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It's hard to believe that 2005 is nearly over already. I suppose this is the time where you get sentimental about the year that was. Honestly, this year was not one of my best. I'm sure someday I'll look back at 2005 with fondness and a sigh, but I rather look ahead. So here is to 2006, may it be bigger and better than the one before. Here's to health, happiness and joy. Happy New Year Everybody!
As you may know, I don't actually own a cat, so I have never been able to participate in Friday Cat Blogging. However, I am now the owner of a bottle of Riesling in the shape of a cat. I thought perhaps this would allow me to enter the eschelon best known as cat blogging. The picture really doesn't do it justice though. It only shows how ugly the linoleum in our kitchen is.
The car is fixed, I keep shopping even though I don't need to, and I have more tsotchkes now than I had before. This is why I've pretty much opted out of the holidays. Stop staring like that... No really, we don't really celebrate anything here at Casa de Beanie. Some folks just don't grasp the concept, but it's like this. We don't consider ourselves religious at all. As a result, for us to celebrate any of the religious holidays would be rather hypocritical. So, we opt out of the whole rigamarole. The only shopping we do is to pick up things on sale for ourselves. We don't decorate, we don't put up a tree/menorah, it's just another day of December. We also don't go into debt up to our eyeballs, so I guess that's good. This isn't to say I'm a total grinch though. I enjoy Christmas lights. I love latkes. I want everyone who celebrates these holidays to enjoy themselves. Don't feel bad for us, we're just as happy hanging out at home for the day. And maybe some Chinese food...mmmm.
When you turn 31 it's like any other day, until you burst your flange. Um...that's what my car did anyway. Got done having a little sushi and some shrimp and black bean sauce, piled into the car, started it up and boom, the exhaust system burps and blows the flange between the muffler and the rest of the exhaust. Made it sound like I had a real winter clunker, rattles and throaty rumble included but none of the troublesome visible rust. It gives me something new to do tomorrow. Nothing says holidays like car trouble I always say.
Yesterday I left the house just to get out and about. Strange things ensued. Here's a transcript of a conversation that I had yesterday.
Spouse: I'm going home early from work.
Me: Oh, really? Why?
S: I'm really not feeling all that great. I'm going home and taking a nap.
M: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
S: By the way, my vehicle has no plates.
M: Huh?!?
S: Yeah, someone stole the plates off the car.
M: Well, what are you going to do about this?
S: Drive home.
M: You have to report it!
S: Yeah. I will.
M: Like now would be good.
So there went the spouse's nap prospects, because it turns out it's much more complicated than you would think when you lose your plates. For instance, we had no idea when this had happened. It could have happened yesterday, but since both plates were missing (including the bolts) and there were no steps in the snow behind the car, the CSI in me said it didn't happen then. So it happened maybe Friday afternoon?!? And the vehicle had been driven Friday night, Saturday morning/afternoon, Tuesday...and no one noticed? And the spouse didn't get pulled over? Dang, maybe we are truly invisible after all. That's my theory. Luckily I wasn't personally invested in those plates, since we now have new ones. And a new registration, and a new sticker. The only highlight is that we didn't have to actually pay for their replacement. And oh, don't ever try to report a crime in a small town between 2:30 and 3:00. That's when the shift change is and no one wants to do anything. On the other hand, I guess it would be a great time to commit a crime, since no one wants to do anything.
I haven't gone anywhere in the last two days. Heck, except for getting the mail I haven't even left the house. Why? It's not that I didn't have a car...it's not that I was sick...it wasn't even the cold weather. It's just that I couldn't bring myself to leave. I don't think it's agoraphobia per se, but rather lack of ambition. Guess when you don't have any money, and you really have no true necessity to leave you can talk yourself into staying put. I've applied for a few more jobs, although not attorney positions (since I've no license, you see) but I never hear anything. Heck, even a part time position for typing hasn't panned out. It's all terribly depressing. So I stick with what I can do...namely keeping my woodstove good and hot. I've got plenty of wood and I'm not afraid to use it. Ahem.
Like many of you, I too got to shovel this week. I could have gone all macho and broken out the snowblower, but it's noisy and stinky and there just wasn't enough snow to justify the trouble. So I put on the boots, grabbed a shovel and got a workout. Oh, and I brought the iPod. Why? Because everything is better with tunes. I found Cold as Ice by Foreigner appropriate, but I think I scared by neighbors when I started tangoing with my shovel to Volare by the Gipsy Kings. Hey, it could have been worse, I could have been trying to sing it too. And who really knows the words to that song anyway? These people seem to...
I went to the mall today. It wasn't to go Christmahanakwanzakah shopping, but rather just to go and maybe get my haircut and buy something to wear Saturday night to a holiday party. And it was crowded. Now I realize I'm gainfully unemployed and have all the time in the world to do whatever the hell I want and spend money I don't have, but where did all these people come from? You're telling me these people needed to take a day off of work just to shop? They can't mix with the common people on the weekends? And they're taking off on a Thursday? What sort of plan is that? I have worked enough in my life to realize that Friday is the day to take off if you want to get the whole instant weekend experience. Monday works too, but hey, not Thursday. So take a day off and go shopping...it seems to be an okay thing to do. I'm so out of the loop.
I started studying in earnest today. I got some new materials in the mail today and am going at this differently than the first time around. I'd like to thank everyone who has given me support during this time, and I'm sure that this is going to be a goal I can reach. If nothing else, I'm not starting at square one this trip. That actually comforts me. So I have my scone, some chai and hear it's snowing tonight. Who cares...I'm home studying.
I have a head cold...again. Personally I blame the little germ carriers that were at our Thanksgiving dinner. I'm a post-nasal drip mess at the moment. And so I ran out of drugs. You've got to have drugs to dry this up. So I headed off to seek the drugs. And when I got to Target I realized that this is the headquarters for homemade meth labs. For those of you who haven't had the joy of trying to buy cold meds at one of the big chain stores lately, this is what you're in store for. You go to the aisle, look at a bunch of cards with images of what you want to buy. They have information on both sides so you can figure out whether you want to actually buy these drugs or other drugs. Knowing what I wanted going in, that was the easy part. You take the card of choice to the pharmacy counter and are immediately asked for your license. And this isn't like being carded for booze folks, they type a bunch of information off your license and type it into their system. You have to sign for your purchase, regardless of paying with cash or a credit card. In other words, you feel like a really sick felon when you're done. And this is for only one pack of Tylenol Severe Congestion pills. Imagine if I wanted something more hardcore.
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