Sola

11.26.10 - Thanksgiving Day

Since my family celebrated Thanksgiving last Saturday, the 20th, I had no specific plans for T-day itself.  I worked more on my research paper, downloaded a bunch of Christmas music, and worked out while watching the first 45 mins of Much Ado About Nothing.  

Jack and I were going to go get a drink before he had to go to work at 10pm, but we decided to make it dinner after all.  We were going to go to Beckett's pub and have some baked chicken; Jack had wanted to get duck as an homage to A Christmas Story, but they don't have duck so I guess chicken is the closest thing.  Despite a recording assuring us they were open on Thanksgiving, Beckett's was, in fact, closed.  So was everyone else.  I was actually impressed by how many restaurants and shops were closed--glad so many people presumably got to be home with their families.  The streets were empty.

So we drove around to other parts of town, and finally passed a Chinese restaurant that looked open.  The place was hoppin', probably with customers who had found it the same way we had--as the lone light among the streets and shops.  It was actually pretty good.  Jack and I laughed to realize that, of course, they serve duck!  We split a bottle of white zinfandel, some sweet and sour prawns, shrimp dumplings, and the duck.  It was delicious, although duck is too fatty for my taste.  We took our time and had great conversations.  I liked how quiet the restaurant was, especially compared to the pub we had planned to eat at.

That bottle didn't stand a chance. :)

Then we came back here and slept for a bit before Jack had to leave for work, and that's where he is now.  I don't know what time he'll be done because it's Black Friday--all bets are off.  I don't really understand the appeal of Black Friday.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading so many peoples' statuses about what they are thankful for, the food they ate, and their crazy relative stories.  I saw statuses ranging from a friend in Nicaragua glad the weather was cool enough she wouldn't be sweating all Thanksgiving to a friend in Switzerland excited about all the snow they were getting. :)

Happy Holidays everyone!

11.21.10 - Thanksgiving Weekend

So after waiting impatiently to get out of lab on Thursday, I BARTed over to the city in time to hang out with Jill and the kids before the kids had to go to bed. It was very pleasant.  I had a fun talk with Sola (age 7) about whether parents or kids should decide when kids get to eat Happy Meals.  I told her that out here some people seem to think that the kids decide, and she said "That's really bizarre."  Then she explained to me what bizarre means. :)

Of course the kids went to bed early--8, or something, and Jill wasn't far after since Rocket gets her up early every day.  So I was up by myself for awhile, half-heartedly doing homework.  Dad got back from wherever he'd been pretty late, we talked awhile.  I eventually crashed, hard, in the media room.

I got up early (for me) to hang out with the kids.  Sola and Harrison were pretty excited to watch Rocket in his Johnny Jump Up.  In their efforts to get Rocket to jump, Sola and Harrison did most of the jumping.  We were going to make some popcorn and take a walk to the Palace to feed the birds, but due to a) Safeway not selling any cheap bags of popcorn kernals and b) it starting to rain, we decided to stay home.  Sola and I played hide and seek and then made some Thanksgiving drawings, including "Thanksgiving aliens", which basically means more pictures of Sola's favorite Disney character, Angel.  We also talked about what she does in school, and how she likes math.  She showed me some of her mad addition skillz, and I tried to explain multiplication to her, but I don't think she's ready yet.

Harrison kept calling Sola "Mr. Poopy Pants," which was pissing Sola off.  She would tell Jill, who would tell Harrison to stop, and then half an hour later, repeat.  So I told Sola whenever Harrison calls her a name--or anyone else for that matter--she should just roll her eyes, shrug, and say "Whatever."  So she practiced it with me.  I said "Harrison's trying to make you mad, right?"

S: "Right."

M: "So if you get mad, that's what he wants, right?"

S: "Right."

M: "So you just shrug and say 'Whatever.'  Because you don't care.  It isn't important to you.  It's just silly and it doesn't make you mad."

S: "So...but...if it does make me mad, I can just pretend I don't care, right?"

M: "Right! Exactly. And what's really great about that is if you keep acting like you don't care, eventually you really don't care."

Jill: "And Sola, you can actually use that the rest of your life.  Even if you're a grown up and people try to call you names, you just don't care."

M: "Exactly.  I do it all the time."

S: (concerned) "But why do people call you names??"

M: "Oh.  Because I like to argue about politics."

S: "What's politics?"

M: "Um...you know who the President is?"

S: "Yeah."

M: "And the government?"

S: "...Yeah."

