Christmas Wrap-up

Get it? See what I did there? Ha! I’m certain that no one in the history of blogging or any other form of writing has made that oh-so-clever pun.

Whew, sorry I haven't updated lately, but it's been a busy week, and when I wasn't doing something with family, I was recovering from doing something with family. I've also started working out again, and that's feeling really good. It's long overdue.

Well, for all my talk of not spending a lot on Christmas, I got a couple of gifts that really took me by surprise. I got several cool things, but a couple were really unexpected. I was planning on buying myself a Kindle after the holidays, but Ken got me one for Christmas! Yay! I've been learning how to use it, and I've already read one book on it (Draculas, by F. Paul Wilson and three other authors...it was gruesome, gory, and had plenty of dark humor...I loved it!).

The other was a gift from my sister Diana, and that's it in the picture. Yes, she got me a guitar. A freakin' guitar! Our grand-niece and grand-nephew also got guitars, and she got my sister Sue a keyboard. She says there was an incredible deal going on at Tom's store (Elder-Beerman), and she just couldn't resist. She handed it to me and said, "You're the guitar hero!" I was stunned.

So now I need to figure out how to play the damn thing. Ha! There is a website through the company that offers tutorials and lessons, so I'll start there. I have a feeling that real guitar isn't going to be as easy as Rock Band guitar...! (Makes me think of Cartman on "South Park": "Real guitars are for old people!") I strapped that baby on and found out that real guitars are heavy, too. I guess it makes a big difference when it's solid wood rather than plastic. Go figure. I measured it, and it is 40 inches long, making it exactly 20 inches shorter than me. I could almost play it like an upright bass.

My niece Jen has been in town for a couple of weeks, and tonight was dinner out with her. I had looked online for a few places in the area close to where she's staying (with her Dad--my brother-in-law Tom--and Diana...are you still with me?) and the most intriguing place sounded like a little restaurant called Bella Italia. We couldn't find it right away, but kept looking, and were glad we did! Their sign wasn't lit, and we made sure to let them know, because it was hard to find. But wow, was it worth it! Great food (I had artichoke and spinach ravioli in a light balsamic sauce), great service, great wine, and a visit from the chef, who was funny and charming (and from Sicily). He actually stopped by our table, and all the others, several times. When it came time for dessert and we wanted a dessert wine, he recommended a sweet sparkling wine. It seemed too sweet at first taste, but he said, "Trust me. When you have it with the dessert, the flavor changes." He was right! It was perfect with the sweet desserts. It was a good enough experience that I'm thinking I should probably write a note saying how much we enjoyed it. Isn't it fun when you find an unexpected place that turns out to be wonderful? I would recommend it to any of my friends in the area.

Tomorrow is another big day, with the Notre Dame-Miami Sun Bowl game at 2 pm. Then a New Year's Eve party at Diana and Tom's, and it's Jen's last night here. I'm sad. I wish she lived closer...San Diego is about as far away as you can get in this country! Hawaii doesn't count because it's not really a state. In fact, the Birthers have asked for the REAL certificate of Hawaii's statehood. Heh. I can't take credit for that...I read it somewhere. Maybe Andy Borowitz? But I digress. Saturday it's a visit with Shane and Matt, and Sunday it's watching football and putting away Christmas decorations. Monday it should be a return to normal...or at least as normal as it gets around here!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and here's looking to another year. There will be some good things, there will be some bad things...but I think I've crossed that line where just having another year is a good thing! Happy New Year! What would you little maniacs like to do first? (Does anyone get that reference? Anyone?)

A busy and booky week

Well, cut off my legs and call me Shorty, I haven't updated for over a week! It was a busy time over the holiday. Dinner with my family on Thanksgiving day, then the in-laws over for spaghetti on Friday, then Shane and Matt over yesterday for pizza and Rock Band. (Neither of them had played before, and I think they really enjoyed it! Shane mostly did bass, and Matt was a natural on vocals. As they would say, "Fun!") Since people were coming over, I had to do plenty of tidying up and cleaning in the preceding days. Today is finally a quiet day, so it's been football and getting caught up on reading.

