Dec 29
That is how I started a story last night while waiting for a table at Joy Yee's. It took me a moment to understand why everyone else was looking at me so strangely. “Wait! There were other people there too!” Good save. Smooth operator, as usual.
Christmas weekend was generally good. It was cool in the family and presents sense. Not cool in the girls and emotions sense. So long as I phased out the inner monologue and concentrated on the moment, everything was peaches. Christmas day was pretty awesome. One of my sister's friends had a rough weekend (her dad walked out and left on christmas eve, leaving her all alone) so she spent the night and christmas morning with us. My parents managed to buy and wrap a few presents for her, which was awesome. For my part, I did pretty well. I got some new clothes and some cool books. For those who haven't experienced it, my mom can be a little odd at times. I happen to own one sweater which I tend to wear a lot. Not because I really super awesome love the sweater, but because it is my only one. For Christmas my mom bought me 3 or 4 sweaters, all nearly identical to the one I own. “I know how much you love the super soft fabric.” Honestly, you clearly don't know. But thanks anyway. During my sophomore year of college I was on a trip somewhere with my mom and we stopped at a gas station. I was hungry so I grabbed a Payday bar. “You like Paydays?” my mom asked. A few weeks later my mom bought a bunch of food for me to take back to my dorm room. Among the random food was a full box of Paydays. 50 bars, or something similarly absurd. Two months later she brought me another box of Paydays. I had eaten maybe 2 of the original 50 and now I had 50 more. I appreciate that she wants to get me something, but sometimes she needs to step back and think about what she is doing. As it is, welcome to Sweater City. Population: me.
Also pretty hilarious about Christmas is that Heather and Bridgette helped my mom wrap presents this year. I'm sure that they had fun, but perhaps having a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old wrapping presents was not the best idea. In the morning we quickly recognized their contributions. A lot of the presents were totally mislabeled. I opened a box to find a shirt, only to have my mom yell 'No! That is for your dad!'. A moment later my sister opened a box, “No! That is for Eric!”. The next present I was handed said 'To Jason' on one side and 'To Eric' on the other. We laughed all morning.
I read the entire book of Angels and Demons this weekend. It was pretty awesome. Now I am reading the Bourne Identity, which my brother bought me for Christmas. I hear its really good. I gave away three copies of the Perks of Being a Wallflower, which is probably my favorite book of the year. I really like giving books to people. I also like getting books from people. In a way it is much more personal than most other presents you can get/give. I never give books to people that I havent already read, and every book is given with a purpose. Laura gave me a book called The Pit which she claims is one of her favorites. It is a love story set against the backdrop of the intense greed and ambition found on the floors of the Chicago Board of Trade. A book I would probably never read otherwise, but now I'll be sure to.
Alright, I am gonna go get some lunch. Peaceface.