West Coast Girl

I went to see Return of the King last night with Stephen and my parents. It was even better, and possibly much better the second time around. The stories made more sense, as did the omissions (even though I didn't make it all the way through the book in between). We saw it on the Biggest Screen in Texas, which is really saying something. I had forgotten how much the head orc in the battle for Minas Tirith looks like that guy in Goonies (which Sean Astin was also in). Chuuuuuunnnnkkkkk!!!!

I spend most of yesterday afternoon going though old boxes in my parents garage. I found things I haven't seen since high school -- like my old yearbooks, and my cheerleading uniform. I also found journals from junior high that contain the words "radical" and "rad" in the same entry, as well as a paper from high school that starts "Like microwave dinnners, plastic surgery started out as a good thing." I hope my writing has improved some since then, but I'm not sure.

I also realized that I have a problem with greeting cards. I think I have every birthday, Christmas, and Valentine's Day card ever given to me. I didn't throw any of those away yesterday, although I did toss a pink nightgown that said " Party Animal '89" on the front in puffy paint. I probably won't miss that.

I found a journal from the 6th grade that, as far as I can tell, only talks about boys. There are a couple of different pages with the names of every boy in the class written down, and then their ranking on a scale of 1 to 10 by every girl in class, with the totals noted neatly on the side (most people rated Ben W. the highest). It made me think that I'm a big jerk.

There were also literally hundreds of notes from high school, most of them from Jessica, which is pretty hilarious, since we still do pretty much the same thing. I think e-mail is just like passing notes at work. I found notes from a couple of different girls talking about their crushes on Nik Foley. I had forgotten that about Mission Bay -- everybody had a crush on Nik Foley. (I had also forgotten that I referred to everyone by their first and last name). Interesting.

Today, Reading Rainbow is talking about bowling balls. From a trip to the bowling ball factory, to a bowling alley, I'm learning all about what goes into the life of a bowling ball. And now I'm watching my little brother play Halo, on his brand new XBox. These are the days of my life in Texas.

So, Merry Christmas to everyone!! There was no Christmas weather in Dallas this year, but lots of Christmas spirit (haha). But to back it up a notch:

I flew out of National on Wednesday, arriving over two hours before my flight took off because I was concerned about the increased security. It took me about 15 minutes to get through everything, including checking my bag, so I had lots of time to sit and drink mediocre coffee and read. I had The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, and the New Yorker Winter Fiction issue, both of which I finished by the time I got to Dallas. (Lovely Bones was pretty good, although it wrapped up much more neatly than I expected from the beginning. It was a little unrealistic, but I suppose if you buy the conceit that the narrator is watching her family from her own personal heaven, you should be able to buy into everything else.) My preoccupation with these didn't distract me from the fact that I don't really like flying anymore. We were on a regional jet, which I wasn't expecting.

I got to DFW and made my way to baggage claim, since I took my mother's advice and brought an extra bag. I was checking the various belt and had to stop and think "Okay, where do I live now?" Washington, Katherine, Washington. Right.

I hung out with the fam on Christmas Eve, and we went to a great Christmas Eve service at an Episcopal church in Plano. The sanctuary was beautiful, and we sang lots of Christmas hymns.

We went home to open presents, which was also fun. The ones I gave seemed to go over well, although I bought Stephen a shirt that would probably wrap around him twice. I knew it seemed big in the store, but I was at that point of "These are all so much bigger than anything I wear I don't really have a concept of the differing sizes." So now we get to particpate in the Christmas tradition of going back to the store to exchange gifts.

The supersize present from my parents surpassed all expectations. My grandmother started making me a quilt before she died a couple of years ago, and they had it finished for me. It's beautiful, and I'm definitely taking it back to Maryland with me, so it is a good thing I brought the extra bag.

Most of my time since then has been spent reading and watching movies with family. I watched the extended version of The Two Towers yesterday, which was awesome! It's so much better than the theater version -- the characters, and storylines are much more full and interesting. I think we're going to see RotK again tonight (except David, who insists that twice is enough).

The rest of the weekend will be spent much as the past has been. I think I'm having lunch with Liz Rietz tomorrow, which is awesome. I get to go through the boxes I left here when I moved to DC and figure out what I want to take back with me. Sunday is back to DC, and then Kristin comes to visit on MOnday! Yay! and Jessica comes to the East Coast on Tuesday! Yay! (But she gets there so early it should still count as Monday). The big party is shaping up quite nicely.

So the fancy-pancy West Coast thinks they're better than us, huh? With their "upper 60's weather" and "unlimited sunshine". Well, I'll 6.5 earthquake you! (This is totally disregarding the fires of earlier this year. But we did have a hurricane here, two blizzards and an earthquake. So either the world is coming to an end, or the East Coast is winning the "Surviving Natural Disasters Game" right now. -- ed.) (Side note: I could insert a snarky remark about Arnold as governor being another natural disaster but I'm not going to. You're welcome.)

