1453 - TA and Needles

Well, its December now. I had no idea Christmas was approaching until JW's last-minute, frenetic pursuit of an advent calendar. Sadly, we were only able to find hundreds of copies of some kind of princess-themed calendar that nobody wanted (including her). I like to have an advent calendar, but I hadn't even noticed that December 1st was approaching. It reminds me that Christmas is indeed coming, and I often need reminding as I tend to forget now that I am working in the real world. The past couple of Christmases have sprung up on me, as I've worked right up to midday on Christmas Eve (or the day before). I am thrust from the coporate world and my life in all its regularity to a very happy carefree time, full of smiles, laughter, egg nog, seafood chowder, Christmas trees and gift giving. Then it ends rather suddenly when I head out the morning of the 27th (26th this year?) to find a good deal on something I need. This year, I don't think there is anything I need - so maybe I will skip the boxing day sales. Fortunately, New Year's follows closely to rescue me from the sadness that follows the end of Christmas.

My favourite day of the year is probably Christmas day. As a child, it was the only day of the year that my grandparents came for a day-long (sometimes two-day) visit. We'd open our presents, eat lunch, then spend the afternoon lazing about solving brain teasers or the like. Then, my Mum would cook, and my grandfather would slice the turkey. We'd snap our crackers with one another, wear those silly paper hats and enjoy the meal. We'd all sit around talking with tea and both trifle and some kind of flaming pudding. Then everyone would leave, and my parents and I would sit downstairs and watch TV. Around this time I'd start checking my watch constantly (a habit I am still in), dreading 12am coming around. Finally it would happen, and I'd be sad that I'd have to wait an entire year for Christmas to come again.

Anyway, I can talk more about that in the coming weeks. This week was very busy work-wise. We have a deadline set for end of day Tuesday, and I spent the week fixing bugs in code written by other people. I stayed late most days. Nothing much happened on Monday, at least nothing I can remember. On Tuesday I got off work and went to JW's and did something else that I don't remember. Oh yeah, we went to see a movie about AIDS called "3 Needles". It was a special showing put on by a local group. The movie was divided into three parts portraying AIDS affecting people's lives in three different places in the world: Africa, China and Canada. Surprisingly, it was a pretty good movie and it was an eye opener regarding how AIDS is spread. We met one of JW's friends and her mate outside of the movie and spent the next half hour trying to avoid walking alongside them having already said goodbye. We met them again at the bus stop we had planned on waiting at, so we kept walking. Luckily, the #7 bus was late, and we caught it, avoiding a third meeting.

On Wednesday, it was TA's birthday. After work, I went over to his place, and we had a few beer before going down to the local trivia bar. Unfortunately, none of the usual crowd was there, and we were forced to form our own two-man team, with no hope of getting the obscure pop culture movie and music references so well known by our usual partners. We (TA) managed to score 14/20 on one round, but we did not threaten to win. We enjoyed a few beers, followed by a couple of double cheeseburgers at McD's before heading home.

On Thursday I had wanted to go see an Egyptian display at a local art gallery, but had to stay late at work. I went over to JW's after work, and we relaxed a little as it was already late. On Friday, I again stayed late and went over to JW's. We went grocery shopping and then watched "The Polar Express" to get us in the Christmas spirit. It was a children's movie about believing in Christmas. The main character has lost faith in Santa's existence, until he meets him in an elaborate dream. JW pointed out that the movie was talking about faith in a greater sense, which cheapened the experience a bit. The movie tended to focus on elaborate visual shots clearly intended to show off the computer animation in use, unfortunately.

On Saturday, JW and I lazed about a bit and then braved the crowds at a local mall having a tax free sale. It was a terrible mistake, as we spent about 20 minutes in the parking lot trying to get a space! It was dog eat dog, with people clearly signalling for a space having their spaces robbed by maniacs desperate to make a Christmas purchase. Inside, the mall was as crowded as it was outside, with long lines at most stores. It was nice to get out of the mall only two hours later, with at least a bit accomplished on JW's part. After the mall, we headed downtown for dinner, only to find Talay Thai closed and Taj Mahal too expensive - there was a $500 menu item! We walked all the way down to East Side Mario's, and like cheapest of skates, we proceeded to eat a ton of the free fresh bread whilst taking half of our dinners home in a box. The bread is really good though, and I could eat it as a meal. In fact I did that today.

Saturday night was TA's real birthday party. It was attended by AN, AD, AB, KB, PL, J?, C?, ??, KD and myself. The guys really took over. We watched a demolition race on a figure eight track for about an hour. Then we turned on "When Stunts Go Wrong 2", watching people break themselves in half to our delight. We joked about taping down the "listen" button for the intercom system at TAs apartment, or even better the "let some crazy person in" button, but instead we yielded to crowd pressure and played video games. We had a few rounds with the bongos, followed by some four player Goldeneye action (I didn't win any rounds), followed by Street Fighter 2 Turbo. We sat around chatting to end the evening.

On Sunday, I got up and went shopping again with my parents. The stores wern't nearly as busy, and we got a lot done. I find that I am becoming an old man, as I got two pairs of shoes very similar to my old ones, and I tried to find a watch that looked like my old one to no avail. It broke and cannot be fixed, otherwise I'd have it fixed. We saw a couple, but they were too expensive. Even though my parents insisted that it would be okay to spend a lot, I knew I could find what I was looking for at a reasonable price (as I had found my old one). I didn't. I'll try again next week, I guess. We also looked at some photos of real places all around Nova Scotia. The treatment of the photos made them look completely unreal - I hated that they were so perfect, and I had to disappoint my parents by not finding anything I wanted.

After the mall, I came home for supper, as my parents were going to a birthday dinner. I ate half a stick of sourdough bread with garden vegetable havarti cheese I had waited 15 minutes in line to buy. AFTER supper, I cooked for two hours. I made an extremely spicy Thai "stirfry" with coconut milk, peanut sauce and tons of spices. I also made a double batch of fudge that almost filled my large saucepan. It's cooling downstairs now as I type. I haven't made it in a long time because I can't resist it when its in my house. I think I will give a good chunk of it to JW, who wants to try it, sacrificing her health to save my own. I was really feeling healthy when I poured 6 cups of sugar into 2 1/3 cups of boiling margarine. Then it got better when I added 6 cups of mini marshmallows and 4 cups of chocolate chips. Yes, that fudge is nutrition central, with zero of my recommended daily vitamin/mineral values.

I'm not particularly looking forward to the upcoming week, though I suspect it will improve after Tuesday. Remember, you're always welcome in my kitchen.

It is clear and cold. I am currently listening to "Big Mouth" from "1992-2002" by Underworld.

Movies watched this week: "3 Needles", "The Polar Express"