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On this Christmas Eve, the night before you give and receive gifts and eat until you're ready to pop, remember the real reason for the season. Let your family and friends know how much you love them, and have a very merry and blessed Christmas. Catch ya on the flip side!
Prince William is taking off his shirt!
*runs away to hide*
Okay, so my distraction techniques are pretty terrible, but really, there's nothing to see here. My computer battery is about to die and I have approximately 10,000 presents to wrap along with various other way less fun chores.
Honestly though, this Holidailies thing isn't working out so great this year. For various reasons I cannot disclose in this public forum, I probably won't be posting much between now and the 27th. I'll definitely be back with my Sunday Holidailies Christmas Special Pt 4, but no promises aside from that. Next year, I'm totally going to do this daily posting thing RIGHT though!
To thank you for your patience, here is a beautiful picture for you to gaze at until my return. Check out that jawline... le sigh...
So, let me tell you a little bit about luck, in relation to my life.
Truly, I am not a lucky person. I don't mean that I don't have a good life--I have an AWESOME life, and in that regard, I acknowledge that I'm completely lucky. But when it comes to luck as in games of chance, I have none. I was not born with that particular silver spoon.
Last Friday, as I mentioned, was our squadron Christmas party. There were various games throughout the night and the winners all received presents from under the Christmas tree. However, there was the assurance that everyone would be winning something, not to worry. I assured my table that I wouldn't win anything, and that I sincerely hoped my luck wouldn't rub off on them. Eventually, as the evening passed everyone at my table had been called up to choose a present. At the end of dinner the MC finally just started calling out names of the people who still hadn't had their chance under the tree. Name after name was called, and I sat eating my apple cobbler and laughing. Finally, mine was the last name called and I went to the front to get my present.
I brought the big wrapped box back to my table and opened it to find a cardboard box all taped shut. So I picked up my knife and sliced through the tape. I pulled open the flaps to reveal.... nothing.
I won an empty cardboard box.
Merry Christmas!
But! It doesn't end there!
This morning was our flight Christmas party, and we had a White Elephant gift exchange. Most of the gifts were just silly things we had lying around the house, but there were a few semi-decent gifts to aquire. Once again, my name was the last one called, so I stole a box of bath lotions and salts that had already been opened. However, in this version, the first person to pick a gift gets to be the last person to pick at the end, so she came over and traded her gift with mine. She took the bath set and I ended up with a bottle of expired ketchup and an electric mug warmer plate.
Happy Birthday!
I did, however, get a delivery of beautiful Sugar Plum lilies from my little sugar plum, which went a long way towards raising my spirits and reminding me what a lucky person I really am in all the areas that matter. I just know better than to waste my dollar bills on lottery tickets.
I'm sorry, my little website has fallen completely by the wayside. As I was tumbling into bed last night, it occurred to me that I'd completely forgotten about my daily entry, and I had absolutely zero plans of bouncing myself back out of bed to take care of that. On top of that, I've been a horrible blog reader--I've visited hardly anyone this week, and I'm starting to feel the withdrawal of not knowing what's going on in your lives every second of every day. I love my little stalker inclinations.
The icing on the cake though, is the fact that my laptop has once again crapped out on me in totally new and special ways. Oh, no worries kittens. The hard drive is still fully intact. I just can't get the damn thing to turn on for more than 5 minutes at a time since for some reason it has decided it's not so much into charging the battery anymore. So, lest I think a month could go by without paying some kind of exorbitant computer maintenance fee, back to the Geek Squad I go to see if it's fixable. And I think I'm outside of my one year warranty window, so yeah, that's always fun.
Anyway, I've been doing actual work around the office and trying to get myself organized for my upcoming trip to see my parents for the holidays when I'm at home. Based on computer issues, I'm not so sure this whole daily posting thing is going to work out, but I'll do my best. Tonight I'm headed out for drinks and karaoke with friends for my birthday celebration. I just really hope they have "All I Want for Christmas Is You" in their library, because I am totally feeling that high note action.
I adore Christmas movies. I love how there are only about 4 storylines that are made over and over again throughout the years with ever so slight variations and guaranteed happy endings. They're comfortable and familiar--like old friends that are revisited year after year.
My favorites are the old classics--Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, Holiday Inn. One of the greatest parts of Christmas movies though, is the music that goes along with them, and I have two all time favorite Christmas song scenes. The first is from the wonderful Bing Crosby vehicle Holiday Inn, featuring his rendition of Irving Berlin's White Christmas. The second is the heartbreakingly beautiful Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas performed by Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis.
