It's a Great Day to Be Alive

I got home from work just in time to watch LOST (which is cause enough for celebration) and waiting for me was (were?:

The Signals specical Holiday catalog,

The Met's Holiday catalog, and

My pre-ordered Alias - The Complete Fourth Season.


Life is good right now.

Lost in Translation

Random things I learned while watching part of Lost with my Korean speaking brother.

1-He was very impressed with the Korean. So going with native-speaking actors was a really good choice.

2-Jin speaks a lower class of Korean; while Sun uses a more middle-class style. Again, he was impressed that they accurately represented how Korean is really spoken by people of different classes.

3-Jin is hilarious. When he is sitting on the rock watching Ana-Lucia and Bernard(?) trying to fish he says, “You’re doing it wrong, aren’t you? If you keep doing it like that you’ll all die!” Then he throws his net into the water and catches a net-ful of fish. When J translated that...the inflection he used...I almost feel off the couch laughing.

50 Books Update

I've recently finished:

The English Assassin by Daniel Silva 386 pages and

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Kidd Monk 332 pages.

The English Assassin was my least favorite Silva book thus far, and I really enjoyed The Mermaid Chair. Falling in love with a Benedictine Monk...pretty spectacular story.

Next up: Pirate by Ted Bell

41/50 14798/15000

Baptism

My 8-year old nephew, BT, was baptized on Saturday. It really is a lovely ceremony, and because he was the only kid in his ward being baptized, his family were the ones giving the talks (on the importance and responsibilities of baptism, from his Dad...who cried the whole time, and the Holy Ghost, from my Dad who also cried), providing the music (My Mom played the piano and sister-in-law S led the music), to those who served as official witnesses (Grandpa and an uncle), to the actual baptizing (his Dad, N). BT looked so handsome in his little white jumpsuit, staring up at the speakers with rapt attention. God, I love that little boy!

Afterward, we headed over to their house for a luncheon and good family togetherness... yummy food and good conversation...all in all it was a well-spent Saturday. Conspicuously missing from this Very Important Occasion were J&M. Of course, her heart wasn’t softened by the whole damn family turning up to celebrate her birthday. To excuse his absence, J claimed he had injured his ankle and could barely walk. Our thoughts were summed up by my youngest brother, “He obviously hurt his ankle wading through all her bullshit.” Amen to that.

Hell in a Handbasket

I have a sister-in-law; she is offended when there is no cause and she takes it out in melodramatic fashion. She holds it against the entire family, including, unfortunately her husband and children.

Things had been going well for quite a while, but everyone was on edge expecting her usual self to spring out an any moment. It happened the third week of July. She was offended over something incredibly stupid (and benign...trust me, everyone I've talked to agrees there was no cause for her reaction). She stood up, took the baby and sat in their car to finish feeding him. Then, she stormed back into the house, threw little Mitch into his car seat and spit out, "Tell J to call me when he's ready to come home!" She then peeled out of the driveway and sped off in a cloud of dust, leaving her husband and two other children at my folk's and the rest of us dumbfounded.

Since that day she has not attended a single family activity. She refuses to let my Mom celebrate her birthday and she has withheld little Mitch from us.

Her birthday was yesterday and I undertook a project to take a gift to her. I called my sibs and most everyone said they would come. Families are Forever after all. The planning was going along swimmingly until Sunday night. Sunday, I stopped over at my folk's and J was there with the older two kids. ML, who is *almost* 9, and K who is 3. We spent quite a while laughing and joking around the kitchen table before K went in to pound on the piano and I went to watch the Yankees pull out a victory. (Sadly, only to lose the next game...cry, cry, cry.)

I was watching the game when K suddenly stopped playing and said, "You know what?"

"What?" I answered.

"My Mom said I can't give you hugs and kisses anymore."

WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?

There are many reasons I am going to Hell, but using a 3 year old as a weapon...is not one of them.

I still took her over a birthday gift (mostly because I didn't want to explain a cancellation to my sibs), but I told my folks that she will rot in hell and I am done trying to make her feel like family. I. AM. DONE.

5 Things

1-Congratulations to B&K who welcomed their first baby (a boy with lots of blond hair) Monday, October 3rd at 5:30-ish p.m.

2-A rainbow was spotted on Tuesday, thereby giving me at least another year before being swept down to hell.

3-I missed the fist 20 minutes of Lost and now I'm lost, and was that Adawale Akinnuoye-Agbaje looking menacingly down into the pit? Yes, yes it was!

4-Go Yankees!

5-Happy 19th Birthday (yesterday) to my youngest brother, A-M.

Lunch, In Style

Every October the Delta Center holds a luncheon for their suite-holders where they roll out the menu for the upcoming (basketball) season, and while I don’t have a suite, I know someone who does. So, I was invited along for the party.

The food was excellent (as always); especially the new Southwest Chicken, exhibition guacamole, pork ribs, and, my personal favorite, the bananas foster. Oh sweet nectar of the Gods, Bananas Foster! The bananas foster….they made up for 2 people at my table winning prizes (one of which was 2 tickets on Delta airlines) and me winning nothing.

I’m already angling for an invite to next year’s shin dig.

Lights Out!

My power went out around 7:30 am this morning, so I am at working with my hair pulled into a pony tail and my makeup looking (hopefully not too much) like I work for the circus.

Congratulations!

K&S (aka T2) are expecting their first child in April. Great news for a great brother and sister-in-law! I'm hoping for a little girl.

Blind Date SLC

So, I had a blind date last night, and it was....okay. He was a nice enough, but we do NOT have anything in common. Dating sucks! This is exactly why it took me so long to finally be done with TRB. All the crap you have to go through to get to know someone; lots of false starts and bad dates before you find even a possibility. But, like I said, he was a nice guy; I got dinner at a nice restaurant. At least it's something, right?

Thanks to Ana for being my "safe" person. You know, the person who will call the police if you don't show up the next day. She promised to call and tell the police I was locked in a trunk or dumped in a ditch if I didn't email her last night.