Happy Holidays!

Oh, the weeks of December, how do I survive thee? Let me count the ways...

Week 1: Put off and put off looming 20 page final paper due this week by "setting my priorities straight" and spending more time with my kids. This includes a trip to the Oakland Holiday Parade where we found out that Santa hats suit storm troopers and imperial guards extremely well. Final, which is due the first Thursday of the month, is thus written during the wee hours of that morning...all 20 pages of it.

Week 2: Put off and put off looming second final paper (which ended up being about 17 pages long) by "setting my priorities straight" and spending more time with my kids by taking them to see The Golden Compass, out to dinner, and shopping. So what if the movie was PG-13. There was only one part that was mildly scary and Mr. JT slept through the half the movie anyway. Both kids loved the movie. There was no God killing or atheism being shoved or anything. Which leads me to my rant...If the people who have been forwarding J and me emails about how this movie supports atheism would just get off their soapboxes and READ THE BOOKS or WATCH THE MOVIE before they protest or boycott it, perhaps they would realize that the books and movie (hopefully movies in the future) are not about killing "God". They're about killing a being that pretends to be God while setting the true God free from his/her...hmm, its crystal cage. READ CHRISTIANS! Sheesh. Rant number two...The whole series of books, are not really for children. Why do the people who market this series persist on labeling these as books for children or young adults? Simply because these books have characters who are young does not mean they are books aimed at or for children. I doubt anyone under the age of 18 has really read Milton's Paradise Lost and thus would probably not understand some of the themes of the series. Rant number three...As a fan of the books I was disappointed in the movie, it seemed like the director or the studio was pandering to the religious zealots who misread the series or disagrees with Pullman's personal beliefs. The soul of the book was missing from the movie. I'm still hoping for the rest of the series to be made into movies though, but made in a way that stays true to the source material...meaning probably, rated R. Where was I?

Oh yeah, my second final. Was due on the second Thursday by 4pm, was written on Thursday morning and finished at 1:30pm (just in time for the two hour drive to deliver it). I ended up writing 21 pages, natch.

Week 3: J and I went to Las Vegas after finals. We lost...then we went shopping. The end. :sigh: Evie did have her first violin recital while we were gone though. I'm a bad bad mommy, I know it. I did buy both kids lots of little gifts and my cousins took a video of her performance. The rest of the week was all about work. No rest for the wicked and weary. Not in December.

Week 4: Shit, it's Christmas week already??? I'm Buddhist! Darn the Christian American majority that has made us beholden to secular Christmas traditions such as Christmas trees (ours is 2 feet tall) and playing Santa. Still, I don't mind supporting a holiday that purportedly promotes peace and good will to men and the kids have fun so that's what's important.

Happy Holidays everyone! Wish me luck on sending out my holiday cards by Valentine's Day or St. Patty's...those are holidays too you know.

PS The pictures are from Dec. 1 when we went to the Oakland Holiday Parade.