Christmas 2005
Enjoyed a great Christmas this year. Christmas Eve was spent in recovery, it being the day after the 24: Season 4 marathon. Did end up going out to try to get some last minute stocking stuffers, but after an hour just to get to the mall 15 minutes away and another 20 minutes in the parking lot not finding a spot, we decided to just go to Fred Meyer and load up there.
Of course, that turned into an unintended shopping spree for me. See, I got Jenn some tickets to see Cirque du Soleil (which weren’t cheap) and I was going to do the “fewer, more expensive gifts” thing, but Jenn loves quantity (she could open 100 empty boxes and that would just rock) so I thought I’d pick up some smaller things for her stocking so she’d have stuff to open. Like I said, though, that turned into an unintended shopping spree as I found all sorts of neat things I knew she’d like, so I just got them all anyway. Love the credit card.
Christmas morning we went to Jenn’s parents’ house for breakfast and a little gift exchange. The big one here was a AAA Plus membership for both Jenn and I, which is fantastic, especially because I’m sick to death of changing Jenn’s stupid flat tires. She’s like a flat tire machine. Now she can call some other poor schmuck to come do it.
After that, we moved on to my parents’ house for a late lunch and some more gift exchanging. Stu and Tif joined us there, which was cool since we had so much fun together on Thanksgiving. Played some games, laughed, and generally had a good time.
Some of the things I came out with: Soul Calibur III
Nintendo Gamecube Wavebird wireless controller (after a couple of returns/exchanges)
Some bookends that my grandfather brought back from the Philippines when he was over there in WWII (that might not sound cool to you, but there’s sentimental value, so it’s cool to me)
A crapload of candy
Lost: Season 1 and the companion guide
A “Joss Whedon Is My Master Now” t-shirt
In all, a pretty good haul. Lots of stuff to entertain me for a while, and a lot of games to play, so I’d best get cracking on the ones I’m in the middle of.
To that end, I finished up Prince of Persia: Warrior Within on Tuesday. I ended up starting the whole thing over on “Easy” mode because it was too damn difficult on “Normal.” I never said I was a master gamer, right? That said, I read a lot of reviews saying how other folks found it pretty difficult, and since I’m in it for the fun of the game and the feeling of success, well… once I got stuck in “Normal” mode, I just figured it’d be better to start over in “Easy.” I figure, it’s cool to have to fight the boss character three or four times before you get it, but when you’re only halfway through the game and fighting the boss for the 15th time doesn’t get you through, it needs to be easier.
Having finished that, and having worked through the stuff in Soul Calibur II with Stu, I went on to work on finishing the original Katamari Damacy (that is, collecting the Royal Presents and finishing the levels I hadn’t finished yet). What I’m trying to do is finish these prior halfway-done games so I can cleanly move on to the new ones I got without going, “Oh, yeah… I guess I never really finished the first one, huh?” Gotta have that closure.
So during this week while I’m off, that’s what I’m doing - finishing games I haven’t finished, just taking it easy. Only two bumps in the road.
First, I had planned to have lunch with an old friend of mine a couple days ago, but after waiting for 15 minutes, he never showed up. Got home later that day to find messages on my home phone saying how he was having trouble finding the place (that was at 15 minutes past when he was supposed to be there) and then how he finally found it but I wasn’t there (that was at 30 minutes late). Guess we’ll have to reschedule, but I was hoping to have lunch with him and meet his new girlfriend. Oh well.
Second, I looked at my work email. Jenn has warned me about doing this and I know better, but I did it anyway. Without going into it, I’ll just say this: I hate people who wait until you’re on vacation so they can enact poor decisions simply because you’re not there to contest them. Folks wonder why I don’t go on vacation often, and that’s why - two steps forward, one step back. Fan-fucking-tastic.
A couple of Mike’s and I was doing a little better. Makes me think drinking at work should be allowed because I might be a little more laid back and easy-going. That said, I don’t think I get paid to be laid back… someone has to actively care about what’s going on.
Well, the cat’s shoving toy mice under the office door, indicating she wants to play, so I’d best go take care of that. (I’m a sucker for that tiny cat. One of the myriad reasons I don’t work at home as often as my teammates - distractions!)