Tag: holiday

Traditions

What are Traditions: New Year’s Eve 2017

I spent most of the afternoon cleaning house in case anyone wanted to come over for New Year’s Eve. I had originally planned to have a fire, but it was too cold and windy for that. We decided to get some pizza and stay in for a movie instead. Summer and the girls were the only ones that wanted to do anything, so I picked them up along with some Domino’s to watch a movie before counting down to the new year. I had some trouble with our first movie choice, and somehow we settled on Leonardo DiCaprio’s Romeo and Juliet while we ate. Then we played some music around midnight, and ended the night with The Jungle Book.

Everyone pretty well passed out, so I guess it was a success.

Good luck, 2018…

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Dinner and a Movie

I slept in a bit today, then got up to get ready for another trip to Conway with Summer. We wanted to catch the new Jumanji movie in the afternoon before a little shopping and a couple of steaks.

The movie was pretty great. It definitely had a different feel to it, but I liked how it pulled straight from the old movie and made it something new. I didn’t realize it, but Summer said it was her first 3D movie. She seemed to really enjoy it. I made the mistake of getting up near the end of the movie to refill the popcorn and my drink, and ended up missing the climax, but I imagine I’ll get the movie for home in 3D once it’s available.

After the movie, we went to the new shopping center on Dave Ward to see what was there. We stopped in the PetCo there, and it seemed like all the animals were in relatively poor health, which was surprising considering the neighborhood. After leaving there, we stopped by Old Navy and grabbed a few things. I returned a defective pair of jeans and grabbed a new sport coat, and by that time we were ready for dinner at Logan’s.

Once we finished eating, we headed straight back toward home, stopping at Blackwell to restock before New Year’s Eve tomorrow. Then when we got back home, we watched Kevin Hart’s What Now on Netflix. He was better in the movie.

She understands the intent.

Traditions

What are Traditions: Christmas 2017

Why post a portrait when you already got everyone’s best sides?

After just a few hours of sleep, I managed to get up early enough for Summer to come over and watch my Christmas movie, Gremlins with me. When lunch was ready, she left and I headed to my parents’ house to meet up with family.

Julie wanted to take us all to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi in the evening, so I invited everyone over to watch The Force Awakens to refresh ourselves on the new storyline. Julie and Andy left almost immediately because my cats tried to murder her immune system, but my parents and I finished the movie.

I killed the rest of the evening time waiting to go to the movie, then met everyone at the theater. I thought the movie was pretty entertaining, but the plot did feel a bit contrived. Overall, I guess it did its job of passing the baton. Someone in charge definitely made an attempt to follow the recent trend of making serious movies funnier. It didn’t completely fit with tradition, but it got some cheap laughs.

It’s all a machine, partner. Live free: don’t join.

Traditions

What are Traditions: Christmas Eve 2017

Summer invited me to New China for lunch, and afterward we hung out and played a couple quick games of Jenga. Then I came home and took care of some neglected house cleaning.

Once I got tired of that game, I played a couple rounds of PUBG with Clint and Keno until Summer got back home from her Christmas thing. We watched the tail end of Rise of the Guardians and just lounged the rest of the evening.

Happy Christmas.

Adventure Time!, Uncategorised

Christmas Filets

Summer wanted to get some Christmas shopping done in Conway today, so I got myself up early and we made the trip. Traffic was pretty dumb, but overall it wasn’t that bad being around that many people in the stores. We stopped at Logan’s for lunch fillets before walking down the other side of the strip mall. On the way out of town, I showed her Game Point, and she marveled at all of the old video games they had.

Once back to town, I dropped her off at home before heading home myself for a little while. She invited me along to see Ferdinand with the kids, which was interesting. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a family movie in a theater, so I didn’t even really register the trailers as movie trailers so much as cartoon shorts. It was kind of nice to not take things so seriously though, with all the other random screaming kids in there. It was a good time.

You can’t see me, my time is now!

Traditions, Work Adventures

What are Traditions: Work Holiday Shindig 2017

Today was kind of a weirdly relaxed day, mostly due to a pep rally at the junior high. I did make some decent progress on some things I had been working on though, so overall it was a successful day.

People have been so impressed with my Pixel 2 XL that both Sarah and Ronda ordered smaller ones for themselves. I played with Sarah’s for a bit, and really liked the size. The top and bottom bezels didn’t feel as bad as they looked in pictures. I still feel like mine is way too big to comfortably use, but I like the smaller bezels.

After work, I had to run to Walmart to pick up the stuff for a broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole for Ben’s Christmas dinner at his place. He smoked a pork shoulder, and we had all the fixings for a nice barbecue meal. Gary and I traded high scores in Seaquest on the Atari, at one point taking turns doubling each other’s previous scores. It was a really great time with everyone.

Centuries worth of technological advances, and this is what we do with it?

Traditions

What are Traditions: Magic Club Potluck 2017

I got up this morning after a late night of sneaky Photoshopping to the blog with plenty of time to get ready to leave for the Magic Club Christmas meeting. It’s late enough in the year now that I think we can accept a little bit of festivity.

We were pretty late leaving my parents’ house, because why wouldn’t we be? I brought my HTC 10 along for the ride to try and compare service. Overall it seemed about the same, but I didn’t spend all day with my face in my phones either. Surprisingly my data at the Riverfront Park was actually a bit faster on straight Sprint. I probably should have gotten an app to monitor what towers I was hitting before we left.

I felt a little removed for most of the meeting. It’s grown quite a lot over the years. This year they had a string quartet while we ate. There were enough other people there for setup and teardown that I didn’t really do anything. The show was almost entirely for the kids, and I don’t think anybody really talked to me at all except to say hello.

We hit up some Oriental grocery stores on the way out of town, and I picked up some shrimp and cuttlefish chips and some dried squid. My snack game has been off lately, which I suppose is good. Once home, I did a load of laundry to cap the weekend.

Please enjoy this “tastiness.”

Traditions

What are Traditions: Thanksgiving 2017

I woke up super late today with a massive headache after a long night. I didn’t actually get out of bed until the afternoon. I wasn’t really clear on what day the family would be cooking for Thanksgiving, so when Mom texted that food was ready, I still had to get out of bed and shower.

I guess Julie’s still in Florida, so it was just us with Bác Vân and Doug, and Dad invited a college friend. I showed up just as everyone else was finishing up their food, then left after all the guests were gone.

I guess I’m doing some things tomorrow, so I can forgive today being worthless.

Even though I really should, I knew that I never would.

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RSD Potluck: Thanksgiving 2017

Today was a pretty chill day at work. We cleaned out the graveyard first thing in the morning, then mostly mingled around the shop until near time for our potluck lunch. Ben smoked some awesome turkey, and everyone’s sides came out really awesome. I met Allen at Kroger and picked up some deli mashed potatoes and gravy, a pan of rolls, and a couple jars of turkey gravy.

After lunch, I visited my buildings to take care of a couple things, but mostly to visit with a few people before they left for break. It’ll be work as usual for me until Thanksgiving day.

On the way home, Dad texted and said they had Lexi put down yesterday after her flesh wounds refused to heal. I was glad to hear they had the mercy to keep her from getting worse. I still have a difficult time with pets myself. I feel like I really am over it.

I settled into the evening with In Time, a movie I’d been wanting to see for quite a long time but just never made the time to watch. I liked it alright, but it sort of felt like a communistic propaganda film.

You can do a lot in a day. I just never do.