Athene Numphe

All I wanted to do for XMas was to take my dad and step-mom to see Sherlock Holmes at the Alamo Drafthouse. Village, Lake Creek, even Ritz, I didn't care. I'd been watching for the past week to see when the tickets went on sale. They showed up online the day my dad and step-mom arrived (Christmas Eve Eve). So I asked everyone which theatre and what time. Of course everyone was brain dead and not focused and so I figured we'd get back to it later. Later ended up being yesterday. By then every Drafthouse showing was sold out. I got really upset because it was apparently a big deal to me, even though I didn't communicate that or even really realize it until it looked like it wasn't going to happen.

After I calmed down a bit I checked Austin's Craigslist and there were 5 tickets for the 3:30pm showing of Sherlock Holmes at the Ritz at price! So I emailed the person selling them, hoping that they weren't already gone and created a back-up plan of seeing The Princess and the Frog because it wasn't playing at a Drafthouse, so I wouldn't feel bad about not seeing it at one. But the tickets weren't sold yet and so around noon we left to go to South Austin to get the tickets. The person who had them was a sweet woman and not a scary psycho-killer at all.Yay! And it turned out that there was someone who only wanted one ticket so she gave her my number so we could coordinate that.

After that we had some time to kill so we drove around downtown and then parked and walked to the river (during which my legs decided to be cold and dry and my pants decided to rub against them in a way that made my legs really itchy and uncomfortable and made the walk much less fun). We got in line to go into the theatre and I found the friend of the person who was buying the 5th ticket. Eventually we got our tickets, I sold the 5th one to the friend and we got to see Sherlock Holmes at an Alamo Drafthouse on XMas day!

And now, here is my friend Steven (aka CaptainValor) performing an American Sign Language version of my favorite Jonathan Coulton XMas song:

Once again I plan to send out holiday cards with a holiday letter this year. So, if you want one, please leave your address below or tell me where I can find it. (Responses are screened). If I sent you one last year and your address hasn't changed, you don't need to leave me your address again.

As always, my contact information can be found on a friends-only post on my birthday (the only post from 1979).

On Thanksgiving, I got up and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parnade while lordaerith made Kahlua Torte. queencimmy was visiting Dad, so she was watching it on delay.

I didn't get to see the end of the parnade because we left to have Thanksgiving with raenshadoe and last_bastion at their friend Gentleman's house. He had Rock Band. We played lots and lots of Rock Band. OMG, so much fun. I kinda sucked on the drums, but I had a lot of fun singing. Especially "Creep" by Radiohead, which I had to sing an octave above the singer. Dinner was so good. I made mashed potatoes while at Gentleman's house. I thought that I had timed them badly and they would be done after everything else, but actually, it worked out really well. He has a HUGE kitchen. I think 4 of us were cooking in there without a problem. Dinner was fun, full of good conversation and making new friends. After dinner was...more Rock Band. Yay!

On Friday I felt sort of out of it all day, which wasn't very much fun. I was able to get most of my math homework done. Watched The Incredibles with lordaerith at night. :)

Today we were supposed to go to the Texas Ren Faire, but the weather was in the high 40s and rainy and all of our friends were backing out, so we decided not to go either. We got a bunch of shopping done instead. I got more math done and started my reading on PHP. Yay for finally learning PHP! Now I'm just waiting for Aerith to be done with some City of Villains stuff before we watch Memento (which he has never seen).

Tomorrow is supposed to be as nasty as today, so we will not get to go to Ren Faire at all this season. Oh well...

Had a really good weekend (and then a busy beginning of the week...which is why I'm only getting a chance to write about it now).

On Friday night I decided to go to the UU Pagan's Imbolc ritual. I'm really glad I did. Although it was not very highly attended, it was very nice. Short and sweet without any silly pretense that these things can sometimes have. I got introduced to the idea of Storytelling Paganism, which is really nifty.

On Saturday I had work (which was boring) and then had a whole bunch of people over to my house to play Guitar Hero I & II, in an attempt to cheer up crabes (even though not everyone knew that was the reason). Including lordaerith and me, there were 11 people (crabes, cjovalle & qyandri, W & K, RJ, apryl_knight, oracle_tx, & T ) and 2 cats at my house. Hurray for lots of people. It makes my little Libra heart happy. After we were Guitar Hero'd out, we did the only obvious thing to do: hook Elektra up to the tv and show each other videos on YouTube and other places. There were lots of great things shown, but the best was College Saga, a 41min RL acting out of a Final Fantasy type game. I didn't think we'd watch the whole thing, but we were all laughing so hard that all of a sudden they were fighting the final form of the boss. I think people left around 1:30am or so.

Sunday we got up late and then I did homework and kept track of the Superbowl scores over the internet. Hurray for Payton Manning!!

Yesterday my Digital Libraries class got to see some of the Gone with the Wind collection at the HRC. They have so much stuff there, from pre-production paintings and drawings to actor call sheets to movie stills to post-production criticisms. It was really amazing. Unfortunately, the dresses (including the curtain dress) are on loan to Florida. (ok, so that wasn't part of the weekend, but it was still cool). One of these days I will watch the movie!

