Christmas Eve 2016

I went to Dad & Ma's for our annual Christmas Eve family get-together last night.

Dad & I watched the 2nd half of the Patriots' destruction of the Jets. I had some pepperoni, cheese and crackers. Kevin's clan arrived. Sarah's clan arrived (minus Hayden, who had popped in earlier). Then we ate dinner (I had meatballs with mushrooms & gravy, dinner rolls, and mac & cheese - very low-key) and watched more football.

The girls all loved the art supplies (high-quality drawing pads and colored pencils/art pencils). Jared & Drew liked the Hot Wheels, and Ma was thrilled with the Blue Moon glasses. Plus: Dad is psyched for the Celtics game on January 18th.

I lucked out (as usual), with the following:

From Kevin's family: $15 in scratch tickets.
From Sarah's family: $25 Amazon GC (gift card).

From Dad & Ma:

• A 3-pack of Strathmore paper pads (sketch/newsprint/drawing).
• $15 Starbucks GC.
• $25 Barnes & Noble GC.
• $50 Master Card GC.
• Two "Life is Good" brand tee shirts (see images below).
• A brown tweed & leather Red Sox cap (see below).
• A pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend ground coffee.
• A 19 oz tub of soft peppermint candy.
• A pair of GreenLife frying pans.
• A box of wooden matches and a giant Yankee Candle (Christmas Wreath scent).

They always take care of their 4 kids, I am lucky to be one of them!

New Music

I snagged a new/old EP from The Bilinda Butchers. It was free, but I paid 5 bucks, to support the band, and to embed it in my Bandcamp page for mobile streaming purposes.

I went to the lake for a couple of hours (up 'til sunset), reading "Fort Freak" and eating blueberries.

Also, I went a little nutty with my money, spending:

1. $42 at the Levi's website ($22 button flies!!).
2. $62 at Hannaford (fruits/veggies/meat/jelly/milk/apple fritters).
3. $25 on Amazon (the next Wild Cards book and a Justice League trade featuring the Legion of Super Heroes!).

I had night coffee and an apple fritter while I ran some laundry and watched sports tv & "It Follows" (a lame horror movie that wasn't scary at all).

California: Trip No. 2

Lameness

It has been a dull and annoying week of un-noteworthy happenings. Though I note them here:

Work is lame. The same mess every day, run by an inept, time-mismanaging, self-involved manager who has no people skills.

I hurt my shoulders/upper back Tuesday morning, and left work early. I was useless the rest of that day.

Days off (Wednesday & today) have been lame. Not enough money or ambition (and my shoulders & upper back still sore) to do anything interesting except small household chores and maintenance. Though I did finish a book ("A Spell for Chameleon"), a graphic novel ("Jupiter's Circle: Book 1"), and several piles of comics (as I sort the latter for dispersal/disposal). And I watched a lot of tv.

I NEED A NEW JOB!!!

Yesterday

I went to see the 2:30 show of "Batman vs. Superman" (pretty good throughout, except for Jesse Eisenberg's horrible Lex Luthor and Amy Adams' whiny & reckless Lois Lane).

Before bed I finished reading "Avengers vs. X-Men" (horrible - Cyclops was SO right!) and the first "Cyborg" trade (good stuff).