Is it more ridiculous. . .

. . .That I got into a "Who loves Christmas more" argument. . .

. . .or . . .

. . .That I won after three solid minutes of comparing who has more christmas things?

I guess it just proves that I do love Christmas an aweful lot. I wish it came twice a year. And that we could just skip over Halloween.

And haha! Look at that! Christmas is even a posting label on my blog! Yay Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

So Christmas is over, but that doesn't mean the fun has to end! I've got tons of presents to play with, and a few parties to attend!



A few of the more notable gifts I received include:

• A brand new digital camera (red)!


• Some long johns. Those are fun!


• Mamma Mia Soundtrack- which I immediately put on my zune and can't stop listening to!


• Raspberry Hot Chocolate!! I flipping love hot chocolate. I should register that phrase as a trademark. Hahaha. I say it often enough. But it's true!
• A lava lamp (from a white elephant christmas party, so it's still technically "something I got" for christmas)

So anyway. I have a party to get ready for. I've been cleaning all day. Some high school friends and I are going to get together. I'm not going to tell you which nerdy club we were all in, but I'll tell ya - it's sure as heck not Physics Club ;) hee hee!

So I've been putting up old articles and flyers from "back in the day" (this phrase here means 2006) . And I kept some of the props/costumes from then, so I've been putting them up on diplay for the partay. (Note: "partay" was spelled as such in order for it to match the word "display". Don't think for one second I can't spell "party". I won the spelling bee in 4th and 5th grade, yaknow. Got the ribbons to prove it. And besides. When you p-a-r-t-y as much as I do, it's hard not to spell it right!)

I'll be at a different party tommorrow night. At Jenna's house as per the usual. That's where all the hip-hop-happenin' people go for things like chrismas parties or new year's eve! That was where the aforementioned white elephant christmas party was held as well. I can't count the number of times I've gone to their house. It's just so much fun! (But don't worry, Mom- I have much much more fun staying at home and watching movies with you than I ever will at anyone else's house ever!)

So those are my end of year plans! See y'all later!

Christmas needs to get here already!!

Okay, so I love Christmas. I really really do. The little kids getting excited, the toys in the store, the smell of winter, that chill in the air. Not to mention the christmas songs on the radio, the "magical" tv specials, and that feeling in the air on a cold winter's night when you're cuddled up on the couch with a mug of hot cocoa, there's a Christmas song playing gently in the background, a fire crackling in the fireplace and the Christmas tree glowing brightly in the dark night.

And I wish it would hurry up and get here! I mean, I know I still have shopping to do. I'm a procrastinator. But I don't mind shopping. Just the other day, the heavy-set hispanic clerk at the local dollar store said I had a nice smile (I smile all the time, smiling's my favorite)! How cute is that? I had a little skip in my step the rest of the day from that little self-esteem boost.

But other than a bit of shopping, I'm soooo ready for Christmas to come! I can't stand waiting! The presents are piling up under the tree and it's getting colder and colder outside. We've always had tons and tons of presents under the tree. Growing up, there were 8 people in the house all buying (or having mom buy for them what they picked out themselves) presents for everyone else. That's 8 people buying one present each for Mom, Dad, and each of their 5 siblings. And then Santa would always fill our stockings with more goodies than we ever could imagine. Big family, big Christmas.

Now that the family has grown up a little more, we're including two nephews and a cousin/roommate who will be getting and giving presents! There are going to be a ton of presents under that tree! It's going to look awesome!

My favorite part of the holiday season is giving. I know it sounds lame and like I'm only saying what I'm supposed to say, and I'm not going to lie to you. I love getting presents. But it's really not so much the stuff, or what I get. I like seeing what sort of thing people get me. For example:

My big sister always gets me some sort of girly stuff. Like those baskets with lotion and body wash and things. One year she got me perfume. Britney Spears' Curious perfume to be precise. This sort of gift shows not only that people give the type of gifts they love to receive, but also the kind of gifts they think the person would need or like. I used to hate the gifts she gave because I didn't like "girly stuff" or I thought she was trying to send a certain message with her perfumes and soaps. But I've come to appreciate the thought that went into it. No, she doesn't think I smell bad, and no, she doesnt' think I'm a slob. She knows that having those things for her helps her feel better about herself and makes her feel pretty. And I think that by giving those things to me, she's trying to make me feel better about myself. Which is awesome, because those gifts work. She always knows exactly what to get me to make me feel like a grown up woman, and not a little girl. And I deeply appreciate it.

So when I give presents, I like to show people how well I know them. I love showing my mom that I was totally paying attention that time we were in the store and she was eyeing that cute towel set. I like to show my brother that I totally get his taste in music and know that he would love to have this cd or that record. I love showing my big sister that even though we might not see eye to eye on the things we like, I still care enough to get those things for her.