Thus I have a couple of book reviews for you. First is Fatal Error, the penultimate (I always love a chance to use that word!) Repairman Jack novel by F. Paul Wilson. Jack is one of the best characters in modern fiction, in my opinion; he is a Fixer. If people get into trouble, a friend might refer them to Jack, and he looks at their problem and decides if he wants to tackle it or not. Jack is no gun-for-hire; he is more of a vigilante who evens the playing field for average, decent people who are being hurt or preyed upon by bad guys. In other words, Jack is a good guy who hates injustice, blackmail, and bullying.

Unfortunately for Jack, he has also been noticed by a couple of mysterious forces in the universe: the Ally and the Otherness. These are not necessarily Good and Evil; the Otherness is simply antithetical to sentient life; the Ally often protects such sentient life, but is generally more apathetic. It's hard to distill it into a few sentences, because the series will ultimately consist of 15 novels, with connections in several more of Wilson's works. (By the way, I'm friends with Mr. Wilson on Facebook, and he's a really interesting and cool guy. Very accessible and responsive to fans!) It's amazing to me that he has kept this storyline consistent and expanding for all these years, and I'm very curious as to what sort of records he keeps in order to keep everything straight!

Anyway, these books are set very much in the natural world, but there is a significant overlap between the natural and the supernatural, with guardians and connections and mysterious orders who want to promote the Otherness and aid in its ascendancy on earth. There are no coincidences. Jack is not a supernatural being, and his tactics are definitely the ass-kicking kind. This, for me, is one of the most interesting aspects of these novels and of Jack. He is an average guy in height, weight, and looks, but also has an element of the Otherness within him. When he is confronted with those who wish to harm him or the ones he loves, that Other Jack makes an appearance...and you don't want to mess with that guy.

I think many of us have that darkness in us; a possibility in which our rage will overcome us. As decent members of society, we learn to discourage it and keep it under control. Jack does, too, but his job and his mysterious circumstances mean that sometimes that darkness is released. It frightens his girlfriend, Gia, but he protects her and her daughter fiercely from those who wish to harm them. I just think it's a really interesting psychological aspect to the story, and makes Jack a fascinating character in his complexity. I will really hate to see this series come to a close, but I hope Jack doesn't disappear completely.

Next is Stephen King's latest, Full Dark, No Stars, a collection of four novellas. It was a birthday present from my sister, Diana, so thanks, Di! I zipped through this in no time, and I believe I stayed up until 6 AM one night in order to read it. Sometimes you reach that tipping point where you just can't stop reading. I know some of you know exactly what I'm talking about!

This is a very aptly named collection, because these are incredibly dark stories. Cancer, murder, rape, more murder...King writes with a savage glee about some of the darkest of subjects, but I also feel a sense of humanity there. As if he doesn't want some of his characters to do what they do, but he can't stop them. The bleakness of these stories was almost too much to bear at times. I sometimes realized that I was sitting there with a horrified look on my face; this is not his typical horror fare, and is much more terrifying because of our knowledge that such things do happen sometimes in real life, and happen far too often.

As I've gotten older, I haven't lost my love of horror movies. However, I've found that what is more interesting and scary for me is how average people react to extreme situations, and how they interact with each other. (That is one of the reasons I love "The Walking Dead"...Episode 5 of 6 tonight! Hey...it's the penultimate episode in season one! Oh yeah...twice in one post. Awesome!) In a world where people are routinely brutalized in the name of religion, or executed for who they love, or mutilated in some sort of bizarre cultural ritual, such ordinary evil hits a little too close to home, and that makes it all the more terrifying.

I think what ties these books, and shows like TWD, together for me is that they force me to wonder how I would react in extreme situations. Would I have the courage of Jack to stand up to universal forces of chaos, or just to stand up for someone I love, even if it meant harm might come to me? In King's stories, would I have the courage of the woman in "Big Driver," or that of the woman in "A Good Marriage?" Would I do what was best for society and humanity even at the risk of my own peril? I hope I am never faced with such choices, but if I were, I want to believe that I would have the courage of my convictions.