One rarely thinks of classic Christmas songs as being written and performed for the first time. It seems as though they've just been around forever in our collective pop culture consciousness. But in an especially special Holidailies Christmas special, I present to you the debuts of these to ever so popular Christmas carols. And if you haven't seen the movies they're taken from, get thee to a video rental store post haste--you'll be glad you did.
Just taking a break from my all day Alias marathon to let everyone know that Colby called this morning. In a living example of turnabout being fair play, he called twice last night and once this morning, all while my phone was on silent. In his message this morning he voiced concern that I may be dead in a ditch.
But it turns out that while they typically spend about 24 hours on the ground between flights, in this instance they had only spent 12--enough for crew rest and then back to the plane for the take off time. And his body clock is so screwed up after 2 months of this kind of schedule that he had no idea it had been over 48 hours since the last time we talked.
However, in a similar vein to what M pointed out in the comments, he told me that I probably didn't need to start worrying too much about him until CNN started reporting a plane crash. So, yeah. Fair enough then.
Thanks for everyone's kind comments and very few implications that I was being completely insane and unreasonable. Your tolerance of my charming quirks does not go unnoticed and is very appreciated. Have a great weekend!
A lot of people have asked me how I deal with the idea of Colby being deployed to the places he goes and doing the mission he does. I guess the answer is that I just don't really let myself think about it. If I thought about it every day and worried about him constantly, I would be a wreck all of the time and that wouldn't get him home any safer or any faster.
On top of that we've been lucky enough to have a chance to talk to each other on the phone pretty much every day and emailed back and forth even more than that. It's almost like it's just like he's at home in Washington--if Washington was 7,000 miles away and he had to hang up the phone and call back every 15 minutes.
As of today, I haven't heard from him in almost 48 hours. Not an email, not a phone call. And the last time I talked to him he didn't mention anything about it being a little while before he could get in touch. He could have just forgotten to say it. Maybe he did say it and I just didn't hear.
Regardless, I'm starting to get a little beyond worried. I know for most people that have a loved one deployed, 48 hours without contact is nothing, but for us it's way outside of our usual contact times. I'm trying to rationalize with myself that if anything had happened I would have heard something by now, that he's probably just been in a location that doesn't have an office phone or computer he can use. Probably he'll call as soon as I post this and I'll realize how silly I'm being.
I really hope I'm just being silly.
Well, first of all, because I hate plot holes in blogs more than anybody, the update on my ticket situation. My courtdate was Tuesday, and I didn't go. I'm such a rule breaker.
Okay, I'm actually not. I called the court the date before to see about rescheduling my date since I felt like death warmed over, but the soonest date they had for me was in February. I'm going to be a bit otherwise employed in February so I asked what my options were. Turns out that there's this magical thing called a "civil fee" that can be paid and it will wipe your record clean and allow you to move on with your life, Traffic Violator Status: 0. I weighed my options and decided to go with the civil fee option and now I just have to figure out how to send a money order and I'll have this whole thing behind me. And I'll have you know that I have been driving very much at or around the speed limit for the past few weeks. I really feel as though the judiciary system has rehabilitated me in magical ways.
Second, ever since my melt down in November, Ellie has had ONE accident in the house. Go ahead, read that again to make sure you got it right. Somehow she went from peeing in some corner of the house every night, to a nearly perfect specimen of Housebroken Pet. I'm not sure if it was me hurling her little blonde body across the room that night or if it was the hysterical sobbing that got through to her, but whatever it was, I'm not knocking it. Keep it up little puppy, keep it up!
So, onto the fun part. I took this idea from the lovely Airhead, who did her own year in review yesterday. I think this will be a great way for any new readers who may have stumbled into my world from Holidailies to get an idea as to what I've been up to for the past year. I've taken the first line from my first post of each month, and it's really kind of cool how it sums up the year. It's also amazing to see how the year has once again blown by at the speed of light--I can't believe how much has happened in one little year. Hope you enjoy (editor's notes in italics)!
January: Well, after a rollercoaster holiday at my parents', I'm back home in one piece--gerbils and dog still alive. (How's that for foreshadowing, eh?)
February: I’ve been trying to figure out how to word this delicately, and finding that to be an impossibility, I’ll tell you, if you have a weak stomach, read no further! Because, seriously? Ugh… (Oh, and look, I didn't even see that coming! Remember that whole foreshadowing thing? Yeah...)