The message we send when giving gifts is priceless, and helps to convey feelings and emotions. These messages help to define the relationships we share with those around us. And even if we lose that one gift from our cousin we didn't really need but still liked, or keep that boring gift in our closet to re-gift next year, or even if we use that really awesome gift over and over until it's worn down, it isn't really the item that matters. It's what we're saying by giving it.

So this holiday season, I'm going to pay attention and see how my presents are recieved. I'm going to try to get the perfect gift that will convey the message I want to send with exactness. And remember that it's not the size or the price of the gift - it's what you're saying by giving it, and how you can convey your love in the right way to the right people.

(Just a random side note: That little baby crab that Dora helps out by taking it to it's mommy is adorable. I love that episode.)

Finals Week

Finals are this week.

I mean, it's not that big of a deal. I'm doing pretty good in all my classes (exept philosophy! So difficult!) and I've learnt alot.

My spanish class has been tons of fun, my music class has been really enjoyable, and my computer class has been. . . well. . . easy at least. Philosophy class was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever done. My teacher chose to use a novel as the text for the course, his lectures were dull, uninteresting, and uninformed. And even though I didn't understand everything, I could tell I wasn't alone. The teacher was right there with me. Always frantically searching through his notes trying to answer whatever questions we had. I don't understand why he never liked my questions.

For instance-

1. The teacher explains a theory where- because man is IN the world, man cannot fully comprehend the world.

My Question- What about astronauts?

2. The teacher tells of an analogy where there are people chained up in a dark cave. When someone leaves to go into the light and comes back to tell everyone what they are missing, they kill him.

My Question- If it's dark, and everyone's chained up, how can they kill him?

There were alot more, but honestly? Every single one of those questions was shot down as being a ridiculous question not worthy to answer. So I forgot alot of them.

But even though I'm going to certainly fail philosophy this semester, I don't care. I'll try harder and get a different professor next time. It's not my fault, and I can't do anything about it, so I'm not going to waste my time complaining. I just need to learn from my mistake and try harder next time.

Music appreciation class will be a difficult one to try to remember everything we studied. I know alot of the composers and alot of the compositions, but not when everything happened. I'll have to look over that the next couple days.

Spanish will be easy. I've spent so much time on it already, I feel as if I should be proficient, but I'm not. I wish I knew more, and I wish I was better at speaking it, but I guess I'll just have to keep trying!

Computer class will be a piece of cake as long as I can keep my teacher from driving me insane with all of her nagging.

So exams will be over by 12:00 thursday afternoon. Well, at least mine will be. I have two tuesday and two thursday. And I'm going to take a big nap afterward. I still have a little christmas shopping to do, but I have a few weeks still. And also- Saturday, there will be a huge phase ten championship game. Hahaha! So funny. I'm going to enjoy it! And it'll be the perfect end to what's looking like it's going to be a scary week.

Just a little update. Thanks for reading Mom! (And anyone else who managed to get this far without clicking away to something more interesting- kudos!) :)

Christmas Presents

I got a whole lot of cool stuff

Wanna know what it all is? Too bad, I'm telling you anyway.

• A Gigantic anatomy book. With posters.
• Mr. Bean's Holiday
• Hope Floats
• A Harmonica
• Die Hard (every movie so far except for Live Free and Die Hard)
• Cookies (my favorite ones)
• Pixar collection of Short Films.
• Card Trick book.

Finally, a stethescope and a cell phone. The stethescope works fine, and it's pretty nice. I've been listening to everything I can find (and everyone). And the cell phone started ringing inside the box. It was sorta creepy. All of the sudden, this box next to me starts ringing like that cell phone that the t-rex thing ate in Jurrassic Park III. Anyway, it was pretty neat. Now I have all of the stuff that will keep me busy for the next few weeks.

Also, I got a book in the mail that I ordered on How to get Into Medical School. It has common questions that could be asked of you from interviewers. I hate interviews, so I honestly think that this will help me to be prepared when people ask me my least favorite question: Tell me about yourself.

Apple Pie

I'm in the process of making apple pie. I have one in the oven and another in the making. I have to find some other pie pan to put this other one in, because all we have left now are old aluminum ones that I might have to use pretty soon. I would put a recipie up here, but I dunno. Nothing very interesting about it. And there is a Stargate Atlantis marathon on today. It makes pie making better.

This christmas eve, we get to open a present. One present each. I don't know which one I want to open. I wish I had some sort of "awesome present" radar or something. I dunno. It seems like a cool thing to do.

Nice break

I just got done watching one of my favorite movies. Indiana Jones . I love the Indiana Jones movies almost as much as the Die Hard ones.

It's the holiday season, and I already had to run some gift intervention. My sister got something for my mom that my brother had already gotten for her. So, I had to tell sis to get something different.

