I had a very civilised holiday break, thank you very much for asking :)
Although there was nothing civilised about waking up on Christmas, and it already being thirty degrees Celcius at eight ayem in the morning. And it took my parents and sister another three hours to decide to close the house up and put the air con on. And there was the bit about the choice of DVD to watch, but I will get to that later.
But apart from that it was all very nice.
I woke up and instead of getting into the presents and tearing the wrapping as soon as I woke up, sometimes even at 5 in the morning, as I did when I was a kid, I had a nice conversation over the breakfast table with my parents - I didn't actually have breakfast myself, just a coffee, but it was a good convo.
Had to wait until my sister was awake to open the presents, and I did quite well out of Festive Season 2005 if I do say so myself. I've got so many new shirts, including two that I bought myself in the two weeks before Christmas - I couldn't resist them LOL. I've got so many new shirts, that I am going to throw about six to eight of my older ones out.
And sadly that includes you, Mr 'No Sir I Don't Like It' Ren and Stimpy Horse I have had for about thirteen years LOL. How you survived the 'Jim Morrison inspired no one gets out of here alive Ottawa fleeing back home clothing cull', I will never know. Bruce Springstein concert and Senators playoff hockey tees get left behind, Ren and Stimpy comes home - hmm.
Although I think for the first time ever, I am not sure how much the cologne would have been, but I think for the first time ever, I paid more for my parents' gifts than they did on me - was feeling very generous this year I guess. Now if only I could move out of the parental mansion - hmm, this time next year, fingers crossed I won't be. I will have paid off my debts sometime in the year ahead, so will have a 'housing allowance' again.
So the presents were all opened and stuff about 10 ayem, and we cracked open the first beers of the day - was put in mind of my uncle visiting a couple months ago, having a beer at the TAB at about that time on a Sunday morning, but, as my sister rationalised, that was a normal weekend, this was Christmas. Watched Video Hits while Mum and Dad talked to her parents - Dad had rung his mother about the time that I woke up.
Then had ham sandwiches for lunch - normal every Sunday thing, apart from the ham was off the bone rather than pre sliced. Mum felt weird not doing a big thing for lunch for Christmas, but trust me, we have had our fair share of two big meals on Christmas Days in the past, and by the time the second meal comes around, everyone is far too stuffed from lunch to do more than pick at the food.
Cracked open another beer, watched a selection of DVDs and videos - Dad's contribution was a documentary on Cream, that 60s band that had Eric Clapton, Sunshine of Your Love and such. Mine was the Fast Show, series two, which I had just received earlier in the day - as the Jazz Club pundit on the show would say, niceeee. Groovy even. And my sister had brought Mum the first series of The Muppet Show, so we saw the first episode of the first series of that. The only thing that has really dated on it are the guest stars I think - my family was a BIG Muppet Show household. We scratched our heads at Fraggle Rock a bit LOL, but Muppet Babies was AWESOME. Err, yes, I guess I should raise my hand to that last statement, as being a personal and not a whole of family opinion LOL.
We even had the Muppet Show album, on vinyl no less, and it is around the house somewhere. Manamana, Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear - mmm, early eighties nostalgia, and I thought I was too young for that...
Anyways, by this stage, apart from Fast Show and Muppets, I had gotten stuck into a book the parents had gotten me for Christmas - The Black Echo, by Michael Connolly - I had read his latest, The Lincoln Lawyer, about a month or so ago, and was the first book I had read of his and I could hardly put it down. Has been a long time since a new author got that reaction from me - and then I find this guy has been writing for almost fifteen years and has a huge back catalogue.
When Mum got the book, Black Echo, I thought she had just gotten it so that she could pick it up after I had finished it - I had handed her Lincoln Lawyer after I had finished with it, and she really liked it as well.
Later in the afternoon, the other three went for a swim, I went out and read some more of the book under the verandah. I went in for a swim after they came out, I think I have a phobia of swimming in front of others or something, parents are always saying you should come in, but eh, swimming by myself is fine by me.
