Making It Up As I Go Along #669

December 22nd really doesn’t feel very Christmasy when you live alone and are about to start four days of work tomorrow… also alone.  I do have frozen turkey dinner from mom’s Thanksgiving visit that can get me through supper at work on Christmas Day.  But it truly is not the same.

Hopefully the weather holds for my flights on the 27th.  And mom and dad will enjoy two Christmas’s this year.

Speaking of Christmases, it recently struck me that I’ll likely not have another St. John’s family Christmas.  If all goes well, mom and dad’s condo will be ready here for next year and, although it hasn’t been seriously discussed, it’s likely they’ll be here for Christmas going forward.  I must say, it never dawned on me last year that that may be the last time I wake in the Wedgewood Park house on Christmas Day.

I also had forgotten how early I was home last Christmas.  Facebook reminded me with that whole memories to look back on feature.  I was home by mid December, giving lots of lead up for the holidays where I could shop downtown and get the family Christmas movie viewing in well before Christmas Day.  I think this year will have some post Christmas shopping… and some gifts have already been done.  It’s an odd Christmas to be sure.

But yes, starting next year, I should have parents nearby me again for up to half of the year.  Mom and dad have a condo going up that’s little more than a five minute walk away from me.  Summers here are hotter than mom likes, and the house back home isn’t going anywhere, so it’s likely that I’ll get more home cooked meals, games of cards, and company on walks in the late fall, most of winter and spring.

Saw Rogue One yesterday.  Really well done and I enjoyed it.  The one thing I did miss was the John Williams score through the movie.  Some of the music in this one sort of sounded like his music… but in a let’s-change-it-just-enough-not-to-get-in-legal-trouble type of way.  There were scenes where they used the classic Star Wars music, but the big orchestral sound was lacking through the majority of the movie, and I was wishing it was there.

That said, I enjoyed it about on the same level as last years Star Wars movie which would put both of them comfortably in the upper ranks for me… behind only A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

Speaking of the movies, yesterday also marked my finding out the perfect combo of food, through the day, to bring on the worst heartburn I’ve had in quite some time.  Buttered movie popcorn for lunch… a tuna fish sandwich with celery, pickles and mayo for supper… and by midnight, not even Tums can help.  Once 3:00 AM hit, I can only lay on my back, propped up with pillows.  Anything flat or on either side and it felt like acid all through my stomach.

Anyway, with that bit of cheeriness over, digestion took care of all that… and I’m fine now.  But it wasn’t a wonderful night of sleep.  Perhaps it was as simple as the Force not being with that movie cinema butter topping.

And speaking of food… and Christmas travel… I’m right in that in between time where I’m not sure what to do about groceries.  I think I’m going to try to shoot throw to Tuesday now.  Maybe break down for a small container of orange juice.  But I hate to have a bunch of stuff in the fridge for ten days while I’m away.  It all sounds like I’m leading up to a good feed of Chinese food either tonight or tomorrow.  And give me enough leftovers to shoot me through to my departure.  

Donald Trump wants to up the American’s nuclear power.  Oh yes, nothing to worry about there.  When it comes to military power, there is nobody more insecure in this world than the Americans.  This is a nation that has a military more or less equal to the next 25 to 30 countries put together… yet still you see politicians talking about needing to make their military strong again.  In Star Wars terms, America is the only country in the world that owns a Death Star… and yet there are American politicians claiming they need a second one.

I live next to Homer Simpson.  Now… it’s almost a literal thing.  There is a Simpson’s episode where Homer’s neighbour is trying to sell her house.  She goes to Homer and asks him to throw away his old Halloween Jack-o-Laterns from years gone by (there are like five or six of them sitting on his front step, one looking more mummy like and rotten than the next).

Well my neighbour has begun the tradition.  I can’t see it now due to the snow, but underneath the wintery blanket, on his front step, you can see a mound.  That mound is Jack-o-Latern number one in what promises to be a long line of Jack-o-Laterns.

Truth be told, it was already looking pretty rotten by the time Halloween even came about.  I think he had it out on his step by Thanksgiving.  And there it remains, surrounded by a few loose boards, his daughter’s bicycle, and an old coleman camping cooler that, as best as I can tell, has called that front step home for the past three years.

My goodness, this means I’m Ned Flanders!  The guy even once borrowed something from me (a can of wasp killer) and never did give it back.  Dude also once borrowed my driveway, of all things.  He never asked to, mind you.  He just happened to see me leaving for a trip home one summer and asked how long I’ll be gone.  Three weeks must have felt like a goldmine for him… so much so that he lost track of time.

I got home one night around supper time and didn’t go to leave the house again until the next morning.  But when that morning came, I looked out to see his car sitting in the middle of my driveway, blocking my vehicle in the garage.  He didn’t even seem all that embarrassed by it when I knocked on his door to come move the thing.  Instead I think he just questioned me about my travel times… “It hasn’t been three weeks already has it?”

Anyway, that’s about it for this ramble.  Four days of work and then it’s home for eleven.  So this may be my last writing of 2016.  And despite the missing out on the actual holidays, I’m expecting a good time home with family and friends.  So it won’t be all bad to be sure.