On Christmas Day in the Morning

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. Mine was wonderful, to say the least. Lots of food, family, friends, and fun. Oh, and presents. Don't forget the presents. Hubby and I exchanged quite a few gifts on Christmas Eve. Next year we'd probably better come up with a budget so we're not as broke as we were this year. I got new clothes, winter boots (hopefully it starts snowing around here so I have a reason to wear them!), an armband for my iPod, and a bunch of other stuff. The next day we went to my parents' house where we got even more gifts. Lots of movies and other fun things. But my favorite present was actually for my uncle.

Life has probably not turned out for my uncle quite the way he planned. He has never married or had kids and lives alone in New Jersey and far away from any family. He spends most of his time working in New York City and can't afford to do much else. I think his happiest times are when he gets to come visit us at Christmas time. My uncle only got a few presents but one made his eyes light up and I knew it meant more to him than a million presents could. When we couldn't think of anything really great to give him, it was suggested that we all pitch in and buy my uncle two tickets to a Broadway show. He told us last year that he never gets to go see shows because he can never afford them. He LOVES the theater and I figured this would be good because he wouldn't have to haul a bunch of stuff home on the airplane.

We didn't presume to know which show he would want to go to or when so we wrote up a certificate that entitled him to two tickets to the show of his choice and placed it in a small box. Then we put that small box into a slightly larger box and then we put that box in a larger box until we had quite a few boxes into a very large box. By the time he got down to the smallest box I think he was a little bit concerned. But the look on his face when he saw what we had given him was my favorite part of Christmas. Gifts that truly mean something are worth more than all the presents in the world.

The rest of my Christmas weekend was great. I had several calls from potential employers and that one company did indeed call me for a second interview which will take place tomorrow. Wish me luck in finding the job that will be best for me! Since we spend more time at work than at home even, we should each enjoy the work we do and the time we spend doing it, dontcha think? That's my plan.

Ave Maria

I once knew a woman we referred to as "Large Marge." At 6'5" and probably 250 or so pounds she actually looked more like a man than a woman. And she had a weird infatuation with Barry Manilow. Why anybody would have a thing for Barry Manilow I'll never know. He kind of looks like a mouse. And his music's not all that great - although Aphrodite and I used to sing "Oh Mandy" but change the words to "Oh Andy" but that's a story for another time.

Large Marge used to travel all over the country to hear Barry Manilow perform. She would talk about him incessantly and as the music director at church always tried to come up with ways to incorporate his music into the church service. I happened to attend the same church as Large Marge the Christmas she actually had her way. We were in one of the sunday services when Large Marge got up with her CD player and started going on and on about Barry Manilow and what an amazing musician he is and all this stuff. She then talked about how wonderful his rendition of Ave Maria was (I thought they only sang that in Catholic churches. We're not Catholic) and something about a Celesta (pronounced CHelesta - it's kind of like a little piano or something). And then she proceeded to play Barry Manilow's wonderful version of Ave Maria.

I cannot hear Ave Maria to this day without thinking of Large Marge and Barry Manilow. Ugh. That's enough to give me nightmares for Christmas. Maybe I should start envisioning sugarplums instead...

I hope everybody has a Happy Holiday!

You Love Me! You Really Love Me!

I'm in the process of looking for a new job. Now that I'm done with school for awhile extra work and extra cash would be nice. (BTW I got 2 A's and 2 A-'s this semester. Go me! Go me!). But anyways, back to the job thing...

I was emailing resumes left and right and wasn't hearing anything back and I was getting a little concerned. I have never been one to have a hard time finding a job. I have good credentials and I'm good at what I do (including interviewing. call it a gift.) so this came as quite a shock when days passed (not weeks or months - see how totally retarded I am?) and I still hadn't heard anything.

So yesterday I faxed out a few resumes and what to my wondering eyes should appear but, well, I guess nothing appeared, but people actually started CALLING me. And they wanted to interview me. Now. Immediately. I was a little unprepared for that but I hauled my butt home and dressed as professionally as possible and ran off to a couple of interviews.

The first one went smashingly. I have experience in their line of work which puts me at the top of their list of hirees. (is that a real word?) And they seemed genuinely interested in hiring me. We'll see how the second interview goes and what kind of pay they're willing to give me.

The second place I interviewed we barely got into the details and it just wasn't anything I was interested in doing. The man thanked me for being honest and that was the end of that.

