Christmas Party Success!

My Christmas party was really, really fun! I’m so happy it went so well. Pretty much everyone I really cared about coming came (no offense to anyone who didn’t make it… um… whatever, I can’t help that I was pleased with how it turned out). The only thing was that I got REALLY excited to see everyone, that I did a rather poor job circulating and I’m afraid I neglected a few of my guests. Particularly my friend Sam, who I sat directly in front of for most of the night (on the floor, because we don’t have a million chairs, ok!), and thus hardly saw at all. Since he was behind me the whole time. This is really unfortunate because he doesn’t even have a normal break like most people, so he’ll only be home for like… two of the same days as me, which is probably why I only see him about twice a year. But it’s in the past. Moving on. Natalya brought her boyfriend and so did Elana, and that was great, too! I am really happy when my friends have nice boyfriends. And Natalya’s boyfriend, Mike, taught us the most fun game in the WORLD! I can’t explain it here, though, it will take too long. But trust. It was fun. And I was so, so, so happy to see some of my friends like Jean and Monique and Eric who I almost never, ever get to see. Basically it was just a very great success and I’m so pleased everyone had fun. I was only the tiniest bit sad because I re-realized how awesome my friends are and how little I get to see them… and I will probably see them less and less as time goes on. But… what can you do? I’m should be glad I have such good friends in general, I guess. Oh! Also, we had a costume/outfit contest, and Sarah and Steve came as a Christmas tree and the angel that goes on top (that's the picture on top), which was definitely the best costume. Steve’s shirt even had real ornaments that lit up because they were attached to a battery pack on his belt! That is commitment to a concept.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!! I just really like this picture... so I'm putting it here. That's Eric.

Sleeping is important to me.

Last night the temperature dipped the lowest it has so far this winter, and it was mighty cold. I know this because the furnace broke last night, and I awoke multiple times from the sheer freezing-ness of the house – I was shivering under a sheet, a comforter, and a huge blanket, wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants. However, I didn’t get up. And I will explain why not. It is because my mother has a tendency to turn the thermostat waaay down before going to bed, without my knowledge, so that the house is fairly cold on a regular basis between the hours of midnight and 8AM. So anyway, I woke up a couple times during the night and sleepily assumed that this was just my mom being crazy and refusing to turn the heat up, despite the huge dip in temperature. But the third time I woke up, I couldn’t take it anymore. 6AM. I staggered out of bed and demanded that the heat be turned up, gosh darn it! And was informed that the heater was, in fact, not working. Defeated, I staggered back to bed.

Two minutes later, my mom came in my room with the most gigantic blanket I’ve ever seen, and proceeded to wrap the whole thing – for no apparent reason – around my head and upper torso, exclusively. Sufficiently warmed, I drifted back to sleep.

…And was immediately awoken, yet again, by my dad. Our conversation went something like this:

Dad: Claire, the furnace guy is coming here to fix the heat in the next few hours. I’m going to be in the attic, so you have to listen for the doorbell. If you hear it, come get me, okay?

(Note that at this point it is still only about 6:15 in the morning, and I fully intend to sleep for at least another five hours. No way in hell am I staying awake to listen for the doorbell. Also remember I was asleep.)

Me: What? Dad, I’m SLEEPING.

Dad: Just listen for the doorbell! Don’t just lie there if you hear it, come get me!

Me: DAD. I’ll be ASLEEP. My head is underneath TWO FEET OF BLANKET. I WON’T HEAR IT!

Dad: Well just let me know if you hear it!

At which point my mom notices the conversation occurring and passionately rebuffs my dad while defending her second-born’s right to an untroubled sleep. My mom can be very convincing when enraged. She says to leave a key under the mat and let the furnace guy let himself in. I consider locking my door, but fall asleep too soon to do so.

…And am awoken again around 9:30 by yelling. Some man is pacing the second floor of my house calling out, “Jim! Jim! JIM!” Apparently the furnace man did not get the memo that my dad is in the attic. I ignore this and refuse to get up, assuming he will find his way to the attic eventually. I guess the moral of this story is that I am not a helpful daughter when sleepy.