Blogging is my new favorite thing for several reasons, but today because I heard from Alicia Christina Medina, who was a beloved roommate in college and who I haven't heard from in a long time. Yay Alicia!!

Christmas shopping is going quite well, thank you. My mom said I should bring an extra suitcase so I can bring back my present. What does that mean? I'm not flying out until Christmas Eve, for the brief trip to TX. I will get to hang out with my fantastic family while I"m there. I'm sure we'll see The Return of the King again. Stephen called yesterday and left a message on my voicemail in a fake girl voice (and left the name Janell) asking what I want for Christmas. I called later to tell him (and talked to Stephen).

I miss California.

I get to hang out with Jake tonight, who is in town for the Christmas holiday. I don't get to hang out with him enough, and I'm very excited about tonight. There will be much laughter.

Also, Amazon wish lists are some of the funniest things I've ever seen. I'm going to put Felix's here, and Sandra's here. (I wouldn't recommend actually buying Felix a Segway, because they've been recalled. And I have one of the books for him, but don't tell.) Sandra's is Hilarious in a whole different way.

So West Wing wasn't on last night and I decided to give The OC a chance. And I loved it. I haven't seen that great a use of slow motion/confetti since Romeo and Juliet. There are so many lessons to be learned from rich teenagers in Southern California. 10 years of 90210 taught me that, if nothing else. I can't wait to see what the defining moment of The OC is. I like to think that the writing is a little brighter than that of 9-0, but those writers did come up with such gems as:
Dad Walsh: Brandon, would you like to join me in a bowl of cereal?
Brandon: Thanks Dad, but I don't think there's room.

The other thing that reminded me of the hours I spent watching 90210 my senior year of college (watching 90210 means studying, mom. It's slang.) were the commercials for Hot Bod. What is that stuff? There were two spots for it almost every break and as far as I can tell it's cologne (cheap and fake) in a spray bottle. Because cologne is too difficult to put on? I've never seen the stuff in real life, but, according to the ads, it's used mostly at very dark rock and roll shows and during pick-up basketball games on the streets, yo. Neither of which I frequent.

One more thing -- there is now a comments section after each post, which was way easier to install than I thought it would be. Html is awesome -- even better than Excel. I have found my new geeky pursuit, and I love it.

And I'm seeing The Return of the King tonight. Awesome.

So I bought this new hair goop this week that comes in a bottle that looks like a Nerf water gun/blaster thing. Thankfully, it doesn't come out that way. It smells like Dimetap -- full of grapey extravagance. Combined with my shampoo which smells like... Pert, and the other hair stuff I've been using, which smells like fresh green plastic, there's a lot of smells going on about my head. It's a little distracting sometimes. I better not take all this stuff camping.
And, for some reason, I've already memorized my new license plate number. Who knows their license plate number, especially after 24 hours? I can easily associate mine, which is the key to remembering, but still. Already?
I noticed yesterday that there's a tiny crab on my new driver's license. What does that mean? I don't think it has anything to do with my sign -- that's far too much effort on the part of the MVA, although it is an amusing coincidence. I'll have to do some further research.

I went to the MVA (MVA=DMV) this morning for a lovely start to my day. It really wasn't that bad, although it was hilarious. At one point a little girl sitting to my left was talking to her parents, saying, "Tweet, tweet, tweet. What am I? MOooooooooo. What am I? Neighhhhhhhh. What am I?" And so on.
I have a brand new Maryland driver's license now. In the picture I look like I'm about to say something, which is comparatively better than my MA driver's license, where I look like a boy (and my college ID, which is a whole different story). I have Maryland plates for my car, and am registered to vote (as an independent). Check.
"Ruff, ruff. What am I?"

There are two things I think every day. One is "this has got to be bad for my car" as I drive to work on DC's pot hole-ridden streets. The other is "I love coffee" as I lift my morning cup of steaming goodness to my lips. Today was no exception, but I didn't get to coffee until lunchtime. Coffee for lunch isn't a bad thing, right?

I love my brothers. I brilliantly left my cell phone on my bed yesterday, and when I got home and checked there was this message:
"Hey Katherine. This is your brother Stephen. David's in the car too (muffled "hey" from David in the background). We were just calling to invite you to a Halo tournament we're going to tonight. It should be fun. You don't have to have any experience to play. There'll probably be some girls hanging out in the back anyway. It'll be from about 7 to 12, so if you just want to come on over whenever, that would be great!"
I haven't talked to either of my brothers in about three weeks. They live several thousand miles away from me. I've only played Halo once, and I spent most of that time looking at the sky and spinning in circles. But this was the best message I got all day.

