2009
Well, 2008’s been pretty good to me. Besides all the dumb things I’ve done and annoying things that have happened, I think it went okay.
Of course, I just finished eating chocolate. So I’m a bit optimistic right now.
2008 gave me this blog, and both Criminal Minds and NCIS, as well as the sixth Artemis Fowl book and several other really good books. It gave me the currently untitled NaNoNovel, and myriad half-scrawled fanfics and original fics throughout my hard drive. It gave me Within Temptation, Secondhand Serenade, and The Fray. It gave me trips to Florida, the SW United States and Mexico, and Hawaii. It gave me a library card, my driver’s permit, and a summer teaching underprivileged city kids to read. It gave me my Spanish class, a new laptop, and my heavenly slippers. It gave me a new cousin, the Olympics, a Presidential Election, and publication.
It’s getting down to the wire here, so I can’t list everything I can think of about this year that was great (though my brain teems with ideas), but just know that it wasn’t as bad as my constant complaining might make you think. I’m a chronic complainer. Admission is the first step to recovery, right?
Anyway, Happy New Year, everybody, and Goodbye, 2008! (And just when I was getting used to it being 2008 already and 2000 being a long time ago). We’ll miss you.
*Drum roll*
Happy 2009, World!
Book Meme
I just can’t resist these.
Book Meme
Here
are the rules: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find
the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in
your journal/blog along with these instructions. Don’t dig for your
favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the
CLOSEST. Tag five other people to do the same.
Scotch and bourbon are both whiskeys distilled from grains and aged in oak barrels. But there are very important differences.
Bourbon usually starts with mash, a ground mix of corn and other grains, usually rye and barley. Bourbon mash must be at least 51% corn (if it’s a mix of new corn mash and stuff that’s been used before, it’s called sour mash). This high content of corn and its sugars is why bourbon is so much sweeter than scotch.
Before you freak, it’s from a Mental Floss non-fiction book called What’s the Difference? on the page Scotch vs. Bourbon. It was the closest book to my bed, what can I say?
If you want a fiction book, the closest fiction I have is this:
“What about the consequences?” I hear the voice of Mitchell “Afraid Of His Own Shadow” Pangborn as clearly as if he were standing next to me. I look around. No Mitch. He’s not here. It’s just me and the dead people and Teri pulling out of sight at the bottom of the hill. I am hallucinating my boyfriend’s voice, another sign that I need more sleep. Consequences. Mitchell is very big on consequences, which explains his virginity. Mine, too, for that matter.
Now, if this sounds like a lame chick-litty book, it’s not. It’s just bad timing. {catalyst, (yes, that’s actually the title, with the {) by Laurie Halse Anderson. She’s awesome, and I personally like this one better than Speak. Though I have to say that Speak was also an amazing book. I just relate to Kate in {catalyst better. Definitely a book worth checking out, despite my ill-fated selection. Kate’s smart. You’d like her.
Anyway, Ziva’s calling me from the next tab. Toodles.
~DreamingOfNothing
Simply Enchanted
*DreamingOfNothing, after stomping upstairs and opening blog post, quickly erects “Warning: Dripping Sarcasm” sign*
Just watched the new Disney movie ‘Enchanted.’ If you’ve seen it, you can probably guess what the following rant is going to be about.
***SPOILERS FOR ENCHANTED, WHICH IS NOT A BAD MOVIE IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANY TASTE DON’T MIND SAPPY UNREALISTIC FAIRY TALES***
That may have given you a hint.
It started off great. I loved the caricature of a cliché Disney Princess movie, complete with ‘Love at First Sight’ and singing and dancing cutesy animals. I loved seeing the stupid, naive princess completely in horror at New York City. I loved the prince making a complete fool out of himself.
My appreciation ended rather dramatically when I realized that the supposed mocking of a traditional Disney fairy tale was not, as I had earlier thought, a satire. They were deadly serious. And the princess, despite being a stupid bimbo, turns out to be the character we were actually supposed to like, instead of merely appreciating for comedy value.
Okay, quick rundown in case you ignored the previously posted sign and snuck down here before you’d seen the movie. (I’m going to cut and paste from Wikipedia, because I don’t think that I can give a fully unbiased account right now)
Giselle lives in the blissful, traditional animated world of Andalasia, where animals are talkative companions and musical interludes punctuate every interaction. She dreams of her true love and as she sings about true love’s kiss to her chipmunk friend Pip and other forest animals, Prince Edward hears her voice in the forest and rescues her from a troll. Giselle and Edward become engaged to be married the next day. Edward’s stepmother, Queen Narissa, disguises herself as an old hag and pushes Giselle into a magic portal to the modern world in order to keep her stepson single and thus remain queen.