Pretty, Pretty House

I have to say, my house is very pretty. I take no credit for this; my mom does all the decorating around the house, but she does a very nice job. Thus, I am going to take this opportunity to gloat about my pretty house that I did not decorate.

The stairway leading to the first floor:

The Christmas tree!:

And a close-up of part of the tree:It's pretty right? :)

Winter break is fun!

So my friend RJ texted me last night asking if I was home yet. And then my friend Eric texted me to tell me he’s home now. And then RJ called me tonight to see if I wanted to hang out. On Monday my friend Other Claire (her label, not mine) called to see if I was home yet and if I could go out to dinner. These may seem like completely ordinary, innocuous events, but to me… they are affirmation that I’m still friends with these people, and I wasn’t completely sure of it. Not that I don’t care about these guys or still like them and love to hang out with them, but I have to admit that I put a shamefully small amount of effort into my friendships with most people when I’m at school, and I really can’t help but be surprised when some people still remember to ask if I’m home yet or not. It’s pretty fun, though, to be remembered and all. And I DO love my friends and I’m really glad they haven’t forgotten about me, despite my dreadful lack of ability to keep in touch most of the time. Anyway, I’m having a party on Tuesday and almost everyone claims to be coming and I’m REALLY excited to see everyone! I have a big party almost every year, so I figure that’s my contribution to my group of friends and bringing us all together at least once in a while. Although I feel most of us drifting a tiny little bit farther apart every year, I still think I made some amazing friends in high school and I honestly think I’ll be friends with some of them forever. Even though we all suck at keeping in touch on a regular basis. Anyway, I’m really really really excited that people are starting to come home and I can see them! Yay! Breaks are just the funnest.

When does this guy leave office again?

So have ya’ll heard about this new legislation going into effect January 18? The one that gives pharmacists the right to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions? They can rip up your prescription just because they’re against birth control or premarital sex or whatever the hell other sins they think you might be performing by taking it. This is because, under Bush’s law, no one can be forced to perform “abortion,” and if you believe birth control is a form of abortion, well there you have it. God forbid someone use birth control to keep a bunch of extra babies that can’t be taken care of from entering the world. Those babies would definitely be better off being born unwanted and having a crap family or living in a foster home, I’m sure. And for those people who use birth control to regulate periods or lessen cramps? You’re still out of luck. If a pharmacist doesn’t like the idea of you using birth control, no matter what you’re using it for, tough shit for you. This makes me sooo mad! Thank god we're getting a Democrat back in the White House.

I’m having a lovely vacation so far, by the way.

Done - for realsies!

So I’ve gotten three out of four grades for my classes this semester, which is amazing since that usually takes aaages. I got a B in Seventeenth Century Lit, which was to be expected, and an A in Archaeology. But the miracle is that I got an A in Women’s Lit!! That final that I thought I did horribly on – I got an A! I don’t know how that happened; it is clearly a Christmas miracle. I still have my Gilded Age grade to get back, but those first three grades make this break about a hundred times better for me. Tonight I’m going out to dinner with Corey and Laura and Travis to celebrate the end of the semester, and then tomorrow I get to go home :) I’m a little shocked I even made it through this semester, and I am sooo excited for a nice long break. I can’t wait to see all my friends and… basically do absolutely nothing but hang out for a few weeks. I’m so happy I have such a great place to go home to, and so many friends I can’t wait to see. Yay, Christmas!

Oh, and this is how I feel right now:

Christmas is a-comin'...

New layout! My lovely dear boyfriend Corey made the new banner and edited the little chick button on the side (it’s a tough chick… get it?). Thanks Corey! :)

