Fun Days!

The road in front of my house was still pretty hard to navigate on Saturday night when my friend came over. It is only just starting to bare the asphalt only today. I am really adoring having an all-wheel drive car - it's making life easier this winter!

Since my friend and I stayed up late, we slept in too, and spent the entire, glorious day together. My sister's family comes over on Sundays, so, after an excursion in the snow, we entertained my niece and nephew by wrestling and rolling around with them on the living room floor! So much fun! And exhausting! By then, it was time to take my friend back to her house in Seattle, but I went in and stayed to play games like Spite&Malice and Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego? until it was very late.

Monday was... very unlike Mondays! Thanks to vacation! I slept in a bunch, and then my sister and I went to BCC for her to sign some papers (and we reminisced with old friends, like our old co-worker in the mail room and one of my sister's profs - my old profs weren't in). After that, we headed for Crossroads Mall where we spent some time in Half Price Books, where I got a "then & now" book on London, mostly for the photography but also for the history of all of London's famous streets & buildings. I also picked up the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum Story of Flight (300 pgs with lots of beautiful pics). We then dropped in on Uncle's Games and I got two very nice puzzles, and then we had a little snack, Greek style at The Mediterranean Grill.

We arrived back home around four pm, and I immediately realized that I was missing the first part of my brother's "Band of Brothers" marathon when I saw his friend's car parked outside. Thankfully, they had only got into the second episode (which I had just seen on the plane this summer), so by the time I finished my Christmas avocado with my sister, I joined in on part three of the ten part (and hour) miniseries. There were seven guys over, so I had to start out on the floor. The show was so well done, I hardly noticed the eight hours as they went by. I had seen bits and pieces of most of the episodes before, but only on TV. This was my first time through the whole thing. It is a great experience if done that way. Wow!

Today I had planned on doing just reading and writing, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. The snow had melted enough for my sister and I to head out to Carnation for some belated Christmas and horseback riding. We had a good time, but it was very snowy and wet all over the trail and we didn't get very far. But it was good to do horsey stuff again and see our friends. Our Christmas gift from our Aunt and Uncle was a trip to Outback Steakhouse, so that I just returned from. They have an excellent Tilapia and Crab dish that is just delightful!

On to tomorrow after a little "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" with my siblings! Ah, vacation!

Jp

It's Melting!

It first snowed here on December 13th, exactly two weeks ago. Today is the first day that it actually began to melt. I can start to see my neighbor's roof and our light bulbs on the rock wall in our yard. This has been absolutely incredible for all of us here... not only having more than four inches, but having it stick around for more than two weeks is just unheard of here.

Well, my aunt and uncle were snowed in on Christmas (they live a half-hour away to the east of us, toward the Cascade Mountains), but they let us come in my all-wheel drive Subaru to pick them up! So we stopped just outside their hilly road and they walked up and got in! So they came for Christmas, just like normal! I ended up greatly enjoying my very first very white Christmas. Not only was everything covered (I did a lot of shoveling when I woke up), but huge flakes were coming down as well. It would have been a perfect day if I hadn't have stepped in dog poop. LOL

We had our usual huge breakfast, which includes waffles from a waffle iron with strawberries, hash browns, scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon (which I generally decline), link sausage, and my personal favorite, spam. Needless to say we were generally full for the rest of the day. There was a little bit of salmon dip that I enjoyed later on, but that was pretty much it.

I got a couple things I wanted, like that big Narnia pop-out book that has stuff from all seven books, sort of like an illustrated time-line through the series with large colored images from the books. It's a great one! You can make the Stone Table crack, Prince Rabadash wiggle as he's stuck on the wall, the Dawn Treader escape from the sea serpent, and they even have a mirror with a beard! Gosh, it's awesome! But I most enjoyed how much my siblings liked their presents. I was even the tiniest bit able to surprise my sister M, who is impossible to surprise.

And then without knowing about the details from chat last Saturday, my mom got me "A Christmas Story" on dvd! So we watched that Christmas evening after we had taken my aunt and uncle back to Monroe. I now understand the leg-lamp joke going around at work and I have a better appreciation for my Red Ryder BB rifle that I got in 1994. LOL

Yesterday I went out with my bro and my sis to Best Buy and Fred Meyer, where with Christmas money, I got a portable hard-drive for my photography class and a couple of movies that have been impossible to find: Miss Potter and Miss Pettigrew Live for a Day. The latter of which, I watched on the airplane going to China this summer. It's set in 1939 London - and it's very fun and well done. A surprisingly good period piece.

