Maybe Christmas doesn't come in a store.

I'm sitting on my floor watching The Holiday (LOVE THIS MOVIE!) and trying to get myself psyched to get out my Christmas Tree. I figure if I don't do it now while I still have some holiday spirit in me then I won't do it. And that is what I hate the most about my job. Christmas used to be my favorite holiday of the year and now I just wish it get over with and done. Working in retail has really shown how materialistic the holiday has become. It is no longer about Good Will Towards Your Fellow Man but more of what can I give them to impress them. It's no longer about enjoying your time with your friends and family but worrying and stressing out about spending time with your friends and family. I really do feel like a Grinch but my goal is not to get caught up with other people's drama. Not to get to upset with customers who are rude or coworkers who complain. I want to enjoy the season for all it's worth. So, today I am going to put up my Christmas Tree and my singing penguins and later put on the Muppet's Christmas Carol and get into the Holiday Spirit!

In other news, today is my last day off before what will hopefully be a really great Week! Thursday, Mom, Dad and I are going to Portland for the Davis Cup Finals! USA vs. Russia! It's a tennis thing if you don't know. We are actually leaving Wednesday after work and driving to Chicago and leaving from there. This wasn't the original plan but it works out quite nicely because the Monday we come back, Katharine is meeting us there and we are going home TOGETHER! And then Tuesday, we all go back to work! My birthday is the Thursday after we come back (December 6, for those who want to know) And then that Sunday is my bday party with Jackie, who is also a December birthday! So now that I think about it. I have too many great things to look forward to be buried down in all this holiday no-spirit non sense. It's going to be a great Holiday Season! I can feel it.

All this good time is going to kill me

I'm quite tired. It's been a busy week. Between all my social obligations and late nights watching tennis, the earliest I have gone to bed this week is 1am. OK, so that is only about an hour earlier then usual but that hour makes a big difference. I really shouldn't be complaining. It's a good thing that I have friends that invite me out to parties and celebrate events in their life. I really do have great friends. Especially my work friends, who are just a blast to hang out with. Friday was the big Triple birthday party for Amy, Katie and Aaron. We went to Old Chicago. I felt bad for our waitress because we kept moving tables on her because it more and more people kept showing up. We did expect everyone who showed to up to come but we didn't think people were going to come as early as they did. We started out in a booth, then a table and then a bigger table. After that we took over the booth and table, then eventually migrated over to the high tables close the pool tables. We always seem to end up there. The highlight of the night (or at least the highlight for me) was when the birthday people opened their presents. Katie and Amy were easier to buy for. Amy and I share a love for Journey, so I got her their Greatest hits album. Katie has a reputation that if you give her enough to drink, she will do the Thriller dance. Oh yes, it is amazing. So, she got Thriller on CD so she can practice whenever she wants. Aaron was a little bit tricky. I'm not really sure what he likes to listen too. I just know that he pretty much doesn't like anything that I like. So, what about movie. Again, every movie I know he likes, I know he already has. So I thought to myself, why not something funny. Amy and I have been trying to get him to watch the movie Mean Girls and he has refused. Again, I thought to myself, well maybe we can't get him to come over and watch it that I would just give it to him. When I bought it, I thought this is going to be so funny. He is going to laugh but the more I thought about it, I started to think he might find it as amusing as I will. He might actually hate it. So I was really nervous about giving it to him but luckily he laughed. Of course, he might have been in such a good mood from all the beer that wasn't going to tell me he how much he hated it. I would say, it was a successful present. Even if he does end up exchanging it for something else. Just knowing that for a couple of days he owned Mean Girls is good for me.

Well, when I haven't been working and going out, I have been at home watching tennis. Damn, Australia and their 16 hour time difference. It makes for a lot of late nights. Thursday night/Friday morning Andy Roddick played Marat Safin. There was no way I was going to miss that even if I had to get up at 2:30 and stay up until 6. It was totally worth it because it was a very good match. Andy played very composed tennis with a lot more variety then in the past. Marat was Marat. He had many brilliant shots and then a lot of "what was he thinking". And it wouldn't have been a Marat match, if he didn't yell at the umpire at least once. I love him. BTW, Andy won. I had every intention of going to bed early last night but I was watching tennis again and before I knew it, it was 1am. So much for that. But it is all good. I do this every January and I really wouldn't have it any other way.

