1 down, 1 to go

I haven't had time to get out much lately. The last theater trip I took was a few years ago when I saw Phantom; the last movie I saw in the movie theater was The Da Vinci Code (before, the last movie I remembered seeing was Tristan and Isolde, but Michael's purchase of TDVC dvd corrected that). The last time I visited a museum was last summer when two friends and I went to The Huntington (my favorite).

I've not read (or heard of) the book you mention, Do. But I might have to check it out. Speaking of books: I need to go to B&N tomorrow and pick up a birthday gift. I think I'll get her The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It's a fabulous read; even my son (who was 17 when I suggested he read it) fell in love with Charlie. He thought Charlie was cool.

I hung around the desert after I finished the semester in the writing center to attend two parties. One was tonight: the annual tutor Christmas party (which actually started today with pizza and pictionary); and the other is tomorrow night -- a friend/coworker's birthday party. I dragged Mary with me and Alex tonight; her boyfriend, Blue (he was her fiance), worked late, and I didn't think she should have to sit home by herself. We had a gift exchange, and the rules were that if we liked what someone else had, rather than pick an unopened gift, we could steal it. But, after a gift was "stolen" twice, it was no longer up for grabs. There were 17 gifts, 17 participants, and everyone was just too damn polite until number 13 decided she really wanted the M&M car that shoots M&Ms out when Red's hand is pulled down like a lever (number 13 ended up losing it to number 5). It was so on! All that thieving between tutors, teachers, and guests pushed politeness right out the window. Even my 14-year-old had her gift taken, and then stole someone else's. I was last to go -- yep I was number 17! So, I stole my daughter's original gift back -- from my secret santa.

One could argue that our party started two weeks ago when we drew names for secret santa. Imagine how hard it is to bring a gift without being seen when you work everyday with the person you're gifting to. The rules: 3 gifts -- 2 small ones and 1 larger one for today when we revealed ourselves, and at least one gift had to be a book -- any book, even a used book. Today, we broke down furniture (gasp -- did I just say the f-word?), packed up books, stacked computers on tables that are being kept, took posters and pictures off the walls, all in preparation for the new "work stations." We were done by 11, ordered pizza, tried to guess who our secret santas were, found out whether we guessed correctly or not when we received our final gifts, then played Pictionary. I guessed correctly, by the way, and got a little wallet, the 2007 Almanac and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Is there a theme in there? I have to say, the Almanac was my favorite.

So, tomorrow, I get to do laundry, pack, try to meet up with a friend, get pictures done with Mary, do some shopping, and go to another party. We English nerds are quite the party animals.

Blue is apparently completely jealous of all the time Mary and I have been spending together. Last night we got tattooed (yep I did it again, but I think I'm done for a while), and he's hardly said two words to her since then. He got home last night, went to bed without dinner, and apologized to her this morning. But tonight, I took her to the tutor party with me, and he came home and did the same thing. He even asked her if my daughter and I left yet. Whatever...I'm outta here in about 30 hours.