I'll See Your 1, and Raise You 2

At the end of each year, everyone does this look-back-on-the-year thing. Ho hum. I'm gonna do you two better: a single post that has links to the funny stuff that happened to me (or entries that still crack me up) in the past three years. So forget that stupid Dick Clark show on December 31, and cuddle up with this list. Enjoy!

2003: hospitals, ghetto peeing (and i mean a lot of ghetto peeing), pee holes, amusement parks, lost shoes, freestylin', flatulence, and progress.

2004: coffee cups, spam, nipples, salad, change, asparagus, skincare, chain thoughts, humming, fluoride and general brushing, noise from above, workouts, poo, Asian food, video games, faces, injections, scary bugs, and the feel of skin.

2005: more buttons (and even more), my sexuality (in some ways admitting to metrosexuality), twins, reflections, seating, beaches, sound and smell, new words, frolicking, showers, marketing, food poisoning, bargaining, mirrors, and potentially dirty cuffs.

What. Yes, that's it for this entry. Now go on, go outside and play. Happy new year.

Holiday Lessons

Over the past week, I've learned a few non-contiguous things. In the spirit of the internet and of general merriment, I share them with you herewith.

1. You can apparently buy drugs from a drugstore by the pill/capsule. Antihistamines were $10 TWD each pill, and the lady came out of the backroom with a tiny ziploc bag with two non-descript white pills in it. I took one, and it knocked me out until the next morning (11 hours later).

2. The classic versions of Christmas songs are still some of the timeless best.

3. Some party guests are comfortable enough with me that they can yell out whatever their impromptu demands. "Enough movies. Where's the music?" which, some 50 minutes later, became, "No more music! Movies!"

4. It sucks to work the week between Christmas and New Years.

5. 14 people, 3 trays of home toasted nachos (with the works), 3 trays of homemade bruschetta, and 1 turkey with all the fixings makes for a big mess.

6. Nobody wants to watch Home Alone, ever again.

7. There's a problem when your drinking games consist of less drinking and more dares, simply because the punishment of drinking is no longer considered punishing enough.

8. Two huge turkeys in two consecutive days is just two much.

9. If you are in your 8th floor apartment, and you spot carolers approaching and singing at the apartment complex across the street, do not scream, "Louder! We can't hear you over here!" They seem not to appreciate that bit of constructive feedback.

Alright, enough with the new stuff; next post will be about old stuff.

Year End Resolution

It's funny that sometimes a seemingly ordinary day can quickly turn into an extraordinary one. I got to work as usual, plopped into my seat, logged into my network, my mail, my MSN, looked over my tasks for the day, and then this came in.

"Hi, happy holidays to you. i think we should end this year on a good note. i think i'm now ready to be friends with you and i also think that "hating you" is not really helping me move on. i just need to let it go and move forward with no hard feelings."

I have to say, it was a strong move for her to do this. We had a nice chat, caught up on a few recent events, and then called it a day.

Nearly Forgotten

Wow. It's been a while since I've posted, and not only did I not wish everyone a bloggy Christmas holiday season, but I haven't even recapped what's been up lately! So here's to wishing you a very happy after-Christmas-pre-New-Years week! A little extra yippee for the Canadians who are likely enjoying crazy Boxing Week sales! I'm back at work today, so lots to catch up on. Be back later.

To All a Good E-card

E-cards are usually personalized in some way, but this one seems to do just fine without having to be dedicated towards any person at all. Here's The Snowdog by English artist Jacquie Lawson. Cute.

[ Edit: This Father Christmas video by Rare Exports Inc. is also well-done, but, shall we say, less cute. Apparently, these are professional Finnish actors in it. ]

Print This

I've always wanted to design graphics for printing shirts. It would be fun, but I figure nobody would hire me for that job, solely based on the facts that I am inexperienced and completely untalented. (Can't blame them.)

So now I'm thinking, maybe I just want to design a few and have them printed at some little shop for myself; kind of a one-off shirt idea, but have a few different ones. I came up with an idea that I'd actually wear, for all the people who keep staring at me and my brother, or even just me (for whatever strange reason):

what.

That's it. Just "what." I think that's all I need to say, and even if they don't know what it means, I do, and that's enough for me.

If you could print a shirt with whatever you wanted, what would you print? Assuming, of course, that you will wear this out in public.

TGIF

I like Fridays.

I get to wear jeans to work (although sometimes I let this trickle into Thursdays, and sometimes if I am feeling under the weather too). Everyone is generally in a chipper mood, even if there's more work to be done (oftentimes gotta-be-done-before-the-weekend tasks), because that light at the end of the tunnel is a weekend and clearly not a train.

But wait, there's more!

Friday afternoons are usually a little lighter in workload, and we can usually start being less productive starting about 5pm. And lunchtime conversation usually is lively with plans of whatcha-doin-this-weekend. And sometimes we even get to have a more leisurely lunch actually at a restaurant instead of ordering lunchboxes in. (We are like prisoners around here.) All this, coupled with a more acceptable late workstart time makes for a generally more enjoyable workday; it's not like we don't work on Fridays, but rather the mood is better overall. And then there's the good boy-do-i-need-a-drink-now justification for a trip to the local watering hole.

I sure like Fridays. Except when Captain Slackass uses his superpowers against me.