I've been seeing Christmas crap in stores for a couple of weeks now. I'm tired of it already. Why must it start this early? Of course, I don't really get into Christmas like a lot of people do...a couple of weeks of it and I'm good. And you probably don't want to talk to me on a day that I'm wrapping presents. That ranks right up there with vacuuming for me, and I've learned that beer and Brian Setzer helps. But then that helps most things. Ha!
Not that Brian is dropping by Nutwood to hang out with me while I wrap Christmas presents, although that would be way cool. I just like putting his Christmas CDs on while I wrap.
So what does everyone have planned for Thanksgiving? We'll be going to my sister Diana's house. My niece Jen is in town, visiting from San Diego, and I'm looking forward to seeing her! Yay Jen! The plan is for dinner around 1 pm (my assignment is deviled eggs, 'cause I'm a li'l devil), followed by some Rock Band. Yes, my sister also loves the game, although her thing is Beatles Rock Band. My other sister, Sue, tells me that the plan is to get my parents to sing "Ring of Fire." I have to wonder if they haven't been paying attention for all these years...have they heard our Dad sing?! I'm guessing that Mom might be game, but I'm thinking that Dad will emphatically decline.
Heck, I'll sing it. I've got a low voice, and I love that song. "The taste of love is sweet...when hearts like ours meet." That's good stuff, right there. Too bad the Wall of Voodoo version isn't on Rock Band!
Speaking of Rock Band, it was a tense situation at Nutwood tonight when I tried to play a little right before I started dinner...and Wii was dead.
I tried all the connections, tried a different outlet, tried turning things off and on...no luck. Noooooo! Wii compressions, STAT! Clear!
Finally, I thought about what was different, because it had been working fine. (I didn't troubleshoot lab instruments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for nothing...all that prepared me for this day.) Yesterday, I hooked up a USB hub so that all the instruments could stay hooked up. I detached that, and voilà, Wiizee was back up and running! Stoopid hub. Anyone who uses Wii Rock Band, how do you hook up the mic, two guitars, and drums at the same time, without a hub? Or did I just get a bad hub? Any ideas or recommendations?
Oh, and thanks to my Canadian friends for weighing in on my topic yesterday. I keep hearing the teabaggers talk about how bad things are in Canada, but in talking with people who actually live there, I get the impression that these tales of Canadian health care horrors are merely manufactured by those here whose best interests are served by no reform whatsoever. That's sure not what I'm hearing from my friends. (And you're forgiven for Celine Dion. You can thank Michael Bolton for that. Quid pro quo, Clarice.)
if nothing else there's always more beer and alka seltzer
ReplyDeleteone of my oldest friends from back-in-the-day lives and works in vancouver, bc. i couched there for a minute a long time ago. there is no better place then i have ever been to be homeless, between the warm climate, awesome clinics where all you do to get treated is walk in, and the plethora of soup kitchens and good places to panhandle.
my only fault with the city was that the cost of housing was very high (this goes for toronto too) and that many people had been forced to live in really small quarters, where they had extended the living/ sleeping space by building these shanties over the balconies, with wood walls and wavy tin/plastic roofs. yes, there are problems in canada, but health care is not one of them.
i am gonna go out on a limb here and say that the worst canadian experience the majority of people in our country have any knowledge of is a bad cup of coffee from the drive through at tim horton's.
and that my friends is not enough information to make an informed decision about anything else pertaining to canada.
happy thanksgiving! we are going to venture to tony's parents. a safe word has been established. wish us luck.
xxalainaxx
Here in Canada, we don't have your late Thanksgiving date to kick off the Christmas season (our Thanksgiving is the third weekend of October every year). So, as soon as Halloween is over, the stores are flooded with Christmas. And you think the third week of November is too early?
ReplyDeleteAnd, aside, to Miss A, yes housing is expensive in the two largest cities in Canada. Have you ever tried to rent an apartment in Manhattan? The US is not immune to expensive housing, either.
The Fly Skimmie loved Toronto ... and along with Edmonton (I want to see the West Edmonton Mall before I die!!), Vancouver is a place I would have liked to live in.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny how the commercials work, with seniors being used to bitch about changes in the health care system with AARP backing the bill ... just goes to show how people aren't letting their own mind do the thinking and having there thoughts deteremined for them.
Ooh ... this wasn't about health care, was it?
I may break down and get a PS3 for myself eventually. Will be after the holidays because I have to get gifts for other people first. I have that verison by Wall Of Vodoo, Ring of Fire around somewhere. Haven't unpacked my cassette tapes, because I don't want them to clutter up the place.
I wonder if you can download stuff from your fave indie band ... that would make me reconsider Wiize ... long as she doesn't bring Florence or Mrs. Willis along too!!
All I can say is your picture rocks! I love it.
ReplyDeleteWe're spending the holiday with friends and adopted family. It's an annual tradition we have come to love. Hope you and Ken have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
And as for the upcoming holiday season, as a society, we could all stand to lighten up about it and just let it go. It doesn't always have to be about decorations and gifts. It could be about love and togetherness. Wouldn't that be nice....
Beth, we are off to our adoptive family for T-day. Hope you two have an awesome holiday!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you've really heard "Ring Of Fire" until you've heard Zappa's reggae version of it, with guitarist Mike Keneally doing an impersonation of Johnny Cash since the real Johnny didn't show up for the show. (He was supposed to but his wife was ill.)
ReplyDeleteThe highlight? When Frank comments on the repetitiveness of the lyrics and says "It's one way of learning english!"
Beth, it just makes me smile to think of you performing with Rock Band! I'd love to see a "jam session". Love it!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could have one of your deviled eggs, I love, love, love them!
Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy your family time tomorrow.
My gang is going to my nephew's house. Moi will be working a double at the hospital. I'm thinking that the hospital food will be even less appealing tomorrow! lol
Well, we're just staying home and having family time tomorrow evening, just us. We're going to my Mom's over the weekend, but tomorrow is (hopefully) just going to be a nice, slow, NOT-chaotic day! Then we'll join my brother and all my sisters at Mom's on the weekend and have a lot of the good kind of family chaos with a healthy dose of hilarity!!
ReplyDelete