Giselle emerges in the live-action world of New York City and meets Robert Philip, a divorice lawyer who reluctantly decides to help her find her way home. He allows her to stay at his apartment despite believing that she is crazy and worrying about the safety of his young daughter Morgan. To Robert’s surprise, Giselle invites animals in the city — rats and
other vermin — to help her clean his apartment, and constructs a dress using material cut from his curtains. Robert reaches the end of his patience when Giselle causes a fight between him and his soon-to-be-fiancée, Nancy, and a scene at his office because of her naivety.He decides to part with Giselle at Central Park, but rejoins her after seeing her give the money he gave her to an old woman. During their walk through Central Park, Giselle questions Robert on how he displays his affection for Nancy and spontaneously starts the
musical production number “That’s How You Know” with everyone in the park performing with her. Giselle helps Robert reconcile with Nancy by sending an apology on Robert’s behalf, along with tickets to the King’s and Queen’s Ball.Meanwhile, Queen Narissa’s henchman Nathaniel follows Edward and Pip, who have journeyed to New York to save Giselle. They stop at a motel, where Nathaniel questions himself and his relationship with Narissa after watching a soap opera. He sneaks out to give Giselle a poisoned apple. Pip is unable to speak in this world and has a frustrating time alerting the Prince of the minion’s intentions. When Nathaniel fails twice to poison Giselle, only to be stopped by Pip, Narissa becomes infuriated.
As Giselle and Robert spend more time together, Giselle discovers that the world is more complicated than she realized, while Robert is affected by her optimism and idealism. Edward continues to look for Giselle and eventually finds her at Robert’s apartment. While Edward is eager to take Giselle home, they go on a date around New York at her insistence. To Nancy’s chagrin, Giselle and Edward attend the King’s and Queen’s Ball. After Nancy and Edward pair off to dance, Giselle dances with Robert. During their dance, Giselle realizes that Robert is her true love. Unbeknownst to them, Narissa has traveled to New York from Andalasia. She disguises as the old hag again and successfully poisons Giselle, but is stopped by Edward before she could escape with Giselle.
A remorseful Nathaniel confesses his deeds and reveals that the spell has to be broken before midnight for Giselle to live. Robert revives Giselle with a true love’s kiss, but Narissa uses the distracting moment to break free. She transforms into a dragon, declaring that she is going to kill them all. Narissa snatches Robert and lures Giselle to the top of the Woolworth Building. With help from Pip, the Narissa dragon falls from the roof to her death, exploding in a fury of dark energies. Giselle catches Robert, and they manage to keep themselves from falling off the roof.
Nancy leaves with Edward to Andalasia and marries him. Robert and Giselle open up a boutique, where they are assisted by both humans and animals. Both Nathaniel and Pip become successful authors in the modern world and Andalasia respectively. The last scene shows Giselle, Robert, and Morgan playing together and living happily ever after as a family.
Okay. That’s it in a very unopinionated nutshell.
But if you could just read that, you wouldn’t need me, would you?
Giselle is a bimbo. Completely. I couldn’t stand her really, besides the laughs that I got out of her. I didn’t like the prince either, for obvious reasons, though I liked that the both of them were both such parodies of fairy tale characters.
Or so I thought.
One of the few characters in this movie that I did like, besides the villain of course (who was clichéd, but who doesn’t like a Maleficent?) was Robert. He’s a lawyer, for God’s sake, so I presumed that he had some measure of intelligence. And he seemed to be logical, for most of the film, and he seemed to be missing that delusion of ‘True Love At First Sight’ kinda thing.
Seemed being the key word of that last paragraph.
He fell for Giselle. He’d been dating the other lady, Nancy, for five years now, and had decided to marry her, because he liked her and she was also a successful, intelligent woman. Then he picks up Giselle off the street and falls in love with her, apparently, rather spontaneously, and drops Nancy like a hot potato and runs off with Giselle.
Now, not only is that stupid, but it isn’t fair to his daughter. Morgan needs a mother, not a cute chick that Robert will realize in a few weeks that he doesn’t love. Besides the fact that I loved that she was named Morgan, she was a really cute girl and I want better for her, you know? Especially after her mother took off on her and all.