So the last few days have SUCKED. Truly. I have been so sick and shitty feeling. I’ve gotten so little sleep lately, so of course I got a cold and a sore throat at the worst time possible – well, last week would have been the worst time possible, but this is the second worst time possible. I’ve been downing Dayquil like nobody’s bizness. Anyway, yesterday I had two final exams, one in Archaeology at 9AM (which I just found out I got a 98% on! whoo!), and one for Women’s Lit at 12:30PM. So I got up at 7:30, took a shower, and went off to my first final. I felt awake and alert and pretty good through that whole first final, but as soon as I left I immediately felt horrible! Completely exhausted and sick. I was going to take a nap, but I was reading this really awesome book and I really, really wanted to finish it, so I did that instead of sleeping, which was a bad decision. By the time lunch rolled around I felt like I was going to have a narcoleptic episode at any moment. Then I went to my second final. Which was brutal. Basically it consisted of three very long, very in-depth essay questions, and I pretty much panicked at the thought of answering all of them in the next 2.5 hours. Seriously, I have never panicked like that before during a test. I have always been a great test taker! But yesterday I just felt so horrible, and my head was so fuzzy, it seemed literally impossible that I could finish that whole exam in time. So basically I think I fucked it up. Even as I was writing the first essay, I knew I was rambling and incoherent and just writing pointless tripe. I seriously almost started crying during the stupid thing. By the second and third questions I had a little more of a handle on my apparent emotional breakdown, so I think I did okay on those two… okay. But that first one. Oi. It was not good.

Then I spent the rest of the day in Corey’s room (Corey is a very good antidote for gloominess and grumpiness) and slept for most of the next day, and you would have had to pry the Dayquil from my cold, dead hands. And I still feel like awful. But slightly better. Only one exam to go… but why oh why does it have to be at 9AM? I know I am a complaining, whiney mess right now, but I don’t care! This is my blog! You can stop reading any time! I’m just so glad this semester is almost over, because it has been almost too much to handle.

And now to cheer myself up I’m going to do this fun Christmas survey! Because I’m narcissistic and I like to write about myself (obvs). And like I said, this is my blog and nobody’s forcing you to read this shite.

Before Christmas
1. Does your family send out Christmas cards?: My mom does, to about a million people. I tried to this year… I wrote three, and then I gave up.
2. How soon do you start shopping?: Anytime! I started early this year because Corey is impossible to shop for!
3. Who do you shop for?: Corey, my roomie, my parents, and one of my friends because a group of us always does a secret santa thing.

Decorations
4. Do you put up a Christmas tree?: Yes! It is the best Christmas tree ever. My mom decorates it and it is really amazing. We used to have a “kids” tree, too, with the (literally) hundreds of ornaments my brother and I have, but we gave up on that tradition after my brother moved to Germany.
5. If so, is it fake or real?: Real, of course.
6. Do you like tinsel?: Sure.
7. Do you use homeade or storebought ornaments?: Both.
8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house?: Yup, white ones. Very pretty.
9. Do you put lights on the tree?: Heck yes.
10. How about popcorn and cranberries?: No….
11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door?: Yup.

Christmas Eve
12. Do you celebrate it?: Usually we all open one present on Christmas eve.
13. Do you hang up your stocking?: Yuppers.
14. Does your family read "Twas the night before Christmas?": Ha, no.
15. Christmas Movie: “A Christmas Story” (Ralphie!) and “A Christmas Carol” (the one with Patrick Stewart, lol) are my favorites! We also usually watch “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “The Family Stone” at some point, too.
16. Character from any Christmas Movie: Ralphie!!
17. Christmas Song: “River” by Joni Mitchell.
18. Christmas Memory: Basically any Christmas with my brother. I miss having him around.
This or That
19. Give or Receive?: Picking out presents for other people is fun.
20. Eggnog or Cider?: Cider! Eggnog is gross!
21. Red or Green?: Umm green?
22. Ham or Turkey?: Ham I guess.
23. Star or Angel?: Either… I like both.
24. White Lights or Colored Lights?: White, definitely. So pretty.
25. Blinking Lights or Still Lights: Still I suppose.
26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year?: Um.

Presents
27. What do you want for Christmas this year?: I would really like a Borders gift certificate, lol. Or iTunes. That’s about it.
28. When do you open your gifts?: Usually Christmas day.
29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?: My doggy Spike :)
30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten?: My uncle gave me coal once as a joke. That was kind of cool, though.
31. Who gives you the most gifts?: My mom, haha.
32. Have you ever had a secret Santa?: Sure.
33. Do you like wrapping gifts?: It’s fine.

