A few things

1. My dentist is still hot. Sadly S made an appointment a month and a half early for my cleaning. Not so bad, except what I needed was an appointment for a filling. Now the appointment is set for December 22. The day that the in-laws are likely to be arriving. Can't have a better excuse than pain for going to bed early. It was also bad because I have a couple of horrible zits on my chin. Not my prettiest today. My entire mouth will have to be numbed because of the location of my cavities. We'll see if this dentist is a good dentist by how much pain meds he gives me.

2. Trying something a little new. It's mostly for Steve and I to see our photos more than we normally would, but I guess others can enjoy it too. I took the Flickr random photo generator that you see at the bottom of this page, and made it bigger and more numerous. Then I gave it its own blog. If I ever get my website up and running, this will definitely be included as a page.
Have you seen the world's largest burl? I climbed it. We found it by accident, and I'm so glad that we did.

3. Um, I'm not off to a very good start at studying. Yesterday was up late and done studying early due to book club. Today was interrupted by the dentist appointment. Tomorrow is back at it, up early and off to PCC all day. I have to make sure that studying is the priority and this doesn't happen again. This week I have Saturday to catch up because Steve is working all day, then company party that night. Sunday will be spent cross-country skiing and looking for a Christmas tree (because there is so much snow, the only way to get a Douglas Fir is to go backcountry on its ass).

4. Have I mentioned that I dislike Christmas? I would really like to figure out a way to avoid the holiday completely. I understand the using it as an excuse to get the family together, but I would much prefer that the family make a new holiday, say the third weekend in January. That way, Christmas weekend can be spent like Thanksgiving, stress-free and in my pajamas. Instead, the in-laws are likely flying in and all the trauma that I've suffered every Christmas since my birth will be revisited upon me. Great. Thanks Jesus.

What trauma could be worse than others' Christmas trauma you ask? Well, my mother was a Jehovah's Witness. My step-father was Lutheran. He wanted a tree and a full on celebration in the snowy lands of Wisconsin (we lived in the South), she wouldn't have anything to do with it. I was torn each and every Christmas about whose side to choose. Not a nice thing to do to a kid. Though they seemed to enjoy that torture, making even better when they split for the final time, asking me which parent I wanted to go with. I found out 20 years later that my answer made no difference, so I hadn't needed to feel guilty for choosing my step-father (under duress, I might add). Are you wincing yet? Wait, there's more:

Then, as I became an adult, I dated someone that lived in another country. So, every Christmas for 8 years, I would fly overseas to celebrate with people whose language I could not understand. Just about the time that I started liking the holiday again, I decided to break up with this person, you guessed it, at Christmas. Now, I fight with my current significant other about whether the in-laws will visit. Last year they came and then on the 25th, I left for a week in WI. That seemed to work for me, except for the guilt trip I was awarded from that significant other. This year was supposed to be my year to choose the events surrounding Christmas. I tried, but like always, the dog or the in-laws or whatever deigned it necessary to take the choice out of my control. Now, as soon as the SO reads this, I'll get even more grief.

Anyone with a solution? And Crap, this is NOT a hypothetical, so be nice. I think I just need a way to get rid of the holiday. No more Christmas. Buddhism is an option and more viable than Judaism, but I'd prefer a way to entirely avoid the drama. Say, hospitalization.

5. I just did a spell-check of this entry, and the blogger dictionary does not include the word "blog." Brilliant.

Well, off for now. Happy holidays.