What I got for Christmas:

• $75 (theoretically for the bite guard that never was. Part of it went to other people's presents. I found the rest of it this morning, and it's going to me.)
  
• A DVD player
  
• Can't Hardly Wait
  
• Dogma (Special Edition) (I returned All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 and paid a little extra for this.)
  
• A musical water cottage. It's cute. It is going in my office.
  
• A Chinese calendar (well, Gregorian dates, Chinese-style wall calendar(
  
• A silver plated mini-coffee set. (ok, I appreciate the sentiment, but what was I supposed to do with it? I got it at work. I gave it to my sister.)
  
• Dar Williams' Out There Live. This cd rocks my world. I love it. And darnit, I just realized I left it at home and won't be able to take it to WV with me. gah.
  
• Rufus Wainwright's Poses
  
• A set of dominoes. I don't know, my mom was smoking crack. Jay and I will learn to play.
  
• Three pairs of nice thick socks. One pair is slipper socks. Warm. Mmm.
  
• A short-sleeved striped shirt.
  
• A Bath and Body Works candle and candle stand.
  
• A huge flowery candle
  
• Lincoln Logs Frontier Fort. Jay's mom rocks. I told her I wanted them when I was little, and never got them, but still wanted some. She got them for me. A long with some nice votives and a nice votive holder. I am not so good at the building building for Lincoln Logs, I tend to be arty.
  
• A really pretty necklace from Jay. It's like the one he got me last year, but in different colors.
  
• A cute little Boyd's Bear dressed in a star outfit.
  
  

For a few brief hours on Friday night, I found the hole left by Moxy Früvous' touring hiatus filled... by DaVinci's Notebook. They were at Lynagh's on Friday night. They were witty, they were intelligent, and they were good musicians. They even used a bullhorn, a la Michigan Militia. It was most happy, and fun. It was even no smoking. Wow. My friend Anne-Marie went with me (even though she was mega-late.) Jay couldn't go, as it was a 21+ show, and he's only 20. But it's ok. Maybe the Früvous hiatus will end soon, and all will be well with the world.

Assuming that the DVN show was my last concert of the year, that puts me at 11 total. Not bad. For the past two years, I'd made it my goal to see more concerts than I did the previous year, but that's just not an attainable goal after awhile. In 1999 I saw 10, 2000 I saw 16, and this year we're back down to 11. I think that's how it worked. I might have to check that. It might be 1998=10, 1999=15, 2000=16, 2001=11. Anyhow. That doesn't matter.

So, in 2001 the farthest I traveled was to Washington, DC (for Tori), and the closest was the DaVinci's Notebook show. Other notable trips: To Oberlin, OH (335 miles away, about 6 hours), and to Nashville, TN (216 miles, about 4 hours). They were all worth it, I think. Worst show of the year: Tie between the Ben Folds show in Louisville, and the Push Stars show in Cincinnati (the sound system was completely horrible). Neither experience was the fault of the artists; rather, the venues sucked major amounts of ass.

I've finished all my Christmas buying, with the exception of my brother and sister-in-law (and I'm just getting them a gift certificate.) I've spent so much time wrapping/decorating presents. I can't just wrap a present, I have to get intricate with bows, etc, etc. I think I might have spent more this year than I have any other year. I gave Jay his present already, a microwave. He needed it for his off time between school and going home for the holidays. He likes it. Quick, easy food. What's not to like?

Last night Jay and I made lasagna (it definitely needed more sauce) and Chocolate bread pudding. The pudding was deadly. Imagine eating the most chocolatey thing ever. That's it. And instead of making it with regular white bread, like the recipe called for, we made it with Italian Sweet bread. Oh, yum. There's some left in the fridge calling for me. Too bad it's at home, and I'm at work. We also watched Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas, which I think everyone should own. We also watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special, which I will have to buy on DVD if I get a DVD player for Christmas (I'm pretty sure I am.)

Ok, something that bothers me. Avalon. I really enjoy the comic, but the dude doesn't keep up with it, and gives all these pitiful excuses. No one's forcing him to publish on a daily basis, and if he doesn't want to, he doesn't have to. But he should just at least admit that it's not going to be daily, and live with that. It's obnoxious to go to the (incredibly slow) site every day to find no new comic, and if I knew that there was no attempt to make it daily, I wouldn't bother (which is what I've started doing.) I stopped reading User Friendly because I just didn't think it was funny (I'm not a big enough geek, I guess. The Sunday ones are ok, because they don't follow the storyline.

Aimee and I saw Not Another Teen Movie on Saturday night. I loved it. It wasn't hilarious necessarily, but all the references to the other teen movies were great. And in some ways, it makes me feel good that people my age or older are still playing high school kids. Some of the dialogue was straight from some of the movies they parodied, and I loved that. I don't know why. I can't explain my love of the teen movie genre, either. Some things are better left mysteries.

That's enough of a blog for now. If I don't blog before then, everyone have a very Merry Christmas, or the Happy Holiday of your chosing!

Let's get the archives back on here, why don't we?

I am at work and bored.

And yes, I realize I don't blog nearly often enough. I mean to, I just don't feel like enough happens in my life.

I went to the oral surgeon, and he prescribed a $755 bite guard. Ok, insurance should cover 80% of it. $151. Not chump change, but I can scrounge it up. Until I check yesterday... Nope! The oral surgeon didn't put down "TMJ" as the diagnosis code, so they won't pay for it. Gah. I mean, I do have TMJ. He put down the diagnosis as "Myofacial pain", which my health insurance basically says, "Screw off" to. Like I have an extra $755 laying around to pay for a piece of plastic. Hmm. I'll go to Wal Mart and buy the $14.95 make-your-own bite guard kit. I'm not above it.

Aimee and I went to see Ben Folds last Friday at Jillian's in Louisville. NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER go to Jillian's to see a concert. It was so incredibly miserable. The venue was too small for the number of tickets sold. Aims and I got there was early as we could (about 7:45), and got to the side of the stage. People kept pushing around us. I honestly just wanted to punch someone. I need to take an anger management course before my next general admission show. Anyhow, after the show starts, people start pushing harder, and cutting in front of us. I couldn't see the stage (I was probably 7 feet from it), and I couldn't concentrate on anything other than how to stay standing. There was no personal space there. Some (cute) guy in front of Aimee kept about elbowing both of us (he was holding some jackets.) He didn't mean to, but it became very annoying. After the third song or so, Aimee and I moved to the side and listened to the music. Occasionally, I saw the top of Mr. Folds head. I love Bogarts. I hate Jillians. GRR. Actually, a few years ago Aimee and I saw Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at Jillian's, but that was outside. It was quite a nice show. So now there are two venues I will never go to for a concert: Inside Jillian's of Louisville, and the Jefferson Hall Saloon in Cincinnati.

More later.