A few beers, a few Pepsis later, it was dinner time. They actually preroast the vegetables and then freeze them nowadays, so instead of slaving over the oven in a thirty plus day - even if it was outside and we were in air con, why slave over a stove when you don't have to? Instead of doing the actual roasting herself, Mum got the frozen roast veges and put them in the oven for ten minutes instead of an hour, and microwave heated up the turkey, and we had dinner. The others left turkey on their plate, but I ate it all.
Then there was the choice of movie, as storms were going across the city and playing with our power supply. I suggested the Shawshank Redemption, which none of the others have seen, and I and a lot of other people think is fairly good. My sister refused to contemplate watching it, and hearing that Tim Robbins was in it just got her back up more, so whereas I brought one DVD out of the batcave to the party, my sister replied by getting a selection of about six or seven. All of which were German language, and would require subtitle reading.
I didn't want to press it, as I have been quietly trying to get the parents to watch Shawshank for the past six months or so, and I should have said to my sister there are several rooms and televisions in this house, you can watch on those or go to your room LOL - but it was Christmas, and I had a good book to read.
Had dessert after the movie, Anatomie Zwei, ice cream log, and then turned it over to the Tattersalls DanceSport champs on one of the channels. Was entertaining enough, but 'it wasn't as good as last year, when they named the dancers and gave them an introduction before going into the dancing' blah blah, but was entertaining enough, what with the complete drivel of a commentary. Some of the girls' dresses were nice as well LOL.
Yesterday, Boxing Day, had a very lazy one - spent it mostly in the computer room, or as I have nicknamed it, the Batcave, playing a WW2 simulation, and listening to the Boxing Day test in the background. I didn't have a beer all day, although that is part of the tradition of the Boxing Day test as well, isn't it? Mmm, beer.
Just a quick word on the movies I caught this weekend - Good Night And Good Luck, as good as the critics have been saying, if not better. Gets the sense of looking over your shoulder paranoia perfectly, and OMG McCarthy was a nutjob. If only we were in the rose coloured glasses days when it was only the 'Junior Senator from Wisconsin' who was ramping up the fear factor... I am SO getting that when it comes out on DVD.
Saw King Kong today. Good for a popcorn movie, definitely no Shawshank or Citizen Kane, and even though some critics are saying Peter Jackson was showing just as much homage to Jurassic Park, one of the best scenes in the movie was the brontosaur stampede. Naomi Watts overacted I feel, but not the worst crime in moviedom. I do think it was going just a bit too far to try and bring a Heart of Darkness or Apocalypse Now angle into it.
I like Peter Jackson. Really, I do - he has put Wellington on the Hollywood radar screen, his best act to humankind was to 'discover' Kate Winslet with Heavenly Creatures, and the whole thing of bringing Lord Of The Rings to the big screen deserves gratitude of the 'we're not worthy, we're not worthy' Waynes World kind, but hearing some of the hoopla around King Kong, some of it I am rolling my eyes at.
He has already put out a DVD of the production diaries - if he were not a fellow Wellingtonian, I would be giggling and saying wanker about that. And seeing the amount of detail that went into the New York scenes in King Kong, hmm. So they did a CGI of the exact same Coca Cola billboard in Times Square in Christmas 1933, as one example - so what? It wouldn't matter to me if it was a 1934 billboard, or it was Pepsi instead LOL - as long as the big ape is smashing stuff in front of it, I don't care. If Mr Jackson was not a fellow Wellingtonian I would be thinking about how complete his Star Wars Original Trilogy figurine collection is... or some thought like that.
King Kong is good, exciting, and the cute girl beside me was squirming at the centipede and weta scenes, but it is a popcorn movie. And The Two Towers was the best movie of the LOTR trilogy. Even though Return of the King got the Oscar clean sweep...
Oh, and just another aside about shopping after Christmas - how hard is it to find a good, normal pair of togs, that aren't Speedos, that have a bit of support, if you know what I mean, and are reasonably priced? I went into all the beachwear sort of stores down at Chermside today, and yes, they were on sale, but a cut price to $40 or $50 - remind me not to go shopping in places were pairs of shorts are $65 to $80 again. But even with the prices, the places were packed. But, of course, all the shops were today.
I got nice dependable swim boardshorts at K-Mart in the end, for $15...