And even though Nancy turned out to be just as stupid and ran off with Prince Edward, I still call foul on this movie. It’s supposed to be a sweet, heart-warming romance? Please. Nothing about it warms my heart – it depresses me, to be honest.
I mean, does it bother anyone that being a good person and intelligent and with maybe a little bit of a backbone doesn’t matter at all? The bimbo gets the guy at the end, and no matter how smart he may seem for as long as you know him, at the end he only cares if you have a nice singing voice and believe in love at first sight and never experience the feeling of being angry.
Well, that’s the end of my love life, then. Sorry, Robert. I know what anger is. I’m feeling it right now, dammit.
So I guess we all know now why Emily Prentiss is still single. Because she’s not an airheaded bimbo. Because she’s intelligent and strong and isn’t a bloody princess out of a fairy tale – because she’s a real person.
I never liked fairy tales, to be honest. Even when I was little – the only one I liked was Beauty and the Beast, because Belle liked to read and Belle got to know the Beast and loved him even though he was ugly, because she saw who he really was under all the fur and growling.
I wanted to find my Belle, okay? Obliviously a male one, but same idea. And Enchanted is trying to tell me, ‘Sorry, mate, it’ll never happen. There are only happy endings if you’re bloody Giselle.’
Well, you know what, Enchanted? I don’t care. I don’t want a bloody happy ending. I’ll go find a Walden Pond and live in solitude for the rest of my life if that’s what a happy ending is. Screw you.
~DreamingOfAbsolutelyFreakingNothing
Merry Christmas
It’s actually 1:41 AM here, so I guess Christmas has technically started by now (though it started ages ago, technically, because there’s Christmas Eve).
I’ve basically spent this evening watching the stars on the top of Mauna Kea (which is gorgeous, btw) and having fun with my family. I loved it. I found it slightly sad how many people there were, given that it’s Christmas Eve and all, and that most people have better things to do than watch stars. *Shrug* It was a new moon night. Star aficionados.
We also watched The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy while we were there, which was hilarious, actually. I have to read the books now.
We got home and I watched Criminal Mind’s Normal. Since they reran The Crossing tonight (which wasn’t my favorite ever) I took this opportunity to catch up on Normal.
Just two quick things I have to say, though I don’t have time for a full review. I have a plane to catch in the morning.
***SPOILERS FOR CRIMINAL MINDS EP 04-11 NORMAL***
Allow me to just quote my episode viewing log:
Someone had to have known I’d be seeing this on Christmas. Otherwise why would they have put Reid in the backseat of Morgan’s car chase – giving him directions, no less. Oh, Reid.
Reid holding a gun Morgan being macho silent slow-mo OMG.
Did Rossi just call Jordan Kiddo? Oh, teh cute. Oh, Jordan. *Hands over another nice heaping plate of guilt*
Dad!Rossi returns! Who needs Gideon, that self-absorbed abandoning loser? We’ve got Dave Rossi, yo.
Oh, HENRY. Henry Henry Henry Henry Henry.
I basically just gush from here, so you can fill in the blanks. Particularly if you watch this:
Yeah. I think my heart is going to burst right now. I love Henry. I love the Team.
***SPOILERS END***
Basically all I can say now is Merry Christmas, or Happy December 25 if Christmas isn’t your holiday (like me. WHATEVER).
I love you all. Miss you, friends of mine.
~DreamingOfLove
Here… We… Go
In case the title hadn’t tipped you off, I’ve just finished The Dark Knight, Batman film No. 2. And here are my thoughts on the matter.
***SPOILERS FOR THE DARK KNIGHT. ALLUSIONS MAY ALSO BE MADE TO VARIOUS THINGS I’VE SEEN OR READ***
1. This shouldn’t be first, but: Harvey Dent’s Face. Or more specifically, Two-Face’s Face. Or, more specifically, the lack of devastating infection that would have befallen him had he truly been in that position. It’s nitpicky, sure, but one of the things I like about Batman is that it’s realistic. The Joker – an ingenious sadist with a flair for the dramatic. The Scarecrow – a character akin to the Nazi doctors that liked to do illegal experimentation, who’s also a bit of a sadist. Most of what they do is realistic and makes sense. Batman’s stuff may be a bit off the wall, but if you watch the History Channel’s Batman Tech, you’ll see that even the stuff that Lucius Fox (who will be referred to as Q [Bond's IT guy] for the remainder of this review, because I find it difficult to remember his name) is based off of actual technology.