March: Isn’t it strange how a memory can accost you from nowhere and completely cripple you? (I had just gone through a breakup--I was particularly reflective at this point in the year.)
April: A funny thing has happened recently. (About the book I had started... um, I should probably get back to that now that I think of it...)
May: I didn't make a New Year's resolution this year, mainly because I couldn't really think of anything worth resolving, but also because I find them pretty depressing. (I should have really stuck with that...)
June: I am sooooooo tired. (Hm, so that's when that started.)
July: 1) I'm still not sure what I should write about because I don't know if the guy still reads this or not. If he does, um, hi! (Oh yeah! This is when I almost shut down my site over some drama queen guy I was seeing!)
August: I was just reading another post where the blogger was boasting of her quite cute aqua blue jelly shoes, including a link from her entry to a photo of said shoes. (Helloooooo, random!)
September: Well, I suppose one way to get yourself a four-day weekend is to eat a leftover slice of pizza from Domino's on the night of your third day at home and spend the rest of the night violently ill in the loo. (And I haven't eaten anything from Domino's since then.)
October: Ready? H'okay... So, at last the long awaited trip pictures! (I broke the rules here because my first line was stupid and meant nothing. This was a fun post though, all of the pictures from my trip with Colby. Miss him!)
November: But you know what, Senator John Kerry? (Haha--this was a kind of polarizing entry...)
December: I just finished a plate of pancakes cooked by one of the girls in our Unit Training office.
And on that note, it's lunch time! Here's to fabulously fascinating 2007--hope you all stick around for the craziness. It's always a wild ride around here!
There has been a distinctly negative tone to my blog lately. I scrolled through all the posts on my front page, and aside from the Holidailies Christmas Specials, every single post seems to be me bitching and moaning about one thing or another. Granted, I've been sick for about a week, and I have had and will have a lot of stressful things going on, but actually, I've really been surprisingly content with life in general.
I'm not used to feeling this way, and I can't imagine how it's going to feel when Colby finally gets home and we're actually living together in the same house, never mind the same STATE. I mean, that hasn't happened in almost 3 years. I'm starting to think that I don't really know how to deal with being happy. But hey, I am more than ready to figure it out!
The past few years have been rocky with a capital R. (So, actually, they've been "Rocky".) Starting with graduation, I learned that I would be moving to a state I really didn't want to live in, my long distance relationship didn't seem to be showing any signs of growing any less "long", I discovered that I really disliked the job that I was obligated to do for the next four years, my mom dealt with a life threatening illness, I adopted a dog that almost died, two grandparents died within the span of a few months, and I went through a rough breakup with a boyfriend of 3 years. Basically, I got used to living my life with a little bit of a shadow cast over it, and now that everything is turning around and the sun is breaking through the clouds, I'm a little at a loss with how to deal with it.
Despite all of the complaining I've been doing, I can't remember a time when I've felt more optimistic and happy. Maybe it's just that happiness doesn't make for very compelling writing, or I feel like if I talk about it too much, I'll jinx everything and have a record of how blissfully ignorant I was at one point. But I'm really going to make a concerted effort to be a little more positive around here, and break the habit of looking for something to complain about.
Sure, there are a lot of things that still make for little bumps along the road, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (Tunnel? Road? Where am I exactly? Mixed Metaphor Land?) and I am really excited about where I'm going. I know I'm never going to be a sunshine, rainbows, and starbursts kind of person but from here on out I am going to try to be a least a little partly sunny. But I'm still going to pack my umbrella just in case.
I'm so frustrated with the Air Force right now, I could positively scream.
So, months ago, when I applied for my separation I put down a separation date of March 2. This was before I knew that I would be moving up to Washington with Colby, but after that became the master plan I toyed with the idea of changing my date so that I would have a little more time to take care of business at home before moving to the other side of the country. But I read up on our vacation allowances and saw that there was a 20 day permissive TDY (Temporary Duty--can be used in lieu of leave days) for housing and job search authorized for individuals separating under a voluntary separation incentive. So, I figured that with those 20 days I could be out of the area by mid February, get all of my wedding planning taken care of and spend time with family all before Colby came home at the beginning of March and we began the road trip to Washington.
Turns out, not so much.