Maybe it's silly to get so philosophical over a couple of novels, but that's just the way my mind works. I enjoy thinking about hypothetical and far-fetched situations, and think that it can help in how you might react to certain real-life situations. I think I'll just ask myself, "WWJD?"

What would Jack do?

Odd, ends, and bacon

A very pleasant day at Nutwood, and there was much puttering taking place. I got everything done on my list, so I'm pleased about that.

This was one of the headlines in the online version of our local paper today (I presume it was in the print version, too):

Stabbing, toilet intruder lead to arrests at Polish Festival

The story goes on to note that "A man is accused of stabbing one man and hitting another in the head with a belt buckle, and another man was subdued with a stun gun after police say he was trying to take pictures of women inside portable toilets."

You know, I really have nothing more to add to that, other than I guess that must have been some festival!

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I renewed my subscription to Taste of Home magazine a while back, and they sent me a little cookbook of beef recipes. (Mmm, beef.) As I was looking through it late one night, I came across a recipe for Beef Fajita Salad. Sounds fairly yummy, but what really struck me was the picture. (Click to embiggen.)

Are you seeing the same thing I saw? Take a good look at it, and in the meantime, I'll write about some other stuff and then get back to this.

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A question. Is writing about 9/11 in a work of fiction off-limits? I'm following one of my favorite authors, F. Paul Wilson, on Facebook and Twitter, and he wrote today that he's already gotten mail about his newest book (another book in the Repairman Jack series) from people who are not pleased because he utilizes 9/11 as part of the plot. I responded that I don't understand their anger, because that is part of our history now. He obviously loves New York, and I'm certain that however he uses the tragedy in his novel, it will be appropriately respectful. In Stephen King's recent short story collection, one of the stories is about 9/11. I don't understand why anyone would be angry that an author would write about it. It is certainly part of our collective conscious as a nation, and it definitely changed our lives and the way we go about our daily business. You can't just ignore it and pretend that it never happened. As Roland says in King's Gunslinger novels, the world has moved on. We may not like what happened, but it did change the way we live, and we'll never go back to the lighter security of pre-9/11. I'm just wondering what you all think, because I found it odd that people would be upset by that.

I guess you could also call it the pre-shoe removal days. Remember when you didn't have to take off your shoes at the airport? Haha! I almost always wear slip-on shoes now, usually the kind with no backs. I often wear toe socks with those, so it's kind of weird to be standing there and walking through security with half-socks on my feet. But then I've also been randomly selected for a pat-down, so I guess being seen in my half-socks isn't all that bad.

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I had a package in the mail from Shane today and look what he sent me!

How awesome is Bacon Salt?! I can hardly wait to try it. I thawed out some chicken breasts for dinner tonight, and however I prepare them, you can bet I'm putting on some Bacon Salt! Their trademark saying is Everything Should Taste Like Bacon™. From your lips to God's ears, Bacon Salt! Oddly enough, it says it's a low sodium product, and it does indeed have only 6% sodium per serving. That's much less than many of the canned or boxed products you buy. It's made with sea salt, too. I think I just might have a favorite new seasoning! I'll let you know how it tastes. I'm trying to think of what it wouldn't be good on, and I can't think of anything! Eggs, meat, potato salad...maybe I'd leave it off of my cottage cheese and just use regular salt. I think it might be good even on that, though. Shane got it at Meijer, if you have one of those near you, and he said they also have peppered bacon salt.

I think they need to branch out and start selling Bacon Butter.

Thanks, Shane. You made my day!

