Kal-El-mas Eve 2010

Another year, another Christmas Eve family get-together. All the insanity that I’ve grown used to over the years, despite one of my aunts making an attempt to keep us all organized and to keep the chaos to a minimum. 

Aunt D: “Okay, now everyone calm down, and let’s all be patient.”

J (sister): [Laughs]

Me: “You do realize that we’re crazy every year, right?”

Aunt D: “Yes, but this time, 95% of us are adults.”

That didn’t work out as well as she expected. She didn’t make that much of an effort, either. Things started off sort of orderly with everyone in the room getting a gift from the same person, and all of us opening them one by one, and then proceeded to devolve into chaos. People started talking over each other, and weren’t waiting until everyone got gifts to open the one they’d just been handed – so, business as usual at my Grandma’s house on Christmas Eve.

 

Despite not getting what I was looking forward to (and had been led to expect), I still had a good time appreciating my family’s insanity, and being thankful for the gifts that I did get. And as far as I’m concerned, I had a pretty good haul this year: a DVD player (which I’ll be letting my mother use, so I can take my PS2 back from her), an amazingly comfortable robe (or is it ‘housecoat’ when it’s a ‘man-robe’), pajama pants, black slippers, a box of five different kinds of hot sauces from boring jalapeño to a yummy habanero (which I’ve gotten three years in a row now, and enjoy), a nice button-down shirt, and a gorgeous wolf-themed knife.

 

The wolf knife is one that I’ll have to put up a picture of, when I can get one. The aunt that bought it never asks most of us what we want for Christmas, but as far as I’m concerned, always buys some of the coolest shit. A couple years ago, it was a collection of small wolf sculptures of varying colors, with tribal designs on them. Last year, it was a wool wolf blanket.

 

This year, the knife she got has a handle made to look kind of like bone, with a metal-etched wolf set into the center of the handle, and a wolves-in-the-snow scene painted on the blade in a great-looking set of metallic paints. It’s probably the coolest thing I’ve gotten from her, ever since she found out that I really love wolves and eagles. Before that, she used to get just random cool stuff, and a package of socks. I kind of wish that she still got socks, because they’re always disappearing. And they’re not nearly as pleasant to replace when it’s your own money paying for them.

 

So, how was everyone’s Christmas this year? Or if your family hasn’t had their Christmas get-together yet, what are you expecting? Any funny things that usually happen? Or any gifts that you’re reeeeally looking forward to? Let’s hear it!

 

And lastly, merry Kal-El-mas.

Wow, it’s been a while

November 6th was the last post here?

 

I guess that wouldn’t be a long time to some, but with the whole (usually) “daily update” thing over at Random Ramblings, a month and a half – almost – feels like a really long time. I suppose I should update you on how things are going in the life of Barlow, eh?

 

• MOVING – I don’t remember if I mentioned this in the last post, since I’d’ve just found out about it a day or two prior, but my mother (who I’ve been supporting for a while) and I had to move out of the house that we were in and into a new place. The new place is a lot smaller, and it’s a bit of a pain in the ass to pack a five-bedroom, two-story house into a one-story, two-bedroom house.
  
• NEW HOUSE – The new place may be small, but its got a lot of potential, which is why we chose to move into it. When we first looked at it, it looked like hell, and the neighbor has since informed us that the people who lived there were heavily into drugs. Since then, we’ve done a LOT of cleaning, and it’s looking a lot better. I planned to take pictures before we moved stuff in, but that ended up being impossible. When we’re fully set-up in there, I’ll snap some pictures for you folks.
  
• BEARD – The beard abides.
  
• RANDOM RAMBLINGS – There is a cool article over on the main site today, from one of my writers, Em. She’s got a cool (albeit not-recently-updated) blog of her own, and wrote a good article about all the bullshit with Wikileaks and Julian Assange that’s been going on, and if you checked this today, then her article’s right there on the front of the page.
  
• FITNESS – So my plan at the beginning of this year was something of an EPICFAIL. Sort of, anyway. If I remember right, I didn’t limit myself to having it in place this year, and I have finally started to work towards it. I’ve been eating healthier (salad almost every day for lunch, smaller portions, and healthier breakfasts and lunches), and plan to start a modified version of the Couch To 5K program at the beginning of January (to keep it even).
  
• WORK – As always, there are issues at work. I’m getting by, though, and continuing to do the best that I can. I don’t mind most of the people that I work with, but I am looking around for other work. I’ve got a possibility on the horizon, with a bank, so that’s cool. I’ve also got hope of being a paid blogger, possibly as soon as the first half of next year. In the last month, my AdSense totals have jumped from 90 cents to a little over $9, which means I’m (almost) 10% of the way to getting a $100 check from AdSense. It’s not much, but once you start getting paid for writing, the confidence inspired from it will help generate a forward momentum to the point where I will be earning a living with my writing.

 

That’s really all that I can think of for now, I suppose. You guys are always welcome to ask anything you want, though!