

2. What’s the population of Denver?

3. Who’s the governor?

I have no clue. I hardly know the names of the other cities here. Met someone from Cortez, I didn’t even think it was in this state. But I’ve got 3 years to learn this stuff. And it can only help me with Jeopardy!

Just watched Bruce Almighty, loved it! Hilarious! Definitely worth renting.

Bruce Nolan: Behind every great man.. is a woman rolling her eyes.

I was thinking today, about when I was in the twelfth grade, my friend Dani asked me to be in a play she was directing. I agreed to it, though it was big role. The play was called A Taste of Honey (I still have my script). My character was Jo, and the other actors were friends Maria (she played my mother), Dave (my mother’s boyfriend), and Adam as my gay best friend. Adam also had to play my boyfriend who leaves me when I get pregnant. I haven’t seen any of these people (save for Dani) since high school. Funny, now I hardly remember the last names (& sometimes the first names) of the “friends” I had when I was younger. Did I make such an impact on people too? What I find so weird, is the older I get the more shy I get. In elementary school, I was always signing up for school plays, and in junior high, I stuck with drama and joined the theatre sports club. In high school, I started to shy away, though I did have a small role in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Then I moved into doing the tech stuff, sound & lights. Then Dani’s play. We never got to the performance stage. There wasn’t enough time. Two years ago, Geoff & I participated in the church’s Gong Show. We re-enacted a scene from the Princess Bride (Battle of the Wits).

Where am I going with this? Someone at our church asked us to consider joining the drama team. They do skits during service once in a while. I’m hesitant, and I don’t know why I’d be so afraid to branch out into that again. I’m just more self conscience than I used to be. Huh. I don’t know.

The other point, I guess it’s weird to me that I had so many friends growing up, and I hardly remember half of them. I guess the really good friends, are the ones I still talk to. But I don’t miss high school. I wasn’t a very good student, I spent most of it chasing boys, playing cards, and ditching. I do miss some of the friends I had, and I have some good memories, but I wouldn’t go through it again. I do want to go to my 10 year reunion in a few years, but Geoff won’t. They may not even have one, as I’ve heard they haven’t had one for the last few years. Maybe once it rolls around, I’ll contact the ones I want to see, and we’ll meet for dinner.

I think this may have stemed from watching Never Been Kissed last night on tv. But it’s a cute movie, so I had to watch it.

End quote, That Thing You Do!

Mr. White: It is very important that you don’t stink today.

Lenny: Hey, I make no guarantees.

Well, had a fairly relaxed weekend. It snowed like I haven’t seen in so long. And the day it snowed, & snowed, & snowed some more was the day we decided to go shopping for groceries & cheese. Geoff wants to expand his cheese palate, while I’m pretty content with cheddar. 🙂 And the roads were okay enough to get to church Sunday am. We accepted an offer to join a family at church for Thanksgiving. Last year we spent it with the Houghs & Salernos, and let me tell ya, that Rachelle Hough, she makes a mean turkey dinner. The year before we went to the Kroliks. Ya, the holidays make me miss our adoptive families in California. I miss my real family too, don’t get me wrong.

I felt sad this weekend. I just really missed my dad. I miss his voice, and hearing him laugh. Though most of our conversations were just sports related, or what was going with people he knew. And have I talked to my brother lately. He was always asking me that. My brother & I talk, albeit, not as often as some siblings. But I would say we are close.

The tv had A Christmas Story on this weekend. Now it’s officially the holiday season. After 2 days of nagging I convinced Geoff to let me decorate the house. He likes it because he gets to light his Hollyberry candle. We’ve been listening to Christmas music since November 1. We got some Peet’s holiday breakfast blend tea a few weeks ago. We love Peet’s.

Anyways, the tea is really good, they have it in coffee too, but I’m not crazy about flavored coffee.

I’ll close with 2 quotes from my favorite Christmas movie, The Ref. (What? It’s really funny!)

John Chasseur: Mom, the TV’s broken. What are we gonna do all night?

Connie Chasseur: Celebrate the birth of Christ!

Rose: You’re a “Wong”?

Gus: Well, my mother was Irish.

Rose: And your father?

Gus: Wasn’t.