Update

Scott Hardie | December 28, 2001
I've tried to write updates in previous nights, but my mom's computer (built by Computer Renaissance, no surprise) has a bad habit of crashing, especially when online. There should just be a red timer in the corner of the screen saying how many minutes it will be until the next crash. Anyway, here's an update of what I've been up to the past few days. Not all of it is negative, I promise.

Christmas morning was as much fun as usual. I really do love giving gifts more than receiving, since I like matching a personality to the right gift, but I still love receiving plenty. :-) I got a comfortable shirt and sweatshirt, a murder mystery game that I hope to run in the spring, both Darwin Awards books, the Deluxe Monopoly game, The Sims: Hot Date, SimMania, a pasta cookbook (yum), another Far Side calendar, a check from my grandmother that helped to pay bills, and a gift card for Barnes and Noble. Disappointed that I didn't get what I really wanted, I used the gift card to buy Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon, and my own cash to buy "Moulin Rouge" on DVD. I also bought a book of ghost stories, which are some of my favorite things in the world if they're told right.

We had a traditional Christmas dinner, with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans, all cooked in normal ways. My mom knew that I didn't get a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (though Kelly did heat up a frozen turkey loaf in the oven that afternoon), so she wanted to cook one for me. It was good eating, and I felt treated well. I also ate all the stuffing. :-) I played SimMania, specifically SimSafari, all afternoon while she cooked. I don't know about you, but I've always ignored the Sim games on the shelf (except SimCity and The Sims, of course), but in the case of SimSafari that was a mistake. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but it's a lot of fun so far.

Yesterday I went shopping for the books and DVD, and spent the afternoon and evening watching "Moulin Rouge," the second time with my mom, who I am relieved to report liked it. The DVD is nicely assembled, as you would expect for a film like that. There are supposedly six easter eggs on it, but I've only found one so far, Jim Broadbent dancing a merry jig between takes. As I expected, "Moulin Rouge" is a bit of a let-down on a television screen, but it's still an amazing film and I just adore it. I listened to the end credits music three times consecutively.

Dinner at Olive Garden last night, at long last. A little too familiar, but still good. We had Chinese tonight, which was great, tender and juicy like at Yen-Ching in Macomb. Watched "Any Given Sunday" with my mom tonight, my second time seeing it. Damn that movie's long! It's still good, but Stone needs to get over his warrior-justification kick.

We bought some clothes today at Casual Men's Big and Tall, which is less expensive than the other place in town (King James's Big & Tall Men's Store), but still damn expensive. But I got five pairs of pants and seven shirts, which triples my existing wardrobe. I'm happy that I don't have to do laundry every weekend any more. I tried to talk my mom into buying a Hawaiian shirt for me, but I failed. It's always a 50-50 chance, that. :-)

Kelly still doesn't have water. I'm going to call the Macomb Waterworks tomorrow. She mailed the check last Friday, and it only had to go across town, so why isn't the water back on yet? At least the phone is back on (for a few more days anyway), and the gas and electric haven't been cut yet. Kelly says people have been asking her why she's stuck in Macomb without utilities while her boyfriend cut out on the payment, but anyone familiar with our situation since May would know the answer to that question.

I am putting together my list of the Ten Best Movies of 2001, and I think I want to make that a regular part of my homepage, a list of the movies throughout the year. I keep one going anyway for note-keeping's sake, so I may as well make it public. Then I remembered that I want to overhaul the Thorough Movie Reviews section anyway, and a few other pages could use touch-ups, and the front page is looking stale, so... Expect a full overhaul of my site on January 11th, the Friday after I get back. I am done updating my site on a weekly basis; movie reviews will appear whenever I see a new movie, and classic pages will reappear whenever I feel like it, and the DPG will be updated whenever someone dies. I'll have some kind of updates page to keep track of it all. I need to pay some attention to what I still consider my main site.

Tomorrow we're doing something different, taking a ride on a murder mystery train. We go to Fort Myers at 6pm, and the train departs at 6:30. Over drinks and dinner, there's a murder, and the riders are asked to play detective. The whole thing is over at 9:30. I expect there to be a pretty decent mystery, so I plan on being as keen as possible in an effort to solve it; I'll post on it when I'm back. Other than buying an anti-mouse device (it emits inaudible ultrasonic pulses that drive mice away) at the hardware shop tomorrow, that train ride is my day.