On a school related note, I haven't gotten all of my final grades yet. It scares me. I found out a couple of them, but I'm worried that I'll fail the other two classes that I know I have hanging around.

Math, as you already know was a 77 final grade. And after turning in that research paper, my grade for English was an 86. So, I figure I don't have to do either of those anymore. But Public Speaking and Sociology are still out there. I mean, I should've gotten the grades by now! And when I log into my school account, the transcript page won't show up! So I can't figure out if I pass or fail!

Honestly, I've never been so freaked out in my life.

Anyway, today is Big Brother's B-Day! He'll be 22 I think. Happy Birthday to you Bro! I got him a t-shirt that says "you must've had an extra bowl of stupid this morning" and a six-pack of those huge reeses cups. I think they're like, two or three times the size of regular ones. Anyway, we're having the party tonight.

Tommorrow, we're going to breakfast at our Friends' house, so we'd better not stay up partying all night! (which really, we'd only do if there was a cool movie he got for his birthday.)

Santa in Perspective

And yes, I did spell that right. I spell-checked.

Anyway, I found an interesting piece of paper near the computer this morning. Which isn't that unusual, seeing as about six other people use it. I'm pretty sure the paper is something my little brothers brought home from school. Thankfully, my little brothers are both in High School, so they weren't too heartbroken or disillusioned when reading this.

• Santa Stats

• There are currently 78 people named S. Claus living in the US. and one named Kriss Kringle.

• December is the most popular month for nose jobs.

• The Weight of Santa's Sleigh if it carried only one beanie baby for every kid on earth would be 333,333 tons

• The Number of Reindeer required to pull that much weight? 214, 206 (including rudolph)

• Average Wage of a mall Santa: $11 an hour. With a real beard: $20

• To deliver his gifts in one night, Santa would have to make 822.6 visits per second, sleighing at 3,000 times the speed of sound.

• At that speed, Santa and his reindeer would burst into flame instantaneously.

As funny as this is, you have to wonder what kind of Scrooge made up this list. I mean, that last one? Very funny, but very scary thought at the same time. And Santas get paid more if they have a real beard? I guess that's just in case of emergency.

Holiday visitors

My sister is visiting for christmas. We don't know how long she'll be here. My Cousin is also visiting. Cousin is the only cousin of mine that I actually talk to ever. I don't know why. I don't even talk to her that much. Just.. whenever she drops by, which isn't really that often. I hate having company. I give up my room and comfortable bed to accomodate others that I don't even like having over. Can't I love my family from a distance? But no. I have to be sociable. Oh well, at least it's only for the holidays.

But the bad thing about it is that I have to make apple pie for christmas. I like making apple pie. So what's so "bad" about it? Well, mostly it's that I have to share. I don't want to share my apple pie with people who are visiting. And I know my sister and cousin... they can eat alot! I mean, one of them doesn't look like she can, but she can. I know they'll eat all my pie up. I know it. So I'll have to make two to make it last longer. Will it work? No. There will be ELEVEN people in our house for christmas. 11. That's alot. So if I cut each pie into six pieces, everyone can have one at least. But it'll probably be cut by Dad. If there is one super power my dad has, it's cutting huge slices of anything for himself.

I'm starting to not like christmas as much either. I wonder what holiday I do like...

What I want for Christmas

• Live Free or Die Hard- This is an awesome movie filled with car chases, explosions, and awesome fight scenes. I love this movie. It is the kind of movie that Dad and I love to sit and watch together. It's better definetly better than the one with Samuel L Jackson. I mean, that one is good, but this one is so much better. Close to the action quality of the first one.
• This is something I saw while shopping for christmas presents. It's just a little kid med kit, but the things it comes with are hilarious. It has what usual playsets have, like a stethescope that makes a heartbeat sound, blood pressure cuff and gauge, a working flashlight, thermometer, syringe, otoscope, but it also has -get this- an on call beeper! How great is that? And the beeper has flashing lights and sounds so that you can pretend you're a real doctor.
• MacGyver Final Season. I have all the other ones. MacGyver is amazing. If you have no clue who it is, shame on you.
• I want some sheet music for my keyboard, and maybe a real piano.
• I think that everyone needs a pool table, and a hockey dome game, and an air-hockey table, and a dartboard.
• I've needed a new harmonica since I left mine in my jean pocket and then did laundrey.
• An iPod... I really do need one. I need a place other than my flashdrive to keep all the songs I like. David Bowie and Queen get lonely in my usb flashdrive.
• Tic-Tacs are always wonderful to get me. I love them.
• Girly stuff. I love girly stuff. I do. I pretend I don't, but honestly? I can't get enough body wash, lip gloss, and good smelling stuff like that.

There are more things, but they're things that I know I'm already getting. I'm looking forward to a good christmas.