Random
34. Do you put change in those red buckets?: Sorry, no. Especially cause I’m scared of the people standing by them who ring the bells.
35. Do you burn a yule log?: I don’t even know what that means honestly.
36. Can you name all the reindeer?: Probably not…
37. Do you bake cookies?: We haven’t lately but I definitely am this year!
38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Clause?: If I did I obviously repressed the image long ago.
39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe?: Yes.
40. Do you go caroling?: Once with my brother. We were so cute!
41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights?: Not really… but we look at them when we see them…
42. Have you ever left Santa cookies?: Always!
43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap?: Yes.
44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with?: My family.
45. Where do you celebrate Christmas?: Usually at home.
46. Have you ever had a white Christmas?: Yes.
47. What part of Christmas do you look most foward to?: The day after when we see my whole extended family at my gram’s house.
48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa?: When I was little.
49. Does your family always take a picture at Christmas?: I don’t think so.
50. Have you ever heard the song "Thank God For Kids" by The Oakridge Boys?: Um, no.

Two Stories About Uncle Jim (Retold As Closely As Possible)

As told by my cousin George: “Yeah, so one day me and Alex were hanging out with Uncle Jim while he did construction work. We were like, I dunno, maybe 5 and 7 years old, okay? So we’re sitting out in the sun, learning to knock shingles off a roof or something, and we start to get kind of hot and thirsty. So I told Uncle Jim we were thirsty, and he goes into his truck and comes out with three beers and three hunks of raw garlic. And he hands them to us. I mean, he doesn’t just give us a sip of his beer or anything, he gives us each our own. And a hunk of raw garlic. And we were little kids, so we just start drinkin’ and eating it! And all I remember is that after taking the first bite of garlic, I just started to sweat. And probably the only reason I downed that beer was ‘cause I wanted to get the taste of the garlic out of my mouth! And then my dad comes outside and sees us little kids sitting there with bottles of beer and eating garlic, and he starts screaming, ‘What the hell is goin’ on?!” And Uncle Jim's just like, ‘Aah, they were thirsty!’”

As told by my cousin John: “I remember one time Uncle Jim wanted to take me to this recreation center for the day, just to hang out or whatever. And all day he’s on the phone, talking about football scores and stuff, and handicaps. So I asked him what he was doing and he said he was helping the handicapped by reading them the football scores because they couldn’t since they were blind. And then I went home and told my mom, ‘Mom, Uncle Jim is so nice! He was reading the football scores all day to the handicapped who can’t read the newspaper themselves!’ And Mom was pissed.”

I’m pretty sure my uncle would be damned happy to know he’s remembered like this. My family spent a good portion of Thanksgiving day telling stories about him. These insane-but-true stories are definitely the legacy he left behind, and he will always be remembered in laughs.

Themes

I think it’s funny that my college classes always seem to have a theme to them every semester. Last semester I took almost all poetry classes – I had verse comin’ out the butt! I practically thought in poetical phrases that semester. This semester the theme seems to be women; every paper I write has something to do with women’s rights or a woman’s place in society, or, in one case, homoerotic female friendship poetry. I was just editing two of my papers that are due this week and I actually forgot which paper was for which class because the topics are so related. I think that’s funny. And yes, I am avoiding said papers by writing this blog post.

I might be in jail by the end of the semester.

I realize that being a college student is a pretty good lot in life. I realize that this is one of the best situations a person could possibly ask for – independence, ready-made food, no 9-to-5 job to drag you down – and I realize that my problems don’t even begin to compare to the real problems of any unfortunate person. Logically I realize these things. Or at least I try to remind myself of them at times like these. But. THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE ABOVE ME ARE SO FREAKING LOUD. They skateboard, dribble balls, and play Guitar Hero (with an inordinate amount of screeching girly giggling) at two in the morning. Not only that, but somehow, beyond my comprehension, they manage to also be early risers. How is this possible?! I am about to cut a bitch. Which is why I'm writing a blog post at 1:30 in the morning; because I'm too pissed off and grumpy to do anything else. It’s the last week of classes; I have four major papers due in the next two or three days; and finals are looming. I haven’t showered or changed clothes in two days (who has time to shower when all that matters in life is Walter Taylor’s contribution to archaeology or Virginia Woolf’s view of women in society?!), and the lack of sleep is really not helping my complexion in these dire times. But I’m just complaining. Because obviously I’m not going to do anything about it, except maybe spend more nights in other peoples’ rooms. Even the elaborate plans my roommate and I have for payback might fall through, considering they involve eventually going to jail. Damn those young, energetic freshmen whippersnappers.