Two-Face’s Face? Absolute suspension of disbelief. It bugged me every second it was on screen – though it got the shock value, all right.
2. Lit. James Gordon. I have always loved this character – whether it’s the character himself, the fact that he’s a cop, or that Gary Oldman played Sirius Black in the Harry Potter movies, I’ve always liked Gordon. I didn’t think he was dead (it was like in Artemis Fowl Four, when we were expected to believe that Holly was dead. They didn’t spend enough time on her death – unlike Julius, who we heard about for pages and pages. It just didn’t seem likely), because he was too big of a character to go out without even a clear statement that he was dead. They didn’t say it right out for a good portion of the movie. Can’t say I didn’t breathe a sigh of relief when he showed up, though.
Also, the bit with Two-Face and his family was amazing. The emotional tension was greater than a lot of things I’ve seen or read. Also, it proved what I’d thought in the first movie – he’s truly heroic. Even though to logic behind having Batman take the fall was a little twisted (though it makes loads more sense now that I’ve clarified whether Dent was actually dead or not), he was still one of the coolest characters in this movie.
I also found it kind of sad that he kept trying to find Dent, and he didn’t know that Dent was kidnapping his wife and kids as he looked. I was like, Pettigrew’s lost, Sirius. Give up.
Okay, so I might just like him because he played Sirius. So shoot me.
3. Q. Or Lucius Fox, whatever you want. He’s one cool guy. I want a Q. And an Alfred, while we’re at it. They’re awesome.
4. I didn’t really like the new Rachel as much as the old one. I can’t say I was really all that upset when she died. (Actually, what I thought was, “Hi, Lieutenant Gordon. A nice large shipment of guilt just arrived.” I’m evil, I know) I just liked the old Rachel better. I don’t know what to say.
5. The Joker. Ho boy. Was he a piece of work. He was awesome – Heath Ledger was incredible, though it’s a bit depressing that that was his final part. He creeped me out – which was exactly what he was supposed to do. I wasn’t liking where they were going with his first Scar Story, because it irks me when criminals are justified because of their rough histories (which, just as a P.S., is why I love Criminal Minds so much. It’s like, Yeah, your life sucked, but so did ours and you made a choice. Plus, we’ll kill you if we have to. Which apparently Batman won’t do), but he was lying, so it was okay.
My favorite lines from this character, hands down, were Why So Serious? and the post title. With hand motions. He was really a great villain and I’m sad to see the last of him.
6. Now, last but certainly not least, the title character. Batman. His ‘I’m not going to kill anyone’ policy irked me, as always, because villains don’t escape if they’re dead. No escaping, no prison crowding, no half getting yourself killed trying not to kill the bad guy. It really bugs me. It’s noble and all, but terribly impractical. I guess I’m not much of an idealist, but here we are.
Other than that, though, he was great. I like Christian Bale – loved him in The Prestige, and he was pretty good in Newsies too, I thought (As long as he doesn’t sing… Heh). And Q’s stuff is always awesome. Batman’s growing as a character, and I’m enjoying watching him evolve.
***SPOILERS END***
So that’s a wrap. Oh, and in case I don’t get around to it – Merry Christmas, everyone. Merry Christmas. And a Happy Chanukah (or Hanakkah, or Hannukah, or Hanukah) to all you Jews out there.
Let’s just go with Mele Kalikimaka. Happy Holidays. Lame, but it covers them all, yes? It’s the middle of the night (or morning, really, by now) so I’ll bid y’all goodnight.
The knight is always darkest before the dawn.
~DreamingOfNothing
Welcome to Scion
Hiya.
I’m still in Hawaii (two week vacation – I’ll be coming home late Christmas day, BlindinglyArticulate) and having fun. Snorkeling didn’t work out as well as I would have hoped, mainly because the surf has been very high lately, but we’ve swam some.
Also, Mauna Kea has an amazing observatory. Commoners can’t use it, but the skies are still very dark and clear up there. We also went to the ‘Imiloa Museum, which I loved, because it was all about astronomy and navigation. Plus, all of the exhibits were in both Hawaiian and English – so if you know me at all, you know I loved that.
