The Unbearable Lightness of Being

- Christmas was great this year. I went home for a couple days, got to see some friends from high school, saw my family, went to two great movies (Sweeny Todd and Walk Hard), and had some great food too. The Christmas haul was different this year, more meaningful. I got a couple of good books, including To Be the Poet by Maxine Hong Kingston and Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman which I was absolutely dying to get my hands on, and also got one of my favorite films of 2007 on DVD, Ratatouille. The real highlight on Christmas though was seeing how much my brother enjoyed the hoodie I made for him. I bought a plain hoodie from Target, bought a bunch of patches of bands he loves and stuck them on, and then used this fabric dyeing technique I found online to put some badass kanji on the back. I was afraid he'd be disappointed it wasn't a game, but when he opened it he was all smiles and I think he felt it was the best present he got this year.

- I've been a cooking explorer these past couple of days, making all sorts of foods I've never tried before and was scared to attempt. I baked some salmon with breadcrumbs and rosemary, made miso soup, and cooked some shrimp scampi last night. They all came out delicious!

- At Best Buy I broke down and used the gift cards I got for Christmas to buy something I need rather than games and movies: an electric razor. The old one I was using was the first electric razor I got, back when I was thirteen, so I think it was time for a change. I also picked up a new USB gamepad for my PC, and let me tell you, playing through Super Metroid again emulated has made me happier than a lot of the new games I've been playing.

- This is a very relaxing, long vacation; one of those vacations where I've forgotten what it feels like to be at work day in and day out. I tried spending the last couple of days not even looking at a clock, and just taking the day as it came, getting done what I needed to, eating when I felt hungry. Not unplanned, just unconcerned with the passage of time. I hope I'm able to spend more weekend days like this.