For whatever reason, the Air Force has decided that under this specific separation program those 20 days are no longer authorized. The extremely frustrating part is that I know people who have already gotten their 20 days approved and apparently they're getting grandfathered in so that they can still take those PTDY days. My friend is working her last few days of work this week before she starts on her 20 days and separates from the Air Force in January. But since my separation date is a couple months later, I'm shit out of luck.
So, now if I want to get home in time to get anything done that I had planned for those few weeks I'm going to have to put in a request to move my separation date a few weeks earlier. Which means that'll be out a paycheck and another day of leave that I'll be losing. Not to mention the fact that it takes about 6 weeks to get separation requests approved and I only have 8 weeks between now and the time that I want to get out.
I would fight this, but if I take the risk and end up losing the battle in a couple of weeks I'll be stuck with my March 2nd separation date and there definitely won't be enough time to get it moved up. Honestly though, this just reinforces my reasons for wanting to get out of the Air Force. I grew up hearing about how the military was a family, and it took care of it's own, but ever since the day I set foot on base it's been one infuriating thing after another and now I just want to get out as soon as possible. This isn't a family that I want to be a part of anymore--I'm tired of being treated as a second class citizen just because I'm a person instead of a weapons system.
Now I just hope that my request is approved in time for me to get on with my life. I'm ready for the next chapter to begin.
Why, oh why can't I write anything? I keep deleting paragraphs because even in my drug addled haze, my brain can detect crap. And I write crap here on a regular basis, so the bar isn't exactly set all that high. I can't even write crap right now. It's below crap level.
I'm trying to think of something to post just for the sake of Holidailies since I've already busted one day. I can't go two days in a row without posting anything at all.
So, um, hey, what's up?
Yeah, not much here either.
I hate Mondays, don't you? They're so depressing with their view of 5 long workdays stretching out before you. And it's even better when it's raining. That really makes you feel good about getting out of bed in the morning.
Okay, that's it, I'm done. I'll be back tomorrow when the oxygen is once again able to reach my brain.
I had a topic all thought out to write about today, but I still feel way loopy from cold medicine, so I'm doing my Sunday Christmas Special a day early and I'll write about babies tomorrow.
I have a confession. My absolute favorite Christmas cd is John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. From as far back into my childhood as I can remember, it was a steadfast rule in our house that you did not decorate the Christmas tree or make Christmas cookies without John and his furry friends playing on repeat in the background. Their versions of The 12 Days of Christmas and We Wish You a Merry Christmas are the most hilarious Christmas songs I've ever heard.
I think the key element in the cd is that you completely forget that it's a famous singer pretending to sing with a bunch of puppets--you really get the feeling that he's spending time with his closest friends and they're all sitting around the hearth singing their favorite carols. I think that makes me love John Denver just a little bit more. I'm sure that at some point in my childhood I saw the special on tv, but all I can remember is listening to the record as a kid. However, thanks to YouTube I've finally gotten the chance to see John Denver and the Muppets in action in a few clips that other muppet fans had posted from their well-worn VHS tapes.
Here is my favorite song from the cd, the beautifully written and performed Peace Carol. Keep an eye out for Miss Piggy, who apparently reached the height of drag queen chic in the 70s:
I kind of wish the flu shot had never been invented. From what I understand it's not even protecting you from all strains of the flu, just 3 that have been selected by someone who's forecasting what the most prevalent strains will be that year. And if flu forecasters are anything like weather forecasters than I don't think that I'd put a whole lot of stock in that prediction.
Anyway, I got my flu shot earlier this week and have felt progressively worse with each passing day. Finally this morning I woke up feeling dizzy, congested, and like a swarm of bees were doing an energetic polka in my throat. So, I called in to work to let them know I'd be prostrate on my couch all day if they needed me and have spent the afternoon emailing back and forth with Colby and watching Christmas movies between sips of chicken broth with soggy Goldfish in it (the cracker, not the species).
I've got to say though, that the highlight of my day was when I woke up from my fevered dream this morning completely convinced that Colby had told me I needed to not move into our house because he'd decided that he was gay. I think that's the last time I write an impassioned post while on cold medications.
Jack says go away, there's nothing worth reading here.
Excerpts from an article on CNN.com
For years, Mary Cheney's openness about her sexual orientation had posed a dilemma for conservative activists who admire Dick Cheney's stance on many issues but consider homosexuality a sin.
Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America described the pregnancy as "unconscionable."