So in short, it’s been fun. But as usual – I’m ready to go home in a few days. I miss home.
Quick television update, for myself more than for you (forgive me as I use this blog as my own personal post-it note):
***MILD SPOILERS FOR CRIMINAL MIND’S ‘NORMAL’ AND NUMB3RS’ ‘FRENEMIES’***
NCIS: Seen Silent Night (Five stars), not going to be able to see Requiem tonight.
Numb3rs: Saw the repeat of Robin Hood with my brother last week (Four stars – oh Megan, how I miss thou), haven’t been able to see Frenemies yet, though I wish to greatly (1. Marshall Penfield. ‘Nuff said. 2. I’ve got to see how my brother will react to the hair issue. I haven’t told him yet).
Criminal Minds: Got Brothers In Arms last week (Disappointing, really – wasn’t there supposed to be a Little!Morgan flashback? It wasn’t just that, though. It was overall less than spectacular, personally), but haven’t gotten Normal yet (JJ! JJ! And Baby Henry!), despite my constant attempts. It’s frustrating, but it can wait until I get home now.
***SPOILERS END***
I’m reading The Da Vinci Code right now, because the books I brought ran out and someone left this book in my hotel room. I’ve been meaning to read it for a while, just because it’s been such a big deal. I like it, though I can see why it caused so many waves in the general community, particularly with Christians.
Anyway, it’s probably about time I tried to catch up on email and the like. There’s so much more to tell, but that’s for a day when I’ve got nothing else to blog about.
Miss ya’ll. I’ll be much more active in a few days, hopefully bringing back the return of DreamingOfNothing’s Numerical Episode Reviews (which NaNoWriMo and Finals Week tried to kill, but shall return! I’m serious this time!).
And I said hi to Sirius from all of you last night, stargazing. He says hi back.
Ignore me.
~DreamingOfNothing
Molokai
I am now on the lovely island of Molokai, west of Maui. It’s nice – I mean, depending on how you classify nice. It’s not Maui, which my family has now dubbed the ‘Designer Island,’ but it’s not the Philippines either. No one here is rich by any stretch, the roads are a little worn and tired, the airport is tiny and we had to fly in here on a ‘Mosquito’ or a very small airplane with a grand total of thirty-six seats, but I like it. My family’s a bit more into roughing it than a lot of people I know, though, so I’m not sure how much that says.
In apology to BlindinglyArticulate: I’m sorry that I left Skype so abruptly at our last conversation. The situation was as follows:
Thursday, we arrived in Maui. Checked into our hotel, checked out the few stores around (incredibly overpriced – hence ‘Designer Island’) and on Friday went to the Haleakala National Park, which was really cool and worth the long drive. We spent Saturday there and this morning (Sunday) got up early for our flight (a little island-hopper – tiny thirty-minute flight) here. To Molokai, where we’re going to be for the next week.
However, Molokai chose this morning to have a gigantic storm, so we couldn’t land at six-thirty when we were supposed to. The airlines then landed us in the alternate airport, Honolulu, on Oahu. Where we never intended to go in the first place.
We were detained there for a then unknown amount of time. We didn’t know when the weather was going to clear, so we couldn’t really settle in or decide what our plans would be because we could be loaded onto a Mosquito any minute when it was clear to land in Molokai. So we waited.
Finally, a few hours after we got there, I got tired and booted up the laptop from which I am writing this post. I then had aforementioned conversation with BlindinglyArticulate, which got cut off abruptly when the weather cleared and they announced that take off would be in five minutes. I didn’t really have time to explain – sorry.
Anyway, we ended up getting into the island, and here we are. Finally. Just picking up food and water and things that we couldn’t bring with us from Maui, due to the luggage restraints on the Mosquito.
Not tanned, in case ya’ll were wondering. I don’t tan.
I’m planning to keep a running commentary on my vacation (yanno, for once) but I always say that, so I really don’t know.
~DreamingOfNothing
Wiki Wiki
This will be fast, I promise.
I just finished cleaning out my bedroom of all the utter crap that fills it. I was looking for something and it downright sickened me how much stuff I had that I never used. So I gave it to Goodwill or my siblings or parents or the garbage, and now I feel like I’ve retaken control of my room and feel much less spoiled and fat.