Here we are on Christmas morning. Sitting on the couch after eating breakfast, each of us has a cat curled up next to us (mine, the boy, is purring so loudly I'm afraid he'll wake the whole neigbourhood). I look around and smile because this is my family.

On friday I got out of work early and we went to eastern mass to visit the in-laws. The presents we got for people went over really well and we got this nifty Cocomotion, a hot-chocoate maker from his niece and nephew.

Then we came home and opened presents with Artemis. She gave us these really amazing scarves that she made and some other cool small things. I gave aerith Serenity DVD (but i put it in a huge box *grin*) and he bought me a wireless router (thus I can be online while downstairs...hurray!). We decided to do presents then because that's when our family was there and as we don't really celebrate xmas, but feel more that the season should be a time for family, that's what felt right.

yesterday I made Diablo 2 shrine cookies. Now i have to make icing so i can ice them for this contest (i have until 3pm to enter...i can do this)

well, i got a lot more stuff than i thought i would, which is really really nice.

what i got:

• all the Anne Bishop books
  
• flannel sheets
  
• How to Knit book
  
• black wool
  
• lots of CANDY in my stocking (which also had dental floss and toothpaste *G*)
  
• a travel chess set
  
• and a Wilton cake decorating book from the year i was born!
  

from my sister i got this really really cool corset top that zips up with long mesh sleeves, black of couse. it is so awesome. i have the best sister in the world!!!!!!!! I can't wait to wear it out somewhere!

I gave my mother two aromatheripy candles and a candle holder. my sister got from me a tee-shirt from Hot Topic and some postcards for her dorm wall, including the "Parental Advisory, expilcit lyrics" :)

We were going to go out to see Harry Potter, but the theatre that said it was open wasn't. so now my "bro" who is no longer a Blue-Skunk, and Aerith are cleaning the kitchen and making food while i am online and Cim is sleeping on the couch. talk about reversing gender rolls :)

Talked to Aerith's family on the phone. His nephew really liked the scarf that I made for him and the copy of The Hobbit that we bought for him. YAY!!!!

Well, i should go now and help the guys clean or something.

I think that it is turning out to be a very good X-mas!

wow, I haven't written in FOREVER!!! Let me see, what happened to me?

First, monday the 19th Flip came into class 40 min late with a bleading cut on her forehead and proceeded to fall down. We called the Public Safety and stuff and the ambulence guys came to get her. I went with her to hospital. We were there from about 2pm to 6pm. I was there when she woke up. She couldn't remember any of what happend to her. it was scary. but they did a CT scan and an EKG or something like that and said she was fine. So, luckily another friend showed up with food and a car and drove us home. The whole experiance just weired me out so, after a few hours of getting no work done, I packed up my stuff for Thanksgiving and headed over to Aerith's.
Also, that night Aerith's sister gave birth to Theresa Joan two weeks early at about 11pm. I guess it was a day for hospitals.

Tues- Haven died. Aerith and I beat Gauntlet Dark Legacy and started to cheeze the game. Learned how to post while troting.

wed - Swan and Kiten showed up and we played more Gauntlet Dark Legacy.

thurs - drove to eastern mass. Got to see little TJ. Her mom came home from the hospital that day. Had chinese food for dinner, but it didn't matter because we got to see the baby :) Aerith and I got to stay in a hotel room ;)

fri more babyness!! Started to freak out about all the work i had to do.

sat went to the mall. The body shop was out of the Define and No Frizz cream :( Ended up getting a dishes and silverware set for $45 at a kitchen store that was going out of busness. Drove home. Saw the Twelfth Night movie w/Helena Bothem Carter and Ben Kingsly. Was very good.

sun did LOTS of Greek

monday the 26th - had a mock final in horseback riding. got Percy. ick he is such a pain! but i groomed and saddled and bridled him and didn't get kicked or bitten or anything. ha.
Then I pulled an almost all-nighter (3.5 hours of sleep) to write a paper. the only good thing was that i got to call dad at 1 in the morning (8am his time)! He got remarried.

tuesday - turned in the paper late, but at least on the day it was due! Whimsy was a pain during riding, but not a Percy-like pain, so that is good. Was up till 1am doing greek, but did over 30 lines in less than an hour at one point. YAY ME!!!

Things I must do before the school semseter is over:
1. 3 exams - 2 in class - 1 a pratical for horseback riding - 1 self-schedualed at Amherst.
2. 3 papers - 1 2-3page obersvation report, 1 5 page write up on Peter Brook, 1 10 page for Comedy and Romance
3. 2 reports - 1 due friday for Greek. 1 article one
4. Greek translation lines (finishing Hecuba)
5. Finishing Horseback riding journal (due mon)
6. Reading Winter's Tale
7. Rehearsing scene with Flip.
I think that's everything.

i think i can do it all (I hope)