Yep, I've been absent for a while. We still haven't gotten my laptop online, so here I am on Mom's computer doing my update. No updates to the anime list until I've done that, clearly. Still, there's that whole Christmas thing going on, so I'll talk about that. (I have been exercising... I missed Thursday and Friday, but now I'm back in the groove.)

I got that coat that FedEx lost. The neighbor who got it delivered it to us the next day, and Mom just didn't tell me because she wanted it to be a surprise. The hood is a raincoat hood, so it's not warm at all, but the jacket itself is great. I can stuff a hat in the pockets or something. Mom also got me Katamari Damacy (which is as addicting as they all say... I don't doubt I must be humming the Katamari Mambo in my sleep) and Disgaea, which has some options available early on that are VERY hard. I could probably beat them if I stopped trying to screw around, but beating a level 8 zombie guy, even with my level 4 Lamarl, just isn't going to happen. She also got me (yes, she loves giving presents, this woman) the first three DVDs of Super Milk-Chan. I'm looking forward to watching some of that. Oh, and I can't forget the first two books of Shutterbox. Curt got me two DVDs of Stellvia, and Brian got me a $50 gift card for Suncoast and the first two seasons of Ren and Stimpy on DVD. (Anyone remember that? Brian sang me the Log Song when I opened the present... I countered with Don't Wizz On the Electric Fence.) And Ray got me a $50 gift card to Best Buy. So only Mom stuck to the wish list, so far, but Chris and Jade aren't even leaving until tomorrow. Apparently, Jade's family is more important to them than we are... or they wanted to spend Christmas there because it's a few minutes away instead of half a day. There were also the usual lottery tickets, which has been a Christmas tradition for about a year now. We start new traditions all the time, which only SEEMS to violate the definition of tradition. Nobody else won anything. Me, I got two losers right off in the book of six. After that, each one of the other four was a $5 winner. I'll cash those in later, sometime before I leave the state. And the rest of the presents went over well... everyone liked what I got them. They loved the cards, too... I'm glad I hunted for them.

Going out of order a bit, but I wanted the presents first. The trip here was mostly uneventful... I drove the first stretch, including the first part of Ohio. I-70 was pretty clean most of the way, but Ohio DOT is a bunch of slackers. danightman, find out where your tax dollars are going, because it isn't to the roads and I have a very good reason to care about them. You probably do too. There was one point just after we crossed the border (thankfully, a few minutes after a rest stop that was open, which was shortly after one that was closed) when the traffic stopped for an hour. AN HOUR. As far as the eye could see. No movement AT ALL. People getting out of their cars and stretching, or chatting, and even I put on the parking brake, reached into the back seat for my GBA, and played Metroid Zero Mission for a while. When I got tired of that, traffic started moving again. (Just a funny coincidence, that.) We left at around 7:20 in the morning and arrived at 11:30 or so that evening. Then we opened presents (see above) in the morning because it's Chris and Jade's fault they're not here to join us, and Ray had to leave that night to go to Florida. Through more storms, yet. Joy. Mom's been on the phone with him pretty much all the time since then, or so it seems. We were going to do any number of things when she had to call him to advise him about the weather, and then she's been sleeping through any entertainment we try to enjoy. But let's make that another cut.

I didn't even get around to playing Disgaea yesterday because when I wasn't trying to please the King of All Cosmos in Katamari Damacy, I was actually giving DDR a go. Not bad, but I'd need a ton of practice, and as those of you who know me know, if I can't become as good at something as I want, I get frustrated and just give up entirely. I played some Jak 3, and challenged Brian to a bit of Metroid Prime 2, but he's not familiar with the controls or the game, so I beat him each time. He just needs some practice. We went to the mall this morning, as is our Boxing Day tradition (we don't NEED to be Canadian to enjoy ourselves like that), and I discovered a small flaw in the plan: I still can't buy anything from my Christmas list because Chris or Jade might have bought me something from it. I expect one of them will get me Budoukai 3 and the other will probably just get me a gift card, but who knows? So most of the stuff I saw was out, but I got Seven of Seven DVD 2 and Ratchet & Clank 2 and still had about 4 bucks left over. Now I need to get Ratchet & Clank 1, because there's some continuity there, and weapons from the first game are available in the second if you use the old save file. Then we went to the main mall for a while, and I discovered that Borders Express had a thoroughly disappointing manga selection. The only book I wanted from them was Hana Yori Dango 9, and Suncoast had that one, so I went down there and bought that, plus Prince of Tennis 5, Wallflower 2, Rurouni Kenshin 10, Fushigi Yuugi 13, Negima 4, and Seven of Seven DVD 3. They also had Instant Teen: Just Add Nuts 2, but I forgot to pick that up. I'll be going back later, anyway. I also spotted an interesting looking non-video game called Coda, so I picked that up too and we all played a bit when we got home. It's fun, but at least in the four-player version, the first player seems to have a pretty big advantage. My chance at victory came down to a 50/50 guess in both games, and I guessed incorrectly both times. I have a better strategy now, though, so maybe my performance will improve. Curt's been watching his new Monk DVDs, Brian goes to parties with Pete (I finally met the infamous Pete), and Mom still sleeps through anything else, so I'm spending most of my time with Ares the cat. He's huge. Mom wants you to know that she remembers when I used to type with just two fingers. (Actually, I just felt like saying that. She probably doesn't want it in here, but oh well. I'm typing, she's talking. ^_^)

So, that's Christmas break so far. We also bowled, and that's all the interesting I can milk from bowling, text-wise.

Mom reminds me that we watched Lemony Snicket last night... pretty interesting, since I haven't yet read the books. Looks like I might have to, though. lurkerdrome's opinion seems to be incomplete so far, and now I understand why... each book seems to add to the mystery behind all the other mysteries, while still being a complete story having little to do with any of that. And it's funny, though how much of that was due to the actors or skilled scriptwriters remains to be determined. By me, anyway... other people know more about it than I do. Mom and Ray liked Tokyo Godfathers. And as a complete non sequitur, I think that's about all I should say at this point. Someone else probably has a more productive use for the computer. And I should write down what little of my dream I remember from last night... and check E-mail. Enough topics for one sentence?