Later peeps
Pauly
Although there was nothing civilised about waking up on Christmas, and it already being thirty degrees Celcius at eight ayem in the morning. And it took my parents and sister another three hours to decide to close the house up and put the air con on. And there was the bit about the choice of DVD to watch, but I will get to that later.
But apart from that it was all very nice.
I woke up and instead of getting into the presents and tearing the wrapping as soon as I woke up, sometimes even at 5 in the morning, as I did when I was a kid, I had a nice conversation over the breakfast table with my parents - I didn't actually have breakfast myself, just a coffee, but it was a good convo.
Had to wait until my sister was awake to open the presents, and I did quite well out of Festive Season 2005 if I do say so myself. I've got so many new shirts, including two that I bought myself in the two weeks before Christmas - I couldn't resist them LOL. I've got so many new shirts, that I am going to throw about six to eight of my older ones out.
And sadly that includes you, Mr 'No Sir I Don't Like It' Ren and Stimpy Horse I have had for about thirteen years LOL. How you survived the 'Jim Morrison inspired no one gets out of here alive Ottawa fleeing back home clothing cull', I will never know. Bruce Springstein concert and Senators playoff hockey tees get left behind, Ren and Stimpy comes home - hmm.
Although I think for the first time ever, I am not sure how much the cologne would have been, but I think for the first time ever, I paid more for my parents' gifts than they did on me - was feeling very generous this year I guess. Now if only I could move out of the parental mansion - hmm, this time next year, fingers crossed I won't be. I will have paid off my debts sometime in the year ahead, so will have a 'housing allowance' again.
So the presents were all opened and stuff about 10 ayem, and we cracked open the first beers of the day - was put in mind of my uncle visiting a couple months ago, having a beer at the TAB at about that time on a Sunday morning, but, as my sister rationalised, that was a normal weekend, this was Christmas. Watched Video Hits while Mum and Dad talked to her parents - Dad had rung his mother about the time that I woke up.
Then had ham sandwiches for lunch - normal every Sunday thing, apart from the ham was off the bone rather than pre sliced. Mum felt weird not doing a big thing for lunch for Christmas, but trust me, we have had our fair share of two big meals on Christmas Days in the past, and by the time the second meal comes around, everyone is far too stuffed from lunch to do more than pick at the food.
Cracked open another beer, watched a selection of DVDs and videos - Dad's contribution was a documentary on Cream, that 60s band that had Eric Clapton, Sunshine of Your Love and such. Mine was the Fast Show, series two, which I had just received earlier in the day - as the Jazz Club pundit on the show would say, niceeee. Groovy even. And my sister had brought Mum the first series of The Muppet Show, so we saw the first episode of the first series of that. The only thing that has really dated on it are the guest stars I think - my family was a BIG Muppet Show household. We scratched our heads at Fraggle Rock a bit LOL, but Muppet Babies was AWESOME. Err, yes, I guess I should raise my hand to that last statement, as being a personal and not a whole of family opinion LOL.
We even had the Muppet Show album, on vinyl no less, and it is around the house somewhere. Manamana, Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear - mmm, early eighties nostalgia, and I thought I was too young for that...
Anyways, by this stage, apart from Fast Show and Muppets, I had gotten stuck into a book the parents had gotten me for Christmas - The Black Echo, by Michael Connolly - I had read his latest, The Lincoln Lawyer, about a month or so ago, and was the first book I had read of his and I could hardly put it down. Has been a long time since a new author got that reaction from me - and then I find this guy has been writing for almost fifteen years and has a huge back catalogue.
When Mum got the book, Black Echo, I thought she had just gotten it so that she could pick it up after I had finished it - I had handed her Lincoln Lawyer after I had finished with it, and she really liked it as well.
Later in the afternoon, the other three went for a swim, I went out and read some more of the book under the verandah. I went in for a swim after they came out, I think I have a phobia of swimming in front of others or something, parents are always saying you should come in, but eh, swimming by myself is fine by me.
