Another New Years Eve post.

It's my annual new years eve blog post, but I don't have a lot to talk about this time. I've seen a lot of people posting about how their 2011 sucked, and earlier this year, I would have done the same.

But I won't, because my 2011 was awesome. This past week I seemed to have just what I wanted. I spent Christmas here, at my own house, with my in laws. Yea, I got to sleep in my own bed. Spent a few days with my parents, then back home for New Years.

After last year, where we spent a week too long out of town (seriously, my kids don't travel well), this is exactly what I hoped for. Yay. The younger one is a bit sick, but not screaming about it. I'm surrounded by good food and video games.

Well, I'm good.

Entirely too much eggnog.

As the title implies, my stomach has an aversion to dairy, and when eggnog is afoot I simply don't care. It always wins, but I make it earn every inch of ground.

Oog, I've been busy. Not busy-busy, just busy. My finals were all during the last week of class rather than in some bizarre schedule afterward, and my grades were all astounding. yay. I've been taking classes non stop this year. The breaks between summer and fall were nil, so suddenly coming upon winter break caught me off guard. I was going so fast getting all my work done, and not paying much attention to what the actual date was, that when it was over I was still going. I felt like Wile E Coyote running off a cliff. No more ground, still going.

So I cleaned my basement. The kind of clean that makes it finally alright for a toddler to come down and fill with toys. The kind of toys he can play with while his adult supervision plays video games nearby. Toys or cartoons. Toys or cartoons or snacks. Or some odd combination of all three which usually turns into a dance party.

My basement is awesome.

CHILDREN

My two year old will often take two objects and place them across each other. He will then call it an airplane, and proceed to make it fly. He did this with two strips of bacon recently, and now I believe anything is possible.

I am not Jack Handey

It's been obvious to me for a long time, but sometimes I need to remind myself that people generally only see what you show them. If they're paying attention (or are simply more observant), they'll see more about you than that. Unless, of course, you're acting in a manner inconsistent with your nature, in which case all bets are off.

What I can tell you for sure is that my older brother ALWAYS knows when I'm bluffing in poker. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad, I just need to find a way to take advantage of that in Vegas. Then delete this entry before I go.

Anyway...

One Halloween, years ago, I went all out. Black denim pants, Tripp jacket, white pinstripes with a chain necklace, black nail polish and red spiky hair. As I strolled around that community college campus, two things became apparent to me:

1. If you didn't know me before, you wouldn't have known it was a costume.
2. Many of the girls that I recognized from around campus noticed me that day, and I was hot.

Now I didn't realize that right away. I'm what you call "dumb" when it comes to these sorts of things. It was actually a few months after the fact that I noticed. When I consider my own relative inability to recognize when a girl is interested in me, I realize the girl I ran into this morning was anything but subtle. Or intelligent. Or attractive.


I realized early on that a wedding ring was much like The One Ring. I put that sucker on and I become invisible. I made like I was scratching my ear, and I didn't get a good-bye. In fact, I didn't even see which way she went, she was just *gone*.

The Fish

I woke this morning, like all others, went down to my desk
I hoped to see you swimming, but found you statuesque.
My office darkened at the sight, of my friend upside down
His belly up, his eyes now glazed, it made me want to frown
Our time together was so short, our friendship resolute
And now my friend I give to you the porcelain salute
A friend to mourn, a bowl to clean, for this I did not wish.
But of those that could have died, I'm just glad it was the fish.

A strange background noise

It seems I post a lot about how I'm busy. While it may be true, it's not very entertaining.

When classes ended in May, we went to Minnesota. When with my in-laws, I play the role of spectator. They'll happily engage their sister in various whatevers and disappear with my children. I may perhaps receive a cursory glance. Most (not all, mind you) of the time I feel like Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense. I think I'm interacting with people, but really I'm just haunting the place.

Mind you, this is not a bad thing. It does, however, take a day or so to get used to.

Upon returning home it was decided that we needed to find a new home in Buffalo. We moved in 3 years ago with no kids, and now we have 2 (and all the furniture that requires). We had one month to find and secure a place, pack everything, and move it. Oh, and I was stuck taking a required course over the summer. I've had more pleasant trips to the dentist. The only good thing about the entire ordeal was the end of it. It's a higher quality home in a better neighborhood.

Yea, summer courses. When 3 of the classes I want in the fall require a class I couldn't take in the spring, summer courses are the only option. On the one hand, campus is almost empty. I like that. On the other hand, I don't have much of a vacation.

About ten years ago, I had so many strange and vivid dreams. I still remember most of them to this day. These days, I can't remember my dreams at all. I don't like waking up like that.

Blawg

Finals:
Vacation:
Summer classes:
Moving:

I don't have time to blog. I'll get back to you.