Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Holiday fun

2025-12-08T04:20:58Z

It's been a busy couple of days here, with not one but TWO holiday-themed events! On Thursday we headed over to the Botanical Garden in GGP for LightScape, a truly breathtaking show of lit-up plants, trees and sculpture. I went in thinking it would be kind of fun and enjoyable, but it ended up surpassing my expectations! I'd say my favorite two moments were walking past the Moon Viewing Garden with an actual (inflated) moon in amongst the tiny lightning-bug-like lights that gave it a starry-night look, and the Perennial Garden with several tree light scupltures in the shape of cherry blossoms. I'm glad I went, because apparently it's been selling out!

The other event was of course our yearly trip to the Opera House to see the Nutcracker ballet. As I'd said to A, every time I hear it I'm reminded just how brilliant and wonderful Tchaikovsky's work is. I've always been a fan, but the more I listen, the more I discover what he was trying to do with all the parts of the music. Again, it's the 'I can hear the math' in me, heh. I have to say their production this year was top notch, which is saying something since I always like going to it.

Later on, we were wondering what other holiday stuff we need to do. We'll need to watch Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, of course, which has become one of our favorite Christmas Day events. We've also watched some corny Hallmark holiday romcoms, of course, and I recently thought about watching While You Were Sleeping, which is one of my favorite sort-of-Christmassy movies. We'll have to think of a few other things to do, of course...

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Let the holiday nonsense commence!

2025-11-17T02:58:16Z

Today was our shopping and errand day of course, so this time out we chose to head down to Daly City to the Total Wine to stock up on liquor, then head across the way to World Market...to officially start our Christmas shopping. This would of course include things for ourselves, such as a box of Quality Street chocolate, a box of mini mince pies, and new decorations, but we also found a few fun things for our friends as well. As probably mentioned last year, we've given up on having a tree considering we have two cats who are extremely interested in climbing them and/or knocking them over, so instead we go with various fun stand-up decorations like little wooden trees and knitted baubles. Easy to put up and take down, and easy to pack away when the season is over.

Speaking of which, I have not yet heard any holiday music at the day job. I'm sure I'll hear it soon enough, as they kind of sneak it in at some point in November, just a few Christmas tunes in amongst the regular playlist they haven't otherwise changed since I started there. Once Thanksgiving is over, then it'll be holiday music 24/7. Not that it's ever bothered me, to be honest, although I really do wish they'd switch it up now and again.

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Christmas Festivities

2022-12-25T22:59:40Z

I was extremely lucky to get yesterday off from work -- I honestly don't remember the last time I didn't work Christmas Eve Day other than the last couple of pandemic years -- so we spent yesterday going out for brunch and then going to see Little Women (the 1994 version with Winona Ryder) at the 4Star around the corner, then spending the evening watching Hogfather (the Terry Pratchett film that's become our annual tradition). Today, post-presents, we went for a walk through the neighborhood to one of our favorite greasy spoons for lunch, and now we're just chilling for a bit before our big roast dinner. (I of course am spending time doing laundry anyway because why not.)

I'm only working four days this week (I'm getting paid for today, yay!) so other than the next two midshift days, it'll be smooth sailing. I'm expecting it to be slow and quiet the entire time save the 31st, so maybe I'll even be able to sneak in some novel-note-writing time while on shift! On one of the days off I'd like to head up the street to Green Apple so I can get my calendars (no Moleskine notebooks this time, I'm stocked up). Otherwise I don't have much planned other than to finish up my blogs for the year!

Hope everyone's having a good holiday season!

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jon_chaisson @ 2021-01-03T14:08:00

2021-01-03T22:08:15Z

These first couple of days of the year always feel like a prologue when they start on a weekend like this. We had New Year's Eve and Day off in addition to the weekend so it's an extended vacation in a way. I used to love it when school semesters started like this. It gave me that extra day or so to work on anything I left to the last minute (which, being me, was almost sure to happen). We did quite a bit of walking over those few days, usually to work off all the holiday feasts we'd had! Heh. And today we headed down the other end of the neighborhood for a bit of shopping. I bought a new wireless keyboard because the one that came with my PC is seriously starting to stick, even though I've cleaned it numerous times. Now I just need to make sure I don't get any crumbs in it!

