Well, maybe not with 2001, but I know I'll definitely write 2010 several times this week...
I had two lovely weeks of vacation over the holidays. In actuality, it was two weeks of basically being on-call for work. I did a conference call and several email report/updates, but at least I got to do it from home.
For the most part I ended up doing a lot of shopping, reading, video game playing, jigsaw puzzling, cooking, and eating.
We got Epic Mickey on Gamefly and I ended up playing the whole thing. There were parts where I got extremely frustrated with the controls, but in general I had fun playing it. It was also nice finishing a game for once. Gamefly gives you the incentive to get all of the playing you want out of a game before sending it back. Epic Mickey was a perfect game for Gamefly. I would have been pretty bummed if we payed full price to own it because of how frustrating it was at times. (I think my yelling "Ugh! I hate this game!" several times would have caused Patrick to sell it back pretty quickly if we had actually bought it.) However, in retrospect, I really liked the art style, the nostalgia (even though much of it was nostalgia for an era before me...), and the story. I really disliked the über frustrating controls and camera angles. All in all though, I liked the game a lot, and if they come out with a second Epic Mickey that fixes the controlling issues, I will definitely play it, and might even buy it.
Hilma got me an AWESOME M.C. Escher puzzle for Christmas, which I immediately started putting together, and very quickly realized how difficult it was. The puzzle is of my favorite Escher piece: "Hand with Reflecting Sphere," which of course is black and white and nothing but tiny specs in varying densities.
Let me tell you, in puzzle form, that shit got hard. With the help of Patrick, I got the entire border done, and a small section of the bottom-right. After that though, I got pretty hopelessly stuck. After a couple fruitless hours, I finally made a concession to myself: I would get a new, easier puzzle, complete that one, thereby honing my jigsaw puzzle skills, then come back to this one. So that's what I did. Now I am working on a puzzle of Van Gogh's "Bedroom in Arles."
I chose it for its discreet lines and bright colors. Also it's a pretty cool painting. So far it has been waaaaaay easier. Except for one thing: the quality of this puzzle is CRAP compared to the one Hilma got for me. On her puzzle, each piece was shaped visibly different, and had a lot of varying piece types. On this new one: not only are there only about 2 different piece types, but the shapes of the pieces are so nearly identical that I could basically fit any piece anywhere if I forced it. In short, not the best puzzle for someone trying to hone their puzzling skills, but still I suppose good practice for me to move up to the Escher one. I'm looking forward to the gratifying feel of a piece falling perfectly into place on the Escher puzzle, instead of the uncertainty of this one.
(Emma places a piece)
"Hmmm... I think it fits? The lines basically match up... We'll see later I guess..."
(Emma moves on to the next piece with uncertainty)
Because I didn't have any real plans for this vacation and Patrick was at work, I forced myself to leave the house once each day, just to keep myself from feeling like I was wasting my vacation. This resulted in about 7 trips to Target, and other various stores... Before Christmas, I got some last minute treats and stocking stuffers, as well as the supplies I needed for my surprise gift to Patrick. I ended up making him a scrapbook of all of the Burger adventures we had since moving out to Virginia. Some were of Burger joints in the area, some were Burger joints in Seattle, and some were homemade burgers we've made. It was pretty fun making it, and even though it's kind of weird and it probably won't be a "coffee table" scrapbook for guests to see, I think Patrick liked it. I am pretty proud of it. I may end up forcing company to look at it anyway. Hahahaha. After Christmas I got some bargains on Holiday Clearance items, and ended up looking at and selecting new curtains for our office. The thermal curtains we put in our bedroom did such a good job of insulating that room and giving the room a more finished look, that I decided it was time to get going on the rest of the house. If I were better, I would have decided on that about a week sooner and could have actually installed the curtains while I was on vacation... but some people just don't think ahead that well sometimes...
Now it's time for me to remember how to get dressed before noon, wake up at 5:00 am each morning, and get back in action at work. It was nice lounging around for two weeks, but all lazy things must come to an end.
Happy 2011 everyone, and I hope the new year is good to you all!
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