I had a little bit of a phone interview with another company and they wanted me to come in for a real interview but it wasn't working with my schedule. If they really want me they're going to have to work around MY schedule:) So that's where things stand right now. I'll keep you posted.

P.S. does it really not seem like Christmas to anybody else? Maybe it's the fairly warm, snowless weather we've been having or maybe it's just not as magical as it was when we were kids. I don't know but it just doesn't feel like Christmas. And most of my shopping is already done! Maybe THAT'S why it doesn't feel like Christmas...

P.P.S (or is it P.S.S.? I never remember) Hubby and I celebrated our first anniversary over the weekend. Can you believe it's been a year already? I know, neither can I. We had a perfectly lovely time which included seeing Harry Potter, having dinner at Bombay House (where we ran into a few of my fellow bloggers: Holly, MDJ, and Stoic - good to see you guys) and a few other things that I'll spare all my readers from having to hear about but I'm sure you can imagine!

I realized how short I really am yesterday when I went looking for a business suit. The only ones that fit me were the ones that the suit coat sleeves were only 3/4 length (they came to my wrist) and the pants that came to my ankles were actually capris.

Someone used all the bowls so I can't make my oatmeal:(

Shining Through Your Eyes

My last day of school went off smashingly. I'm pretty sure I should get A's in all of my classes. The only one I'm a little concerned about is Race, Class and Gender. I wrote that paper on FGC and I wrote as much as I could but after 4 1/2 pages I kind of shut down and couldn't write another word. I hope that's enough. And it had to be in APA format. I hate APA format. But my teacher loves me so hopefully she takes that into account in case my paper sucked. I really will miss that class. On the last day we had a discussion about what we had done to make a difference in the lives of others (mostly concerning diversity) and she told me that I had made a difference to her. I took that as a great compliment because she's not the sort of person to say things like that lightly.

She was my teacher for Human Growth last semester and for all our differences we really were kindred spirits. She's quite a bit older than me, African American, and agnostic bordering on atheist who has had a really hard time with members of the LDS church. Me being younger, very white, and a member and huge supporter of the LDS church we really shouldn't have gotten along at all. But somehow we were able to relate to each other and she really appreciated my insights and the fact that I didn't come off self-righteous and overzealous like a lot of other people of the LDS faith in our class.

I didn't set out to necessarily be an example or make a difference in her perception of LDS people and their beliefs about different things but I'm glad that I've lived my life in such a way that I can do that without even being aware.

Is That the King of Pop?

My life has just been crazy lately. First, we moved. There are still boxes all over the place but they are exponentially fewer in number than they have been. We're still getting used to our new place. It's kind of old and strange things sometimes happen. Like the hot water will just stop running at random. And speaking of water, does anybody know what to do about a refrigerator that's leaking? The top shelf is continuously covered in water and I'm not sure what to do about it. That's never happened to me before.

The week after we moved, with practically everything still packed in boxes we went out of town for Thanksgiving. It was nice to get away, not so nice to come back to a disaster area. And lots of homework.

Tomorrow should be my last day of school for awhile. I'll have my associate degree but for all intents and purposes I really should be done with my masters by now. But all things happen for a reason and I'm glad for the decisions that I've made but it would be really great if I was completely done with school by now. C'est la vie. I still have a ton of work to finish up for my classes tomorrow - including a five page persuasive paper on the fact that female genital mutilation is violence against women due to gender inequality in patriarchal societies. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Hmmmm...

On the bright side: I saw the stage production of Beauty and the Beast this weekend. I figured it would just be kind of cute like the cartoon and I wasn't paying anyways. IT WAS AMAZING. If you ever have the opportunity to see it. Go. Run. Just go. The music (especially the music added for the stage) was beautiful. And there was a lot more character development than in the cartoon. I think it's ranked up there in my top favorite musicals along with The Secret Garden and Big River. I suggest seeing those as well. Stunning.

I also watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory over the weekend, finally. (Now you know why I'm still working on all my homework for my final classes tomorrow). Question: Does anybody else think Willie Wonka as played by Johnny Depp resembles Michael Jackson? I promise, I'm not smoking anything. Seriously. Dark hair, pasty white skin, ambiguous gender and sexuality, Neverland - I mean Candyland - where kids come to visit, serious issues with his father. Really, it could be Michael Jackson. Just sayin'.