"It's very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will never have a father," said Crouse, a senior fellow at the group's think tank. "They are encouraging people who don't have the advantages they have."
Carrie Gordon Earll, a policy analyst for the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family, expressed empathy for the Cheney family but depicted the pregnancy as unwise.
"Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea," Earll said. "Love can't replace a mother and a father."
That article right there pretty much sums up my reasons for not being able to consider myself a Republican. While I generally align myself under the economical platforms of the republican party, I read an article like the one excerpted here and it makes my head explode with the sheer stupidity of what has just entered my brain. I don't particularly adore Mary Cheney, but there are a lot of people in the world that I don't like, and that doesn't mean I don't think they should be allowed to have children. Wouldn't the world be a scary place if I were allowed to dictate who should and should not have kids? Damn, I'd be busy.
I really and truly cannot understand what it is that scares people so much about a same gender relationship. What is more threatening about two women who are in love than a man and a woman who are in love? I seriously cannot wrap my head around it. Doesn't it seem like there are so many other things that we could be worrying ourselves about regarding other people's relationships? Things like physical and emotional abuse? Things like the rising number of divorces in the country as we witness celebrities (in heterosexual relationships, mind you) marry and divorce within the span of a few months. What is it about a homosexual relationship that is so very wrong? And if you say God doesn't like it, I'll probably barf on you. Bring me a note signed by God himself that says "No gays allowed" and then I'll believe you and promptly turn in my Christian badge.
Take those quotes straight out of the article: "It's very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will never have a father." They are encouraging people who don't have the advantages they have." "Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea." "Love can't replace a mother and a father."
So, just by reading those quotes we can now deduce that men and women who are divorced or widowed should not have children. Men and women who are not wealthy should not have children. In fact, if you don't have a penis and a vagina present in a relationship, you cannot successfully raise a child. Well, isn't that good to know! Actually, I think the stupidest statement out of them all is that "Love can't replace a mother and a father." Kind of like love isn't a reason to get married, right? I find it so ironic that these Christian organizations that supposedly promote love and and acceptance then turn around and say that love isn't enough. Apparently "love" only counts if you're straight.
I don't know what kind of God these people believe it, but my God couldn't care less what your gender is, what you look like, whether you choose to have children, if you're married, or what your race is. My God is a loving God who accepts all of those who choose to let Him into their hearts. I find it horrifying that the majority of Christians don't seem to feel the same way. That they feel it should be in their power to pass judgement on who should be allowed to have a marriage or a child and who shouldn't. It seems to me after reading this article that an abusive father and alchoholic mother are a better option that two loving mommies or daddies. Which is just mind numbingly idiotic and I think purposefully obtuse.
I know that there's nothing I can say or do to change the minds of people who staunchly believe that homosexuals should learn to "overcome" their "afflictions". I read so many heartbreaking stories of men and women who finally divorce their spouses after decades of marriage because they just can't hide who they really are anymore. Does this invalidate the love that they have for their children or their skills as a parent? Because a man is no longer married to a woman or a woman is no longer married to a man? Sorry, but I just don't buy that.
Eep! Forgot about that posting every day nonsense for a minute. But never fear, a last minute post is here! Actually, I still have three hours left to go. If this were a paper for one of my college classes I probably wouldn't even start on it for another 2 hours.
So, at long last I have completed the search in all of the components for my Elphaba costume for the big Wicked bash being thrown by my sister after Christmas. Honestly, I'm a huge dork, and it ended up being a little pricier than I expected, but just about everything can be used again, so I'm not overly concerned. And I'll always be able to use it as a Halloween costume in the future. It'll be interesting to see if it all comes together the way I imagine. I've never used any kind of stage makeup before, and I have a feeling it'll be a little different applying that than my day to day look.
I'm really having trouble forming coherent thoughts right now. In yet another huge vote of confidence from the Air Force, all of us were ordered to go get our flu shots. I guess "they" don't want the military incapacitated by these three specific strains of the flu. So, ever since last night I've felt a crud of some sort coming on and I'm trying to combat it with heavy doses of Zicam and Tylenol Cold and Flu. I don't know if it's a coincidence in timing or if it was brought on by the flu shot, but the outcome of my battle with it is that I'm feeling particularly medicine-heady tonight.
I'm going to cut it short now and go lay down on the couch with some Christmas specials on tv, basking in the glow of CariDee winning America's Next Top Model-ette. Happy Humpday!