The Britney Paradox

Okay, so I’m just going to admit it right off the bat: I bought Britney’s new album. Like… two minutes after it became available on iTunes (around 12:30AM). And I freaking love it. I really can’t say how it compares to her other albums, since a) I once owned “…Baby One More Time” and “Oops… I Did It Again,” but in a terrible moment of misjudgment I sold both and now have very little memory of either; and b) I never bought “In the Zone” and I kind of hated the clubby pop of “Blackout,” with the exception of maybe two songs, after listening to it once. So. I have little reference for how this one stacks up. However, I have read a lot of reviews and most of them were positive; as far as Britney goes, I think this is pretty great.

What I think is so nuts about the whole Britney phenomenon, though, is how no matter what insane thing she does, it only makes her more interesting and more marketable. Sure, when she was going all bipolar and smashing paparazzi in the face with umbrellas, she wasn’t exactly making the big bucks with her music (I think “Blackout” sold something like 29 million copies less than “In the Zone,” to put it in perspective). But still, that only increased her notoriety, and peoples’ interest in her, and set her up for this big “comeback.” And now that’s it here, I’ll bet you anything her new album is going to sell like mad. Furthermore, now that she’s on the “straight and narrow,” we have a whole documentary devoted to how her new, responsible life is passionless and unfulfilling, which basically makes her fascinating in a whole different way. She’s kind of recreated herself from one mesmerizing archetype (the party-crazy, fascinating-because-she’s-such-a-self-destructive-trainwreck bad girl) to another (the broken, beaten down girl with nothing left but her art to sustain her). Not that she actually is or isn’t those things, but that’s certainly been her image. She’s almost Madonna-like in her transformative powers. Except. The difference is that Britney legitimately seems to have no control over what’s happening to her. Her dad legally has all the rights to tell her what to do, and apparently he thinks a comeback is more important than resting up and truly getting well, despite what his daughter is literally saying out loud in that much-anticipated documentary: chiefly, “I’m not happy this way.” But she seems to have no way out.

I’ve been reading the book Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel (which I don’t necessarily recommend… but it is interesting at least as a jumping-off point for thinking about the issues it raises), and it got me thinking a lot about Britney and how we (the public) seem to take notice of her most when she’s in pain. She’s not really young or sexy enough to sell records or catch attention on those qualities alone anymore, as in her heyday when she was subversively dancing around in a little schoolgirl uniform. And she’s not talented enough vocally to do like Christina Aguilera and delve into different kinds of music (backed up by a really powerful voice) than her go-to bubblegum pop. But Britney’s breakdown added a whole new level of fascination to her persona. For her career, I think it was almost completely a good thing – it made her really stand out, get more noticed than ever, and gave her a built-in platform to set up a comeback. And people love a comeback, right? But as her documentary proved, she’s simply not happy being a “pop princess” anymore. “Every day is like groundhog day” – what a sad statement! I’m not saying I pity her, but isn’t sad that her own family considers her career more important than her happiness? When it comes down to it, why did she really need to make a comeback now, or even at all? Sure, maybe dancing is “therapeutic” for her or whatever, but still, is it really the best thing for her to do it on tour night after night in front of millions? Because I'm sure that mentally she still has a long ways to go recovery-wise.

That being said, I won't presume to know what she needs or wants to do. I really hope that she is getting back on the right track and that this is what she wants. And I still love the album.

Reading: The History of Love

I just finished The History of Love. It was amazing. Don't be put off by the title if you're not a romance-type person, because it's not that kind of book at all. And if you start it, finish it. It's definately worth it.