We are hanging out with friends and having too much fun for me to write a proper post.
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A little after midnight this morning, Katrina and Peter's delayed flight finally arrived. Connor and I had a good time in Anchorage: shopping, going out to dinner with friends, and watching Rogue One. He proved himself to be a good copilot for the trip. Now with Katrina and Peter, we headed back and had a safe drive with lively conversation. We arrived after 3 AM, unpacked, and were sleeping by 4 AM.
We spent time today opening presents, playing MarioKart, walking along the river (and seeing eagles), sledding, and eating (lots of eating). I am both tired and exhilarated. This should be a fun week! Connor is keeping me company on my trip to Anchorage to pick up Katrina and Peter. We are shopping and hanging out with friends. We will hopefully be home by 3 AM.
Every once and a while, it seems as though our existence was set up as a sort of enormous test. In our world, so many of the things that give us the greatest pleasure come with consequences. Meanwhile, living longer is usually dependent on doing things which are either not enjoyable, or not easy to do. For that matter, most ideas (scientific or religious) behind living longer (or forever) revolve around refraining from pleasure.
"Want to get to heaven? Avoid sinful desires. Want to live longer? Avoid foods that you like to eat." At the same time, we are continually given mixed messages about how to live our lives. "Follow your dreams! However, you know most people have to grow up and face the real world. Most people don't like their job; that's life. You can either have the job you want or live where you want, but not both." It's no wonder psychiatrists and philosophers have been able to stay in business for so long. Quite frankly, I love my house, but I feel that I do not get to spend enough time truly enjoying it, especially our amazing living room. Most of my time home is spent in the kitchen/dining room area, at my office desk (which is pretty cool too), or in bed.
Today, I had to avoid the living room as a D&D campaign (which I do not get to play) had taken over the space. Meanwhile, the younger boys have taken ownership of the dining room TV system ever since I let them play the Disney Infinity series. Thus, I spent a good deal of my time at my desk again. At least I have not had to spend too much time this week driving people around. Sure, I have an Anchorage trip coming in two days, but the purpose behind that is to pick up Katrina and Peter. With them here, the house should really feel lively. Yes, I know that I live in Alaska now and that two day shipping is not something I should count on. However, Amazon's shipping has become outright ridiculous. A sizeable portion of the problem is that Amazon is not even collecting our orders, let alone shipping them, for weeks, even if we are "Prime" members.
For example, part of an order that my sister sent through Amazon on December 2nd didn't arrive until the 23rd (and thus I didn't pick up until today). Meanwhile, the package shipped directly by my mother using the USPS arrived in less than a week. Another package that we ordered through Amazon on December 12th which claimed 2-3 day shipping did not even leave the Amazon warehouse until the 22nd. Its tracking says that it won't be here until January 4th (although generally items get here more quickly once they are finally in the hands of our postal service). I have heard this complaint growing from local residents. When looking at the shipping tags, it seems that Amazon has decided to treat Alaskan Prime members as though the Prime does not exist, allowing for longer processing time at their warehouses. I would not be as concerned if it were a matter of shipping times, but they are not even assembling our orders for sometimes weeks. Once Amazon gets the orders to the post office, they usually get to us pretty quickly. I find the situation rather irritating. Yes, I know: First world problems. The boys let us sleep in longer than we expected this morning. Janelle made us fresh cinnamon rolls and we had fresh coffee brewed. Despite the vast array of gifts, the mess ended up being minimal. In short, it was a pleasant Christmas morning.
For a little while, I thought I would have to return Rowen's new battery-powered Nerf gun. However, Connor figured out the problem and averted that crisis. Trevor spent most of the day building his LEGO gift and playing Battle for Middle Earth II (which he has wanted for a very long time). The younger boys were playing with the Disney Infinity sets that I bought off of clearance shelves this summer and wrapped as "family" gifts. This is the first real video game that we have let Rowen play. It's taking him a bit to figure out the controls, but he's getting there. Janelle made an amazing Christmas dinner with all of us pitching in. We watched White Christmas and the Holiday even though Janelle was in more of a Die Hard mood. Connor also started to learn how to crochet. which he kept pronouncing "croquet." Meanwhile Rowen had me build his LEGO Batcave (another clearance special). Surprisingly, it has more pieces than Krennic's Imperial Shuttle that Trevor put together. The little boys are just now getting to bed. Trevor is going to take even more convincing. While I'm glad to finally be on vacation, I am unhappy that Janelle still has to go to work this week. At least it's been a good couple of days. Today was a three mass day for me. The first was for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, which this year happened to be the day before Christmas. The second was the Christmas Vigil mass where we actually read the Christmas (of Feast of the Nativity) at night readings since it was a children's mass and the normal vigil readings are a bit long. For this mass, I was leading the children's choir who were certainly enthusiastic. I also had the help of a second guitar player to accompany them. The third was the "midnight" mass at 9 PM. However, due to a mixup, we ended up hearing the readings for the mass at dawn. At least it meant that I had different readings for all of the masses that I attended.
