My new iPod :]

Yesterday I was playing a game with mom and Tall One, and at the same time was sort of half listening to music on my iPod. In particular I was listening to a CD I'd bought from iTunes Store that is by Heather Alexander.

You know how sometimes you can be only half listening to music, then suddenly some lyrics jump out at you? This happened to me, and what I heard was:

"She strips off all her armor,
removes her dress of mail-
Try hard not to stare because you took the dare,
to drink Brannigan's Special Ale!"

I was rather startled. I commented "Wait a minute, this song is suddenly talking about women undressing... Apparently the moral of the story is to not drink someone's special ale?" Of course, mom and Tall One gave me this weird look. Tall One also decided on the spot that he doesn't want to listen to my music, though mom did comment "Hey, the lyrics could be about an innocent situation." I doubted that, but I didn't argue.

After the game I looked up the lyrics to the song, because I wanted to know exactly what was going on in it. I found them here, and am still trying to figure out exactly what the song is about. lol It's an odd one.


Here are a couple photos of my iPod. Tall One's idea had been to have it engraved with "tree hugging dirt worshiper," but that was too many letters. So he went with this instead. :) I like it.

In addition to Heather Alexander's CD I also got one of Heather Dale's CD's. They're both singers who I fell in love with on YouTube, so I am delighted to finally have CD's of theirs.

I also discovered a new song of Heather Dale's which I am in love with, and would like to share here. And no, it doesn't have any lyrics about women undressing!

A few thingies

There are a few things I want to share.

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Tall One and I are putting together a duet together. I'll be playing piano, and he'll be playing the shuttle pipes. For those who don't know, the shuttle pipes are a kind of bagpipe, but they're much quieter than the Highland pipes. Yes, there are quite a few different kinds of bagpipes.

Our plan is to have it together by the end of winter break, since otherwise we'll probably get too with school to get it together before the next break. He wants to put it in YouTube once we've got it presentable, in which case I'll share it here.

I am quite happy. :) We started talking about it last night, by the way.

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A gift that Santa gave the family was a book. It's a book that is starring Simon's cat. For those of you who aren't acquainted with Simon's cat, I highly recommend that you watch the following two minute video:



Isn't he such an adorable kitty? I hadn't even known that his stories came in book format.

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I mentioned the other day that I was intrigued by the idea of going "no poo" -- that is, using something other than shampoo or conditioner on hair. Believe it or not, theoretically once your hair gets past the oily stage of not being shampooed, it starts behaving itself quite well. And I've read quite a few first hand accounts online of this theory being put into practice, and working quite well.

Unfortunately, either I didn't know I was doing, or this simply doesn't work on my hair.

My hair was not simply greasy. I've had greasy hair before, and I know how to handle it. My hair became hideous. Absolutely hideous. Not that it looked bad. But then, it's hard to make my standard hair style, a knot on the back of my head, look bad. It was pretty darn hard to work with, though.

So I gave in and washed it this evening. Now my hair is blissfully clean, and wonderful. I'm not sure if I want to try going no poo again. It's worked beautifully for other people, but...it doesn't seem to be for me, I think.

I hope I'm not boring people by talking about my hair.

Merry Christmas!

I got an iPod! OMG!!!!

...you know, I'd meant to start out this post talking about what I gave people, rather than what I got, but...

OMG, I got an iPod!!!

I also got a gift card for the iTunes store, and a redeemable thingy to let me get the music from the CD Celtic Fire for my new iPod.

I am now the proud owner of an iPod! OMG!!!

Ok, lol I'll calm down now. Maybe. ;)

Figuring out what to get Tall One can be a little difficult. But at the same time, it's easy. It's hard because he wants practical stuff, but easy because I just figure out something that's useful or that he needs and buy it for him. For example, he requested that mom buy him a file cabinet for Christmas.

I wound up getting him something he could wear. It was a t-shirt with "I'm only wearing these because my kilt is in the wash" printed on it. That was my main gift for him. The second gift (which I got him for in case this one wasn't delivered in time) was a collapsible box. As I said, he wants practical presents.

I hadn't been sure what I was going to get mom, but I found something that looked pretty good when I was browsing around the jewelry section at a Fred Meyers. It's a pendant, and I forget the exact wording but it says something like "A mothers love is open arms."

But when it came to my dad, I was utterly clueless about what to get him. I eventually asked mom what to get him, and she said that a CD would probably be good. I wound up buying him a Celtic CD that I would have liked for myself. Not only that, but it was on sale! Only $6.99. Or something like that, anyways. Unfortunately I forgot to take the price tag off before wrapping it...

Lastly, I want to share a conversation we had last night:


Me: Mom, since I still believe in Santa, does that mean I'll get something from him?

Mom: I suspect that Santa will leave an unwrapped present under the tree this year.

Me: [looking at the unwrapped chocolates under the tree that I bought] Something in addition to that.

Mom: Yes, I think Santa will bring something else.

Tall One: [to me] Wait, you still believe in Santa?

Me: Well, yeah. So long as I believe in Santa, he'll [pointing at mom] bring me presents.

Tall One: [to mom] This is the political side of religion! "I believe in such and such because I get something out of it!"


Well, I believe in Santa, and he still brings me presents. What's wrong with that? :]

Merry Christmas everyone!

:D

This time last year

I've been thinking about where we were this time last year.

Last year we got a heck of a snow storm in December. I was lucky because it only hit once my finals were over. Or anyways, we didn't get snowed in until after my finals were over.

We wound up getting over a foot of snow, and were snowed in for at least a couple of weeks. This is a big deal for this part of the country, because we go crazy when we get even a mere inch of snow. Actually, we go crazy when we get even less than an inch of snow.

But our attitude towards snow is a subject for another post. I'll get back to the point!