M: "Well there are two types of people in the government: Democrats and Republicans.  And they fight a lot."

S: "Like soldiers?"

M: "No, they just argue.  About politics.  And when you argue about politics sometimes people get really mad, and sometimes they call me names.  But what do I do when that happens?"

S: *rolls eyes* "Whatever!"

M: "Exactly!  Good job!"

It was a fun conversation.  I really like talking to that kid. 

Meanwhile, Ellen had already gone to school, Jack was on his 11th hour at work (he worked overnights this last week), Julie and Denny were delayed in Denver waiting to fly to SF, and Neil and Everett were heading to Dad's house from East Bay.  Somehow we managed to coordinate these different locations and schedules so that we had our people waiting in line about 5 hours in advance for HARRY POTTER 7 (part 1).  Ellen, Everett and Cody got there at about 3, and by the time Jack, Neil, Julie, Denny and I finally managed to join them (about 6:50), the line they were heading had wrapped all the way around the circular theater lobby so that the end of the line passed those of us in the front.  We basically ran down the hallway and through the theater when they finally let us in.  Our group was first in the theater, getting the middle seats about midway up--best seats in the house--and getting to sit there and watch everyone else excitedly file in.  I thought that part alone--the shared anticipation--was a lot of fun.

First in line for HP7 Pt1!! Good job to Ellen, Everett, and Cody!

The show was supposed to start at 7:30 but they decided to delay it slightly to give everyone time to get seated.  At 7:30 they did turn down the lights and widen the screen curtains, and everyone started cheering, but then they closed the curtains and turned the lights back up, and everyone booed.  It was actually pretty funny.  We all sat there and talked about the books and characters and plots, and the time flew to when the previews started.  Most of them looked unremarkable, although I'm looking forward to Dawn Treader.

I thought the movie was fantastic.  Perhaps it is just because I purposely didn't re-read the book this time and so discrepancies were less noticeable to me, but I felt this movie was more accurate to the book than most of the previous movies.  Without giving away any details, there was even a point when a character made a brief but moving speech and half the audience applauded.  We had a great time.  Jack and I will probably go watch it again for our date night this week.

The next day, yesterday, was (our) Thanksgiving.  During the day their was on-going prep.  At one point Jill, Sola, Harrison, Henry and I went to the Palace to feed the birds.  The weather was rainy and cold (for SF), and we kept a fire going in the hearth all day.  Jack, Henry and I got about half a game of Tichu in between helping with cleaning and food.  The day was actually pretty mellow compared to previous Thanksgivings.  Dad only made about 10 or so pies.  Everyone, including me, paid disproportionate amounts of attention to Rocket and his never-ending cuteness.

After dinner we cleaned while listening to a Disney Pandora station.  Jack and I helped by swing dancing in the middle of everything.  At least she tried.

When we were finished we hit the pies.  French silk, coconut cream, blueberry, apple crumble, and of course pumpkin were divided among us.  I enjoyed a glass of Cabernet with my pie in front of the fire while Andrew, Henry and I (all City College alumni) advised Ellen on her schedule for next semester.  The night naturally ended with some of us (ahem) standing around the kitchen talking/joking about politics.  After everyone left, I fell asleep watching the beginning of Goblet of Fire on my laptop.  Apparently it's the only HP movie we own, a fact I intend to eventually remedy.

This morning Jill and the kids had to leave. :(  I hung out with them as much as possible, showing Sola all the home videos from the last few days.  When they were actually walking down the stairs, Harrison called Sola "Mr. Poopy Pants", and she looked at me, grinned, and said "Whatever!"  It was brilliant.  I can't wait to mold my own kids, ha.

Now the little ones are gone, but Julie, Denny and Everett are still in town, and I'd rather hang out with them then do my homework.  I comfort myself with the knowledge that on actual Thanksgiving break, I won't be busy at all.  I'll do more then.

Real letters.

11.5.10 - This is how I feel every November 5th.

[I laughed to tears while Kale and I made this up.]

They came first for the people who didn't like Death To Smoochy, and I didn't say anything because Death To Smoochy was awesome.

Then they came for the people who didn't like Die Hard, and I didn't speak up because Die Hard was okay.

Then they came for the people who didn't like Aeon Flux, and I didn't speak up because Aeon Flux *did* suck, but it made me laugh a lot.

Then they came for the people who didn't like V for Vendetta, and no one spoke up because apparently everyone but me likes V for Vendetta.

Go see this.