I’m also stuck in the middle of Brothers In Arms (the NCIS, not Criminal Minds. Brothers In Arms of CM is playing tonight, but I decided to see the NCIS one first, while I was waiting for CM BIA to be uploaded to the site. Neither is happening tonight) and it’s annoying me. It reminds me of being stuck in the middle of Riding the Lightning, actually.
Leaving tomorrow morning. Bye, ya’ll.
~DreamingOfNothing
Yes – yes, that is my card.
CBS has been so kind in their happy endings lately. I was just noticing this, watching the endings of the latest Numb3rs, NCIS, and Criminal Minds.
***Spoilers for Numb3rs 05-09, NCIS 06-10, and Criminal Minds 04-09 consecutively***
In Conspiracy Theory (Numb3rs – if I find time I’ll blog about it, but I’ve been ever so busy) Amita, Larry, and Charlie close the eppesode by watching the annual CalSci student prank which they helped plan (switching the Hollywood letters with six red spelling Cal Sci – really neat, actually) and Amita and Charlie are teasing each other about their relative criminal records, which came up in the eppesode. And Larry ignores them, because the poor guy is used to them by now. It’s much sweeter when you know them and actually saw the thing other than reading my poorly related account.
In Road Kill (NCIS – I might blog about this show, I’m still working on it. I don’t know that I’ll be a regular, but it’s getting more and more addictive) DiNozzo has been spending the entire episode talking about the crazy things he does for this odd competition website (it’s weird. Ask DiNozzo) and Ziva has been unable to comprehend things like air guitaring – she’s so practical that it really doesn’t make sense to her – as well as proving (again) that she’s had a heart of icicles since very young (she beat up Shmulie Rubenstein for saying that he liked her when she was eight and – I quote, “Where I come from, you grow up quickly.”). However, after DiNozzo takes off to watch a movie (for the hundredth time, I’m sure), Ziva checks to make sure that no one’s there and then strums energetically on an imaginary guitar. Again – better in the original format, but it was great to see Ziva doing something just for the fun of it, you know?
In 52 Pickup, (Criminal Minds – yes, yes, I’m getting to it, eventually) Reid gets a call from the girl (Austin) who he not only hit on earlier in the show (Funniest thing I’ve ever seen – especially when she asks him if she can call him even if she doesn’t see the unsub and his voice rises twelve octaves) but also rescued from the unsub before he bled her out everywhere. Which is great, not only because I’ve now realized that as much as I love wibbly!Reid, I love this happy!Reid even better (see Baby Henry and Austin), but also because he seems to be getting over JJ better than I’d hoped. Plus, I hope Austin’s sticking around – I should be incredibly jealous of her, but I really like her. Again – infinitely better in the flesh, not only because I can’t begin to encompass Reid’s little smile in words.
***Spoilers end***
So now that I’m done destroying my claim that I have no time into tiny little obliterations, I should be going to bed, though I’ll probably study, if I don’t get dragged off by something else again. I’m really good at being dragged off – it’s a bad habit.
Oh, and BlindinglyArticulate – the fight sort of rounded off with me stalking to my room and leaving my parents arguing in the living room while I blogged angrily about the occurrence and watched Road Kill to cheer me up. Which it completely did. And then we all sort of pretended that it never happened. Which probably isn’t all that healthy, really, but it was less uncomfortable than trying to work out the apologies, which were kind of owed all around. So I guess that’s how it ended.
In other news – I now have textured bangs. I got them cut today, because they’d been grossly long and hanging about level with my earlobes when they weren’t pinned back with my u-g-l-y bobby pins. Now they’re shorter, though, and apparently textured. I haven’t got a clue what that’s supposed to mean, but I can see now, so I’m happy.
~DreamingOfNothing
White Christmas
Which we won’t have, I don’t think. Sadly.
All the stores seem to be playing anymore is Christmas Carols. I’ve never really noticed how it’s either Black Friday or Christmas. Christmas isn’t for eighteen days, but the season is in full spirit.
I like it, though. I’ve always liked Christmas, even though I don’t celebrate the birth of Christ or anything. I just like the idea of people being happy and friendly and caring, and that seems so much closer in December. It really does bring out the best in people, and even if I don’t practice the religion of it, I still love Christmas. Even if it means that my God will be sending me to hell over it, which I sure hope he won’t.
I’m going to be in Hawaii for Christmas 
. Go me!
I think that Dickens kinda sums it up in this bit from his (amazing) book, A Christmas Carol:
‘But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys…’
~DreamingOfChristmas