In between, Janelle and I took our puppies on a leash-training walk. I also worked on coursework for the eLearning course that I'm taking this term. The day filled up pretty quickly. I've been planning and thinking about this weekend for so long that it's a bit of a relief to have it behind me. I am looking forward to have at least a little bit of time to relax. Today's movie marathon brought me enjoyment as well as reminded me how far movies have come in the past several decades. Overall, it has been a good birthday despite Janelle being stuck at work for nearly the entire day. Thank you, everyone who sent me well-wishes today (or in advance of today).
We had one small hitch when both dogs escaped during the confusion when our guests (and my two sons who had spent the night at their house) arrived. Thankfully, the escape took place near the very end of the first movie, and despite the dogs running far afield, we were able to catch them within about fifteen minutes. After that, everything fell back on schedule. We had (and have) plenty of food. I always overestimate our needs for my marathons in both how many people are going to come and how much even I am willing to consume. On the bright side, we have plenty for any gatherings we might have over break. Our guests stayed for the middle trilogy (II, III, and IV), and Trevor watched the entire run with me. Connor saw bits of II and IV (which he liked the best), V (which he liked a little), and VI (which he kind of liked). Rowen saw less than that, but said he liked the last movie. As for the movies themselves, I was certainly reminded about the rule that evens were good while odds were lacking. The Motion Picture, the first and longest movie in the series, is one of the dullest movies I can remember seeing. The entire plot and dialogue could fit in about 30 minutes, but the movie drags for nearly two hours longer than that. Most of it was made up of long model shots. There were hints of character development that just never went anywhere. Honestly, I'm surprised they ever made a second movie (let alone a series). At least they had the wonderful music that would become the theme of The Next Generation. The Wrath of Kahn is simply one of the best science fiction movies ever made. The action, direction, humor, character development, music, and effects (some a little dated) all combine for an amazing experience. I'm especially impressed by references to two of my favorite classics (Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities) while never even mentioning the titles of the books, let alone explaining the significance of the quotes. They simply let good writing stand for itself. The Search for Spock was not as bad as I remembered. In fact, I think this viewing is the most that I ever enjoyed watching it. Sure, the story is a bit ham-fisted, but there are some great scenes. However, I kept wondering what happened to Carol Marcus. The Voyage Home is just a lot of fun. It was entertaining enough to draw the kids back to the movies and to keep them from asking how much longer the movies were going to take. That it predicted the development of transparent aluminum still shocks me. The Final Frontier could be a case study in the concept of the anti-climax. There was a lot of potential in this film, all of which gets sucked out in the last half hour. Trivia on the movie indicates that strikes by teamsters and writers cut a lot of production and post-production short. It shows. The Undiscovered Country is one of my favorites. It's a sci-fi murder mystery with clues scattered throughout that lead to a believable conclusion. It is also the only one of the films that starts with the Enterprise both in good shape and with an experienced crew. In short, I enjoyed my birthday. Grades are in for the semester and my classroom has been reconfigured out of its "exam mode." Shopping for Christmas is done. We had our "Chatty Catholics" gathering for dinner tonight where everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me in front of a candlelit pumpkin pie (my favorite breakfast).
Tomorrow is my birthday movie marathon (the original cast Star Trek movies). On Sunday, I have mass at 10 AM (arrive at 9:15) for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, at 5 PM (arrive at 4:15) for the Children's Christmas vigil mass for which I direct the children's choir and play guitar, and at 9 PM (arrive at 8:30) for the Christmas "midnight" mass. I also have a paper and a storyboard to have ready by 10 PM Sunday night for my eLearning class. That makes for a busy weekend, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to it. On the day before winter break, I usually perform for my classes two Christmas(ish) songs of my own creation. I wrote the lyrics for "The Kidnapping of Santa Claus" when I was a senior in high school. A friend of mine liked it so much that he agreed to sing it with me at our autumn "Spaghetti Dinner" concert. There we received such a favorable response that one person asked us to record a tape for her (which we did) and the elementary choir teacher not only asked for the lyrics, but had the elementary choir actually perform it at their holiday concert (my, have times changed). As a freshman in college, I tried to replicate my earlier success. While I wrote three verses to "The Bear and Santa," I only liked the first one and can barely remember snippets of the other two verses.