Before Christmas, I watched "A Tale of Two Cities" (1958) when I needed to relax, and I was impressed at how much of the book they squeezed into it! The actor who played Sidney Carton nailed the performance, I thought. And then last night, my brother and I and our parents watched "The Dark Knight" on his projector. I totally understand why my sister didn't care to watch it again. The Joker is... beyond disgusting. The bad guys are unrelentingly and shockingly evil - it's pretty repulsive to watch. I closed my eyes many times so I don't get nightmares or something. I do like Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman a lot, but I don't think I could handle watching this again. The ending is really good, but the bad guys are just... too bad. I loved Batman Begins back in 2005, but that was a very different movie.

I'm going to try and not feel depressed about watching that last night... :)

A good, childhood friend of mine - that is going to school in Florida - and that I haven't seen in a whole year - is coming over tonight for dinner and a sleep over! Very excited for that! But I don't think I'll make it onto chat... so for all of you out there tonight... Good night, and good luck!

Jp

Merry, Merry Christmas!

I Dared to Watch...

A good friend of mine told me to watch "Shadow of a Doubt" (Hitchcock, 1943), and I did so tonight with my sister and parents. Now, usually I am scared silly by thrillers, but this one I really enjoyed. There were a few tense moments, to be sure, but the main character was a delight to watch. It was a great one, and everyone loved it. It turned out that my mom had seen parts of it before on the other classic movie channel, back in the day, so she particularly liked seeing it in its entirety.

I don't think I'll have any nightmares, but I'll be sure to say so if I do. At least I'm not looking over my shoulder after this one (I hate that when I have to look over my shoulder).

And I'm officially done with work at Aerojet until the Fifth of January! Yey!
I don't know what I'm going to do with myself tomorrow!

A Very Merry Christmas Eve to you all!
Jp

It Inspires Me.

'
"Not to know what happened before you were born
is to be forever a child." ~ Cicero [a wikipedia page]

(For those hackers out there who know Latin - sorry - inside joke)
"Nescire autem quid antequam natus sis acciderit,
id est semper esse puerum."

No, I didn't go around reading Cicero over the weekend. Actually, I watched 'The Emperor's Club' the other day, and this one little line that was quoted in a classroom scene has stuck with me since watching it. It defines my passion for learning and loving history.

My goodness, I LOVED that movie.

Jp

Oh, but yesterday...

I saw Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for the first time in a LONG time.

I think it must have been the abominable snowman that scared me as a kid.

LOL

It's beginning to not feel like Christmas

Just had a good cry, and it was quite refreshing.

Let me see if I can explain this to myself...

I'm upset that I can rarely communicate with my dad in meaningful ways.
I'm upset that my bro talked about my chatting with my friends with his friends.
I'm not happy that the snow will probably keep my aunt/ uncle/ gramma from coming over on Christmas like they do every year.
Although, we'd have our first "White Christmas" in... ever.
I'm upset that I have a hard time explaining myself sometimes.
I'm VERY upset that I rely so much on what other people think of me,
and what I do, in order to enjoy what I do and who I am.
It's so darned annoying, but it's the way I am!

And for heaven's sake, they made me come into work on a snow day.
(Jen thinks for a moment, and then realizes that she is grateful for her job.)

[and yes, I almost typed Betty-Jen to make it look more familar]

It's beginning to feel like Christmas again. Little by little...

Jp

My New Website

A fan page dedicated to the characters of Remember WENN.

http://www.rememberwenncharacters.org/

And a new fanfiction is posted here and there.

Jp

Let it Snow...

It just keeps coming! I think we had about 5 inches last night, and it's still coming down really hard! It's so exciting, because it's so rare... Oh, Washington... :)

Since we're pretty much stuck at the house (and I knew we would be last night), I slept in this morning and relaxed. The family is still over, as well as friends of my parents, so I hope they are able to do what they need to. They might have to stay... it could be fun!

I'm going to put my GI boots on, as well as my BDU wet-weather pants and waterproof civilian coat (like I did last night) and take the dog on a walk. It's a lot of fun when you don't get soaked or frozen... LOL!

Jp

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful...

A low of 15 degrees last night! Wow! Anyway, we still have our snow from last week! I don't ever remember snow that lasted that long... ever. The only other time I remember temperatures like this was our very irregular storm back in '03 where we lost our power for a week or so. That made it rather inconvenient for staying warm... :)

Oh, but even though there is still snow, it hasn't snowed since Thursday. They've done an excellent job taking care of the roads since then, so Mom and I were able to go to the symphony again last night like we had planned a few days ago. We saw Handel's Messiah, and it was my first time. It felt like heaven... the multitudes praising Jesus... it was incredible! We also ran into an old friend of ours from years ago! What a coincidence!

[I also realized how awesome it was that I heard the music and words exactly as they were heard 266 years ago, when it premiered in Dublin... I feel privileged to be able to hear it, and humbled.]

Right now it's bright sun outside shining on all the snow... but they've been forecasting a huge snow and wind storm coming our way today which... according to the last snow we had... means that it will get here tomorrow.

We'll see!
Jp