my moral standing is lying down

At least in the respect that I did not relax much and there was no animoo. Other than that, it was FULL OF WIN!

And I'm not sure exactly how scared I should be -- just realizing that I have really picked up Chris's way of speaking. Hmmm... at least, online. To a certain extent. Probably 'cause it makes me smile. =D

Anyway. Epic fail, indeed. I got to sleep until 2pm on Saturday, at least. When I woke up, I did some chaos management for my mom, who is always a wreck before she goes on a trip. Always worries about what clothes to bring, etc. Business trips are even worse. So I helped her plan what to wear and bring. They're leaving early early on Saturday morning, so I think I'm going to be getting up around 4 or 5am to drive them to the airport. I'd better figure out what I'm wearing to Morgan & Joe's party soon because I intend to go back to sleep after driving to the airport. Otherwise I'll be the one passed out on the couch.

( carmine's, blackberry mead, and breakfast in NJ )



The full-size of this pic (from Liz's awesome camera phone) is now my wallpaper at work. I'll have to see if it fits my widescreen properly at home.

( BEST GIFT EVAR! )

So yes, that was quite possibly the best end-of-year present EVAR! Liz and I had an awesome fun time! <3 Thank you loudnbothered, ddrkaiba, inbredchocobo, fiinedeiopeia, metallicapixie, and most especially thedreamerworld -- 'cause I think it was mostly your idea, yes?

So, my birthday is coming up in 3 months, and I'd really like to consider partial season tickets. Who's in~?! Alright, alright -- so I'm not serious... there's a waitlist, anyway. One day, I tell myself. In any case, Liz is determined to get a pair of NYR vs. NYI tickets. My father says it'd be cheaper to get those tickets at Nassau Coliseum -- it's probably true; but it's such a schlep. ^^;

Though I completely forgot about it, yesterday was my company's Holiday Party. It was quite amusing. Apparently, every year they have a theme party, and this year it was a western-style "Holiday Hoedown". With square dancers and all. Some people actually got up and joined them. LOLOL~ It was very *snort* amusing. Despite the fact that I sound sarcastic, it was actually quite fun to watch. There was also karaoke -- and boy, some people here can really sing! One of Margaret's friends on the 8th floor belted out a surprising rendition of some oldies song that I know but cannot for the life of me remember at the moment. I'm sure it'll come to me randomly. Another guy sang TLC's Waterfalls and was quite good, undulating hips and all! O_O! He even sang the rap part of it and got it down pat. Everyone cheered quite loudly for him.

They had a Sierra Nevada holiday ale, which was a little darker than my usual taste, but still pretty good -- and which helped me to find the whole show vastly amusing.

In any case, it was a nice way to not do work for the last 2 hours of my workday. As opposed to the usual way, which is trying to look busy while reading fic or comics. ^^;

Afterward was Nerd Avengers Gift Exchange, where I think we all did good. I was more happily surprised by an awesome gift than I have been since... my surprise birthday party in 2005 (if you're one of those "new" friends who hadn't had the pleasure of seeing Maryann with a mullet, you should check out the pics~ LOL).

Judy, Maryann, Chris, Sean and Juliet got together and bought me and Liz a pair of tickets to a Rangers game!!! How awesome is that? It's one of those things I put on my wishlist just for the hell of it, because I wanted it, but knowing that no one would get that. *sniffles* I have such great friends~!

I was surprised again that of all the things on my wishlist, Juliet would get me a book of John Donne's poetry. That's another one I didn't really expect anyone to get me. I'm very excited to start reading it. I'm almost done with American Gods, so that might be next. AJ bought me The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. He said he wanted to get me something different from what I usually read and from what I gather of the book, it surely fits that description. But I look forward to being able to discuss it with him. =D

Judy's gift to NA may just have been the best of all -- she selected photos from the year in which we've become friends and become Nerd Avengers, et al., and published a Yearbook, if you will. It's a really fantastic idea, and it was wonderful to look at the photos she selected and remember -- or wonder -- exactly what was going on at the time. I think the fact that we all have the same group of photos to look at and reminisce about is even better. Next year we should pull it out again and see what we remember then. What a wonderful memento.

And last, but certainly not least. Liz got me a scarf (very cute) and a tin of that tea I'd discovered at a Barnes & Noble in Queens one day -- not the Tazo teas (which suck overall aside from the Wild Sweet Orange) -- Harney & Sons Fine Teas. I randomly tried the "Hot Cinnamon Sunset" tea one day (despite the fact that I don't actually like cinammon all that much), and found that it was spicy and delicious! It's definitely a nice tea for a chilly night, and goes perfectly with a warm cookie. It's described as a medium-bodied black tea with cinnamons, orange, and sweet cloves. It's pretty darn yummy. Nothing has as of yet surpassed my favorite Ten-Ren Chrysanthemum tea, but this is a nice winter alternative. =D

[edit: Best part of the holiday party: lots of leftover food = free lunch today! ]

You know what, though? After work I am going to get something to eat, go home, and SLEEP. I haven't been getting all that much of the darn thing lately, what with getting home late like every night and either staying up talking to Maryann, or fooling myself into thinking that I have enough energy to stay online and actually do something other than fall asleep in my chair.

I have that Hard Knock Life song stuck in my head -- the one with the sampling from Annie. WHY?! And how did it get there?!

Oh wait, the Rangers season opener is tonight! I think I'll have to forego sleep and watch that instead.

You know what's kind of unfortunate? The game where they're retiring Leetch's number is January 24th, but they aren't (of course) selling individual tickets to the game. Not that I expected to be able to go to that game, but there was this vague idea and now it's not even a possibility. ;_;