Bah humbug!

I have a feeling my posts will become more and more scarce after the holidays and the arrival of my nieces than they already are. Nobody really reads this blog anyway, not but a handful of people, and there are some people that would read it if they knew about it - but those are people that I'd rather not have knowing it exists. My private thoughts, and even my thoughts that I share out in Blog World, are not thoughts that many people I know would appreciate very much. This is mostly because these are thoughts they wouldn't understand or agree with. As technologically advance as our culture is, and as tapped in to society as most people in my generation tend to be, there are still a lot of judgmental and intolerant people out there.

I love my family dearly, but there are members of my extended family that I have different philosophies than. I mean, I know that's going to happen. I get it. But how can people brought up in the same belief system with the same general values have such different ideas about things?

I am so sick of the Christmas holiday and its commercialization. When a child cries because they didn't get as many gifts as their cousin/sibling, or when adults can't NOT buy gifts for one another in financial hardship for fear of ruining the "Christmas experience" for their child, things have gone entirely too far. When I was a kid, we enjoyed just getting together with one another for Christmas. I always got gifts that I wanted/liked, and my parents had taught my sister and myself how to appreciate the finer things in life. We didn't get gifts "just because"; my parents were too busy making sure we had clean, intact clothing on our backs and food in our bellies. I didn't need the newest gifts or the most advanced gifts, because I knew how to use my imagination with my toys. My sister and I played with dolls and created stories for them. Every week we wrote our own Barbie soap operas. We dressed up and pretended to be literary/film characters. Sure, we occassionally played video games, but they did not consume us. As a child, I loved to read. How many kids these days actually pick up books when it's not required of them?

I never wanted to be one of those "old fogeys" who reminisced about the "good ol' days", but I just cannot understand, as a twenty-something who both knows how to use technology and how to be creative, how things have changed so drastically since my childhood. Many people my age claim they do not want to bring children into this world because of all of the bad things in it. On the contrary, I want to bring children into this world in order to help bring something good back. I cannot wait to instill the values I find important in my children, in hopes that they will then pass on the same values into theirs. I may disagree with my parents on a lot, but they taught me how to appreciate what I have and how to work hard, and those are values I will never wish I didn't have.

I'm not in much of a writing mood lately.

I think maybe the briefness of Facebook and Twitter has gotten me to be a little unenthusiastic about typing over 140 characters. But I sit here in front of this computer for eight hours a day and sometimes I run out of things to look at/read online.

Christmas was pretty good this year. Definitely the least stressful one I've had in a while. I turned off the TV at my grandmother's house when we got ready to open up gifts and didn't get grief over it, which was GREAT. I believe the last two years we've spent our gift-opening time watching football or basketball. As if we don't spend enough time trying not to spend time with each other the rest of the year.

I got some good things (DVDs mainly) and I got to buy a few good things too. I've had very little time lately, so I have some cash just waiting to be spent, but hopefully I can get some more awesome things. So far I've gotten (between gifts received and money spent) Bewitched seasons 6 and 7, the Sex and the City movie, both Glee soundtracks, Reba McEntire's "Keep On Loving You", Reba seasons 5 and 6, Will & Grace season 8, an ironing board, and another Lucy doll (even though I told my parents before my birthday to stop buying me dolls, sigh). Now I have a Victoria's Secret gift card I'm waiting to spend. I needs panties!

Big Love season 4, January 10! It's almost here!

Carrie Underwears and Dixie Carter

Wow. I haven't blooooogged in two weeks. Crizzazy!

I have been catching up on my Michael K today. Here are a couple of great snippets from the past two days:

Carrie Underwears got engaged over the weekend to Mike Fisher, a hockey player for the Ottawa Senators. The two pieces of boiled broccoli have been heavy petting (you know Carrie is going to keep her vagina to herself until marriage) since last year.
Carrie Underwears better not even think about changing her last name. There's only one famous Carrie Fisher allowed on this planet. Chewbacca will chew a bitch over this!

If Dixie Carter and a magical unicorn made beautiful love in a pool of fermented potatoes during a Sharpie storm, their love child would look and sing just like Beatrice Okulova!

The more I read D-Listed, the more I like it. At first I thought the jokes were mostly about gay sex, but there are some real gems hidden in there every now and then.

As for my real life, everything's basically the same. Still doing the two job thing, although I plan on ending that soon. Initially I said I wasn't going to buy Christmas gifts but I changed my mind. And actually I'm almost completely finished with my shopping although I just started on it yesterday. Woot! Anyway, back to work I guess. I have a long week ahead.

It's coming....

I am older than Lady Gaga. I feel like a failure as a human being.

As the season is approaching (blah), I have decided to make a list of what I deem to be the ultimate Christmas songs. My holiday season is not complete without these songs, and I really do mean that. I can't listen to Christmas music until I get into the "spirit", but I also do not truly get into the Christmas spirit without these songs. These are in no particular order, by the way.

* "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - Judy Garland
* "White Christmas" - Bing Crosby
* "Silent Night" - Stevie Nicks
* "Carol of the Bells" - choral version
* "Merry Christmas Darling" - The Carpenters
* Bette Midler's entire "Cool Yule" album
* "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Judy Garland and Bing Crosby
* "Christmas Don't Be Late" - The Chipmunks (Yes, seriously.)

It also helps to watch White Christmas. I would have put the song "Snow" from that movie on my list, but that song is not available ANYWHERE. And I do mean anywhere, because I have looked. Naturally, that song has been recorded, but you cannot find the version from the movie. Apparently when they originally released the soundtrack for White Christmas, they recorded it WITHOUT Rosemary Clooney and with Peggy Lee instead. Don't get me wrong. I like Peggy Lee. But she is not Rosemary Clooney. How hard is it to pull the audio from a print of White Christmas and release it on disc?

Wilkommen

Alright, so this is my first official blog post, outside of LiveJournal anyway. I have been a devoted LiveJournalee for over three years now, but in hopes of expanding my blog audience, I thought I'd try a new venue. For those of you who aren't familiar with my ingenius LiveJournal, my name is Lora. I just graduated from college in May and I am obsessed with Bette Midler. Anything else that you need to know about me will come with time.

I had today off from work and decided to make it my bi-monthly cleaning day before I head out to spend Christmas with my family. Other than a few straggling dishes in the sink, the place looks pretty good. The fact that I did clean today makes me feel much better. Other than that, it was really a wasted day. I watched the movie Mamma Mia! three times within a 24 hour time period, and now I'm listening to Def Leppard. Oh god. What is wrong with me?