I'm really starting to think that I'm going blind.
Last year, around this time, it was brought to my attention that my eyesight was less than perfect. At that point I dealt with all of the ramifications of no longer being able to state proudly that I was more eagle eyed than any of my friends (oh, like you aren't proud of weird things!), and that I'd have the pleasure of wearing glasses while reading or driving at night.
Thing is though, my eyesight wasn't really that bad and I honestly couldn't tell the difference with or without my glasses on. I gave it a good college try, but I eventually just stopped wearing my glasses and went on with my life. But, in recent months I've noticed that I have to squint just the twee-est bit harder to make out what road signs say and that there's a really obnoxious halo around all of the headlights and traffic lights when I'm driving at night or in the early morning. I also have to give my eyes a good 2 or 3 minutes to adjust from looking at my computer to trying to see something across the room.
I think it's time to have my eyes checked again.
In other eye related news, Jack is once again costing me an arm and a leg in vet bills. Okay, not really. In comparison to what he cost me at one point right now he's really just costing me a finger and a toe, but I don't really have many fingers and toes to spare right now.
On Friday I noticed that he had some strange tiny black bumps around the rims of his eyes, but I figured I just had never noticed them before and went on with my day. Over the weekend, though, they morphed into larger clumps of whitish bumps and started to swell a little bit. So, I made an appointment and brought him in to the vet today to have it checked out. As always, Jack managed to mystify the veterinarian with his ailment and she just handed over an antihistamine and an antibiotic and told me to come back if it didn't clear up in a few days. Ah, man's best friend. Well, he can just consider this his Christmas present.
So, this Holidailies thing hasn't been too painful yet, has it? Well, just you wait until the end of the month when I'm posting my grocery list with witty commentary. I don't know about you, but I'm excited!
I looooove Christmas music. It's a genetic trait, I think, but luckily one that got a little watered down as it was passed from one generation to the next. My mom listens to Christmas music year round. I think maybe she gives it up for Lent. I guess because it's kind of strange listening to the music celebrating Jesus's birth while mourning his death. Unless you can appreciate the sort of symbolic circle of life theme there. Personally. I think it would be kind of awesome to have Happy Birthday played at my funeral. Like, hooray, you were born! Now you're dead, but how cool is it that at one point, you were born! And you got presents! Kind of like Christmas! And see, it's all circular again!
But I've gotten way beyond off track here.
Anyway, I have a staunch "Wait Until After Thanksgiving" rule. I have been known to cheat every now and again (which kind of flies in the face of the definition of "staunch"), but I try to maintain the "specialness" of Christmas music by waiting until the proper season has arrived. But the Friday after we chow down on turkey, it is ON like, um, like something that is really, really ON! I pull out the cds, and tune in to the all day and all day Christmas station on the radio.
The thing with the Christmas station though, is that you never really know what you're going to get. I've got definite yuletide favorites and the only Christmas station I've found in Little Rock is sort of a little more God influenced, which is great since Christmas is really all about Jesus being born and Away in a Manger and all, but the thing is, it's not really so much those good old Ye Olde Christmas Classics. It's Away in a Manger with a whole lot of "praise God" influence thrown in. I know it's insanely hypocritical to be all "Jesus is the reason for the season!" and then get annoyed at the Christian station for supporting their own, but come on, I need me some Bing, some Muppets, a little Wham! thrown in for good measure.
Anyway, the point that I am trying to reach here as I ramble on aimlessly is that the one song I truly don't understand is the Christmas Shoes song. The premise is lovely, the love of a son for his mother, helping out others in times of need, pretty shoes being purchased. All of these are wonderful things, so why do we have to go on and throw in there that the beautiful mama is on her death bed and all the little boy wants is for her to meet Jesus with fancy shoes? That is SAD people! That's not Christmassy! That makes me sob and swerve into oncoming traffic.
Thank you kindly, but I think from here on out I'll stick to Alvin and the Chipmunks when I want to feel the glow of holiday cheer.
In an effort to maintain daily postings, even through the weekends, I've decided to devote my Sunday blogs to some of my favorite Christmas clips so kindly provided by the internet.
I've loved The Office since it first came on the air about 3 years ago, and like the vast majority of the female population, I have fallen completely in love with the character Jim Halpert over the course of the series. So, what could be more full of the holiday spirit than the pop culture trinity of Jim, Pam, and Mariah?
And without further adieu, I present to you... An Office Christmas.