The point is what we were doing this time last year. Well, this time last year the storm had blown over, and the snow was melting. On Christmas Eve we were finally able to get out of the house for the first time in two weeks. Or anyways, my family was able to get out of the house -- I know that other people had to wait a little longer, depending on exactly what altitude they lived at.

Hmm, so I guess that means we're only slightly ahead of where we were this time last year. This year we finished up last minute Christmas shopping yesterday, but yesterday we finished it up on Christmas Eve. lol

Also last year, a friend was going to celebrate Yule with us. But of course, this didn't happen since everyone was snowed in. We were planning to keep a fire in the fireplace going when the friend was finally able to get over to our place, so on solstice last year I just kept candles going all night.

What were you doing this time last year?

Christmas Eve

I bring good tidings! My hand is feeling all better! Just in time to wrap some last minute presents. :)

Unfortunately my foot started feeling slightly worse, after I wandered around a Fred Meyers without my cane last night.

And speaking of presents...

My present to Tall One was supposed to be delivered yesterday. Guess what? It wasn't. Don't worry, I did buy him something else (a small something else, not the big gift card he requested -- he has a tendency to request things that he knows I won't or can't get him) for in case it doesn't arrive today.

Tall One is well aware of the fact that my present to him hasn't arrived yet.

So mom and I were discussing the situation in front of him today, and the comment was made that he could wear my present to the next Highland Games, and watch his piping instructor pitch a fit. Then mom made the comment that he could also have her present with him at the next Highland Games.

About this time Tall One requested that we stop talking about his presents. He is totally clueless about what they are, of course. (Truthfully I don't know what mom has gotten for him either.) Mom and I are just having fun making semi-vague comments about his presents.

But before we finished talking about his presents, one of us just had to comment that we should have gotten him an InstaKilt for him to wear along with my present to the next Highland Games. I think I'll just quote from their website:

"More fun than a towel, more versatile than a traditional kilt, the Instakilt beach kilt towel will attract attention wherever you wear it. Perfect for the beach, the pool, the bathroom, and according to some, fancy dinner parties too (though we wouldn't actually recommend that)."

After that we finally did hush up about his presents.

Hey, you know, maybe I should get one of those InstaKilts. After all, I don't have a kilt for myself. :)

Lastly, in honor of this being Christmas Eve and there being only one more sleep 'til Christmas, I'd like to share a song.

This and that

I think I'll be rambling about a few different topics, so I'm gonna do this post slightly different from my usual posts.

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I usually don't watch movies, but I've seen Star Trek 2009 three times in the last several weeks. Or wait, is that four? No, that would be three (or two) and a half, since I only watched half of it last night, and will probably finish watching it this evening.

Anyways...I'll get to the point. Or try to. :] And don't worry, I'll only talk about the first ten minutes of the movie, so I won't exactly give anything away if you haven't seen it yet.

In the very first few minutes of the movie, we see how Jim Kirk is born. It always makes me cry. You see, his father is the first officer of a ship, and it is under attack. The only way for everyone to survive is for the ship to be on auto-pilot so that it'll fight off the enemy while everyone gets away in escape pods.

Except, the auto-pilot has died.

The captain has also died, so that leaves the first officer -- Jim Kirk's father -- as the one who has to stay behind and fight off the bad guys while everyone else makes their getaway. And as I mentioned, little Jim is born at this time.

The scenes flash back and forth between the father fighting off the enemy, and knowingly going to his own death, and the birth of his son (which by the way is not at all graphic, there's no blood or anything). So you have death and life, both at the same time. The father is dying, and the son is being born. This got me to thinking about the time of year, and the circle of life.

The sun has just been reborn, but where I live we're just heading into the time of year when everything is finally dead for sure. So, in a way it's life and death at the same time.

Then there's also comparing and contrasting between the northern and southern hemispheres. Up north we're celebrating the rebirth of the sun, but in the southern hemisphere they're now watching the sun slowly leave them.

Just some musings I've had on the latest movie I watched. :)

Also, for those who've already seen the movie, you might want to see the gag reel if you haven't already:

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My hand started hurting last night. I was not amused. At least it was my hand that felt like this and not my foot. If my foot had been hurting this badly, I wouldn't be walking even with a cane.

Fortunately it only hurts if I do certain things with it, such as grasping or pushing, so it doesn't hurt unless I move it wrong. That is such a relief. And, it's getting slightly better. I think.

I suspect I know what caused it. Last night I was an usher, and I got to tear a bunch of tickets in half. Maybe that was the problem. Anyways, I know that my hand started hurting just a few hours later.

And at least I don't have to go into work until Monday. I'm not sure what I would be able to do at work with my hand like this.

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As I think I mentioned before, during the interview for my job it was made very clear that the work is tedious and boring. But guess what? It's not.

I like doing things like needlework and spinning yarn. You know, working with the hands. I'm now finding that putting together packets and that kind of thing puts me in the same mind frame. So, it's really not boring at all! What a relief. :)

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I've heard about going "no poo" (that is, not using shampoo or condition), and I'm curious about it. I got a recipe for the stuff I would use instead here, and am trying it out. The prospect of my hair not getting oily even if I don't wash it every couple of days is very appealing. Of course, it's gotten rather weird in the meantime, but hopefully that'll pass.

Notes to self

I just thought I'd share a couple of thingies I posted as my status on facebook recently.

Note to self: when you're printing photos out for grandma and making notes in pen on the back of them, make sure the ink is dry before you set them down on top of one another. Otherwise you have to do everything all over again.

Another note to self: If you insist on drinking tea out of a thermos while you're putting packets together at work, don't drip it on the paperwork. It creates slightly more work for someone (yourself) and if you keep it up, it'll probably irritate your supervisor.