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We made another sale today from the garage sale! When I went outside today, there was a note on the door from a lady interesting in a picture printer. She'll stop by tomorrow morning to pick it up. I chatted with Neighbor Dave today, and he asked if we could sell something for him at our next garage sale, and also told me several times about how people went right by our driveway and how I need to put an arrow on the sign next time. Okay, Dave. [grin] I told him that it would be quite some time before we have another one, and he said, "That's okay, I'm not goin' anywhere." As far as being hard to find, I've mentioned before that that is not necessarily a bad thing. If I want you to find us, I'll make sure that you do.

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Back to the Beef Fajita Salad. Here's another picture pointing out--so to speak--what I saw.

Does that look exactly like a severed, decomposing finger, or what?! Did anyone else see it? Ken saw it eventually, but I swear, when I first looked at that recipe and picture, that finger just jumped right out at me. Certainly a lovely manicure, but still a decomposing-finger lookalike. I suppose I'm a little warped to have seen it, and no, you really don't need to weigh in on that. Please do tell me if you saw it, though!

I like Bacon!

Today has been quite the shopping day for us.

I just ordered some stuff from Amazon. Shane told me last night that he heard the Dandy Warhols had a 2008 release, which I had not heard! *gasp* I checked it out, and sure enough, it's called "Earth to the Dandy Warhols." I also ordered the new AC/DC, "Black Ice," which I'm hearing is supposed to be a Walmart exclusive, but I found it through an independent dealer. I have a long standing policy of not buying CDs at Walmart, ever since I bought a Local H CD (the one with "High-Fiving MF" on it) there and it had been censored by Walmart. I was appalled. Don't you censor my music, Walmart! You aren't the boss of me! I also ordered the latest Repairman Jack novel by F. Paul Wilson. Repairman Jack is probably my favorite character in fiction right now--I'll write more about him when I finish the book.

Speaking of Walmart, that was our first stop today. Got a couple of things for dinner, and we always make a stop by their $5 movie bin. We found some great ones today! "Thinner" (from the Stephen King book), "Desperation" (ditto), "Bull Durham" (one of my favorite sports movies of all time), "Airplane!" ("Don't call me Shirley."), and another one (I'll tell you in a moment).

On the subject of sports movies, apparently when Sarah Palin was in Noblesville, Indiana (down by Indianapolis) yesterday, she told the crowd that her favorite movie is "Hoosiers." Not her favorite sports movie, not her favorite sports movie about basketball, not even her favorite movie set in Indiana (I'm not sure all that many are). Nope, she said that "Hoosiers" is her favorite movie.

My ass.

But I digress. (She's supposed to be on SNL tonight, by the way. I'm looking forward to it.)

After Walmart, we went to Lowe's and enjoyed a little home improvement shopping. It had been a while, and it was kind of fun! We got more insulation for the garage, which Ken is installing now, and a few odds and ends like new doorknobs for the bedroom doors (one broke).

So the fifth movie we got...we were digging through the bin, finding the aforementioned good ones, and Ken held one out to me and said, "Do you have this?" My reply was a gasp followed by, "Footloose!! NO!" "Footloose" is right up there with those other guilty pleasure movies of the 80's, "Dirty Dancing" and "Road House" ("Road House" is still tops for me, though.) Who can forget a young Kevin Bacon as the big city kid in a small town. A town that has banned dancing! O, the humanity! The warehouse scene where he is filled with teen angst and dances to shake off the oppression he feels from the people in the town is a classic. This is modern day cheese at its best!

I'm putting up the high school dance scene rather than the warehouse scene, because I think the high school dance is just like Kraft--it's the cheesiest! I won't put up the lyrics, because pretty much all you need to know is "Now I gotta cut loose, footloose, kick off your Sunday shoes." There's other nonsense like "Please, Louise, pull me offa my knees." You get the idea.

Oh my God, I can remember being at a wedding party when everyone formed two lines, and we went down the middle of the two lines, doing our little dance to this song. My ex-brother-in-law and I went down the middle doing that little kick-step dance, and we thought we were so cool and so good. Hahaha! It's on the verge of embarrassing to remember some of that, and some of the clothes we all wore, but it was all in fun and it was a good time back then. It sure makes me laugh to think back on it!