The songs are: The Kidnapping of Santa Claus (to the tune of Jingle Bells): Standing in the woods with a shotgun at my head. If I make a move, I surely will be dead. He walks me through the woods and stands me by a tree, And then he cocks his gun again and points it straight at me Oh! If I yell, if I yell, I will surely die. Santa Claus won’t come this year, and little kids will cry. Oh! If I yell, if I yell, he will shoot me dead. What could I have ever done to put this in his head? Now he’s changed his mind and moved his gun away, And I have to listen to what he’s got to say: I didn’t bring the things he asked for on his list. At first he was heartbroken, but now he’s really . . . mad. Oh! If I yell, if I yell, I will surely die. Santa Claus won’t come this year, and little kids will cry. Oh! I must run, I must run, just to get away. First I was just wishing, but now I have to pray. Dashing through the snow with a madman on my tail, I’m running into trees; my face is really pale. Ahead of me I see, though it isn’t very clear: There stands Mrs. Santa Claus with all of my reindeer. Oh! Santa Claus, Santa Claus, this time you have won, For he has given up his chase and laid down his shotgun. Oh! Santa Claus, Santa Claus, these words I truly fear, For then he said, “Merry Christmas, but I’ll get you next year!” AND The Bear and Santa (to the tune of “Up on the Rooftop”) Up on the hilltop, grizzly paws Cross over the tracks of Santa Claus. All that is left is a bag of toys. So much for the children’s joys. Ho! Ho! Ho! Didn’t he know? Ho! Ho! Ho! There was a bear in the snow? Oh! Out of ammunition: Click, click, click. Into the bear went Old Saint Nick. I really don't appreciate how many gifts we get our children until it comes time to wrap them. I'm glad that we bought the bulk-sized sticker gift tags, as I went through a couple sheets of them today. All told, I listened to three and a half episodes of "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!" while wrapping their gifts today, and I didn't even finish. For that matter, I know that I still have to get the main gifts I planned to get for Janelle.
I did take a new approach to wrapping this year. Each person got their own type of wrapping paper. This made it much easier to organize (and notice gift number disparities between) the various gift piles [mine's looking a little light, by the way ;-)]. Janelle also had the good idea of using our corner guest room as a staging area for wrapping. This was a large improvement over dragging the gifts in and out of our walk-in closet. Rowen, in particular, was quite interested in what I was doing behind the "Stay out: Santa's workshop" sign. I could hear him just standing at the door for quite a while before his tentative knocks and "can I help" requests--he's currently banned from helping after blabbing about Connor's presents back in August. Each time I opened the door to talk with him, I watched his eyes go wide and his neck try to crane a bit to catch a look at what might be getting wrapped at any given moment. I can't believe that Christmas is only five days away. ... I still have more wrapping to do. I believe that now, two days after seeing The Last Jedi, I am more inclined towards liking it than I was before. This is not new territory for me. I clearly remember hating The Empire Strikes Back after first seeing it (Vader was lying! He had to be!). For that matter, once we got Return of the Jedi on VHS, I fast-forwarded through any mention of Leia being Luke's sister (a plot point that I did not admit to being a part of Star Wars reality until Timothy Zahn's wonderful--now non-canon--books). Sometimes, it's not until much later that I come to appreciate a movie that I have seen (no, Bj ... that will never be the case for X-Men: The Last Stand).
What positively swayed me today was a phone call with Alex. She truly enjoyed The Last Jedi and has already seen it twice in the theater. As we discussed various aspects of the movie, I realized how important the atmosphere and audience while viewing a movie can be towards my feelings about it. For example, I saw the Ghostbusters reboot with Alex (who tends to make a funny movie funnier due to her reactions), and despite all of the criticism about it, I really like the movie. One issue I had with The Last Jedi was that a lot of the humor felt out of place, inorganic. I have always enjoyed the humor in the original Star Wars trilogy, but its humor seemed more subtle to me. Yet, after talking with Alex about some of the moments that had seemed--well, forced--and hearing why she liked them with the laughter in her voice, I started to enjoy those moments more too. I wasn't thinking that I wanted to see this movie in the theater again, but I've since changed my mind. I want to catch the parts that I missed and watch the movie more for what it is rather than what I wanted it to be. It would almost be worth it to fly Alex up just for that reason. We saw it last night, and I'm still not sure what I think about it. It certainly deviated from my expectations, and my expectations are feeling a little neglected because of that. The only thing that I can say with certainty is that it was not worth watching in 3D.
We went to the 3D showing for several of reasons. 1) We had heard that the 2D showings were packed. 2) The 3D showing was earlier. 3) Someone recently commented that going to the theater doesn't make much sense as you can just see the same thing at home now, with floors that aren't as sticky; however, I don't have a 3D TV at home. Now the movie was fine in 3D. This wasn't like the 3D Hobbit movie which actually made the experience worse. And while it didn't take full advantage of the 3D experience (and there were some scenes which really missed opportunities), there were still some nice shots with it (nothing on the level of Guardians of the Galaxy, though). No, the largest problem is that 3D gave Rowen and Janelle headaches, a fact that they both made certain to share with me multiple times. I feel that part of the problem is that they both sat in the seats that were farthest from the middle as that usually distorts the picture in ways that bother me. Another part of it is that the glasses aren't that comfortable. Whatever the reason, they did not find the experience enjoyable (I'm not sure what they thought about the actual movie). Considering the added expense, the lack of any particular use of the medium, and the headaches it caused, I really can't recommend watching the film in 3D. |
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