Yesterday, about an hour before the end of the day, I was arrested by Security Forces on base. They showed up in my office, without any warning, asked me to please stand up, turn around, place my hands behind my back and clamped cold, metal handcuffs around my wrists.
The charge? Miss Arkansas needed some company in jail.
Every year our cops do a fundraiser called "Santa Cop". For ten dollars you can have someone arrested in their office and brought to the holding cell for 30 minutes. Each additional ten dollars adds another 30 minutes to the individuals "sentence", and they use this to fund their holiday party. I'd made it through two holiday seasons without being targeted, so I guess it was too much to ask to make it all the way to my date of separation without feeling the wrath of the law.
Turns out prison isn't so bad. There was hot chocolate, doughnuts and holiday Little Debbies--the Christmas trees, my FAVORITE! Plus it got me out of the office for the end of the day.
The one crap deal out of it all is that once you're released from jail you have to walk back to your office. If you've ever been on a base, you know that really they're set up like small cities, and on my base I can tell you that the cop shop is nowhere NEAR the personnel flight. So, I began trudging down the street, calling everyone I could think of to come pick me up off the side of the road. Of course, it was a Friday so pretty much everyone had left early and cellphones kept going through to voicemail. After I'd made it about a mile down the street a Tech Sergeant rolled down his window and asked if I needed a ride. Not too much further down the road, we drove past Miss Arkansas, still making her way down the street and I just stuck my tongue out at her.
Thirty minutes later I got about five phonecalls from people asking if I still needed a ride. Um, no thanks, you horrible, horrible friends.
So, now I find myself a changed woman, having experienced a jail cell from the inside, and I'm pretty sure that now that I'm back on the streets I'll be back in the slammer again soon. Where else am I going to get free hot chocolate and cookies provided?
I just finished a plate of pancakes cooked by one of the girls in our Unit Training office. She's making cheese, bacon, and veggie omelets later. Sometimes... just sometimes, I really love my job.
So, today is December 1st and we're finally kicking off Holidailies 2006. Doesn't it feel like we were just doing this posting everyday thing? Oh wait, some of you were... But really, time is flying by at a somewhat terrifying speed in some regards, and in others it's standing completely still. I feel like I'm running out of time to find those perfect Christmas gifts, I've already fallen behind on a couple of wedding plans that I'd hoped to have gotten done by now, and yesterday I looked at Jack and Ellie and started crying because they're already 2 and 1 years old respectively and oh my God, they're going to die someday. Hormones talking much?
But the other things, the things I actually would love to have time fly right by are dragging out ad nauseum. I still have that stupid court date looming in my future, and I'm so terrified of any kind of confrontation, particularly one with a judge. Especially since all of the movies I've seen with judges in them make them look rather stern and unyielding. I really hope I get a Richard Attenborough in Miracle on 34th Street kind of judge--like all full of the Christmas spirit and jolly, with a personal mission to cleanse the world of all traffic violation fees. That'd be great. And then there's the whole deployment and moving thing. Colby has been gone a month today, but if I didn't have the benefit of a calendar and the regular sun and moon cycle, I'd swear it had been more like five years. As far as moving, let's just not even discuss that because it seems like it won't happen for another lifetime at least.
In the good news department, all of the crazy flooding in Seattle has left our new house unscathed and the most recent pictures show a nearly completed exterior and drywalled interior. Although I was a little worried about the greyish pallor of the house until I was assured that it would be painted yellow. Clearly my understanding of the house building process is minimal at best, so I think from now on I'll just smile and say, "Looks lovely!"
Then yesterday, I walked in the office and was overwhelmed by a familiar scent. I was immediately brought back in time almost two years to my personnel school in Alabama, where I'd scattered Glade air fresheners liberally around my hotel room to stave off the stale billeting smell. Yesterday, someone had put that same air freshener at their desk, and I couldn't believe how vividly it brought back memories from two years ago. As I stood in my office, marveling at how quickly time passed, it occurred to me what I've heard time and time again, no matter how long it may seem to take to get from Point A to Point B, it's so important to enjoy the journey. Because someday the dogs won't be around anymore, I'll miss the irresponsibility of apartment living, I'll have a day where I wonder what it would feel like to be single again, or to have my family just a few hours drive away. Every day is an experience in of itself and a part of the whole that we long so desperately to rush through to get to the "good parts". But like sands through the hourglass, these really are the days of my life.
