On Friday we got snow.  I swept or shoveled at least 3 times.

I went back to Target, BJ's and A&P.

I began my Xmas letter.  Patrick began wrapping gifts.

Saturday I cut off the mohawk.  My hair is too short to do the flat top as well, so it will have to wait.  I guess I have a crew cut now.  I also cut Patrick's hair.  He wanted the top left alone, so just the sides and back were buzzed.

It was a day of cheesy leftovers. 

I printed my letters and began organizing the card list.  A friend on Facebook commented that I was late.  Some people may think so.  I think birthday cards should arrive on the birth date.  Shouldn't Xmas cards arrive on Christmas?  Aren't there 12 days of Christmas that occur AFTER Xmas?  I think commercialism has pushed us so far forward with decorations going on sale in October.   I realize some people don't send cards unless they receive one, and if they receive the cards late, they don't send them out at all.  I try and send them to those that mean something to me, even though we may not keep in touch as much as I would like.  My letter summarizes the year and each year I provide less details.  You guys on LJ that follow me, know all about my life, so why bore you reiterating the same stuff.  It'll be here.  I also still have friends who haven't gotten into the electronic age yet.  Plus I seem to always be behind anyway. 

If you're reading this, know that my thoughts are with you as well.  I'm still trying to keep up with my reading and do reflect on all my acquaintances as well as friends when the holidays are near.  I'm pretty sure I end up thinking about a lot of people who probably have forgotten about me also, but that's an innate part of me.  I attach easily.  This wasn't supposed to become a melancholy post - back to the rest of the weekend...

Picked up cat food from the Animal Medical Center.  It was the fastest visit yet since we went around 9PM on Satuday.  I learned that they still have records of Phoebe and Hyde (both deceased). 

We danced at the Big Apple Ranch which was kind of slow.  Edgar brought his cute friend Doug, and met Justin.  (I put these names in, and still end up forgetting them the next time I see them - sigh).

 Nestle's Semi-Sweet Morsels makes a great snack. 

I have to write about this past week in PA.

Meanwhile, I have just completed my second week unemployed, and it is still very wierd for me. I spend too much time online. LJ is still very much a narcotic. I have caught up reading, but have not commented as much as I liked to. There's something about doing that at work that helped pass the time.

The time passes far too quickly now that I am at home, and yet, I am still stressing out that I am not doing productive things yet. Hopefully I will whip myself into shape and begin to change that.

Your Vocabulary Score: B

You have a zealous love for the English language, and many find your vocabulary edifying. Don't fret that you didn't get every word right, your vocabulary can be easily ameliorated!

For the longest time, since I began blogging, I've often felt pretty stupid when I read some of your posts. I've always thought of myself as smart, but I realize that there are many many people out there that are smarter than me. I also know that subject matter is an issue, and that I excel in different things. Many times my posts are late, because I don't write them right away, and they take me a while to compose. Words do not flow as easily as I would like them, and yet I think I can do a decent job, when I stop and think. I also find myself consulting the dictionary for proper spelling a lot more than I used to. I was an A student in my younger days. I think I ranked around 35 (or better) in a graduating class of 750 or so. I can't remember completely nowadays, and may have thrown out the transcripts. In college I was lazier. Anyway, I guess this grade isn't terrible. I was always better in math than any of the english/reading/vocabulary tests. Just some thoughts/fears on this...

Our friend Colin has a cold, and was stuck in for the weekend.  He was going stir crazy at home and wanted company, so we chose a random number, and I selected one of my 'purchased, but not yet watched' DVDs.  Actually, he vetoed the first 3, but we ended up with "The Life of David Gale" - a film by Al Parker (no, not that one), with performances by Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet and Laura Linney.  This was one of those delightfully disturbing thrillers dealing with a man on death row, accused of rape and murder.  While I'm not really a political person, I did enjoy the suspense and found that the 3 actors did a wonderful job.  The movie uses taped video segments to help the journalist learn the truth.

I started thinking about death in the sense of "your life flashes before your eyes".  Knowing that there are many ideas on what lies beyond, I was just wondering if we get a collection of video tapes, especially those marked WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...?  

In the movie, you get to see some of the events leading up to the murder.  I began thinking of unanswered questions in my life, but not major significant questions.  For example, as a child, I had a collection of color-by-number pictures with a little descriptive blurb that my grandmother would cut out and save for me from the Sunday Daily News Comics section.  I must've had a box of at least 300 sorted by holidays, flowers, animals, historical events, and so on.  Where did it end up?  I don't remember throwing it out.  Did someone in my family?  Somewhere down the road, it just wasn't to be found anymore.

Around Christmas, I lost a silver bracelet that I had had made while on a trip to Mexico.  It had a faulty clasp, which I should've done something about.  Usually, it would open upon me striking my wrist on something and I would feel it sliding off.  Well, one day doing Xmas shopping, it decided to run away, and not tell me.  I left my card at various stores where I think it disappeared, but at this point, I haven't heard anything and doubt I will.  I must've made someone's holiday.

I had a gold chain with a tri-color unicorn charm that I wore toward the end of my high school years.  During a weekend visit to my college for orientation, I went with a group to a swimming hole and waterfall up near Mohonk Tower.  While sitting on a rock in front of the falls, a dragonfly decided to rest on my shoulder.   I do not like bugs!  I reached up to grab it off, and in the process ripped the chain which proceeded to sink.  For some reason, I didn't fret about it.  I just thought that it was meant to happen.  Of course I reached down between various rocks to try and find it, but with running water and darkness, it was gone.  Did it ever resurface as a treasure for someone else, or is it still lying in wait?  Maybe a turtle has eaten it by now?

Funny that two thoughts came up regarding jewelry.  I really am not into these material adornments.

The question doesn't end with material things, though loss of objects can certainly fill up a tape.

Of course there is whatever happened to my friend, so-and-so?  With computer searching, maybe we can find them.  But do we really want to?  Or are we just curious as to which direction their lives took?  Sometimes we reconnect with someone from the past and do not have anything in common anymore.  Just give me the video.

Anyway, I'm sure I could come up with more instances, but I need to get back to work.  And who knows, maybe we do get our unanswered questions answered upon our demise.  Probably not though.