Okay not really. I spent most of my evening last night watching the two-hour season finale of Average Joe. Time well spent, if you ask me. It was interesting. Here's why I think so:
The final two contestants had several key differences: one was from the east coast, one (at least seemed to be) from the west coast. One was a wall street trader, one was an student/waiter. One was a millionaire with an apartment in NYC. One lived with his parents. One worked out to relieve stress, while the other one tanned. One had been profiled by Fortune, the other one didn't know how to play checkers. One bought the girls presents after trying to think about what she would want. The other one looked awesome in a suit. Awesome. One of them inspired the comment "He's so sweet!" from my house full of girls. The other one merited "He'd be fine if he just kept his mouth shut." Hmmm.
She picked Jason, the tanning west coast student/waiter (who will probably get a role on a soap opera somewhere after this) who lives with his parents and put the checkers on the wrong squares. What does this mean?
The Daily Quickie says "Shallow wins". I'm not sure if this is completely the case. It's a lot of pressure to put on someone to challenge them to make a choice that will vindicate all of the self-proclaimed average people watching, and prove that charm (and intelligence) really are more important than good looks. Charm and intelligence and thoughtfulness. And direction and stability. Okay, maybe shallow did win. Oh well.
Then I changed the channel to the Rams-Browns game, where even the throwback jerseys couldn't win the Browns the game. I still don't think the Rams are going to do anything. It seemed like John and Al were pretty bored with the game too. They spent almost as much time talking about some birds on the field and a wedding that took place at the stadium as they did about football (granted, I only watched for about 40 minutes). Best quote of the night from John Madden: "What did you think about that kiss?"
There was lots of snow this weekend but no one around to play in it. I threw a snowball at a tree.
I did finish the Da Vinci Code, and am failing to understand what the fuss is about.
I thought this week was going to be long and boring, but it's shaping up alright. E-mails from friends make me feel loved, and Christmas is almost here. Have I mentioned that Kristin and Jessica are coming to visit? I am so very excited about that.

I don't think Steve Spurrier wants to admit that he's living in DC. He was on the news last night wearing a knit Redskins hat. However, he was wearing it over his traditional Redskin's visor. It made him look even more like Dobby the elf, as Gregg Easterbrook used to say. Maybe it's because it's Christmas time.

I was driving around downtown a few nights ago, looking at all the monuments and museums, and felt the first inklings of affections for this city rustling around in my heart. I love the intentional neo-classicism of the monuments, the effort that went in to making this city America's representative to the world. I love the broad expanse of the Mall, and the fact that I see the White House and the Washington Monument on my way to work every day. Oh yeah, this is why I live here. I think I'm even starting to get into the Christmas spirit a little bit, and I'm enjoying the cold within that. It does seem sort of Christmasy to need to wear coats and hats and bundle up (and drink peppermint hot chocolate-- yum). (Don't tell San Diego I said that about the cold. I still love it more.)

I'm wearing a brightly-striped sweater today that is making me very happy. There's something pleasantly audacious about bright colors in the midst of a big-city winter. I also have a bright orange T-shirt that says "DONNAMARTINGRADUATES" in a block of letters across the front (Yay Weekend Warriors!). That makes me happy too.

I started The Da Vinci Code last night while I was eating dinner. I haven't said "Just one more chapter" to myself that frequently in a long time. It's so wonderful to find a book that makes me excited to read again (which is strange to say, because I love to read.) This whole 9-5, driving to work, treadmill at the gym thing doesn't leave much time for recreational reading. It might be my choice of options as well. The House of Seven Gables is the book at the top of my list right now, and that was only quietly whispering my name, not yelling to get my attention. I know I'll love it when I do end up reading it, but for now it's Dan Brown and peppermint hot chocolate.

Here are some of the things that happened in the South this weekend:

Stephanie and I had this conversation about a statue outside of a restaurant:
Me: Is that a fish?
Steph: Yes, and it's dressed as Santa.

I drove through the gates of Dollywood, but didn't get to go inside because it was closed.

I heared (or heard) "Georgia On My Mind" and that Chattahoochee song about 5 times.

We were out at lunch one day and Stephanie said "This sweet tea is just like my mom's."

I drove past Babyland General in Cleveland, GA. (You know, where the Cabbage Patch Kids are born.) (No, I didn't take the tour.) (Yes, I realize that was a mistake.)

I learned most of the words to Trace Adkins new song "Hot Mama."

I learned of the existence of Trace Adkins.

We were in the car and heard an announcement on the radio for a contest to win free breakfast for a year from Waffle House. But we couldn't make it to the parking lot outside the old K-Mart in time. (Full disclosure: This happened the last time I was in Georgia, in August -- but it did happen.)

Stephanie and Mark and I watched Grumpy Old Men, which is one of the funniest and most romantic movies I've seen in a long time. "You wake up one day and you realize, you're not 81 anymore." Hi-larious. We also watched Grumpier Old Men, which was also funny but not as good as the first one.

There was lots of good food and even better conversation, plus a ride in Mark's Z.

Steph's Uncle Ray said (on Thanksgiving), "Manifest Destiny, that's something I've been thinking about."

Some kid at a rest stop in South Caroline gave me a quarter for the vending machine and said "I've got more -- everything my little sister didn't take." (Thanks, big guy.)