25/12/2001 - 10:59 p.m.

I'm Bach, were you Chopin while I was gone?

That's my catch phrase, but people never laugh. I don't get it.

Yeah, I lied, can't stay off this damn thing when I'm sitting around with nothing to do.

Let's run down the list of material things I got to make me happy- FOTRishness from Patrick, card from Sass (Australian Christmas card, that's one of the weirdest things I've ever seen), other various cards from miscellaneous campy people, an evil little rubber ducky from Maria (it's red, and it's got horns), candy from more people than I want to list, and a card from one of my campers. (Em, Angel, whatever it is, it's not here yet.)

Familywise I've finally got All Creatures Great and Small and the next book, I got the last two the year before last and have this thing about reading series out of order, so, that'll keep me busy (I wasn't able to find James Herriot at the ruddy library); a CD player/cassette player/radio- it's blueberry (just saying makes me happy, blueberry blueberry blueberry), and so now I can listen to music and use my computer encyclopaedia at the same time!; I got another penny whistle along with an instruction book and music this time (I love Irish whistles, and have one in C and another in D, but can play neither of them, so now I have another in D and instructions, no more random tooting around the house for me!); and then a whole bunch of floppy disks- they're red, orange, green, blue and purple, and now I can save things to disk so I can transfer Internet files from this computer to mine upstairs, and save all those huge scripts and things in case the thing dies on me like the last one did.

On Christmas Eve (which is celebrated for my father's family, because they used to all go other places Christmas Day, but that hasn't happened since before I was born) I got two pairs of jeans (thank you thank you thank you), and a car- a 1925 model of some variety of Ford, I dunno, but made of the highest quality plastic and die cast metal, from my grandfather. (Actually, I think it's pretty cool, even though he intended for me to be put off.) My grandmother thinks I'm still four and got me a doll, yeah, doesn't matter she sees me practically every week or anything. And the two of my uncles that aren't completely worthless tossed money as they left.

All in all, I have been bought over again. I don't dote on material things, but it's always nice to have them, and all mine were essentially useful, and as I want useful things now, I don't mind. When I was in sixth grade they got me a hair dryer- I cried for hours. Who cared that it was useful? What eleven year old wants a hair dryer for Christmas?

Let's see, other than that, replay Thanksgiving over a period of two days, cause that's what it was like. Except, on Christmas Day, rather than Little Shop, I read the James Herriot. One long boring haul- my grandfather launched onto the same stream of stories he'd got out at Thanksgiving, until we reminded him we'd just heard all those, so he picked the ones from last Christmas (his father's stories, but not the good ones, for some reason he won't tell the ghost stories anymore).

I wish we'd have my mother's side of the family around more often, but they all moved away from Iowa (ruddy smart relations) and don't come back if they can help it. At least on that side I've got cousins- sure the oldest is in college and fancies himself a jock, and the middle one (six months and a week younger than me) who is probably, unbeknownst to grownup eyes but pretty apparent to mine, a drug fiend, and then the girl, who's at least six years younger than me and probably a rising diva (my aunt always wanted a girl and believes in frilly dresses to the same extent as my mother, but I think my cousin isn't so forceful as I was), but hell, at least they'd be the same age and somebody to talk to. I enjoy politics and history with the grown ups to a point, but then they get onto that whole long stretch (Korea and Vietnam) that I know next to nothing about (becuase I don't trust school curriculum), and I neither care nor understand at that point.

After this, I start cleaning my room. I am not looking foreward to this, but I promised myself I'd do it if it killed me. It'll make moving out all the much easier, and I really haven't got anything else to do but write rambly babble on here and read. So, it'll be good in the end- maybe I'll find Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency as it's out of print but I know I have a copy someplace. Maybe I'll find my Dad's old trilogy copies so I won't have to convince my brother of the importance of finding his.

Actually, that's something else we're probably going to do- he wants to see Monster's Inc and FOTR so we'll probably see that. Good and bad, I guess.

Well, Happy Crimble everybody, and have a gear New Year!