Meanwhile, I put the Christmas tree away yesterday, but with it being a new and much taller fake tree, I had to figure out where to put it as it would definitely not fit under the bed. This meant emptying out Spare Oom closet and reorganizing a good portion of it. It took a lot of sweat and a few hours of creative Jenga, but it's a lot more accessible now. I moved all of A's stuff (yarn stash and canning items) to the side where she can get at it much easier, and I took out the three big boxes that contain the remains of my CD and cassette collection.

This ties in with my next non-writing project:

--Go through the items that were in the two wooden storage boxes (mostly personal crap). Throw away/recycle stuff I don't want/need and keep the remainder in small storage boxes (the fewer the better)
--Go through the cds and cassettes that I no longer want and set them aside for bringing to Amoeba for store credit or Goodwill donation. Put them in some semblance of order while I'm at it. [Side note: I know I have a few cds that have dvds attached, so I may rip those as well.)
--Put the remaining cds in the wooden storage boxes, with the remaining cassettes (mostly all personal mixtapes, natch) on top.
--Donate any leftover clothes/books/etc to Goodwill

...and of course, keep that corner of the room clean, because that area frequently builds up with "to be mailed/donated/traded in" items. I need to keep on top of that more often. But yeah, that was a major step I wanted to hit. The issue was that I had so many other steps to take beforehand (mailing out Christmas packages, book/clothing/etc donations, throwing away extraneous crap).

SO! As for the writing...

I'll be continuing the blogging, journaling and daily words as normal, and get myself immersed in the new fiction projects I want to tackle. I can't really say I have a block, because I know how to work past the issues I've had the last few weeks on them, but...it's the actual work that I need to get stuck in. And as always, "just STFU and DO it" tends to work well for me.

Hope everyone has a wonderful 2021!

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Weekend Chill

2020-12-21T01:13:29Z

Well, I did manage to get some work done last week, so I don't feel too bad about that. I've been using the 750 Words to play around with some outtakes for Theadia, and that's helping me get a bit closer to the story. This one's turning out to be quite unlike anything I've written before, so it's taking me some time to figure it all out. And this is why I'm working on multiple projects at once. I've a feeling Theadia is going to take a lot of time, so in the meantime I'll be trying my hand at the fourth Mendaihu Universe book (aka MU4). That one is still a little twitchy, but I'm gaining more ground on that one.

Meanwhile, it's now Christmas week and this is the first time since my school days where I've had the end of the year off. I'm just going to roll with it and enjoy it, because come January I've got some major things I want to embark on. We've got all our gift packages out and it seems the only two that haven't gotten to their destination is my family and one of our friends, but we're okay with that...as long as they get there in one piece! And yes, we have now embarked on the holiday movies, documentaries and whatnot. Yay!

Hope everyone has a lovely holiday!

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(Not a) Weekend Update Is Still Counting Down the Days

2018-12-17T19:27:55Z

Wait, Christmas is next Tuesday?? Eep! Okay, I think I got all my shopping done...I should probably do some last minute shopping to cover my butt. Heh. Seriously, the last few years have been kind of slim on presents, if only because we keep saying 'eh, we don't need anything'. Gift cards seem to be a much better idea as the years go on, it seems, and I'm down with that. I've bought some sweet box sets out of combining the GCs I'd get over the years.

But yes, I'm counting down the days until the end of the year, like I always do. Finishing up the things that need finishing, prepping the things I'll be starting in the new year, and all that. The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of unexpected changes combined with equally unexpected (but quite welcome) clarity, and I have to embrace them. I'm glad I've been able to deal with it all with a clear and positive mind, which is not something I was known for in the past.

The Day Job situation continues to be irritating, but I've become inured to the stress and the frustration for the first time in years. It is what it is, and I've finally managed to train myself not to freak out and wind myself up. I'm nervous about looking for a new position somewhere, but if I remain positive and refuse to give up at the first sign of failure, I can make this all happen. I've done it before...I can do it again.

Hope everyone has a great week!

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