Only two Thanksgivings this year, as opposed to the three of years previous. Tim’s Dad, brother, sister-in-law, and their two kids stayed with us Wednesday and Thursday and we had a big meal. Sadly, there are no pictures to accompany this other than this one of Ashland in her new toy, compliments of Tim’s grandmother.

I left Friday morning for Ohio and stayed at Stephanie’s house. Here she is with two of her three adorable children. I love these kids.

Steph, her husband (named Tim), and I played card games. During one game of Skip-Bo we were all stuck with four 11s. That almost never happens, and Steph said I should take a picture. I don’t know what else to do with a useless picture, other than spread it around, so here you go.

After cards, I headed over to visit Amber and her husband (also named Tim).  We had some wine, some coffee, and watched Boondock Saints, which I had not seen before.  Good movie.

Saturday was Thanksgiving with my family.  We like to tease my mom because in her family she was always the tallest, then she got married and had kids and now look:

I love my brother.  Can’t you tell?

And I really like this picture of my mom and I, despite the weird lighting effect. I think my finger was over the flash or something. Oh well. We’re still freakin’ cute.

So I was still feeling nostalgic today and went through my old photo albums. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

This was taken a long time ago, but I still love this picture of my family.

Here’s me and my brother, taken sometime when I was in high school.

1994–This was during my freshman year in high school. And these were my friends, one of whom was apparently practicing for some sort of career in the female entertainment industry. I never kept in touch with her, so I don’t know how that panned out.

1998–Jaime, Amber, and I. We were inseparable from junior high through college. I still love both of them. (And am seeing them next weekend! Yay!)

1999–College. One of my roommates freshman year and her boyfriend. They’re married now and have two freakin’ kids. Sheesh.

2000–For the college newspaper we made an attempt at humor with this recon thing where we tried to find fun happenings around campus. Here’s a picture from one of our adventures.

2001–And here’s Chris-the-Mormon, me, and Stephanie the Hard Rock Cafe in Washington D.C.

And now I’ve come to the conclusion that, other than hairstyle, I haven’t really changed appearance-wise since I graduated from high school.  I look exactly the same!  Is this a good or bad thing?

I feel old.

Not because of my actual age, but because of the ages of some of the people around me.  For example, my brother turns 18 in December.  For all intents and purposes, that’s next month.  Eighteen!  When did this happen?  I can still vividly remember the days when he wore diapers and called me “Resa.”  (If I were my father, I’d then continue on to say something like, “It was only just last week.”  But I’m not.)

I saw a picture of one of my friends and her brother (taken at his wedding, no less).  In the picture, he’s Josh: this big, tough army guy who was fighting over in Afghanistan and is now going to Iraq.  But I look at him and can still see little Joshy: the boy who followed me and my friend around and played G.I. Joes with us.

I think it weirds me out because I don’t really feel like I’ve changed all that much.  I don’t feel a lot of time has passed in which I could have changed.  But then I am presented with overwhelming physical evidence to the contrary.  It’s unsettling.

You know what’s not/less unsettling?  Guitar Hero III is out!!  We’re getting it tomorrow!  Yay!

Speaking of things that aren’t unsettling–they are opening a gym in the building where I work.  And it’s free to employees!  I’m making it my goal to go after work every weekday.  Staying after work for an extra hour will also help me avoid some of those crazy-packed rush-hour trains.  I miss living within walking distance to where I work.  I was really spoiled.

Speaking of trains–Tim and I take the morning train together several days a week.  I like these days, because a train ride with him always puts me (and sometimes the people around us) in a good mood.  One morning I said “Clark and Lake” and he thought I said “Duck and Cluck.”  Since then, we’ve developed a very clear concept of what “Duck and Cluck” is.  It’s a train game where, during rush hour when the train is crammed full of people, a person will throw a live chicken into the air and yell “Duck and Cluck!”  Everyone proceeds to duck and dodge as the flustered bird rockets around the train car.  Once things settle down, people brush the feathers from their clothing and have a hearty laugh.  (At no point have I ever claimed that Tim and I are not crazy.)  We’ve gotten laughs from strangers around us.  We were joking on the train this morning (not about Duck and Cluck) when Tim laughed and said, “I feel sorry for the people around us.”  A woman promptly replied, “It’s pretty amusing, actually.”

The day after my birthday, my family decided we’d cross the state line into North Carolina and go hiking in the mountains at Chimney Rock. Little did we know that this particular day would tie for highest temperature in all of South Carolinian history. This sort of thing is pretty typical for my family.

Click for pictures…

So two flights, a collective 18 hours of driving, and one funeral later–I am back! And there was some definite holiday cheer happening in your posts, and even a few pictures. Very nice. My week was pretty uneventful, save for a choking experience I had with an Aleve tablet on the ride home; a small hitch in my endeavor to swallow pills.

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree which I was going to post a week ago and forgot about:

I returned home today to find the bottommost ornaments not on the tree, but lying on the floor around it. I guess the cats got a little bored.

Here’s my brother in a suit, sans tie. I told him he cleans up real nice.

And here’s an incredibly bad picture of me. It was taken around the sixth hour of the car ride home, which should explain my brother.

And last but certainly not least–a rant!

Sometimes when I am incredibly bored during a slow night at work, I’ll surf the internet for fan fiction. Some of it is actually pretty good, I’ll admit. However, what is NOT good is when the author inserts music into their stories to set a mood or tone. Hello, writer, that’s your job. It’s like the Half-Assed 101 School of Writing.
———-
Billy walked into the room and began looking for her–the reason he was in so much pain, the thief of his comic book collection. He knew she’d attend the party, her own arrogance could never entertain the idea that he’d discovered what she’d done. Unfortunately for her, she was wrong.

(DARE by the Gorillaz begins to play in the background)
(never did no harm
never did no harm
never did no harm
it’s dare)

He spotted her by the punch bowl, feigning innocence as she drank from her red plastic Dixie cup. Two guys, future comic book victims, no doubt, stood on either side of her, ready to get her another plate of carrot sticks or glass of punch if she should require it.

(you’ve got to press it on you
you just think it, that’s what you do baby
hold it down there
jump with them all and move it
jump back and forth
it feels like you were there yourself
work it out)

He walked over, making sure to keep out of her line of sight. Without warning, he appeared before her and slapped her cheek, spilling her punch down the front of her designer sweater.

((extra long dance beat))
———-
Maybe I’ll start using pictures in my stories. That way I can just skip all the painstaking details and description.

Billy entered the room, which looked a lot like this:

Only a little more goth and with some disco balls.