Birthdays, Colds and Beer

So, I have been 24 for a week now. It really doesn't feel all that different from 23 except I am just 1 year away from the big 25! The Quarter Century Mark! Scary! Today is my friend Beth's birthday! I'm sure she is having a wonderful day in Sunny Southern Florida! I still get a kick out of the fact that both Beth and I were born a week apart. I mean how cool is that the 2 Beth's were born exactly a week apart from each other! So, Anyway for my birthday last week I had a great birthday! I got my hair done and my nails painted. Then I had lunch with my dad. We went Long John Silver's. I know nothing special but I have been craving it for a while now. I don't really like fish but I love their battered-dip Chicken! Diet be damned! It was my birthday! Later my Parents took me to dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Dorado. Yummy! And finally, my friends and I went to the Que Bar. I have to say I felt really special that so many people came out for my birthday. I have amazing friends. We had a lot of fun playing pool. Even though I am terrible at it I really enjoy playing. Katharine once said that "Pool is a game of frustration" because she and I are both good at Geometry but suck at pool. I can see the angles but for the life of me I can't execute it. But I am a lot better then I used to be. All in All it was a fabulous birthday topped off with my friend Katie doing the Thriller Dance! Priceless!

It is officially Christmas. The weekends have been just crazy busy and even the weekdays have been steady. Yesterday, I could barely get anything done because every time I left the cashwrap to do something I would be called back to register because of a line. This is good and bad. 1. It makes the day go by faster but 2. it's frustrating because I'm not able to get done what I need to get done. I guess you have to take the good with the bad. The other reason I know it's the Holiday season is that everyone is getting sick. Last week, almost every day we had multiple people call out sick. It's bad enough when 1 person calls out sick but when you have 2 or 3 in the same day it really fucks things up for the rest of us because then someone (like me) has to come in at 5:45am and I am not a morning person! Not I know I can't blame people for getting sick. We work in retail and especially at this time of year we interact with a lot of people so germs get spread around and it seems like if 1 person gets sick, others will soon follow. I now have a cold but unfortunately/fortunately for me it isn't bad enough to get me out of work. I just have no voice. Which sucks majorly!

Oh well, being sick hasn't stopped me from going to work or going out afterward. What I love the most about work is my coworkers/friends. They make all the bullshit we deal with worth it. I love hanging out with them after work and having a drink and playing pool. They are truly amazing people. They all make me laugh so hard. I love them all! We go to Old Chicago a lot after work because it's not that far away, they have a pool table, it's rarely busy and it's not smoky. It's really a chill atmosphere. Old Chicago has a beer club that if you drink all 110 beers they have you get your name on the Wall of Foam. Now, I know this is something that I will never make but it's fun to try. They have mini tours, like the Holiday tour. If you drink the all 12 beers of Christmas, then you got a free t-shirt. On Monday, I finished my first tour and in kind of a sick way, I am proud of my accomplishment. I've tried to finish a mini-tour before but never did. I think they fact that we go to Old Chicago so often made it a lot easier plus I had the support of my friends. Maybe that wasn't the kind of thing they should be encouraging but I did appreciated. Of course, now that I have finished, I need a new goal.

So, less then 2 weeks it will be Christmas! So Merry Christmas to you all! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Kwanzaa! I guess what I am trying to say is HAPPY HOLIDAYS Everyone.

P.S. If you had trouble seeing the photo of the Claus Nativity. I reposted the photo on my last post, so you should be able to see it now. :D

Happy Birthday!

Last night was my friend Scott's birthday and today is my friend Kat's. So we had to go out and celebrate their birthday's, as well as our other coworker's Mary and Laura. (Mary for some reason didn't show up but we celebrated in her honor.) We went to Charlie's. A local bar in Coralville that is just weird. One half of the bar has the pool table and poles for dancing and the other side booths and palm trees. I'm not sure what they are trying to go for there but whatever. We usually only stay on the Pool side because we like to play, even though most of us are not very good. Like me but I am getting better. I bought a cake because it was suggested that since I got off work early that I should. I had ever intention of baking one but my luck in the kitchen hasn't been good lately. So, I got a chocolate cake with white icing and writing gel to write Happy Birthday on it. Yes, I am on a diet but since I knew I was going to be drinking beer and breaking my diet anyways, I might as well go all the way and have some cake too. We started with a couple pitcher's of beer and shots of tequila. Kat is usually my pool partner and she plays better when she is drunk so I try to liquour her up as much as possible. Joking! It was a lot of fun. It's been a long time since we all have gone out after work. I think that last time was for Jeremy's goodbye party back in June! It was fabulous! I love the people I work with! Happy Birthday Kat, Laura, Mary and Scott!