A few beers, a few Pepsis later, it was dinner time. They actually preroast the vegetables and then freeze them nowadays, so instead of slaving over the oven in a thirty plus day - even if it was outside and we were in air con, why slave over a stove when you don't have to? Instead of doing the actual roasting herself, Mum got the frozen roast veges and put them in the oven for ten minutes instead of an hour, and microwave heated up the turkey, and we had dinner. The others left turkey on their plate, but I ate it all.
Then there was the choice of movie, as storms were going across the city and playing with our power supply. I suggested the Shawshank Redemption, which none of the others have seen, and I and a lot of other people think is fairly good. My sister refused to contemplate watching it, and hearing that Tim Robbins was in it just got her back up more, so whereas I brought one DVD out of the batcave to the party, my sister replied by getting a selection of about six or seven. All of which were German language, and would require subtitle reading.
I didn't want to press it, as I have been quietly trying to get the parents to watch Shawshank for the past six months or so, and I should have said to my sister there are several rooms and televisions in this house, you can watch on those or go to your room LOL - but it was Christmas, and I had a good book to read.
Had dessert after the movie, Anatomie Zwei, ice cream log, and then turned it over to the Tattersalls DanceSport champs on one of the channels. Was entertaining enough, but 'it wasn't as good as last year, when they named the dancers and gave them an introduction before going into the dancing' blah blah, but was entertaining enough, what with the complete drivel of a commentary. Some of the girls' dresses were nice as well LOL.
Yesterday, Boxing Day, had a very lazy one - spent it mostly in the computer room, or as I have nicknamed it, the Batcave, playing a WW2 simulation, and listening to the Boxing Day test in the background. I didn't have a beer all day, although that is part of the tradition of the Boxing Day test as well, isn't it? Mmm, beer.
Just a quick word on the movies I caught this weekend - Good Night And Good Luck, as good as the critics have been saying, if not better. Gets the sense of looking over your shoulder paranoia perfectly, and OMG McCarthy was a nutjob. If only we were in the rose coloured glasses days when it was only the 'Junior Senator from Wisconsin' who was ramping up the fear factor... I am SO getting that when it comes out on DVD.
Saw King Kong today. Good for a popcorn movie, definitely no Shawshank or Citizen Kane, and even though some critics are saying Peter Jackson was showing just as much homage to Jurassic Park, one of the best scenes in the movie was the brontosaur stampede. Naomi Watts overacted I feel, but not the worst crime in moviedom. I do think it was going just a bit too far to try and bring a Heart of Darkness or Apocalypse Now angle into it.
I like Peter Jackson. Really, I do - he has put Wellington on the Hollywood radar screen, his best act to humankind was to 'discover' Kate Winslet with Heavenly Creatures, and the whole thing of bringing Lord Of The Rings to the big screen deserves gratitude of the 'we're not worthy, we're not worthy' Waynes World kind, but hearing some of the hoopla around King Kong, some of it I am rolling my eyes at.
He has already put out a DVD of the production diaries - if he were not a fellow Wellingtonian, I would be giggling and saying wanker about that. And seeing the amount of detail that went into the New York scenes in King Kong, hmm. So they did a CGI of the exact same Coca Cola billboard in Times Square in Christmas 1933, as one example - so what? It wouldn't matter to me if it was a 1934 billboard, or it was Pepsi instead LOL - as long as the big ape is smashing stuff in front of it, I don't care. If Mr Jackson was not a fellow Wellingtonian I would be thinking about how complete his Star Wars Original Trilogy figurine collection is... or some thought like that.
King Kong is good, exciting, and the cute girl beside me was squirming at the centipede and weta scenes, but it is a popcorn movie. And The Two Towers was the best movie of the LOTR trilogy. Even though Return of the King got the Oscar clean sweep...
Oh, and just another aside about shopping after Christmas - how hard is it to find a good, normal pair of togs, that aren't Speedos, that have a bit of support, if you know what I mean, and are reasonably priced? I went into all the beachwear sort of stores down at Chermside today, and yes, they were on sale, but a cut price to $40 or $50 - remind me not to go shopping in places were pairs of shorts are $65 to $80 again. But even with the prices, the places were packed. But, of course, all the shops were today.
I got nice dependable swim boardshorts at K-Mart in the end, for $15...
Later peeps
Pauly
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